The potential split up of Google that’s been proposed by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) could weaken the company, and thus the position of the US in its tech war with China, said former President Donald Trump, who suggested he may not break up the company if he wins the presidency again in November.
In comments made while speaking Tuesday at an event with Bloomberg News during a meeting of the Economic Club of Chicago, Trump said, “China is afraid of Google,” according to a report of the event in the New York Times. He went on to wonder whether splitting Google would “destroy” it, and thus also diminish the US competitively against China. The US and China are at war over tech supremacy, and the US has imposed trade restrictions on the export of technology to the country.
Trump’s comments are somewhat ironic, given that it was his administration that brought an antitrust suit against Google in 2020, weeks before the presidential election. The DOJ argued at the time that Google had illegally maintained a monopoly in the online search business by paying companies like Apple to make it the default search engine on smartphones and in web browsers.
Last week, the notion that Google would be split up became more realistic after the release of a proposal by the DOJ, which said it “is considering behavioral and structural remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products and features … over rivals or new entrants,” according to a court filing.
The department said that Google’s longstanding control of the Chrome browser, with its preinstalled Google search default, “significantly narrows the available channels of distribution and thus disincentivizes the emergence of new competition.”
The DOJ also said it would target Google’s revenue-sharing agreements with device makers and telecom companies that spurred the case in the first place in its remedies. These deals have kept Google as the default search engine on the vast majority of devices globally, effectively blocking competitors from gaining market share.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday, either on Trump’s remarks, or on its position on the DOJ proposal.
Two Googles better than one?
That split now seems more likely if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the upcoming election, as Democratic administrations traditionally have been on the side of consumer protection and thus splitting up companies with too much power, noted Brad Shimmin, chief analyst, AI and data analytics, at Omdia. Republicans, on the other hand, tend to favor letting large corporations with monopoly market shares remain as they are, he said.
Shimmin and other experts said a split like the one that the DOJ has proposed would offer consumers and enterprises more choice in terms of which technology they use and/or bundle with products. “I think that capitalism thrives upon a bit of chaos and diversity,” he said, adding that breaking up Google would be a win for consumer protection.
“Anytime you have a very solid position with a dominant player, it really quells innovation and quells enrichments, and you end up with a zero-sum game,” he said. That’s because once a company has a dominant position that can’t be challenged, there is little accountability for product and/or service quality, so “companies simply test the bounds of tolerance” with their customers, Shimmin said.
Power corrupts; regulation corrects
While Trump might favor ensuring Google plays fair instead of breaking up the company, according to his comments reported by the Times, this may not be enough to encourage fair competition, noted another industry expert.
“The fundamental problem with big tech is the economic perversities of monopoly power,” said John Bambenek, president at Bambenek Consulting. “Sure, regulation can help, but if the problem is too extreme, splitting companies up is the only solution to maintain viable capitalism.”
Indeed, capitalism always runs the risk of one company playing the fair market game better than others, which means that regulators sometimes need to step in to rebalance the system. This doesn’t mean the US will lose its edge against global competitors like China, even if that country has more control over its technology development due to its government structure, Bambenek said.
“Communist and autocratic economies, of course, take a different approach,” he said. “However, I still believe we can have both a free market with competition and still be innovative and maintain our tech dominance.”
Apple’s researchers wanted to figure out the extent to which LLMs such as GPT-4o, Llama, Phi, Gemma, or Mistral can actually engage in genuine logical reasoning to reach their conclusions/make their recommendations.
The study shows that, despite the hype, LLMs (large language models) don’t really perform logical reasoning — they simply reproduce the reasoning steps they learn from their training data. That’s quite an important admission.
This is what Apple’s researchers found about AI
“Current LLMs are not capable of genuine logical reasoning; instead, they attempt to replicate the reasoning steps observed in their training data,” the Apple team said.
They found that while these models may seem to show logical reasoning, even the slightest of changes in the way a query was worded could lead to very different answers. “The fragility of mathematical reasoning in these models [shows] that their performance significantly deteriorates as the number of clauses in a question increases,” they warned.
In an attempt to overcome the limitations of existing tests, Apple’s research team introduced GSM-Symbolic, a benchmarking tool designed to assess how effectively AI systems reason.
Not-so-smart smart bots
The research does show some strength in the models that are available today. For example, ChatGPT-4o still achieved a 94.9% accuracy rate in tests, though that rate dropped significantly when researchers made the problem more complex.
That’s good so far as it goes, but the success rate nearly collapsed — down as much as 65.7% — when researchers modified the challenge by adding “seemingly relevant but ultimately inconsequential statements.”
Those drops in accuracy reflect the limitation inherent within current LLM models, which still basically rely on pattern matching to achieve results, rather than making use of any true logical reasoning. That means these models “convert statements to operations without truly understanding their meaning,” the researchers said.
Commenting on Apple’s research, Gary Marcus, a scientist, author, AI critic, and professor of psychology and neural science at NYU, wrote: “There is just no way you can build reliable agents on this foundation, where changing a word or two in irrelevant ways or adding a few bit of irrelevant info can give you a different answer.”
