Computerworld.com [Hacking News]

Enterprises are becoming increasingly impressed by the robust security of Macs, and Apple is locking its platform down even more firmly with macOS Sequoia and a couple of changes to improve defenses against malware and “camfecting.” This reflects the company’s continued mission to ensure platform security by design.

Gatekeeper empowerment

The first change is the biggest. Apple’s Gatekeeper protection is designed to stop people from running unsafe applications on their Macs. When you try to install software downloaded from the Internet, you are presented with a security warning before the application will work (though it has long been possible for Mac users to bypass the protection by Control-Clicking on the application icon).

Apple has abandoned this in the latest Sequoia beta. Now, users must actively open Settings > Privacy & Security to permit their system to run such apps on a per-app basis. 

While the impact of this change is slight — you can still install and use apps obtained elsewhere — it should help prevent users from accidentally installing malware because it makes the whole process more intentional. Less-experienced users become less likely to be tricked into giving such approval by the app installation screen.

Apple recommends notarization

The real aim of the change is to prevent users who might be less tech-savvy from being tricked into bypassing Gatekeeper. In an ideal world, Apple would like all apps installed on Macs to at least notarized, the company confirms.

“If you distribute software outside of the Mac App Store, we recommend that you submit your software to be notarized,” Apple says. “The Apple notary service automatically scans your Developer ID-signed software and performs security checks. When your software is ready for distribution, it’s assigned a ticket to let Gatekeeper know it’s been notarized so customers can run it with confidence.”

This is a similar process to what Apple is trying to achieve on iOS devices in Europe. The goal is to secure the user and the platform, while also narrowing the size of the attack surface on its systems.

Camfecting and how to stop it

The second change will seem annoying to some, but does at least put Mac users in control. If you have ever installed screen recording or video conferencing software, you were probably asked to provide permission for those applications to capture your Mac screen. You likely went ahead and gave that permission and forgot about it — but that means applications you (or someone with access to your Mac) gave such permission to might be able to secretly continue recording your actions.

This improves in macOS Sequoia, which will require that you review and confirm this permission once a week. A dialog box will appear explaining the app wants to access the computer screen and audio, and giving you two choices: disable that permission, or “Continue to Allow” access.

While some might see this process as overly intrusive, it should help protect Macs against some in-person and malware-based camfecting attacks, as any application that has permission to access the camera/screen recording will be surfaced once a week. That means if an app you didn’t expect to see there appears on the list, you should take immediate steps to secure your device.

User controlled security

Seen in context, these latest security improvements mean the Mac is becoming better locked down as Apple works to make security protections you already have in place more understandable.

Take the Privacy & Security section of Settings for example: Over time, this has become an extensive, perhaps daunting, collection of options Apple has made easier to understand. In Sequoia, you can now more easily see how many apps enjoy full or partial access to the various settings and have a guide to help you manage those settings.

Again and again with its security improvements, Apple continues working to make security an intentional choice, explains what it is users are securing, and is creating device management APIs IT can use to ensure that their entire fleet remains as secure as it can possibly be — no kernel access required.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

Google reportedly plans to add new artificial intelligence (AI) technology to Chromebooks that can help people troubleshoot issues with connecting Bluetooth devices to their laptops, as part of its ongoing and fast-moving strategy to integrate AI into its products.

According to a published report, the virtual assistant, “BlueBuddy”, will provide quick and easy answers to user questions if they can’t get a Bluetooth device paired with their Chromebook, something that often is troublesome when using devices that leverage the wireless protocol.

The website Windows Report gleaned details of the virtual assistant from developer documentation for Google’s Chromium web browser project. The documentation made mention of something called “BlueBuddy” that would allow users to “enter an issue and I will recommend a fix.”

The addition of BlueBuddy is in line with various other AI features that Google already has unveiled for Chromebooks, which provide alternatives to Windows laptops and MacBooks and which run the lightweight ChromeOS. Google already has added its much improved Gemini AI chatbot to Chromebook Plus laptops, as well as adding other AI features such as “Help me write,” an AI editing assistant; generative AI wallpaper and video call backgrounds; and Magic editor using AI to enhance photos.

The company did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Tuesday.

A trust issue?

As Google competes with Microsoft and other tech giants to achieve AI dominance, integrating the technology seamlessly into various products, including consumer devices, is one key strategic play. Not to be outdone, Microsoft also has integrated its AI assistant, Copilot, into its Microsoft 365 apps, Word, Outlook, and OneNote, to make it easy to accomplish tasks such as generating first drafts and revising text, as well as making other AI improvements.

