Tech Story

Microsoft to Improve Default App Settings in Windows 11?

One of the lasting effects of the browser battles of the 1990s has been an excessive focus on how Microsoft manages default app settings in Windows 11, particularly browser settings.

Microsoft’s handling of app defaults in Windows 11 has frequently drawn criticism. In comparison to Windows 10, the latest operating system makes it harder for users to switch from Microsoft’s pre-installed apps to third-party ones.

That could soon change, though, as Microsoft intends to make it simpler for users who want to alter the default Windows 11 apps.

Also Read: With GPT-4, are we one step closer to losing our jobs?

Microsoft announced the new feature for Windows 11 users in a blog post, stating that it is “reaffirming our long-standing approach to put people in control of their Windows PC experience.” This feature will allow users to quickly control changes to their app defaults.

Microsoft stated in a blog post,”We want to ensure that people are in control of what gets pinned to their Desktop, their Start menu and their Taskbar as well as to be able to control their default applications such as their default browser through consistent, clear and trustworthy Windows provided system dialogs and settings.”

The tech juggernaut was reacting to the cumbersome app-switching procedure. For instance, if a user wishes to switch from Edge to Chrome as the default browser, they must manually set Chrome as the default for each corresponding file and link type in addition to setting Chrome as the default browser overall.

Later OS updates made switching between browsers a little bit simpler, allowing you to select a default browser with just one button by going to that browser in the Default Apps section of the Settings app. However, compared to Windows 10, the option was still hidden, and it only worked for browsers, limiting image editors and other apps to use the more complicated one-file-type-at-a-time controls.

Microsoft will now give developers of apps “the ability to make their app the default or pin their app to the taskbar” through a “commonly supported way”. Additionally, it stated that its own apps would adhere to the same standard for defaults and pinning in order to prevent favoritism for the applications in its ecosystem.

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Developers will be given a new Settings deep link URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) so they can direct their customers to the proper default settings. Microsoft will launch an API for app pinning that will let external apps be instantly pinned as the taskbar’s main or secondary tiles. According to Microsoft, these new features will initially be available on the Windows Insider Channel over the following few months.

It is not necessary to use these new features, and app developers who are already handling things distinctly won’t need to alter their apps right away. However, the business claims that later this year, after application developers have had time to implement these new best practices, it will start taking more steps to prevent “unrequested modifications to a user’s choices.”

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

With GPT-4, are we one step closer to losing our jobs?

As ChatGPT garners interest on a global scale, the robust model that underpins it, GPT-3.5, is expanding at a remarkable rate. Three months into 2023, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has already surpassed 100 million users, launched an API, and is now publishing GPT-4. GPT-4, known as “OpenAI’s most advanced system,” is accessible on ChatGPT Plus and via a waitlist for its API.

Greg Brockman, President, and Co-Founder of OpenAI showed the tasks this new model is capable of handling during the Livestream session of GPT-4’s launch. The update improves GPT-4’s capabilities on all levels. In a number of academic and professional exams, GPT-4 currently performs better than humans.

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GPT-4 and GPT-3.5 both achieved 90th percentile scores on the Uniform Bar Exam, a standardized test taken by attorneys in the US. GPT-4 achieved the 89th percentile in math and 93rd percentile in reading and writing on the SAT, a nationally normed exam for college admissions in the US.

Therefore, the most commonly asked question with a strong model like GPT-4 is if more jobs are going to be replaced. The solution is obvious. The most impacted professions, according to a recent study by Princeton University researchers, are liberal arts teachers, telemarketers, and sociologists.

Because of GPT’s exceptional text-writing skills, media professionals, particularly writers, are becoming increasingly afraid that it will replace them. But keep in mind that GPT is an NLP model and that it predicts the next word based on prior contexts, despite how impressive it may appear.

This means that it can only create output by gathering data and putting together feedback, and cannot produce original ideas (although one could argue that there isn’t any genuine originality).

The ability of GPT-4 to interpret images will continue to dazzle humans if completing tests isn’t impressive enough for AI. GPT-4 will describe every aspect of a meme image to explain why it is funny when asked to do so, much as a nerdy but fascinating friend would.

It can even analyze all the data in a chart and use that to make calculations or analyses. It can analyze it pixel-by-pixel and provide you with the information you need if you ask it to sum up a paper by giving it a screenshot with charts and text.

Also Read: Why Did Silicon Valley Bank Collapse?

Some paid consultants and foreign language instructors might also lose their companies. Morgan Stanley is placing GPT-4 in its content collection and generating responses. While Iceland’s government is collaborating with OpenAI to maintain its language, As tech companies remain to lay off workers and increase their investment in AI, even coders are losing their employment.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Guillaume Pousaz: From Small Village to Billion-Dollar Empire

Leave a Comment / Story, Tech Story / By Sandhya Gupta

Guillaume Pousaz, the CEO and creator of the online payment system Checkout.com, is a Swiss billionaire businessman living in Dubai. His estimated net wealth as of January 2022 is $20 billion USD.

