Software

Garmin claims to have resolved a bug that appeared to affect almost all units of one of its more popular smartwatches. The company has also introduced a new software update with more changes aimed at improving system stability and the Connect IQ experience, among other refinements.

There are a good number of reasons why many Windows 10 haven’t upgraded to Windows 11 yet. One of them is the classic File Explorer. While a previously known method to access it on the new operating system required a registry edit or a third-party tool, a user on Reddit has found a much simpler way.

Xiaomi has announced the debut of a new smart ring - sort of. It has added the Amovan Nova to the US version of its crowdfunding website, as a wearable rated to support features such as physical activity, heart rate, sleep quality, SpO2, and skin temperature tracking. Xiaomi touts it as the smartest IP68 health-tracking wearable for under $150 - with no subscriptions required.

ICECO asserts that its new APL35 is ready for summer as the most portable dual-zone chiller on Indiegogo right now. It is touted as being far lighter than rivals such as the EcoFlow Glacier while delivering a wider range of cooling for about the same amount of food thanks to SECOP Nano compressor technology.

Google has brought new Google Home-related features to its current Pixel smartphones and Pixel Watch smartwatches. Available across other Android smartphones too, the features should make it easier to control smart home devices without having to dive into the Google Home app.

More and more users have started to gain access to Google AI search. At the core, it aims to offer a better search experience, helping you quickly get the info you're looking for. However, the generated overviews were very weird for some queries. The company has now put more restrictions in place to prevent similar future cases.

New updates rolling out to Android soon will allow Google Messages users to edit sent messages, use their phone as a digital car key, and quickly connect to a phone's hotspot, among others. The updates will come to users through the month of June.

Microsoft has tackled poor Edge browser user interface performance by replacing the React UI with WebUI 2.0. The new framework was created after analyzing Edge performance via telemetry, then tackling module and Javascript issues to improve responsiveness.

Apple has now confirmed details for this year's World Wide Developers Conference. Rumoured to be the beginning of Apple's big AI push, WWDC 2024 is already being billed by Apple as a tool to showcase various 'groundbreaking updates'.

Zepp OS, the native software for Amazfit smartwatches, has been augmented with a new NFC feature. It is characterized as a "wallet", in that it can act as a holder for a number of virtual reward cards from brands such as Starbucks. On the other hand, it lacks other features one might expect from a mini-app of its name.

Garmin has released yet another update for Fenix 7 series smartwatches and their peers. Following on from Beta Version 17.22, Beta Version 17.23 is said to resolve a potential critical issue that occurs after applying a software update.

Garmin has updated the Forerunner 165 to Software Version 19.18. Arriving shortly after equivalent updates landed for the likes of the Forerunner 965, Software Version 19.18 introduces over a dozen changes to Garmin's latest Forerunner smartwatch, although many exist to resolve outstanding bugs.

The Galaxy S24 series of new flagship Android smartphones await their most significant software updates yet, according to a noted leaker. Ice Universe claims to have confirmed its name and firmware version, although the latter only applies to the top-end S24 Ultra variant. It is tipped to include a number of new or updated camera features for the premium device.

The 2024 Steam Open World Survival Crafting Fest runs from May 27 to June 3 and slashes prices on some of the genre's fan favourite games, like Valheim and Rust, as well as some underappreciated titles you may never have even heard of.

With a Raspberry Pi, a speaker and the instructions on GitHub, you can easily use OpenAI at home. The freely programmable assistant can also control Spotify, smart lights and more.

Gaudio Lab has launched the Just Voice Recorder app that uses artificial intelligence to completely eliminate background noise for clean voice recordings. This allows news reporters, filmmakers, and anyone to record voices without the need for cumbersome lavalier, handheld, or shotgun microphones. The application is now available for Apple iOS devices with an Android version coming soon.

Microsoft has introduced a new range of Copilot Plus PCs powered by the Snapdragon X series processors. Thanks to the powerful NPU, these systems are directly compatible with many new Windows 11 AI features, including Recall. But it seems that you don’t actually need a new ARM-based CPU from Qualcomm to run it.

