Microsoft has begun rolling out a new Windows 11 25H2 update to beta testers in the Windows Insider Program. It’s called Preview Build 26300.7760 (also known as KB5077202) and it adds support for new Unicode emojis and new features for controlling webcams. Microsoft With the launch of Emoji 16.0, Unicode has now added seven new emojis, one in each main emoji category. The new emojis are: a smiley with bags under the eyes, a fingerprint, a radish, a tree without leaves, a harp, a shovel, and a splatter. Microsoft As for the new camera features, the update will allow you to control the pan and tilt of certain supported webcams via the default settings in Windows Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Cameras. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Informative LCD screen Excellent performance Nice mix of USB-A, USB-C ports Charging power easily exceeds smartphone needs Cons Odd mix of powered and unpowered data-only ports Our Verdict Mokin’s 160W GaN All-in-One Station is a 13-in-1 USB-C docking station with charging in mind, featuring a clean, nerdy aesthetic that informs you of what’s going on under the hood. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Mokin 160W GaN All in One Docking Station Retailer Price $79.99 View Deal Mokin $86.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices For those of you who want to know what’s going on under the hood of your USB-C docking station, there is Mokin’s 160W GaN All-in-One Station: a nerdy, compact 10Gbps 13-in-1 USB-C docking station designed to keep your devices charged and you informed — via an informative LCD screen. Mokin’s 160W GaN All-in-One Station appears on Amazon (at press time) as the “MOKiN Docking Station, 13 in 1 USB C Laptop Charging Station” and actually features a pair of entries — one for $99.99, and one for $139.99. From what I can see, they’re identical, so choose the cheaper option if they both appear. The dock measures 7.8 x 7.2 inches and about 3 inches high, not taking as much space on your desk as a full-fledged Thunderbolt dock, but more than one of our recommended USB-C docks or hubs. It will not sit vertically, and it’s really too chunky to consider toting along in a backpack or carry bag. By now, I’m used to docking stations whose ports do dual duty as charging options. This isn’t the case here, and the aesthetic seems to be in the vein of Anker’s popular charging products: include a bright, informative display, lots of charging power, and ports aplenty. That’s true here, though pay attention: Some ports provide data, and some ports provide power, and they don’t really overlap. There’s a new trend towards adding screens to just about everything, however, and that’s in play here, too. Mokin’s 160W GaN All-in-One Station is a rather nerdy approach to a powered USB-C charging dock, but the performance was superb and the aesthetic clean. First, though, there’s the power issue. On the left side of the dock’s front sit two 10Gbps USB-C ports and a 10Gbps USB-A port — the latter highlighted in orange for aesthetics, apparently. These ports provide data, but not power. The other three ports on the dock’s front side, to the right, also include two USB-C ports and a USB-A port, too. But these “dummy” ports only provide power, not data. Until you know what’s going on, it’s easy to think that this dock is defective — and based on a few reviews on Amazon’s site, some customers may not have read the manual closely enough. Mokin’s 160W GaN All-in-One Station pops up a summary of what’s connected when you first turn on your connected PC.Mark Hachman / Foundry On the other hand, if you do plug a device into one of these right-hand “dummy” power plugs, you’ll see a demonstration of the neatest feature this dock offers: a 2.26-inch LDC screen that tells you if a device is plugged in, and how much power is being delivered to it per port. That sort of things tickles my nerd nerves, and USB-C hubs like the DockCase 10-in-1 offer it as well. Is it necessary? Of course not. But it does satisfy the part of you that wants to know what’s going on under the hood. On the rear of Mokin’s dock lies the power input, as well as the USB-C power output to your laptop, which supplies a rated 100W. (The dock reported that it supplied 96W to my test laptop via a shortish 2-foot cord, which matched my USB-C meter’s output as well.) If you need an additional, functional USB-A port, there’s another on the rear. You’ll also find a pair of HDMI ports capable of supplying enough data for two 4K displays at 60Hz. The dock will report the output for those displays, as well. Below the display are ports for the