But one blind spot tech providers may have when it comes to the seamless integration of AI into products that people already use is that, while it’s certainly helpful, maybe customers aren’t quite ready for it because it’s still unproven, observed one expert.

“It’s natural to want to incorporate the newest technological innovations into your products, and when done well, it can have amazing gains in efficiency and productivity,” noted Gal Ringel, co-founder and CEO of data-privacy firm Mine.

However, “in many cases consumers are not yet asking for AI to be added to products,” he said. That’s because “there is still the major issue of trust when it comes to AI, and trying to push the tech through without first asking why consumers are cautious and addressing those issues is not doing AI well,” he noted.

Google’s secure focus

Still, Google has a good chance of integrating AI more safely into Chromebook than a competitor like, say, Microsoft, does with Windows machines, because it has full control over the technology, observed Bradley Shimmin, chief analyst of AI platforms, analytics, and data management for research firm Omdia.

“Google really owns the laptop as it sits on the user’s desktop, in terms of how software runs on that machine,” he said. “This allows the company to provide a much better security profile than other systems.”

Google also requires that all ChromeOS devices use secure boot, which means that every time the machine boots up, it’s guaranteed to run without any malware that could possibly have been picked up beforehand, he noted. Moreover, the OS uses strong sandboxing for each app/web to prevent any in-app exposure to risk, Shimmin said.

“Taken together, these efforts means that Google can roll out OS- and app-level functionality to all current Chromebooks in short order,” he said. “And given Google’s strong adherence to security practices, I would imagine that this implementation will focus on user privacy and security.”

Nvidia scraped huge amounts of data from YouTube to train its AI models, even though neither Youtube nor individual YouTube channels approved the move, according to leaked documents obtained by 404 Media via Futurism.

Among other things, Nvidia reportedly used the YouTube data to train its deep learning model Cosmos, an algorithm for automated driving, a human-like AI avatar, and Omniverse, a tool for building 3D worlds.

Nvidia’s data collection lies in an ethical and legal gray area. According to Youtube’s terms of use, the company is not allowed to use YouTube data without permission. According to 404 Media, several Nvidia employees questioned the data collection and were told by managers that the decision to do so had been approved at the top of the company.

Nvidia already faces legal action, filed in May, alleging it has violated fair use copyright laws.

Adobe wants to make it easier for B2B marketers to identify and target groups of enterprise buyers with the integration of AI assistance into a new customer journey planning tool. 

Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO) B2B is now available, the company announced Wednesday, offering an enterprise-focused alternative to the existing AJO tool, which caters to B2C marketing.

One of the key features in AJO B2B is the ability to create buyer groups to target in sales and marketing efforts — a different approach to traditional lead-based and account-based marketing, said Sundeep Parsa, vice president of product for Adobe’s customer journey management portfolio. 

Large-scale procurement decisions — such as the purchase of enterprise software or hardware, for example — now often involve lengthy sales processes with input from “committees” of as many as 15 business and technology leaders at customer organizations. This puts pressure on marketing and sales teams to establish relationships with the right people within client organizations and move towards eventual sales, he said. 

AJO B2B helps simplify that process by making it easier to access related information, said Parsa, thanks in part to the integration with Adobe’s recently unveiled Experience Platform AI assistant. For example, a sales rep can ask the AI assistant in natural language for details on buying groups at a client organization, and whether any of these are likely to be interested in a particular product.

The AI tool can also provide a “completeness score,” which can indicate that a certain job role is missing from the list of buying group contacts, said Parsa. An example might be a security software vendor that wants to include a CISO or another employee with regulatory knowledge in their sales and marketing efforts.

Adobe Journey Optimizer now has a generative AI-driven email creator.

Adobe

The AI recommendations are based on Adobe’s core model, which understands concepts such as what a buying group is, or what a lead is, alongside custom models developed based on an AJO B2B customer’s own sales and marketing data. 

Eventually, Adobe hopes the AI assistant can provide more guidance on how to target individuals within a buying group, such as a suggestion to send white papers and case studies to a technical diligence team, for instance, and an invitation to a decision-maker to an upcoming executive forum event. 

The ability to create buying groups is one of several key features in AJO B2B. Once they are identified, users can create tailored “customer journeys” for specific job roles at client organizations across platforms such as email, web, chat, and webinars. Here, the embedded AEP AI assistant can be accessed for how-to advice and troubleshooting as users build customer journeys in the application. 

AJO B2B users can then access asset libraries — including images from Adobe’s Firefly generative AI model — to create personalized emails suited to different buyer groups.  

