Month: April 2023

Au premier démarrage, Windows 11 est séduisant. Microsoft a modernisé l’interface de son système d’exploitation dont les fenêtres adoptent désormais des coins arrondis et usent d’effets de transparence qui allègent l’ensemble. Ce nouveau design reprend les codes du Fluent Design que Microsoft avait inauguré dans Windows 10 avec l’arrivée de nouvelles icônes pour les applications natives.

Pour imaginer Windows 11, Microsoft n’est pas allé chercher bien loin. La firme s’est largement inspirée du travail qui avait été réalisé sur Windows 10X, son OS imaginé pour les appareils tactiles à deux écrans et qui a finalement été abandonné. Les grosses tuiles ont disparu au profit des nouvelles icônes, plus distinguées et qui permettent d’alléger l’interface. Le tout est plus lisible et les animations que Microsoft a intégrées renforcent l’impression de rapidité et de fluidité par rapport à Windows 10.

Un gros travail sur l’ergonomie

Microsoft a pensé Windows 11 pour qu’il soit aussi simple que possible à utiliser. Et pour y arriver, la firme de Redmond n’a pas hésité à revoir de fond en comble certains éléments d’interface et certains menus.

C’est le cas du panneau des Paramètres de Windows 11 qui n’a pas échappé au ravalement de façade. Et c’est une bonne nouvelle. Microsoft l’a simplifié en affichant directement les différentes sections dans une colonne latérale, et en réorganisant les menus, désormais plus lisibles que sous Windows 10. La navigation y est plus naturelle, moins brouillonne, et ne perd par l’utilisateur comme c’était le cas sous Windows 10, grâce à l’affichage du chemin d’accès complet en haut de la fenêtre, pour chaque menu consulté.

Un bon Windows, mais encore quelques ratés

Si globalement la copie de Microsoft est plutôt séduisante, certaines nouveautés semblent avoir été pensées en dépit du bon sens. C’est le cas, par exemple, lorsque l’on souhaite choisir un navigateur par défaut. Si l’on oublie de cocher la petite case « Toujours utiliser ce navigateur Web » à la première ouverture d’un navigateur fraîchement installé, la procédure à suivre pour sélectionner un navigateur par défaut dans Windows 11 est devenue contre-intuitive.

Sous prétexte de laisser plus de choix aux utilisateurs, Microsoft ne propose plus de choisir un navigateur Web par défaut, mais demande à présent de choisir individuellement le navigateur utiliser pour chaque type de fichiers ou de liens. Finalement, ce qui nécessitait autrefois une seule action vous en demandera désormais plus d’une dizaine. Un procédé fastidieux qui semble avoir été pensé pour décourager le plus grand nombre de changer de navigateur par défaut, et qui arrange bien Microsoft : c’est son navigateur, Edge, qui est choisi nativement dans Windows 11.

Since the previous week, a message appeared on Facebook Messenger to warn many users that they no longer had access to certain functions without specifying which ones. The social network finally explains the origin of the problem: compliance with European rules.

After several days of misunderstanding for many users, Facebook has finally clarified what these “unavailable features” were due to “new rules regarding message services in Europe.”

This message appeared last week on Instagram and Messenger without the majority of subscribers really understanding what it meant. On Sunday on its blog, Facebook gave more explanations.

A MEASURE TO MEET EUROPEAN STANDARDS
It is in fact the 2002 European ePrivacy Directive, on the protection, confidentiality and security of online data, which now applies to messaging services in the 27 European Union member states and other associated countries.

It is now known that the disabled features include personalised autoresponders or polls on Instagram and Facebook Messenger. The latter require the use of message content to function and Facebook must comply with privacy rules in this regard.

However, the Californian firm points out that the ePrivacy Directive prohibits messaging services from using data “to prevent, detect and respond to child abuse and other forms of harm”, as there is no legal basis for these tools. A content identification that Facebook has to put on hold until it complies with the EU, recalling its Project Protect initiative for the safety of children online and hoping to get it validated.

DEVELOPERS ALSO AFFECTED
This temporary suspension of services also has an impact on some developers working with Facebook and the Messenger API, but also foreign companies operating in Europe through Facebook, especially for chat pages.

According to MessengerPeople.com, Messenger also no longer allows audio, video or document integration, or photo galleries and buttons on the desktop version. Facebook says it is working to restore these functions quickly.

Scheduled to debut in August, MIUI 14 will be the operating system for Xiaomi devices and proprietary sub-brands. It will be based on Android 13 and is expected to introduce the usual optimizations and improvements on the feature side, while also implementing all the features of the latest version of the green robot operating system. Xiaomi has not officially mentioned it yet, but a list has been leaked online that includes all the devices that will receive MIUI 14.