power supplied to the laptop and another three USB ports to the right: C1, C2, and the “A” port, in order.Mark Hachman / Foundry Finally, there’s an Ethernet jack, though there’s no official rating in the extremely sparse manual. I suspect that it’s just a standard 1Gbps. The power that this dock delivers varies by port. If you own a USB charger, this should feel familiar: With just one port connected, that port will receive its maximum rated power. (About 100W is always reserved for the laptop.) The other “dummy” ports vary: the first “C1” USB-C port delivers between a rated 100W to 30W, depending on what else is plugged in; the “C2” USB-C port offers between 100W and 15W. The USB-A port provides 12W, always. The two USB-C ports to the left, plus the centered USB-A port, all provide data but aren’t designed to deliver power. The right-hand ports provide power, but no data.Mark Hachman / Foundry (For comparison, an iPhone 17 Pro Max can draw up to 40W while charging, while the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra can pull up to 45W. All other devices generally need less power.) All of this is displayed on the dock’s screen when booted up, though there doesn’t seem to be a way to cycle through the information once connected. (The dock will update the screen if you plug in a new device, however.) Otherwise, Mokin’s dock will always show how much power it’s putting out in aggregate, usually with the bulk going to the laptop. The USB-A port provides data, as do the HDMI ports, obviously.Mark Hachman / Foundry Still, the power output can get a little confusing, especially because there are differences between the two USB-C charging ports and the conditions in which they output power. On the other hand, I can’t think of too many devices that require 60W of power from a charging port. One exception is an external power bank or battery, which I use for testing. For reference, here’s how much power each port can provide, clipped right from the manual. Mark Hachman / Foundry How does the Mokin 160W GaN All-in-One Station perform? Remember, this is a USB-C docking station, so the 10Gbps interface won’t allow for gaming with high refresh-rate displays. But for a traditional Office (Microsoft 365) workload, the dock was perfectly stable. Part of this will depend on your hardware; if your laptop only supports DisplayPort 1.2, expect as little as a single display with 4K30 resolution or a pair of 1080p displays. DP 1.4 supports two 4K60 displays, which first rolled out with the 11th-gen Core chips (Tiger Lake) and the AMD Ryzen 4000. PCWorld’s testing procedures for USB-C hubs haven’t changed: I check thermals and port spacing, then connect multiple displays using a few test laptops. Finally, I measure performance. Mokin’s dock doesn’t get alarmingly hot, though it does get warm. Smartly, Mokin spaced out the USB-A ports, which can get congested with multiple devices plugged in next to one another. The USB-C spacing wasn’t an issue. In general, the power output of the dock matched Mokin’s claims, though I wasn’t able to get the USB-A port to provide more than 7 watts. We mostly live in a USB-C world, however, It’s a little hard to see, but my USB power meter reported 63.63W going into my laptop, which matched what the dock reported.Mark Hachman / Foundry Performance was close to perfect, at least on my newer test laptops. Streaming a 4K video over Ethernet worked perfectly — only two frames were dropped out of over 10,000. My test regimen also connects an SSD to the USB-C port to measure if the dock or hub throttles data, and then repeats the test while again streaming over Ethernet. My tests measured about 113MB/s on both tests, which told me that the dock isn’t throttling data. Should you buy the Mokin’s 160W GaN All-in-One Station? Yes. On one hand, this dock’s LCD screen is a bit of a gimmick. Other docks do just fine without passing on the knowledge of how much power your peripherals are consuming. Still, it’s an interesting way to see how much power your laptop typically consumes, and how it increases or decreases depending upon how much work it’s doing. I also like powerful charging ports, especially because other docks seem to be falling behind the charging needs of today’s most elite smartphones. A basic USB-C dongle will provide similar connectivity for much less, and the DockCase 10-in-1 does offer some of that nerdy detail that this dock provides. Still, it’s not a full-fledged USB-C docking station like Mokin’s offering. Just pay attention to which ports offer data, and which just provide power. Otherwise, you should be happy with Mokin’s charging dock. Read...

