Technology

Although your home may look clean, these 13 hidden places are often forgotten about.

The price of replacing out-of-warranty iPhone batteries is going up for the latest models.

In a bid to cut e-waste, Microsoft is employing AI-powered robots to streamline the disposal of old data center hard drives.

The initiative is part of the Secure and Sustainable Disposal of Hard Disks project, which originated during the 2022 Microsoft Hackathon. Spearheaded by Principal Data Scientist Ranganathan Srikanth, the project expands on Microsoft's Circular Centers scheme which is designed to repurpose and recycle servers and related cloud hardware.

Circular Centers are a pivotal part of Microsoft's broader environmental goals. In 2020, Microsoft President Brad Smith committed the company to being carbon-negative by 2050, with zero waste by 2030.

#NoShred

Data centers, which house computer systems and essential components like telecommunications and storage, contribute significantly to global electricity demand. In 2022 this accounted for approximately 1-1.3%, but thanks to AI, energy use is skyrocketing and is expected to at least double by 2026. The strain on local power grids is intensifying as a result, and end-of-life data centers risk clogging landfills with e-waste.

Srikanth recognized the potential to address these mounting issues through the Hackathon project. "If it was just one hard disk, it wouldn’t be an opportunity," Srikanth noted. "However, in 2022 alone, there were two million hard disks shredded and that would fill the cargo of up to nine 747s."

Historically, end-of-life hard drives have been shredded to protect sensitive data, but this process also destroys valuable materials like neodymium. Up to 70 million HDDs are destroyed annually, resulting in a significant waste of rare metals.

The Hackathon team proposed a #NoShred solution, which prioritizes dismantling HDDs with robotics. "The process uses computer vision and robotics to disassemble the hard disk, sorts them, and destroys the media that contains data. The materials are then recycled," a Microsoft narrator explained in a new video which you can watch below. By breaking down the disk drives, the robots ensure data security while preserving and recycling component parts.

Microsoft's Circular Centers employ machine learning to decommission servers onsite, sort reusable parts, and improve future equipment sustainability. A successful pilot in Amsterdam demonstrated reduced downtime, increased availability of parts, and lower carbon emissions, Microsoft says.

The Secure and Sustainable Disposal of Hard Disks project aims to achieve a 90% reuse and recycle rate of all hard disks by 2025.

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Genetics testing company 23andMe has agreed to terms which could settle the class-action lawsuit it is currently facing following a major data breach.

News broke in October 2023 that a hacker had accessed accounts belonging to 23andMe users, with subsequent investigations confirming DNA Relatives profiles of some 5.5 million people were accessed, as well as Family Tree profile information of some 1.4 million DNA Relative participants.

The hackers started their grand theft data in April 2023, and were active until September the same year.

The terms of the settlement

In January 2024, the company laid the blame for the breach on its customers, as since the hackers used credential stuffing to access the accounts, 23andMe said users, “negligently recycled and failed to update their passwords following past security incidents unrelated to 23andMe."

“Therefore, the incident was not a result of 23andMe’s alleged failure to maintain reasonable security measures,” it said at the time.

The victims still filed a class-action lawsuit, which the firm is now “close to settling”, with all that remains is for the judge to approve the terms.

Under the settlement terms, which the judge still needs to approve, 23andMe will pay out $30 million to affected customers, and will conduct annual computer scans and cybersecurity audits for the next three years. It will set up a dedicated website to notify eligible individuals of the payout, and will provide everyone with an easy way to delete all their files from the company’s servers.

Finally, victims will receive a three-year Privacy & Medical Shield + Genetic Monitoring program for free.

How the settlement affects the company’s business remains to be seen. Reuters says 23andMe described its financial condition as “extremely uncertain”, with revenues down by a quarter (from $299m to $220m) year-on-year.

Via Engadget

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Physical buttons that appear from nowhere, audiophile tech mounted in 3D-printed lattices, weight-saving wizardry, and an extraterrestrial race car design. Lotus’ future isn’t just lifestyle SUVs.

