Wandering through Bionic Bay's dark alien world is unsettling and awe-inspiring. There are massive structures with no clear purpose and autonomous factories filled with whirring saw blades and devastating lasers. It's grim and unforgiving, with little light and harsh shadows that give everything a sinister tone. But then you step on a bomb and your character bounces off of walls like a pinball, and you realize it's a game of contrasts.
Bionic Bay is a curious blend of two very different genres. On the one hand, it's an atmospheric side-scrolling adventure in the mold of Inside and Limbo, filled with disturbingly stunning environments to explore. At the same time, it's a hard-as-nails platformer like Super Meat Boy, with elaborate physics that will have you dying repeatedly while trying to find the best route through deadly obstacles. Somehow, the disparate vibes come together surprisingly well.
What first drew me to Bionic Bay was that dark world. It's mysterious to the point that I still don't actually know what it is you're doing or why. But that mystery is a large part of the appeal. As you make your way through its levels, you're subject to some incredible and intimidating e …
The Kuxiu S2 magnetically attached to the MagSafe-compatible case on my iPhone 15 Pro.
Solid-state batteries are the future. They're more powerful, compact, safe, and sustainable than Lithium-ion alternatives, but true all-solid state batteries can't be mass-produced cost-effectively. That's why Kuxiu has gone semi-solid state for what it calls the "world's safest" power bank, while calling dibs on it being a world first.
Kuxiu's $79.99 S2 Qi2 5000mAh MagSafe Solid-State Power Bank supports Qi2 for 15W wireless charging. And with a 5,000mAh (19Wh) capacity, it holds enough energy to easily charge the latest iPhone 16 models - with batteries ranging from 3,561mAh to 4,685mAh - from zero to full at least once. And despite using the truncated "solid state" in the S2 name and product page, the company confirmed to me that it's built around a semi-solid state battery and that distinction matters.
I've been carrying the Kuxiu S2 for the past few weeks. While I didn't hammer, pierce, or tear the battery apart or expose it to fire like Kuxiu did, I can at least confirm that it otherwise works as expected.
"Solid state" ambiguity
It's not just you, the battery industry itself can't seem to agree on what qualifies as a solid-state battery. There's all-solid state, se …
An Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics card. | Photo by Tom Warren/The Verge
Every so often, Central Computers - one of the last remaining dedicated Silicon Valley computer stores - lets subscribers know it's managed to obtain a small shipment of AMD graphics cards. Today, it informed me that I could now purchase a $600 Radeon RX 9070 XT for $850 - a $250 markup.
It's not alone. I just checked every major US retailer and street prices on eBay, and I regret to inform you: the great GPU shortage has returned. Many AMD cards are being marked up $100, $200, $250, even $280. The street price of an Nvidia RTX 5080 is now over $1,500, a full $500 higher than MSRP. And an RTX 5090, the most powerful consumer GPU? You can't even get the $2,000 card for $3,000 today.
Here, I've built tables to show you:
Item
MSRP
Average eBay street price (Mar-Apr)
Best retail price (April 25th)
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
$599
$957
$880
AMD Radeon RX 9070
$549
$761
$835
Nvidia RTX 5090
$1,999
$3,871
$3,140
Nvidia RTX 5080
$999
$1,533
$1,390
Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti
$749
$1,052
$825
Nvidia RTX 5070
$549
$715
$610
"Best retail price" is the actual price I saw a card for on April 25th - roughly the minimum you'd pay.
Donald Trump wants to mine the depths of the ocean for critical minerals ubiquitous in rechargeable batteries, signing an executive order on Thursday to try to expedite mining within US and international waters.
It’s a brash move that critics say could create unknown havoc on sea life and coastal economies, and that bucks international agreements. Talks to develop rules for deep-sea mining are still ongoing through the International Seabed Authority (ISA), a process that missed an initial 2023 deadline and has continued to stymie efforts to start commercially mining the deep sea.
