Browser extensions can be just as dangerous as regular apps, and their integration with the tool everyone’s constantly using can make them seem erroneously innocuous. Case in point: a collection of more than 200 extensions for Chrome and other major browsers are being used to “scrape” website content. This essentially turns browser users into a free data center, with capacity sold off for profit. The Secure Annex report (spotted by Ars Technica) is an interesting one, documenting the MellowTel system. Here’s how it works: Step one, a developer of a legitimate extension is offered a tool that integrates a software library into the extension. Step two, this software library utilizes the “unused bandwidth” for a browser in ways that aren’t obvious to the actual PC user. What’s happening is that the extension is using some clever tricks to scan and “scrape” the website behind the scenes, in the same way search engines like Google do… but crucially bypassing some of the basic protections that are in place, like security headers and robots.txt. So not only are the extensions slipping past some of the web’s basic guardrails, they’re doing so while parked on an unsuspecting PC, using up the processing power, bandwidth, and electricity of a user who downloaded a free browser extension. This essentially makes the end user’s browser a “bot,” in the researcher’s words. Step three, that scraped data — extremely valuable in the age of AI training sets, among other useful things — is collected and sold. Step four, the developer of the extension, who may or may not be aware of all of this, gets paid… along with the creator of the software library, of course. Hundreds of Chrome, Edge, and Firefox extensions have been documented using MellowTel, though some have been removed for malware (possibly unrelated to the report) or simply taken out the library in an update. An updated list from researcher John Tucker is available here, along with links to the relevant pages on the Chrome Web Store, Microsoft Edge add-ons repository, and Firefox add-ons repository. Here’s the interesting thing. Though this behavior certainly mimics the processes of a botnet or other malware, it’s not actively malicious… at least in terms that would obviously hold up in court. The user downloaded and installed the browser extension (almost certainly without reading the fine print), the developer included the library. This isn’t too far removed from, say, the advertisements on this very page that are sharing a whole lot more data about you than you might feel comfortable with. The system that enables the scraping is even open source, available for anyone to inspect. That said, this is definitely stepping over an ethical line, in my (totally independent, non-accusatory, and non-culpable) opinion. Gobbling up “unused bandwidth” is a red flag — that’s bandwidth that the user paid for, used or not, and will definitely show up in a bill if you happen to be on a metered connection while mobile. Using someone else’s bandwidth without explicit informed consent, to say nothing of computing power, smacks of the same kind of behavior that had extensions mining cryptocurrency with strangers’ computers. And that’s without considering the security issues. Tucker notes that in addition to the scraping behavior, the extensions gather other data including the computer’s (and thus the user’s) location, and opens potentially unsafe connections to remote web servers to transmit the data. The potential for browser extensions to be malicious or unsafe isn’t new, but this kind of scraping and harvesting behavior is likely to become more common in the future. Read...

YouTube has an AI slop problem, with both the main site and the booming Shorts section filling up with low-effort crap shoveled in front of viewers by the millions. New policies are trying to demonetize, or sometimes even ban, accounts that take advantage of AI to mass produce garbage. But if Google is upset that it’s suddenly hosting the web’s video dross, it has only itself to blame. Starting on July 15th, and with less than a week of notice, YouTube will be taking a closer look at members of the YouTube Partner Program. This is the monetization side of YouTube videos that makes a career as an independent (or even corporate) YouTube video producer functional. Beginning next week, YouTubers who want to keep their advertising dollars will have to avoid “mass-produced and repetitious content,” as well as “inauthentic” videos. Technically these guidelines or effectively identical policies have been in place long before the current crop of AI-created video and audio tools became widely available. That channel that simply re-uploads movie trailers or collects nothing but Parks & Recreation clips isn’t meeting the threshold of actual creation, so most of those videos were probably demonitized and/or their advertising dollars were sent to the original intellectual property owners. But it seems like Google is adding a bit of language to the policy to make it easier for the company to cast a wide net on the new crop of AI slop. TechCrunch spotted a video from YouTube’s Head of Editorial & Creator Liaison Rene Ritchie, assuaging the fears of authentic YouTube creators who make “reaction or clips” videos. “This is a