All the same, the high accuracy displayed when using these machines for more conventionally framed problems suggests that, while fragile, AI will be of use as an adjunct to human decision-making.
At the very least, the data suggests that it is unwise to place total trust in the technology, as there is a tendency to failure when the underlying logic the models derive during training is stretched. It seems that AI doesn’t know what it is doing and lacks the degree of self-criticism it takes to spot a mistake when it is made.
Of course, this lack of logical coherence may be great news for some AI evangelists who frequently deny that AI deployment will cost jobs.
Why?
Because it provides an argument that humans will still be required to oversee the application of these intelligent machines. But those skilled human operators capable of spotting logical errors before they are put into action will probably need different skills than those used by the humans AI moves aside.
“Understanding LLMs’ true reasoning capabilities is crucial for deploying them in real-world scenarios where accuracy and consistency are non-negotiable — especially in safety, education, health care and decision making systems. Our findings emphasize the need for more robust and adaptable evaluation methods. Developing models that move beyond pattern recognition to true logical reasoning is the next big challenge for the AI community.”
I think there is another challenge as well. Apple’s research team perhaps inadvertently showed that existing models simply apply the kind of logic they have been trained to use.
The looming problem with that is the extent to which the logic chosen for use when training those models may reflect the limitations and prejudices of those who pay for the creation of those models. As those models are then deployed in the real world, this implies that future decisions taken by those models will maintain the flaws (ethical, moral, logical, or otherwise) inherent in the original logic.
Baking those weaknesses into AI systems used internationally on a day-to-day basis may end up strengthening prejudice while weakening the evidence for necessary change.
Garbage out
To a great extent, even within recent AI draft regulations, these big arguments remain completely unresolved by starry-eyed governments seeking elusive chimeras of economic growth in an age of existentially challenging crisis-driven change.
If nothing else, Apple’s teams have shown the extent to which current belief in AI as a panacea for all evils is becoming (like that anti-Wi-Fi amulet currently being sold by one media personality) a new tech faith system, given how easily a few query tweaks can generate fake results and illusion.
In the end, it really shouldn’t be controversial to think that we don’t want AI systems in charge of public transportation (including robotaxis) to end up having accidents merely because the sensors picked up confusing data that their inherent model just couldn’t figure out.
In a world of constant possibility, unexpected challenge is normal, and garbage in does, indeed, become garbage out. Perhaps we should be more deliberate in the application of these new tools? The public certainly seems to think so.
Oh, hello Android 15. How’s that for an all-around excellent October surprise?
Yes, indeedly: Google’s latest and greatest Android version is officially on its way to Pixel devices near and far this week, just over a month after Google dropped the source code in an unusually detached move.
That means if you’ve got any still-supported Pixel phone or tablet — which includes, at this point, everything from the Pixel 6 series onward — you should be able to download the fresh ‘n’ zesty software any day now, if not immediately.
You can check to see if the software is available for your device by going into the System section of your Pixel settings, then tapping “Software updates” followed by “System update.” Be sure to hit the button within that section to check for any pending update — and, if it doesn’t show up as being available yet, check back in another day or two.
Google sometimes sends Android updates like these out in waves, reaching a subset of Pixel owners each day over the course of several days to a few weeks. That way, if any unexpected issues arise, the company can catch and correct ’em before they’ve affected every Pixel owner in the world. But the update should be available for you very soon, if it isn’t already.
And once that happens, my goodness, are you in for some splendid new treats.
Here are 15 new Android 15 Pixel features that are all too easy to overlook but well worth your while to find. Check ’em out for yourself — then come check out my completely free Pixel Academy e-courseto discover even more advanced intelligence lurking within your favorite Googley gizmo.
Android 15 Pixel feature #1: A private space
The highest-profile Android 15 addition on its way to Pixels is something Google’s calling Private Space. In short, it’s a way to hide sensitive apps or apps with especially important info out of sight completely — so any average person who gets their paws on your device couldn’t even see that they’re installed, let alone get at any info within ’em.
Once hidden, any apps placed into the new Private Space on your Pixel won’t show up in your app drawer, recent apps view, notifications, or even settings, and they’ll always require authentication — a pattern, PIN, password, or biometric verification — to be opened.
Any apps you add into a Private Space in Android 15 show up in a special secured — and optionally hidden — area of your Pixel app drawer.
JR Raphael, IDG
🔎 To find the feature: Open up the Security & Privacy section of your Pixel system settings and tap the new “Private Space” option within that area. That’ll let you fire up your first Private Space, and once it’s up and running, you’ll see it and all the tools around it at the bottom of your standard Pixel app drawer (the thing you access by swiping upward on the Pixel Launcher home screen).
Android 15 Pixel feature #2: Good vibrations
The best part of Google’s Pixel phones are the subtle slivers of simple intelligence they add into the Android equation — and this next Pixel-specific Android 15 addition is about as perfect of an example as there could be.
It’s a feature that uses your phone’s microphone and other sensors to detect the noisiness of your current environment as well as the physical placement of the device and then adjust the strengths of any incoming vibrations accordingly.
It’s available on the Pixel 7 and all newer models.
