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Microsoft has confirmed its AI assistant, Copilot, is being removed from WhatsApp starting January 15, 2026. This change follows a similar announcement from OpenAI regarding its ChatGPT assistant. The decision is a direct result of upcoming changes to WhatsApp's platform policies. Parent company Meta is banning the use of its business API (which lets other companies integrate with WhatsApp) to distribute general-purpose AI chatbots that are not its own. New WhatsApp Policies Force Removal The new terms effectively prohibit rivals from using WhatsApp to reach customers, leaving Meta AI with no ...view more

A tech enthusiast has built a prototype of a real-world ad-blocker. It involves a pair of "smart glasses" which detect and block out billboards, newspaper ads and other promotional material. It's the work of Stijn Spanhvove, who explained on social media site X that "I've been building an XR app for a real-world ad blocker using Snap @Spectacles. It uses Gemini to detect and block ads in the environment. It's still early and experimental, but it's exciting to imagine a future where you control the physical content you see." (Source: x.com ) The video shows the user's view as they walk round a ...view more

Google's global search market share has dropped below 90 percent according to one estimate. It's the first time it's consistently been below that threshold in a decade. Some analysts have suggested the drop may be down to users preferring AI large language model chatbots such as ChatGPT to search for information. However, that's not factored directly into these figures. They come from Statcounter, a respected online activity tracking company. While it only gathers data from a sample of users, the sample is generally accepted as representative of the Internet as a whole and its archive of data ...view more

Users have reported Microsoft Edge opening up and displaying tabs they'd just had open in Chrome. The most generous reading is that a "helpful" feature is triggering by mistake. Users have been extremely confused to start up their computer and not only find Edge open unexpectedly, but that it had replicated the sites they'd been using on Chrome. The Verge's Tom Warren noted he didn't even realize it was Edge running at first until he investigated why he was logged out on several of the open sites. The mystery isn't how this is happening but rather why it is happening. Edge has several ...view more

A man has "trained" his Ring camera system to detect and deter badgers and foxes. It's an example of machine learning having a practical purpose. James Milward developed the comically-titled "Furbinator 3000" after being frustrated by the unwanted visitors damaging his garden. He also feared they could carry diseases that would be a risk to his two young children. He tried several traditional solutions without success, before deciding an ultrasonic repellent was the only solution. However, this had several limitations including that they were triggered during the day by humans, leading him to ...view more

A supposed scam in which ChatGPT can provide working Windows 10 and 11 product keys is not quite what it seems. Most of the keys it provides will only give limited access to the system. Some reports have implied that ChatGPT is using artificial intelligence to figure out a working product key, perhaps in the manner of a safe cracker or somebody working out a user's online password. In reality, the "discovery" was made by a user playing around with ways to defeat ChatGPT's content filters. In most cases somebody asking ChatGPT to provide information that could be used for shady or downright ...view more

More than ever before, modern businesses rely on technology. Their efficient functioning relies on Internet services, which is unlikely to alter in the near future. As a result, as organizations get larger, computer networks develop, and massive volumes of data are sent every day between computer systems. According to a survey conducted by Accenture, 68% of organizations across various industries believe that cyber security threats are growing. According to an FBI assessment, cyberattacks have grown by 300% since the epidemic began. Securing businesses large and small is vital to ensure the ...view more

We live in the age of technology where every day is full of advancements that make our lives easier. At what cost, though? Our Internet security is constantly under fire by hackers and cyber criminals using these technological advances to their gain. Through the dark web, a virtual underworld full of criminal activity that can be accessed using specific tools, such activity is made possible. However, many people aren't sure what the dark web actually is. According to Business Insider, it's "defined as all content hosted on darknets, or online networks that require a specific browsing software ...view more

Moves by Apple to restrict ad tracking have prompted a war of words with Facebook and a legal battle with advertisers. They both object to changes that require express permission for some tracking. The arguments are over the "identifier for advertisers" or IDFA. That's a specific code for each iPhone or iPad which can be used by advertisers to track activity by device users. Until now its been possible to use IDFA with express user consent and then combine it with other data to build up a picture of the individual for targeted advertising. The iOS 14.5 update to the iPhone and iPad operating ...view more

Indonesia is a complex country. Something that is perhaps accentuated by the fact that it is spread across more than 17,000 islands, 6,000 of which are inhabited. 270 million people live in the world's third-largest democracy, which is fast becoming an economic powerhouse and is now Southeast Asia's biggest economy. Indonesia is also home to the highest percentage of VPN users in the world - 61% as of 2020 (all usage stats taken from GlobalWebIndex reports) of the world's fifth-biggest population are estimated to use VPNs. It's a huge figure: three times as much as most North American and ...view more