Well, it had to happen eventually — ChatGPT is now showing ads. “Our goal is for ads to support broader access to more powerful ChatGPT features while maintaining the trust people place in ChatGPT for important and personal tasks,” the company said. Only the Free and Go tiers of ChatGPT will see ads, OpenAI said. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education tiers will not have ads. Ads will not influence the answers ChatGPT provides, and conversations won’t be disclosed to advertisers. When ads do appear, OpenAI says they’ll be clearly labeled as sponsored and visually separated from organic answers. Still, it’s a bum deal for users who don’t want to see ads, or who rely on ad-blocking software to avoid them. The only way out is upgrading to a paid ChatGPT tier (ChatGPT Plus costs $20 per user per month) or settling for “reduced messages.” Unfortunately, that’s been left deliberately vague. OpenAI isn’t saying how many messages you’ll get, whether limits will vary by user or time of day, or how many ads you’ll actually see. The company says ads are necessary to keep providing “broader access to AI.” Just a year ago, OpenAI raised a massive $40 billion funding round. But a paid ad for an enchilada kit is going to keep the lights on? Okay. Read...

Today’s a great day to score a proper gaming laptop that’ll handle almost anything you throw its way, from the newest triple-A 3D titles to your daily work tasks to all those Netflix binging sessions. B&H is currently selling the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI for just $1,299.99 with a “DealZone Savings” promotion knocking $550 off its original price. That’s crazy good—and there’s “limited supply” at this price. View this gaming laptop deal Powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor with 24 cores, a hefty 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a spacious 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, and a cutting-edge Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card, this laptop can handle pretty much anything and everything. Windows 11 is no problem, plus you get to enjoy all the features of DLSS 4 for an awesome gaming experience. It’s future-proof for years to come, that’s for sure. The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI is a gorgeous laptop with a 16-inch IPS display at a 2560×1600 resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate. With up to 500 nits of brightness and an anti-glare coating, it’s easy on the eyes in any environment. It’s also smart with its connections: Thunderbolt 4, USB-C 3.2 with 90 watts of power delivery, dual USB-A 3.2, one USB-A 3.0, a microSD slot, plus HDMI 2.1 for video output, 2.5Gbps Ethernet for stable internet, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Other niceties include a 1080p webcam, a reliable 90-watt-hour battery for comfortable usage between charges, RGB backlit keyboard, and support for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.4. It’s a little heavy at 5.95 pounds, but that’s to be expected for a gaming laptop of this caliber. Grab this Acer gaming laptop for $1,299.99 while this deal’s still available! Your purchase even comes with a free 6-month subscription to Bitdefender Total Security for 5 devices. If you still want to keep your options open, see our picks for the best gaming laptops. This 16-inch Acer laptop with RTX 5070 is crazy good for the priceBuy this gaming laptop for $550 off Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Enjoyable keyboard with spacious layout Lots of connectivity including Thunderbolt 4, USB-A, Ethernet Can be a good performance value when laptop is on sale Long battery life Cons Boring design Mediocre touchpad Only 512GB of solid state storage Our Verdict The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI is a competent business notebook with good battery life, but it doesn’t offer much to get excited about. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices If you’re looking for a portable business laptop you’re likely to turn first to something like a Lenovo ThinkPad, HP EliteBook, or Dell Pro… but the price could well scare you off, as business laptops tend to carry a substantial price premium. The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI is also expensive on paper, but competitive retail pricing makes it more alluring. Which is good, because the laptop’s design won’t get your pulse racing. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Specs and features as-tested The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI’s basic specifications won’t set your hair on fire. This is a business portable with a focus on battery life and productivity, so it sticks to modest hardware including an Intel Core Ultra 5 processor. It also has 16GB of RAM, a 512GB solid state drive, and a 1200p display. Model number: TMX414-51-579T CPU: Intel Core Ultra 5 Processor 226V Memory: 16GB LPDDR5x-8533 Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 130V NPU: Intel AI Boost (40 TOPS) Display: 14-inch 1920×1200 IPS-LCD 120Hz Storage: 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 solid state drive Webcam and microphone: 1080p FHD IR camera with privacy shutter Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C, 1x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x USB-A 2.0, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x Ethernet, 1x 3.5mm audio jack Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition Battery capacity: 65 watt-hours Dimensions: 12.28 x 8.89 x 0.64 inches Weight: 2.75 pounds Operating System: Windows 11 Pro Price: $1,199.99 MSRP, $650 to $850 typical retail The TravelMate X4 14 AI lists an MSRP of $1,199.99, which seems like a lot for a laptop with these specifications. However, the laptop tends to sell for less than that, as I saw pricing down to $687.99 on CDW. It’s also $842.99 on Insight. If you’re curious why it’s not sold on Amazon or Best Buy, that has to do with its business focus. CDW and Insight are retailers that focus on business and enterprise customers. Connectivity is the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI’s greatest strength. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Design and build quality Foundry / Matthew Smith The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI uses a familiar design language which leans on simple silver or gunmetal colorways, angular features, and a mix of metal and plastic construction. There is nothing necessarily wrong with this approach but Acer’s competitors, most notably Lenovo and Asus, are more aggressive on design with more interesting colorways and more unique finishes. This leaves the TravelMate X4 14 AI feeling a bit too familiar. Build quality, meanwhile, is a bit above average for the price point at which this laptop actually sells, which is usually around the $650-$850 range. There’s very little flex in the chassis, even when it’s handled roughly. The same can be said of the display and the large, smooth hinge provides easy actuation so you can open the laptop with one finger with no trouble at all. Unfortunately, I had one serious quality issue. When I removed the plastic film that protects the camera and other sensors from damage in shipping, the permanent plastic inlay beneath it came along for the ride. It was still a bit tacky, so I was able to slip it back into place, but it didn’t leave a good impression. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Keyboard, trackpad Foundry / Matthew Smith I found the keyboard to be one of the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI’s better traits. It is a reasonably spacious keyboard that’s nearly edge-to-edge, with large keys in a standard layout. Key travel is good and keys activate with a crisp, clicky feel. Most modern Windows laptops have at least an acceptable keyboard even in this modest price range, but I’d say the TravelMate X4 14 AI keyboard is above average. The touchpad is less impressive, though still OK. It’s reasonably large, measuring about five inches wide and about three inches deep, which is large enough to handle even the more elaborate Windows multitouch gestures. The surface of the touchpad has a rather plastic texture that didn’t please my fingertips. It does the job, but no more. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Display, audio Foundry / Matthew Smith A typical 14-inch IPS-LCD display with a resolution of 1920×1200 is available on the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI, and aside from the refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, there is not much about the display that is remarkable or stands out from the crowd. It has a maximum brightness of about 350 nits and it does not support HDR, so it is definitely not the easiest display to read and use in bright settings, and it’s not going to be the best choice for games or entertainment. The display is otherwise good enough. It provides vivid color, and while the 1920×1200 resolution is nothing special for a laptop sold in 2026, on a 14-inch display it still results in good sharpness with a pixel density of approximately 162 pixels per inch, which is high enough to look crisp. Audio performance, on the other hand, is a disappointment. The built-in speakers are downward-firing, so they will be muffled by some surfaces depending on what you place the laptop on. The speakers aren’t loud even at their maximum volume, and despite that lack of volume, the speakers still suffer some muddiness and distortion when handling movies and music. You will probably want to have headphones or external speakers handy. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Webcam, microphone, biometrics Like most midrange Windows laptops, the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI has a built-in webcam with 1080p resolution that can record up to 30 frames per second. It offers decent sharpness but can look grainy in a dim room. In general, it’s fine, but not any better than the competition. I can say the same for the dual microphone array, although compared to the webcam, it’s slightly better overall. The microphones picked up clear, crisp audio when I used them to record. They are still clearly laptop microphones with a hollow, distant sound, but they are well suited for video conferences. Biometric login is supported through Windows Hello facial recognition, made possible by the IR camera on the device, and it works about as expected, providing smooth, quick logins. Also like many modern Windows laptops, the TravelMate X4 14 AI supports presence detection to automatically turn off the display or put the laptop to sleep if the webcam sees that you’ve moved away. A fingerprint reader is not available, so if you prefer that over Windows Hello facial recognition, you’re out of luck. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Connectivity Foundry / Matthew Smith Connectivity is the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI’s greatest strength. The laptop has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, which of course also support USB-C, as well as two USB-A ports—one of which is USB 3.2 Gen 1 and the other is USB 2.0. The laptop also has an HDMI 2.1 port, a 3.5mm combo audio jack, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. The Ethernet port is unusual for a thin and light business laptop, as many such systems no longer provide it, and the overall combination of Thunderbolt 4/USB-C and USB-A ports provides a lot of options. The Thunderbolt 4 ports can also support DisplayPort output and can handle up to 100W of USB Power Delivery, so they can be used to charge the laptop or to connect to an external USB-C monitor or to HDMI or DisplayPort monitors with the proper adapter. Wireless connectivity is also strong, as the laptop supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. A lot of new laptops do support these standards, but I would point out that Wi-Fi 7 is a little less common in laptops that are sold at $1,000 and below, and this laptop indeed does typically sell for quite a bit under $1,000 even though the MSRP is $1,199.99. So it’s good to see Wi-Fi 7 is included. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Performance The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI that I received for review had an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V chip inside. This chip has an eight-core CPU with four performance cores and four efficiency cores, as well as a maximum turbo boost frequency of 4.5 GHz. The Intel chip is paired with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB PCIe 4.0 solid-state drive. As you might’ve heard, Intel’s Panther Lake chips sold under the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 branding are starting to become available, and as you can see in the graphs below, that puts the older Intel Core Ultra Series 2 powered laptops at a disadvantage. Foundry / Matthew Smith Let’s start things off with PCMark 10, a general system benchmark that runs a variety of tests and strains multiple aspects of the laptop.  Here the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI puts in a respectable score of 6,962. Although that’s obviously not the best result included in this graph (the Asus ExpertBook Ultra B9 with new Intel Core Series 3 chip handily beats it), it’s not bad. Indeed, the Acer is competitive with laptops that have Intel chips from a higher performance tier, such as the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 and the MSI Summit 13 AI+ Evo. Foundry / Matthew Smith Next up is Cinebench 2024, a heavily multi-threaded CPU benchmark.  This benchmark doesn’t run well on Intel Core Series 2 chips, as shown by their relative performance against the entry-level AMD Ryzen 5 and Qualcomm Snapdragon X.  