🔎 To find the feature: Head into the Sound & Vibration section of your system settings, tap “Vibration & haptics,” then tap “Adaptive vibration” and flip the toggle that comes up into the on and active position.
Android 15 Pixel feature #3: Pumped-up volume
Android 15 introduces a completely new design to the expanded Android volume panel on Pixels — with larger, more easily adjusted sliders for specific sorts of media volumes as well as a more prominent button to shift your phone’s audio output from the phone itself to any connected devices.
The full Pixel volume panel sports a whole new look on Android 15.
JR Raphael, IDG
🔎 To find the feature: Press either of your Pixel’s physical volume buttons, then tap the three-dot icon at the bottom of the minimized volume panel to open the new fully expanded version.
Android 15 Pixel feature #4: Bluetooth undo
Speaking of sound, have you ever flipped your phone’s Bluetooth function into the off position for a moment for one reason or another — then realized a day later you forgot to turn it back on? I know I have.
Android 15 has a subtle but brilliantly helpful new option in which it can automatically turn Bluetooth back on for you a day after you disable it, if you’re so inclined.
🔎 To find the feature: Make your way into the Connected Devices section of your Pixel’s system settings, then tap “Connection preferences” followed by “Bluetooth” and look for the new “Always turn on tomorrow” toggle.
Android 15 Pixel feature #5: Easier erasing
Google’s excellent Audio Magic Eraser system for reducing background noise in videos gets a nifty new upgrade in Android 15 — with more nuanced controls for independently manipulating the levels of specific and distinctive individual sounds within videos captured on your phone.
You can now reduce the volume of specific individual sounds within the Pixel’s Audio Magic Eraser tool.
JR Raphael, IDG
This one’s available for the Pixel 8 and newer models.
🔎 To find the feature: Open the Google Photos app and tap on any video in your library, then tap the “Edit” option at the bottom of the screen. Select “Audio” in the horizontally scrolling list of options at the bottom of the editing interface, then tap the “Audio Eraser” option that appears above that area.
Android 15 Pixel feature #6: Better weather
Blink and you might’ve missed it, but Google launched its own native Android Weather app along with its latest Pixel 9 series devices earlier this year — and now, that same app is (a) making its way to even more Pixel models and (b) gaining a new pollen tracking feature for areas where such data is available.
Handy for the sneezy among us, wouldn’t ya say?
🔎 To find the feature: If you have a Pixel 6 or newer, look for the Weather icon within your device’s app drawer.
Android 15 Pixel feature #7: Idle intelligence
Android’s screen saver system is one of the platform’s most useful but underused features — and with Android 15, it’s getting even more useful yet.
That’s because of a snazzy new option to show your custom Google-Home-associated connected-device control panel on your device’s display anytime the thing is docked or charging. It’s similar to what’s been available on the Pixel Tablet as well as any Pixel phones connected to a Google-made Pixel Stand for a while, but now you can have that same advantage on any Pixel device — no matter how or where you’re giving it power.
Connected device controls are available at your fingertips with the new Android 15 Home Controls screen saver feature.
JR Raphael, IDG
🔎 To find the feature: Dance over to the Display section of your Pixel system settings and tap “Screen saver.” Flip the toggle next to “Use screen saver,” then select “Home Controls” from the list of available options.
Android 15 Pixel feature #8: Precious pairs
The biggest issue with Android’s split-screen system is simply remembering to use it. With Android 15, you’ve got an especially easy way to enter split-screen mode anytime with one fast tap, thanks to a new type of instant app-pair shortcut you can create and then store in plain sight on your home screen.
Once you’ve created such a shortcut, all you’ve gotta do is touch its icon, and boom: Your two apps will open together — no extra steps or effort required.
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JR Raphael, IDG
🔎 To find the feature: This one’s a bit tricky to track down. First, you need to head into Android’s Overview mode by swiping up about an inch from the bottom of the screen and then stopping (or using the square-shaped Overview button, if you’re still resisting Android gestures and stickin’ with the old legacy three-button nav setup). Then, tap the icon above any app in that area, select “Split screen,” and select another app to pair with it — and finally, head back into that same Overview area, tap one of the icons above your newly created split, and tap the new “Save app pair” option in the menu that appears.
Android 15 Pixel feature #9: Better back
Provided you’re using Android’s current gesture setup, the system-wide “back” command — y’know, when you swipe your finger inward from the left or right edge of the screen to move back a step in whatever you’re doing — is getting a hefty upgrade as of Android 15.
In short, whenever an app is designed to support it, the system will now show you a quick peek at the screen you’re about to reach before you get there — a preview of sorts to make sure you’re headed where you want.
srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/google-pixel-android-15-predictive-back.webp?quality=50&strip=all 750w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/google-pixel-android-15-predictive-back.webp?resize=300%2C293&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/google-pixel-android-15-predictive-back.webp?resize=713%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 713w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/google-pixel-android-15-predictive-back.webp?resize=172%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 172w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/google-pixel-android-15-predictive-back.webp?resize=86%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 86w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/google-pixel-android-15-predictive-back.webp?resize=491%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 491w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/google-pixel-android-15-predictive-back.webp?resize=368%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 368w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/google-pixel-android-15-predictive-back.webp?resize=256%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 256w" width="750" height="733" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px">Peekaboo! Google’s new Android 15 predictive back addition lets you see where you’re going before you get there.
