A new AI feature is coming to Microsoft’s Notepad called Rewrite. reports that Microsoft is rolling out a preview of Rewrite to Windows Insiders that will allow AI to rewrite sentences, change the tone and alter the length of text in Notepad.

Windows Insiders can access Rewrite by highlighting text in a Notepad window and right-clicking it in the menu or pushing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+I. A dialogue box will open showing the AI’s suggested rewrites of the highlighted text and the adjustable features menus including “Longer,” “Tone” and “Format” above the “Replace” button. If you prefer to write with just your fingers and brain, you can turn off the AI feature in the app settings menu, according to .

Even Microsoft’s Paint app is getting its own AI features called Generative Fill and Generative Erase. The new “fill” feature can edit and add visual features to your photos and drawings by drawing a selection box and using the text box to describe the image you wish to add to the selected area. The “erase” feature for Paint can remove images in photos or drawings by selecting them with the “generative erase brush” while using the eraser tool, according to the Windows blog.

So it took more than four decades just to get but it only took a couple of months to get an AI that can paint and rewrite for us?

This way, Qualcomm’s new chips can run more kinds of apps that don’t have native ARM64 versions and, until now, weren’t usable with emulation. It could even enable games that use AVX2, like Starfield and Helldivers 2, to work on Windows on Arm.

With this update, Microsoft’s emulator will open up support for 64-bit x86 software to use processor extensions like AVX, AVX2, BMI, FMA, and F16C. However, it says 32-bit software still won’t be able to detect the new emulator support, so some programs still might have trouble.

While many apps, including Photoshop, Hulu, and Chrome, already have native ARM64 versions for Windows, others require emulation, and some still won’t work at all. According to Microsoft, the new emulator is already enabled “in limited use” on retail PCs, allowing Premiere Pro 25 to run on Arm — after it was initially blocked — while Adobe works on a native version.

Correction, November 6th: A previous version of the article incorrectly stated Blender needed to be emulated. It now has an ARM64 version.

Nikon has updated its four-year-old Z50 with the Z50 II. The mini-DSLR-style successor comes with the same 20.9MP APS-C sensor, but packs Nikon’s latest Expeed 7 processor, which delivers a raft of performance-based improvements.

Nikon says the Z50 II has the same subject detection autofocus options as its professional Z8 and Z9 mirrorless cameras, with nine subject types to choose from, 3D tracking, custom-size autofocus areas, plus a smarter AF-A option (autofocus auto). It also debuts a Product Review mode, which easily switches focus between people and objects, much like Sony‘s Product Showcase autofocus mode.

The New York Times has introduced the next title coming to its Games catalog following Wordle’s continued success — and it’s all about math. Digits has players adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing numbers. You can play its beta for free online right now. 
In Digits, players are presented with a target number that they need to match. Players are given six numbers and have the ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide them to get as close to the target as they can. Not every number needs to be used, though, so this game should put your math skills to the test as you combine numbers and try to make the right equations to get as close to the target number as possible.

Players will get a five-star rating if they match the target number exactly, a three-star rating if they get within 10 of the target, and a one-star rating if they can get within 25 of the target number. Currently, players are also able to access five different puzzles with increasingly larger numbers as well.  I solved today’s puzzle and found it to be an enjoyable number-based game that should appeal to inquisitive minds that like puzzle games such as Threes or other The New York Times titles like Wordle and Spelling Bee.
In an article unveiling Digits and detailing The New York Time Games team’s process to game development, The Times says the team will use this free beta to fix bugs and assess if it’s worth moving into a more active development phase “where the game is coded and the designs are finalized.” So play Digits while you can, as The New York Times may move on from the project if it doesn’t get the response it is hoping for. 
Digits’ beta is available to play for free now on The New York Times Games’ website

Eligible Google Pixel devices received the first stable build of Android 15 last month. Now, a few weeks later, Google is rolling out a new update, this time focused on fixing reported bugs. The Android 15 November 2024 security patch is now available via OTA and for sideloading.

The list of Pixel devices compatible with the new firmware includes all those that received Android 15. These are all Google Pixel devices from the Pixel 6 all the way up to the Google Pixel 9 series. Google is releasing the update on an unusual date, as it typically releases monthly patches on the first Monday of each month. In any case, the company has already broken some traditions this year. Let’s remember the early release of the Pixel 9 series, which did not come with Android 15 out of the box.

Bugs fixed in the Android 15 November 2024 security patch for Pixel phones

The Android 15 November 2024 security patch includes a number of bug fixes to ensure a stable user experience. The changelog says that the company made some adjustments to animations for smoother transitions on all Pixel models. The update also includes a fix for a problem exclusive to the Google Pixel 8a. The problem in question caused “screen brightness flickering under certain conditions.”