Castlevania: Nocturne has got a season two release date but it's coming later than fans might have hoped. If you were expecting the beloved vampire series to return in time for the spookiest season of all, I'm afraid I've got bad news:

Among the best streaming service's early announcements for Netflix Geeked Week is a trailer and a release date for the newest season in the Castlevania series, but sadly new episodes aren't coming until January 2025.

The new year is shaping up to have some great things though, as we know Severance season 2 hits Apple TV Plus in January, but with Castlevania: Nocturne giving off those spooky vibes, it is a shame fans have to wait for its return.

The good news is, it's on route – and Netflix has released a few exciting details. Take a look at those below.

What do we know about Castlevania: Nocturne season 2?

As mentioned above, Castlevania: Nocturne debuts in January 2025. Per Tudum, we will be seeing the return of major season one characters like Richter (Edward Bluemel), Maria (Pixie Davies), Annette (Thuso Mbedu), Edouard (Sydney James Harcourt), and Tera (Nastassja Kinski). By the time we see them again, though, they'll have undergone some "great emotional or physical changes" after the events of season one.

There'll also be the return of Alucard, the son of Dracula (talk about nepotism), who is voiced by James Callis from the original Castlevania series. During the second season, he'll become a reluctant mentor to Richter and Annette, and those dynamics will be interesting to witness.

Plot-wise, Netflix has confirmed that season two of one of the best Netflix animes picks up as the French Revolution rages on. The ruling class of oppressive religious figures and exploitative imperialists have been infiltrated by literal blood-suckers, including the vampire messiah, Erzsebet (Franka Potente), so there's plenty to get excited about. 

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The asteroid, dubbed 2024 PT5, will hang out for 56 days before continuing its journey.

Microsoft is planning to streamline its Edge browser considerably when it comes to the configuration of the app.

Windows Latest noticed that the official roadmap website for Microsoft 365 now has an update for Edge which informs us that the Settings for the browser are going to be revamped to be more organized.

In the roadmap entry titled ‘Microsoft Edge: Elevating top settings and improving settings page navigability,’ the software giant explains what streamlining measures are being enacted, and that the rollout of these changes is expected to begin in October 2024.

The first step Microsoft is taking is a new quick access panel on the landing page for Edge Settings. This will provide one-click shortcuts to the most commonly used actions front and center in the menu that first greets you when you access Settings.

Secondly, when you dive into a submenu in Settings – such as System and Performance, or Appearance – this will also have the same one-click shortcuts for the options that are most often used.

And finally, Microsoft plans to break up the long lists of options you drill down into in Settings to make them smaller subsections, similar to a table of contents in a book.

(Image credit: Shutterstock/GaudiLab) Analysis: A move in the right direction

All of this aims to make hunting around to change things in Edge much easier, and it seems like a sound plan to us. Navigating Settings can be a painful task at times, and having shortcuts to all your most-used options right there upfront will be very handy. No, it’s not a move that’ll suddenly make Edge more popular than Chrome, but it’ll help (and Edge is actually a good product already – it’s top of our best web browser list, after all).

Note that there are no changes being made in terms of the actual functionality of the settings in Edge here – it’s a reorganization of how they are presented, with a large helping of handy one-click shortcuts thrown in.

In some ways, this is taking a leaf out of Chrome’s book, as Google’s browser has generally tighter organization when it comes to Settings (and even in its more cluttered parts, Chrome is certainly no worse than Edge).

Further note that while the rollout is kicking off in October, Microsoft is referring to the initial stages of testing the revamped Settings panel. It could be some time before work progresses through testing and on to the release version of Edge, of course – and some work in preview never sees the light of day. Mind you, we’ve a feeling this will make the cut, as Edge could use a boost in the organization of its options.

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Don't pirate content, folks. Even if someone else is doing it, it's best not to get hooked on it. It's bad, illegal, and will never be as good as the paid thing. That's lesson number 1. Lesson number 2 follows.

The news that Dan and Eugene Levy would be hosting the 2024 Emmy Award Show was met in my home with some excitement. We're all huge Schitt's Creek fans, having been hooked when we streamed the entire five seasons on Netflix (irony to follow) at least twice. But when it was time to watch the Emmys, which was airing September 15, 2024, on ABC in the US, we forgot to account for one little wrinkle: We no longer have cable, and live shows are often difficult or impossible to watch.