JR Raphael, IDG
🔎 To find the feature: Just swipe in from the side of your screen. If the app you’re using supports the new “predictive back” system, as it’s known, you’ll see that helpful little preview appear up until the point that you lift your finger and let go. (Your Pixel settings area is a simple place to try it out.)
Android 15 Pixel feature #10: Cutoff shutdown
One of the more irksome Android behaviors has long been how apps with longer names get cut off in the app drawer — showing up with only the first several letters and then an ellipsis.
Google’s Android 15 update for Pixels lets you fix this once and for all by opting to show full app names in your app drawer all the time — stretching onto two lines, if needed, to fit in every last letter for your non-truncated reading pleasure.
(The change doesn’t, unfortunately, also apply to the home screen — only the app drawer. But hey, baby steps!)
🔎 To find the feature: Provided you’re using the standard Pixel Launcher and not a custom Android home screen setup, long-press on any open space on your Pixel’s home screen and select “Home settings,” then tap “Apps list settings” and flip the toggle next to “Show long app names” into the on position.
Android 15 Pixel feature #11: App freezer
If you’ve got apps you aren’t actively using but still want to keep around on your device, Android 15 has a new built-in app archiving option that lets you do exactly that — without having to completely uninstall anything or lose all the associated data and settings.
Any apps that are archived become temporarily unavailable and compressed down to take up less space. But you can then reactivate ’em anytime and restore ’em to their previous form.
🔎 To find the feature: Head into the Apps area of your system settings, tap the line to see all apps, and select any app from the list — then look for the new “Manage app if unused” toggle. Note that the toggle seems to be on by default for all apps and so Android will automatically archive anything it deems to be unused unless you go in and turn this option off on a case-by-case basis.
Android 15 Pixel feature #12: The widget whisperer
Android widgets are awesome, but adding a new widget onto your Android device’s home screen isn’t always an incredible experience. Android 15 works to improve that by introducing a new more visual widget-adding interface — complete with categorized recommendations and a more visual, real-time preview of exactly what each widget will look like before you even select it.
The new and improved Google Pixel widget picking interface, as introduced with Android 15.
JR Raphael, IDG
🔎 To find the feature: Long-press on any open area of your Pixel home screen and tap the “Widgets” option.
Well, here’s a sight for sore eyes: As of Android 15, your Pixel has a new and improved option for customizing the color contrast all throughout your Android experience.
This can make text and other on-screen elements easier to read — and it can also let you move past some of the slightly monotonous pastel motifs that are so prominent throughout Google’s current Material You design themes.
What a contrast: Adjusting the new color contrast settings on a Pixel in Google’s Android 15 update.
JR Raphael, IDG
🔎 To find the feature: Press and hold any open area of your Pixel home screen, select “Wallpaper & style,” then tap “Color contrast” and explore the options within.
Got a Pixel Fold or Pixel Tablet? The same persistent taskbar trick introduced with this year’s new Pixel 9 Pro Fold phone is now making its way to those other large-screen Android devices — giving you an easy way to keep that on-demand taskbar visible and available all the time instead of only when you summon it.
🔎 To find the feature: First, summon the taskbar by swiping up gently from the bottom of the screen (while your phone is in its unfolded state, on a Fold). Then press and hold the little vertical line on the taskbar’s left side, between the app drawer icon and the first app in the list. That’ll reveal the newly added option to always show the taskbar.
Android 15 Pixel feature #15: A star-shooting spruce-up
Last but not least in our list is an option that makes it easier than ever to tap into one of the Pixel’s most impressive photography powers — and that’s the Google-aided ability to capture stunning night sky photos with your device.
Android 15 makes it possible to manually enable the Pixel’s astrophotography mode (at last!). So the next time you’re seeing stars, you can capture ’em in all their glory to show off to your colleagues in the morning without having to futz around and wait for the option to appear.
The Pixel Camera app, ready for astrophotography blastoff.
JR Raphael, IDG
🔎 To find the feature: On the Pixel 6 and higher, open up your phone’s camera, select “Night Sight” in the mode slider at the bottom of the screen, then tap the icon with a moon in the lower-right corner of the screen. Next, look for the “Max — Astro” slider that appears in the main viewfinder area. Slide your finger to the left on that to shift it into the “Astro” setting, then point your phone up to the sky and aim away.
All that’s left is to shoot for the stars — and that part, my Pixel-palming pal, is up to you to pull off.
The organization Fido Alliance has developed a proposal for a new standard for passkeys — i.e., alternatives to passwords such as hardware keys, facial recognition, fingerprints or PIN codes.
The big news in the proposal is that it will be possible to use the same passkeys even if you change platform or service, something that would make it significantly easier for users than at present.