The entire Pixel 9 series, including the foldable model, is getting fixes to multiple issues. The list includes Bluetooth range problems under certain conditions, “camera tilt when zooming between cameras under certain conditions,” the appearance of white dots on the screen under certain conditions, “Adaptive brightness” not activating when it should, and the keyboard’s “dismiss” button sometimes not working when tapped.

You can manually download the update if the OTA isn’t available yet

Pixel 9 device users will especially appreciate the fix for the white dots on the screen. Surely many of them who experienced it feared potential hardware failures. The fix available to the Bluetooth range will also be useful for a more stable experience. You can check the availability of the update in the Settings menu of your Pixel phone. If it is not yet available and you do not want to wait, you can manually download the factory image or the OTA file for sideloading.

Donald Trump’s return to the White House will have a hugely negative effect on climate change action in the short-term but the longer term impact is less certain, experts say.

With world leaders meeting next week for the latest UN climate talks, COP29, the Trump victory will be seen as a huge roadblock to progress in both cutting emissions and raising cash for developing countries.

The US president-elect is a known climate sceptic who has called efforts to boost green energy a “scam”.

But with renewable energy gaining a strong foothold in the US and popular support for wind and solar, Trump’s efforts to ramp up oil and gas instead may be less effective.

While climate change did not play much of a role in this year’s campaign, Trump’s likely actions in office this time could be far more significant than in 2017.

Back then, he announced the US would pull out of the Paris climate agreement, the most important UN process to tackle climate change. The agreement saw almost all the world’s nations – for the first time – agree to cut the greenhouse gas emissions which cause global warming.

But the shock of Trump’s decision was limited. The treaty’s rules meant the US was not able to withdraw until November 2020, a few months before he left office.

If Trump withdraws again, he will only have to wait a year before the US is completely out. That would give him three years to chart his own course without any need to report to the UN or be bound by its rules.

While President Joe Biden’s negotiators will be at next week’s COP talks in Azerbaijan, nothing they agree to will be binding for the Trump administration.

“The US at this COP is not just a lame duck, it’s a dead duck,” said Prof Richard Klein, an expert on climate change policy for the Stockholm Environment Institute.

“They can’t commit to anything and that means that countries like China will not want to commit to anything.”

In recent years, richer countries such as the US, UK and EU states have tried to increase the funds available for developing countries to cope with climate change. But they also insist that big developing economies also contribute.

“The US basically wanted to have China cough up some money for that fund as well. Now they won’t be able to do that. That leaves China off the hook,” Prof Klein said.

Climate scientists say developing countries need billions of dollars of extra investment to become net zero, where they are not contributing to climate change, and stave off the effects of rising temperatures.

While the US might leave the Paris Agreement quite quickly, Trump would still be bound by other global efforts to fight climate change.

There have been reports that some of his supporters also want to turn their backs on these as well. Some have argued for a complete break from UN efforts on climate change, urging the president-elect to leave something called the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the treaty that underpins global collective action to tackle climate change.

This was ratified by the US Senate, almost unanimously, in 1992. Legal experts are unclear on the process of leaving the treaty, but any effort by the US to leave would be seen as a body blow to the principle of multi-lateral action to tackle the world’s greatest threat.

As well as these headline-grabbing international actions, the new Trump administration is likely to push for a major ramp up of oil and gas exploration within the US, roll back environmental protections as well as impose heavy tariffs on electric vehicles and solar panels coming from China.

“You are looking at, overall, a ‘drill baby drill’ philosophy,” Dan Eberhart, chief executive officer of oilfield services company Canary LLC told Bloomberg News.

“You are going to see offshore lease sales, you are going to see pipelines move much quicker, you are going to see fracking on federal lands and a mindset that is focused on lowering energy costs for consumers.”

There was a big drop in the share price of turbine manufacturers on Wednesday, as fears grew that US offshore wind farms would be cancelled by a Trump presidency.

But in the longer term, it is not clear if the new president will turn back the clock for coal, oil and gas, or curtail the growth of sustainable energy sources.

For a start he faces opposition – and notably from within his own party.

Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which may ultimately channel $1 trillion of spending into green energy, has been hugely beneficial to Republican districts.

According to one analysis, some 85% of the money has been in areas that elected Republicans.

With energy watchdog the International Energy Agency reporting that global investment in clean technology is running at double the size of coal, oil and gas in 2024, the new US administration might not want to drive this type of green investment into other, more eager countries.

Climate leaders are putting a lot of faith in the fact that the transition to green energy will not be derailed by the new Trump administration.

“The result from this election will be seen as a major blow to global climate action,” said Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief.

“But it cannot and will not halt the changes under way to decarbonise the economy and meet the goals of the Paris agreement.”