The leak was leaked by MyDrivers, which listed the names of Xiaomi and Redmi devices that will support MIUI 14 and may receive the new software customization. POCO does not appear in the list, but it is very likely that devices from Xiaomi’s budget sub-brand will also benefit from the latest software release.

MIUI 14, the first list of compatible devices.

The list shows several smartphones compatible with the update, including models from the Xiaomi 10, Redmi Note 8 and Note 9 series. It also features some devices sold by Xiaomi in China, but which have been rebranded as POCO in global markets. As a reminder, the list does not represent Xiaomi’s official plans, so the list of eligible devices may change over the next few weeks, before MIUI 14 is launched.

And when will the unveiling take place? There is currently no official confirmation on the date, however, it is likely that Xiaomi will choose August 16 for the announcement of the new version of its mobile software, the day on which the 12th anniversary of MIUI will fall. According to rumors that are also unconfirmed, the software is already being tested on the upcoming Xiaomi 13 series flagships, known by the internal names Nuwa and Fuxi.

To put it simply, OEM licenses are pre-activated licenses, supplied with new computers on which Windows is already installed and ready to use. This license is, in fact, attached to the machine on which it is located and can only be used with it. OEM licenses are usually registered directly in the BIOS or UEFI firmware of the PC. That’s why you don’t need to reactivate your copy of Windows when you reinstall Windows from a recovery partition on the PC.

The Windows Retail licenses are commercial licenses, which you bought in a paperless version or in a boxed version online or from an official reseller. In the dematerialized (or digital) version, the license is associated with your computer and attached to your Microsoft account. Concretely, you just have to connect your new computer to the Internet and identify yourself with your Microsoft account so that the activation of Windows is done automatically. If you have purchased a boxed version, you should have a physical installation version of Windows (such as a DVD, or a USB key in the case of Windows 11). The license is usually written somewhere in the box. Retail licenses can be transferred from one machine to another, but can only be used on one PC at a time.

Windows Volume licenses are, as the name implies, licenses sold in batches to companies, associations, governments, in education, etc. and can be installed on a limited number of computers. Once this limit of the number of computers allowed to activate Windows is reached, this license key can no longer be installed on another machine. This is typically the kind of license you can find in attractive offers where the Windows 11 activation key is charged less than ten euros. These license keys can potentially be reused, provided of course that their maximum number of uses has not been exceeded.

How to know if your license key is reusable?

To determine if the Windows license key used on your old machine can be reused on your new PC, a simple command line is enough.

1. Open the Command Prompt
   From a Windows Administrator session, use the keyboard shortcut Windows + R, then in the Run window that appears, type cmd and press the Enter key to confirm.
2. Determine the type of your license key
   To find out the type of license key used to activate the copy of Windows on your PC, copy and paste the command Slmgr -dli into the Command Prompt and press the Enter key on the keyboard to confirm.

Il team di Google negli ultimi mesi sta lavorando duramente per il miglioramento della suite di prodotti dell’azienda dedicata alla produttività, anche per tenere testa a quella di Microsoft e nelle scorse ore ha annunciato di à avere introdccotto un’itache nriportante’ di Google Drive, Documenti, Fogli e Presentazioni.

Le novità introdotte in Google Drive, Documenti, Fogli e Presentazioni

Ci riferiamo ad alcune delle feature relative ai commenti ed alle azioni in queste popolari applicazioni del colosso di Mountain View. Queste le novità introdotte:

*interfaccia più ampia e chiara per semplificare la visualizzazione dei commenti e del relativo contesto in un documento

*scorciatoie e gesture per aiutare gli utenti a scorrere rapidamente e rispondere a più commenti

*pulsante di accesso rapido per rispondere, “@” per menzionare qualcuno e per assegnare attività

Tali novità, già disponibili per gli utenti Android nelle app Google Documenti, Fogli e Presentazioni, vengono ora rilasciate anche per l’app Google Drive. In queste ore, inoltre, tali feature vengono introdotte nelle versioni iOS di Google Documenti, Fogli e Presentazioni ( per Drive gli utenti dovranno attende un update che sarà rilasciato in futuro).

Le nuove feature annunciate dal team di Google sono disponibili per i seguenti tipi di utente: Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard ed Enterprise Plus, nonché per i clienti G Suite Basic, Business, Education , Enterprise for Education e Non profit.

DESIGN

The Xperia 1 IV stands out from the start with beautiful finishes and its characteristic flat-edged design. On the other hand, if you were planning to put it on a table so that it would stand on its own, good luck. The surface is probably not wide enough to support his large body.