“A dangerous precedent”
“Fast-tracking deep-sea mining by bypassing the ISA’s global regulatory processes would set a dangerous precedent and would be a violation of customary international law,” Duncan Currie, legal adviser for the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition that has advocated for a moratorium on deep sea mining, said in a press statement.
The ISA was established by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. More than 160 nations have ratified the convention, but the United States has not. Ignoring the convention, the executive order Trump signed directs federal agencies to expedite the process for issuing licenses to companies seeking to recover minerals “in areas beyond national jurisdiction” in accordance with the 1980 US Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act. A country’s territorial jurisdiction only extends roughly 200 nautical miles from shore.
The Trump administration wants to work with industry “to counter China’s growing influence over seabed mineral resources,” the executive order says. However, no country has yet to commercially mine the deep ocean where depths reach about 656 feet (200 meters) in international waters. There have already been efforts to explore parts of the ocean floor rich in nickel, copper, cobalt, iron, and manganese sought after for rechargeable batteries, though, and China is a leading refiner of many critical minerals.
China responded on Friday: the BBC reported Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun as saying that Trump’s move “violates international law and harms the overall interests of the international community.”
The Metals Company announced in March that the Canadian company had already “met with officials in the White House” and planned to apply for permits under existing US mining code to begin extracting minerals from the high seas.
California-based company Impossible Metals asked the Trump administration earlier this month to auction off mining leases for areas off the coast of American Samoa, which would be within US-controlled waters. Trump’s executive order also directs the Secretary of the Interior to expedite the process for leasing areas for mining within US waters.
Companies seeking to exploit offshore mineral resources argue that it would cause less harm than mining on land. Their opponents contend that there’s still too little research to even understand how widespread the effects of deep sea mining could be on marine ecosystems and the people who depend on them. Recent studies have warned of “irreversible” damage and loud noise affecting sea life, and one controversial study raises questions of whether the deep sea could be an important source of “dark oxygen” for the world.
More than 30 countries — including Palau, Fiji, Costa Rica, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, New Zealand, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom — have called for a ban or moratorium on deep-sea mining until international rules are in place to minimize the potential damage.
“The harm caused by deep-sea mining isn’t restricted to the ocean floor: it will impact the entire water column, top to bottom, and everyone and everything relying on it,” Jeff Watters, vice president for external affairs at the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy said in a press release.
Interim DC attorney Ed Martin has written a letter to the Wikimedia Foundation — the organization behind Wikipedia — that calls into question its status as a nonprofit entity. In the letter, which was obtained by The Free Press, Martin claims he found that Wikipedia “is engaging in a series of activities that could violate its obligations” under US law about tax-exempt organizations.
Under the law (Section 501(c)(3) of Title 26), tax-exempt organizations must operate “exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes.” Martin alleges that Wikipedia is “allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda,” including by “rewriting” historical events and through “other matters implicating the national security and the interests of the United States.”
Martin asks the Wikimedia Foundation to respond to several questions, such as what it’s doing to “safeguard” the public from propaganda, as well as efforts to exclude “foreign influence operatives from making targeted edits” on topics that would “reshape or rewrite history.” He’s giving the Foundation until May 15th to respond.
“Wikipedia’s content is governed by three core content policies: neutral point of view, verifiability, and no original research, which exist to ensure information is presented as accurately, fairly, and neutrally as possible,” Jacob Rogers, the Wikimedia Foundation’s associate general counsel, said in an emailed statement to The Verge. “The entire process of content moderation is overseen by nearly 260,000 volunteers and is open and transparent for all to see, which is why we welcome opportunities to explain how Wikipedia works and will do so in the appropriate forum.”
Martin’s letter reflects a broader trend of the right targeting Wikipedia. Last year, Elon Musk told supporters to “stop donating to Wokepedia” before later calling the site “an extension of legacy media propaganda.” In January, a report from Forward.com found that The Heritage Foundation, the right-wing think tank behind Project 2025, created a presentation with a series of slides geared toward “targeting” Wikipedia editors.
