Month: September 2024

Notion AI can now access Slack chats and Google Drive files

September 25, 2024 /

Notion AI is getting several updates, including the ability to connect the AI assistant to third-party apps such as Slack and Google Drive. 

Notion was among the first productivity software vendors to add generative AI (genAI) features to its all-in-one document app, announcing a waitlist for access to Notion AI soon after OpenAI’s ChatGPT-3.5 arrived in late 2022. 

The first iteration of the AI assistant could be used to draft content inside a Notion workspace such as a blog post or meeting agenda, or, as Notion playfully suggested on its website at the time, write a poem about a burrito.  Attitudes have shifted since then, and as the early sense of wonder towards the technology has worn thin, businesses are more focused on the value of genAI investments. 

That’s the thinking with the new Notion AI, said David Tibbits, product marketing manager for Notion AI, with the AI assistant able to provide more accurate responses based on information held in third-party apps. “It’s no longer about writing a haiku about burritos,” he said. “You have all of these day-to-day workflows that you need help with, and now Notion AI is able to be a genuinely useful…tool to help you with those day-to-day tasks.”

Two Notion AI third-party app connectors are now in beta. One lets users tap into messages from selected public channels in Slack (private channels and direct messages are not currently accessible); the other accesses files held in Google Drive. (Notion plans to add integrations with Jira, GitHub and other apps soon.) 

Once Notion AI is connected to one or more third-party apps, users can select which source the AI assistant will access, with query responses generated based on this data. To help reduce hallucinations, responses will include citations for information sources. 

Access to third-party apps gives users a “complete picture” of what’s going on in projects they’re involved with, said Tibbits. For workers returning from time off, it could help them quickly catch up on what they’ve missed, he said, or quickly update a product manager on progress of projects under way. 

The app connector feature builds on last year’s launch of Notion’s Q&A chatbot tool, which lets users ask the AI assistant about information held in a Notion workspace specifically. 

Notion also announced that it will combine the Notion AI Q&A and content generation capabilities into a single revamped AI assistant interface; previously, the two functions were accessed separately within the Notion app. This means it’s possible to “not just search and find the answer, but then actually take action…and generate content based on that information that it found,” said Tibbits. 

The AI assistant is accessible via both in a Notion workspace – where a user can ask contextual questions about information in a specific document – and in a dedicated chatbot interface within the app. 

Other updates to Notion AI include the ability to analyze and summarize PDFs and image files, as well as the ability to direct the AI assistant to generate content that fits a specific style guide. 

Notion AI is priced at $8 per user each month on an annual basis.

Microsoft vowed to fight climate change — then genAI came along

September 25, 2024 /

For years, Microsoft has prided itself on the time, effort, and money it puts into fighting climate change. In early 2020, Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith promised in a blog post the company would invest $1 billion to make itself carbon-negative by 2030. 

Smith vowed Microsoft wouldn’t use deceptive tricks to get there, for example by pouring carbon in the atmosphere, then buying so-called “offsets” that claim to reduce carbon elsewhere, such as planting trees in a rain forest.

Investigations have found that offsets can be a kind of “greenwashing” that allows large companies to surround themselves with the golden halo of fighting climate change, while doing little or nothing to achieve necessary goals. An investigation by The Guardian and others concluded, for example, that “more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by [the] biggest certifier are worthless.”

Kudos to Microsoft for recognizing that. And kudos to the company for beginning to take real action to get to its goal rather than using sleight-of-hand tactics.

But then electricity-hungry generative AI (genAI) came along. Suddenly fighting climate change and bolstering sustainability didn’t seem quite so important to the company.

That’s the message delivered by Microsoft’s spike in water use to cool AI data centers, and the company’s recently proposed deal to reopen Three Mile Island, the site of the worst nuclear power disaster in US history. 

All of the reactors at Three Mile Island were shuttered in 2019 because of financial problems. This new deal would restart the complex, with Microsoft paying plant owner Constellation Energy to reopen a nuclear reactor next to the one that melted down and buying all of its electric output for 20 years. That would help deliver a portion of the vast amounts of electricity required to run Microsoft’s AI data centers. Financial terms weren’t released, although Constellation says the plan would cost it $1.6 billion and will require federal tax breaks. 

(There’s nothing new with that last bit; nuclear power has been propped up by billions in tax breaks and other government aid since its inception.)

Microsoft will no doubt tout nuclear power as providing clean, carbon-free energy. But that ignores myriad other problems. Accidents at Chernobyl, Fukushima, and Three Mile Island remind us the plants remain vulnerable to disasters caused by both humans and nature. Beyond that, there is still no safe way to permanently store nuclear waste, according to former chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Allison Macfarlane, currently director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia.

Then there’s what might be nuclear power’s biggest problem. The same technology used to make fuel for nuclear plants can be used to make nuclear weapons — and nuclear plants are notably insecure. The Union of Concerned Scientists warns: “The NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] has regularly downplayed the threat of nuclear terrorism, relaxing its requirements for security exercises in response to industry pressure to lower costs.”

GenAI and environmental problems

Use of nuclear power isn’t the only environmental issue posed by the rise of genAI tools and platforms like Microsoft’s Copilot. That’s because genAI requires tremendous amounts of computing power compared to traditional technologies. GenAI first needs to be trained. Once it’s trained, it uses complex calculations to handle each incoming request. That, in turn, requires building massive data centers, which use tremendous amounts of electricity. 

Scientific American reports that researchers say OpenAI’s GPT-3, on which Copilot is based, “has 175 billion parameters, consumed 1,287 megawatt hours of electricity and generated 552 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the equivalent of 123 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year. And that’s just for getting the model ready to launch, before any consumers start using it.”

Keep in mind that GPT-3 has been superseded by GPT-4 and GPT-4o, which are more powerful and require even more computing power — and therefore more electricity — than GPT-3.

Providing all that electricity is just the start of genAI’s — and Copilot’s — environmental impact. Data centers need to be cooled down because of the heat produced by tightly packed chips. Thanks largely to AI, Microsoft’s water use spiked 34% between 2021 and 2022 — and that was before genAI took off.

All this doesn’t take into account the manufacturing and transportation of the high-end chips that do all the data crunching. And it doesn’t account for how much extra e-waste will be created — older generations of chips and hardware will be continually discarded when they’re replaced by increasingly powerful new generations.

What should Microsoft do?

In the past, Microsoft has shown it’s serious about fighting climate change. AI, especially genAI, might change that. But Microsoft can’t solve the issue by itself. If the company reduces its electricity use by cutting back on its genAI plans, rival companies such as Google, Amazon, OpenAI, Meta and others will fill the breach. The same amount of carbon will still be released into the atmosphere. As evidence, Google already has fallen short of its climate change goals: in 2023 its electric use jumped 13% thanks to its use of AI, rather than fall as Google had projected.

The problem of AI accelerating climate change can’t be solved by Big Tech itself. Governments need to step in and establish realistic regulations about technology’s effects on the climate. Doing that isn’t a pipe dream — outside the US, it’s already happening. 

In mid-September, Google announced it was halting plans to build a $200 million data center in Chile after a Chilean court ruled the project violated the country’s environmental regulations. The company vowed it would redesign the project from the ground up to meet those requirements.

Many people have warned that AI could present an existential threat to mankind if intelligent AI systems run amok. It would be ironic if the existential threat turns out not to be AI itself, but instead climate destruction caused by AI’s ravenous electricity demands. 

How to securely wipe a Windows PC

September 25, 2024 /

Secure PC disposal is a big deal. Companies want to ensure no data escapes from their corporate laptops. Even if you’re just using a PC at home, you want to make sure your sensitive files — financial documents, private photos, and whatever else — aren’t recoverable by whomever might next have the system in their hands.

Back in the Windows 7 days — and before — wiping a PC before disposing of it was complex. You had to hunt down specialized tools for erasing a PC’s drive, and then you needed Windows installation media to get the computer into a like-new-from-the-factory state. None of this is necessary anymore; everything you need is built directly into Windows and available in a few clicks, once you know where to look.

But, to be as secure as can be, you really have to go out of your way to find and activate all the right settings.

