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The Windows 10 emoji picker has been broken for a month

The Windows 10 emoji picker has been broken for a month August 8, 2025 On July 8th, Microsoft released update KB5062554 to the world. It contains no documented changes or features. This update broke the emoji panel’s search functionality for all Windows 10 users. The broken grammar isn't the bug, that's just... how it is The emoji panel (accessed with Win + .) is the official way of typing emojis on Windows. I’m sure many users don’t know it exists. It’s hardly discoverable, and most desktop

The First Xbox Handheld Could Be Coming Sooner Than You Think

Microsoft may be ready to announce an official release date for its long-awaited Xbox handheld (or at least, the one that’s not actually being made by Xbox). The most recent reliable leaks suggest the Asus ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X will hit the scene in October, with Microsoft planning to share pricing and preorder info later this month. The end of the year is shaping up to be open season for handheld PCs, though I’m still biting my bottom lip to get used to the sting of what may be very expensiv

Microsoft will kill the Lens PDF scanner app for iOS, Android

Microsoft announced that it will phase out the Microsoft Lens PDF scanner app for Android and iOS devices starting in September. Microsoft Lens (formerly known as Office Lens) can convert images into PDF, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files, and it is capable of scanning both printed and handwritten text. Currently, the app has been downloaded 50 million times on the Google Play Store (with over 952,000 reviews with an average of 4.9/5 rating) and received nearly 136,000 ratings on Apple's App St

Microsoft 365 apps to soon block file access via FPRPC by default

Microsoft has announced that the Microsoft 365 apps for Windows will start blocking access to files via the insecure FPRPC legacy authentication protocol by default starting late August. These changes apply only to Microsoft 365 apps for Windows and will not affect Microsoft Teams users across Windows, Mac, web, iOS, or Android. "Microsoft 365 apps will block insecure file open protocols like FPRPC by default starting version 2508, with new Trust Center settings to manage these protocols," the

Microsoft rolls out GPT-5 across its Copilot suite - here's where you'll find it

Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images ZDNET's key takeaways Microsoft is rolling out GPT-5 to all its AI offerings, Thursday. The Copilot chatbot will provide GPT-5, even to free users. GPT-5 will also be available to coding and enterprise tools. OpenAI released its much-anticipated upgrade to the engine that powers ChatGPT and many other AI implementations, including Microsoft's AI offerings, on Thursday. Concurrent with the GPT-5 release, Microsoft announced that it is upgrading its consu

Ask HN: Has any of the Pivotal Tracker replacement attempts succeeded?

I mean succeeded in replicating it, not necessarily as a business. It doesn't seem so. I tested all I could find, LiteTracker seems the best, but still extremely buggy even in the initial demo project changing task status fails. The rest appears either half-finished, untrustworthy or has a very sketchy interface. But would really like to be surprised. I am very rarely willing to pay for software and this is one case I really want to, but cannot find anything. This thing kinda feeds my pet the

Microsoft rolls out GPT-5 across its Copilot suite - here's what we know

Matthias Balk/picture alliance via Getty Images ZDNET's key takeaways Microsoft is rolling out GPT-5 to all its AI offerings, Thursday. The Copilot chatbot will provide GPT-5, even to free users. GPT-5 will also be available to coding and enterprise tools. OpenAI released its much-anticipated upgrade to the engine that powers ChatGPT and many other AI implementations, including Microsoft's AI offerings, Thursday. Concurrent with the GPT-5 release, Microsoft announced that it is upgrading i

Heretic and Hexen have received a surprise remaster from Nightdive Studios

Nightdive Studios and id Software have announced a surprise remaster of fantasy shooters Heretic and Hexen. The games are now available for modern consoles in a new release, dubbed Heretic + Hexen, that includes support for co-op, cross-platform multiplayer and community-published mods. Heretic + Hexen combines Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, Hexen: Beyond Heretic and Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel into a single bundle. On top of making the updates necessary to get the games runni

CISA orders fed agencies to patch new Exchange flaw by Monday

CISA has issued an emergency directive ordering all Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies to mitigate a critical Microsoft Exchange hybrid vulnerability tracked as CVE-2025-53786 by Monday morning at 9:00 AM ET. Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies are non-military agencies within the US executive branch, including the Department of Homeland Security, Department of the Treasury, Department of Energy, and Department of Health and Human Services. The flaw tracked as CVE-