The Wikimedia Foundation has since created tools to protect the identities of editors, with CEO Maryana Iskander telling the community that it’s “seeing an increase in threats, both regulation and litigation across the world,” as reported by 404 Media.
President Donald Trump recently announced that he would host a private dinner for the top 220 biggest holders of $TRUMP, the meme coin he launched days prior to taking office - and several U.S. Senators would like to know exactly why he's doing this.
The dinner was publicly advertised on the $TRUMP coin homepage this past Wednesday, and included a special VIP package for the top 25 holders: a private reception with Trump, and a VIP tour of the White House the next day. According to the site, the winners will be determined by how much of the coin a contestant owns, as well as how long they hold it between April 23rd and May 12. "The more $TRUMP you hold - and the longer you hold it - the higher Your Ranking will be," it said.
At its peak, a $TRUMP token went for $75.35 on January 19th, the day before his inauguration. It has plummeted ever since, losing 88 percent of its value, and sat at $9.18 before the contest was announced. The promotion caused $TRUMP to jump by more than 50 percent, according to CBS, hitting a peak of $14.32 that afternoon and bringing in an extra $100 million in value.
Google is rolling out Gmail updates for mobile users across Android and iOS, with some design updates and new access to AI features.
Android tablet and foldable owners will have a more flexible Gmail app interface that lets them drag the divider to adjust the list and conversation panes to whatever size they want in landscape view. You can also drag the divider all the way to one side to switch to a single pane view if preferred. The update is rolling out now for Workspace and personal accounts.
Google is also pushing a Material Design 3 update to Gmail on iOS that puts it in parity with the Android and redesigned web versions, including the pill-shaped buttons on the bottom and a rounded search bar on top. The update is rolling out now to both Workspace and personal accounts. Additionally, Google Calendar on iOS will now let you create and modify birthday events like you already can on Android.
Finally, Gemini’s image generator is coming to the Gmail app sidebar on both Android and iOS for Workspace users. Like in Google’s Workspace apps on the web, you can generate images within the Gmail app and then save them, copy them, or insert them directly into your email draft.
The entrance to the now shuttered USAID office can be seen as black plastic covers a USAID sign at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC on April 1, 2025. | Photo: Getty Images
An email sent by USAID to workers on Thursday and obtained by The Verge says the devices will be wiped remotely, and then “marked as disposed.” Each direct hire or contractor will then be responsible for discarding the equipment. It’s unclear from the email whether the decision affects people stationed abroad or only those within the continental US.
The discarded devices are basically now trash
Some former employees had been waiting months to send in the devices before the change in plan was announced yesterday. Soon after stepping into office, President Donald Trump froze foreign aid funding and shuttered nearly all USAID programs. A majority of USAID’s 10,000 employees are posted overseas. Workers who were terminated while working abroad were told they’d get shipping labels to return equipment but never got them, The Verge reported last month.
One employee based in the US described a haphazard process for returning their laptop into their office in late February, with computers dumped in giant rolling garbage bins. E-waste often contains hazardous materials including lead or mercury that can leach out of landfills, so it’s illegal in many states and in Washington, DC to toss certain electronics in the trash.
The delay in collecting those devices posed security concerns for the Trump administration, former federal workers, and partner organizations. Some workers were still able to access work accounts and email on those devices, even after being terminated. Devices might also contain personnel records, sensitive contact information, and even bank details used to facilitate payments. Abandoning those devices with former workers placed the responsibility on them to keep all that information safe and secure.
Wiping those devices remotely should alleviate the risk. It’s an action federal agencies can typically take to safeguard data on any lost or stolen devices, according to a former government official The Verge spoke to in March who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.
But once the gadgets have been wiped, former employees say the devices would need a new operating system to be able to function. And terminated employees would no longer be able to use the personal identification verification (PIV) cards that allow someone to log into a USAID computer. The discarded devices are basically now trash. “Isn’t that just such waste [sic]. They will all be unusable,” a former USAID employee who was also granted anonymity because of the risk of reprisal, messaged The Verge.