Want more PC advice? My free Windows Intelligence newsletter delivers the best Windows tips straight to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get free Windows Field Guides as a special welcome bonus!

Securely wiping Windows: First considerations

When you (or your organization) are done with a PC, you have several options for the device’s future. You can recycle or sell it, ensuring it’s useful to someone else in the future. There are obvious environmental benefits here — and financial benefits, too, if you can sell the PC or donate it for a tax deduction. But there are risks, too.

Organizations that demand high data security often destroy computers or their storage devices, taking them out of commission. If an organization has a PC holding “the nuclear launch codes,” it’s clearly a better idea to destroy it than repurpose it. That’s an extreme example, but it proves the point: If the CEO of a large company has a PC with sensitive trade secrets on it, that organization will almost certainly want to physically destroy the computer rather than risk the data somehow being recoverable and falling into the wrong hands.

Still, for most people and organizations, repurposing a PC and keeping it in good working health — whether for someone else in the office or someone else you’re passing it along to — is the best move.

How to wipe a PC’s storage and restore a fresh copy of Windows

When you’re getting rid of a PC, you want to be sure of two things: First, you want to ensure all your personal files are deleted in a way that can’t be recovered. Second, you want to be sure the machine has a shiny new copy of Windows installed so it’s immediately usable.

Thankfully, on both Windows 11 and Windows 10, this is easy. (PC geeks used to have to first hunt down utilities like DBAN (Darik’s Boot and Nuke) for wiping a computer’s hard drive and then reinstall Windows from installation media.)

First you’ll want to back up any important files before continuing. This process will erase everything on your PC.

  • On Windows 11, open the Settings app, select “System,” select “Recovery,” and then click the “Reset PC” button under Recovery options.
  • On Windows 10, open the Settings app, select “Update & security,” select “Recovery,” and then click the “Get started” button under Reset this PC.
Wipe Windows: Reset PC button
The “Reset PC” button is essentially a built-in way to reinstall Windows.

Chris Hoffman, IDG

To ensure Windows removes your files, click “Remove everything.”

Wipe Windows: Remove everything
Use “Remove everything” when you’re done with a PC. The “Keep my files” option is useful when you’re resetting a PC to fix problems.

Chris Hoffman, IDG

Windows will ask whether you want to reinstall its files by downloading them or by using the files currently on your PC. Either works — but if you want to save some download bandwidth, choose “Local reinstall.”

Wipe Windows: Local reinstall
Select “Local reinstall” here to save some bandwidth. Use “Cloud download” if the Local reinstall option fails.

Chris Hoffman, IDG

On the Additional setting screen, be sure to click “Change settings.”

Wipe Windows: Change settings
Be sure to click the “Change settings” link here to wipe a PC.

Chris Hoffman, IDG

Next, activate the “Clean data?” option. This will make Windows wipe the drive, ensuring the files can’t be recovered.

If your PC has multiple data drives, you will see a “Delete files from all drives?” option. You’ll want to activate that to wipe everything.

Wipe Windows: Clean data
Despite the warning, this process usually won’t take hours on a modern PC with a solid-state drive.

Chris Hoffman, IDG

Then continue with the process. Windows will “factory reset” itself, installing a fresh copy of the Windows operating system and cleaning your personal data files from the drive.

Companies can remotely wipe and lock PCs managed through tools like Active Directory and Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions. If you’re using a Windows PC managed by an organization, you might not be able to rely on these reset options on the PC itself.

How to wipe a PC that won’t boot

If Windows won’t start up normally, you might be able to boot into the recovery menu. Here, you’ll find the Reset PC tool available as a troubleshooting option.

If that doesn’t work, you can download Windows 11 or Windows 10 from Microsoft. Microsoft’s easy-to-use download tool will turn a USB drive into Windows installation media. You can then reinstall Windows and get everything back into working order.

If neither of those tips works, your PC likely has a hardware problem. You might need to remove its storage device to securely dispose of it. However, if that storage was encrypted — as I outline below — there might not be much of a risk of someone accessing its data.

How to physically destroy PCs or data drives

Note that Windows says the “Clean data” option “will make it harder to recover files.” Microsoft is really hedging its bets here, refusing to guarantee that this option will make files impossible to recover.

Why is that? Well, the underlying hardware is a factor. A traditional mechanical hard drive uses spinning magnetic platters. Even if a magnetic hard drive is overwritten, an incredibly sophisticated adversary — think a nation state — might have a way to recover some of the data on that drive.

Even with a modern solid-state drive, it’s not 100% clear every last byte of data will be obliterated. It should be. But solid-state drives run their own firmware, which manages where the data is stored. Windows tells the SSD to wipe the data. but Windows can’t guarantee the SSD completely erased all traces of the data; there may be some out there with bugs that preserve some of the data, again allowing a sophisticated adversary to recover it.

This is all an example of why organizations might choose to physically destroy storage devices — just to be safe.

Is this a concern for the average user? Definitely not. But I expect government agencies dealing with highly sensitive data will be physically destroying drives out of an abundance of caution

Possible methods include incineration, crushing, or shredding. The key is physically destroying the drive’s hardware — you’re not relying on software; you’re destroying the hardware! 

How disk encryption helps secure your data

Overall, a PC falling into the wrong hands — even before you wipe the its storage —  is less risky than it used to be, thanks to disk encryption tools like BitLocker and Device Encryption becoming more widespread. Prior to these technologies, anyone with physical access could pop open a laptop or desktop PC and access the files on it. Now, the attacker would have to find a way to crack the encryption — otherwise the files will appear totally scrambled.

That’s why a modern PC becoming misplaced or stolen is less of a risk than it used to be. People won’t be able to access its contents if the storage is encrypted.

Likewise, this means it’s less essential to fully wipe or destroy a drive than it used to be. Even if someone gets their hands on a disk that contains sensitive data, it’s less at risk if it’s encrypted.

Still, there are no guarantees. If you’re protecting national security secrets, you’ll want to ensure something is totally destroyed for maximum security. And even if you aren’t, it’s a good idea to use the “Clean data” option to securely wipe any Windows PC’s disks.

Get even more Windows insights, tips, and tricks with my Windows Intelligence newsletter — three things to try every Friday. Plus, get free copies of Paul Thurrott’s Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (a $10 value) just for signing up.

5 handy hidden tricks for Google’s Pixel 9 Pro Fold (and Pixel Tablet, too!)

September 25, 2024 /

Google’s new Pixel 9 Pro Fold isn’t your average smartphone. And that’s putting it mildly.

The second-gen Pixel Fold’s unusual folding setup really does change the way you think about your phone — and think about interacting with Android in general, as I’ve learned during my first several weeks living with the device.

And while the Fold’s hardware is undoubtedly the underlying reason for all of this, so much of the Pixel 9 Pro Fold experience really revolves around the software and the many interesting ways Google’s worked to make the most of the phone’s form.

As I’ve gotten to know the latest folding Pixel inside and out, I’ve stumbled onto some pretty interesting tricks tucked away into the device’s dustier corners. Most of ’em aren’t actually specific to anything about the phone’s folding nature, which means they’re more about improving the overall experience of using an Android device with a large screen and the hardware alongside it — and as a result, those items also apply to Google’s Pixel Tablet and, in some cases, other large-screen Android devices, too.

Here are five such splendid treasures worth your while to uncover.

[Psst: Hungry for even more Googley goodness? Check out my free Pixel Academy e-course to uncover all sorts of advanced intelligence lurking within your favorite Pixel gadget!]

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold trick #1: Smarter auto-rotate

I’ll admit it: I’ve got a bit of a love-hate relationship with Android’s auto-rotate system.

On the surface, having your phone automatically rotate the orientation of its display when you turn the device in one direction or another makes a lot of sense. In practice, though, I frequently find myself growing frustrated when a phone overestimates my rotating desires and ends up flipping the screen whilst I’m merely leaning back and holding the thing at a slight angle.

As a result, I tend to leave the auto-rotate setting off, which causes Android to pop up a little rotation icon in the corner of the screen whenever it thinks I might want to rotate — but then leaves it up to me to tap that icon and actually make the rotation happen.

With the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, you’ve got a really interesting in-between option.

