Changing from Microsoft Edge gets more irritating in Windows 11
Exactly how irritating the progressions are relies upon your program, however.
by Andrew Cunningham
Amplify/This program popup, which you find in Windows 10 the first occasion when you attempt to open a connection subsequent to introducing another program, is absent in current beta forms of Windows 11.
A report from The Skirt today has caused to notice the manner in which current Windows 11 betas are taking care of outsider Internet browsers like Chrome and Firefox. These changes proceed with a pattern that has strengthened over Windows 10's lifecycle—you can utilize any program you need on Windows! However, would you say you are certain you wouldn't care to attempt Microsoft Edge all things being equal? It is safe to say that you are certain? It is safe to say that you are extremely certain?
There are two practical changes in the current beta of Windows 11 that make exchanging programs really irritating. The first is that the operating system no longer springs up a window inquiring as to whether you'd prefer to switch programs the first occasion when you click a connection subsequent to introducing another program.
The second is that the "default applications" screen has eliminated the wide application classifications presently accessible in Windows 10. Windows 10 permits you to set the default email application, map application, music player, photograph watcher, video player, and internet browser from the default applications screen, while Windows 11 causes you to pick an application first and allot defaults each document augmentation in turn.
Windows 11 currently defaults to a more granular view, which makes you change file extensions one at a time, either by searching for them or selecting an app that will handle them and then setting defaults one extension at a time.
Once you've selected a file extension, you get the same list of app options that exists in Windows 10.
Windows 10's Default Applications settings screen allows you to change the default applications for a small bunch of normal undertakings, such as perusing, browsing email, or playing video.
At the point when you do endeavor to change the default application that handles .htm or .html documents from Edge to something different, Windows 11 accepts it at this point another chance to ensure that you're totally, emphatically sure that you really need to switch away from Edge.
"I realize you've made a special effort to switch programs, however would you Truly like?"
On the whole, these progressions address another acceleration in Windows' endless journey to advise you that it accompanies its own program, and Microsoft has the right to be reprimanded for it. I don't should be enlightened the Uplifting news regarding Edge each time I introduce a significant update, use Edge to download Chrome, or visit any of Microsoft's sites with a non-Edge program.
Be that as it may, program creators can make this interaction a bit less irritating practically speaking—for instance, when I introduce Chrome on Windows 11 and snap Chrome's "set as default" button, it kicks me to the Windows 11 default applications screen. However, when I click Firefox's "set as default" button, it simply works, no extra clicking required.
The manner in which Windows 11 handles document augmentation level default applications is really an improvement over Windows 10's adaptation of a similar component.
Windows 10's version of this screen is buried and wastes a lot of space, something that happens a lot inside the Windows 10 Settings app.
The way Windows 11 handles lesser-utilized (or simply program contiguous) document augmentations is in reality a bit less befuddling than the way Windows 10 handles them.
Changing the default program setting in Windows 10 and Windows 11 leaves Microsoft Edge responsible for opening a lot of other document augmentations, including .pdf, .svg, and .shtml—you may imagine that this is new conduct in Windows 11, yet Windows 11 simply makes it simpler to see.
Having the option to see each record augmentation that each application on your PC can open and which applications are accountable for opening them is convenient, and Windows 11's show is a major improvement over Windows 10's semi-covered adaptation of a similar view.
Returning the two greatest changes to Windows 11's program conduct—the missing spring up and the missing undeniable level adaptation of the "Default Applications" screen—would be moderately inconsequential and would generally address the viable issues here.
Meanwhile, some program producers do appear to have sorted out some way to make the default-program exchanging measure less difficult.
NEXT UPDATE
2. Boston Elements shares an amazing in the background see robot-building
Humanoid robot learns parkour, takes some amazing pummels, and gets fixed.
by Ron Amadeo
Chart book, Boston Elements' humanoid research stage, is totally scratched up after some parkour practice.
This will buff out, right?
I'm no expert, but that doesn't look good.
How do you move around a 190-pound robot when it's shut off? Just use what looks like a tall car engine crane.
In the repair shop, engineers wrench on the broken Atlas until it works.
The repair shop has an overhead track that Atlases are suspended from for easy movement.
We need a new part! Boston Dynamics has a whole CNC setup so it can make parts like this. (Though this particular part seems too big to be part of Atlas.)
After some repairs, Atlas passes a systems check. Engineers are happy.
New Boston Elements video alert!
The robot engineer and YouTube sensation is giving us one more look at its robot-building endeavors, this time by having its humanoid mechanical technology research stage, Map book, do some more parkour. Other than delivering a profoundly cleaned video, the organization likewise posted an in the background take a gander at the stuff to get a robot to hop through a snag course. It's the best gander at Chart book we've gotten at this point and shows extraordinary film of assembling, programming, and fixes—in addition to some intense crashes when the tricks don't work out as expected.
This is the third video we've seen of Map book doing parkour, and you may ask why Boston Elements is so fixated on taking its robots leap on boxes and do reverse somersaults. Map book does parkour for a similar explanation vehicle organizations do motorsports.