minor update to YouTube’s long-standing YPP policies, to help better identify when content is mass-produced or repetitive. This type of content has already been ineligible for monetization for years, and it’s content that views often consider spam. That’s it, that’s all.” “Spam” is putting it lightly. Anyone who uses YouTube on a regular basis couldn’t have missed that the de facto home of video on the web is filling up with videos, and especially shorts, that consist of entirely AI-generated images, video, narration, music, and almost certainly scripts. I’ve seen entire music albums from singers that don’t exist (sometimes pretending to be from singers that do), auto-generated and uploaded under the guise that the musical equivalent of pink slime is the authentic brainchild of a human. These channels can even automate most of the uploading and posting process, pumping out dozens of new videos a day and trying the same tactics across multiple channels until something hits. And while most of it disappears into the ether, the ones that do hit — like horrible and deliberately misleading fake trailers for fake movies — can get millions of hits, on videos that are worth less than the emissions it took some AI data center to conjure them up. And that’s without even touching the issues of deliberate misinformation and manipulation. YouTube has put policies in place already that limit what video “creators” can do, requiring them to label videos that use AI tools to generate video, audio, or narration tracks in alternate languages. But of course, that requires those users to self-report most of the time…and if you’re intentionally trying to game the system, you have zero incentive to do that. As someone who uses and enjoys YouTube (with a few important caveats), I applaud this effort. I really do. But I also can’t help but point out that if Google is trying to police YouTube and kick out all the junk, the first door it needs to knock on is its own. Of the many AI slop videos I’ve spotted, one of the most infuriating is the “podcast” format that uses an AI-generated summary of a topic or news article, then sets it to an AI-generated vocal track, often with multiple voices immitating two people with inauthentic pauses and back-and-forth dialog that would make Tommy Wiseau cringe. These videos are obviously running afoul of the newly updated YPP policy…despite the fact that they’re using Google’s own Gemini AI tool to create this “podcast” abomination. And this isn’t some trick or manipulation, it’s a feature that Google advertises itself. Recently Google added full video generation to Gemini under the Veo 3 label, making it available to all users in a public preview. And sure enough, Google is building this into YouTube itself. This will probably be a paid service when it rolls out to YouTube creators, and presumably (hopefully?) it’ll be automatically tagged as AI-generated content when YouTube video producers make use of it. But it would be trivially easy to download the video, scrub it of tags or other identifiers, and re-upload it in a new video without fear of automatic moderation. Look, I’m not an expert, either on managing a video service with billions of users or on selling tools to people who make videos. But it seems to me that Google wants to have its AI-generated video revenue while keeping YouTube as clean of low-effort slop as possible. And from where I’m sitting on the viewer side of things, those two goals seem mutually exclusive. Read...

Here’s a little tip I’ve discovered over the years: Deal events like Prime Day and Black Friday are the ideal time to splurge (and save big) on Samsung’s PC hardware. Samsung is renowned for its high-performance PC gear — especially its monitors, SSDs, and portable drives. But the behemoth company utterly slashes prices during deal events, drastically lowering the buy-in costs for even its crown jewel items. If you desire one of Samsung’s luscious ultra-wide OLEDs or speed-demon Pro SSDs, then Prime Day is Prime Time to buy, and the deals extend down the stack to more practical hardware as well. We’ve scoured the web to find the 12 best Samsung PC deals this Prime Day. Let’s dig in. Can’t-miss Samsung monitor deals: The big, badass 57-inch 4K mini-LED Odyssey Neo G9 This is the big, epic curved gaming monitor of your dreams. Samsung’s absolutely insane 57-inch 4K Quantum mini-LED display is now on sale for $700 off on Amazon with this Prime Day discount. It’s the world’s first Dual 4K monitor and it comes with AMD Freesync Premium Pro and a 240Hz refresh rate. A 30% sale on this behemoth means there is no better time than now to go big or go home. Get the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 for $700 off on Amazon The still huge 49-inch Odyssey OLED G9 Sure, it isn’t quite as big as the Odyssey Neo, but the Odyssey OLED G9 is still a really freaking big curved gaming monitor. This version comes with an ultrawide 1440p Quantum Dot OLED display, 240Hz refresh rate, and AMD Freesync Premium Pro. It’s currently on sale for $700 off on Amazon for Prime Day—that’s a crazy 44% off the asking price for this premium display. Get the Samsung Odyssey OLED G93SC for $700 off on Amazon The 49-inch Odyssey OLED G9, but with smart features! Okay, hear me out: how