Technology

Special edition.

The holidays are stressful enough, so why add to the pressure? Avoid these often costly credit card offers to keep your finances in check.

One of Canva's competitors now has AI-powered features. How does PosterMyWall stack up?

Rolling serving cart.

• Microsoft's AI assistant can now see in the Copilot Vision preview
• Now out in a limited beta for a select few, Copilot can browse the web in Edge
• It's entirely opt-in, but you'll be able to converse with Copilot about what you're seeing

Similar to how Windows Recall will give AI access to what’s on your screen, Microsoft’s rolling out a similar experience for Copilot in a limited preview. Originally teased alongside the redesign of Microsoft’s AI assistant, Copilot Vision is now rolling out as an early preview for a select few in the United States.

As the name suggests, it will let Copilot see what’s on your screen, specifically within Microsoft’s Edge browser, so it can essentially browse the web with you. This way, you can hit it with topical questions about what you’re seeing – be it an illustration, a video, type-based text, or even handwriting. And no, you won't need to type these out, but you can converse with Copilot with just your voice.

In an announcement post published by Microsoft, Copilot Vision is described as: “When you choose to enable Copilot Vision, it sees the page you’re on, it reads along with you, and you can talk through the problem you’re facing together. Browsing no longer needs to be a lonely experience with just you and all your tabs.”

It seems like it’s almost being pitched as a companion, so if you’re browsing a shopping website like Amazon or Zappos, you could potentially ask for suggestions about what you’re looking at. Moreover, though, if you're browsing restaurant reviews, you could ask if any mention a specific event – like good for anniversaries – or ask for other recommendations. Seeing how it’s built directly into Edge – if you opt-in – Microsoft seemingly hopes that it’ll be called upon quite a bit and prove to be useful.

Microsoft is also sharing three of Copilot Vision being used for shopping, planning a trip to a museum, and gaming. The latter is almost similar to Game Assist in Edge, which reduces the need to alt-tab.

Suppose you’re concerned about privacy with Copilot Vision, which may be similar to Recall, which finally launched in November in beta. In that case, you'll be happy that Microsoft is taking a better approach with this new AI feature. It’s entirely opt-in and is only currently available via Copilot Labs to a limited number of Copilot Pro subscribers in the United States.

Furthermore, in its current build, Copilot Vision is only available for a select set of websites, and it seems Microsoft will only expand on that when it deems it ready to do so. Slow and steady will be the approach for adding more subscribers and expanding the sites it works with; Microsoft explains: “We’re taking our time to gather feedback, iterate on the technology, and will expand access to more Pro subscribers and more websites over time.”

If you’re in the early beta of Copilot Vision, another win is that after the session, the associated data and the context it’s used within will be deleted. So that information does not stick around Copilot, only the response to the tools “are logged to improve our safety systems,” says Microsoft.

If you’re keen to give it a go and are a Copilot Pro subscriber in the United States, you can check via Copilot Labs to see if Copilot Vision for Edge is available as a preview for you.

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Adult pocket spring hybrid mattress.

Let's be honest, horizontal scrolling wasn't intuitive.

• The MSI Claw 8 AI+ and MSI Claw 7 AI+ are MSI's second-gen gaming handhelds
• Both handhelds are powered by the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V with Intel Arc Xe2 graphics
• Preorder the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ at Amazon, Best Buy, or the MSI store

MSI launched its latest gaming handhelds, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and MSI Claw 7 AI+, this week, following up on its inaugural MSI Claw that launched earlier this year.

The new MSI Claw handhelds will feature the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V system-on-a-chip (SoC), which features Intel's new Arc Xe2 graphics architecture for improved gaming performance and efficiency. The first MSI Claw featured Intel's previous generation SoC, and the handheld received somewhat mixed reviews regarding performance.

With the second-generation Intel Core Ultra 7 chip, however, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ should be able to move past the problems of its predecessor. Though, we won't know for sure until we get our hands on one ourselves.

In addition to the Core Ultra 7 chip, the Claw 8 AI+ will feature an 8-inch 1200p, 120Hz display with 100% sRGB color gamut and up to 500 nits brightness. It also comes with 32GB LPDDR5x-8533 RAM (impressive for a gaming handheld), a 1TB PCIe SSD, and a massive 80 WHr battery with 65W USB 3.,0 power delivery.