It’s a simple toggle that lets you enable auto-rotate for the phone in its unfolded state — for the spacious inner screen — while leaving it off for the outer display, in its folded-up form. That way, you can avoid awkward unwanted auto-rotating while you’re using the Fold most of the time but allow yourself the convenience of easy automatic rotation when you’ve got the thing unfolded and might be more likely to flip it around to change its orientation often.

To find the switch in question, simply open up the Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s system settings, tap “Display,” then select “Auto-rotate screen.” And hey, how ’bout that?!

Google Pixel 9 Fold Pro Auto-Rotate Setting
Two separate auto-rotate options, tucked away within the Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s settings.

JR Raphael, IDG

Two separate options — and even more choice for exactly how you want your fancy folding phone to behave.

(This one, as you’d imagine, is the one trick in the list that’s specific only to the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and not something you’ll find on Google’s Pixel Tablet or any other large-screen devices. From here on out, everything we discuss will have even broader implications.)

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold trick #2: The taskbar toggle

Up next is a nifty trick for my absolute favorite part of the Pixel Fold experience — and that’s the spectacular taskbar Google brings into the Fold when you’re using the device in its unfolded form.

If you aren’t already familiar, the taskbar is an on-demand element you can summon with a simple swipe up from the bottom of the Fold’s inner screen and then use to swiftly switch between apps and slide straight into Android’s excellent split-screen system.

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?quality=50&strip=all 600w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=289%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 289w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=162%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 162w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=81%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 81w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=463%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 463w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=347%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 347w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=241%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 241w" width="600" height="622" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px">
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold taskbar in action.

JR Raphael, IDG

It’s all too easy to overlook, but on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold — and the Pixel Tablet, too! — you can actually make that bar permanently present, so that it always appears at the bottom of the screen and is never more than a single tap away, almost exactly like a typical taskbar on the desktop computer side of things.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold Taskbar - docked
The Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s taskbar in its always-visible docked state.

JR Raphael, IDG

It’s incredibly easy to switch between the taskbar’s swipe-up and always-present states, too, once you know how: 

  • First, summon the taskbar, if it isn’t already visible.
    • Remember: On the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, you can do this by swiping up gently from the bottom of the screen while the phone is in its unfolded state. On the Pixel Tablet, that same swiping gesture will work anytime.
  • See that little vertical line over toward the left of the taskbar — between the app drawer icon and the first app in the list? Tap and hold that line for a second.
  • That’ll reveal a pop-up option to always show the taskbar, and you can then activate or deactivate it as you see fit.
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold taskbar - always show
You’d never know it’s there, but a long-press on that little line reveals a super-useful option for keeping the Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s taskbar permanently visible.

JR Raphael, IDG

This may be the most buried, unintuitively placed option of all time. But once you know it’s there, it couldn’t be much quicker to pull up and adjust.

And now you know.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold trick #3: Faster fingerprinting

Both the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the Pixel Tablet share an unusual element, compared to Google’s other recent Pixel products: Rather than relying on an in-screen fingerprint sensor, their fingerprint unlocking mechanism lives within the physical power button on the side of the device.

And that placement comes with an interesting advantage: You can tell your Pixel Fold or Tablet to recognize your fingerprint on the button anytime, even when the screen is off, and unlock instantly without first requiring a forceful press to turn the screen on.

It sounds like a small thing, I know, but it really does make a monumental difference — as it makes it so fast and easy to unlock your Pixel, simply by placing your finger up against that button. Particularly with the power button’s side-of-device placement on the Fold, you can essentially unlock the thing as you’re grabbing it and pulling it out of your pocket or pouch of choice and have it powered up, on your home screen, and ready to roll before you’re even looking at it directly.

The downside is that it’s so easy to unlock with the proper fingerprint that you might find yourself unlocking the phone inadvertently when you’re picking it up or even just gently fondling it from time to time (as one does). So you’ll really need to take a bit of time to play around with this option and see how you like it.

To try it out, though:

  • Head into the Pixel 9 Pro Fold or Pixel Tablet’s system settings.
  • Select “Security & Privacy,” then “Device unlock.”
  • Tap “Fingerprint & Face Unlock.” Confirm your PIN, pattern, or password when prompted.
  • Tap “Fingerprint Unlock” (told ya this was buried!).
  • And there, look for the “Touch to unlock anytime” toggle.
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold Fingerprint Unlock
“Touch to unlock anytime” — a simple-seeming option that makes a massive difference.

JR Raphael, IDG

Flip it on for a while and see whatcha think. Personally, I find it to be extremely advantageous to keep activated on both the Fold and the Tablet, but now the power is in your hands — er, finger — to see the system in action and decide for yourself.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold trick #4: Adjusted apps

With the Pixel 9 Pro Fold — as well as the Pixel Tablet and any larger-screen Android device — having all that extra screen space is a serious productivity asset.

It can also, however, be a mild annoyance when certain apps aren’t properly programmed to adjust their interfaces dynamically and take up the screen space in the most effective way.

Google’s Pixel software has a reasonably simple fix for this, though. It’s a special section of the Android settings that allows you to manually adjust any specific app’s aspect ratio so it’ll work exactly the way you want when you’re viewing it on your device’s full display.

Anytime you encounter an app that doesn’t seem entirely optimal on the Fold’s inner screen or the Pixel Tablet’s main display:

  • Gallop into the Apps section of your system settings.
  • Scroll all the way down and tap the “Aspect ratio” option at the very bottom of that menu.
  • Find and select the app in question in the list (and note that if you don’t see the app you need, you can tap the toggle at the top of the screen to change from “Suggested apps” to “All apps” — or also “Changed apps,” to see apps for which you’ve already made adjustments).
  • Change the app’s setting from “App default,” which lets the app manage this entirely on its own, to either “Full screen,” “Half-screen,” or another available option.
Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold app aspect ratio
Manually optimize any app for the big screen with Google’s Pixel 9 Pro Fold (and Pixel Tablet) app aspect ratio override.

JR Raphael, IDG

Ideally, you wouldn’t have to do this, and every app would just behave in the way that makes the most sense for your device’s form. But here in the real world, we all know that doesn’t always play out the way it should. And this option is the way to fix it, with very little effort — once you know where to look.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold trick #5: The note slide

Our final Pixel 9 Pro Fold trick is one that’ll absolutely also work on Google’s Pixel Tablet, too, as well as on any large-screen Android device.

It’s a super-useful and completely invisible trick that quietly slid its way into the Google Keep Android app recently, with precisely zero fanfare or announcement.

So take note: When using Keep on the Fold’s inner screen, on the Pixel Tablet, or on any other tablet-like Android surface, you can now press and hold your finger onto the line separating the app’s two panels — the note list and whatever note you’re actively viewing.

Then slide your finger to the left or the right — and wouldya look at that? You can actually make either side larger on the fly!

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-google-keep-panels.webp?quality=50&strip=all 600w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-google-keep-panels.webp?resize=300%2C289&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-google-keep-panels.webp?resize=175%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 175w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-google-keep-panels.webp?resize=87%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 87w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-google-keep-panels.webp?resize=499%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 499w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-google-keep-panels.webp?resize=374%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 374w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-google-keep-panels.webp?resize=260%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 260w" width="600" height="577" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px">
Swipe, slide, smile: The hidden new Google Keep adjustment on any large-screen Android device.

JR Raphael, IDG

So far, Keep seems to be the only Google app where such a move is possible. But with any luck, we’ll see a similar setup show up in Gmail, Drive, and other places soon as well.

It’s just one of the many subtle touches that adds up to create an exceptional all-around experience on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold and, increasingly, in Android’s larger-screen form across the board.

With devices like those in your hands, you won’t have an average Android experience. And with extra tricks like this in your metaphorical bonnet, you’ll be flying around your phone or tablet like a total pro and taking advantage of all the productivity-boosting benefits it brings you.

Don’t let yourself miss an ounce of Pixel magic. Come start my free Pixel Academy e-course and discover tons of hidden features and time-saving tricks for whatever Pixel gadgets you’re using!

Microsoft acquisitions: A timeline of growth (and a few missteps)

September 24, 2024 /

The tech industry has changed dramatically since Bill Gates and Microsoft introduced the Windows operating system in 1985.  While other tech giants (at the time) — including Compaq, Lotus, and Netscape — were eventually acquired, Microsoft has continued to adapt and thrive, buying companies along the way as it sought to grow.