School AI surveillance can lead to false alarms, arrests

Lesley Mathis knows what her daughter said was wrong. But she never expected the 13-year-old girl would get arrested for it. The teenage girl made an offensive joke while chatting online with her classmates, triggering the school’s surveillance software. Before the morning was even over, the Tennessee eighth grader was under arrest. She was interrogated, strip-searched and spent the night in a jail cell, her mother says. Earlier in the day, her friends had teased the teen about her tanned com

Microsoft has ended 'active development' on Contraband

The upheaval continues for gaming at Microsoft. The latest victim appears to be Contraband, a planned release from Avalanche Studios with Xbox Game Studios as publisher. The co-op open-world game from the studio behind the entertaining Just Cause series was teased in a brief, mostly atmospheric trailer at E3 2021. But very little had been heard since about the project, and it seems the axe is currently hanging pretty precariously above Contraband. "Active development has now stopped while we ev

Microsoft brings GPT-5 to Copilot with new smart mode

is a senior editor and author of Notepad , who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. OpenAI officially launched its new GPT-5 models today, and Microsoft is now bringing GPT-5 to Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Azure AI Foundry, GitHub Copilot, and more. It’s part of a big simultaneous release of GPT-5 that will show up in Copilot as the new smart mode that I detailed in No

Koalas vs. Crows: An Evolutionary Theory of Software

Is there any more charismatic animal than the much maligned koala? Said to "defy evolution", they sleep 20 hours a day, survive solely on eucalyptus leaves - a food source not only nutritionally poor but indeed toxic - and famously don't recognise that food source detached from a tree. And yet, they have not only survived but thrived for more than 25 million years, outcompeting faster, stronger and smarter animals. How is such a thing possible? Koalas are hyper-specialised to a very specific ni

Can't upgrade your Windows 10 PC? You have 5 options - and 2 months to decide

simpson33/Getty Images ZDNET's key takeaways Windows 10 support ends on Oct. 14, 2025. Users have free and paid options for extended updates. Doing nothing is not a safe option. Have you decided what to do with your Windows 10 PCs when they reach their official end-of-support date in two months? I can tell you with absolute certainty that Microsoft is not going to back down at the last minute and extend that deadline. But you do have options, including some new ways to continue getting sec

SoftBank's Vision Fund posts best performance in 4 years

Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group Corp., speaks at the SoftBank World event in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. SoftBank Group on Thursday reported fiscal first-quarter profit that topped expectations, driven by gains in its Vision Fund tech investment arm. The Japanese giant reported 421.8 billion yen ($2.87 billion) in the quarter ended June, versus 127.6 billion yen expected, according to LSEG consensus estimates. It is the second straight quart

The best antivirus software 2025

Antivirus software for your desktop PC, laptop, and mobile devices provides an additional layer of protection that goes beyond your operating system's default security. Today's antivirus solutions offer far more than just signature-based scans. They protect against threats such as phishing, ransomware, trojans, and worms. They may also warn you when you visit an untrusted website, when your personal details -- including passwords -- are found online due to data breaches, and when you are trying

SoftBank Vision Fund posts $4.8 billion gain to drive second straight quarter of group profit

Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group Corp., speaks at the SoftBank World event in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. SoftBank Group on Thursday reported fiscal first-quarter profit that topped expectations, driven by gains in its Vision Fund tech investment arm. The Japanese giant reported 421.8 billion yen ($2.87 billion) in the quarter ended June, versus 127.6 billion yen expected, according to LSEG consensus estimates. It is the second straight quart

Microsoft accidentally confirms GPT-5, GPT-5-Mini, GPT-5-Nano ahead of launch

OpenAI is hosting a live stream at 10AM PT to announce GPT-5, but Microsoft has already confirmed the details. In a GitHub document, which has now been taken offline, Microsoft confirmed GPT-5 is launching later today. While it was obvious, this is the first official confirmation. Microsoft also offered more details on GPT-5 models, including the base model, which is called just GPT-5. It is designed for logic and multi-step tasks. We also have GPT-5-mini, which is a lightweight version for c

Microsoft warns of high-severity flaw in hybrid Exchange deployments

Microsoft has warned customers to mitigate a high-severity vulnerability in Exchange Server hybrid deployments that could allow attackers to escalate their privileges in Exchange Online cloud environments without leaving any traces. Exchange hybrid configurations connect on-premises Exchange servers to Exchange Online (part of Microsoft 365), allowing for seamless integration of email and calendar features between on-premises and cloud mailboxes, including shared calendars, global address lists