about the above Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 but with added smart features? If that sounds good then this is the gaming monitor for you. For $909 off, or a 50% discount, this is technically an even better deal for an upgraded model. You still get the fantastic 49-inch curved 1440p QD-OLED display with the addition of smart TV app support, a game bar, and voice assistance. Get the Samsung Odyssey OLED G95SC for $909 off on Amazon A killer deal on the 26-inch Odyssey OLED G6 Samsung’s stunning Odyssey OLED G6 marries 1440p QD-OLED goodness with a blistering-fast 240Hz refresh rate and support for AMD’s FreeSync Premium Pro technology. Amazon is currently offering it for an all-time low of $549 (or $250 off) this Prime Day, making it a tough deal for rival OLEDs to beat. Get the Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 for $250 off on Amazon Budget-friendly 32-inch Odyssey G5 QHD Rounding out the Samsung monitor deals this Prime Day is the Odyssey G50D for $164 off, bringing the discounted total to $265. This budget-friendly display might be cheaper, but it doesn’t compromise much with image quality. Sporting a 32-inch 1440p panel, it also comes with a respectable 180Hz refresh rate and 178 degree viewing angle. It’s a budget gaming monitor deal that’s hard to pass up. Get the Samsung Odyssey G50D for $164 off on Amazon Can’t-miss Samsung SSD deals: Samsung’s speed-demon 9100 Pro SSD With the new Samsung Pro 9100, the high-speed SSD king is back, baby — and you can get a nice deal on this world-class drive during Prime Day. The 1TB model has a solid 25% off, bringing it down to $150, but smart money is on the 2TB version. A gigantic 37% discount plunges the 2TB Samsung 9100 Pro all the way down to $189. Spending the extra $40 for a full extra terabyte of the fastest storage in the land is a no-brainer. You can grab the 4TB version for $385 — a sizeable 30% discount. Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB Samsung 990 EVO Plus Jon L. Jacobi Amazon is offering the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB for $114 ($63 off) for Prime Day. In our review we loved this premium PCIe 5.0 drive thanks to its lightning fast transfer speeds and great everyday performance, but its price was the only thing holding us back from giving it perfect marks. But thanks to this Prime Day sale, you can snag this high-end SSD for the price of many budget drives. Get the Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB for $63 off on Amazon Samsung T9 Portable SSD Samsung T9 portable 20Gbps SSD Jon L. Jacobi Portable SSDs are extremely useful and I can’t recommend them enough for just about everyone. And the Samsung T9 is one of the best. We gave this high-quality, luxurious-feeling external 20Gbps SSD high marks in our glowing review. Amazon now has it on sale for Prime Day at one of the lowest prices ever at $170 ($130 off) for the 2TB model. Other capacities are also on sale. Get the Samsung T9 Portable SSD for $130 off on Amazon Samsung T7 Portable SSD For something more budget friendly, the Samsung T7 Portable 2TB SSD deal for $120 ($70 off) on Amazon is the ticket. With fast read and write speeds of up to 1,050Mbps, it isn’t quite as fast as the T9, but can still move large files to and from your computer in a flash. Plus, it only weighs a featherlight 2.5 ounces. The T7 makes for a dependable and—thanks to this deal—affordable everyday external SSD. Get the Samsung T7 Portable SSD for $70 off on Amazon Can’t-miss Samsung Flash Drive deals: Samsung Fit Plus USB 128GB Flash Drive The name of the game with the Samsung Fit Plus USB Flash Drive is compactness—it’s so small you’ll barely notice it sticking out of your laptop. Just because it’s tiny though doesn’t mean it sacrifices on performance. The Fit Plus boasts read speeds up to 400 Mbps with USB 3.1. Get it on sale this Prime Day for only $14.99, or 35% off on Amazon. Get the Samsung Fit Plus USB Flash Drive for $14.99 on Amazon Samsung Bar Plus USB 256GB Flash Drive This is one of the best deals currently going for USB Flash drives this Prime Day. The Samsung Bar Plus is only $22 and it comes with 256GB of storage space and 400Mbps transfer speeds. The sleek outer casing is also waterproof and shockproof making it perfect for taking on-the-go whether that’s between home and work or out on an adventure. Get the Samsung Bar Plus USB Flash Drive for $21.99 on Amazon Can’t-miss Samsung laptop deals: Samsung Galaxy Book4 (AI) IDG / Chris Hoffman This Snapdragon X Plus-powered PC comes with a beautiful 15.6-inch 1080p display, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of onboard SSD storage. It’s currently on sale for $300 off on Amazon for Prime Day. In our review of a similar model, we couldn’t get enough of the long battery life and great build quality. Get the Samsung Galaxy Book4 (AI) for $599.99 on Amazon Samsung Galaxy Book5 360 Chris Hoffman / IDG This excellent 2-in-1 Samsung Galaxy Book5 360 comes with a latest-gen Core Ultra 7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. Plus, it sports a beautiful 16-inch 1920x1080p AMOLED display and impressive all-day battery life. It’s on sale for $300 off this Prime Day on Amazon. Get the Samsung Galaxy Book5 360 for $1,049.99 on Amazon Read...