I’ve been a happy WordPress user for almost 20 years. Before that, I wrote HTML by hand or used content management systems such as Drupal to run my websites. WordPress was so much better that I never looked back — and ‘m far from alone. WordPress is used by 43% of all websites, including business giants such as eBay, Sony, GM, Samsung, and IBM.
Wow. He went there. The most famous example of cancer and open source being mentioned together is when former Microsoft bigwig Steve Ballmer went off on Linux. Is this really where Mullenweg wanted to go? Yes, it is.
By his lights, “Lee Wittlinger at Silver Lake, the private equity firm with $102B assets that owns WP-Engine, is hollowing out the WordPress open source community by not including some WordPress features, such as its change revision system — and the company only contributes back 40 hours a week. Meanwhile, Automattic, Mullenweg’s for-profit WordPress company, “is a similar size and contributes back 3,915 hours a week.” (He also accused WP-Engine of violating WordPress’s trademarks.)
WP-Engine was not amused and fired off a cease-and-desist letter to Mullenweg and Automattic demanding they withdraw their comments. The company also revealed in its words that Mullenweg would take a “scorched earth nuclear approach” against WP Engine unless it agreed to pay “a significant percentage of its revenues for a license to the WordPress trademark.” Specifically, it claimed Mullenweg had demanded 8% of its gross revenues. That went over just as well as you’d think.
Mullenweg briefly banned WP Engine from accessing WordPress.org resources, affecting updates for 1.5 million websites. This move prevented users from updating their plugins, which are an essential part of WordPress site management. That decision was swiftly reversed after community backlash.
Things continued downhill from there. On Oct. 2, WP Engine sued Automattic and Mullenweg personally, alleging extortion, slander, and abuse of power.
It’s also, as tech journalist Ian Betterridge observed on Threads, “Fascinating that Mullenweg, on the one hand, claims WP Engine has contributed nothing to WordPress, and on the other reckons its plugin code is so valuable to the community it needs to be taken over.”
Additionally, WordPress.org — the non-profit arm of WordPress — implemented a mandatory checkbox on its login page requiring users to confirm they are not affiliated with WP Engine. How? Well, you see, it turns out WordPress.org doesn’t belong to the WordPress Foundation, where Mullenweg is one of its three leaders. No, as Mullenweg succinctly put it, “WordPress.org just belongs to me.“
Indeed, the more you look into this conflict, the clearer it becomes that this is no battle between a spunky old-school, open-source leader against a big bad commercial company and more a conflict between a capitalist who wants a bigger share of the WordPress pie and a company that had been doing quite well from the status quo.
If you spend a lot of time following open-source businesses like me, this might sound all too familiar. In the last few years, one successful open-source company after another, such as Hashicorp, Redis, and CockRoachDB, abandoned open source for fauxpen source licenses to try to make more money. All these were already multi-hundred-million dollar businesses, but they wanted more. Much more.
Greed is a powerful thing.
That appears to be the case here, too. WordPress can’t try the relicensing move. It’s licensed under the General Public License version 2 (GPLv2), This license is both irrevocable and requires any derived work to be licensed under the same license. What Mullenweg can — and is – doing, though, is trying to shake down WP Engine for more money.
As my fellow journalist Matthew Ingram pointed out in an excellent essay on the conflict, “Matt is not just the plucky founder of a nonprofit open-source project, he’s a wealthy CEO of a for-profit corporation that is attacking a competitor, and using his status as the founder of the nonprofit to extract money from that competitor.”
From where I sit, this is not a battle over open source. It’s a fight between someone worth hundreds of millions and a company worth billions. When you’re trying to figure out what’s going on in any conflict, whether it’s a family fight, a divorce, or a business fight, one of the best rules of thumb is to follow the money. What it’s telling me here is it’s about the cash.
Unfortunately, this battle can potentially affect me and everyone who uses WordPress and WP Express in particular. I didn’t need this. None of us do.
Windows Update can be a pain. Rebooting for updates is one thing — but a forced reboot for updates that shut down your running applications when you’re trying to get work done? Now, that’s obnoxious.
Windows Update hit rock bottom in the early years of Windows 10. Back then, lots of people I know complained to me that Windows Update had automatically rebooted their PC and messed up their work — often to install a major update that made that reboot take an especially long time!
The good news is that Windows Update is less irritating now; whether you’ve upgraded to Windows 11 or are still using Windows 10, Windows Update has learned some restraint. The bad news is that Windows Update still reserves the right to reboot your PC when it wants to automatically install updates. If you leave your computer running overnight, Windows Update might automatically reboot it.
But there are some ways you can take control.
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Why Windows Update forces automatic reboots
Like any operating system, Windows has security vulnerabilities that need to be fixed when they’re discovered. And, even after Windows Update installs those updates, they often don’t take effect until your PC reboots, leaving it vulnerable.
Because many people ignore updates, Windows Update takes things into its own hands and reboots for you, ensuring your PC has all the latest active security patches.
Hopefully, this will become less necessary in the future. Microsoft appears to be working on “hotpatching” for Windows 11, which would let Windows install some security updates and make them take effect immediately — no reboot necessary. That’s something to look forward to.
