iOS 17.4 is out and while most of the changes are relevant to the EU, there's some stuff for the rest of too. For those in the EU, they'll be prompted to pick a default browser post-install, browsers can use a non-WebKit rendering engine and alternative app stores are possible. Non-EU related updates include automatic transcripts in the Podcasts app, 118 new emoji, Stolen Device Protection can work in familiar locations not just unfamiliar ones, some new Shortcut actions, a stopwatch Live Activity, battery cycle count in the battery settings and a few other little bits and pieces across the OS.
I totally forgot this was a thing, which is probably why Microsoft is depreciating and removing support for the Windows Subsystem for Android in March 2025. It was basically a virtual machine that ran in the background and allowed you to install Android apps via the Amazon Appstore, which didn't really have many apps you actually want to use in it. If Microsoft and Google could have found a way to get the Google Play Store on Windows, it would have been much more useful, but alas, it never happened so Microsoft is ditching the whole idea of running Android apps on Windows.
The Year of Linux on the Desktop is a running joke, but according to the latest Statcounter survey, Linux desktop use is growing steadily, hitting 4.03% of traffic from "over 1.5 million global websites generating over 5 billion monthly page views". This doesn't include ChromeOS either and is a 31.3% increase from June 2023. Windows is still the top dog at 72.17% and macOS is 15.42%. I would imagine Linux users are better at hiding their online identities that prevents them from being included in these stats too, so maybe it's even higher than 4%?
404 Media has a fascinating story about how very uncreative people generate all those bullshit TikTok videos using AI tools chained together, human centipede style. Crayo.ai seems to be the tool hustlebros are using to create this sludge with AI voices reading ChatGPT generated words, overlaid with Minecraft or car racing video gameplay clips. There's also a tool called Vozo.ai, that can "quickly create podcast cutdown videos based on the potential perceived virality of any given clip". It's so easy, no wonder there's already shitloads of it all over the internet. I'll be an optimist and say it'll just make good art even better, once you find it hiding in the turd that is the post-AI internet.
1,000 Clipart Business CD-ROM (ShivaShaw / The Internet Archive)
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