Right now, big deals on splashy products dominate the headlines—supercharged PCs (and components), fancy TVs, expensive vacuum cleaners. But you can save money on less dramatic items during Amazon Prime Day, too. Cables, lighting, desk accessories, chargers—these everyday products sound boring, but life sucks when you don’t have them on hand. When the discounts are this good, it’s a smart time to replace, restock, or finally bite the bullet. Here are my 10 favorites of the bunch. A gas monitor arm to save desk space ($35) Credit: Huanuo I always recommend a monitor arm as a desk accessory. And not just any kind, either—specifically, a gas monitor arm. It’s one of the best upgrades for a setup, especially if you share the space with others. Adjustments to height and tilt are very smooth, and it frees up a ton of tabletop space. This fan-favorite Huanuo model is at one of its lower prices right now, just $35. (I still boggle at how cheap that is compared to what I paid for my mount.) This version supports 13- to 32-inch monitors, VESA 75×75 and 100×100 mount brackets, and up to 19.8 lbs in weight. Get a gas monitor arm for $35View deal High-wattage USB-C cables ($9+) Credit: Anker Older USB-C cables can’t always support laptop charging, especially for more powerful models with higher wattages. So for most people, picking up a couple of 100W cables (like this Anker two-pack of 6-footers for $9) will ensure all your devices charge at max speed. This particular deal is for nicer, nylon braided cords too, with the option of red or white cables if you pay an extra buck. Have a super energy-hungry laptop? Grab this two-pack of 6-foot 240W Anker USB-C cables for just $10. Get two 100W USB-C cables for $9View Deal A compact, multi-device charger ($24) Credit: Anker A single, small charger can juice up all your devices—and for many people with a 45W laptop, phone, and tablet (or portable gaming console), this $24 UGREEN 65W 4-port GaN charger can take on that job adequately. Need to funnel more energy to your gear? Consider this $46 Anker Prime 100W 3-port model instead, which still can provide 65W of charging off the primary USB-C port when you have a second device (e.g., phone) plugged into a secondary port. Get a 65W GaN charger for $24View Deal A 14TB external hard drive for backups ($170) Credit: WD You shouldn’t compromise on backing up your PC. Syncing your files to a Microsoft, Google, or Apple account isn’t enough—you can accidentally delete files on both your computer and in the cloud, for example. An easy way to keep copies of your files is on a separate local drive—and one with a lot of storage, like this 14TB Western Digital external desktop hard drive, is perfect for the job. You get plenty of room for all your files and multiple versions of backups. Get a 14TB external desktop hard drive for $170View Deal A portable light for use around the house ($24) Credit: Letour Our editorial director Jon Phillips swears by these $24 Letour LED Tubes as a cheaper alternative to a lantern. He grabs one for all kinds of dark corners—under the hood of a car, a dark closet, or even whatever room he’s in during a power blackout. You recharge them via a USB cable, and they hold a charge for long stretches. (He says he only charges them twice a year!) Get a rechargable LED tube light for $24View Deal A five-pack of future-proof Ethernet cables ($27) Credit: Amazon Prefer a wired connection for your devices? Your current Ethernet cables could be limiting your speed. Such a discovery prompted my colleague Mark Hachman to upgrade his outdated setup with Cat5 cables to the latest Cat8 spec. Cat5 maxes out at 100Mbps, lower than many common internet plans. If you’re in his same boat, jumping to Cat8 with this five-pack of cables costs just $26 and will future-proof you for years—currently, plans from Comcast, AT&T, and other ISPs still lag behind Cat8’s max of 40Gbps. Your own home hardware hasn’t caught up yet either, as most PCs still top out at 1Gbps or 2.5Gbps right now. One nice touch about this particular set of Cat8 Ethernet cables? They’re color-coded, so you can easily tell apart devices plugged into your router or network switch. Get a five-pack of Cat8 Ethernet cables for $27View Deal A power bank for your devices while away from home ($30) Credit: Belkin Whether embarking on summer travel or just heading to and from your usual haunts, a power bank will keep your phone running all day. For $30, you can choose between 20,000 mAh models from Belkin, Mophie, and Anker right now. I personally favor the Belkin option, since you can choose more than just black as a color—you’re less likely to mistake yours for someone else’s. Get a 20K mAh power bank for $30View Deal A chair with good ergonomics ($120) Credit: Staples Staples is having its own sale right now to rival Amazon—and the discounts have dropped its popular Hyken office chair down to just $120 (60 percent off!). A favorite of both Reddit and PCWorld’s own staff members, this ergo-friendly chair is now close to its all-time low price. (Looking for alternative office chair options? Check out our roundup of the best Prime Day office chair and standing desk deals.) Get an ergo-friendly office chair for $120View Deal A docking station for your laptop ($160) The front and back views of the dock. (Credit: UGREEN) At home, your laptop can be so much more—just as with a desktop PC, you can have a full setup with multiple monitors, a dedicated microphone and video camera, USB accessories, and more. A hub or docking station lets you easily connect and disconnect your laptop from all the extras you’d plug in—and currently one of the better deals is Ugreen’s Revodok Max 208 8-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 Dock, priced at $160. The only small caveat about this model is that it’s more of a hub than a dock, so you’ll need an adapter for USB-C to HDMI (or to DisplayPort) for the video signal. But they’re not too expensive: the uni USB-C to HDMI cable is just $13 right now. Get a mighty docking station for $160View Deal A powered USB hub with all the ports ($40) Credit: ikuai Docking station too rich for your blood? Or you only need more ports for your PC and nothing else? (Few things about computers are as annoying as not having anywhere to plug in a needed peripheral or accessory.) This $40 powered 11-in-1 USB hub from ikuai takes care of any such problem. It offers a ludicrous number of ports—3x USB 3.2 (with speeds up to 10Gbps), 7x USB 3.0 (with speeds up to 5Gbps), and a single USB-C 20W power delivery charging port. Get a USB hub with a ton of ports for $40View Deal Read...

