This week’s BetaNews roundup of new and updated Windows apps underscores two parallel trends: small, sharply focused utilities that squeeze everyday productivity gains out of narrow features, and established open-source tools adding quality-of-life improvements for power users — a pattern that...
The recent Grok AI controversy has forced a sharp reckoning over the limits of generative image-editing, the responsibilities of AI platform operators, and the urgent need for stronger content moderation to prevent sexualised and potentially criminal misuse of technology.
Background / Overview...
If you’re fed up with the Windows Snipping Tool’s limitations and need a more capable, annotation-first workflow, PicPick is a compact, full-featured alternative that many Windows users now prefer for everyday screen capture and quick video walkthroughs. PicPick bundles advanced capture modes, a...
Adobe didn’t “give away” Photoshop CS2 — but the installer and special serials Adobe published to help stranded customers are still floating around, and that fact has created a durable myth: “Photoshop CS2 is free.” The reality is more nuanced, practical, and — for most Windows 11 users — less...
IrfanView is one of the fastest, lightest and most practical image tools available for Windows, and its mix of simple editing, powerful batch operations and an extendable plugin pack make it an ideal first step for anyone who wants to edit photos without the overhead of Photoshop.
Background...
The built‑in object‑eraser in Windows 11’s Photos app makes removing poles, cables, photobombers and other small distractions fast and accessible — but getting clean, natural results requires understanding how the tool works, when to use it, and what to do when the AI produces artifacts...
Microsoft Paint is moving decisively away from its humble origins as a pixel-drawing toy and into the mainstream of consumer generative AI: recent experimental updates inside Microsoft’s new Windows AI Labs give Paint two striking new abilities — a one-click Animate tool that converts a still...
Microsoft’s latest Paint update lands as a surprisingly consequential usability upgrade: a native, editable project container (.paint) and a per-tool opacity slider for Pencil and Brush tools, both of which ship to Windows Insiders now and materially change how the app fits into everyday image...
Microsoft’s Paint has quietly shed its toy status and picked up features that turn it into a genuinely usable, session‑aware image editor: Windows Insiders are now seeing a new .paint project file that preserves layers and session state, a per‑tool opacity/ transparency slider for brushes and...
Microsoft’s Click To Do is the kind of small change that can quietly rearrange how you work: a system-level overlay that turns whatever is on your screen—text, images, even tables—into actionable items you can edit, summarize, or hand off to Copilot, all without leaving the context of your...
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windows 11
Microsoft is rolling meaningful updates to three of Windows 11’s most-used inbox apps — Paint, Snipping Tool, and Notepad — delivering editable project files, faster in-capture markup, and local AI capabilities on Copilot+ hardware that together nudge these utilities from “basic” toward...
copilot
digital art
dlp
imageediting
insider
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notepad
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opacity
paint
paint project files
privacy
productivity
quick markup
snipping tool
windows 11
Microsoft’s latest Paint update reframes the long‑running app as a serious low‑friction image editor by adding an editable project file format and per‑tool opacity controls — features that put Paint squarely in the conversation as a free, entry‑level alternative to Photoshop for everyday tasks...
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...
Microsoft Paint is quietly evolving from a tiny utility into a surprisingly capable image editor, and the latest Insider build shows Microsoft is leaning into features that make Paint behave more like a lightweight Photoshop — including a new editable project file, per-tool opacity controls...
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copilot
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insider builds
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snipping tool
ui improvements
windows 11
workflow tools
Microsoft is quietly moving generative AI from apps into the very heart of Windows by adding an AI Actions submenu to File Explorer — a right‑click surface that lets you run visual search or apply quick, model‑driven image edits without opening a separate editor. The capability, visible in the...
Microsoft’s September Patchday for Windows 11 goes beyond the usual security checklist, delivering a collection of visible UI refinements, expanded on‑device AI scaffolding for Copilot features, and a number of convenience updates that range from a revised Recall landing page to a seconds...
Microsoft is quietly restoring a piece of the Windows 10 experience many users missed: a larger, in-your-face clock with seconds in the Notification Center — and it’s arriving alongside a set of AI shortcuts in File Explorer and new transparency controls for generative AI access in Windows 11’s...
Microsoft’s latest Canary‑channel experiment pushes intelligence deeper into the Windows shell: a new AI actions submenu in File Explorer lets you right‑click images to run Bing Visual Search, blur or remove backgrounds, and erase objects — all without opening a full editor. This context‑aware...
Microsoft’s latest pre-release whisper to the Windows Insider Program’s most experimental ring landed with a thud of déjà vu: the Canary channel recently received a new build — reported as Build 27938 — that mainly repackages features already seen elsewhere in the Insider ecosystem, notably...