An impression of grandeur of course reinforced by the 21:9 screen format, again a hallmark of Xperia. If vertically, you lose a little maneuverability with one hand (nothing that a little practice can not adjust), the comfort of grip is generally irreproachable. This is the kind of phone that you keep in hand at all times without any problem, the format curling up perfectly in your palm. The contained weight of 185 grams, rare in this price segment, and the reasonable thickness of 8.2 mm contribute greatly to this.

screen

One of the stars of the phone is undoubtedly its 4K screen (3840 x 1644 pixels), 6.5 inches with its 21: 9 format (120 Hz). Let’s be clear, no other brand offers this set of features. By this we mean that not only are 4K screens on smartphones not running the streets, but that Sony is also paying for the luxury of offering an original screen format suitable for watching movies.

Of course, each and everyone will be able to judge the usefulness of this definition and this screen ratio, but note all the same that fans of cinema or series who use their smartphone in transport to catch up with the latest series Netflix or Disney+ will undoubtedly be able to be seduced.

Already, rest assured, on the coverage of colorimetric spectra, it’s all good. Standard mode offers 145% of sRGB and 98% of DCI-P3. Of course, with a phone at this price, we expected a little more, but let’s not be choosy.

Where we can be a bit more critical is on color accuracy. The screen displays an average delta E of 4.69, a little too far from the figure of 3 below which the human eye no longer sees the difference. In particular, note that on whites, but also on flesh colors, the delta E tends to move away a little from what we are looking for.

Likewise, the standard mode tends to push the blues a bit too hard, displaying 7475 K (against 6500 K ideally). However, this parameter can be easily corrected in the settings and you can easily obtain 6500 K by pressing the D65 option in the white balance menu. An option that is both precise and practical, therefore, that we would like to find on more terminals. We also measured a rather good peak brightness of 882 cd/m2. This ensures good readability outdoors, even in direct sunlight.

To finish on the screen, remember the presence of a creator mode. This allows you to be closer to the image desired by the creator of a film, for example, or to obtain a more neutral and desaturated image. In addition, this creator mode can be activated automatically on the applications of your choice. Convenient for example if you want to activate it on a photo editing app, but not when you wander through your messages on a daily basis. A good idea, because if you apply the creator mode to the entire interface, you quickly realize that the rendering is flatter and bland.

It is known to all that almost all batteries are lithium batteries now. When charging, the lithium electronic polymer will produce a small amount of gas when it is discharged, which will cause a slight expansion, that’s normal. Overtime that gas will build up and cause the battery to expand.
Other Causes of Laptop Battery Swelling

1- overcharging.
2- Manufacturing defect, such as no protective plate inside, unreasonable distribution of positive and negative plates, uneven distribution of lye (electrolyte),etc.
3- Exposure to high temperature, the battery will be overheated and deformed.
4- Deep discharge.
5- Damage to the battery, such as damage to the membranes that separate the internal layers of the battery.
6- Natural aging.
7-Using a charger of the wrong voltage rating.

With autumn comes updates for all operating systems. After those of Apple, iOS 16 in the lead (here all the tricks to know), it’s time for news also for Microsoft which has launched the long-awaited annual update of Windows 11, in code 22H2 (acronym which stands for the second half of 2022) presented in June 2021 and available since last October 5th. Greater ease of use, better flexibility of some functions, attention to the themes of productivity, creativity and accessibility and centrality in job security are the keywords of the update released by the Redmond company. Windows 11 2022 is available in 190 countries around the world including Italy. However, some announced innovations will only be operational from the next few weeks.

Microsoft is already in the future. The Redmond firm has just integrated a new option to allow you to connect to your Microsoft account without a password.

A few months after offering it to its professional users, Microsoft has just rolled out a new option. It allows all users to deactivate the password of an account and is now offered in the security settings.

The Redmond giant offers to configure Windows Hello, to use a physical security key, to use a verification code received by e-mail or SMS, or to go through its Microsoft Authenticator authentication application.

With this new step, the American company allows you to connect without a password on almost 100% of its services. By deploying this option to as many people as possible, Microsoft hopes to help its users strengthen the security of their account, especially for those who never change their password or use one that is too easy to crack.

The integration of Google services with proprietary applications developed by the Mountain View giant continues to grow, and in this case we are talking about the arrival of the Google Assistant UI for voice searches within Google Chrome on Android. Until today, in fact, a tap on the microphone-shaped icon present in the Google Chrome search omnibox entails the activation of the classic voice search UI by now known to all, while from today it is possible to activate the new Google Assistant search UI.

A flag is enough to activate the new UI
Available in version 87 of Google Chrome, currently the new voice search with Google Assistant can be activated using the following flag:

Once you have entered the above code into the Google Chrome URL box and have chosen the “Enable” item, you can see the appearance of the Google Assistant UI like the one shown in the GIF below after restarting the browser.

Basically, the search results do not change, but the new interface makes the user experience more homogeneous between the use of Google Assistant at the operating system level and within the web browser. The feature was already being worked on since January, but it is only now possible to activate it using the appropriate flag.

If you haven’t already done so, we recommend updating Google Chrome to the latest version available via the Play Store badge below.