Federal employees typically return equipment after leaving a post, and those devices are often reallocated to other staff, other federal agencies, or partner organizations. It might also get donated to state and local agencies, sent for public auction, or sent to a secure disposal facility. According to the Code of Federal Regulations, however, equipment worth less than $10,000 can also be “retained, sold, or otherwise disposed of [by recipients] with no further responsibility to the Federal agency.”
The State Department, which absorbed any remaining USAID programs, declined to comment. The email obtained by The Verge says the decision to no longer require former employees to physically return their equipment was made “to simplify processes and to reduce burden.”
Chrome could eventually be up for sale, if the US Department of Justice gets its way in the remedies trial for US v. Google. And there are already buyers lining up at Google's door.
Any potential sale might not happen for a very long time. The remedies trial is still ongoing, a decision in that trial isn't expected for quite awhile, and Google has already said it will appeal, which will definitely add more time to the process and could ultimately reverse a ruling where Google might have been forced to sell the browser.
But let's say that Google does have to sell Chrome - who wants it? And why? We're getting some of those answers from the remedies trial.
Let's start with the why: a browser is a great way to promote your own search engine. Especially a browser that's as widely used as Chrome. Google makes Chrome, so it obviously makes sense that Google also provides Google Search as its default way to search the web. Chrome is also the most widely used browser by a wide margin - it has an estimated two-thirds of browser market share - so that means that many, many, many more people are using Google Search instead of other search engines just because it's the default there.
Aravind Srinivas is battling Google to get his Perplexity AI assistant preinstalled on Android phones. At the same time, the CEO is refocusing his startup on what he predicts will be the next battleground in the AI race: your web browser.
Perplexity plans to release its own browser called Comet next month, Srinivas tells me. "The reason we're doing the browser is that it might be the best way to build agents," he says. "A browser is essentially a containerized operating system. It can let you access other third-party services through hidden tabs if you're already logged into them, scrape the page on the client side, and perform reasoning and take actions on your behalf."
Other AI firms are already going in this direction. OpenAI's Operator and Google's Mariner both rely on the browser to execute commands and control websites. OpenAI has yet to release its own browser but is rumored to be developing one. Google, meanwhile, may be compelled by the US government to sell Chrome following its ruling that the company has a monopoly in the search market.
One of Srinivas's deputies testified that Perplexity would like to run Chrome if it were spun out from Google, while OpenAI has als …
On paper, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 doesn't seem to stand out amidst a recent wave of prestige RPGs, from the newly polished high fantasy of the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remake to the medieval warfare of 15th century Bohemia in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. For one, its fantastical conquests are set in a world reminiscent of France's Belle Époque period, an era known for its economic prosperity and radical artistic movements, from Art Nouveau to Expressionism. Add a tinge of melodrama and an emotional backstory, and its setting resembles a medley of games that take place in vaguely European worlds like Greedfall, Bloodborne, and Dishonored. At the same time, Expedition 33 boasts a turn-based combat system inspired by Japanese RPGs like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.
All this is to say that Expedition 33 risks appearing banal and cliche. Fending off impossible odds in a world, where everyone wants to swing their very imposing weapons at your head amidst medieval ruins, isn't all that unique these days. But Expedition 33 isn't cowered by the lineage of RPGs that came before. Instead, it displays a sense of quiet confidence, understanding that the keys of the genre - narrative …
Last night, a new company called Slate Auto unveiled its first product, a spartan two-seat electric truck with a mere 150 miles of range and a world of possibility. There's no paint, no distracting infotainment screen, and no stereo or even radio. It doesn't tower over your average 12-year-old, and it may sell for under $20,000 (including incentives) when it arrives in 2026.
If it arrives, of course. We don't need to get into the litany of obstacles that lie in the path of Slate's future success - including a global trade war and a presidential administration openly hostile to EVs - because instead I'm interested in talking about the truck as a possible antidote to our growing obsession with overpowered, oversized trucks and SUVs.