However, the Acer is once again competitive with laptops that have Intel Core Ultra 7 inside, so this is another decent result for the Acer. Foundry / Matthew Smith Handbrake is another multi-thread CPU benchmark, and one that tends to have a long run duration that stresses a laptop’s cooling system. Here we perhaps see why the Acer performs well, as it increases its advantage over the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 and MSI Summit 13 AI+ Evo. Foundry / Matthew Smith Next up is 3DMark. It would be reasonable to expect the Acer to fall behind here because the Intel Core Ultra Series 5 226V only has Intel Arc 130V graphics with seven Xe cores. This is a downgrade from Intel Arc 140V, which has 8 Xe cores. However, the Acer continues to punch above its weight. It nearly matched the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 and beat the MSI Summit 13 AI+ Evo, both of which had Intel Arc 140V. Of course, the new Asus Expertbook Ultra B9 with the latest Intel Arc B390 runs away from the pack, but that’s to be expected. On the whole, then, the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI can prove to be a good performance value depending on the price you pay for it. This level of performance is not impressive if the laptop is sold at MSRP. But if you pick it up for closer to $700 or $800, the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI is a good all-rounder. With one unfortunate exception: the solid state drive. Acer equips this laptop with a mere 512GB of solid state storage. Many price competitive laptops will offer 1TB of storage, so the 512GB SSD is a bummer. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Battery life and portability A 65-watt-hour battery is found inside the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI. This is a typical size of battery for a 14-inch business laptop. However, the combination of an Intel Core Ultra Series 5 chip with an IPS display keeps the power draw fairly low, and so the laptop is able to achieve very respectable battery life. Foundry / Matthew Smith I’ve reviewed laptops that were able to last long on a charge, to be sure, but over 20 hours in our standardized test (which loops a 4K file of the short film Tears of Steel with the display at 200 nits of brightness) is nothing to scoff at. Real-world battery life will be less, as is true for most laptops, but anywhere from 14 to 18 hours seems reasonable if you’re working at modest display brightness and running apps like Microsoft Office, an IDE, or a web browser. Excluding battery run-down tests, I only had to charge it three times in my week with the laptop. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Conclusion The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI is one of the more generic laptops I can remember testing in the last year. It’s not exciting to look at and doesn’t have a particular design trait or feature that stands out. On the upside, however, the laptop has strong performance for the price and delivers lengthy battery life. This laptop is impossible to recommend at its $1,199.99 MSRP, but if you see it at retail for under $800, it can make sense. The TravelMate X4 14 AI is also inexpensive for a laptop with Windows 11 Pro, which can be important if you need the features that operating system provides. Read...

Microsoft typically releases new security updates on the second Tuesday of this month, known as Patch Tuesday. But today, Microsoft also has some new features that it will gradually push to PCs like yours: the ability to resume Spotify on multiple PCs, better Windows Hello protections, and a handy new device card, among others. Officially, this is the KB5074105 update for Windows 11. Yes, there will be minor bug fixes that will be rolled out as part of today’s update, but Microsoft characterizes the features below as part of a “gradual” release, so that you may not see them immediately. Expect them soon, however. There is one immediate change (fix?) that may cause you to scratch your head: accessing the Storage settings (Settings > System > Storage) will require administrator access via the Windows User Access Control. It’s an odd change, but Microsoft says that it’s making it to prevent unauthorized access to system files. Cross-device resume: Pick up where you left off The most interesting feature of this new update is an improved cross-device resume function, which will allow you to play a song on Spotify on your phone, pause it, then resume playback on your PC. Microsoft also says that Honor, Oppo, Samsung, Vivo, and Xiaomi phones — sorry, Google — will be able to open files that you opened in the Copilot app on your phone on your PC as well. Presumably this functionality will be opened to more phones and more apps in the future. If you don’t have the required Microsoft 365 app on your PC, it will open in a web browser. If you have a Vivo phone, there’s an extra benefit: You can pick up where you left off on the Vivo browser from your phone on to the Vivo browser on your PC. Device cards get unified This small update also brings with it the “device card” that Microsoft previewed in a Dev Channel preview last June. Microsoft has been tweaking its