Microsoft's controversial Windows Recall has now been generally released, and it poses as much of a risk to your privacy as it could be a boon to your productivity. Recall is just one of several new features that either have or will be arriving on Copilot PC, Microsoft said Friday. Recall, Windows' improved semantic search, Live Captions, Cocreator, and Restyle Image and Image Creator within Photos are now all available for Copilot PCs that include Qualcomm Snapdragon CPUs as well as PCs with qualifying processors from AMD and Intel. A few features -- Click to Do, Live Captions, and Voice Access -- are available for Copilot PCs running on Snapdragon, but support for AMD and Intel chips isn't quite available. For Microsoft, the release of these AI-powered features are cause for celebration, finally delivering on promises of an AI-powered world that the company first made a year ago. But in the weeks and months since Microsoft first announced Recall, a darker side of its potential has emerged.

I don't use a Windows Copilot PC as a daily driver, though I have several in my office. But there's one absolutely critical Copilot feature that forces me to swap out my current laptop, attach a Copilot PC to my docking station, and boot it up. Very few people have bought a Copilot PC in the last year. So these features, which are currently locked to Copilot PCs and their NPU, aren't well known: Windows Recall; Paint's Cocreator, Generative Erase, Object Select, and Sticker Generator; Click-to-Do; Photos' Super Resolution, Relight and Restyle Image; the intelligent search features within the Settings menu; Windows Studio Effects; and Live Captions. My editor assumed I would prefer the last feature, Live Captions, probably because it's both useful and cool.

Should Microsoft and the PC industry have paid more attention to the GPU during the development of AI and Copilot PCs? After a year's time waiting for Copilot PCs (and their newfangled "Neural Processing Units" to take off, I can't help but wonder. Microsoft launched the Copilot PC initiative on May 20, 2024, and began shipping them on June 18. Since then, Microsoft has supported Copilot PCs with a handful of features, rolling them out first for PCs with the Qualcomm Snapdragon chips inside and then later for PCs powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 2 chips and the AMD Ryzen AI 300 processor. Qualcomm is essentially blameless, delivering a potent PC processor with most AI capabilities and long battery life.

Microsoft's controversial Windows Recall has now been generally released, and it poses as much of a risk to your privacy as it could be a boon to your productivity. Recall is just one of several new features that either have or will be arriving on Copilot PC, Microsoft said Friday. Recall, Windows' improved semantic search, Live Captions, Cocreator, and Restyle Image and Image Creator within Photos are now all available for Copilot PCs that include Qualcomm Snapdragon CPUs as well as PCs with qualifying processors from AMD and Intel. A few features -- Click to Do, Live Captions, and Voice Access -- are available for Copilot PCs running on Snapdragon, but support for AMD and Intel chips isn't quite available. For Microsoft, the release of these AI-powered features are cause for celebration, finally delivering on promises of an AI-powered world that the company first made a year ago.

Samsung recently announced the Galaxy Book4 Edge line of laptops at Microsoft's Surface event, now equipped with Qualcomm's hotly anticipated Snapdragon X Elite processors. In addition to the more efficient and AI-infused processor, they're also featherlight and come with a slew of practical AI tools like Live Caption and Windows Recall. They also come with AMOLED touch displays, which look superb and are capable of up to 500 nits of brightness. If you pre-order the Galaxy Book4 Edge right now, Samsung will even toss in a free 50-inch TV. Further reading: Microsoft's new Surface laptops are bursting with AI power The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge comes in two sizes: the 14-inch is designed for those who prefer a more portable machine and the 16-inch is meant for those who want a bigger screen.

To date, PC vendors have shipped AI PCs. On Monday, Microsoft announced the next step in the AI PC's evolution, the Copilot PC, and announced AI-powered Windows 11 features like Recall. "The pursuit has always been about how to build computers that understand us, instead of having us having to understand computers, and I feel like we really are close to that breakthrough," said Satya Nadella, Microsoft's chief executive, in a briefing with reporters on Microsoft's campus. A Copilot PC combines local, on-device AI with cloud AI, according to Microsoft, to provide a range of services. Some of the new laptops shipping with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus processors will be classified as Copilot PCs, taking advantage of the NPU found within both chips.

As many in the accessibility community will tell you, inclusive design isn't an endeavor that's "one and done." It's a continuous, ongoing effort to ensure that as new products and services are made, people with different needs or disabilities aren't left out. Over the last three years, Engadget has produced a report, in addition to our regular coverage, that looks back on the developments in the tech industry that impact the accessibility community, focusing on the largest companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta. Of course, there are plenty of other big companies to consider, like Uber, Airbnb, Netflix and more. But the six we've selected have an outsized impact and influence on the industry..

In 2022, there will be even more niche phones that offer a rich experience and a narrow appeal like gaming phones and foldables. New phones for 2022 are already debuting left and right, and it's barely been two weeks. During CES 2022, Samsung announced the Galaxy S21 FE, the follow-up to its popular 2020 phone the Galaxy S20 FE. OnePlus teased us all with a slow trickle of details about the new features and CPU in the OnePlus 10 Pro. Sony finally brought the photography-focused Xperia 5 III to the US.

Annually since 2016, Google has released a pair of flagship Pixel smartphones designed to showcase the very best of Android. This year was like any other with the debut of the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, which ship running Android 10. But what's unusual this time around is that the newest duo's hardware is perhaps just as compelling as their software. Gone is the two-tone rear cover that featured prominently on the original Pixel, Pixel 2, and Pixel 3 series, replaced with polished and grippy Corning Gorilla Glass 5. It's easier to grasp ahold of than that of the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, and it's more resistant to oily fingers and pocket lint. The Pixel 4 series is IP68 certified to withstand up to five feet of water for half an hour, which puts it on par with the outgoing Pixel 3 series. But both the Pixel 4 and the Pixel 4 XL are a good deal heavier than the Pixel 3 (5.71 The Pixel 4 series' frame is coated with a soft-touch material that's jet black on all three of the colorways -- Clearly White, Just Black, and the limited edition Oh So Orange. The haptics, which Google characterizes as "sharp and textured," feel great.

Google's Pixel phones are the company's preferred way of showcasing its AI chops to consumers. Pixel phones consistently set the phone camera bar thanks to Google's AI prowess. But many of the AI features have nothing to do with the camera. The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL unveiled this week at the Made by Google hardware event in New York City continue this tradition. Camera improvements aside, the Pixel 4 makes a play for a new arena that Google clearly wants to rule: offline natural language processing.