A Man Who Beat IBM

The history of the personal computer wasn't just about technology—it was about vision, trust, and the courage to stand up to a monopoly. In his latest piece for The Crazy Ones, Gareth Edwards tells the story of how Compaq challenged IBM's dominance in the 1980s. When IBM tried to reclaim control of the PC market with proprietary technology, Compaq CEO Rod Canion decided to create an open standard and share it with competitors—effectively giving away "the company jewels" to preserve innovation. G

Motorola just picked this surprising alternative to Gemini Live’s camera sharing

Ryan Haines / Android Authority TL;DR Select Motorola phones will soon have Microsoft Copilot Vision baked into Moto AI. The Gemini Live camera sharing alternative will be available in the coming week in the US, Mexico, the UK, and more markets. The Copilot app will now be preinstalled on the brand’s latest phones. Motorola’s approach to AI is a little more flexible than other brands, as it enlists the help of various AI partners like Perplexity, Meta, Google, and Microsoft. Despite its AI-b

Israel is reportedly storing millions of Palestinian phone calls on Microsoft servers

Israel has allegedly been recording and storing millions of phone calls made by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank as part of a large surveillance effort dating back to 2022, according to reporting by The Guardian , +972 Magazine and Local Call . The report suggests that the country has been shuttling these recordings to Microsoft Azure cloud servers. Company CEO Satya Nadella allegedly okayed the effort personally after meeting with a commander from Israel’s military surveillance agency, U

Microsoft is bringing its Xbox Copilot to the Windows Game Bar

is a senior editor and author of Notepad , who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Microsoft started testing its Xbox Copilot on iOS and Android earlier this year, and now it’s bringing the chatbot to the Game Bar feature on Windows 11. Xbox Insiders can start testing a preview of the Gaming Copilot integration in the Game Bar today, and Microsoft is planning “further opt

Microsoft makes OpenAI’s new open model available on Windows

is a senior editor and author of Notepad , who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. OpenAI released a new free and open GPT model yesterday that can run on a PC, and now Microsoft is making that easy to do for Windows users. The lightweight gpt-oss-20b model is now available on Windows AI Foundry, and will be coming soon to macOS, too. You’ll need a PC or laptop with at l

You’re the software head for Google Pixel: What would you add, revive, or copy from other phones?

Joe Maring / Android Authority 🗣️ This is an open thread. We want to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments and vote in the poll below — your take might be featured in a future roundup. I have a love/hate relationship with my Google Pixel. On one hand, I love the smaller software features that often go unnoticed but significantly enhance my experience. “Flip to Shhh” and “Now Playing” are just two examples. On the other hand, I do notice some concerning issues. The clean UI is a r

Microsoft pays record $17 million in bounties over the last 12 months

​Microsoft paid a record $17 million this year to 344 security researchers across 59 countries through its bug bounty program. Between July 2024 and June 2025, the researchers submitted a total of 1,469 eligible vulnerability reports, with the highest individual bounty reaching $200,000. These reports helped resolve more than 1,000 potential security vulnerabilities across various Microsoft products and platforms, including Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Windows, Edge, and

Japan: Apple Must Lift Browser Engine Ban by December

Readers may recall that Japan recently passed the Smartphone Act, officially the Bill on the Promotion of Competition for Specified Software Used in Smartphones. Among its most important reforms is a direct prohibition on Apple’s long-standing ban on third-party browser engines on iOS. This ban has functioned as an effective ban on browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Opera, Brave & Vivaldi, by forcing them to use Apple’s WebKit engine, which they cannot modify or control. This results in no ef

Microsoft’s plan to fix the web with AI has already hit an embarrassing security flaw

is a senior editor and author of Notepad , who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 years. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Researchers have already found a critical vulnerability in the new NLWeb protocol Microsoft made a big deal about just just a few months ago at Build. It’s a protocol that’s supposed to be “HTML for the Agentic Web,” offering ChatGPT-like search to any website or app. Discovery of the embar

Software Rot

Software rot is generally thought of as degradation of software due to a changing environment. For example, a program written a decade ago may no longer work with new versions of the libraries it depends on because some of them have changed without retaining backwards compatibility. This kind of thinking encourages a culture where software becomes obsolete unless it is constantly maintained. A better approach might be to talk about the reliability of the environment the software depends on. Wou

Apple stops signing iOS 18.5, blocking downgrade from iOS 18.6

It’s been just over a week since Apple released iOS 18.6. Since the iPhone software update has shipped without issue, Apple has stopped signing the older iOS 18.5 software version. Apple stops signing versions of iOS due to security issues being disclosed in older software versions and patched in newer software versions. Apple released iOS 18.6 on July 29. The update included bug fixes, security improvements, and a fix for a performance issue with the Photos app’s Memories feature. The update