Wednesday Newsbytes: 400 Million Outlook Users At Risk; Microsoft to Make PDFs Editable; Extract Texts From Android Phones Feature Coming to Windows 11; AI Tools Coming to Gmail, Firefox… 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!
400 million Outlook users at risk from security bug — what you need to know
Newly discovered email spoofing bug lets bad actors impersonate Microsoft corporate accounts
A security researcher has uncovered a bug in Outlook that could allow anyone to impersonate Microsoft corporate email accounts, giving phishing attempts an air of legitimacy to trick unsuspecting targets. An urgent warning has been issued to Outlook’s roughly 400 million users as the vulnerability remains unpatched.
Vsevolod Kokorin, a security researcher at SolidLab, first sounded the alarm about this email spoofing bug in a post on X (formerly Twitter) last week. He said he disclosed the issue to Microsoft, only for the company to dismiss his report after saying it couldn’t reproduce his findings. Frustrated, Kokorin took to X to warn others while rightly refusing to provide the technical details needed to exploit the vulnerability.
As demonstrated in screenshots he shared, the bug lets anyone impersonate an official Microsoft corporate account when sending an email to another Outlook user. In an update, he said that Microsoft has acknowledged the issue, though a timeline for when it’ll be patched remains unclear. He also told TechCrunch that Microsoft may have come across his tweet, as it has since reopened one of the reports he submitted several months ago…
Great news — Microsoft is killing off non-editable PDFs for good
PDF editing is about to get better, thanks to Microsoft
In a pretty significant technological development, Microsoft has disclosed plans to build a tool to convert non-editable PDFs into fully editable documents while simultaneously preserving the original layout.
The proposed (and very handy) tool, detailed in a newly published paper titled “Method and System of Generating an Editable Document from a Non-Editable Document,” spotted by Windows Report addresses the long-standing problem that PDF users face when trying to amend elements and add further details.
It wouldn’t be 2024 if the system didn’t use artificial intelligence, and that’s exactly what Microsoft wants to use to convert the PDF documents.
Microsoft will use AI to make PDFs editable
By using AI, Microsoft hopes to identify and map the arrangement of elements within a PDF document, like text, images and tables. The tool will use bounding boxes in order to ensure that the layout remains unchanged, and should also be able to recognize the fonts and color schemes.
Besides being able to identify and carry over specific elements with strong accuracy, Microsoft also states that the new, editable PDF can be resized without losing its structural integrity.
The introduction of this technology promises to be a game-changer…
Windows 11 feature that extracts texts from Android rolls out to everyone
Lately, Microsoft has been focusing a lot on the Phone Link experience in Windows. A few weeks ago, it added a Managed Devices section, which allows you to use your phone as a web camera. Microsoft also added a new feature that lets you directly copy screenshots captured on your phone to the desktop.
In addition, Microsoft has been testing a Scan Text feature, which can extract text from photos. We did a detailed report on that OCR feature, showcasing how it fared with the photos on our phone. Until now, the feature has been limited to the Windows Insider Program, but it is now widely available for Windows 11 and Windows 10.
Microsoft has added the “Scan Text”, which uses OCR technology, in the Phone Link app’s version 1.24052.124.0. To access the feature, you need only update the Phone Link app. After that, you’ll find a Text option (earlier, it was labelled Scan Text) while viewing photos in the Phone Link app on Windows…
AI tools are coming to Gmail, Google Drive, and Firefox
AI rolls into more of your everyday interactions, as Google and Firefox begin adding AI modules.
If you’ve been avoiding integrating artificial intelligence into your day-to-day life, that’s about to get more challenging.
Google has announced plans to roll out AI “side panels” in its Gmail service, as well as in Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Google Drive that will showcase Gemini. Those panels will assist with your writing, summarize information, and suggest improvements or responses. The rollout has already started for select users and will begin for most on July 8.
At the same time, browser maker Mozilla has announced plans to let users incorporate AI chatbots into the Firefox browser’s sidebar. Rather than allying itself with a single AI company, though, Mozilla plans to let users choose among offerings from ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Hugging Chat (an open-source alternative to ChatGPT), or Le Chat Mistral (from a French AI startup) to summarize packets of information.
To be clear, neither Mozilla nor Google are mandating that users use the AI functionality. And in Mozilla’s case, you can opt not to add it to your browser at all. But the two examples showcase how AI is being merged into functionality for people to interact with on a regular basis and underscore how heavily chatbots are being pushed as a part of people’s lives…
Watch This Uncanny Robot Face Grin And Frown Thanks To Self-Healing, Lab-Grown Human Skin
“We managed to replicate human appearance to some extent”.
This grinning pink blob might populate your nightmares for the next week or two (sorry about that), but if you can see past the all-too-realistic eyes, you’ll find a very impressive feat of engineering. Scientists in Japan have figured out a way to attach lab-grown human skin tissue to the faces of complex humanoid robots.
“During previous research on a finger-shaped robot covered in engineered skin tissue we grew in our lab, I felt the need for better adhesion between the robotic features and the subcutaneous structure of the skin,” explained senior author Professor Shoji Takeuchi of the University of Tokyo, in a statement. Takeuchi runs the Biohybrid Systems Laboratory, where they use bioinspired design to come up with all kinds of innovations.
The robotic finger Takeuchi is referring to was dipped into a solution of collagen and human skin fibroblast cells. While the result was actually pretty realistic, the team felt they could do better.
“By mimicking human skin-ligament structures and by using specially made V-shaped perforations in solid materials, we found a way to bind skin to complex structures. The natural flexibility of the skin and the strong method of adhesion mean the skin can move with the mechanical components of the robot without tearing or peeling away,” Takeuchi said.
With the perforation method, rather than previous approaches involving tiny hooks or anchors, the team believes that their artificial skin could be attached to pretty much any surface while retaining freedom of movement and flexibility. Flexibility that will allow for facial expressions, for instance. Prepare yourself to enter the uncanny valley, then take a look at the video…
Read more & see the video at IFL Science.
Thanks for reading this week’s Wednesday Newbytes. We hope these articles were informative, interesting, fun, and helpful. Darcy & TC