Utilizing sports to push the presentation limits of a machine prompts the advancement of better parts and strategies, and the tests have a stream down impact for buyer items. Similarly as motorsport has prompted the making of all-wheel drive, circle brakes, and huge loads of security highlights for creation vehicles, helping Map book to do reverse somersaults will ideally bring about better robots from Boston Elements.
Map book Group captain Scott Kuindersma gets going the video with some Map book details. The robot is 5 feet tall and weighs 190 lbs. It is battery-controlled and powerfully impelled, with 28 levels of opportunity. Kuindersma likewise gives an attempt to seal the deal for parkour testing:
Parkour is a valuable getting sorted out movement for our group since it features a few difficulties that we accept to be significant. In the first place, how would we assemble a powerful thickness versatile robot that is equipped for expanded athletic conduct? How would we configuration control calculations that can make an assortment of practices and control them heartily? What's more, how would we associate discernment to activity such that the two catches long haul objectives like getting from direct A toward point B and transient powerful objectives like changing strides and applying remedial powers to keep up with balance?
In contrast to the past two recordings, which showed one-off stunts, the new video shows Chart book doing a whole impediment course in one go, which the organization says assists with dependability and repeatability. Attempting to get past an entire hindrance course prompts a ton of disappointments and helps the equipment and programming groups track down what "key redesigns" should be made to assist the robot with getting the course.
This GIF shows what is presumably the most great piece of the video. Take a gander at the little adjustments Map book is continually making. As it jumps over the bar, its supporting arm squirms under the pressure. Map book has a little stagger on the case arrival and needs to toss its arms back and lift a foot to keep up with balance.
While Chart book's equipment doesn't appear to be excessively unique from its past appearances, the robot appears to move diversely now, because of what resembles a sensational move up to its little remedial developments. More established recordings show what resembles a heavier, stiffer robot, however today, Chart book can thrash its arms and legs around to change equilibrium and direction mid-stunt.
The arm-thrashing not just makes a portion of the bombed stunts look clever (we made an entire exhibition of these examples beneath), yet they additionally apparently add a human-like wiggle room for stunts. The robot doesn't need to do things impeccably any longer.
On the off chance that Map book just deals with an insecure aerobatic schedule that would get a 7-out-of-10 from the appointed authorities, the robot can swing its weight around likewise, attempt to recuperate, and continue on to the following business as usual.
We featured the shakiest bit of development in the GIF above. Chart book vaults over a bar, and its supporting arm jerks the whole time. Boston Elements' blog entry calls attention to that this move is in reality quite hard for Chart book since its arms aren't that solid contrasted with its substantial body. Obviously, this trick addresses the restriction of what the robot can do.
Chart book's development is currently determined by insight. Beforehand, the robot just did pre-modified parkour on a level surface or fixed boxes, however Chart book is currently recognizing the climate with RGB cameras and profundity sensors and responding to it.
As the blog entry puts it, "This implies the architects don't have to pre-program bouncing movements for every single imaginable stage and holes the robot may experience. All things being equal, the group makes fewer format practices that can be coordinated to the climate and executed on the web." Three on-board PCs handle all the calculation expected to see the world around Map book, plot a course, and keep the robot upstanding.
A GIF display of Map book pummels. Would robots be able to feel torment? I want to think not.
That's going to leave a mark.
Atlas has a hydraulics blowout and goes down.
Here, I think Atlas' foot gets caught on the side of a box.
It doesn't matter if you fall, Atlas. What matters is that you get back up.
This sort of in the background video is something Boston Elements hasn't done previously, and it's an extraordinary watch. You'll see Map book take a wide range of knocks and injuries en route, actually like a X Games competitor preparing to do a trick course. At a certain point, the robot misses a leap and does a hard face plant into the following stage.
While going through the course, the robot has what resembles a water power line victory, which showers liquid everywhere as Map book implodes to the ground in a load. Some other time, a stage gives out under Chart book's weight directly as it's endeavoring a reverse flip, and the robot lands directly on its head. Ruthless.
Part of the explanation the hammers look so awful is that Chart book doesn't appear to have any sort of fall discovery yet. People have a compulsory fall-discovery schedule—for the most part, you'll stick your arms out and attempt to get yourself while falling. In any case, Chart book simply pummels face-first into things.
The video likewise shows what life in the robot mechanics shop resembles. Specialists drag debilitated robots around on overhead cranes, colossal CNC machines produce new parts, and everything gets tried before it has returned to work for Chart book. After a great deal of training, rectifications, and redesigns
NEXT UPDATE
3. Exploding power supplies are now the worst thing about the Newegg Shuffle
Newegg bundled bad Gigabyte GP-P850GM and GP-P750GM PSUs with hard-to-buy GPUs.
by Andrew Cunningham
Enlarge / A Gigabyte power supply explodes during Gamers Nexus' testing.
Gamers Nexus
If you've been trying to buy a GPU this year, you may be familiar with the Newegg Shuffle, a lottery system that Newegg instituted in January to try to beat bots and scalpers.
You may also know that the GPUs and consoles in the Newegg Shuffle are often bundled with components like RAM, motherboards, and power supplies as a package deal—if you want dessert (in this case, a GPU), you have to eat your vegetables (or, a product you might be able to use but weren't looking to buy).