The Claw 7 AI+, meanwhile, differs from the above only in its screen size – it's 7 inches rather than 8 inches – and a smaller 54.5 WHr battery.

The MSI Claw 8 AI+ is available for preorder now at Best Buy, Amazon, and the MSI Store for $899.99 in the US, while the Claw 7 AI+ is available for $799.99 (about £700 / £630, respectively, in the UK, and about AU$1,400 / AU$1,245 in Australia, though UK and Australia availability and pricing have not yet been confirmed).

Time to get excited for the MSI Claw again?

When the original MSI Claw debuted at CES 2024, I was as excited as anyone to see what the new handheld, the first powered by an Intel chip, could do. With the Intel Core Ultra 100-series SoC, the first Claw had some things going for it, such as hardware accelerated upscaling via XeSS, the first gaming handheld to do so.

Unfortunately, the gaming performance of the Intel Core Ultra 100-series chips was somewhat underwhelming, especially compared to the AMD Z1 chips powering devices like the Lenovo Legion Go and Asus ROG Ally.

However, the new MSI Claws might be in a much better position this time, thanks to Intel's upgraded Lunar Lake chips. In the laptops we've been able to test with Intel Core Ultra 200-series chips, their performance has been fantastic, and their gaming performance has been surprisingly excellent.

Pair that with improved energy efficiency from the re-engineered Intel architecture, and you might have a gaming handheld that gets fantastic performance and much longer battery life – two things that can make or break a gaming handheld's appeal.

I can't say yet whether the new Claw models can deliver, but in my limited time previewing the Claw 8 AI+ at IFA 2024, it did seem to be a very different beast than the original. Was it enough to justify an $899.99 price tag? That remains to be seen.

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With 85 bonus pieces.

As 2025 approaches and 'New Year, new you' pressures build for those of us not keen on jogging or hitting the gym, you should know that there’s an awesome alternative to traditional fitness with Quell, one of my favorite workout apps of 2024. And today’s big announcement is that the gamified routines it offers are finally coming to Meta Quest headsets in January 2025.

For those of you that missed Quell at launch, it was originally a PC fitness platform. You’d use the controllers to punch your way through its fantasy adventure game Shardfall while wearing resistance bands that make it tougher than typical shadow boxing. The full-body HIT sessions felt intense, yet Shardfall did an excellent job of keeping me motivated by contextualizing my actions – I wasn’t just doing another rep for the sake of it, I was throwing another punch because I needed to defeat the monster in my way.

VR players can soon try this experience using a Meta Quest headset – sans the resistance bands unless they choose to buy some. That’s because Shardfall is coming to Quest as Shardfall: FitQuest VR for $19.99 / £14.99 at Meta.com, and I’m pretty darn excited about it.

Shardfall will be at home in VR

Quell is great, but it'll be right at home in VR (Image credit: Quell)

The Quell hardware system costs $199 / £189 while the software subscription to access Shardfall (and future game releases) only costs $4.99 / £4.99 a month or $39.99 / £39.99 a year which I feel is a pretty good price for the kit when compared to other fitness gear or a gym membership, but it is an added expense that people might not be willing to pay for a system that can only be used with Quell games.

As a $19.99 / £14.99 add-on to your existing VR headset, Shardfall in VR is a much easier sell, and I strongly recommend everyone give it a try at launch. The combat exercises are an engaging boxing sim that does well to incorporate a full-body routine with ducks and jumps to dodge certain attacks and hazards, and it also includes jogging sections between fights that get your heart rate up.

It'll be a shame to lose the resistance bands, but again that could aid Shardfall’s accessibility as its exercises will be a little less challenging – though I expect the full-body routines will still give you a decent workout without them.

When the VR version launches I’ll certainly be there to give it a go, and if you’re looking for a more interesting way to kickstart your 2025 fitness schedule I recommend you join me.

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With rotating LED lights.

With color-changing LED lights.

• Azure Integrated HSM boosts security with cryptographic key protection
• Reduces latency and scales better than network-attached HSMs
• Keys stay isolated, ensuring tamper-resistant, in-use protection

Microsoft has introduced a new hardware security module designed to boost cloud security by enabling cryptographic key protection directly within server environments. 