Settings “cards” for a while now; if you go into the Windows 11 Settings > About tab, you’ll probably see a bundle of small cards describing your CPU, storage, RAM, and so on. The updated card brings that information together into a more unified summary slide. A more secure Windows Hello You’re undoubtedly familiar with Windows Hello, the technology that began with the biometric depth camera in Windows 10, and expanded into fingerprint sensors, too. The latter technology works within desktops, but also allows desktops to get in on the action, too. You can also buy a Windows Hello webcam, too. Windows allows webcams to store your biometric information in the Trusted Platform Module as part of Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security, which adds an extra layer of protection to your biometric credentials. What this update does is extend this added protection to fingerprint readers. Personally, I prefer a Windows Hello webcam for the additional functionality it offers. However, if you’re a desktop PC owner and prefer a fingerprint reader instead, this update helps protect that information, too. Smart App Control, without the pain My colleague Alaina Yee has written about a nifty Windows technology called Smart App Control, which protects your PC from malware by screening and then analyzing apps. The problem? It only runs via a clean install. If you haven’t set it up initially, turning it “on” means that you have to reset your PC. No longer! Thankfully, this particular aspect of Smart App Control will be a thing of the past soon.PCWorld Now, Microsoft has improved Smart App Control to eliminate the need to reset your PC.  To make changes, go to Windows Security > App & Browser Control > Smart App Control settings.  Voice Typing, Voice Access, and Narrator all improve Fun story: When my wife moved from Minnesota to Alabama as a child, she was told that the other children couldn’t understand her because she spoke too fast. I had a hard time wrapping my head around this one, but people do speak in different cadences. Microsoft’s voice typing now recognizes this by injecting optional delays before voice commands are executed, and helps people who speak slowly be better understood. Microsoft began testing this last October, and now it’s made its way into the release channel for your PC. Microsoft has also added a new AI voice model for Voice Access (those who need to command their PC orally because of difficulty using a mouse or keyboard), and each model is optimized for a chosen language. Narrator was designed for those who have trouble seeing. In this release, Narrator now gives you more control over how it announces on-screen controls. You can choose which details are spoken and adjust their order to match how you navigate apps, Microsoft says. Jamming with MIDI 2.0 I don’t know too much about music creation or production, but the music industry seemed to love the new improvements that MIDI 2.0 brought. Microsoft tested this a year ago, and now MIDI 2.0 is debuting within Windows. For the full list of changes, Microsoft has published a summary. Read...

TL;DR: Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows is available for a limited time at $19.97 (MSRP $229), offering a one-time purchase with no ongoing subscription and all the core Office apps included. If you’re tired of paying month after month for Microsoft Office, this deal lets you stop the cycle. For a single $19.97 payment, you get a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows. It includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, Access, and OneNote, all unlocked permanently — no renewals, no surprise fees, and no expiration dates. This is one of Microsoft’s most widely used Office versions for good reason. It’s stable, streamlined, and packed with the features that everyday users, business owners, freelancers, and spreadsheet wizards rely on. Whether you’re managing invoices, writing your next presentation, editing a résumé, or organizing your inbox like a boss, Office 2019 is built to make your life easier. Plus, this version’s got some sweet upgrades: better inking across apps, more data analysis in Excel, improved email handling in Outlook, and sleek new transitions in PowerPoint. Once installed on your Windows PC, it’s good to go with — no recurring costs, no cloud dependency (thank goodness), and no fuss. Don’t miss getting lifetime access to Microsoft Office 2019 while it’s just $19.97 (MSRP $229). No coupon is needed. Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for WindowsSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

myFirst expands its kid-focused tech range and Circle app, offering smartphone-style features with tighter safety controls for families. Read...