Live but not for you

The best streaming networks are constantly making deals to host live events like football and baseball games. Sometimes the networks have their own streaming platforms where they show these events in their entirety. I watched all of the Summer Olympics on Peacock and absolutely loved the Gold Zone they built to help you keep track of the best of all the live medal-worthy events.

Not everything, however, can be found on these streaming platforms. ABC network appears to have more than a few dark spots and the Emmy Awards, which honor the best of television across broadcast, cable, and, yes, streamers, is one of them.

Initially, everything seemed fine. Roku TV, which I have for free as part of my TCL Roku TV, was airing Emmys Live from The Red Carpet. We all watched in happy silence until 8 PM ET, when the screen went black and then switched to endless promos for other Roku TV shows. We all stared at each other and then looked back at the TV in horror, silently willing it to bring us Dan and Eugene Levy's cold open.

Soon we were all searching online for who might be offering a live feed. fuboTV was listed and that was about it. But I'd already used my fuboTV Live free trial to watch the Oscars. I was not about to shell out $98 a month just to watch the Emmys.

After searching across Hulu, Netflix, and other streaming options for a feed that wasn't a Red Carpet replay, I opened the YouTube app on my Roku TV.

At the very top was an "Emmys Live feed." It looked legit.

It was not.

The crime

Oh, this is embarrassing (Image credit: Future)

I launched the stream and saw that it was, in fact, the Emmys, live. There were the hosts, but they were behind a poorly rendered black box that said "EMMYS" at the top and then explained, "Sorry, we can't show you the full stream because it will be taken down by Youtube." Below that, it encouraged you to click on a link in the chat and "send a donation if you want to watch the full show."

Apparently, someone was using "XSplit Broadcaster" to pull a feed from their computer and then place it on YouTube. The show was somewhat watchable despite the box, which would disappear for various lengths of time, seemingly at random. Once, it was gone for 40 minutes, but then it was merely gone for just five minutes. I noticed in the YouTube channel chat that people were begging the "broadcaster" to remove the box. It was as if they didn't understand this was illegal, and the guy could not remove it for the duration without being discovered.

A quick search on YouTube revealed a few different illegal streamers, all using various apps to pull the live feed off, likely their cable feeds or another streaming platform.

At one point, the feed, which was about 2 minutes behind true live, went into glitch mode, and we were treated to a view of the pirate's full computer desktop. Yes, it was comical.

What's not funny, though, is that I can't keep denying the inescapable fact that there is still a form of cable/broadcast television that is worth paying for: live TV and commercial-free television.

As more and more streamers introduce ad-supported versions or reduce what was once both affordable and ad-free to almost affordable but riddled with ads, paying for some of these premium packages that drop ads and bring your live local, broadcast and cable channels is starting to look more and more worth it.

It is frustrating, though. I left cable behind because of all the channels I was paying for that I never watched. It just turns out that there are still a fair few I do want, now miss, and might be willing to pay for.

As for the pirated Emmys, they continued through to the end, but increasingly with the box fixed in place. I guess you get what you pay for.

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The best free streaming services can’t compete with the likes of Netflix, Prime Video, and Max for headline-grabbing new movies and TV shows, but they do boast a surprisingly vast range of older titles for you to enjoy.

Last week’s roundup of the best free movies to stream included Blackberry, Margin Call, and 500 Days of Summer, and this week’s edition is similarly varied. Below, I’ve highlighted five of the best free movies to stream on Tubi, Pluto TV, Amazon Freevee, and other free streaming services over the coming days.

Tropic Thunder (Pluto TV)

Release date: September 2008
RT Score: 82%
Length: 107 minutes
Director: Ben Stiller
Main cast: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Cruise

Tropic Thunder feels like the sort of movie that just wouldn’t get made in 2024. This star-studded, noughties-era comedy follows a group of veteran actors who, while filming for a new Vietnam war flick, become embroiled in a real-life conflict with Southeast Asian natives (think Galaxy Quest with jungles and helicopters).

Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Matthew McConaughey, and Tom Cruise (yes, Tom Cruise) count among the film’s stellar ensemble cast, while Stiller himself directs. You’ll find Tropic Thunder streaming, for free, on Pluto TV.

The Hunt (Tubi, Kanopy, The Roku Channel)

Release date: May 2012
RT Score: 92%
Length: 115 minutes
Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Main cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrøm

The first of many collaborations between Danish screen legends Mads Mikkelsen and Thomas Vinterberg, The Hunt – which is now streaming for free on Tubi, Kanopy, and The Roku Channel – is among the best foreign language films of the past 20 years. 

Set in a small Danish village during the run-up to Christmas, the film follows the plight of a divorced kindergarten teacher, Lucas (Mikkelsen), who falls victim to mass hysteria after being wrongly accused of sexually abusing a young girl in his class. Sure, that sounds bleak – and The Hunt isn’t exactly a cheery affair – but this small-budget film is nonetheless an engrossing watch.

Zodiac (Hoopla, Pluto TV – leaving soon)

Release date: January 2009
RT Score: 90%
Length: 157 minutes
Director: David Fincher
Main cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Brian Cox

Longlegs may have dominated the horror movie conversation these past few months, but Oz Perkins’ atmospheric murder mystery takes more than a few cues from David Fincher’s filmography, among which is Zodiac.

This inspired-by-true-events thriller chronicles the manhunt for the Zodiac Killer, an infamous (and still possibly at large) serial killer who used letters, ciphers, and crime scene evidence to taunt investigators in the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 1960s. Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. all star in Zodiac, which serves as a great companion piece to Fincher’s best movie, Seven.

3:10 to Yuma (Tubi – leaving soon)

Release date: August 2007
RT Score: 89%
Length: 122 minutes
Director: James Mangold
Main cast: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Logan Lerman, Ben Foster

For some reason, James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma was my go-to Sunday afternoon movie when I was a kid. This star-studded remake of the 1957 Western of the same name follows a down-on-his-luck rancher (Bale) who agrees to help law enforcement officers transport a notorious outlaw (Crowe) to a prison-bound train.

Director James Mangold has since gone on to helm more commercially successful films (Logan and Ford v Ferrari among them), but 3:10 to Yuma remains, for me, one of his most accomplished and re-watchable pictures. This one is now streaming for free on Tubi, but leaving soon, so act fast if you’re keen to see Russell Crowe in villainous cowboy mode.

Submarine (Amazon Freevee)

Release date: September 2010
RT Score: 88%
Length: 97 minutes
Director: Richard Ayoade
Main cast: Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige, Sally Hawkins, Noah Taylor

In the mood for something short and sweet this week? Look no further than Richard Ayoade’s charming 2010 indie fluck Submarine, which is now streaming on Amazon Freevee.

This coming-of-age novel adaptation stars Noah Taylor as Oliver Tate, an unpopular 15-year-old in rural Wales who finds himself torn between winning the affections of his charismatic classmate Jordana (Yasmin Paige) and stopping his mother (Sally Hawkins) from succumbing to her spiritual ex-lover Graham (Paddy Considine). As with 3:10 to Yuma, Submarine is leaving its free streaming service soon, so get watching ASAP.

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Just days ahead of its full release and hours before watchOS 11 is released to the public, Apple's new sleep apnea detection feature for Apple Watch has been approved for use by the US Food and Drug Asministration (FDA). 

Apple unveiled its new Apple Watch Series 10 at its Glowtime iPhone 16 event last week, and one of the highlights of the new wearable is sleep apnea detection. The upgrade is actually a software-powered feature that is also coming to the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Sleep apnea, which affects an estimated 1 billion people worldwide, is a disorder in which breathing momentarily stops while sleeping, depriving the body of oxygen. Left untreated, it can lead to serious health issues, including type 2 diabetes. Apple has developed a new metric to help diagnose the condition, and now, the FDA is on board. 