Windows Update workaround #1: Set your active hours
The best thing you can do to prevent Windows Updates from interrupting your work (or play) is to change your PC’s “active hours.” These are the hours you generally use your computer; Windows Update won’t restart your PC during these times.
You can set up to 18 hours of the day as active hours. For example, you could set the hours of 6 a.m. to midnight as your active hours. Windows Update would then only restart automatically for updates between midnight and 6 a.m.
This works on both Windows 11 and Windows 10. Changing it may not be necessary: Windows will learn when you generally use your PC and attempt to automatically set hours that make sense for you. But you can set them yourself.
To change your PC’s active hours:
On Windows 11, open the Settings window from the Start menu, select “Windows Update,” select “Advanced options,” and then click “Active hours.”
On Windows 10, open the Settings window, select “Update & Security,” and click “Change active hours.”
The Active Hours setting will let you banish unexpected reboots to a time of day where they won’t interrupt your work.
Chris Hoffman, IDG
Windows Update workaround #2: Reboot on your own schedule
Active hours aren’t the ideal solution if you need your PC to run for days on end. Perhaps you’re performing an important long-running task overnight and need to ensure Windows Update doesn’t get in the way and start rebooting things.
Personally, I like taking control of matters. I choose when to reboot for any updates. That’s why I set Windows Update to tell me when it needs an update. I will then reboot at a time that’s convenient for me.
To have Windows Update notify you before rebooting your PC:
On Windows 11, head to Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options. Ensure that “Notify me when a restart is required to finish updating” is toggled On.
On Windows 10, go to Settings > Update & security > Advanced options. Ensure that “Show a notification when your PC requires a restart to finish updating” is on.
Then, when an update is necessary — which you’ll know when you see that nagging system tray icon — you can choose to restart and update. Just use the power menu in the Start menu and select “Update and restart.”
This works hand in hand with active hours. Windows Update will not reboot during the 18 hours of the day that are your active hours. Then, if you plan on leaving your PC on overnight to perform an important task, you can choose to restart it before you step away. (That’s what I do.)
This isn’t a total escape from Windows Update’s automatic reboots. If you ignore the notification, Windows Update might automatically reboot outside of active hours. But at least you can choose to do it at a convenient time.
Windows Update’s notifications are the key to rebooting on your own schedule.
Chris Hoffman, IDG
Windows Update workaround #3: Stop automatic update downloads
Windows has a well-disguised way to stop Windows Update from automatically downloading and installing updates. And, if it won’t install them, it won’t automatically reboot your computer, either.
To do this, you have to set a connection as “metered.” This is what you would do if you were using a cellular data connection without much data, for example. Windows Update will respect this and won’t automatically download updates on metered networks.
To get updates, you’ll have to open the Windows Update pane in Settings and click a button to download them. To do this on either Windows 11 or Windows 10, head to Settings > Network & internet. If you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network, click “Wi-Fi” and then the name of the network. If you’re connected to a wired network, click “Ethernet.” Then, toggle on the “Metered connection” or “Set as metered connection” option.
You’ll want to check this setting to ensure Windows Update respects the “metered connection” option:
On Windows 11, head to Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options and ensure “Download updates over metered connections” is set to Off.
On Windows 10, go to Settings > Update & Security > Advanced options and ensure “Download updates over metered connections (extra charges may apply)” is set to Off.
Be sure to visit the Windows Update settings screen and install updates regularly if you do this. You can choose to install the updates when a reboot is convenient.
Bear in mind that Windows Update will automatically download updates when it connects to a connection that isn’t marked metered. So, if you mark your home Wi-Fi connection as metered and then take your laptop to a coffee shop, it will automatically begin downloading updates when you connect it to the coffee shop’s Wi-Fi hotspot.
The buried “metered connection” switch stops Windows Update’s automatic update process, putting it under your control.
Chris Hoffman, IDG
Windows Update workaround #4: Pause updates (not recommended)
There’s another way to take control over updates: While Windows 11 and Windows 10 don’t offer any built-in options for turning off automatic updates, they do offer a way to pause automatic updates. You can pause updates for up to five weeks.
This isn’t something I recommend to most people, as you will be going without security updates. But it’s a way to ensure Windows won’t install any updates — and reboot — for a period of time, if you have a pressing reason to do so.
To pause updates:
On Windows 11, head to Settings > Windows Update. Use the “Pause updates” drop-down box and select the number of weeks you want to pause updates for.
On Windows 10, head to Settings > Update & security > Advanced options. Use the box under “Pause updates” to choose how long you want to pause updates for.
After you unpause updates, Windows Update must check for and install updates before it lets you pause again.
Windows Update lets you stop getting updates — but only for a few weeks at a time.
Chris Hoffman, IDG
Windows Update workaround #5: Configure group policy (for businesses, mostly)
If you’re using a PC managed by your employer, it may be updated on your employer’s schedule. It’s up to the IT department to configure automatic update behavior. Businesses have a number of group policy options to control just how these automatic restarts work.
If you have a Windows professional license, you can configure some of these yourself on your own PC. But you shouldn’t need to do so — the above options will let you take control.
One final word of wisdom…
However you go about handling Windows Update activity, it’s a good idea to use applications that automatically save your work so they can recover from unexpected reboots.