As artificial intelligence becomes more and more prevalent modern day computing, Microsoft’s new Copilot PCs bring powerful AI capabilities right to your fingertips. Equipped with specialized hardware and advanced software, these devices promise a faster, smarter experience. In this article, we’ll explore what makes Copilot PCs stand out from the rest. 1. Specifications of Copilot PCs To ensure that the advanced AI functions can be executed quickly and smoothly, Copilot PCs must meet certain hardware requirements. The most important criterion is the presence of a special neural processor (aka the NPU). This component, which deals exclusively with AI tasks, must be able to perform at least 40 TOPS (trillions of operations per second). Copilot PCs must also have at least 16 gigabytes of RAM (DDR5 or LPDDR5) and be equipped with an SSD (solid state drive) with a capacity of 256 gigabytes or more. Security is a core feature, too. Every Copilot PC comes equipped with the Microsoft Pluton security chip, which works alongside TPM 2.0 to provide protection against both current and emerging cyber threats. 2. Advantages of an NPU By using a specialized processor that deals exclusively with the work associated with artificial intelligence, you benefit in two ways. First, the main processor (CPU) and graphics card (GPU) are noticeably relieved so that these components can take care of their traditional tasks. Second, a neural processor enables selected AI tasks to be performed locally, which significantly increases processing speed. This is likely why Microsoft describes Copilot PCs as “the fastest and most intelligent Windows PCs ever built.” IDG 3. AI without an internet connection If the computer has a dedicated NPU, an internet connection isn’t necessary for AI tasks. And since the content can be processed locally, you don’t have to worry about your data falling into the hands of third parties. IDG The only exceptions are web-based AI services such as ChatGPT, Dall-E, and Midjourney. They cannot be used in offline mode. Microsoft also points out that when using the AI component “Copilot” integrated in Windows 11 24H2, data is transmitted via the internet to ensure that user input does not violate the terms of use. 4. Qualcomm currently dominates the market There isn’t a particularly large selection of Copilot PCs available yet. This is because, at launch, only devices featuring one of two Qualcomm processors (Snapdragon X Pro or the Snapdragon X Elite), were released at launch last year. These include the Acer Swift 14 AI, the Dell Inspiron 14 Plus, the Microsoft Surface Pro, and the Microsoft Surface Laptop. IDG The Snapdragon CPUs share a key trait. They consume relatively little power, which can significantly increase battery life in normal operation. According to Microsoft, the Surface Laptop Copilot PC can run up to 22 hours on a single charge. 5. Other manufacturers are following suit AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 and select models from the Ryzen 7000 and Ryzen 8000 series as well as Intel’s Core Ultra 200V processors are also AI-optimized. In contrast to the Qualcomm processors, however, they’re based on the conventional x86 architecture. This can be a decisive criterion for users who want to continue using all Windows programs in their possession in the future. IDG However, AMD and Intel AI processors do not yet support all the special Copilot PC functions. According to Microsoft, the missing AI features will be added through free Windows updates by the end of 2024 or early 2025. This means Copilot PCs with AMD and Intel processors will also support the full range of AI functions. 6. Current Copilot PC features Windows 11 24H2 already includes several AI features that run on all computers, including the web-based AI assistant Copilot, the Image Creator function in Paint, and the Microsoft Designer components built into the standard in the Windows Photo Viewer app, which lets users redesign images with a single click. IDG In contrast, Copilot PCs offer exclusive AI features that require a neural processor. These include Windows Studio Effects for better video conferencing, real-time transcription of conversations with translation into more than 40 languages, and the Cocreator function in Paint, which can convert any drawing into professional graphics and supports user-defined prompts when designing images. 7. AI features coming soon In addition, Microsoft has announced a range of other AI features. Super Resolution is designed to increase the resolution of images many times over, while Restyle can transform ordinary photos into small works of art. However, the controversial Recall function, which has been criticized over potential data privacy concerns, is still up in the air. IDG So far, all that’s known is that Microsoft has removed Recall from the final version of Windows 11 24H2 for Copilot PCs, meaning the feature is only available to users in the Windows Insider program. 8. Program from other manufacturers also support NPUs Third-party software can also take advantage of the neural processors build into Copilot PCs to accelerate demanding AI tasks. Many well-known manufacturers have already optimized their programs for the AI age. These include the image editing software Adobe Photoshop, the video editing program Capcut, and the mixing software DjayPro. IDG 9. ARM instead of x86 In contrast to Copilot PCs with AMD and Intel processors, devices equipped with a Qualcomm CPU are based on the ARM architecture. This differs from the x86/x64 architecture of conventional computers, meaning that not all apps and applications developed for Windows can be used. However, Microsoft states that users spend about 90 percent of their time using programs that are also available as native ARM versions. IDG The selection is indeed large–from office packages like Microsoft 365, LibreOffice, and Microsoft Office, to browsers such as Google Chrome, Brave Browser, and Opera, and even security software like Avast Premium Security, Bitdefender Total Security, and Trend Micro Antivirus. Almost all of these are available in native ARM versions. Adobe deserves a special call-out here, as the company already has many products optimized for the ARM architecture. This means Adobe can be used on Copilot PCs with Snapdragon CPUs without any problems. In addition to Photoshop and Photoshop Lightroom, this includes the video editing program Premiere Pro as well as the beta versions of Illustrator and Indesign. 10. Emulating x86 programs In order to be able to use programs that were not developed natively for the ARM platform, Windows 11 for ARM architectures includes Prism, a new emulator that converts x86 control commands into ARM instructions in real time. IDG In practice, this works quite well as long as it does not involve applications that intervene deeply in the system such as virus scanners, VPN tools, or virtualization software. On the windowsonarm.org website, you’ll find a regularly updated list of all programs that run natively or can be used on ARM systems with the help of the emulator. Video conferencing with AI support The AI functions Auto Framing, Portrait Light, Eye Contact, Background Effects, Creative Filters, and Voice Focus included in Windows Studio Effects are designed to improve the quality of video and audio transmissions during video conferences. These effects can be activated through both the Windows Settings and via the Quick Settings, which you can open using the Win + A key combination. Here’s another advantage. Because these functions are permanently integrated into the operating system, it doesn’t matter whether you hold video conferences via Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or another video conferencing app. Windows Studio Effects require an NPU, so they are only available on Copilot PCs. Read...