Apple Watch sleep apnea gets the go ahead

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple Watch's sleep apnea detection is a new metric that uses accelerometer data to log small wrist movements caused by the breathing interruptions associated with sleep apnea. The Apple Watch can provide a report every 30 days, notifying users if they show signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea.

The same data can also measure how restful your sleep was generally, but sleep apnea detection is the headline feature. The data can even be presented as a PDF that you can share with your healthcare provider, helping users get the treatment they need. 80% of sleep apnea cases reportedly go undiagnosed, with most sufferers unaware they suffer from it. Short-term effects can include excessive daytime tiredness, problems with concentration, and increased irritability. 

Sleep apnea was one of several noteworthy health innovations Apple announced at its iPhone 16 event. It was unveiled alongside a new hearing aid feature for AirPods Pro that also recently passed FDA scrutiny. AirPods Pro 2 are now authorized to be used as a clinical-grade hearing aid, providing enhanced listening based on the results of a new iPhone-powered hearing test. 

Apple Watch Series 10 will be released on September 20, alongside the new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro. 

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The cyber-incident that hit the Port of Seattle in late August 2024 was a ransomware attack, the company has confirmed.

In a press release, the organization also shared a few additional details that were uncovered in the investigation, with affiliates of the Rhysida ransomware group blamed for the attack.

"This incident was a "ransomware" attack by the criminal organization known as Rhysida," the company noted. "There has been no new unauthorized activity on Port systems since that day. It remains safe to travel from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and use the Port of Seattle's maritime facilities."

No payment

To put things into context - the United States government agency overseeing Seattle's seaport and airport, Port of Seattle, reported on August 24, 2024 that it suffered a cyberattack that forced it to push parts of its infrastructure offline. At the time, it did not share many details, other than it was working diligently to restore its services.

Ransomware attackers usually steal sensitive data from their victims, and then demand payment in exchange for keeping it private. The same thing happened here, but so far the company doesn’t know what was taken.

"Our investigation has determined that the unauthorized actor was able to gain access to certain parts of our computer systems and was able to encrypt access to some data,” the PR further explains. “Our investigation of what data the actor took is ongoing, but it does appear that some Port data was obtained by the actor in mid-to-late August. Assessment of the data taken is complex and takes time, but we are committed to these efforts and notifying potentially impacted stakeholders as appropriate.”

The organization said it refused to pay the ransom demand, which could result in the data leaking on the dark web. At press time, that doesn’t seem to have happened.

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*Contains spoilers for Emily in Paris season four*

Netflix has renewed Emily in Paris for fifth season and sorry Gabriel, but I'm rooting for Emily's new Italian man this time.

While it's not one of the best Netflix shows with its 62% Rotten Tomatoes score, the soapy drama has become a huge hit on the best streaming service with Emily in Paris season 4 still in the Netflix Global Top 10 four weeks after it premiered in August. 

The show's star Lily Collins announced the season five news on Good Morning America, with show creator Darren Star telling Tudum: “We’re thrilled with the incredible response to this season of Emily in Paris and excited to return for a fifth to continue Emily’s adventures in Rome and Paris!”

There's no place like Rome. Emily in Paris is coming back for SEASON 5! pic.twitter.com/UL3aRa0ftuSeptember 16, 2024

Emily in Paris season 4 saw the American marketing executive embark on a new relationship with Italian fashion heir Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini) and move to Rome to run a new Agence Grateau office. While I thought that this would finally close the chapter of her on-and-off romance with neighbor and boyfriend Gabriel (Lucas Bravo), I got whiplash once again when the chef realized that he wanted to be with Emily after everything.

After Emily's disastrous love life with both a Frenchman and an Englishman, maybe it's time for her to start afresh with an Italian stallion (she's really getting those passport stamps isn't she?).

What can we expect in Emily in Paris season 5?

We know that it won't be called Emily in Rome, as Star said: "Emily’s going to have a presence in Rome. It doesn’t mean she’s not going to be in Paris, but she’s going to have a presence in Rome." So, while Emily will be flaunting Italian streets in extravagant clothing, we'll still get to see the boujee boulangeries of Paris.

