The End of the Control Panel; Don’t Want To Google It? Try these alternatives; Musk’s New Cortex AI Uses Enough Electricity to Power 4 Million Homes; 5 of the 700 Worst Ways AI Could Harm Us… and more!
Every day we scan the tech world for interesting news in the world of technology and sometimes from outside the world of technology. Every Wednesday, we feature news articles that grabbed our attention over the past week. We hope you find this week’s ‘Wednesday Newsbytes’ informative and interesting!
Microsoft says it’s finally getting rid of Control Panel in Windows
…but we’ve heard that before. Who knows if it’ll stick this time?
The Control Panel is a trusty, rusty old friend for a lot of us Windows users, going all the way back to the operating system’s original release in the 1980s. But Microsoft has been trying to get rid of it for almost a decade, replacing its functions with the friendlier Settings app.
According to a new Microsoft support page that covers several different aspects of PC management in both Windows 10 and 11, Control Panel’s end is nigh. We still don’t know an exact date, though:
“The Control Panel is in the process of being deprecated in favor of the Settings app, which offers a more modern and streamlined experience.”
As Neowin points out, this is a variation on the same thing Microsoft has been saying since 2015, back when the Settings app first began to absorb some of the more advanced Windows features.
Even in Windows 11, the Control Panel remains essential for advanced (and a few not-so-advanced) functions and settings. I find myself dipping into its antiquated icon-based navigation at least once every time I install Windows fresh, to toggle the “activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse” function in the Ease of Access Center. Control Panel’s version of the Power Options tool is also a pretty important thing to adjust for most laptop users.
Personally, I don’t really care where all of these settings are located, as long as I can find them. But that’s become an increasingly thorny issue…
Don’t want to Google it? These alternatives are worth exploring
Google isn’t playing nice in the sandbox. Or maybe it’s just getting too big for its britches. Those are the messages coming from the U.S. Department of Justice, where a federal judge recently ruled that the company illegally monopolized the online search and advertising industries through its long-standing partnerships with tech giants like Samsung and Apple.
Google’s leaders, of course, aren’t pleased with the decision. Its president of global affairs says the company will appeal. Still, now is as good a time as any for us to take stock of our Google dependence and consider the alternatives. After all, we don’t have to “google” anything, and there’s a whole other world of search engines out there where we can Bing, Ask and DuckDuck to our heart’s content.
Why not Google?
Google is the premiere search engine because it’s fast, easy to use and integrates with a bunch of other apps and tools that you probably already use, like YouTube, Gmail and Google Docs. It’s also popular because it’s the default search engine on most mobile devices, including Apple’s Safari, and that’s where the Justice Department’s argument comes in. Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., paid Apple $20 billion in 2022 to be the default search engine for Safari on iPhone, iPad and Mac…
Cortex AI is packed with 70,000 AI servers and will require up to 130 megawatts (MW) of cooling and power to launch.
Tech enthusiast Elon Musk recently shared the progress of Tesla’s Cortex AI supercluster on X. The project is domiciled in Tesla’s headquarters in Austin, Texas. It’s packed with 70,000 AI servers and will require up to 130 megawatts (MW) of cooling and power to launch, with projections of 500 MW by 2026.
Cortex AI will help improve and enhance Tesla’s AI models, prompting growth. For context, the company leverages AI tools for autonomous driving, energy management, and more.
Tesla’s supercluster is arguably the largest training cluster, packed with 50,000 NVIDIA H100 enterprise GPUs and an additional 20,000 of the company’s hardware. However, Musk had previously indicated that the Cortex AI would ship with 50,000 units of Tesla’s Dojo AI hardware…
5 of the 700 worst ways AI could harm us, according to MIT experts
As artificial intelligence (AI) technology advances and becomes increasingly integrated into various aspects of our lives, there is a growing need to understand the potential risks these systems pose.
Since its inception and becoming more accessible to the public, AI has raised general concerns about its potential for causing harm and being used for malicious purposes.
Early in its adoption, AI development prompted prominent experts to call for a pause in progress and stricter regulations due to its potential to pose significant risks to humanity.
Over time, new ways in which AI could cause harm have emerged, ranging from non-consensual deepfake pornography, manipulation of political processes, to the generation of disinformation due to hallucinations.
With the increasing potential for AI to be exploited for harmful purposes, researchers have been looking into various scenarios where AI systems might fail.
Recently, the FutureTech group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in collaboration with other experts, has compiled a new database of over 700 potential risks.
They were classified by their cause…
Google Meet will now use Gemini AI to automatically take meeting notes for you
“Take notes for me” tool rolling out to Google Workspace users
A new Google Meet update is looking to help users focus on their meetings more than ever with the ability to take notes automatically.
First announced in August 2023, the new “Take notes for me” tool, powered by the company’s Gemini AI platform, has finally begun rolling out to Google Workspace users now.
However not all video conferencing users will be able to utilize the tool immediately, as it will initially only be available to Google Workspace customers with the Gemini Enterprise, Gemini Education Premium, or AI Meetings & Messaging add-ons.
Google Meet “Take notes for me”
“It can be challenging to stay on top of and engaged with meeting discussions while also trying to keep a record of the meeting and subsequent follow-ups,” a Google Workspace Updates blog post announcing the launch said.
““Take notes for me” is an AI-powered feature in Google Meet that automatically takes notes, allowing you to focus on discussion, collaboration, and presentation during your meetings.”
The feature, which will be turned on by default…
Thanks for reading this week’s Wednesday Newbytes. We hope these articles were informative, interesting, fun, and helpful. Darcy & TC
