Microsoft has revealed that the company is about to launch GPT-4 and this time it is about more than just text and chat. The next iteration of the AI technology is described as multi-modal, meaning there is support for much more -- including video.
The news came at an event in Germany called KI im Fokus on Thursday. Here, Microsoft Germany's CTO and Lead Data & AI STU, Andreas Braun, said: "We will introduce GPT-4 next week, there we will have multimodal models that will offer completely different possibilities -- for example videos".
Is Microsoft working on the next version of Windows? Will it be Windows 12? If the answer is yes, how will it look like and differ from Windows 11?
There is quite a bit of uncertainty regarding Windows right now. Microsoft ended support for the popular Windows 7 and the not-so popular Windows 8 operating systems in January 2023, and in less than 3 years, Windows 10 is added to the list of operating systems that are no longer supported. This would leave Windows 11 as the sole version of Windows that is available and supported officially.
You probably have a “tool drawer” in your house or apartment with a wrench, a few screwdrivers, and other tools for simple home projects. That’s what PowerToys is—just for Windows.
Microsoft’s PowerToys debuted more than three years ago, evolving from a single utility to sixteen Windows tools that perform specialized tasks to improve your life. Some can be extremely powerful! I will show you a number of ways I use Microsoft’s PowerToys within Windows 10 and 11, as examples for you to accomplish more, too.
Every product reflects the era it’s born into, and Windows 8 was no exception. Launched a year and a half after Apple’s iPad, the successor to Windows 7 was designed to combat the so-called end of the PC.
Part of the fight involved getting Windows 8 on tablets, not just larger laptop-like slates such as the Microsoft Surface. For a handful of years, lightweight eight-inch Windows tablets were a thing. Maybe not ubiquitous, but common enough, and with more powerful hardware than much of their competition. The initiative stretched into the first part of the Windows 10 era—then abruptly burned out.
Microsoft’s latest feature update to Windows 11 arrives today, allowing you to access Bing AI Chat within Windows 11, quickly record a video snapshot of your screen, help lower your power bill, and even eventually control your Apple iPhone (yes, the iPhone!) directly from your PC.
Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 February 2023 feature update is actually more of a “Moment,” the name given to the small feature updates Microsoft tacked on to the Windows 11 2022 Update or 22H2. Microsoft called the October 2022 release of a new tabbed File Explorer and other features a new “experience,” but has called this release “an update.” You’ll probably still see the winver command refer to it as “22H2.”
Either way, there are several new features to talk about. Keep in mind, though, that new Windows 11 features are delivered in two ways: Integrated Windows additions as well as apps. The former updates include the updated Bing AI Chat, controls for Windows Studio Effects, and more usable UI for tablets and 2-in-1 PCs. However, the manufacturer is also providing new or updated apps for Phone Link, an updated Chat app, and a redesigned Widgets and Quick Assist app.
Microsoft's February security patch bundle rolled out on Tuesday to address 56 security vulnerabilities.
Specifically, the patches include 11 common vulnerabilities and exposures deemed "Critical," 43 CVEs considered "Important" and two CVEs assessed as "Moderate" in severity. One vulnerability affecting Windows systems was known to be exploited before Tuesday's patch release. There are also six vulnerabilities that are described as being "publicly known," which represents increased risk for organizations.
Microsoft has offered some details about Prometheus, the proprietary AI model it created to integrate ChatGPT-like functionality into Bing search. Microsoft has already said the new Bing is "much more powerful" than OpenAI's GPT-3.5 AI model behind ChatGPT.
Public experimentation, however, quickly showed the chatbot feature was prone to unexpected outbursts, which prompted Microsoft to limit the number of "chat turns" to five per session to stop it becoming confused. Now, Microsoft's CVP of search and AI, Jordi Ribas, has shared some details about Prometheus -- Microsoft's proprietary model that meshes Bing with OpenAI's GPT model to generate more relevant results in Bing -- and how it went about building the new Bing. Ribas' explanation comes as users discovered that Microsoft had been testing Sydney with users in India in late 2021. Users there reported in November 2022 that Sydney was "rude" in almost exactly the same way users found it to be after Microsoft released the new Bing. According to Ribas, OpenAI shared its "game changing" post-GPT-3.5 model with Microsoft in summer 2022. Microsoft president Brad Smith said it was shown the OpenAI technology "early last summer" in his blogpost about Microsoft's "responsible AI"
.NET 8, the next planned version of the Microsoft’s open source software development platform, is set to emphasize Linux accommodations as well as cloud development and containers.
A first preview of .NET 8 is available for download at dot.microsoft.com for Windows, Linux, and macOS, Microsoft said on February 21. A long-term support release that will be supported for three years, .NET 8 is due for production availability in November, a year after the release of predecessor .NET 7.
Visual Studio 2022 17.5, the latest version of Microsoft’s signature IDE, is now generally available. Highlights of the new release include capabilities for C++ cross-platform development, AI-powered coding suggestions, streamlined API development, and improved code search.Also known simply as Visual Studio 17.5, the IDE can be downloaded from the Visual Studio website.
For C++ developers, the Linux console has been moved into the integrated terminal to make it easier to interact with a remote Linux machine. The integrated console window allows developers to offer input and see console input. When developers are using a dev container, they now can run them on remote machines. Developers also can open an interactive shell in the running container in the integrated terminal. The standard library has been expanded to include C11 atomics in MSVC (Microsoft C ++) compiler. Initial support only is for lock-free atomics. New CMake capabilities speed up compilation workflows.
ASP.NET Core, Microsoft’s cross-platform framework for web and mobile apps, will offer a combined, full-stack web programming model as part of the planned .NET 8 software development platform, to better satisfy the diverse needs of web apps.
Now available in a first preview, .NET 8 endeavors to combine benefits of server-side and client-side rendering into a single, full-stack programming model based on the Blazor framework for client-side web UIs, featured as part of ASP.NET Core. This effort is being called Blazor United, Microsoft said in a blog post published on February 21.