About Checkout.com

Checkout.com is a global provider of financial technology that manages payments for other businesses. It was established in 2009 under the name Opus Payments and is based in London, United Kingdom. It was the most valued European fintech company in 2022, with a valuation of over $40 billion.

Its customers include Coinbase, Netflix, and Pizza Hut. Every year, the website processes hundreds of billions of dollars in payments, with volumes tripling in each of the last three years as a result of the pandemic’s massive use of online payments as well as the growth of cryptocurrencies, with Checkout.com being used by many online exchanges.

Also Read: From Zero to Billionaire: The Inspiring Journey of Piotr Szulczewski

Early Life

Before enrolling in a bachelor’s program in economics at HEC Lausanne, Pousaz completed mathematical engineering coursework at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

Pousaz originally intended to work in investment banking, but he left his Swiss university in 2005 when his father was diagnosed with cancer. With no money in the bank and after failing his economics finals at the age of 19, Guillaume Pousaz went to California to become a surfer.

The Swedish academic dropout joined the processing firm International Payment Consultants after running out of money. With the help of the IPC head of sales, Pousaz founded NetMerchant in 2007, a service for sending money from the US to Europe. The business was active until 2009. In 2009, he acquired a Mauritius-based small payments firm named SMS Pay for $300,000.

Success Story

In 2009, Pousaz established Opus Payments in Singapore, allowing businesses in Hong Kong to accept payments from clients all over the globe. In 2012, Opus Payments changed its name to Checkout.com. The goal of the business’s founding was to help customers and merchants with the issue of processing internet payments.

Checkout.com secured $230 million in the capital in 2019. This was the biggest Series A funding round a European fintech company had ever received at the moment. Checkout.com raised an additional US$450 million in January 2021 at a US$15 billion value.

Because of this, Forbes pegged Pousaz’s net wealth at $9 billion. He is the CEO of the company and owner of approximately two-thirds of Checkout.com. In May 2021, Pousaz established Zinial Growth, a personal business company. The company has invested in cryptocurrency startup Snickerdoodle Labs as well as e-commerce start-ups Wayflyer and Ziina.

Also Read: Inventive Journey of James Dyson: From Failure to Success

Checkout.com was valued at $40 billion in January 2022 following a $1 billion fundraising effort, providing Pousaz an approximate net worth of US$20 billion. With an estimated net worth of £19.259 billion, he came in at number five on the Sunday Times Rich List 2022 ranking of the wealthiest individuals in the UK.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Is the PS5 Pro really coming to market in 2024?

Leave a Comment / Story, Tech Story / By Sandhya Gupta

According to a recent report from Tom Henderson at Inside Gaming, Sony is indeed working on the PS5 Pro, a mid-generation PlayStation upgrade that is presently under development.

The PS5 Pro, which is presently under development, is a mid-generation PlayStation upgrade, according to a recent report from Tom Henderson at Inside Gaming.

According to the report, Sony will first release a PS5 with a removable disc drive later this year to reduce the cost of the current PS5, and the PS5 Pro is truly a separate device that might instead be released by late 2024. It is rumored that Sony doesn’t intend to release the PS6 before 2028.

Also Read: How to set up Discord on PS5 and PS4?

The PS4 debuted in 2013 for $400, and the PS4 Pro followed three years later for the same price. Sony still offers $400 and $500 PS5 types based on the disc drive, and it is unclear whether there will be different PS5 Pro models or whether all of them will eventually come with this “optional” disc drive model.

Certainly, it wouldn’t be more than $500. There are no specifics provided in this story regarding what will be included in the PS5 Pro upgrade package. Just some information from PlayStation’s Mark Cerny that they might be seeking to improve their ray-tracing abilities, followed by assumptions about better graphics, performance, speed, etc. However, none of that is certain.

It’s difficult to predict whether upgrading to a PS5 Pro will be worthwhile or not in one and a half years. The “Series” identifier of this generation frequently seemed to suggest that additional hardware was on the horizon, though it is unclear whether Microsoft will also issue a mid-generation upgrade.

However, the majority of Xbox hardware rumors have focused on a streaming box that is only designed to play Xbox Game Pass/Cloud Gaming games; it is doubtful that Sony would also make a device of this nature.

Sony recently released the PSVR 2 as its latest significant piece of gear. Although VR enthusiasts gave the technology high praise, it’s not yet clear if the market will accept yet another VR headset given that the industry is still in its infancy and VR-based metaverse plans are fading quickly, even though Sony’s unit isn’t taking that route.

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The PlayStation 4 was introduced in 2013, and the PlayStation 4 Pro, an improved version, was introduced in 2016. This indicates that there will be a lag of about three years before Sony introduces any alternate console models, such as a Slim or Pro variant.