Earlier this month, the PC gaming YouTubers at Gamers Nexus posted a video showing that two Gigabyte power supplies commonly bundled with GPUs in the Newegg Shuffle were prone to "catastrophic" failure. Some of the GP-P850GM and GP-P750GM models that were tested sparked as they died, creating a fire risk, and one also ruined an attached RTX 3080 GPU.
Gigabyte has now released a statement that (inaccurately) takes issue with Gamers Nexus' findings before outlining how the company is addressing the problem and offering exchanges for anyone who has bought a power supply within the affected range of serial numbers (the company has stopped short of a formal recall, however).
Affected GP-P850GM and GP-P750GM models can be exchanged, whether they've failed or not.
Gigabyte
Gigabyte claims that the Gamers Nexus team ran the power supplies over capacity for "extended lengths of time" and that these conditions "would not be typical of any real world usage." In a response video posted today, Gamers Nexus pointed out that this statement mischaracterizes their tests, which were carefully designed to find where the power supplies' Over-Power Protection (OPP) feature would trigger and shut the power supply off (as OPP is designed to do when functioning properly).
The power supplies were then left to sit for a few minutes and brought back online at 60 percent of their capacity to ensure that they were still working properly after the shutdown—the full testing methodology section of the first video is here. Gamers Nexus also pointed to numerous product reviews claiming that the power supplies had shown up dead on arrival, before they were ever installed or used.
As for what it's doing to prevent future problems with these power supplies, Gigabyte has responded by lowering the OPP wattage limit to improve the odds that the power supplies will safely shut themselves down and continue working.
Both models would accept power spikes of up to 150 percent their rated capacity before shutting down (1300 W for the 850 W power supply, and 1125 W for the 750 W model), and that ceiling has been lowered to 120 percent. The statement doesn't say whether Gigabyte is making other manufacturing changes to address the problem.
The issue is partly that Gigabyte has made a poor product, but bad power supplies happen. This has only become a newsworthy problem because Newegg has been pushing these parts onto buyers who are desperate to get a GPU at anywhere near the advertised retail price.
At best, buying a bundle means getting some things you can actually use but didn't plan to pay for, like an extra controller or a game with a game console, or decent RAM or a motherboard to go with a GPU. But at worst, it's a way for retailers to offload things they can't normally sell to people who are so eager to buy something that they will gladly accept the inflated cost along with the unwanted accessories.
We've contacted Newegg to see if the problems with the Gigabyte power supplies will result in any changes to the Newegg Shuffle return policy or the kinds of products that get bundled with GPUs in the first place (the current return policy says that you need to return all bundled items together to get a refund). We'll update if we get a response
4. The Google Pixel 5a is $449, adds a bigger screen and water resistance
The Pixel 5a will be a good phone—if you're in the two countries that can get it.
by Ron Amadeo
The Pixel 5a.
A clear shot of the back.
The $700 Pixel 5 doesn't look great compared to the $450 Pixel 5a, but it at least has a 90 Hz display.
Google has officially unveiled its next midrange phone, the Pixel 5a. The big news today (and the main selling point of the Pixel A-series) is the price, which is $449, or $100 more than the Pixel 4a. Google's blog post includes a phone comparison sheet showing its lineup as the Pixel 5, Pixel 5a, and Pixel 4a, so hopefully the $349 Pixel 4a is sticking around.
Part of the reason for the price increase is that the Pixel 5a is a bigger phone, with a 6.34-inch display and 73.7 mm width compared to the Pixel 4a's 5.8-inch display and 69.4 mm width. Another big change is the addition of IP67 dust and water resistance, which means the phone should survive submersion in 3 feet of water (1 meter) for 30 minutes.
As with the Pixel 5, the Pixel 5a's body is metal coated in plastic, as opposed to the pure plastic body of the Pixel 4a. We didn't see the appeal of this construction in the Pixel 5, but the new phone is presumably stronger now.
As usual, we're getting a no-frills design that takes care of the basics. On the front, there's a slim-bezel OLED display and a hole-punch camera on the top right, while there are two cameras (main and wide-angle) and a capacitive fingerprint reader on the back. Specs include a Snapdragon 765G (that's a 7 nm chip with two Cortex A76 cores and six Cortex A55 cores), 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and the biggest battery of any Pixel: 4680 mAh.
The main camera is 12.2 MP and looks like the same Sony IMX363 sensor that Google has used for the past four years. There's a 16 MP wide-angle and an 8 MP front camera. Oh yeah, and the headphone jack is sticking around for at least one more year.
If there's a disappointment with the Pixel 5a, it's the 60 Hz display, which is looking pretty slow in a world where 90 Hz and 120 Hz are often the norm. We're not talking about high-end phones, either. OnePlus sells a 90 Hz phone in the US for $180, while the Galaxy A52 5G has a 120 Hz display and costs $500 in the US. (Of course, there are better deals internationally, but the Pixel 5a is not competing in those markets.)
Since its launch in 2019, the Pixel A series has been one of the best midrange phones you can buy. The phones usually combine solid specs, a no-nonsense design, stock Android, and three years of Google's day-one Android updates.