After Epic Games' unexpected win, veteran antitrust US federal judge James Donato is now taking the story one step further by asking Google to calculate the costs incurred by allowing the Epic Games Store inside the Google Play Store, as well as providing catalog access and library porting rights. Google must reply by June 24th.

The Forerunner 965 has received another batch of improvements courtesy of a new stable software update. Totalling over a dozen, the changes include several bug fixes as well as a handful of new features.

LineageOS 21 has launched for the repair-friendly Fairphone 5, making it yet another custom ROM to beat the original OEM to the Android 14 punch. Unlike most other Android makers, though, Fairphone welcomes bootloader unlocking and custom ROM support.

One of Garmin's current mid-range smartwatches is eligible for a new stable update. Available to download now, the update fixes plenty of outstanding bugs while also providing a few new features like a Jet Lag Adviser glance screen.

Garmin has introduced a new stable update for the Forerunner 255, which is now rolling out as Software Version 19.18. Not only has the Forerunner 255 received several bug fixes, but it has also gained multiple new features like support for Garmin's Find My Phone feature.

This week's new GeForce Game Ready Driver package is labeled 555.85 and comes with a rich set of changes, including optimizations for no less than four new titles (including F1 24, set to launch on May 28th), support for an additional 11 G-Sync Compatible displays, as well as optimal settings for four games.

A recent survey of 1.7 million gamers found that games that involve “strategic thinking and planning” are becoming less popular amongst gamers. Out of twelve different motivations, strategic thinking in games has seen the biggest decline, regardless of gender or nationality, and researchers speculate that declining attention spans may contribute to the lack of interest in strategy-centric games.

AMD has introduced a new version of Anti-Lag, the company’s tool to reduce latency in supported titles. Called “Radeon Anti-Lag 2”, AMD claims that the updated solution cuts latency even further while solving one of the biggest shortcomings of its predecessor.

Updated yesterday to version 1.5.1 for Android, which only comes with a few minor fixes, foobar2000 Mobile 1.5 arrived earlier this week with a new skin file format, OGG chapter support, a built-in picture viewer, as well as many under-the-hood improvements and tweaks. The new skins can be edited using common tools.

Eyesynth and Sensotec have partnered to present a new smart wearable uniquely designed and equipped for wearers with visual impairments. The new kind of spectacles are touted to guide and inform the user as they move around with AI-generated "intuitive auditory cues". The NIIRA glasses support audio via bone conduction and cameras for 3D perception.

MSI Claw just got another BIOS update, which is promising to offer up to a 30% gaming performance boost. Along with the MSI Center M Update, the company claims that its Intel Meteor Lake gaming handheld can now smoothly run all the top 100 popular Steam games and can even beat the Asus ROG Ally in most titles.

The Buds Air6 ship with premium active noise cancellation (ANC) and other specs worthy of higher-end TWS earbuds, yet have launched at the equivalent of ~$40 in a new market. They are joined by a new, more affordable version of wireless neckbuds with the same level of IP-certified ingress protection and Bluetooth 5.4.

Garmin has finally started updating the Venu 2 series to its CIQ System 7 platform. Support for CIQ System 7 arrives via Software Version 19.05, which is now available to download globally.

Garmin has finally acknowledged the existence of ongoing soft-brick issues on Venu Sq 2 and Venu Sq 2 Music smartwatches. Unfortunately, the company has not provided a timeline for releasing a resolution, let alone what has caused the problem in the first place.

Garmin has started rolling out a new stable update for the Fenix 7 series, which is also available to Enduro 2, Epix 2, Marq 2 and Quatix 7 smartwatches. Building on v16.22, System Software 17.20 introduces more than two dozen changes and improvements varying from new features to plenty of bug fixes.

Xiaomi has announced its Android 15 beta program. Currently running as a developer preview program, Xiaomi is allowing anyone to test out Android 15 provided that they have a Xiaomi 13T Pro, Xiaomi 14 or Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro 12.4.

