Windows
Windows 10 PCs are a go as manufacturers and Insiders get final build
Windows 10 is coming to a computer near you on July 29, for free if you have Windows 7 or Windows 8 already. But what about PCs with Windows 10? After some delays in releasing the finalized version of Windows 10, Microsoft insiders today confirmed to The Verge reporters that the final Windows 10 build is ready to be sent off to device manufacturers. Although there’s no word about Windows 10 for phones being sent out to manufacturers, being this close to getting our hands on Windows 10 PCs is exciting. That’s because Microsoft’s operating system has been in the unpopular gang for a while now. But Windows 10 has been and is being marketed well and consumers are catching on.
Windows 10 PCs are still a bit of a way off, but it’s refreshing to hear that on July 29, the Windows 10 launch day, there will be PCs running the fresh new OS available. Dell CEO has confirmed that the company would have PCs ready on the 29th, and with the confirmed release of Windows 10 build 10240, the finalized version, more device manufacturers might join the welcoming party. There are many forum and discussion panel members out there hyped up about the prospect of Windows 10 on powerful PCs, and those who are in line for an upgrade are very supportive of Windows 10.
Excitement about the new OS comes from great marketing and a lot of work on the part of Microsoft. Windows 10 will strive to be an upgraded version of Windows 7, with its own little ecosystem in place. This ecosystem involves the Edge browser (formerly known as the Microsoft Spartan browser), Cortana (quite heavily, especially when used with Edge), Windows 10 for phones, HoloLens, Azure, Continuum and a lot of integration. People are liking the concept and Microsoft is confident that an integrated digital experience choreographed by Windows 10 can be what the tech community was missing.
But there’s more to Windows 10 than just its confirmed presence on PCs. Even though we’re looking forward to see what HP, Toshiba, Dell and Lenovo prepared, CEO Satya Nadella is confident that Windows Phone will be as successful as Windows 10 thanks to the integration and the ecosystem that Microsoft is working on. In the insightful interview of Mary Jo Foley, Nadella was quite eloquent about what ecosystem means for Microsoft and why it represents the next step in technology.
Nonetheless, the hype of the moment consists of Windows 10 PCs, and they’re well on their way. Even though Microsoft warned that most of the first Windows PCs will only become available in mid-August. Which shouldn’t be a problem for PC fans, because picking and choosing between PCs is more of a pleasure than a pain. I for one, am waiting to see what mainstream as well as slightly unknown companies have planned for Windows 10, before choosing my upgrade. But those who want to get on the wagon early will still have options to choose from.
HP has already spoken out about their business line-up of devices coming alongside Windows 10, and that includes the Elite as well as the Zbook line-up. Specifics about each device have not been disclosed at the moment, but HP representatives did talk about the Sure Start boot protection that will get an upgrade with Windows 10. Sure Start will have a backup copy of your BIOS system that it can use in case something goes wrong, and that’s unique to HP.
But HP is not the only one preparing innovation for the Windows 10 release. Dell will have Inspiron desktops with Windows 10 ready on July 29, as well as 2 in 1 PCs like the Dell Inspiron 11-3147, the XPS 8700 desktop and more. Dell is ready to receive preorders and has decided to offer one-day shipping so that customers can get a brand new device with Windows 10 on board by July 30, which is interesting for those who have the early-adopter fever, too. Lenovo and Acer will also have new devices ready, but details about the desktops and notebooks themselves have not been disclosed.
At least we know that so far, the preparations for the Windows 10 launch are going great and we’re definitely looking forward to the year. Insiders will be the happiest of them all though, since Microsoft is hosting events all across the world for them. These events will follow the company’s “Upgrade Your World” tagline for the Windows 10 launch and will offer participants exclusive access to hardware, devices and activities surrounding the new operating system. These insiders are our way in to find out more about Windows 10 for phones, the Lumia 940 and the Lumia 1030, too. Insiders have already received access to the Windows 10 10240 build, and they’re going to love the new Edge browser. Exciting times call for exciting measures!