Luckily, this applies to most modern Windows applications. Then, if your PC suddenly has to shut down — whether due to Windows Update, a blue screen of death, or a power outage — you won’t lose any data.
Get even more Windows 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) for signing up.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice have aggressively targeted Big Tech, suing Meta, Google, Amazon, and Apple for antitrust violations. And it’s not doing so in a small way — it’s filed multiple law suits against Google, for example. In August, Judge Amit Mehta ruled the company violated antitrust law by actions it took to protect its search business.
He was direct and blunt in his ruling: “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.”
No decision has yet been made about what action will arise from the ruling. But the FTC could well recommend the nuclear option: Break up Google by forcing it to spin off parts or all of its search business.
In 2020, the FTC sued Meta for antitrust violations, claiming Meta created a monopoly in social media when it bought Instagram and WhatsApp. There have been some twists and turns, but the suit still stands, though it hasn’t yet been brought to court. If the government prevails, it might try to force Meta to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp.
How about Microsoft, valued at more than $3 trillion and the world’s leading AI company? It’s true the FTC went after Microsoft when the company announced it was buying the gaming company Activision for $69 billion. But the feds lost that suit. And even if they had won, there’s a big difference between that fight and the ones against Meta, Google, Apple, and Amazon. Those lawsuits represent existential threats to the way the companies do business, possibly including breaking them up. The Activision suit, if successful, would only have stopped Microsoft from increasing its presence in gaming.
How has Microsoft managed to avoid being targeted? After all, the company has a virtual monopoly on desktop and laptop operating systems, is the global leader in AI, and has a massive presence almost everywhere in the tech world, from cloud computing to productivity software suites and beyond.
This didn’t happen by accident. Here’s how the onetime biggest shark in technology, a company that was set on its heels by an FTC suit decades ago, has managed to stay on the right side of the feds — at least so far.
Becoming the tech world’s choirboy
Back in 1998, Microsoft faced its own existential crisis: The DOJ sued it for illegally using its Windows monopoly to kill its competition. The company lost the lawsuit, and a judge ordered the company be broken up. After an appeal, in 2001 Microsoft and the DOJ reached an agreement in which Microsoft had to share code with other companies and had to allow non-Microsoft browsers access to Windows.
It was little more than a slap on the wrist. Despite that, the company went into a tailspin because it was so focused on defending itself rather than aggressively going after the mobile market, expanding into internet search, focusing on social media, or jumping into online retail.
When Satya Nadella became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, he was aware the FTC lawsuit had set the company on its heels. He determined to do whatever he could to avoid similar suits in the future. So, he changed the company’s old predatory culture and focused on technologies and behavior less likely to invite the wrath of regulators and law enforcement.
What he did above all was focus on a variety of technologies, rather than a single one. And he did so without trying to gain a monopoly. For example, Nadella bet big on the cloud, growing the company’s cloud-based business and revenue dramatically. Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft, said of the company’s recent quarter, “Microsoft Cloud quarterly revenue of $36.8 billion, [was] up 21% (up 22% in constant currency) year-over-year.”
Microsoft also gets big revenue from Windows, its office suite, AI, gaming, and more.
Key is that none of those technologies comes close to being a monopoly. Amazon is the leader in the cloud, not Microsoft. Thanks to iOS and Android, Microsoft doesn’t have a monopoly on operating systems. Google has a sizable office suite business, so Microsoft doesn’t have a monopoly there. And while Microsoft has become big in gaming, the courts have already ruled it doesn’t have a monopoly.
Google, Meta, Apple, and Amazon are each tied to technologies in which they have monopolies. It’s been their strengths — but with the FTC and DOJ targeting them, it could become their downfalls.
How about AI?
That’s not to say Microsoft will avoid government action forever. It wouldn’t be a surprise for the DOJ or the FTC to eventually go after it for its AI dominance. Not only is it now the largest AI company in the world, but it has deep ties to OpenAI, another dominant player in the field.
At the moment, there’s plenty of competition, with Google, Meta, Apple, and Amazon jumping in, and with other large companies like Anthropic in the running. But if things shake out and Microsoft becomes the runaway leader, it might find itself in regulators’ crosshairs again.
Semiconductor rivals Intel and AMD announced the formation of an x86-processor advisory group that will try to address ever-increasing AI workloads, custom chiplets, and advances in 3D packaging and system architectures.
Members of the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group include Broadcom, Dell, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP, Lenovo, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, and Red Hat. Notably missing: TSMC — the world’s largest chipmaker. Linux creator Linus Torvalds and Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney are also members.
The mega-tech companies plan to collaborate on architectural interoperability and hope to “simplify software development” across the world’s most widely used computing architecture, according to a news announcement.
“We are on the cusp of one of the most significant shifts in the x86 architecture and ecosystem in decades — with new levels of customization, compatibility and scalability needed to meet current and future customer needs,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said in a statement.
That’s why, over the next several years, silicon makers are turning their attention to fulfilling the promise of AI at the edge, which will allow developers to essentially offload processing from data centers — giving genAI app makers a free ride as the user pays for the hardware and network connectivity.