Like me, Collins is looking forward to exploring Emily's relationship with Marcello in season 5. "Marcello is a whole other adventure that we want for Emily because we ultimately want Emily to be able to have a better work/life balance,” Collins said to Tudum. “We want to have Emily be able to smile without condition. We want to see her beyond her vacay mode. And he comes at that perfect time.”

Meanwhile, Star teased: "I feel like they [Emily and Marcello] have a real spark and a real connection and a real romantic connection. A lot of that’s going to continue to play out next season." Will Emily move on with Marcello or move back to the City of Love for Gabriel? I have my fingers crossed for Marcello. 

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Apple is launching its first stand-alone password manager app in iOS 18. Here’s what you need to know.

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What a week it is for Apple fans, with the launch of iOS 18 and the release of the iPhone 16 all happening over the next few days. This particular week in September comes around every year like Christmas, giving tech lovers the chance to use a shiny new smartphone or give a lease of life to their old one.

This year’s no different: the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max have arrived on the scene with exciting new features like Camera Control and larger displays on the Pro models. All four models are joined by iOS 18, the next generation of the iPhone’s operating system, which itself brings Home Screen customization options that let you pick any color to tint your app icons, a new Passwords app to house all your login information, and even an updated calculator app with Math Notes. I’m not even scratching the surface with iOS 18, however; there’s plenty more to get excited about and the OS works with every iPhone from the XS and onwards.

So, why the downbeat headline? After all, the iPhone 16 Pro looks like a solid upgrade from last year’s best iPhone, adding a faster chip, camera upgrades, new buttons, better and larger screens, and even better battery life. Touted as the “first iPhones built from the ground up for Apple Intelligence”, these new smartphones are propelling us into a new Apple AI future – well, sort of.

(Image credit: Apple)

You see, plastered across all of Apple’s marketing for the latest iPhones, you’ll find people reaping the benefits of Apple Intelligence. New commercials featuring The Last of Us’ Bella Ramsey show the actor using AI to summarize emails, speak with the upgraded Siri, and make Movie Memories. All pretty cool, right? Sure, but nestled in each ad (in small white writing) is a disclaimer that Apple Intelligence won’t be available at the iPhone 16’s launch on September 20.

Why, you ask? You just preordered an iPhone 16 because of all the cool Apple Intelligence features you’ve seen plastered on the London Underground or shown at the cinema before Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Well, those Apple Intelligence features – like Writing Tools, Clean Up, and new Mail categories – are coming, just not in the first release of iOS 18. It’s a bit of a weird situation, to be totally honest. 

Apple is selling the latest and greatest iPhones based on 'what ifs?', and as consumers, we’re meant to trust the process and jump on for the ride. Unfortunately, the lack of major features at launch in not only iPhone 16 but iOS 18 too means that these upgrades and updates all feel kind of lukewarm. 

Just check Apple’s iOS 18 Preview page if you don’t believe me: Apple Intelligence is the headline feature, followed by incremental updates to apps we use every day, and color customization options that should’ve arrived on iPhone years ago. It’s all very odd – even Mail’s category feature isn’t available in iOS 18 initially, because it’s powered by Apple AI.

The promise of 'what ifs?'

As an ex-Apple Retail employee, I don’t envy any of my ex-colleagues who will have to explain to disgruntled customers why their fancy new iPhone can’t do the snazzy things they’ve seen advertised. It’ll even be tough for them from a demo perspective – how do you make retail customers want a product without its best features?

It’s an intriguing situation, but it’s not a long-term one. Apple Intelligence is set to arrive in US English in October as part of iOS 18.1 and then in other localized English languages in December. If you’re in the UK, like I am, you can use Apple Intelligence when it launches in Beta next month by simply changing your device’s language and Siri’s language. 