You've probably noticed this problem if you have eyes and live in America in 2025. Our roads are packed with these roving land yachts. Sales of SUVs and pickup trucks reached new highs in 2024, accounting for 75 percent of total vehicle registrations. A decade ago, these two segments made up just half of the market. Today, they represent three out of every four new vehicles sold in America.
YKK’s self-propelled zipper prototype is chunky and currently being tested for more industrial applications. | Screenshot: YouTube
Japan’s YKK, the world’s largest zipper manufacturer (go ahead, grab the nearest zipper, it probably says YKK on the pull), has announced a prototype self-propelled zipper with a built-in motor and gear mechanism it can use to zip itself up at the push of a button on a wired remote.
The days of being embarrassed when you forget to zip up could soon be behind us, if it’s ever miniaturized from its current form, which is several inches long and a lot chunkier than the zipper pulls currently used on clothing.
Although some recent zipper innovations, such as Under Armour’s one-handed MagZip upgrade, are designed to improve accessibility and make zippers easier to use for those with limited mobility, YKK envisions more industrial use cases for its prototype.
As demonstrated in a video recently shared on the company’s YouTube channel, the self-propelled zipper is seen connecting a pair of 16-foot-tall membranes in about 40 seconds. Zipping them together manually would require the use of a ladder or other machinery.
In another video, the prototype is used to quickly connect a pair of 13-foot-wide temporary shelters standing over eight feet tall, taking about 50 seconds to progress from one side to the other.
The prototype uses a spinning worm gear that winds its way through the teeth on either side and pulls the zipper along behind it. In the videos, a power cable is seen attached to the prototype as it self-zips. In addition to miniaturizing the tech and adding a battery, YKK would also need to develop some safety mechanisms before its self-propelled zipper could ever reach consumers’ clothing, ensuring there’s nothing that might get stuck.
Chromebooks on Arm processors are about to get a big boost as developers prepare new versions of ChromeOS with support for Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon chips, reports Chrome Unboxed.
According to a new developer commit message posted in the Chromium project Gerrit code review, the SoCID for a Qualcomm X1P42100, aka the Snapdragon X Plus, is now being included in the Chromium repository, which likely means active development of Chromebooks with the chip is underway.
The Snapdragon X Plus isn’t Qualcomm’s flagship “Elite” processor used in some of the top Windows 11 Arm laptops, but it is capable of the same 45 TOPS of AI performance from its NPU.
Qualcomm’s previous Arm-powered Chromebooks haven’t exactly been powerhouses. The 2021 Acer Chromebook Spin 513 that we’ve tested has great battery life, but a very slow Snapdragon 7c chip powers it. And although the 7c Gen 2 version was faster in devices like the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3, Qualcomm ended up not bringing the Gen 3 to Chromebooks. That left Chromebooks with chip options from MediaTek and Intel, the latter of which hasn’t been known for excellent battery life.
Infinity Nikki’s next update will add some major new features. Bubble Season starts April 29th and will include a new area, new activities, and, of course, new (and returning) outfits. But the biggest addition is one that fans have been asking for since launch: co-op. Check out the trailer above.
In the new season you’ll be able to have dress-up adventures with a friend in two player co-op mode. You can travel the world of Infinity Nikki together, solving special co-op mode puzzle games and participating in escort missions. Players will also prove they’re the most stylish one in the group chat with a fashion runway and new interactions that players can use in all the photos they’re going to take.
Like every new Infinity Nikki season, there will be special outfits to collect – though none of them inspire in me the kind of fanaticism that the cowgirl outfit from two seasons ago did. (Which I did get without spending any money. Hooray!) For the first time though, IN is also bringing back outfits from previous seasons for players who missed out on them and for newbies to build up their wardrobe quickly.