The release of the next version of Windows — perhaps called Windows 12 — later this year is also expected to be a catalyst for genAI adoption at the edge; the new OS is expected to have AI features built in.
At the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show in April, PC vendors and chipmakers showcased advanced AI-driven functionalities. But despite the enthusiasm generated by those selling or making genAI tools and platforms, enterprises are expected to adopt a more measured approach over the next year, according to one Forrester Research report.
“CIOs face several barriers when considering AI-powered PCs, including the high costs, difficulty in demonstrating how user benefits translate into business outcomes, and the availability of AI chips and device compatibility issues,” said Andrew Hewitt, principal analyst at Forrester Research.
As expected, Apple has introduced a much faster Apple Intelligence-capable iPad mini equipped with the same A17 Pro chip used in the iPhone 15 Pro series. That’s a good improvement from the A15 Bionic in the previous model, and makes for faster graphics, computation, and AI calculation.
It also sets the scene for the public release of the first Apple Intelligence features on Oct. 28, when I expect all of Apple’s heavily promoted wave of current hardware ads to at last make more sense. (We can also expect new Macs before the end of October.)
The iPad mini turns 7
By announcing the new mini by press release, Apple broke with tradition twice with this heavily telegraphed (we all expected it) product iteration.
First, in what from memory seems a fairly rare move, Apple unveiled the new hardware right after a US holiday; second, the release wasn’t flagged by Apple industry early-warning system Mark Gurman, though he did anticipate an October update. The introduction of a highly performant Apple tablet is likely to further accelerate Apple’s iPad sales, which increased 14% in Q2 2024, according to Counterpoint. Apple will remain the world’s leading tablet maker, and reports earlier about the death of this particular component of Apple’s tablet range proved unfounded.
What’s new in iPad mini?
At first glance, the new iPad mini will seem familiar to most users. The biggest change is pretty much an updated chip inside a similar device, with the same height, width, and weight as the model it replaces. Available in blue, purple, starlight, and space gray, the iPad mini has an 8.3-in. Liquid Retina display, similar to before. Remarkably, pricing on the new models starts at $499 for 128GB storage — which is twice the storage at the same starting price as the 2021 iPad mini this one replaces.
There are other highlights here.
A better, faster, AI processor
The A17 Pro processor means the iPad mini now has a 6-core CPU, which makes for a 30% boost in CPU performance in comparison to the outgoing model. You also get a 25% boost to graphics performance, along with the necessary AI-based computation capability enhancements required to run Apple Intelligence. Of course, the chip is far more capable of handling the kind of professionally focused apps used by designers, pilots, or doctors.
While we all recognize at this stage that Apple’s decision to boost all its products with more powerful chips is because it wants to ensure support for Apple Intelligence, this also means you get better performance for other tasks as well. All the same, it will be interesting to discover the extent to which a far more contextually-capable Siri and the many handy writing assistance tools offered by Apple’s AI will boost existing tablet-based workflows in enterprise, education, and domestic use.
Better for conferencing
If you use your iPad for work, it is likely to be good news that the new iPad mini has a 12-megapixel (MP) back camera and 12MP conferencing camera. While the last-generation model also boasted 12MP cameras, the 5x digital zoom is a welcome enhancement, while the 16-core Neural Engine inside the iPad mini’s chip means those images you do capture are augmented on the fly by AI to improve picture/video quality. Overall, you’ll get better results when taking images or capturing video.
What Apple said
“There is no other device in the world like iPad mini, beloved for its combination of powerful performance and versatility in our most ultraportable design,” said Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “iPad mini appeals to a wide range of users and has been built for Apple Intelligence, delivering intelligent new features that are powerful, personal, and private.
“With the powerful A17 Pro chip, faster connectivity, and support for Apple Pencil Pro, the new iPad mini delivers the full iPad experience in our most portable design at an incredible value.”
In common with all its latest product, Apple is applying every possible focus on AI tools, making crystal clear its plans to continue investing in its unique blend of privacy and the personal augmentation promised by its human-focused AI. The current selection of tools the company is providing should really be seen as a beginning of this part of its new journey.
What else stands out?
Additional improvements in the new iPad mini include:
Wi-Fi 6E support, which increases bandwidth if you happen to be on a compatible wireless network; 5G cellular available.
A 12-Megapixel wide back camera with Smart HDR 4 support and a built in document scanner with the Cameras app.
Apple Pencil Pro support.
Available for pre-order today, shipping on Oct. 23.
Apple Intelligence arrives with its first wave of features five days later.
There’s an environmental mission visible in the product introduction, too. The new iPad uses 100% recycled aluminium in its enclosure along with 100% recycled rare earth elements in all its magnets and recycled gold and tin in the printed circuit boards.
Google has signed its first corporate deal to purchase power from multiple small modular reactors (SMRs) to meet the energy needs of its AI systems, marking a key step as AI companies shift toward nuclear power.
In a blog post, Google announced an agreement with Kairos Power to source nuclear energy, aiming to bring the first SMR online by 2030, with more reactors planned by 2035.
