Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

Having all but given up on its own mobile operating system, Microsoft has been gradually warming to Android and iOS by adding support for Google and Apple's software in the likes of the Your Phone app. And then there is Windows Subsystem for Android which the company has been developing and adding to for some time.

The latest improvement to the compatibility layer that makes it possible to run Android apps in Windows is the arrival of file sharing. Microsoft says that the ability to share files between Windows Subsystem for Android and Windows 11 is something that has been in high demand from users.

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In a series of announcements at Xbox Games Showcase 2023, Microsoft has revealed that Game Pass subscribers will soon be able to stream select PC games through NVIDIA GeForce NOW. This means that a library -- albeit a limited one -- of PC games will be playable on low spec PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, mobile devices, TVs and more.

The company also announced a new Xbox console -- the Xbox Series S 1TB in Carbon Black. Priced at $350, the gaming system will be available later this year.

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Streaming music services are great, but they are -- obviously -- reliant on an internet connection. While most give you the option of saving tracks to listen to offline, this requires a degree of preparation that not everyone has time for. So Spotify has come up with a solution.

The company has revealed that it is working on a feature called Your Offline Mix. It is a playlist that is automatically created from what you have been listening to recently, and it means that you will always have something to satisfy your musical appetite even if you don't have an internet connection.

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It is now several months since Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. As such, the developers of numerous apps and services are following suit -- Google included.

The company has revealed that it will end support for Google Drive for desktop on Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 later this summer. No 32-bit version of Windows will be supported either, meaning that Drive users will have to upgrade their operating system, or stick with the web-based version of Google's cloud storage service.

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Signing up for the Windows Insider program is a great way to gain access to the latest features of Windows 11 as soon as possible. One of the most recent changes made by Microsoft is a completely new look for File Explorer which has been made available in Windows 11 Build 23475.

But even if you are part of Dev channel and have this build of Windows 11 installed, you may be disappointed to find that you're stuck with the old version of File Explorer. There is, pleasingly, a way to force Windows to give you the new look.

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For many people, it can be useful to have Windows 11 installation media available for when a full reinstall of the operating system may be necessary. Microsoft has long made it possible to download Windows installation images, and the company has just updated the Windows 11 ISO

This means that it is now possible to download Windows 11 22H2 directly from Microsoft and use it to install the OS. It eliminates the need to install an older version of Windows 11 and then download a hefty update separately.

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Although Apple announced the latest versions of its mobile and desktop operating systems at WWDC a few days ago, it will be months until the final versions of iOS, iPadOS and macOS Sonoma are available.

There will be, however, numerous beta builds for curious users to try out, starting with the early developer betas. Traditionally, Apple has only made these versions available to paying developers, but this year the company has decided to make them freely available to anyone with an Apple ID.

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Chrome has long had the unenviable reputation of being a resource hog. This is something that Google has been working on over the years, and one of the most recent improvements has seen the introduction of the Memory Saver feature which puts inactive tabs to sleep to free up RAM.

With the feature enabled, you have just had to trust that it is working -- but now Google has made a change that makes it clear just how much memory is being saved by each tab. And in a future update, the browser will make it even more obvious about just how many resources it has freed up.

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Apple may have just announced macOS Sonoma and a full release may still be some months off, but there are going to be plenty of beta builds to play with in the meantime.

Starting right now, there is a developer build of this latest version of macOS. If you are particularly keen to try out all of the new features and enhancements that Apple has introduced, here's how to download that beta right now.

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At its World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) Apple made various hardware announcements, but the event wasn't just about the likes of Apple Vision Pro VR headset. Also revealed was the latest version of Apple's desktop operating system -- macOS Sonoma, or macOS 14.

Like Microsoft with Windows 11, macOS Sonoma sees Apple adding new widget capabilities and boosting the experience for gamers. Other updates include Presenter Overlay in video conferencing, new screensavers, and significant privacy updates to Safari.

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Thus far, Microsoft's artificial intelligence-powered Bing Chat has been exclusively available to users of the company's own Bing browser -- but this is starting to change.

Although there has been no official announcement, there have been numerous reports from users that they have been able to get Bing Chat to work without having to switch to Edge. Responding to queries about these reports on Twitter, Microsoft has now confirmed that it is gradually rolling out the AI-driven chat tool to different web browsers.

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Given that it never really generated a huge degree of excitement, you would be forgiven for having forgotten about Microsoft's digital assistant Cortana. Now the company has announced that support for the Cortana app for Windows 10 and Windows 11 is coming to an end.

Microsoft has not made a huge fuss about killing off the app, slipping out the news in a support document rather than a blog post. But the end of support for the app does not mean that Cortana is disappearing altogether.

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Content moderation on Twitter has been something of a prickly subject during Elon Musk's time as CEO. Having already lost Yoel Roth back in November, his replacement has now also resigned.

Ella Irwin is leaving the role after just six months as head of the trust and safety team. While Roth has been openly critical of Twitter since his resignation last year, the reasons behind Irwin's departure are not yet clear.

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It's not long since Microsoft unleashed PowerToys v0.70.0 to an excited userbase, complete with two exciting new utilities. Just a week later, it's time for yet another release.

This time around there are, sadly, no new toys to play with, but that does not mean PowerToys v0.70.1 is not significant. Described as a patch release, it addresses a large number of problems that have been found in the software as well as making various improvements.

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The Paint app that is built into Windows is much-maligned but, while it could hardly be considered a Photoshop-killer, much of the criticism really stems from the state of the app several years ago. Paint may not make it into the toolbox of a serious designer, but it has undeniably come on in leaps and bounds over the years.

And now Microsoft is treating Windows 11 users to an updated version of the not-quite-as-limited-as-you-might-think graphics tool. Among the new features are updated zoom controls and a much-requested dark mode option.

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