Azure Integrated HSM addresses latency and scalability challenges often associated with traditional network-attached HSMs while adhering to FIPS 140-3 Level 3 security requirements.

The new hardware module provides locally attached cryptographic services for encryption, decryption, signing, and verification. Keys remain isolated from software, including guest and host systems, ensuring strong physical and logical tamper protection. Unlike traditional HSMs, which introduce network latency or require key release to local environments, Azure Integrated HSM securely retains keys within the module for continuous in-use protection.

Coming to all new Microsoft data center servers

"As part of our systems approach in optimizing every layer in our infrastructure, security is a key priority, and we are designing our infrastructure hardware with multiple layers of defense with dedicated innovations to ensure robust protection for Microsoft and for our customers," noted Mark Russinovich, Microsoft’s CTO for Azure.

The module is designed to integrate seamlessly with both confidential and general-purpose virtual machines and containers, providing dedicated, secure partitions for each workload. These partitions are hardware-isolated, allowing workloads to access keys only through controlled oracle functions. This design boosts security and reduces latency with node-integrated connections and cryptographic hardware accelerators.

Azure Integrated HSM will be installed in all new servers across Microsoft data centers starting next year, bolstering protection across Azure’s hardware fleet. This deployment is part of the Secure Future Initiative, which also includes Adams Bridge quantum-resilient accelerator and Caliptra 2.0 silicon root of trust.

“By integrating advanced hardware security features such as the silicon root of trust and secure control modules, we are providing the foundation for the trust and security that Azure delivers to our customers,” Russinovich said. “We are committed to continuously enhancing our cloud hardware security capabilities to meet the evolving needs of our customers.”

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The BBC have released a new look at Joy to the World, the 2024 Doctor Who Christmas Special and it looks every bit the bonkers brilliance we’d expect from the The Doctor’s (Ncuti Gatwa from Sex Education) festive outings.

The new trailer gives us a much bigger glimpse of the 'Time Hotel', a secret venue in which guests can stay in rooms throughout the hotel’s history, bending the rules of time and space to spend a night or two in the past. We also meet Nicola Coughlan’s (Derry Girls) Joy, a one off companion and mysterious guest of the hotel. As Joel Fry’s (Game of Thrones) concierge Trev puts it, it’s “Christmas, everywhere, all at once”. There’s also runaway trains, a hungry T-Rex, ancient tombs, and the small matter of a second Doctor.

The special will air on BBC One and be available to stream on BBC iPlayer on Christmas Day in the UK, with international viewers able to stream on Disney Plus. And it promises to be quite the present to unwrap as “the episode introduces Joy, who checks into a London hotel in 2024, only to discover that her quiet stay is anything but ordinary. When Joy opens a secret doorway to the Time Hotel, she discovers danger, dinosaurs and the Doctor. But a deadly plan is unfolding across the Earth, just in time for Christmas. Where has the Doctor been? What is going on in Joy’s hotel room? An old enemy of the Doctor’s is lurking in the wings and all of human history hangs in the balance. Can the Doctor save Christmas?”

While Russell T. Davies is now back on board as showrunner for this new era, the 2024 special is penned by another former head honcho – Steven Moffat. Moffat ran the show during the tenures of the Eleventh (Matt Smith) and Twelfth (Peter Capaldi) Doctors, producing what many fans would argue are the best Christmas specials the show has aired. Add that to the fact that a Christmas Day visit from the Doctor only made its return last year after somewhat of a hiatus (although there were a few New Years episodes during that time), and it’s safe to say excitement is out of this world.

The new special continues somewhat of a reboot phase for the show, which rebranded to season one when Ncuti Gatwa took the reins for his first full season earlier in the year. The return of Davies as showrunner signaled an attempt to recapture the heights of the David Tennant era, even going so far as to sneak the actor back in as the Fourteenth Doctor, a short tenure between Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor and the current incarnation that lasted through just the three 60th Anniversary Specials.

Gatwa took over after the bi-generation in that mini-run’s finale and had his debut proper in last year's Christmas special, “The Church on Ruby Road.” But with an entire season under his belt, it’s all now business as usual for Gatwa, who excelled in the role throughout the eight-episode run, delivering one powerhouse performance after another. The Christmas specials are normally fluffier affairs than the likes of space racists and vengeful ancient gods, so this should be an opportunity for Gatwa to have some fun with the role. Although if the adventures of the Fifteenth Doctor so far are anything to go by, while snow may not fall this Christmas, tears certainly will.