On February 2nd, 2025, computer scientist and OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy made a flippant tweet that launched a new phrase into the internet’s collective consciousness. He posted that he’d “fully given into the vibes” when programming with AI assistance. There`s a new kind of coding I call `vibe coding`, where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists. It`s possible because the LLMs (e.g. Cursor Composer w Sonnet) are getting too good. Also I just talk to Composer with SuperWhisper…— Andrej Karpathy (@karpathy) February 2, 2025 The tweet of course kicked off a flame war, because that’s how X works, especially under the current management. But for me, the tweet hit home—because it perfectly describes how I use AI to code. Update: After this article proved popular, I wrote a vibe coding tutorial to help interested tinkerers start making their own custom apps! Check out ‘Vibe coding’ your own apps with AI is easy! 7 tools and tricks to get started and begin your own journey. I’ll link it at the end as well if you’d rather read this before hopping over. My experience with vibe coding I’ve always had an interest in programming, because I’ve always had an interest in computers. I put together websites in HTML as a teenager (which, yes, were hosted on GeoCities) and have been occasionally dabbling in Python since. Yet none of my projects got very far and, apart from my early websites, I never made anything useful. My efforts all followed a familiar pattern: I’d fixate on a particular resource—like an O’Reilly book or an online course—and get started with great enthusiasm, but as I’d realize I was months or years away from creating anything remotely useful, I’d give up. I’ve used Claude AI to quickly generate a simple dice roller web app.Matt Smith / Foundry That changed in late 2024 when my general frustration with WordPress, which I was using for my personal website, got the better of me. In a fit, I threw my website’s content plus a screenshot of it into Claude 3.5 Sonnet and asked the AI to replicate my site with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. To my amazement, Claude 3.5 generated a functional website. It wasn’t perfect, but after a couple hours of working with Claude, I wound up with a website I liked even better than its WordPress predecessor. My approach was exactly what Karpathy described. I didn’t read the code, nor did I really try to understand it (though I did have to think a bit about how the featured articles carousel works). That aside, I just told Claude what to do, copy-and-pasted the results in VSCode, saved the file, and reloaded my browser to see what changed. And it worked. A work-in-progress screenshot of my Pico-8 puzzle game and the vibe-coded source.Matt Smith / Foundry But the most important part? It was fun! Fun enough that I’ve since tried my hand at several other coding projects. I made an online tool to track initiative and roll dice when DMing tabletop roleplaying games, I made another tool to simplify rolling dice in Battletech, and I’m currently making a puzzle game for the Pico-8 virtual game console. I also used AI to guide me through setting up tools that require a bit of fussing, like OpenAI’s Whisper speech-to-text model. Notably, all three projects were in different programming languages—HTML/JavaScript, Python, and Lua—none of which I’m even remotely proficient with. I’ve also dabbled in some C#, as I started to make the puzzle game in Unity before deciding it was overbuilt for my needs and swapping to Pico-8. I also toyed with turning my tabletop RPG tool into a Windows app before deciding that wasn’t helpful. The risks and pitfalls of vibe coding So, yeah, I’m vibing. But is it all good vibes? Or does vibe coding herald the same kind of AI slop-driven era for software as we’re seeing for blogs, forums, artwork, video, and music? That’s the big fear of critics, and it’s easy to understand those fears. Karpathy’s “vibe coding” is fast, fun, and approachable, but it isn’t rigorous, detail-oriented, or careful. The code written by AI will often work, but it can contain flaws that aren’t immediately obvious—and that raises an obvious question: how does a know-nothing programmer spot bugs and security flaws in AI-generated code? The simple answer is… they can’t. Take the case of Leonel Acevedo—better known as just “leo”—who posted about his experience vibe coding a SaaS startup, only to find himself dealing with major issues like unsecured API keys. It led to hundreds of videos and social media posts dunking on Leo’s naïveté: guys, i`m under attackever since I started to share how I built my SaaS using Cursorrandom thing are happening, maxed out usage on api keys, people bypassing the subscription, creating random shit on dbas you know, I`m not technical so this is taking me longer that usual to…— leo (@leojr94_) March 17, 2025 To be clear, I don’t have much sympathy for Leo. He used social media to promote his business with posts clearly built to drive engagement. And, well, that’s how chasing influence on social media works. Sometimes you’re the hero and sometimes you’re the villain. (Predictably, Leo is already making content about “rebuilding my SaaS in 30 days.”) Yet, I question what his problems are supposed to prove. Is vibe coding a SaaS and going straight into production dumb? Sure. But are most people vibe coding a SaaS startup and flinging it into the world like the baby in an Xbox commercial? Of course not. The reality is a lot more practical. Some people, like me, see vibe coding as a fun way to tackle simple projects that were previously out of reach. Others, including many software engineers, will use it as way to build prototypes, demonstrate proofs of concept, and—yes!