Microsoft, of course, is much more than a survivor. Its strategic acquisitions helped it both diversify its revenue streams and strengthen its position in a variety of markets. In fact, since it was founded in 1975, Microsoft has been one of the industry’s most acquisitive companies — with a body count of approaching  300 — dating back to 1982 when it bought Xenix, a Unix-based operating system. The company’s biggest acquisition by far wasn’t an enterprise one, however. In 2022, it purchased digital game development company Activision Blizzard in a cash deal worth $68.7 billion.

Other key acquisitions include the 2016 deal to buy Groove Networks to enhance its enterprise collaboration offerings. That collaboration-focused buying spree also included acquiring Skype in 2010, the popular VoIP and video communication service that was perhaps a precursor to its Teams communications platform; the 2011 acquisition of Yammer, a popular enterprise social networking platform; and the 2016 acquisition of LinkedIn for $26.2 billion — it’s biggest acquisition to date at the time.

In 2018, in a move to solidify its commitment to developers, Microsoft shelled out $7.5 billion to snag GitHub, the popular code-sharing site and staple of the developer community.

Three years later, in 2021, Microsoft upped its game in conversational AI and speech recognition with Nuance Communications. In 2023, it acquired Fungible, a provider of composable infrastructure that uses low-power data processing units (DPUs).

Not every deal is a clearcut success; take, for example, Microsoff’s quasi-merger with Inflection. While Microsoft didn’t technically acquire the AI startup, it hired the core team and bought additional assets, including access to Inflection IP. And there were false-starts such as its talks to acquire Yahoo and SAP and its ill-fated decision to buy Nokia.

Here’s a sampling of our coverage of Microsoft mergers and acquisitions over the years; watch this page for the latest information on new Microsoft mergers and acquisitions as they arise.

Microsoft’s latest OpenAI investment opens way to new enterprise services

Jan. 23, 2023: OpenAI landed billions of dollars more funding from Microsoft to continue its development of generative AI (genAI) tools such as Dall-E 2 and ChatGPT. It’s a move that’s likely to unlock similar investments from competitors — Google in particular — and open the way for new or improved software tools for enterprises large and small. The deal is likely to shake up the market for AI-based enterprise services, said Rajesh Kandaswamy, distinguished analyst and fellow at Gartner: “It provides additional impetus for Google to relook at its roadmap. It’s the same for other competitors like AWS.”

Microsoft to acquire Fungible for augmenting Azure networking, storage

April 4, 2023: Microsoft acquired composable infrastructure services provider Fungible for an undisclosed amount in an effort to augment its Azure networking and storage services. Microsoft’s Fungible acquisition is aimed at accelerating networking and storage performance in data centers with high-efficiency, low-power data processing units (DPUs), Girish Bablani, corporate vice president, Azure Core, wrote in a blog post.  

Did Microsoft make a bad $69B bet on Activision Blizzard?

Dec. 27, 2022: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” the philosopher George Santayana warned 120 years ago. An even better-known philosopher, former Yankee catcher Yogi Berra, put it more succinctly: “It’s déjà vu, all over again.” This refers to the antitrust battle Microsoft is waging with the US government over the company’s $69 billion agreement to buy game-maker Activision Blizzard. More than 30 years ago, Microsoft fought the feds in another antitrust suit over whether the software maker was using Windows’ monopolistic market share to kill competitors.

Microsoft to optimize process automation stack with Minit acquisition

April 4, 2022: Microsoft bought Minit, a developer of process mining software, to help its customers optimize business processes across the enterprise, on and off Microsoft Power Platform. The move came just days after Celonis announced its purchase of Process Analytics Factory to boost its own process mining offering on Microsoft Power Platform — and in the same week that SAP unveiled new functionality for Signavio, the process mining tool it acquired barely a year earlier, pulling together data on process performance and customer experience.

The Microsoft-Nuance Deal: A new push for voice technology?

April 21, 2021: Microsoft’s decision to acquire speech-recognition firm Nuance Communications for $19.7 billion, the company’s biggest purchase since forking out $26 billion for LinkedIn, could provide a real boost for voice technology, analysts said. Microsoft, in a statement touting the deal, pointed to Nuance’s use of “cloud-based ambient clinical intelligence” in the healthcare industry. (Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella later stressed that point in a webcast to talk about the purchase.)

Microsoft looks to give Yammer a new lease on life; can it?

Feb. 28, 2020: While Teams might be the focal point of Microsoft’s current collaboration strategy, Yammer — the enterprise social network it acquired in 2012 for $1.2 billion — hasn’t been exactly left for dead. In fact, Microsoft unveiled a complete redesign of the enterprise social network at its 2019 Ignite conference, offering up a new user interface based on Microsoft’s Fluent Design system, smart news feed recommendations, and tighter integration with Outlook, SharePoint and, of course, Teams. 

Microsoft buys GitHub for $7.5 billion

June 4, 2018: After several days of rumors to the effect, Microsoft announced plans to acquire code-sharing site GitHub for $7.5 billion. With the move, Microsoft planned to accelerate enterprise use of the platform, which holds repositories for open source software projects of all kinds, including software sponsored by Microsoft rivals such as Apple and Oracle. Although it has not been profitable, GitHub has generated revenues through private repositories and an on-premises version called GitHub Enterprise.

Microsoft’s Xamarin acquisition opens door to truly universal Windows apps

Feb. 24, 2016: After years of “will they, won’t they” speculation, Microsoft finally announced it would purchase Xamarin, the company that brought native Android and iOS development into Visual Studio. By building on .Net and C#, Xamarin provided Windows developers with an easy route to building applications outside the Windows ecosystem, without alienating users.

Microsoft writes off $7.6B, admits failure of Nokia acquisition

July 9, 2015: Microsoft today wrote off billions of dollars related to its Nokia acquisition, saying it’s taking an “impairment charge” of $7.6 billion, or nearly the full amount it paid for the Finnish firm’s smartphone business and patents in 2014. The announcement slapped the failure sticker on the last major move made by former CEO Steve Ballmer, who pushed for the Nokia deal in his final months in office against objections by, among others, Satya Nadella before he was elevated to the chief executive’s chair.

Microsoft is buying LinkedIn, but what’s the real motive?

June 13, 2016: In a move that resounded in an echo chamber, Microsoft bought the most well-known and useful social network for business, and it was quite an earth-shattering deal. Then company paid $26.2B in cash, or $196 per share. The LinkedIn deal was approved by both boards, but still needs to go through a regulatory approval process.

Microsoft abandons Yahoo acquisition

May 3, 2008: Microsoft has dropped its nearly three-month-long pursuit of Yahoo, ending a historic acquisition attempt whose failure takes Microsoft back to square one in its quest to boost its online business to better compete against Google. In response, Yahoo issued a statement reiterating its position that Microsoft’s offer was too low. (It also said that many Yahoo shareholders agreed with its position.) “We believe the economics demanded by Yahoo do not make sense for us,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said.

Microsoft, SAP say they considered merging

June 7, 2004: As part of its bid for a foothold in the enterprise applications market, Microsoft initiated merger discussions with enterprise resource planning leader SAP. The talks ended after Microsoft decided the deal, and the post-union integration, would be too risky.

macOS Sequoia, beta testing, and endpoint protection

September 24, 2024 /

There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle recently as some endpoint security service providers complain that macOS Sequoia has broken their products in some way. 

Even if true, what I can’t figure out is why these problems were not identified during the extensive beta testing period, and if they were, why no one fixed them and why customers weren’t warned about the problems by vendors before the new OS shipped.

But the experience is inconsistent

Look at it this way: While products from some security vendors appear to have been affected by changes in how Sequoia handles networking, other systems seem to be compatible — though an update is required.

Reports emerged soon after Sequoia shipped last week claiming that security products from CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Microsoft, and others had stopped working properly. The reasons for the problems seem to relate to changes in networking, according to security researcher Patrick Wardle. It seems some network settings must be changed to enable the security software to function.