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• Cyber Monday spend hits $13.3bn in 2024 as the season total draws in on $240.8bn
• American consumers spent $15.8 million every minute at its peak
• Generative AI is starting to play a bigger role in purchasing decisions

American consumers pushed Cyber Monday spend to $13.3 billion in 2024, making it the biggest such event in history and surpassing initial predictions by over $100 million, new figures have claimed.

Adobe’s analysis found sales were up 7.3% year-over-year, meaning Cyber Monday has now become the largest online shopping day of the year, building on the hype of the preceding Black Friday deals.

In two hours alone between 8pm and 10pm, US buyers spent a whopping $15.8 million every minute, or about $1.9 billion in 120 minutes.

Cyber Monday is America’s favorite shopping day

The report claimed the five-day 2024 "Cyber Week" – beginning on Thanksgiving and ending on Cyber Monday – brought in $41.1 billion in sales, up 8.2% year-on-year. Current predictions estimate that the two-month holiday season, from November 1 to December 31, will bring in $240.8 billion in sales. If this is true, it would mark an 8.4% yearly rise, but already this season sales stand at $131.5 billion, up 9.0%.

Continually tough economic conditions have kept some consumers thinking twice about their spending, however generous discounts countered this and kept up spending. Electronics saw an average markdown of 30.1%, toys at 26.1%, and clothing at 23.2%.

Surprisingly, while the true power of artificial intelligence is yet to be realized outside of the office, GenAI-powered chatbots helped consumers make purchasing decisions more than ever this year, boosting traffic to retail sites by a staggering 1,950%. Social media influencers also saw their share of revenue increase 6.8% year-over-year.

Most consumers (57%) purchased via mobile, with Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services accounting for $991.2 million in transactions – about 7.5% of Cyber Monday’s purchases from a financial perspective.

“Early discounts were strong enough that many consumers felt comfortable hitting the buy button earlier on during Cyber Week, with Cyber Monday becoming ‘last call’ for shoppers to take advantage of big holiday deals," noted Adobe Digital Insights lead analyst Vivek Pandya.

Looking ahead, Adobe predicts discounts to become less attractive through December 2024, but key categories like electronics, toys and appliances are still likely to offer healthy savings, enabling buyers to purchase higher ticket items and driving total spend up.

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• Ikea's smart lights can now intelligently adjust throughout the day
• These aren't the first lights to do this, and Ikea is taking a page out of Philips Hue's book
• It remains to be seen if these intelligent features will be expanded on

While Ikea’s smart lights – bulbs, fixtures, and lamps – are generally much less expensive than the likes of Philips Hue products, a new update sees the furniture giant taking a page out of the more expensive smart lighting brand's book. Oh, and Apple’s, too.

The Ikea Home Smart app for iOS has added the ability for dynamic adaptive lighting, which means the various connected lights can intelligently change brightness and color throughout the day. Ikea succinctly sums up the feature as “It’s great for mind, body and soul.”

(Image credit: IKEA)

Like Apple Home’s Adaptive Lighting or Philips Hue's ‘Natural’ scene, Ikea Home Smart will adjust the bulbs to cooler temperatures during the day, and warmer hues towards the end of the day. Ikea notes that the adjustments will be automatic. Still, considering that you can manually set brightness, color, and temperature, it’s likely that you'll be able to override the adaptive adjustments or potentially bake these into a custom routine.

Seeing that bulbs from Nanoleaf and Philips Hue integrate with Apple Home’s own adaptive lighting, whether Ikea’s lineup will integrate with that standard remains to be seen. Remember, you have previously needed an extra hub to use Ikea’s products within Apple Home.

The update containing dynamic and adaptive lighting first hit Apple’s App Store on December 3, 2024, with a subsequent bug-fixing focused on December 5, 2024. However, the Ikea Home Smart app for Android does show a new version on December 3, 2024, but the Play Store doesn’t detail the changes, as Notebook Check first pointed out.

Either way, considering how affordable Ikea’s smart light lineup is, scoring a feature that’s found on more expensive bulbs and ecosystems is a real win. It might just up the appeal of Ikea’s lights if you’re considering investing in new smart home products.

