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There’ll be no shortage of security experts and hackers lining up to test Recall’s defenses, let’s face it

(Image credit: Microsoft)

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• Recall has entered the final stage of testing in Windows 11 previews
• This means it could soon be released for all Copilot+ PCs
• However, the rollout will likely be a gradual one (as is the case in Release Preview testing right now)

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Those wondering whereWindows 11’s controversial Recall feature has got to –last seen lost in testing somewhere– well, it looks like Microsoft is readying to release this AI-powered search functionality for real soon enough.

The Vergehighlighted thatMicrosofthas pushed out a new test build (version 26100.3902) in the Release Preview channel, and that this comes with both Recall and itspartner feature Click to Do(context-sensitive AI-driven suggestions).

There are four main testing channels for Windows 11, and Release Preview is the last stage before hitting finished versions of the desktopoperating system– as the name denotes, it’s the final stage before release.

In short, it looks like Recall and Click to Do could soon arrive for everyone (who has aCopilot+ PC– remember, these AI features need thepowerful NPUthat’s a requirement for those devices).

When Recall does pitch up, it’ll be optimized for only an initial small set of languages. Those are: English, Chinese (Simplified), French, German, Japanese, and Spanish.

For those who’ve forgotten – though that’s unlikely, given all thecontroversy this capability has caused since its revelationlast year – Recall uses AI and regularly taken screenshots of the activity on your PC to drive an in-depth natural language search. (Queries such as: “Find that document where I wrote my packing list for holidays abroad.”)

While that certainly promises to be very useful, there have been many privacy and security concerns around Recall, which has led Microsoft to take a bunch of steps to shore up those areas. That includes the introduction ofWindows Hello sign-into confirm it’s actually you present at the Copilot+ PC when using Recall.

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(Image credit: Microsoft)

Analysis: A pivotal moment for Copilot+ PCs

This is exciting news for those who want to use Recall, of course, and interesting for those of us who don’t feel drawn to the feature yet, but still want to see how it plays out in the real-world.

This is Microsoft’s cornerstone AI feature for Copilot+ PCs, of course, so it’s going to be watched keenly by a whole lot of eyes. And prodded and poked at by a whole lot of security experts and hackers (white hat or otherwise).

Will Microsoft be nervous? Most likely, certainly about the reaction this is going to be met with, andhow bulletproof Recall actually is security-wise, when it launches on a grand scale – although we need to hold our horses a bit on that front.

Recall will still likely be labelled a preview ability, even when it releases to finished Windows 11 Copilot+ devices. There’ll be a limited rollout to begin with, as well, when Recall formally debuts. Even right now in testing, Microsoft has said that the rollout is a gradual one, so not all testers will see this straight away. I’m guessing the speed of the rollout in Release Preview will depend on how well this last phase of testing progresses.

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In the footnotes for the blog post for this new preview build, Microsoft tells us that Recall will be available in “early 2025 in most markets” which is a bit odd, seeing as that timeframe has already sailed in my book. (I’d call Q1 the early part of the year, and of course we’re in Q2 now, in April).

However, Microsoft also clarifies that Recall won’t be coming to Europe early in 2025, and that it’ll be “rolling out to the European Economic Area later this year” instead. That’s presumably due to the data regulations in that region, which has been the cause of a number of capabilities being put on ice.

The long-delayed feature will begin gradually rolling out to Windows Insiders.

Microsoft is starting to gradually roll out a preview of Recall, its feature that captures screenshots of what you do on a Copilot Plus PC to find again later, to Windows Insiders, according toa blog post published Thursday.

This new rollout could indicate that Microsoft is finally getting close to launching Recall more widely. Microsoft originally intended to launch Recall alongside Copilot Plus PCs last June, but the featurewas delayedfollowing concerns raisedby security experts. The company then planned to launch it in October, but thatgot pushedas well so that the company could deliver “a secure and trusted experience.”

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The company did release a preview of Recallin Novemberto Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel for Qualcomm Copilot Plus PCs and made a preview available to Intel- and AMD-powered Copilot Plus PCshortly after. And after a couple weeks of testing, my colleague Aria said thatRecall is “creepy, clever, and compelling.”

In Thursday’s blog post, Microsoft spells out that you have to opt in to saving snapshots with Recall, and you can pause saving them “at any time.”

The company is billing Google Workspace Flows as a new way to automate tasks.

Google

In an incredibly shocking turn of events, more generative AI features are coming to the Google Workspace suite of productivity apps by way of Gemini. Docs, Sheets, Chat, Meet andnewcomer Vidsare among the tools that aregetting new AI capabilitiesthat perhaps some folks will find useful.

Google is taking a cue fromaudio overviews in NotebookLMto bring new Gemini-powered audio features to Docs. You’ll soon have the option of listening to full audio versions of your documents or just the highlights in what Google calls a podcast-style overview. Those enrolled in the Workspace alpha testing program can start trying out these audio features in the coming weeks.

By the end of June, alpha testers will have access to an AI writing coach of sorts. The “help me refine” feature is said to offer suggestions on bolstering an argument, ensuring consistent formatting, enhancing the structure of the text and clarifying key points.

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A similar feature is coming to Sheets later this year. The “help me analyze” tool will seemingly point out trends you might have overlooked, offer pointers on where to dig deeper for more insights and whip up charts to visualize the data.