According to Wardle, Apple was made aware of the problems. “Apple 100% knew about this,” he wrote.

But the issue appears to be different for different vendors. For example, while SentinelOne products were reportedly affected at first, the company says nothing about this, instead warning users last week to upgrade to the latest version of their security agent. 

“Our engineering teams have been working hard over the summer to ensure that SentinelOne was ready to support macOS 15 on the day of release. Our extensive beta testing has resulted in support with macOS Agent version 24.2.2,” they said. “Customers are reminded that, as always, it is vital to update the agent to the supported version prior to upgrading the OS.” 

Some might think that SentineOne’s warning hints that the problems faced by endpoint security tools is repairable with a software patch. After all, ESET is also telling users to upgrade their security to version 7 or later for Sequoia compatibility.

However, Microsoft and CrowdStrike (who I suppose had other things on their mind in recent weeks), are currently warning users not to upgrade to macOS Sequoia pending some kind of fix.

What is the problem?

Researcher Will Dormann pointed to firewall- and DNS-related issues as the culprit. He explains that using Sequoia’s built-in firewall to block incoming connections might also block replies to DNS requests.

All the same, what I find difficult to understand is why security companies failed to adequately flag these issues during the beta testing process, or, if they did, failed to warn users that problems might emerge. It is, after all, unlikely that Apple would make any additional changes to the OS after the release of the final RC (Release Candidate) during beta testing.

With that in mind, surely developers should already have tested their solutions and identified any potential problems. That some have already updated their software to be compatible with Sequoia suggests that’s possible. If that’s true, why did other security developers fail to keep pace? (The Register claims Apple was made aware of the problems, but no fix emerged.)

Apple hasn’t said anything. It probably should.

Problems happen, so fix them fast

In the end, perhaps it doesn’t matter where the problem comes from, as long as it is soon fixed.

After all, any customer relying on third-party endpoint security services to maintain security on the world’s most inherently secure computer platform deserves to know those services do what they say they’ll do.

If you are affected by this problem, check with your vendor and delay updating to Sequoia until they provide a compatibility update. While you’re at it, you might want to ask them just how much of their engineering resources were allocated to beta testing Sequoia prior to its release, and why advanced warning of any identified problems was not given.

Please follow me on LinkedIn, Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill group on MeWe.

Google brings Gemini AI assistant to Workspace business plans

September 24, 2024 /

Google’s Gemini chatbot app will soon be available at no additional cost to customers with Workspace business subscriptions, Google announced Tuesday. The change should put Gemini in the hands of many more people  — there are 10 million paid Workspace customers, Google said last year.

The Gemini generative AI (genAI) assistant can be accessed in two ways within Workspace: as an AI assistant embedded into Workspace apps such as Docs, Sheets, and Meet; and as a standalone chatbot interface available at gemini.google.com. 

Until now, access to Gemini required a subscription with an additional monthly fee over Workspace subscriptions: $20 per user each month for Gemini Business and $30 per user each month for Gemini Enterprise. (Google also has an “AI Meetings and Messages” add-on Workspace that provides access to Gemini features, mostly in the Meet video conferencing app.)

Beginning in the fourth quarter, Workspace customers on Business, Enterprise and Frontline plans will gain access to the natural language chatbot interface without an added subscription.

The standalone Gemini app lets users interact with the AI assistant — asking questions about conversations and documents held in Workspace apps, for instance — without compromising company data. Unlike the consumer version, user prompts to Gemini won’t be used to train Google’s AI models or be reviewed by Google staff, according to Google’s help site.

Workspace admins will soon be able to control whether Gemini stores user prompts and responses, and for how long, Google said. 

At Google’s Gemini at Work event, the company unveiled a new security advisor for Workspace Business customers. It provides admins with recommendations around data security management, such as warnings about Drive files that are shared externally, suspicious sign-in attempts, and more. 

Google Workspace security advisor

Google Workspace’s new security advisor can provide IT admins with recommendations about data security management.

Google

“Think of it as your personal security expert that can offer business-tailored insights, actionable guidance, and additional threat prevention and data protection controls,”  Aparna Pappu, vice president and general manager for Google Workspace, said in a blog post. 

The security advisor is coming to all Workspace Business plans over the next few weeks, Google said.  The company also announced that Gemini for Workspace is now certified for security and privacy standards SOC1/2/3, ISO 27001 and ISO 27701.

More on Google Workspace:

Is the rise of genAI about to create an energy crisis?

September 24, 2024 /

The veracious demand for generative AI (genAI) tools is driving a significant increase in the use of power-sucking GPUs and TPUs in data centers, some of which are scaling up from tens of thousands to more than 100,000 units per server farm.

With the shift to cloud computing and genAI, new data centers are growing in size. It is not unusual to see new facilities being built with capacities from 100 to 1,000 megawatts — roughly equivalent to the energy requirements of 80,000 to 800,000 homes, according to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

AI-related energy consumption is expected to grow about 45% year through the next three years. For example, the most popular chatbot, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is estimated to use about 227 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually to process 78 billion user queries.

To put that into perspective, the energy ChatGPT uses in one year could power 21,602 US homes, according to research by BestBrokers, an online service that calculates odds for trading from big data. “While this accounts for just 0.02% of the 131 million U.S. households, it’s still a staggering amount, especially considering the US ranks third in the world for household numbers,” BestBrokers wrote in a new report.

GenAI models are typically much more energy-intensive than data retrieval, streaming, and communications applications — the main forces that drove data center growth over the past two decades, according to EPRI’s report.

At 2.9 watt-hours per ChatGPT request, AI queries are estimated to require 10 times the electricity of traditional Google queries, which require about 0.3 watt-hours each; and emerging, computation-intensive capabilities such as image, audio, and video generation have no precedent, according to EPRI.

There are now nearly 3,000 data centers in the US and that number is expected to double by 2030. While genAI applications are estimated to use only 10% to 20% of data center electricity today, that percentage is rising quickly. “Data centers are expected to grow to consume 4.6% to 9.1% of U.S. electricity generation annually by 2030 versus an estimated 4% today,” EPRI said.

No crisis yet — but energy demands are growing

Though data center power consumption is expected to double by 2028, according to IDC research director Sean Graham, it’s still a small percentage of overall energy consumption — just 18%. “So, it’s not fair to blame energy consumption on AI,” he said. “Now, I don’t mean to say AI isn’t using a lot of energy and data centers aren’t growing at a very fast rate. Data Center energy consumption is growing at 20% per year. That’s significant, but it’s still only 2.5% of the global energy demand.

“It’s not like we can blame energy problems exclusively on AI,” Graham said. “It’s a problem, but AI is a convenient scapegoat for the world’s energy problems.”

Each GPU in an AI data center can consume more than 400 watts of power while training a single large language model (LLM) — the algorithmic foundation of genAI tools and platforms. That means simply training a single LLM like ChatGPT-3 can lead to up to 10 gigawatt-hour (GWh) power consumption. That’s roughly equal to the yearly electricity consumption of over 1,000 US households.

“Interestingly, training the GPT-4 model, with its staggering 1 trillion parameters, required a whopping 62.3 million kWh of electricity over a 100-day period,” BestBroker’s report said. “This is 48 times the energy consumed by GPT-3, which, in comparison, used about 1.3 million kWh in just 34 days.”

There are hundreds of such data centers across the world, mainly managed by big tech firms like Amazon, Microsoft and Google, according to a study by the University of Washington. And the amount of energy they use is rising quickly. In 2022, total AI datacenter energy consumption in the US hit 23 trillion-terawatt hours (TWh). (A TWh represents one trillion watts of power used for one hour).

That figure is expected to increase at a combined annual growth rate of 44.7% and will reach 146.2TWh by 2027, according to IDC Research. By that point, AI datacenter energy consumption is expected to account for 18% all datacenter energy consumption.

There is already speculation — given how fast genAI has erupted onto the scene — that it won’t take that long before a crisis emerges. Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk said earlier this year that by 2025, there will not be enough energy to power AI’s rapid advances.

A two-tiered billing system?