Speaking of wardrobe, Infinity Nikki is catching up to the MMO girlies by implementing a new dye system. In Bubble Season, players will be able to use dyes to change the color of their outfits the same way one can in World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV. No word on exactly how dyes will work or if they will be yet more things to spend your precious currency on. But I am interested in the potential of getting new colors for my clothes without the hassle of the current system, which involves the expensive and time consuming process of collecting duplicate outfits.
Bubble Season starts April 29th and if you’re one of the folks waiting for the game to come to PC, the Steam version of Infinity Nikki launches that day too.
If you’re like me and you have a bit of an uncontrollable potty mouth, Microsoft has got you covered with its latest Windows 11 feature. The software maker is changing the way its profanity filter for voice typing works on Windows 11 soon, so you can disable the filter and let all your nasty swear words be free like nature intended.
Microsoft has started testing this change in the Dev and Beta Channel with Windows Insiders, by adding a new toggle inside voice typing’s settings interface that lets you either filter profanity and replace it with asterisks or have it type out your profanity like any other words. I’m personally ****ing excited about this one, because voice typing currently filters out profanity with the incorrect amount of asterisks, which makes me swear even more.
Alongside the profanity filter changes, Microsoft is also allowing Surface Pen owners to configure the button on the stylus to trigger the new Click to Do feature that started rolling out today. Click to Do provide actions for the text or images that are on your screen, so you could click your stylus button and summarize text or quickly remove an object from an image.
These features are all being tested with Windows Insiders, and I’d expect to see them appear for Windows 11 users in the coming months.
Trump administration senior officials are facing harsh criticism after it was revealed that they had used the personal messaging app Signal to discuss highly classified military intelligence in a group chat. The chat, in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laid out plans for an upcoming military strike in Yemen, inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, as a participant.
Though the rest of the chat’s participants – including national security advisor Michael Waltz, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard – doubled down on insisting nothing improper had happened. But after details of a second chat emerged, even harsher scrutiny fell upon Hegseth, who was a Fox News anchor prior to Donald Trump appointing him as Defense Secretary.
Further investigations revealed that he had a startlingly accessible digital presence, raising questions over whether he’s left key classified information vulnerable to foreign adversaries.
Read on below our live updates as we track the fallout from the Signal group chat.
Donald Trump's staggering tariffs on Chinese imports have hit nearly every category of consumer goods, from electronics and automobiles to clothing and footwear. One of the most vulnerable industries is the ultracheap e-commerce sites like Shein, Temu, and AliExpress that American shoppers have become accustomed to. It is already showing signs of a bloodbath.
Last week Shein and Temu warned shoppers that price increases were coming on April 25th. A spot-check of prices on Shein show modest increases across categories, though not every item is more expensive than it was a week ago. A pair of kid's fleece pants that were $8.29 on April 17th are now $10.19. A women's plus-size dress that was $22.39 is now $27.51. A pair of pants that were $13.99 have gone up to $17.09. Shein's inventory and prices change daily so it's impossible to pinpoint why an item has changed in price, but Shein shoppers have noticed their shopping carts and wish lists getting more expensive: shoppers on Reddit report some items doubling. According to data provided to The Verge by Bright Data, price increases on Shein until early March were for the most part modest compared to late 2024 prices, and many product …
Maybe, like me, you bought the Xbox Series S with 512GB of storage and realized, after installing Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, that you don’t have much (or any) space left for any other games. And maybe, like me, you had to hunt for another drive so you could install other games to play.
If you’re still in that boat, you might want to consider Western Digital’s 2TB WD_Black NVMe solid state drive. It’s currently on sale at Amazon for an all-time low of $179.99 ($50 off), or about 22 percent off the standard price, and will provide you with plenty of additional storage to work with. To put the price in perspective, it’s only $30 more than the 1TB version, which isn’t on sale. WD is also one of two manufacturers I’m aware of that make these easy plug-in cards — the other is Seagate.
There’s no fiddling around with screws or anything to get it to work, either. Just pop it into the back of your Xbox Series S / X, and bam, you’re good to go. Plug and play at its finest, baby.