But after the arrival of iOS 18.1, Apple Intelligence tools will arrive in a scattered launch with no real timeframe of when we’ll be able to use everything we were shown at WWDC 2024 in June. If current estimates are correct, Siri’s on-screen awareness won’t arrive until iOS 18.4, which is likely to land in March 2025, while other features like Genmoji and Image Playground are scheduled for iOS 18.2, which will begin rolling out just before the turn of the year, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

(Image credit: Apple)

This is where my bigger concern lies: the promises of what’s to come. I’ve used Apple Intelligence as part of the iOS 18.1 developer beta and I like what I’ve tried so far, but Genmoji, Image Playground, and the wonder of an actually useful Siri are all just pipedreams right now. No one outside of Apple has even seen these AI tools in the flesh; they aren’t even in beta testing yet as part of a Developer Beta. 

So, can Genmoji even generate two emojis together as seamlessly as we saw on stage? Does Image Playground work as well as some of the best AI image generators? No one has a clue, we’re just putting blind faith in Apple based on the company’s track record of delivering in the past.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Apple has launched a new iPhone with promises of future features (see Deep Fusion), but it is the first time such a major selling point is just absent from an iPhone’s release. In a year, if all goes well, Apple Intelligence’s muddled launch will be a thing of the distant past. But if Genmoji or Image Playground turns into a replica of the AirPower fiasco, then the iPhone 16 launch could be an absolute nightmare for Apple.

If you’re in the market for a new iPhone, purchasing a new one based on the incredible new A18 chips, Camera Control, and any other hardware improvement will likely make you a happy camper. If you’re looking at the new iPhones for Apple Intelligence, especially the features that aren’t in iOS 18.1, then it’s worth debating between an upgrade now versus one in a few months.

With iOS 18, if you want a few new features and a more stable iPhone operating system, you’ll be happy. But if you install iOS 18 expecting Apple Intelligence and everything you’ve been promised, then you might just feel a little disappointed. 

Our early iPhone 16 review, early iPhone 16 Pro review, and Apple Intelligence hands-on hint at a very exciting year for Apple. Just know what you’re getting yourself into, because if you’re spending hard-earned cash on the promise of future features, you might just end up regretting your decision.

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It's official: Bridgerton season 4 is finally in production. Netflix confirmed the news in a post on X/Twitter (see below) as the streaming titan kicked off its Netflix Geeked Week 2024 celebrations. Alongside the filming start date reveal, Netflix unveiled the first official photo from on set of Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha; the latter of whom will, as previously announced, play Benedict Bridgerton's love interest Sophie Baek.   

Please rise for Sophie Baek & Benedict Bridgerton!!!Here's your first official photo of Yerin Ha and Luke Thompson on the set of Bridgerton Season 4. Now OFFICIALLY in production. pic.twitter.com/TyOlryDXEUSeptember 16, 2024

Until now, we only knew that Bridgerton's fourth season was on the way, with it being greenlit back in April 2021. We did, however, get a sneak peek of one of the show’s new romantic leads after its predecessor – Bridgerton season 3 – ended in July, with the world's best streaming service confirming serial playboy Benedict Bridgerton would be the next chapter's lead male character.

Your Sophie has finally arrived. Please welcome Yerin Ha to Bridgerton Season 4! pic.twitter.com/sHZMZIPhTDSeptember 11, 2024

Just two months later, and to the delight of fans, Netflix revealed that Ha would be joining the cast of one of the best Netflix shows – the Halo TV show alumnus landing the coveted role of Sophie, who's also known as the Lady in Silver, on September 11. Ya is set to feature as part of the ensemble cast for forthcoming Max prequel series Dune: Prophecy, too, so viewers should get used to seeing the talented Australian more often in the years ahead.

Following the success of season 3, fans will know how important the casting of the leading couple is, so it's great to see such talented actors joining the show.

Who else is joining the Bridgerton season 4 cast? 

They are rather striking next to each other, are they not? https://t.co/Huj1csTNTLSeptember 16, 2024

Alongside its filming start date, Netflix also confirmed three new cast members for Bridgerton season 4, as well as bumping up two minor characters from season 3 – Emma Naomi's Alice and Hugo Sachs' Brimsley – to series regulars for the wildly popular romantic drama's next entry:

• Katie Leung as Lady Araminta Gun
• Michelle Mao as Rosamund Li
• Isabella Wei as Posy Li 
• Emma Naomi as Alice Mondrich
• Hugh Sachs as Brimsley

Based on the third novel (An Offer From a Gentleman) in Julia Quinn's successful book series of the same name, Bridgerton's fourth season is set to focus on Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Baek, aka the mysterious Lady in Silver, who meet at a masquerade ball. Judging by the first photos we've seen of the new Bridgerton  couple, the Netflix period drama's next outing is going to be an enchanting affair. Set your pulses to 'racing', everyone.