Since everything is going smoothly for Microsoft right now, and people seem to be genuinely interested in the free Windows 10 upgrade, this campaign could already be called successful. But we will find out how Windows 10 will be received by users soon enough and that’s what will mark the chaging point for Microsoft this year. If the OS pleases enough people, the ecosystem is a go and can be further developed.
Additionally, stand-alone groups will now have access to 32-person video chats.
One of the new features that WhatsApp is introducing is one that aims to group together related group chats. The Communities feature, which was introduced earlier this year by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, aims to let users consolidate group chats “under one umbrella with a structure that works for them.” For Facebook and Instagram, comparable technologies are under development.
In the upcoming months, communities will be accessible to all WhatsApp users. To discuss topics that are important to you, you can create smaller group chats inside a community and easily switch between them. WhatsApp will provide administrators with “strong new capabilities” to govern communities, including the capacity to select which groups to include and the option to broadcast announcements to all users.
WhatsApp suggests that communities may be created through local areas, workplaces, and parents with children attending the same school. To begin, select the Communities tab from the menu at the top of the Android app or the bottom of the iOS screen. You will have the option of building a community from scratch or expanding an existing one.
The Communities feature has some similarities to Facebook Groups (as well as Nextdoor and Discord), but it is protected by end-to-end encryption. Making group chats more like Facebook Groups, where false information has thrived in recent years, may have some drawbacks, even though Zuckerberg has been eying a community-driven model to lessen the reliance on feeds across Meta’s applications. Due to the platform’s focus on encryption, WhatsApp generally has fewer moderation capabilities, which may make it harder to keep a lid on fabrications.
In other places, WhatsApp is giving groups—including those that aren’t connected to a community—new functionality. Group polls are also being added, along with support for the 32-person encrypted video conversations that Meta has been beta-testing over the past few weeks. Furthermore, groups now support a maximum of 1,024 people.
Privacy is an ever-growing concern in the digital age, as many companies have been caught doing some very insidious things. While many have made an effort to try and restore everyone’s trust, they are still getting caught making some big mistakes and another such instance has come to light today.
Instagram recently awarded $6,000 to a security researcher after he discovered his photos and messages on the social media app’s servers that he deleted over a year ago. His content was supposed to have been removed after downloading a copy of his data from the photo-sharing app, though that didn’t end up happening due to what Instagram claims was a glitch.
Instagram said the following about the issue to TechCrunch:
“The researcher reported an issue where someone’s deleted Instagram images and messages would be included in a copy of their information if they used our Download Your Information tool on Instagram. We’ve fixed the issue and have seen no evidence of abuse. We thank the researcher for reporting this issue to us.”
This isn’t the first time that a user’s information remained on a company’s servers long after they were supposed to have been removed, and it definitely won’t be the last. This is yet another reminder that what you post online likely is still floating around somewhere even if you’ve deleted it, so be careful out there.
A new update for Windows 10 is in the works, and Insiders are able to download a preview build 19640 now. While it isn’t a massive update by any means, it does deliver a couple of notable generable improvements that will still be welcomed by Windows 10 users.
The following is a list of the general changes and improvements:
- Based on feedback, if your Downloads folder is synced to a cloud provider, we are disabling the option to have Storage Sense automatically clear out your Downloads folder on a cycle.
- We updated our login logic, so if your PC is set up so you need to type in your username when logging in, accidentally starting your username with a space will no longer result in an error.
Of course, seeing as this is a preview build, there are undoubtedly going to be some issues. The following is a list of the issues that are currently known, though it’s possible that there are even more:
- We’re looking into an issue where some devices booting from eMMC storage bugchecked when resuming from hibernate.
- We’re looking into reports of the update process hanging for extended periods of time when attempting to install a new build.
- We’re working on fixing an issue for a future Insider Preview build where in Settings > Privacy, the Documents and Downloads sections show a broken icon next to their page name (just a rectangle).
- We’re looking into reports that taskbar preview thumbnails aren’t rendering consistently (showing a blank area).
You can find all of the details via the official blog post. It remains to be seen when this update will release for all users, but we’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available.
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