The phones are great if you can get them, but most people can't. Google is one of the world's largest companies, but its hardware division has a very small footprint, typically only shipping Pixel phones in anywhere from nine to 13 countries.
The Pixel 5a distribution will be even smaller; Google officially lists only the US and Japan. For comparison, a top-shelf launch from Samsung or Apple usually debuts in around 70 countries and often expands to 100+ countries in the subsequent months.
Google is also falling behind when it comes to the phone's support lifecycle. The Pixel 5a will get three years of major updates and three years of security updates, while Samsung now offers three years of major updates and four years of security updates, even on cheaper phones in the Pixel 5a price range. Samsung will be a lot slower than Google at shipping these phones out, but it feels wrong that the creator of Android doesn't offer the longest support life cycle anymore.
The Pixel 5a is up for preorder now and ships on August 26.
NEXT UPDATE
5. Refreshed application from Apple carries iCloud Passwords to Windows
It's surely not comparable to 1Password, but rather it's a welcome expansion at any rate.
by Samuel Axon
The refreshed iCloud for Windows and new iCloud Passwords application. (We've passed out some private data here, clearly.)
Apple has delivered another rendition of iCloud for Windows, numbered 12.5. The update adds the capacity to get to and oversee passwords saved in iCloud from a Windows machine, an element that clients have since quite a while ago mentioned.
Apple has been slowly adding more help for iCloud passwords on non-Apple stages with blended outcomes. The organization delivered a Chrome expansion that synchronized iCloud passwords with Chrome. Be that as it may, similar to this new iCloud Passwords application, it did the absolute minimum and very little else.
All things considered, this expansion is welcome for clients who basically live in the Apple environment (and consequently utilize Apple's iCloud secret key storage) however who at times need to utilize Windows. For instance, a few people utilize an iPhone or a Macintosh more often than not however have a Windows PC that is simply used to mess around that can't be played on the Macintosh.
Beforehand, those clients needed to whip out an Apple gadget to look into a secret key, then, at that point type it in physically on the Windows PC to sign in to a record. Choices were much more restricted for iCloud secret phrase administrator clients who expected to utilize a Windows gadget to make another record that would later be gotten to on different stages.
Presently, clients can dispatch a stripped down secret phrase chief application in Windows, allowing them to access or add passwords.
We're totally serious when we say the new application is no frills; it does precisely the base and that's it. In the event that your day by day driver is a Windows machine, this new application will do nothing to persuade you to change from something more strong like 1Password.
The iCloud Passwords application can be dispatched from the Beginning menu or set on the work area or taskbar, and it's set up naturally when you download or move up to iCloud for Windows 12.5 from the Microsoft Store. Further, the iCloud for Windows application has some new settings to empower or debilitate matching up with Chrome or Edge expansions for iCloud passwords.
Here are Apple's delivery notes for the update:
What's happening in this variant
View and deal with your saved passwords on your Windows PC with the new iCloud Passwords application
Sync your passwords across gadgets and PC in Edge utilizing the iCloud Passwords Augmentation
As it regularly does, Apple has distributed a help archive on its site that subtleties how the application functions and how you can manage it. Look at the record assuming you need to investigate. You can download iCloud for Windows the present moment; the update is accessible to everybody
NEXT UPDATE
6. Not-a-Linux distro review: SerenityOS is a Unix-y love letter to the ’90s
Although it is nowhere close to geared up for high time, there may be lots to like here.
through Jim Salter
Jim Salter
If this laptop does not appearance hauntingly acquainted to you, you both failed to stay thru the Nineteen Nineties—or possibly simply failed to stay thru them proper.
SerenityOS's built-in theme support will, like much of its UI/UX, look instantly familiar to anyone who lived through the 1990s.
Here we see SerenityOS's Windows Explorer-esque file manager and its text editor—which manages to keep looking like Notepad despite Markdown support and two-frame design.
SerenityOS's console and System Monitor apps continue its overarching theme of instantly familiar framework, populated with new and entirely different data.
If you aren't unreasonably excited about the idea of a built-in font editor, I'm not sure we can be friends.
You want Minesweeper? SerenityOS has Minesweeper. Like everything else, it's a complete rewrite under the hood.
Today, I check-drove an in-improvement running gadget task that appears nearly disturbingly tailor-made to me specifically: SerenityOS. I can not likely introduce SerenityOS extra correctly than its personal internet site does:
SerenityOS is a love letter to '90s consumer interfaces with a custom Unix-like middle. It flatters with sincerity through stealing lovely thoughts from diverse different structures. Roughly speaking, the intention is a wedding among the classy of overdue-Nineteen Nineties productiveness software program and the power-consumer accessibility of overdue-2000s *nix. This is a gadget through us, for us, primarily based totally at the matters we like.
Every phrase of this creation is sort of surgically accurate. To a person in SerenityOS's goal demographic—a person like myself (and probable many Arsians), who grew up with NT4 structures however matured on contemporary-day Linux and BSD—SerenityOS hits like a love letter from the ex you by no means pretty forgot.
SerenityOS isn’t Linux—and it’s now no longer BSD, both
What that quick intro does not get throughout is the size of the task. You may suppose that SerenityOS is only a Linux distro with an strangely bold vaporwave aesthetic, however it is virtually a whole running gadget constructed from the floor up. That way custom-constructed kernel, show manager, shell... everything.
