local inference

The mainstream AI assistants sweeping into everyday workflows are now being built and operated by companies whose core businesses are, in many cases, advertising and attention monetization — and that structural fact reshapes every privacy, legal, and architectural decision engineers and IT...

Intel’s Core Ultra 200V family is being positioned as the x86 answer to Microsoft’s Copilot+ ambitions — a silicon platform that combines CPU, GPU and a beefed‑up Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to deliver local AI features in Windows 11 — and OEMs and Microsoft now say those processors will unlock...

Microsoft's quietly released PowerToys update for Windows 11 has turned one of the suite’s most humble utilities — the clipboard — into a showpiece for the company’s on-device AI strategy, enabling local model inference, multiple cloud-provider options, and a redesigned user experience that...

Microsoft appears to be quietly experimenting with an “AI agent” entry point for the Windows 11 taskbar — a small, persistent companion that could surface context-aware assistance, link into Copilot features, and even perform multi‑step actions on behalf of the user. Traces of a feature labeled...

Microsoft has quietly turned one of Windows’ simplest tools into a practical entry point for everyday generative AI: Notepad on Windows 11 can now write, rewrite, and summarize text using on‑device AI on qualifying Copilot+ PCs — and Microsoft is offering that on‑device path for free without a...

Microsoft has begun shipping a significant Windows 11 Notepad update to Windows Insiders that embeds on‑device generative AI — adding Summarize, Write, and Rewrite actions that can run locally on qualifying Copilot+ PCs with no subscription required, while preserving a cloud fallback for...

Microsoft is rolling AI into the smallest, most ubiquitous text editor on Windows — Notepad — by adding on‑device generative features for Copilot+ PCs, and the changes signal a meaningful shift in how Microsoft blends local and cloud AI across Windows inbox apps. Overview Notepad’s September...

Microsoft has quietly turned Notepad into a small but capable generative writing assistant by adding three on-device AI tools — Summarize, Write, and Rewrite — that run locally on qualifying Windows 11 machines without forcing users into a subscription. Background Notepad’s identity has long...

Microsoft has quietly — and perhaps unnecessarily — turned the simplest text editor in Windows into another battleground in the company’s AI-first strategy: Notepad now offers Summarize, Write, and Rewrite powered by on-device models when run on Copilot+ PCs, with Microsoft’s Windows Insider...

Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 Insider builds are shipping a new, full-screen renewal prompt aimed at lapsed Microsoft 365 subscriptions — an eye-catching SCOOBE (Second‑Chance Out‑of‑Box Experience) screen that insiders and early reports describe as a full‑screen nag to renew rather than a...

Mozilla has added a way to turn off its new AI features — but only for IT administrators, not ordinary users, leaving privacy‑minded consumers stuck with an awkward manual workaround or buried about:config toggles to fully opt out. Background Firefox has been steadily adding on‑device and...

Microsoft’s renewed push to make Windows a deeply agentic, multimodal platform—paired with ambitious Copilot investments—has quietly rewritten the conditions that once made a Microsoft-branded phone an improbable gamble; taken together, those shifts make the idea of a “new Windows phone” not...

Microsoft’s latest Dev‑Channel flight, Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.5790 (KB5065779), brings a focused set of Copilot+ features—most notably Fluid Dictation in Voice Access—along with wider Windows Studio Effects support for additional cameras, new Copilot‑driven File Explorer hover...

Microsoft has pushed another incremental but important update for on‑device AI: KB5066125 upgrades the Phi Silica AI component to version 1.2508.906.0 for Qualcomm‑powered Copilot+ PCs, delivered automatically through Windows Update to qualifying Windows 11 (24H2) devices. Background / Overview...

China’s KylinSoft has delivered a major new release that pushes its domestic Linux distribution closer to the mainstream kernel line while doubling down on AI and “算力共享” (compute-sharing) features — a technically bold release with strategic as well as practical implications for China’s software...

Microsoft’s latest Insider update for Copilot on Windows shifts the app’s interface and search capabilities into a more integrated, AI-first direction — bringing semantic file search to capable machines and a redesigned Copilot home that folds recent apps, files, and conversations into a single...

Microsoft’s Copilot now speaks file-finding: the Copilot app can search your recent local files and images using natural language, and a staged Windows Insider rollout has begun that puts semantic file search and a redesigned Copilot home in front of testers and early adopters. Background...

Microsoft’s Copilot for Windows has taken another step toward becoming the primary way people find and act on files and apps in Windows 11, with a staged Insider rollout that adds semantic, natural‑language file and image search and a redesigned Copilot home — features gated initially to...

Popular generative‑AI browser assistants can and do sweep up deeply personal data from ordinary web sessions — including health records, bank details and even social‑security numbers — and forward that content to remote servers where it can be tracked, profiled and reused in ways most users...

OpenAI’s new open-weight model suite landed squarely in the spotlight — and when I ran the smaller gpt-oss:20b through a real-world school test designed for 10‑ and 11‑year‑olds, the model proved interestingly capable on paper, but ultimately fell short of beating an actual 10‑year‑old at their...