—learn. It’s the blogging revolution… for code In a strange way, vibe coding reminds me of the circumstances from decades ago that paved the way for me to become a tech journalist. I grew up in a small midwestern town. My high school was so small, we didn’t even have a school newspaper. Then I went to college and got a degree… in English Literature. Not journalism or communications. I never wrote for the college paper, either. I then graduated college with no useful contacts or work experience. But I lucked out. I graduated right when the blogsphere exploded and social media took over the internet. Suddenly, formal credentials and an industry-specific degree, though helpful, weren’t necessary. So, I started writing—and eventually publications started paying me for it. I’ve been doing this now for 17 years. To me, vibe coding looks like it will do something similar for future software engineers and the programming landscape. Forget formal training. With AI assistance, people who are interested in programming don’t even need informal training. Anyone who knows their way around a laptop can ask ChatGPT about the tools they need to get started, how to install them and get them working, and generate the very code they need to get the first version of their project up and running. These people will make mistakes. A lot of the code generated will be bad, or at least inelegant. People will lose projects because they encounter a bug they can’t fix. The AI-generated code in my own projects is enough to make a senior software engineer go blind, I’m sure. But if it opens programming a bit wider to people (like me) who otherwise lack the patience to spend six months reading an O’Reilly tome just to spin up a halfway decent Python program, well, that seems like a win. Further reading: ‘Vibe coding’ your own apps with AI is easy! 7 tools and tricks to get started Read...

On Wednesday, Perplexity.ai debuted Comet, its first entry into the browser market that does away with Google and Microsoft’s Bing in favor of its own search engine. Comet will be available for both Windows and macOS platforms, the company said. Perplexity has locked Comet behind a, um, perplexing pricing model. Although Comet is technically free, Perplexity has made it accessible for now via a waitlist. If you’d like to download it, you can wait for your turn to arrive or subscribe to Perplexity Max, the company’s $200/mo plan that includes access to its latest AI models. What sets Perplexity apart is that the browser doesn’t use a traditional third-party search engine. Instead, it relies upon Perplexity’s AI engine to provide AI summaries of the answers. It also can perform tasks that other AI engines can do, such as summarizing web pages. The Browser Company of New York has also launched an AI browser called Dia. Our colleagues at TechCrunch took Comet for a spin, and found the browser useful, though it couldn’t handle complex tasks. One disconcerting aspect: if you want Comet to be able to help organize your own life, you’ll need to give it access to your private information, such as your calendar and email. Comet also employs agentic AI, which sends off various AI couriers to perform tasks independently, then waits for your approval. The problem? In this case, it didn’t work. When TechCrunch’s Maxwell Zeff asked Comet to seek out and book a parking space for an upcoming trip, things went south. “Turns out, Comet Assistant hallucinated and entered completely wrong dates, later telling me that the dates I wanted were booked, but still wanted to have me complete the check-out anyways,” Zeff said. “I had to tell the AI agent that the dates were non-negotiable, and asked it to find another location. It ran into the same problem again.” Perplexity, indeed. Read...

About a week ago, I decided I would never buy another Ethernet cable, ever. If you’re like me, you have a box or drawer with dozens of cables. And while some cables have specific connections, like USB-C, my wired network (such as it is) is just a random collection of colored Ethernet cables with tiny little markings telling me what they can or can’t do. How much data can that cable transfer? I had no idea. And that’s bad. I had never really thought about which Ethernet cables were being run between my cable modem, router, Xbox, and desktop PC. But I had performed speed tests more than once, and worried that my network was running slower than usual. And I also knew the problem: my network would run only as fast as its slowest segment. If my Ethernet cables were transferring less data than my router or gateway, I was potentially wasting money. I didn’t need to spend time researching the fastest mesh router or the best Internet gateway. If my cables were ancient, my entire network would be bogged down by my slowest cable. If my ISP quietly increased the speed of my broadband connection, I might not see any benefit. And I had already found an old Cat5 cable hooked up to my Xbox, a standard which had been basically extinct for about two decades. Ew! A Cat5 cable may be good enough for your current router, but it might not be for long.Mark Hachman / Foundry About a week before my colleague Dominic Bayley published a helpful explainer on the differences between Ethernet cables, I researched the problem myself. Ethernet comes in different categories, all the way from the ancient Category 3 to the latest Category 8. So Category 8 is the latest and greatest? OK, fine. How much does a Category 8 cable cost? Basically nothing, as it turns out. I discovered I could buy a five-pack of color-coded, nylon-braided Category 8 Ethernet cables for $35.99 on Amazon. (Update: They’re on sale for just $26.99 during Amazon Prime Day!) Broadband services are always getting faster. Cable modems are, too. But even the fastest cable modems and broadband plans offer just a few gigabits per second, while this Cat8 cable offers a whopping 40Gbits/s of speed. Owning color-coded, braided Ethernet cables for about the price of a nice lunch made me happy.Mark Hachman / Foundry For me, it was a no-brainer. I bought the cables from Amazon, quickly swapped out my existing cables for the new color-coded options, and resolved never to think about what Ethernet cable I owned ever again. Get a five-pack of color-coded, nylon-braided Cat8 Ethernet cables for $26.99Buy Now at Amazon Read...