Sales and marketing teams can also view each other’s buying group engagements —this will streamline workflows and provide more effective customer connections, said Parsa. “There are less ‘broken telephone’ scenarios; they’re able to collaborate on a common understanding of buying groups,” he said. 

Finally, dashboards that provide insights in buying group journey performance are now available in AJO B2B, with the ability to query data via the conversational AI assistant “coming soon,” Adobe said. 

“You can say, ‘Give me a trend of the buying groups over the last six months and give me a linearity model by month.’ You can ask that question and the [AI assistant will] generate that for you,” he said.

Announced in 2021, Microsoft Loop was officially rolled out to business customers in November 2023 and to individual users in June 2024. The new tool includes both text snippets that can be embedded in certain Microsoft 365 apps and a standalone app where employees can collaborate in shared workspaces.

It’s a little hard to wrap your head around how Loop works, but it’s well worth the effort for businesses that use Microsoft 365.

Here’s how you can use Loop to collaborate with your team.

In this article:

• What is Microsoft Loop?
• What are the main elements in Loop, and how do they work together?
• What are the key benefits of Microsoft Loop?
• Who can use Microsoft Loop?
• How to use Microsoft Loop
• Creating a Loop workspace
• Creating Loop pages
• Using Copilot in Loop
• Sharing a Loop workspace or page
• Managing your Loop workspaces and pages
• Using the Loop mobile app

What is Microsoft Loop?

Microsoft Loop is a productivity app that lets Microsoft 365 users work together in shared spaces where they can collect documents and other materials, do simple project planning and task management, brainstorm ideas with co-workers, and more.

Certain elements of Loop, called Loop components, can also be embedded in Microsoft 365 apps that include OneNote, Outlook, Teams, Whiteboard, and Word (web version).

You use Microsoft Loop through your web browser; it’s also available as an app for Android or iOS, with more limited functionality.

What are the elements in Loop, and how do they work together?

Microsoft Loop consists of three main elements: Loop components, Loop pages, and Loop workspaces.

Loop components are shared cards that can contain lists, paragraphs, tables, or other text formats.  In addition to collaborating on components in the Loop app, you can embed them in Microsoft 365 apps such as Outlook or Teams. Any changes made to a Loop component in one location immediately appear in all other locations. That way everyone always has the most current version of the component no matter which app they’re working in.

Loop pages are shared digital canvases that let you add Loop components and other elements such as text, images, and related information. Your colleagues can collaborate with you on pages that you’ve shared with them, and all changes are synced in real time.

Loop workspaces are virtual spaces where you can group together related pages. You can share a workspace with co-workers and guests so that they can collaborate with you on the pages it contains.

These three elements work in tandem for highly effective collaboration. For instance, you could create a workspace for a project your team is working on. This project workspace could include multiple pages related to the project — meeting notes, issue tracker, project brief, project planning page, and so on.

Each page could include one or more Loop components that in turn could be embedded into Outlook emails, Teams conversations, and other Microsoft 365 apps. When a component is updated in any of these places (including the Loop app), it is updated in real time everywhere else it appears.

What are the key benefits of Microsoft Loop?

• Easier and more efficient team collaboration
• Centralized management for documents and other materials
• Information stays in sync across multiple Microsoft 365 apps
• Reduces lost time and focus caused by frequent app-switching

Who can use Microsoft Loop?

Loop is included with all Microsoft 365/Office 365 business and education subscriptions. This includes the Loop app as well as Loop components embedded in other Microsoft 365 apps. Most Loop features are available to all users with work or school accounts, but those with only Office 365 plans will need to purchase an additional plan to be able to create new Loop workspaces or to add or remove members from them.

Until recently, Loop for business users was limited to internal collaboration, but you can now share Loop components, pages, and workspaces with people outside your organization, with some limitations. See Microsoft’s blog post for details.

Note that if you have a work or school Microsoft account, your administrator will need to enable the Loop app for your organization before you can use it.

For now, the Loop app is available for free to individuals with Microsoft 365 subscriptions or free Microsoft accounts, but you can’t embed Loop components in other M365 apps. Also note that for individuals, Loop workspaces and pages count toward your Microsoft storage quota.

How to use Microsoft Loop

We have a separate story that goes into detail about Loop components and how to use them in Microsoft 365 apps. In this story we’ll focus on setting up pages and workspaces in the Loop app. Here are the basic steps for using the app: 

1. Create a workspace.
2. Add one or more pages to your workspace.
3. Add text and other elements, including Loop components, to a page.
4. Share a page or workspace with colleagues so they can collaborate with you on it.

Keep reading for detailed instructions for each step.