It’s important to remember, though, that during some generations, supporters had to wait up to four years. (and as little as two years). In 2020, the PlayStation 5 was made available. So, we can anticipate the introduction of the PlayStation 5 Pro in 2023 or 2024. In other words, a new PlayStation 5 from Sony is most likely coming out within the next two years.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Why Did Silicon Valley Bank Collapse?

Leave a Comment / Story, Tech Story / By Sandhya Gupta

The US Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates and dampen investors’ appetite for risk led to Silicon Valley Bank’s closure and takeover by authorities on Friday.

A bank run was the primary factor in Silicon Valley Bank’s demise. Before customers began to flee the company, the firm was neither insolvent nor even close to being insolvent. However, banking is a business that depends equally on trust and money, and if either of those disappears, the show is over.

Since last year, the Federal Reserve has been increasing interest rates from their historically low levels in an effort to combat inflation. When the money that is accessible to them becomes pricey because of greater interest rates, investors have less willingness to take risks.

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Silicon Valley Bank’s main customers, technology startups, suffered as a result of their investors becoming less risk-tolerant. Some Silicon Valley Bank clients began taking money out to fulfill their liquidity needs as higher interest rates forced the marketplace for initial public offerings to close down for several startups and made private financing more expensive. As a result, Silicon Valley Bank began this week to search for solutions to handle customer withdrawals.

On Wednesday, Silicon Valley Bank liquidated a $21 billion bond portfolio, primarily made up of US Treasury bonds, to pay for the redemptions. Averaging 1.79%, the portfolio’s yield was much lower than the present yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which is around 3.9%.

SVB was compelled to record a $1.8 billion deficit as a result, which it had to make up for by raising capital. To close its financing gap, SVB disclosed on Thursday that it would sell $2.25 billion in common equity and preferred convertible stock. Investors worried that the deposit outflows might force it to seek even more capital, which caused its shares to finish the day’s trading down 60%.

According to Reuters, some SVB clients withdrew their funds from the bank at the suggestion of venture capital companies like Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. The capital raising attempt failed late on Thursday as a result of investors, including General Atlantic, who SVB had queued up for the sale of stocks, becoming alarmed by this.

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On Friday, SVB rushed to find alternate sources of financing, including by selling a company, But later that day, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) made the announcement that SVB had been shut down and was now in its administration.

The FDIC further stated that it would try to sell SVB’s assets and that future dividend payouts to uninsured depositors might be made.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

How to set up Discord on PS5 and PS4?

Leave a Comment / Story, Tech Story / By Sandhya Gupta

Finally, due to the most recent PS5 system update, users are able to access Discord on PS5.

Even though PlayStation users have had access to linking their PSN and Discord accounts for a while, full connectivity has been a vastly requested feature.

Now that the two platforms are more closely integrated, users can engage in a voice chat using Sony’s top-tier gaming console Although the PS5 console has its own party audio chat feature, you can only use it to communicate with PlayStation platform users.

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But with Discord, you can talk to your friends and coworkers even if they’re using a different gaming system, like a PC or Xbox. Here’s how to connect to Discord on PS5.

Launch Discord> Open your profile > Click Connections > Click Add> Then choose PlayStation Network> Log into your PSN account> Verify that your PSN is connected.

You can display your ID on your profile and indicate what you’re playing as your status by choosing your PSN account on the Discord website or app; however, to do so, your PS5 must have the option to “Who can see your online status and what you’re currently playing” set to Anyone under Users and Accounts > Privacy > View and Customize Your Privacy Settings.

Through the Discord app or website, you can join or create a voice channel. Look for the “Transfer to Console” symbol of a controller in front of a phone after opening the voice channel. Choose “Transfer to Playstation” after selecting it.

Select the appropriate PS5 device from the pop-up list of ones your account is connected to, then press Transfer Voice to transfer the chat there. Your PS5 will then receive a notification that you have joined a Discord voice chat. You can open this notification to make any necessary changes to the settings to suit your preferences.

The PS4 does not support Discord voice chat, so you cannot use it there. Although there may be workarounds requiring audio splitters and various devices, this is probably going to be more trouble than it’s worth because of the absence of native support.

You can still connect your accounts to Discord on PS4 to show your PSN ID and the game you are currently playing. On the Discord website or app, select User Preferences > Connections. Select the symbol for the PlayStation Network. The pop-up box can be used to access your PSN account.

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Your accounts will be connected once you agree to the connection terms. For the options to show your ID and what you’re playing right now next to your Discord account status, go through the same steps as before to the Connections menu and choose PlayStation.

However, you must make sure that under Settings > Account Management > Privacy Settings > Personal Info | Messaging > Online Status and Now Playing is set to Anyone on your PS4 for this feature to work.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

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