According to founding SerenityOS developer Andreas Kling, there may be honestly no third-celebration code in SerenityOS. "When we commenced," Kling instructed Ars, "we imported 4 or 5 C preferred library capabilities from NetBSD or some thing like that. But the ones had been gotten rid of over time. We're freed from third-celebration code now, except for the construct procedure."
The construct procedure Kling refers to is some thing you may want to get acquainted with in case you need to check-force SerenityOS. There are not any real releases at this point, and there may be no ISO document to download. Instead, you may want to git clone the task onto your personal gadget and assemble the OS from source. This produces—and robotically runs—a unique SerenityOS digital gadget.
Although SerenityOS does not use code from both Linux or BSD below its hood, it does borrow more than one ideas from FreeBSD—its license (2-clause BSD), and a "ports tree" software program control gadget much like FreeBSD's.
There is a capture to SerenityOS's implementation of the ports tree, though: it does now no longer perform inside SerenityOS itself. Instead, the consumer builds the port at the host running gadget, then rebuilds the SerenityOS photo to consist of the freshly constructed port.
“It’s a Unix gadget! I recognize this!”
Jim Salter
On the minus side, SerenityOS's browser threw an exception—at the plus side, that Crash Reporter is a aspect of beauty!
Behold the Utah Teapot—a sort of "Hello World" for 3D rendering.
Building SerenityOS also automatically fires up its custom VM, leaving a running console log on the host. (Ext2? Yikes...)
Although I had technically by no means used something in SerenityOS before, the gadget felt right now acquainted. Unixlike consoles, stack traces, and hardware records combo seamlessly with easy, '90s-generation tabbed interfaces—in case you're acquainted with each Windows NT and with any vaguely contemporary-day Unixlike running gadget, you may be acquainted with SerenityOS from the instant you spot its laptop.
Heck, SerenityOS seems sufficient like Windows NT to be Windows NT before everything glance. It even consists of a topic gadget that appears and works pretty just like the ones located on overdue-90s generation Windows running structures. But withinside the old style Start menu, easy window dressings, and aggressively undeniable gadget font are Unix underpinnings used to accurate effect.
In a console, a totally featured shell much like Bash awaits. The shell has a few of the gadget utilities you'll count on to locate on a Unixlike gadget—which include however now no longer confined to locate, grep, and sysctl. If you manipulate to crash one in all SerenityOS's packages—and if we are sincere here, you in all likelihood will—the Crash Reporter conversation seems like one on Windows. It capabilities, however, a stack trace, contents of the CPU registers, and surroundings variables in a easy tabbed interface.
My least favored function of SerenityOS is its contemporary-day filesystem, which self-reviews as "Ext2FS." Linux's ext2 filesystem become quite accurate for its time—it is simply that point led to 1998. I wish SerenityOS subsequently receives a extra contemporary-day filesystem, with right journaling help for powerloss/crash safety.
Nineteen Nineties-generation overall performance... in a great manner
The gadget is likewise rapid, in a great deal the identical manner NT four.zero become rapid in its day. And SerenityOS' overall performance is constant in a manner that running structures have not visible in an extended time. For the instant, SerenityOS's kernel isn't Symmetrical Multi-Processing (SMP) aware—its unique digital gadget handiest makes use of a unmarried thread of your host pc's bodily CPU.
Obviously, a loss of SMP help will restriction the gadget for lots actual-global tasks. SerenityOS is handiest capable of break out with its unmarried-threaded version due to the fact the complete aspect become constructed with that expectation, however that expectation compelled Kling and the members who got here later to write down enormously clean, cruft-unfastened code.
The end result of this unmarried-threaded surroundings? Beautiful simplicity. SerenityOS can not run any quicker than a unmarried CPU middle of your host pc does—however it does not run any slower, both.
Although SerenityOS is presently confined to a unmarried thread, Kling tells us that he is operating on upgrading the kernel. "For the final weeks, I've been operating on multi-middle help... [but] it is nevertheless now no longer solid sufficient for each person to stay on it. So far, the gadget normally deadlocks inside some minutes [if SMP is enabled]."
SerenityOS isn’t Linux or BSD. So what's it?
It's nearly not possible to overstate the issue of making a completely new, fairly contemporary-day running gadget from scratch. Very few human beings or maybe groups have accomplished it. The maximum apparent counterexamples are Haiku—a task which pursuits to recreate BeOS—and the instead extra enigmatic TempleOS.
The overdue American programmer Terry A. Davis evolved TempleOS and launched it in 2013 as a type of "contemporary-day x86-sixty four Commodore sixty four." I do not know of every person except Davis who virtually used TempleOS seriously, considering the fact that Davis—who become recognized with schizophrenia—designed it consistent with standards discovered in manic episodes he interpreted as divine revelation.
Although TempleOS felt downright alien, SerenityOS feels intuitive and accessible. Like TempleOS, however, it explores new paradigms that are not viable or sensible in running structures with an extended tail of backward-compatibility and "due to the fact it is usually been accomplished this manner" thinking.