Creating a Loop workspace

From the home page of the Loop web app, click the + button at the upper right. On the “Create a new workspace” panel that opens, type in a name for your new workspace.

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-01-create-new-workspace.png?quality=50&strip=all 923w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-01-create-new-workspace.png?resize=300%2C212&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-01-create-new-workspace.png?resize=768%2C543&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-01-create-new-workspace.png?resize=237%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 237w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-01-create-new-workspace.png?resize=119%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 119w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-01-create-new-workspace.png?resize=678%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 678w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-01-create-new-workspace.png?resize=509%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 509w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-01-create-new-workspace.png?resize=353%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 353w" width="923" height="653" sizes="(max-width: 923px) 100vw, 923px">

Starting a new Loop workspace.

Howard Wen / IDG

To change the cover image for the workspace, click it and select another from the gallery of images and gradient colors that opens. You also can select an icon for your workspace by clicking the smiley face button to the left of the workspace title entry box.

If you have an individual Microsoft account or Microsoft 365 plan, click Create and your workspace will be created. (You can skip to the next section of the story, “Creating Loop pages.”)

If you have a Microsoft 365 business account, the “Create a new workspace” panel also includes a “Share your space” area where you can invite members to this workspace by typing in email addresses or names of people in your contacts. Or you can skip this step for now and invite people later.

Name, customize, and invite members to your new space.

Howard Wen / IDG

Next, click Continue. The “Add files to your workspace” screen appears. Type one or more words about your workspace into the area on the left, and Loop will list shared company files and Loop pages that might be relevant on the right.

Type in a word or brief description of your workspace, and Loop will suggest files to include with the space.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

Type in a word or brief description of your workspace, and Loop will suggest files to include with the space.

Howard Wen / IDG

Type in a word or brief description of your workspace, and Loop will suggest files to include with the space.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

Select the files and pages you want to include and click the Create workspace button. Your workspace will be created with the selected files and pages attached.

Creating Loop pages

After you create your workspace, you’re taken to its first page. Type in a name for this page. If you like, you can assign the page an icon and cover image: click Add icon and Add cover and select from the options that appear.

Creating a new page in a workspace.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

Creating a new page in a workspace.

Howard Wen / IDG

Creating a new page in a workspace.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

Add text and other elements: In the “Just start typing…” area, type text or / to see a list of elements you can add to your new page, such as checklists, headings, images, progress trackers, tables, and more. (See “How to use Microsoft Loop in Outlook and Teams” to learn about the Loop elements you can add to a page.) To tag a colleague: type @ and start typing their name, then select their name when it appears.

Type / to see a list of elements you can add to a page.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

Type / to see a list of elements you can add to a page.

Howard Wen / IDG

Type / to see a list of elements you can add to a page.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

Use a template: Along the bottom of a new page are thumbnails for templates such as Project Brief, Team Decision, Meeting Notes, and so on. You can select a template to apply a pre-designed layout to your new page, then customize the page as you like. Click Explore other templates to open a gallery of layouts.

Turn an element into a Loop component: You can select any element on your page to turn it into a Loop component that can then be embedded in other Microsoft 365 apps.

Click the element to select it, then click the six-dot icon that appears to the left or upper left of the element. On the menu that opens, select Create Loop component.

Turning a page element into a Loop component.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

Turning a page element into a Loop component.

Howard Wen / IDG

Turning a page element into a Loop component.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

The element will now have a border around it with the Loop logo at its upper left. To share this element as a Loop component in another app, select the Copy component icon (two overlapping squares) at the upper right of the element border.

You can then paste the Loop component link into another Microsoft 365 app, such as a OneNote note, Outlook email, Teams channel or chat, Microsoft Whiteboard canvas, or Word (web version) document.

Note: If you have a Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscription, you have several more options for creating and collaborating on content in your Loop pages.

Adding more pages and subpages

Add another page: In the left sidebar, click the circular + button. On the menu that opens, select New page.

Add a subpage: You can add a page that is branched below another page. In the left sidebar, move the pointer over the page and click the three-dot icon. On the menu that opens, select New subpage. Note that you can also add a subpage below a subpage.

You can add subpages (and sub-subpages) as needed.

Howard Wen / IDG

Creating pages in the Ideas section

Toward the top of the left sidebar, there’s a section titled “Ideas” where you can create and work on pages before you add them to a workspace. For instance: You may want to spend extra time perfecting a page before you add it to a workspace that you’ve already shared with co-workers or clients.

Create a page in Ideas: Move the pointer over Ideas in the sidebar and click the + that appears to its right.

