AI Fails, iPhone Air Leaks, and SteamOS Expansions

Microsoft Copilot Glitch Leads Sudden Vanishing – AI Fails?

Microsoft accidentally removed its Co-Pilot conversation software on many computers this week due to a Windows upgrade glitch that had been rolled out recently. The PC users had been having buggy problems for months due to the Windows H upgrade. With bugginess as bad as that, who cares about the patches, right? I mean AI Fails?

Microsoft has been aggressively promoting Co-Pilot, nagging users relentlessly to use it, adding a Co-Pilot button to Windows laptops, and even tacking it onto the back end of the App Suite previously known as Office, now Microsoft Co-Pilot. Microsoft spoke about the glitch in a support note explaining that it’s on the job. The affected parties must reinstall the application through the Microsoft Store as it works to fix the issue.

Oops. Get that installed, and we’ll move on.

Valve Teases SteamOS Expansion Beyond Steam Deck

Valve has rolled out its latest SteamOS preview, and in the change log list, we see the following interesting line: “Initial work on supporting non-Steam Deck handhelds.”

What a lovely phrase with which to be vague. Nobody knows what it means, but it’s interesting—it gets the news posts written! It’s a sign that Valve’s still working on making an installable version of SteamOS available on other handhelds, which the company teased during the spring.  

Besides being a standalone prospect, SteamOS.preview keeps the battle against Windows ongoing with the upgrade from Plasma to Plasma, bringing their desktop mode closer to being fully formed. We’re a long, long way away from the masses of PC players ditching Windows for SteamOS. Still, we’ll eventually see a generalized install version—although I’m bracing myself for Valve to go all Valve and release SteamOS Episode 3.  

The iPhone Air: A New Thin Contender?

We’re getting some new news about the iPhone Air courtesy of Apple prophet Germatron Prime, aka Mark Gurman, owner of the Matrix of the German ship.  

The phone that shall be as thin as a sheet of paper shall reportedly be released this fall on a 6.1-inch display. Apple reportedly created a 6.9-inch model to rival the Pro Max but didn’t desire to resurrect the BendGate spectacle. Good luck with that, Vin Diesel. 

Other leaker news corroborates Gurman’s demand for the inaugural foldable iPhone and states the iPhone Air shall be 5.4mm thick. According to these dummy models for the whole lineup, the non-Air iPhones are dummy thick—that’s, I guess, the same as fine-looking.  

That may be true.  

AI Fails? – Amazon Ends Option to Block AI Voice Processing

Quick Bytes hour! Echo owners have received word from Amazon that because their AI must be cloud-processed, they’re ending the option to block sending voice recordings to the cloud servers.  

Oh, they’ve swallowed up the entire Internet and require more data to train on—that’s certainly not an issue.  

Gemini AI Removes Watermarks Too Well – AI Fails?

Discussing more advanced AI, the newly updated version of the Gemini software was quite good at watermarking removal for pictures.

I have done this with regular Photoshop for years. It’s not for commercial value, but to be a big shot.  I don’t know if this is an AI win or AI fails event.

Roku Starts Inserting Ads Before Home Screen Loads

Roku decided to join the crowd and started inserting ads on screens even as home screens were still loading.

Not surprisingly, users were ambushed, and one on Roku’s forum said hopefully, this is a glitch. Roku told Ars Technica: Nope, that’s on purpose.

They figure everyone can chill—they’re trying something new.

What else would you be doing? Would you be waiting for something to load on the internet? Having a contemplative moment of human thought? You loser. Shop more.

Pixel 8a is Already on Sale in Dubai

Like the Google Pixel 8a, it’s already on the market if you live in Dubai.

YouTubers had their unboxing videos ready, one in Hindi, the other in English, even before the phone was announced.

You might call those guys rude. You might call launch days fake, too.

Good news, you don’t need to go to college.

GIMP Gets a Major Overhaul

The stable version has come! The most widely used open-source image manipulation software with a name that is an offensive slur.  

Not only does the new version have a revamped interface that people may actually be eager to use, but it also has tons of new features that make it well worth the wait of a year or so for version 3.0.  

There would be more million-and-some revisions afterward, but I only count the round numbers.  

Qualcomm unveils the new Snapdragon G Series for smartphone gaming.

The new line of portable gaming consoles, the One XPlayer, with the second aspect-ratio-d screen that emerges at the rear, shall be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon G Series processors.

Pivotable controllers even support these two screens.

Tune in for more news about technology because you’ll need something else to go with that pop corn like Budget vs Mid-Range vs Flagship Phones: Worth Your Money?

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