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A new 300-watt Ugreen portable power station can be yours for just $140 right now.

• Epic Games has released new details regarding Fortnite OG
• Fortnite OG will bring back the game's original weapon pool and iconic locations
• Building and traversal mechanics present in the base game will be featured in Fortnite OG

Epic Games has shared new details on Fortnite OG ahead of its long-awaited release tomorrow.

Fortnite will finally return to its roots on December 6 with the addition of Fortnite OG, a permanent game mode that will take players back to the game's vanilla form, and was first introduced last year for a limited time.

In a new blog, posted today, Epic Games revealed the details for the highly-anticipated update, confirming that all original loot, locations, and gameplay will make a return in Fortnite OG Chapter 1 - Season 1.

"To start, Fortnite OG will run through the original initial Seasons of Chapter 1, recreating those early days, right down to loot pool changes and feature introductions," Epic explained.

Fortnite OG seasons will be shorter than they are in Battle Royale currently, so players can expect Season One to end on January 31.

While Solos, Squads, and Zero Build will be available right away, Ranked mode will be "coming soon".

Epic also made it clear that although Fortnite OG will be returning to its original state, quality-of-life changes that have been implemented over the years will still be present.

For instance, building mechanics will stay the same, and traversal will still feature all the latest abilities like sprint, slide, mantle, door bash, and healing while moving.

"Some of the rough edges from that era have been preserved, while others have been polished," the developer added. "For example, you’ll find Reboot Vans and be able to see the glare from a sniper scope, but max building resources are set to 999 and double pump is enabled for Shotguns (for now)."

As previously mentioned, the original loot pool will be available, meaning all weapons featured in the game seven years ago will be accessible, like the Assault Rifle, Burst Assault Rifle, Scoped Assault Rifle, Pump Shotgun, Tactical Shotgun, Grenade Launcher, Damage Trap, and more.

Like every new mode, Fortnite OG will also have its own Battle Pass. This version will feature 45 tiers of "retro rewards with a modern twist on classic items and Outfits" and players will be able to earn Renegade Rebel, Aerial Assault Bomber, and Skull Commander, with an unlockable alt style for each.

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Next year, you won’t need to download yet another app to use an EV charger from an unfamiliar brand. Most of the major EV makers and charging networks are on board.

• Chrome for Android is testing a new feature to easily reorder tab groups with a long-press function
• The new feature allows users to drag-and-drop tab groups more easily, improving tab management and organization in Chrome
• This update follows other enhancements like color-coding, syncing across devices, and sharing tab groups for better organization

Google’s Chrome team is currently testing a new feature for the Android version of the browser, namely a new way to reorder tab groups more easily. A tab group allows you to organize your open tabs into collections, which can make them easier to manage and to keep track of.

It’s reported that a reference to the new feature, the experimental tag #tab-strip-group-reorder-android, was found in a preview version of Chrome for Android. MSPowerUser explains that the flag adds a new functionality to this feature that enables you to enter ‘reorder mode’ in the browser by long-pressing the tab group indicators. Once in this mode, you can then drag-and-drop the tab group into a new position.

Previously, you would have had to tap and hold the group name or colored circle of the tab group to do this.

(Image credit: Google) Glimpses for what lies ahead for Chrome

Savvy observers spotted recent Chromium Gerrit changes seemingly related to the new feature, with Chromium being Google’s open source browser project on which many browsers are based on (Chrome included) and Gerrit being a code review tool used by Chromium developers. Here, a message describing the #tab-strip-group-reorder-android flag explains the long-press function that would allow users to reorder tab groups.

The hope is that those of us who get overwhelmed and overrun with tabs can get a handle on them by being able to sort them into groups.

This change follows other recent updates that have made tabs easier to track and manage, including color-coding which allows you to assign colors to a tab group, syncing across devices so you can see tab groups created on other devices with the same Google account, and sharing tab groups with others.

Google Chrome is still the market leader when it comes to browsers – in fact, so much so that US regulators are pressuring Google to spin it off into a separate company. However, I’m glad to see that Chrome developers are continuing to improve the experience for users and I think their efforts are a huge reason why people continue to use Chrome. Since this new long-press feature is already in previews with users, I expect that we’ll see it in an update including it pretty soon.

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