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Microsoft added Copilot, its generative AI chatbot, to Microsoft 365 back in March last year, but now it's launching what it's calling ‘Wave 2’ of its AI-assisted boost to your productivity by revamping the whole way you work with Copilot, and adding some more AI features to the Microsoft 365 apps.

In this new way of working you can open up the Copilot chat interface, now called Business Chat, and from there combine all the knowledge Microsoft 365 has about you and your organization with the knowledge it can find on the web by creating collaborative documents called Pages.

So, you could start by asking Copilot about something on the web, then once it's found what you’re looking for you hit the ‘Edit in Pages’ button to pull that Copilot response into a new Copilot Page (which is a pop-up document window, containing all the information you’re interested in), and then you can continue to expand it, sharing and collaborating on it with all your team members.

Business Chat with a document open in Copilot Pages. (Image credit: Microsoft)

Pages (not to be confused with the Apple app of the same name) documents look very similar to Word documents. You can go back to Business Chat and perform more searches for information, then bring that new data into your Pages document. There’s a simple switch at the top of the Business Chat window that enables you to switch between Web or Work. Switch it to Work and Copilot will be able to tap into the knowledge contained in all your work documents; so you could prompt Copilot with something like “make a report similar to that one we did last month for Eric, but with the new data”, and it will compile it for you.

The new narrative builder in PowerPoint (Image credit: Microsoft) PowerPoint narrative builder

A new narrative builder has been added to PowerPoint that helps you craft a story for your next presentation. This will create a whole deck of slides from a prompt using Copilot, complete with transitions and speaker notes. Type your prompt in answer to the question, “Create a presentation about” and watch it work its magic. You get a draft outline, which you can reorder, edit, and add new sections to. Once you’re happy click on ‘Generate slides’ and Copilot will produce your whole presentation, pulling in images from your corporate library, or it can generate images using DALL-E 3 if required.

Microsoft Excel showing data analysis using Python (Image credit: Microsoft) Copilot in Excel with Python

Now you’ll be able to combine the power of Python, with Copilot and Excel to do some serious number crunching. You can get Excel to do forecasting, risk analysis and visualization of complex data using natural language prompts in Copilot, and all without having to write a line of code yourself.

Copilot in Outlook, Word, Teams and Drive

The ability to intelligently summarize your inbox is being brought to Outlook with a new feature called ‘Prioritize my inbox’. This produces a neat summary of what’s awaiting you in your inbox, so you don’t have to wade through unhelpful preview versions of the start of emails or a lot of text. Word is getting new suggested prompts to help you get started with documents. Copilot in OneDrive enables you to use it to reason over your Drive, so it can gain insights on, summarize and compare up to five different files. Finally, in Teams, Copilot will now be able to analyze the group chat in any answers it gives you.

Copilot Agents

One brand-new feature to look out for is Copilot Agents. These are AI assistants that are designed to automate business processes. You can create an agent from any site, library, or folder, and it will be able to use Copilot’s reasoning power over those files. You can even add your agents to your department’s Teams chat, and @mention them, too, and they'll respond just like a human team member. You can talk to Agents as you would a trusted colleague, and your data never leaves the Microsoft 365 trust boundary.

When will you get it?

For Microsoft 365 Copilot customers, the new Business Chat and Pages features are rolling out now, although Microsoft does add the caveat that Pages “will be generally available later this month”. In the coming weeks, Microsoft will be bringing Pages to the more than 400 million people who have access to the free version of Copilot when they’re signed in via a Microsoft Entra Account. You can start using Business Chat today at Microsoft365.com/Copilot.

The other new features in the Microsoft 365 apps will start appearing in the public previews later this month.

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