Usually, the variations in layout precept count number extra to SerenityOS's builders than its customers. You may observe that the ping software says "Pong from" as opposed to "Bytes from" while receiving returns, however those variations do not make a huge impact. There are exceptions, though, including the spreadsheet application. That makes use of JavaScript as opposed to conventional spreadsheet syntax for its formulas. Yes, you heard me—you write your spreadsheet formulae in literal JavaScript!
Some of the paradigm shifts Kling and fellow members have brought are neither bizarre nor trivial, though. SerenityOS's kernel, for instance, exposes its internals as JSON instead of unstructured text. System utilities ingesting kernel records consequently have a far less complicated time of formatting it for show and/or inner decisions.
Why create SerenityOS?
When I requested Kling why he determined to write down an running gadget absolutely from scratch, he had answers. The first, pragmatic solution become he desired a day by day driving force running gadget for himself, through himself. Other customers and builders had been welcome, however—initially—they had been in large part displaying up for the ride.
The 2nd solution is that SerenityOS commenced as a non-public remedy task. Kling is a convalescing addict, and he determined to construct an running gadget as an extended-time period task to cognizance his thoughts and occupy his time, much like the manner a person else may determine to construct a vehicle or house.
Although Kling nevertheless considers SerenityOS to be his eventual day by day driving force, he is multiplied the scope of "who it is for" from "me" to "us"—where "us" consists of all of the human beings who've proven up, taken a liking to the task, and determined to pitch in.
A developing team
SerenityOS's members web page on GitHub indicates contributions from 475 human beings as of this week. Though none come near Kling's personal hundreds of thousands of strains of code, pretty some members have loads or maybe lots of commits.
"It's been a procedure to get used to different human beings having manage," Kling instructed me. "It's without a doubt nice [to have so much help] now, however I needed to do it in steps—due to the fact that preliminary lack of manage is without a doubt scary."
Kling defined tremendous task management and schooling efforts as well. "Hundreds of members have positioned their time and love into this gadget. It's been tremendous for me to observe folks who had been worried and failed to experience they may hack in C++ turning into without a doubt equipped withinside the language."
On pinnacle of perfecting the task itself, Kling now attempts to mould his novice members into "well-rounded" builders, too. For instance, he will frequently give "mild nudges" to a person interested by the browser to additionally paintings on some thing withinside the kernel or withinside the pix stack.
When will SerenityOS be geared up?
Although SerenityOS is whole sufficient to experience like "a actual OS" already—with, amongst different matters, a purposeful community stack—it is now no longer geared up for ordinary customers today. But considering the fact that SerenityOS has a company intention—to be the day by day driving force for "us," which means Kling and the small military of builders who've considering the fact that joined him—I requested if he had any concept while it is probably geared up for him to apply in manufacturing at least.
Kling thinks SerenityOS may be geared up for his personal daily OS desires in "perhaps a yr or ." With a focal point on local packages constructed from the floor up instead of ports from different running structures, which means he—or his fellow builders—will want to write down a tremendous quantity of recent software program, now no longer simply hack at the OS stack itself.
"I'll in all likelihood must write a webcam driving force and a video editor," he said. "I put up to YouTube, so video enhancing and perhaps audio enhancing are matters I'll want personally." SerenityOS's homegrown browser will want a few extra paintings, additionally—it can not correctly play YouTube motion pictures yet.
The browser hassle
The browser hassle isn't always precise to SerenityOS, of course. The loss of a totally purposeful contemporary-day internet browser additionally cripples the Haiku task, and it's miles highly hard to resolve. Porting a contemporary-day browser like Firefox or Chromium to a completely new running gadget is arguably as hard as writing one from scratch, and it is a by no means-finishing task given the rapidity with which internet requirements and browser technology evolve.
Fortunately, this isn't always Kling's first browser rodeo—he instructed us that he labored on internet browsers for Nokia and others for lots years. He additionally has the benefit of being capable of construct an internet browser that is handiest an internet browser, some thing that is not viable with older running structures.
"It's been without a doubt freeing constructing a brand new internet engine from scratch," he said. "[We get to employ a] 'inexperienced field' approach—our browser handiest desires to help surfing the internet and does not want to help something else." (As an instance of the "some thing else" which had annoyed him withinside the past, Kling noted macOS Mail help constructed in to Safari.)
Kling's modern video replace at the SerenityOS task.
Conclusions
I've performed with lots of "hobby" running structures over the years, starting from TempleOS to Haiku to ReactOS. Despite a loss of versioned releases, downloadable ISOs, or maybe an installer, I located that SerenityOS feels the nearest to being a actual, usable running gadget. It's honestly now no longer there yet, however the mild already appears seen on the stop of the tunnel.
Although that is a fairly subjective and private metric, I additionally located SerenityOS's imaginative and prescient the maximum compelling of the lot. I by no means might have idea to combine NT four and contemporary-day Unixlike running gadget factors together—however it is a idea that works. It blends the nice capabilities of aggressively-easy Nineteen Nineties UI/UX with contemporary-day conveniences and below-the-hood developer accessibility.