Initially released at the end of April 1997, Winamp has been intermittently dormant for nearly a decade ever since. The latest stable release is one year old and carries the 5.9.2 version number. A new Winamp version, described as "the best player to listen to all types of audio," is set to arrive on the 1st of July.

Nine months after Project IDX was first unveiled, Google's web-based development environment is now available to the public as an open beta. This marks the end of the waiting list for Project IDX, which enables cross-platform development for the web, Android and iOS directly in the browser.

Version 1.49 of the Eclipse Theia development platform has been released, with 53 pull requests incorporated into the update. New features include support for dev containers, a Docker image for the Theia IDE and the so-called Dirty Diff Peek View.

Although it went all the way above 2,100,000 simultaneous players, Palworld is now struggling in the second half of the top 100 most played Steam games. While Counter-Strike 2 easily peaks above the 1,000,000 threshold on a daily basis, Palworld has problems reaching 50,000. However, this summer's updates might bring it back to life.

Garmin has released a new beta update for the Fenix 7 series, which is also available for Enduro 2, Epix 2, Marq 2 and Quatix 7 smartwatches. Distributed as Beta Version 17.20, the update is slated to resolve a long-standing bug that caused excessive battery drain.

Retroarch, a massive multi-system emulator, is now available in Apple's App Store for iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs. Retroarch has 78 cores that can emulate a plethora of video game consoles and handhelds, ranging from popular options like the Nintendo Entertainment System to more obscure consoles like the Fairchild Channel F.

The Volkswagen Golf series has been augmented with two new variants, both of which are plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Both new cars are equipped with second-gen powertrains rated for the equivalent of up to 272 horsepower (in the GTE) and fast DC charging. The GTE and eHybrid also come with Discover Media navigation and Digital Cockpit Pro infotainment features as standard, although features such as Lane Assist are optional extras.

Amazfit has celebrated the release of its first-gen Helio smart ring to the US market with discounts on the new wearable - so long as you buy a high-end smartwatch from the same brand at the same time. They now include the flagship Falcon as well as the rugged T-Rex Ultra and Cheetah Pro.

One of the main highlights of Samsung One UI 6.1, introduced with the Galaxy S24 series, is the Galaxy AI features. The company later rolled out the update to last-gen flagships, and now it’s dropping on mid-range devices. But unlike the flagship phones, the mid-rangers are getting it without any AI features.

Rivian's latest software update for its R1T and R1S electric vehicles adds both a YouTube app and support for Google Cast, opening up a world of possibilities for owners and passengers looking to enjoy everything from music to video streaming directly from their phone to the Rivian's infotainment screen.

The most popular PSP emulator, PPSSPP, is finally available on iOS and iPadOS through Apple's official App Store. The emulator is free and available on devices running iOS 12.0, iPadOS 12.0, or visionOS 1.0 or later.

Honor has revealed that it has now kicked off its Android 15 Beta Program. The new beta program starts with the Magic6 Pro and Magic V2, despite the latter only recently being eligible for Android 14.

Apple announced several new accessibility features coming to iOS and iPadOS. Among them are Eye Tracking, which will allow users to interact with an iPhone or iPad with only their eyes; Vocal Shortcuts, which lets users customize voice commands; and Vehicle Motion Cues, which may help reduce motion sickness.

On the way to its 10th anniversary, the Debian-based Linux distro Endless OS got updated to version 6. This new release comes with dark mode support, version 6.5 of the Linux kernel alongside the Gnome 43.9 desktop environment, as well as many minor tweaks, fixes, and updated components.

Valve is rolling out a new and extensive software update. The SteamOS update is set to offer numerous improvements, including further enhancements to performance and screen.

Scheduled to launch later today, Google's second beta of the next Android iteration is expected to sport quite a few noticeable changes. While the details are not available yet, users of Google smartphones starting with the Pixel 6, as well as Pixel Tablet and Fold owners should get this test version later this year.

The Fenix 7 series has received yet more bug fixes courtesy of a new beta software update. Rolling out as Beta Version 17.19, the build replaces Beta Version 17.17 and is available to download as an over-the-air (OTA) update.