Beyond the pressure from genAI growth, electricity prices are rising due to supply and demand dynamics, environmental regulations, geopolitical events, and extreme weather events fueled in part by climate change, according to an IDC study published today. IDC believes the higher electricity prices of the last five years are likely to continue, making datacenters considerably more expensive to operate. (The cost to build a datacenter ranges from $6 million to $14 million per megawatt, and the average life of each center is 15 to 20 years, according to IDC.)

Amid that backdrop, electricity suppliers and other utilities have argued that AI creators and hosts should be required to pay higher prices for electricity — as cloud providers did before them — because they’re quickly consuming greater amounts of compute cycles and, therefore, energy compared to other users.

Suppliers also argue they need to build out their energy infrastructure to handle the increased use. American Electric Power (AEP) in Ohio, for example, has proposed that AI data center owners be required to make a 10-year commitment to pay for a minimum of 90% of the energy they say they need monthly — even if they use less. AEP said it’s facing 15 GW of projected load growth from data centers by 2030 and wants the money up front to expand its power infrastructure.

Data center operators, not surprisingly, are pushing back. Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta are currently fighting the AEP proposal. The companies argued before Ohio’s Public Utilities Commission last month that special rates would be “discriminatory” and “unreasonable.”

Graham wouldn’t say whether special power rates for AI providers would be fair, but he did point to the standard of charging lower electricity rates for bulk industrial power consumers. “If you think about you and I as consumers — forget the market we’re in — you expect volume discounts,” he said. “So, I think the data center providers expect volume discounts.”

Electricity is, by far, the greatest cost of running a data center, accounting for anywhere from 40% to 60% of infrastructure costs, Graham said; to change that cost structure would have an “enormous impact” on corporate profits.

Even chip makers are eying the situation warily. Concerned about the increasing power needs, Nvidia, Intel and AMD are now all working on processors that consume less energy as a way to help address the problem. Intel, for example, will soon begin to roll out its next generation of AI accelerators, which will shift  the focus away from traditional compute and memory capabilities to per-chip power consumption.

Nuclear power as an option

In the meantime, AI data center operators are turning their attention to an unexpected power source: nuclear energy. Amazon, earlier this year, spent $650 million to buy a data center from Tesla that runs on 100% nuclear energy from one of US’s largest nuclear power plants.

And just last week, Microsoft announced it is working on a deal with Constellation Energy to reopen the Three Mile Island power plant in Pennsylvania — the site of the worst nuclear accident in US history. Under the deal, Microsoft would purchase 100% of the power from Three Mile Island for the next 20 years to feed its voracious AI energy needs.

In July, the US Energy Advisory Board released a report on providing power for AI and data centers; it offered 16 recommendations for how the US Department of Energy can help support growing demand reliably and affordably. The report considers power dynamics for AI model training, operational flexibility for data center and utility operators, and promising energy generation and storage technologies to meet load growth. 

In the report, the agency noted that electricity providers, data center customers, and other large customers had all expressed concerns about the ability to keep up with demand, and “almost uniformly, they recommended accelerating generation and storage additions, delaying retirements, making additional investments in existing resources.”

Those updates include the “uprating and relicensing of existing nuclear and hydroelectric facilities,” and demonstrating new clean, firm, affordable, dispatchable technologies as soon as possible. “In most cases, [stakeholders] see new natural gas capacity additions — in addition to solar, wind, and batteries — as the primary option available today to maintain reliability,” the report said.

“We’re going to need all sources of power, including geothermal and hydrogen,” IDC’s Graham said. “AI’s power consumption is really growing. You can draw certain analogies to cloud. The one thing about AI that’s different is the magnitude of energy consumption per server.”

Microsoft 365: A guide to the updates

September 24, 2024 /

Microsoft 365 (and Office 365) subscribers get more frequent software updates than those who have purchased Office without a subscription, which means subscribers have access to the latest features, security patches, and bug fixes. But it can be hard to keep track of the changes in each update and know when they’re available. We’re doing this for you, so you don’t have to.

Following are summaries of the updates to Microsoft 365/Office 365 for Windows over the past year, with the latest releases shown first. We’ll add info about new updates as they’re rolled out.

Note: This story covers updates released to the Current Channel for Microsoft 365/Office 365 subscriptions. If you’re a member of Microsoft’s Office Insider preview program or want to get a sneak peek at upcoming features, see the Microsoft 365 Insider blog.

Version 2410 (Build 18129.20158)

Release date: November 12, 2024

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Word in which all characters didn’t appear correctly when creating an Outlook task from OneNote, and one in PowerPoint in which embedded BMP images in the PowerPoint slide were not opening.

This build also includes a variety of security updates. See Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates for details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2410 (Build 18129.20158).

Version 2410 (Build 18129.20116)

Release date: October 28, 2024

This build enables filtering capabilities for the comment pane in Excel and fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Word in which the title bar no longer showed a “Saved” status for locally saved files, and one in PowerPoint in which a graphics-related issue caused the app to close unexpectedly at times.

Get more info about Version 2410 (Build 18129.20116).

Version 2409 (Build 18025.20160)

Release date: October 15, 2024

This build fixes a single bug in Word, in which emails with linked SVG content couldn’t be saved or sent.

Get more info about Version 2409 (Build 18025.20160).

Version 2409 (Build 18025.20140)

Release date: October 8, 2024

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Word in which text wasn’t clearly visible in High Contrast Mode when using “Draft with Copilot” and referencing a meeting under “Reference your content.”

This build also includes multiple security updates. See Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates for details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2409 (Build 18025.20140).

Version 2409 (Build 18025.20104)

Release date: September 25, 2024

This build fixes a single bug, in which when you saved a file in Word, the save status was missing from the Title bar.

Get more info about Version 2409 (Build 18025.20104).

Version 2409 (Build 18025.20096)

Release date: September 23, 2024

This build improves the user experience for selecting which users should have which permissions when a sensitivity label configured for user-defined permissions is applied to a file or when configuring standalone Information Rights Management through the Restrict Access feature. This change affects Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.

The build also fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Word in which Document Mode would switch from “editing” to “viewing” if user enabled “Track Changes” and set “For Everyone.”

Get more info about Version 2409 (Build 18025.20096).

Version 2408 (Build 17928.20156)

Release date: September 10, 2024

This update will remove Flip video support when the service goes offline on October 1, 2024. The build also includes a variety of security updates. Go here for details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2408 (Build 17928.20156).

Version 2408 (Build 17928.20114)

Release date: August 26, 2024

This build allows you to disable connected experiences for privacy concerns without impacting data security policies, such as sensitivity labels. Services associated with Microsoft Purview (e.g., sensitivity labels and rights management) are no longer controlled by policy settings to manage privacy controls for Microsoft 365 Apps. Instead, these services will rely on their existing security admin controls in Purview portals.

The build also fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Outlook that caused default SMIME labels to fail to apply when a user replied to or forwarded an unlabeled message, and one for the entire suite in which people couldn’t install Microsoft 365 apps on an enrolled device.

Get more info about Version 2408 (Build 17928.20114).

Version 2407 (Build 17830.20166)

Release date: August 13, 2024

This build includes a variety of security updates for Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, Visio, and the entire Office suite. See Microsoft’s Release notes for Office security updates for details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2407 (Build 17830.20166).

Version 2407 (Build 17830.20138)

Release date: August 1, 2024

This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in which coauthoring on text boxes in Excel sometimes gave unexpected results, another in PowerPoint in which line widths were not preserved when exporting arrow shapes to PDF, and another in Word in which revisions were sometimes skipped when reviewing using VBA.

Get more info about Version 2407 (Build 17830.20138).

Version 2406 (Build 17726.20160)

Release date: July 9, 2024

This build fixes several bugs, including one in Word and Excel in which characters don’t appear correctly in Text Box Gallery. It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2406 (Build 17726.20160).

Version 2406 (Build 17726.20126)

Release date: June 26, 2024

This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in which Excel documents might be unexpectedly edited when a mandatory sensitivity label has not been applied, one that caused Outlook to exit unexpectedly shortly after launch for some users, and one in which pasting data from Word or Excel to an Outlook template as a link would cause an error message to appear.

Get more info about Version 2406 (Build 17726.20126).

Version 2405 (Build 17628.20164)

Release date: June 19, 2024

This build includes a variety of unspecified bug and performance fixes.

