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Daily Authority: 💻 The first major Windows 11 update is here
☕ Good Morning, dear readers. A lot is going on in the world of tech right now and the week is not even over yet! We’ve got a stellar lineup of stories for you today, so get that pot of coffee on and start reading!
Windows 11 gets 2022 renovations
Microsoft is finally rolling out the first major update for Windows 11. Aptly dubbed the “Windows 11 2022 Update” the software remedies many early faults of the initial OS release. If you’ve been holding off on upgrading to Windows 11, now might be a good time to hit the install button. On that note, here’s everything you need to know before you upgrade. Now let’s tell you about the latest update.
- One of the most noticeable changes in the latest Windows 11 release is the Start Menu update.
- Users can now drag apps on top of each other in the Start Menu to create folders and pin them wherever they like.
- Live Captions is also getting a big boost and going system-wide. You’ll see captions for everything that has audio on top of the screen in a floating window when the feature is activated using the shortcut Winkey+CTRL+L.
You may also like: How to run Android apps on Windows 11 — A detailed guide
- You can also now control your Windows 11 PC with just your voice using the new Voice Access feature. You’ll see a narration bar at the top of your screen where you can use your voice to navigate Windows.
- Elsewhere, you’ll notice improvements to Snap Layouts, gestures for those who own tablets or 2-in-1s, and even a new Xbox controller bar.
- There’s a new do not disturb button in the notification panel to silence notifications. You can even create a 30-minute focus session if you don’t want any distractions.
Design and security improvements
- Microsoft has made some small design changes in the Windows 11 2022 update to enhance the overall look of the OS.
- Animations and icons look better. The dark mode has also improved, and the Task Manager now sports a new interface and a dark theme.
- For security, Microsoft is introducing something called Smart App Control with the new update. It’s designed to block scripting attacks or untrusted apps from launching. You’ll have to reinstall Windows 11 from scratch if you want this feature, though.
Future updates
- The File Explorer will get tabs in the coming month. It’ll enable quick access to favorite and recent files.
- An overflow menu is coming to the Taskbar in October.
- The Photos app will also get an update next month, with a new photo management UI that includes a gallery, better browsing, and the ability to easily back up photos to OneDrive cloud storage.
- Microsoft also says it’ll now deliver new Windows 11 features as and when they are ready. This could mean more frequent, monthly updates, but we’ll have to wait and see how that goes.
- Tom Warren at The Verge does a great job of summing up all the latest Windows 11 features and how they work. Check out his deep dive into the latest update.
Roundup
📱Pixel 7 gets a preorder date and a bizarre ‘censored’ first impressions video (Android Authority).
🗨️ Sticking with Google stuff, we really need the Google Home app to display smart home voice commands (Android Authority).
🦴 Another Google service might be on its way to the graveyard (Android Authority)
👎🏻 Meanwhile, it turns out YouTube doesn’t really care that you dislike a video (Android Authority)
🛌 Trying to pin down your sleeping patterns? Here’s all you need to know about the accuracy and reliability of sleep trackers (Android Authority)
🎮 NVIDIA announces next-gen RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 GPUs (The Verge)
😲 Shocking! Morgan Stanley hard drives holding sensitive client data were auctioned off online (CNN).
Wednesday Weirdness
The guy who claims to be “the last man standing in the floppy disc business” says he still has some big clients and you’ll be shocked to discover who they are.
- It’s weird but true that the airline industry, an industry associated with huge tech advancements, is one of the biggest customers of Tom Persky, the founder of floppydisk.com.
- In an interview last week, Persky said, “Imagine it’s 1990, and you’re building a big industrial machine of one kind or another. You design it to last 50 years, and you’d want to use the best technology available.”
- So it turns out that since probably half the air fleet in the world is over 20 years old, the airline industry still uses floppy discs in some of its avionics.
- Meanwhile, these high fliers aren’t the only ones still using the archaic tech. The medical industry is also a sector that still uses floppies.
- Maybe in the next 20 years they’ll graduate to CDs….😅
Have a nice day,
Adamya Sharma, Editor.