But let’s pivot to another good deal real quick.
Amazon and B&H Photo are also selling Apple’s brand-new M4 MacBook Air, which just launched in March, starting at $899 (its best price to date). That’s $100 off Apple’s starting price of $999, which itself is already $100 cheaper than the entry-level price of the M3 model last year.
And, with the M4, you get 256GB of starting storage instead of 128GB, which is probably fine for most folks who don’t need a lot of local storage. Like me, for example. I’m using an M2 MacBook Air for work, and I only have 82GB used.
The latest M4 model also has a better 12-megapixel Center Stage camera that will follow your face around while you’re on camera (better said: it’ll keep you in frame) and 16GB of RAM. The design is unchanged from last year, which means you’re still getting just a MagSafe charger and two USB-C ports. But the update to M4 allows you to add two external monitors while also leaving the display open, for a total of three running screens. Good for multitasking.
It’s a MacBook Air. It’s the best MacBook for most people. You really can’t go wrong here.
We knew Microsoft was about to launch Recall for real this time, and now the software maker is making it available to all Copilot Plus PCs. Recall, a feature that screenshots almost everything you do on a Copilot Plus PC, will be available today alongside an improved AI-powered Windows search interface and a new Click to Do feature that’s very similar to Google’s Circle to Search.
Recall was originally supposed to launch at the same time as Copilot Plus PCs in June last year, but the feature was delayed following concerns raised by security researchers. Microsoft then planned to start publicly testing Recall in October, but pushed it back again to November to have more time to secure it further. Microsoft has now spent the past 10 months overhauling the security of Recall and making it an opt-in experience that you don’t have to enable if you’re concerned about the privacy implications.
“When we introduced Recall, we set out to address a common frustration: picking up where you left off,“ explains Navjot Virk, corporate vice president of Windows Experiences at Microsoft. Recall is designed to improve how you search your PC, but taking snapshots that are categorized so it’s easy to search for vague memories instead of file names.
I spent a few weeks testing Recall last year and found it was creepy, clever, and compelling. Technologically it’s a great improvement to the Windows search interface, because it can understand images and content in a much more natural way. But it does create a privacy minefield because you’re suddenly storing a lot more information on your PC usage, and you still need to manage blocked apps and websites carefully.
Kevin Beaumont, one of the security researchers that first raised alarm bells over Recall, has been testing the final version recently and found that “Microsoft has made serious efforts to try to secure Recall.” The database is now encrypted, Recall attempts to filter sensitive data by default, and the feature is now an opt-in experience.
Beaumont does note that filtering sensitive apps and websites can be hit-and-miss though, and occasionally even buggy. He also says that you can access Recall through a simple four-digit PIN unlock option with Windows Hello, instead of it forcing more secure facial recognition or a fingerprint. Microsoft’s Recall website claims “you must have at least one biometric sign-in option enabled for Windows Hello, either facial recognition or a fingerprint, to launch and use Recall.”
Alongside Recall, Windows search is also getting some AI improvements on Copilot Plus PCs today. You can now use the File Explorer, Windows search box, or settings with natural language queries. That means instead of searching for file names or specific settings, you can now describe images or documents and get results. If you’re looking for an image of a brown dog you know you have saved somewhere, you can just ask for “brown dog” rather than having to know the file name or date the image was created.
Microsoft is also rolling out Click to Do today, which works a lot like Google’s Circle to Search. You activate it by using the Windows key + left mouse click, and it will provide actions for the text or images that are on your screen. This includes summarizing text or being able to quickly remove an object from an image.
Recall, the improved Windows search, and Click to Do will all be available today across all Copilot Plus PCs, but the text actions in Click to Do are currently limited to Qualcomm-powered devices, with AMD- and Intel-powered Copilot Plus PCs getting this feature “in the next few months.” Recall and Click to Do should be available in a variety of languages and regions, but Microsoft says both features won’t be available in EU countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway until later this year.