Google is introducing a new feature in Gmail to help users better control the number of subscription emails in their inbox. The “Manage Subscriptions” feature displays a list of email senders that send newsletters and other subscription-based communications, sorted by how frequently they send emails. Users can unsubscribe directly from the list by clicking an unsubscribe button that sends a request to the sender. It’s also possible to see how many emails each sender has sent in the past few weeks. The Manage Subscriptions feature is available from the menu in the top left corner of Gmail.The rollout is happening in phases. The web version will get the feature starting today, the Android app on July 14, and the iOS app on July 21. However, it may take a few weeks before it appears for all users. The feature will be available to all personal Google accounts, as well as to Google Workspace and Workspace Individual users in selected countries. It’s not exactly clear who these are. Read...

A complete home security system protects your entry points (doors and windows), detects motion inside your home while you’re away, and includes a keypad for arming and disarming the system. Ring makes some of our favorite systems, and you can pick up one during Amazon’s Prime Day sale for as much as 50% off. The Ring Alarm 5-piece kit is a good place to start, and it might be all you need if you have a small home, condo, or apartment. It includes the central hub with battery backup, a keypad, a single door/window sensor, an indoor motion detector, and one range extender. Amazon has cut the price of this system in half, bringing its price down to $100. Ring’s keypad has large, easy-to-read buttons for arming and disarming the system and–if you’re paying for professional monitoring–for summoning help in an emergency. Wes Davis / IDG If you need to protect more doors and windows, the Ring Alarm 8-piece kit comes with four of them (they cost $20 each if purchased separately), plus the other components listed above.  Amazon has knocked 40% off the price of this system, bringing its price down to $150. For larger homes, consider the Ring Alarm 14-piece kit. It comes with two keypads, so you can mount one at your front door and another at your back, garage, or side door; two motion sensors, and 8 door/window sensors, plus the range extender. This system also gets a 40% discount for Prime Day, for a final price of $199. Ring Alarm Pro is on sale, too The Ring Alarm Pro system, pictured up top, uses all the same components as the Ring Alarm, but with a higher-end hub that includes an integrated Eero Wi-Fi 6 router and a microSD card slot for local storage of video recordings from Ring security cameras. I personally use this system and swear by it. Amazon’s discount isn’t as generous—its 20% off the usual price—but you get a lot for $400: The hub with an integrated mesh Wi-Fi router, an Eero Wi-Fi 6 mesh Wi-Fi node, two motion sensors, eight door/window sensors, and a Z-Wave range extender for the sensors for $400. Ring Alarm systems are (of course) compatible with the rest of the Ring product line, including its video doorbells, indoor and outdoor security cameras, floodlight cameras, smart lighting devices, and Alexa smart speakers and displays. You can also integrate certified third-party devices, including smart locks, smoke detectors, plug-in and in-wall lighting controls, and more (check out the Works With Ring page for the entire list). Monitoring options You can either self-monitor these systems—receiving alerts on your smartphone and triggering a local siren—or pay for 24/7 professional monitoring that will summon first- responders in the event of a police, fire, or medical emergency. You can choose between two Ring Home subscription plans to service a Ring Alarm or Ring Alarm Pro system. The Standard plan costs $10 per month or $100 per year, plus $10 per month for professional monitoring. It provides remote viewing for all your Ring security cameras and video doorbells and cellular backup for the Ring Alarm or Ring Alarm Pro base station. In case your broadband connection fails, the system will automatically switch over to a cellular network. If you opt for the more powerful Ring Alarm Pro system, I’d recommend going with the Premium plan. It costs $20 per month or $200 per year, plus $10 per month for professional monitoring, but in addition to everything you get in the Standard plan, you get 24/7 recording for your Ring security cameras and video doorbells; AI video descriptions for the same; Ring Edge, to take advantage of the microSD storage on the Ring Alarm Pro base station; and—perhaps most importantly—24/7 internet backup for the Eero Wi-Fi router in that base station. Get a Ring Alarm system for up to 50% offBuy it on Amazon For great Prime Day discounts on other tech products, check out the best of PCWorld’s Prime Day deals. Read...