If you are interested by taking SerenityOS for a spin your self, constructing it isn't too hard—mainly for Linux customers. On my Ryzen 7 3700X pc going for walks Ubuntu 20.04, it took me approximately a 30 minutes to move from "What's SerenityOS?" to my first login. (Windows customers: SerenityOS may be constructed in Windows Subsystem for Linux, additionally, however I failed to check that route.)
If you are now no longer feeling ambitious sufficient or do not have the proper hardware to construct your personal VM, you may take a look at out extra of SerenityOS at Kling's often up to date YouTube channel. His content material tiers from easy demonstrations to "Office Hours" for SerenityOS builders.
But in case you're a technical consumer who in the end likes what you spot, you may pitch in your self through contributing code and/or malicious program reviews at Github.
If you are now no longer a technical consumer, there may be additionally an choice to help the task financially—Kling, who end his day task to cognizance on Serenity full-time, has help alternatives with Patreon and with GitHub Sponsors. You also can pick to help SerenityOS's 2nd-maximum prolific developer, Linus Groh, thru his GitHub Sponsors or Liberapay.
NEXT UPDATE
7. Google’s Fuchsia OS will quickly roll out to all first-gen Nest Hubs
Fuchsia is out of the Nest Hub preview program.
through Ron Amadeo
The Nest Hub.
Google's up-and-coming Fuchsia OS has reached some other milestone. According to a record from 9to5Google's Kyle Bradshaw (the Internet's ultimate Fuchsia resource), the brand new OS is rolling out to all first-gen Google Nest Hubs. The OS released in May however most effective to a choose few gadgets withinside the preview program.
The first-gen Google Nest Hub (which released as the "Google Home Hub" and became later renamed) has constantly had a ordinary OS story. The clever show released in 2018 with an OS primarily based totally at the Google Cast platform at a time whilst Google became pushing companions to deliver shows with Android Things, an Internet-of-matters OS primarily based totally on Android.
Today, Android Things is dead—at least, as a public platform—and there is now no longer a whole lot destiny in turning the easy Google Cast Platform right into a clever show. The Fuchsia team, which has been experimenting at the Home Hub for years, seemingly commandeered the task and commenced rolling out the brand new OS.
You can take a look at when you have Fuchsia through going to the "About" web page withinside the settings. If there is an "Operating System Version" discipline on the bottom, you are strolling Fuchsia. You may not be aware any differences, though. The Google clever show UI is written in Flutter, which could run on each Fuchsia and the Google Cast OS, so the entirety you engage with comes from the equal code base. Google simply quietly changed the underlying OS.
Fuchsia is Google's experimental, constructed-from-scratch running system, and it is one of the few OSes that isn't always primarily based totally on Linux. The kernel is called "Zircon" and is an offshoot of Travis Geiselbrecht's Little Kernel (Geiselbrecht is at the Fuchsia staff). You should name Fuchsia "Flutter OS," because it has assist for Google's toolkit constructed in and makes use of it for the UI and apps.
Google wrote the clever show interface in Flutter years earlier than Fuchsia rolled out after which became capable of port the app from Cast OS to Fuchsia pretty easily. The plan, as some distance as we will tell, is to get builders running in Flutter for Android, iOS, or the web; on the equal time, they may be additionally making Fuchsia apps.
Beyond that, it is difficult to realize what the destiny holds for Fuchsia. The closing critical record we were given at the OS became this 2018 Bloomberg record, which nailed the clever tool rollout timing from 3 years out. That record additionally claims an growth to smartphones and laptops will arrive through 2023.
Taking over a weird, almost-deserted clever show OS is one thing, however will Fuchsia in reality step as much as venture Chrome OS and Android? It's difficult to assume Fuchsia hard both of these OSes, however we nevertheless realize subsequent to not anything approximately Google's plans.
NEXT UPDATE
8. Hackers who breached T-Mobile stole personal data for ~49 million accounts
PII includes first and last names, dates of birth, SSNs, and driver’s license numbers.
by Dan Goodin
T-Mobile on Wednesday said criminals obtained the personal information of almost 49 million current, former, or prospective customers in the latest mega-hack of its servers.
The haul includes customers’ first and last names, date of birth, SSN, and driver’s license/ID information for 7.8 million current post-paid accounts, meaning accounts that are billed at the end of each billing cycle. The unknown hackers obtained the same data from more than 40 million records belonging to former or prospective customers who had previously applied for credit with T-Mobile.
Names, phone numbers, and account PINs for about 850,000 active T-Mobile prepaid customers were also stolen. T-Mobile said that “additional information” from an unspecified number of inactive prepaid accounts was also affected.
The cellular carrier said none of the hacked data included customer financial information, credit or debit card information, or other payment information. Except for data in the 850,000 prepaid accounts, none of the affected data included phone numbers or account PINs.
T-Mobile, which is no stranger to data breaches involving millions of customers, said it has retained cybersecurity experts to assist in an investigation of this latest hack. The company said it has located and closed the access point the hackers used to breach the servers. The carrier has also coordinated with law enforcement.
In response, T-Mobile said it is:
Immediately offering 2 years of free identity protection services with McAfee’s ID Theft Protection Service.
