Windows 11 - Update - iPhone, Bing Chat, Record screen and more

[Lightwreather]

4 minutes ago, 470vinyl said:

Just updated and tried Phone Link with my iPhone. Still only shows Android as an option. It also doesn't show up under "see what's new". Am I missing something?

So far, it's only on insider build not the one generally available.

[470vinyl]

20 minutes ago, Lightwreather JfromN said:

So far, it's only on insider build not the one generally available.

Ah, yes. Thanks.

 

I thought that was from a previous release, and the public release just happened. My bad

[captain_to_fire]

On 3/1/2023 at 12:15 AM, GoodBytes said:

Sadly, for iPhone users were left out due to Apple restrictions.

Today, it looks like some agreement was managed to be done and now Phone Link supports iPhone's with not only SMS support but also iMessage.

I would like have iMessages on my PC since I've been using an iPhone for a few years already and it looks like it's going to stay that way but I doubt Apple will greenlight iMessage on Windows. One of the selling points of macOS is Continuity and Apple will do everything to keep it within themselves. It's the same reason as to why Apple won't release a touchscreen Mac at the moment and it's because it's going to cannibalize iPad sales.

[Quackers101]

hope the video recorder is not a security risk and the recent mentions of TPM 2.0 security holes?

[LAwLz]

On 2/28/2023 at 5:15 PM, GoodBytes said:

Screen Video Recording

Snipping Tools has been updated to not only take screenshots but can also do video recording.
Simply pick the filming camera under Snipping Tool, and hit "+ New". When you do, you can define the area of your screen to record, and it will record it,

This is really nice. It even uses hardware accelerated encoding if available. Really simple and efficient feature.

 

 

On 2/28/2023 at 5:15 PM, GoodBytes said:

iPhone Support

Phone Link app is an app that allows you to interact with your phone from your PC. You can send, receive SMS messages and phone calls. You can get your phone notifications, battery life, control media playback, access recent pictures taken from the device, including easy transferring them to your PC, complete with drag and drop direct from the Phone Link app to, say Word or whatever app you are using. For Samsung phone users, you can also stream phone apps on your PC as well.

 

Sadly, for iPhone users were left out due to Apple restrictions.

Today, it looks like some agreement was managed to be done and now Phone Link supports iPhone's with not only SMS support but also iMessage. 

It's worth noting that there are A LOT of restrictions to this. Here are some of them:

You can not use it to send or receive messages to/from iMessage groups.

It doesn't support looking at past iMessage messages, nor will the chat contain iMessage messages that were sent/received while the phone wasn't connected to your computer. If someone sends you a message while your phone is disconnected from your PC (because the PC is off, or your phone is too far away), that message will not appear in your Phone Link app.

You will not be able to send pictures.

 

So the implementation is in my opinion very basic. It's nice that they have any integration at all, but I think it's far from what people actually want or expect when reading this headline.

 

 

On 2/28/2023 at 5:15 PM, GoodBytes said:

Notepad Gets Tabs

Meh... Microsoft's Notepad is pretty terrible so I don't care. It's kind of amazing that Microsoft managed to make such a simple program such a resource hog.

It doesn't hurt to have tabs but my stance is that if you want tabs in Notepad then you should probably get Notepad++ instead. It is so much better in every single way.

 

 

 

On 2/28/2023 at 5:15 PM, GoodBytes said:

Bing Chat Integration

Search box of Windows 11 now integrates with Bing Open AI Chat.

You can ask a question directly and hit the "b" Bing button on the bar to get a panel that will appear and chat with Bing new AI chat system.

Isn't this just a flat out lie?

Bing chat hasn't been integrated into the search box from what I can tell.

You can't ask it questions directly from the bar either. What they did was add a shortcut that opens Edge and navigates to the Bing Chat webpage.

It's as "integrated" as ChatGPT is "integrated" into Firefox. You can make a shortcut to open that website in Firefox but that doesn't make it "integrated".

 

 

On 2/28/2023 at 5:15 PM, GoodBytes said:

Widgets Panel - Improvements 

A long time awaiting since its announcement, third party Widgets is here... kinda... not really.

Outlook, Todo, Sport, PhoneLink, Family Safety, Weather and a few more are all apps you can pin on the Widget panel. Spotify joins in with its own widget. The first third-party widget for it.

Widget panel can also be expanded full screen.

From what I know, they still haven't opened up the APIs for this. It seems like Spotify is the only third party company that they have let write a widget.

It's kind of crazy that it is so locked down. It's like Microsoft wants widgets to be useless. 

 

 

 

 

 

I feel like this is a very "meh" upgrade. The big thing is recording in snipping tools but that could have just been added through a store update rather than a full OS update.

[hishnash]

On 3/14/2023 at 11:49 PM, LAwLz said:

t's worth noting that there are A LOT of restrictions to this. Here are some of them:

You can not use it to send or receive messages to/from iMessage groups.

It doesn't support looking at past iMessage messages, nor will the chat contain iMessage messages that were sent/received while the phone wasn't connected to your computer. If someone sends you a message while your phone is disconnected from your PC (because the PC is off, or your phone is too far away), that message will not appear in your Phone Link app.

You will not be able to send pictures.

 

So the implementation is in my opinion very basic. It's nice that they have any integration at all, but I think it's far from what people actually want or expect when reading this headline.

 

The reason is they are just pretending to be a car using a very old BT protocol, from before smart phones when some cars had (very bad) voice controle and you could send/receive messages using voice controle.   This does not require any support form apple as I believe iOS has supported this since the first phone they shipped.  That is also why there are not photos or other media messages, it is text only as the protocol was for voice controle of sending and reading text messages. 

[Ydfhlx]

On 3/14/2023 at 11:49 AM, LAwLz said:

What they did was add a shortcut that opens Edge

Because we didn't have enough already...

 

Tabs in notepad is certainly nice. Still no reason to not use Notepad++ tho.

[Quackers101]

my issue in future is the combination of AI, edge and software/hardware control.

malicious actors can easily use the AI to mess with settings, or go around security?

when its going to be more used for assist tools, writing, copying, or creating.

 

just hope microsoft and other companies dont go too wild, or has a way to balance some of the features.

but overall AI could be pretty good if used for security patching, if the AI is in perfect "health" and with no "flaws" it wants to create and what to prioritize.

to models that maybe focuses on handling privacy for all software, trying to block bad actors and enable good ones. becomes your second anti virus, jk.