Get more info about Version 2405 (Build 17628.20164).

Version 2405 (Build 17628.20144)

Release date: June 11, 2024

This build fixes one bug, which prevented users from sending mail for a few hours after updating add-ins with on-send events. It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2405 (Build 17628.20144).

Version 2405 (Build 17628.20110)

Release date: May 30, 2024

This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which an embedded workbook in .xls format might not have closed properly, one that that caused Outlook to close when using Copilot Summarize, one in Word in which content controls may have been removed when coauthoring, and one for the entire Office suite in which the Organization Chart Add-In for Microsoft programs was not loading properly.

Get more info about Version 2405 (Build 17628.20110).

Version 2404 (Build 17531.20152)

Release date: May 14, 2024

This build fixes a number of bugs, including one in Word where content controls might be removed when coauthoring, and one that caused Sovereign users to be unable to create ToDo tasks from Outlook.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2404 (Build 17531.20152).

Version 2404 (Build 17531.20140)

Release date: May 7, 2024

This build fixes two bugs in Outlook, one in which it closed unexpectedly using the Scheduling Assistant when creating a new meeting or viewing an existing meeting, and another that caused add-in developers to hit timeouts when retrieving notifications from an Outlook client context.

Get more info about Version 2404 (Build 17531.20140) .

Version 2404 (Build 17531.20120)

Release date: April 29, 2024

This build reduces workbook size bloat from unnecessary cell formatting with a new “Check Performance” task pane. In addition, it fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which the default font could not be set; one in Outlook in which custom forms from MAPI form servers stopped responding; one in PowerPoint in which online videos did not play in some cases; one in which when opening certain Word documents would cause the error, “Word experienced an error trying to open the file”; and one in which the Office update installer appeared to be unresponsive.

Get more info about Version 2404 (Build 17531.20120) .

Version 2403 (Build 17425.20176)

Release date: April 9, 2024

This build fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2403 (Build 17425.20176).

Version 2402 (Build 17328.20184)

Release date: March 12, 2024

This build fixes three bugs: one in which Access closed unexpectedly, one in which Excel closed unexpectedly when opening files with pivot tables and table design in macro-enabled files, and one in which Word closed unexpectedly when the undo function was used.

This build also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2402 (Build 17328.20184).

Version 2402 (Build 17328.20162)

Release date: March 4, 2024

This build fixes several bugs, including one that crashed Outlook when a link was clicked on, and another for the entire Office suite in which opened Office apps didn’t automatically start when a laptop was reopened, and an error message appeared after manual relaunch.

Get more info about Version 2402 (Build 17328.20162).

Version 2402 (Build 17328.20142)

Release date: February 28, 2024

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one that caused Outlook to exit unexpectedly when expanding a conversation in the search results from a search of “All Mailboxes,” and another in which users were not able to create a bullet list with hyphens in PowerPoint.

Get more info about Version 2402 (Build 17328.20142).

Version 2401 (Build 17231.20236)

Release date: February 13, 2024

This build fixes several bugs, including one in which macros were being corrupted when saving Excel files and another that affected the entire Office suite in which add-ins would not load after Click trust for content add-in was selected.

This build also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2401 (Build 17231.20236).

Version 2401 (Build 17231.20194)

Release date: February 1, 2024

This build fixes a single bug in which expanded groups in the message list collapsed when users changed which column they were arranged by.

Get more info about Version 2401 (Build 17231.20194).

Version 2401 (Build 17231.20182)

Release date: January 30, 2024

This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in which Excel would stop responding when saving changes, one in PowerPoint in which Notes and Slide layout would open with incorrect proportions when a file was opened from a protected view, and one in Word in which comment cards appeared too wide and cut off text when changing or switching the screen in use.

Get more info about Version 2401 (Build 17231.20182).

Version 2312 (Build 17126.20132)

Release date: January 9, 2024

This build fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2312 (Build 17126.20132).

Version 2312 (Build 17126.20126)

Release date: January 4, 2023

This build introduces a new sensitivity toolbar in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that helps users understand the security policies that apply to their documents. It’s available when users are creating copies of their documents in File / Save As. In addition, Office now had a new default theme, which Microsoft says is “more modern and accessible.”

It also fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which Custom Menu text was truncated when right-clicking in a cell, one in PowerPoint in which restoring a previous version of a presentation was not working as expected when using Version History, and one in Word in which the content control end tag was marked at the end of the document automatically if the document was edited in Word Online and then opened in Word desktop.

Get more info about  Version 2312 (Build 17126.20126).

Version 2311 (Build 17029.20108)

Release date: December 12, 2023

This build fixes one bug in Outlook, in which the message list was blank when switching between the “Focused” and “Other” views.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2311 (Build 17029.20108).

Version 2311 (Build 17029.20068)

Release date: November 29, 2023

This build automatically inserts image captioning for Excel’s images. When you insert an image into a spreadsheet, accessibility image captioning is automatically generated for you.

It also fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which list box controls would not respond to mouse clicks after scrolling using the mouse wheel, and one in Word in which the language of a presentation was not retained when saving or exporting the presentation to a PDF file.

Get more info about Version 2311 (Build 17029.20068).

Version 2310 (Build 16924.20150)

Release date: November 14, 2023

This build fixes several bugs, including one in which Outlook failed to comply with the default browser settings for some users, and another in which new lines were added to an Outlook signature when pressing Enter in the body of the email.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2310 (Build 16924.20150).

Version 2310 (Build 16924.20124)

Release date: Oct. 31, 2023

This build fixes a bug that caused Outlook to exit unexpectedly when clicking the More link in the Search results list.

Get more info about Version 2310 (Build 16924.20124).

Version 2310 (Build 16924.20106)

Release date: Oct. 25, 2023

In this build, the Teams Meeting App works in Outlook, too. With it, you’ll be able to configure a meeting app while scheduling an invite in Outlook. The meeting app will be ready to use when you chat or join the meeting on Teams.

A wide variety of bugs have also been fixed, including one in Excel where certain Pivot Tables would load slowly; one in which OneNote would close unexpectedly when rapidly navigating from one .PDF file to another .PDF file between different sections, or when performing an undo operation on a .PDF printout insertion; and one in the entire Office suite that caused unexpected black borders to appear around screen captures added with the Insert Screenshot functionality.

Get more info about Version 2310 (Build 16924.20106).

Version 2309 (Build 16827.20166)

Release date: October 10, 2023

This build fixes two bugs, one in which users were missing their Outlook add-ins, and another in Word in which subheading numbering with a custom Style would disappear if the file was saved and reopened. It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2309 (Build 16827.20166).

Version 2309 (Build 16827.20130)

Release date: September 28, 2023

This build introduces two new features, including the ability to disable specific types of automatic data conversions in Excel and support for the “Present in Teams” button to present local files in PowerPoint Live in Microsoft Teams.

Several bugs have also been fixed, including one in which the setting to control how Outlook opens previous items at start-up was missing from the Options window, and another in Word in which the Add-ins tab was not visible when using custom toolbar information.

Get more info about Version 2309 (Build 16827.20130).

Version 2308 (Build 16731.20234)

Release date: September 12, 2023

This build fixes several bugs, including one that caused Outlook to close unexpectedly when viewing an email, and another in PowerPoint in which the presenter view slide section zoomed in and out when zooming in the notes section.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2308 (Build 16731.20234).

Google US antitrust trials: A timeline

September 23, 2024 /

Google’s dominance in the search arena has given rise to two major antitrust lawsuits from the US government alleging the company has manipulated the market to maintain that dominance, to the exclusion of competitors and the detriment of the public at large.

The first lawsuit, targeting Google’s search business, kicked off in mid-September 2023, and drew to a close in May 2024 with the delivery of closing arguments; the second trial against the tech giant, focused on advertising, began Sept. 9, 2024. The government presented its case and rested after about two weeks.

The cases heavily echo the turn-of-the-century Microsoft antitrust case in several respects, not least of which is the fact that Google faces the possibility of being broken up by regulators if it is unsuccessful in its legal battles.

Here’s our condensed timeline of the two lawsuits, and their progress through the court system.