Recommending all T-Mobile postpaid customers proactively change their PIN by going online into their T-Mobile account or calling our Customer Care team by dialing 611 on your phone. This precaution is despite the fact that we have no knowledge that any postpaid account PINs were compromised.
Offering an extra step to protect your mobile account with our Account Takeover Protection capabilities for postpaid customers, which makes it harder for customer accounts to be fraudulently ported out and stolen.
Publishing a unique webpage later on Wednesday for one-stop information and solutions to help customers take steps to further protect themselves.
Word of the breach first surfaced over the weekend when someone using the Twitter account @und0xxed and someone on a cybercrime forum advertised the availability of millions of what they claimed were never-before-published records. A report from Motherboard confirmed that the data matched T-Mobile customers. Motherboard said the person selling the data claimed there were 100 million records available.
It’s not known if anyone has purchased the data or if the data is being used to engage in identity theft or other crimes. It’s not unusual for data stolen in breaches to eventually be published online so it’s available to anyone who takes the time to find it.
The availability of free credit monitoring is better than nothing, but the more meaningful steps affected people can take are to change PINs and account passwords and implement the above-mentioned option of setting up a passcode to restrict the porting of phone numbers to a new account, a crime typically known as SIM swapping. Even with such protections, SIM swapping remains a big enough risk that people should not link important accounts to their phone numbers whenever possible←→
NEXT UPDATE
9. Samsung says it will stop loading its $1,000 smartphones with ads
Samsung typically shows ads in Bixby, the weather app, Samsung Pay, and more.
by Ron Amadeo
A Samsung phone.
Ron Amadeo
Samsung says it will cut down on the ads it shows on its smartphones. The announcement was first reported by Korean news agency Yonhap and was later confirmed by Samsung in a statement to The Verge. The official line from the industry giant is "Samsung has made a decision to cease the advertisement on proprietary apps, including Samsung Weather, Samsung Pay, and Samsung Theme." The company added, "The update will be ready by later this year."
Samsung ships Android on all its smartphones, but it changes the experience with a "One UI" skin and includes several Samsung-developed packed-in apps. Many of these apps—like Bixby, Samsung Health, and Weather—contain big banner ads, sometimes right at the top of the app, where you would normally expect to find an app logo or navigation information. The worst offenders are notification ads—a Samsung app will spawn a notification to entice you to buy a new gadget or install a new app.
It's not a great feeling to spend anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars on a piece of hardware and still get ads on that device. (And for you whataboutists out there—yes, Google also shows ads in some of its apps, but they are in serious, ad-supported web services, like YouTube or Google Maps, and they aren't notification ads. You also paid Samsung ~$1000, while you're using Google services for free.)
This is definitely a "we'll believe it when we see it" report. Samsung currently hides ads in a lot of places that wouldn't be covered by its statement. The company said it made this change in response to consumer feedback, though, and since the feedback is mainly "stop showing ads," this change should cover the entire OS package.
Removing ads would certainly help the appeal of Samsung's software. In the smartphone market, Google and Apple both ship relatively cohesive software offerings on their phones, but because Samsung includes all the Google apps plus all the Samsung apps, you end up with two app stores, two browsers, and two of everything else. Along with the ads, it's a very messy package.
A "later this year" launch date would mean that the first new ad-free Samsung phone will be the Galaxy S22.
NEXT UPDATE
10. The once-doomed MS Paint gets its first redesign in over a decade
Windows 10's version of Paint has been mostly unchanged since 2009.
by Andrew Cunningham
Microsoft
The redesigned (but not totally rethought) Paint app, coming soon to Windows 11.
The new app gets a dark mode, for starters.
Improved text tools.
An updated interface for selecting tweaked brush tools.
Like so many things in Windows 11, the color picker is now rounded instead of square.
The latest Windows 11 app to get a coat of paint is Paint, everyone's favorite meme-making sketching and doodling app. It's not available for download for Windows Insiders yet, but Microsoft Chief Product Officer Panos Panay posted a brief video of the new design, showing off its updated look, a new dark mode, better text tools, updated brushes, and other tweaks that collectively serve to modernize the app a bit.
The new version of Paint stops far short of making it a full-featured photo editing app like Adobe Photoshop or even Apple Photos or Paint.net—you still don't get layers or any advanced effects tools.
But the Paint app as it stands in Windows 10 is barely changed from the Windows 7 version of the app, and Windows 7's biggest contribution to Paint was the adoption of the "ribbon" user interface introduced in the then-current Office 2007.
For reference, the Windows 10 version of the Paint app (shown here in the current Windows 11 preview) looked a lot like the Windows 7 version.
Paint in 2009. Not all that different.
Back in 2017, Microsoft briefly deprecated the Paint app, officially halting its already stalled-out development and proclaiming that it would be removed from the suite of default Windows apps in favor of the newer Paint 3D. But the app was saved from the Recycle Bin a couple of years later and given an under-the-hood update that improved screen reader support and added keyboard controls.
The new update might not signal a renewed commitment to making Paint an actual heavy-duty image editor, but it does at least suggest that Microsoft will be less willing to let the current uncomfortable mix of Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10-era apps continue to coexist in the Windows 11 era. The updated Paint app will be going out to Windows Insiders "soon."
Thanks for reading.
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