In Meet, you’ll soon be able to ask Gemini to recap parts of a meeting you missed because you were running late, clarify certain decisions or topics, generate a recap in the format of your choice and help refine a point before you raise a virtual arm to join the conversation. This so-called “personal in-meeting advisor” will be generally available in Meet before the end of June.

As for Chat, Google will soon offer the option to mention @gemini in a conversation to receive a summary that includes open questions, important decisions that were made and lays out next steps. It could be a useful way to distill everything that happened in a bustling group chat. This capability will be available through the Labs early-access program in the coming weeks.

In Vids, you’ll soon be able to generate what Google says are “high-quality, original” clips using the Veo 2 model (perhaps ignoring the fact that generative video AI models mash together footage that they were trained on and arguably don’t create anything truly original at all). Workspace alpha can get their hands on this in the coming weeks.

Elsewhere, there’s another new feature called Google Workspace Flows. Google bills this as “a brand-new way to automate and orchestrate work across your apps, powered by AI.” It employs Gems, customizable AI agents that can be created with Gemini, to take care of specialized tasks, such as researching, analyzing and generating content.

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The company says that Workspace Flows can, for instance, address a customer support ticket by analyzing the issue, researching a solution and drafting a reply that the support team can review before sending. Gems can mine your Google Drive files for context. Google’s also working with third-party partners to integrate Workspace Flows into their apps and tools. Google is now rolling out Workspace Flows in the alpha program.

Lastly, as of today, Google will allow Workspace users to choose where Gemini processes their data. So if you’re in the European Union and don’t want your data to travel to the US (or vice versa), that’s now an option. Google makes it clear that this is to help comply with regulations such as the EU’s GDPR.

The U.S. just called a 90-day truce on the global trade war, but it’s escalating the situation with China.

(Image credit: FOX 5 New York / YouTube)

Just as the second round of his announced tariffs began to take effect, President Trump said he would delay their full implementation for many countries for 90 days. However, because China retaliated against the 104% tariff on its goods by applying 84% import duties on American goods, the White House is firing back by pushing the China levy back to 125%. This pause will apply to the 75 countries that have reciprocal tariffs applied against them but have not announced any retaliation against the planned higher tariff rates. However, a 10% tariff applied to all imports remains for those countries during the pause.

This news has allowed the market to recover a bit, with a few tech companies rebounding fromhitting their record lows. The 90-day period will also hopefully be enough time for many countries to negotiate a deal with the White House so that global trade can return to normal. However, the U.S.’s actions against Chinese trade are the latest in a series of moves escalating the trade war between the two countries.

Trump first applied a 20% tariff on Chinese goods in February, alongside the 25% taxes on Canada and Mexico. This jumped to 54% when he announced additional import duties in early April. Because of this,Beijing put a 34% levy on American productsandrestricted the export of several rare earth metals.

Trump responded with an additional 50% tax on the already existing 54%, pushing tariffs to 104%. Because of this, China retaliated with its own 50% increase, pushingimport taxes on American goods to 84%. This did not end there, though, as the latest Truth Social post by Trump says that he will push taxes on Chinese imports to 125%.

He made this announcement in the early afternoon in the U.S., which is just beyond midnight in Beijing. So, we’ll have to wait a few hours to see how China will react to this news.

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from X

It seems that the tariffs that Trump announced are meant to bring the rest of the world to the negotiating table, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick posting onX (formerly Twitter), “The world is ready to work with President Trump to fix global trade, and China has chosen the opposite direction.”

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Incidentally, the E.U. just applied its own retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. a few hours before the announcement. However, this will not take effect until next week, so we don’t know if it will retract these levies or if Trump will also punish Europe with more taxes if it does not change its direction.

After years of success in China, and slow but steady progress in Europe and the rest of Asia, chipset manufacturer MediaTek has clearly set its sights on the US smartphone market with its first ever mmWave 5G chipset: the Dimensity 1050.

While MediaTek already offers several 5G chipsets to smartphone manufacturers, all so far have been limited to sub-6GHz frequencies. The Dimensity 1050 breaks that trend by supporting sub6 along with mmWave, a different frequency band that’s currently only widely used in the US. Support is often set as a requirement by key US carriers to stock manufacturers’ 5G phones.

Despite arguably boasting MediaTek’s most advanced networking yet, the Dimensity 1050 isn’t actually the company’s top-tier chip – that remains the Dimensity 9000. Instead, this is a cheaper offering built on a 6nm process, intended to even sit below the recently announced Dimensity 8000 and 8100 in the MediaTek lineup.

For those who care about CPU construction, the 1050 uses two A78 performance cores clocked at 2.5GHz, and a further six A55 efficiency cores.

MediaTek hasn’t yet confirmed any specific manufacturers that intend to use the Dimensity 1050, but says the first phones should arrive some time in Q3, meaning July to September this year.

That means phones will begin to arrive after the first handsets using the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, the similarly positioned rival chip from Qualcomm, announced just last week. Honor, Oppo, and Xiaomi have already committed to using the Qualcomm chip, and it will be interesting to see if MediaTek can attract a similar calibre of OEM – or, as it’s no doubt hoping, companies like Motorola and OnePlus that have a foothold in the US market.

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