Sept. 20, 2024: The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is set to wrap its case in the Google antitrust trial after an eventful two weeks. The tech giant is accused of engaging in monopolistic behavior by strategically acquiring certain companies and controlling the adtech industry’s most widely-used tools and exchanges,  beginning with its acquisition of advertising company DoubleClick in 2008.

Sept. 9, 2024: The second major case against Google began with the company defending itself against claims it engaged in illegal behavior to maintain control of the ad tech market. The US government is accusing Google of purposefully manipulating that market, snuffing out competitors and gobbling up key technologies through acquisitions. If the DoJ successfully makes its case, Google risks being broken up by regulators.

Aug. 5, 2024: In a major defeat for Google, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that the company had engaged in anticompetitive behavior in an effort to protect its search business. In the 277-page decision, Mehta was blunt: “After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.” Attorney General Merrick Garland, in a statement from the Department of Justice, said: “This victory against Google is an historic win for the American people. No company — no matter how large or influential — is above the law.” Mehta’s ruling did not include remedies for the anticompetitive behavior; those will be decided later.

May 3, 2024: Over two days of closing arguments, the DoJ revisited its case for Google having a monopoly on search advertising, and Judge Mehta quizzed both parties about whether other platforms could be viewed as substitutes for Google’s search advertising business. He hasn’t said how long he expects to take to reach a decision, but if he rules against Google, a second hearing will take place to decide on any remedies.

November 16, 2023: The evidentiary phase of the trial finishes, as Judge Mehta issues instructions for post-trial submissions. Despite considerable amounts of redaction and closed-door testimony, the case revealed some unprecedented details about the relationships between the largest tech companies in the world, including the fact that Apple apparently keeps 36% of the search revenue from Google searches in Safari, and Apple once considered buying Microsoft’s Bing search engine as leverage against Google. Judge Mehta has scheduled closing arguments in the case for May 1, 2024.

October 31, 2023: Google CEO Sundai Pichai takes the stand, for long-awaited testimony about the relationship between his company and Apple. He gave some details about Google’s negotiations with Apple over a contract that made Google the default search engine on Apple’s iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Google has paid billions for the privilege of being the default search on Apple products, and the relationship is a key part of the case – which was underlined by the Justice Department’s cross-examination of Pichai, during which he admitted that default search status is a major driver of market share.

October 18, 2023: Google begins its defense, calling Paul Nayak, a vice president of search, to the stand as its first witness. Nayak downplays the importance of scale in his testimony, stressing that machine intelligence, compute infrastructure, and a team of 16,000 staff that checks on search results are crucial to maintaining quality of service. DOJ witnesses including DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had testified that Google keeps an edge over competitors via an ever-increasing trove of data — the result of its default search engine status, maintained through exclusive contracts and billions of dollars in payments to Apple, Samsung and other companies. This data gives Google an advantage in refining search engine results, they said. 

October 3, 2023: As a witness for the prosecution in the Google antitrust trial, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warns that Google’s monopoly profits could lock in publishers as AI-enabled search arrives. Nadella argued that it’s almost impossible to compete with Google, given the search leader’s massive competitive edge in collecting and analyzing user data. He also warned that Google, with its vast profits and lock on the search market, stands poised to extend its monopoly power in a new era where artificial intelligence technologies will turbocharge the search business.

September 26, 2023: Apple’s Eddy Cue testifies behind closed doors in the Google search case, as critics slam presiding Judge Amit Mehta’s decision to hold much of the trial’s testimony from witnesses secret, allow documents to be heavily redacted, and block some documents from public view — mainly at the insistence of Google, but also at the request of other companies, including Apple. By the end of Cue’s testimony — and after a wek of wrangling by all parties — Judge Mehta rules that documents used during the trial can be published online at the end of each day, but still allows time Google and third parties to object to exhibits being shown publicly before the DOJ presents them in court. 

September 21, 2023: Judge Mehta rules that public access to court exhibits, which have been mostly internal Google documents thus far, should be removed, after Google challenged the Justice Department’s regular publication of them. The company said that it was concerned for its employees’ privacy.

September 12, 2023: The default search trial begins with opening statements, and the government begins its case.

August 2023: Judge Mehta grants partial summary judgment for Google in the search case, saying that the government had failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact on antitrust charges relating to contracts around the use of the Android operating system, as well as Google Assistant and IoT devices. The claims relating to Google’s exclusive “default search” contracts, however, are allowed to proceed to trial.

July/August 2023: Google and the plaintiffs in the search case argue various motions in limine, designed to control what evidence should be included or excluded in the actual trial. Discovery and motion practice over evidence continues in the advertising case.

June 2023: Judge Mehta schedules a trial date of September 12, 2023 for the search case.

April 2023: Judge Leonie M. Brinkema denies Google’s motion to dismiss in the advertising case.

March 2023: Google’s motion to transfer the advertising case to New York is denied by Judge Brinkema, who orders the parties to propose discovery schedules within two weeks of the order. Two weeks later, Google moves to dismiss the case for failure to state a claim, arguing that the plaintiffs have simply produced legal conclusions, and not specific facts, that could support their claims. Judge Brinkema schedules pre-trial conferences for January 2024.

February 2023: The plaintiffs in the default search case case move for sanctions against Google, accusing it of spoliation, which refers to the destruction, alteration or failure to preserve relevant evidence in a case. Elsewhere, in the advertising case, Google moves to transfer the case from the Eastern District of Virginia to the Southern District of New York, which is seen as an attempt to consolidate the case with related digital advertising antitrust litigation.

January 2023: A second antitrust action, pushed by eight states and the DoJ, is filed in federal district court in eastern Virginia. The plaintiffs, who call for Google’s advertising business to be split up, accuse Google of manipulating its dominant position in the online advertising world to squeeze out rivals and control both the supply and demand side of the advertising market. Google, according to the complaint, thwarted fair competition by manipulating fees, punished advertisers for using alternative platforms and ad exchanges, and engaged in a host of further anti-competitive behavior in the interest of monopolizing the marketplace. (This is case that began in September 2024.)

December 2022: Google moves for summary judgment against the separate Colorado case and the larger, DoJ-led case. A summary judgement motion is essentially a request by one of the parties in a lawsuit that the judge rule in their favor and end the case, arguing that, based on the undisputed facts, they are entitled to win the case as a matter of law.

May 2022: A deadline of June 17 is set for the production of all discovery materials. Further documents – for example, those whose is existence is first disclosed in late in the discovery window – can be produced until June 30.

May 2022: Judge Mehta denies a government motion to sanction Google for inaccurately classifying documents as attorney-client privileged. The plaintiffs had argued that emails on which Google’s lawyers were listed as recipients or CCed, but that the lawyers never responded to, constituted a misuse of the attorney-client privilege rules.

December 2021: Judge Mehta conditionally splits Colorado’s claims from the case at large, ordering that separate trials on that state’s issues of liability and remedies will be “more convenient for the Court and the Parties, and will expedite and economize this litigation.”

August-October 2021: Discovery-related motions and orders continue, as Yelp and Samsung join the fray. (Those companies, like Microsoft and Apple, are relevant to the case even if they aren’t parties themselves, as their internal records are potentially relevant to Google’s liability.)

June/July 2021: The discovery process continues, and the U.S. and Google both file several documents with the court under seal. (Microsoft files two sealed documents, as well, in response to Google’s subpoenas for company records, and Apple becomes involved after the government requests access to some of its internal information.)

March 2021: Meetings between Google and the various governmental plaintiffs continue, with periodic status reports on the discovery process.

January 2021: Google files a response to the complaint, admitting to many of the facts alleged by the Justice Department and associated attorneys general, but categorically denying the substance of the government’s claims of illegality. Further responses to separate but related claims, generally to specific state attorneys general, follow in the subsequent weeks and months.

December 2020: Judge Amit Mehta approves the joinder of Michigan, Wisconsin and California to the suit.

October 2020: The Department of Justice, along with the attorneys general of 11 states, sues Google in DC federal district court for unlawfully maintaining a monopoly, in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. The case centers on Google’s use of exclusive contracts that mandate its use as the default search engine in a host of different hardware and software applications, with the government alleging that this represents an artificial constraint on any possible competition for the search giant.