Two months after teasing us with the prospect of skinny bundles, YouTube TV is spilling the beans on its upcoming—and marginally cheaper—genre-specific plans, with a sports-focused bundle among the first on the runway.  Among other details, we’re finally pricing for a quartet of the new “YouTube TV Plans,” with rates ranging from $71.99 a month to $54.99/month for existing YouTube TV subscribers, while new subscribers will get limited-time discounts.  Overall, we can expect more than 10 of these skinnier YouTube TV Plans, which are slated to roll out over the “next several weeks,” YouTube says.  The main offering is the YouTube TV Sports plan, which will include sports networks such as FS1, NBC Sports Network, and all the ESPN networks for $64.99 a month, with new subscribers paying $54.99/month for the first year.  The YouTube TV Sports plan will include local TV affiliates such as ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, while ESPN Unlimited access will be added this fall.  Also coming soon is a pricier Sports + News Plan, which includes everything in the sports bundle while adding news networks such as CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, CSPAN, Bloomberg, and Fox Business. The bundle will cost $71.99 a month, while new subscribers will get a discounted $56.99/month rate for the first three months.  Then there’s the Entertainment Plan, which offers Comedy Central, Bravo, Paramount, Food Network, HGTV, and “many more” entertainment-focused networks for $54.99 a month, or $44.99/month for new subscribers for their first three months. Local TV affiliates will also be included in the package.  Finally, the News + Entertainment + Family plan serves up news and entertainment channels while also adding family-oriented content to the mix, including the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, National Geographic, Cartoon Network, and PBS Kids. The package will run you $69.99 a month, or $59.99/month.  Meanwhile, the YouTube TV Base plan—now known simply as the “main YouTube TV plan”—will remain $82.99 a month.  All the new YouTube TV skinny bundles will offer unlimited DVR access, as well as multi-view and other standard YouTube TV features. You’ll also be able to opt for add-ons such as NFL Sunday Ticket and RedZone, HBO Max, and 4K Plus.  YouTube TV first announced it was getting into the skinny-bundle business back in December, and it’s joining a crowded field that includes DirecTV, Fubo, and Sling.  This story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best live TV streaming services. Read...

Security researchers have discovered new Android malware that allows attackers to track almost every action taken on a smartphone. Among other details, this includes PIN entries, login credentials, and content within messaging and banking apps. What makes this particularly insidious is that the malware uses Hugging Face—a reputable developer platform—to spread inconspicuously. Malware that pretends to be a security app This malware campaign was discovered by researchers at security company Bitdefender. At the heart of this campaign is an Android app called “TrustBastion,” which masquerades as a security solution. Victims of the attack are confronted with advertisements and/or pop-ups claiming that their smartphone is infected. In order to remove alleged threats—including phishing attempts, scam texts, and other malware—they’re instructed to install the app. The application appears harmless at first glance. In fact, however, it’s a so-called “dropper,” which means the app itself doesn’t initially contain any malicious functions but downloads them later. A fake update downloads malware Immediately after installation, TrustBastion displays a supposedly necessary update. The window is visually similar to official Android or Google Play dialogs, and anyone who agrees to the update ends up downloading a manipulated APK file in the background. The APK download doesn’t take place via underground servers but rather via Hugging Face. The platform is widely used in the developer and AI community and has a good reputation, which is exactly what the attackers exploit: connections to Hugging Face aren’t classified as suspicious by many security solutions. Accessibility abuse as a gateway After installation, the actual malware requests extensive permissions. It pretends to be a system component called “Phone Security” and prompts users to activate Android accessibility features. These access rights are particularly critical. They allow an app to read screen content, log inputs, and overlay other applications. This means the malware can start capturing every PIN entry and/or unlock pattern, plus overlay fake login interfaces on top of genuine apps. This access allows data for payment services, messengers, and other sensitive apps to be intercepted. The captured information is then transmitted to a central control server belonging to the attackers. From there, new commands or updates can also be sent to infected devices. New variants make detection difficult According to Bitdefender, the attackers rely on so-called server-side polymorphism to evade detection—in short, new versions of the malware are generated approximately every 15 minutes. Each slightly modified APK file has the same functionality with negligible tweaks. Within one month, the researchers counted more than 6,000 different variants. The aim is to circumvent classic signature-based virus scanners. The campaign also changed names and icons several times after individual software packages were removed. What should you do now? Android users should only install apps from the Google Play Store and not allow apps from external sources. You should be particularly cautious with apps that claim to be security or protection software while also requiring extensive system permissions. Make sure to activate Google Play Protect for maximum security against threats. You should also be wary when downloading apps and files from well-known platforms. A reputable infrastructure doesn’t guarantee that provided files are safe or clean. Only activate accessibility features if you clearly understand the purpose of the app asking. If you’ve installed a suspicious app, you should remove it immediately and scan your device for malware. When in doubt, you may also want to reset your device to factory settings. Read...