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-08-ideas-in-sidebar.png?quality=50&strip=all 741w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-08-ideas-in-sidebar.png?resize=300%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-08-ideas-in-sidebar.png?resize=150%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 150w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-08-ideas-in-sidebar.png?resize=640%2C357&quality=50&strip=all 640w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-08-ideas-in-sidebar.png?resize=444%2C247&quality=50&strip=all 444w" width="741" height="413" sizes="(max-width: 741px) 100vw, 741px">

Creating a page in Ideas.

Howard Wen / IDG

Add a page in the Ideas section to a workspace: Click Ideas in the left sidebar. A list of pages in the Ideas section opens in the main window. Move the pointer over a page and click the three-dot icon. On the menu that opens, select Add to workspace.

On the panel that opens, click the name of the workspace. The page will be appended as the last page in that workspace. Alternatively, you can select New and create a new workspace where the page will be placed.

Adding an Ideas page to a workspace.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

Adding an Ideas page to a workspace.

Howard Wen / IDG

Adding an Ideas page to a workspace.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

Restoring an older version of a page

The Loop web app archives previous versions of a page as you and your collaborators make changes to it. You can view these and restore one to your workspace.

With the page open, click the three-dot icon at the upper right. On the menu that opens, select Version History. In the right sidebar, click the date/time of a previous version. That version will appear in the main window. Click the Restore button to replace the page with this previous version.

You can view and restore earlier versions of a page.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

You can view and restore earlier versions of a page.

Howard Wen / IDG

You can view and restore earlier versions of a page.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

Sharing a workspace or page

In the Loop app, you can invite others to collaborate with you on a workspace or an individual page. When you share a workspace, each person you invite can view and make changes to any page in that workspace. When you share a page, they’ll be able to view and edit only that one page.

Sharing a workspace

From any page that’s open in the main window: Click the Share button at the upper right. On the menu that opens, select Workspace.

From the Loop home page: Move the pointer over the workspace that you want to share. Click the three-dot icon that appears. On the menu that opens, click Members.

Inviting collaborators to your Loop workspace.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

Inviting collaborators to your Loop workspace.

Howard Wen / IDG

Inviting collaborators to your Loop workspace.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

Either way, a panel opens where you can type in the email addresses or names of people in your Microsoft account contacts. Do this and click the Invite button. They’ll be emailed a link inviting them to access your workspace.

Sharing a page

You can share a page that’s in a workspace or in your Ideas section in one of two ways:

• As a web link: When you or someone you invite clicks this link, the page opens in a web browser.
• As a Loop component: When you or someone you invite pastes this link inside a Microsoft 365 app that supports Loop components, the page is embedded in it.

You can share a page from Loop’s main window or from the sidebar along the left.

With the page open in the main window: To share the page as a web link, click the Share button at the upper right. On the menu that opens, select Page link. You can then paste this link into a chat, document, email, or other text-based app.

To share the page as a Loop component, either click the Share button and then Loop component or just click the dual-square icon to the left of the Share button. You can then paste this link into a Microsoft 365 app that lets you embed Loop components.

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-12-share-button-menu.png?quality=50&strip=all 783w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-12-share-button-menu.png?resize=300%2C182&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-12-share-button-menu.png?resize=768%2C467&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-12-share-button-menu.png?resize=276%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 276w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-12-share-button-menu.png?resize=138%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 138w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-12-share-button-menu.png?resize=592%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 592w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-12-share-button-menu.png?resize=411%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 411w" width="783" height="476" sizes="(max-width: 783px) 100vw, 783px">

Sharing a page via the Share button.

Howard Wen / IDG

From the left sidebar: You can share a page without opening it in the main window. In the left sidebar, move the pointer over the page and click the three-dot icon that appears to its right. On the menu that opens, select Share page link or Share Loop component.

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-13-share-via-sidebar.png?quality=50&strip=all 844w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-13-share-via-sidebar.png?resize=300%2C269&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-13-share-via-sidebar.png?resize=768%2C689&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-13-share-via-sidebar.png?resize=777%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 777w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-13-share-via-sidebar.png?resize=187%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 187w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-13-share-via-sidebar.png?resize=94%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 94w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-13-share-via-sidebar.png?resize=535%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 535w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-13-share-via-sidebar.png?resize=401%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 401w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-13-share-via-sidebar.png?resize=279%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 279w" width="844" height="757" sizes="(max-width: 844px) 100vw, 844px">

Sharing a page via the left sidebar.

Howard Wen / IDG

Change a page’s sharing permissions: By default, whoever has access to your page’s link or Loop component will be able to make changes to this page. You can change who has access and whether they can edit or only view the page.

On the panel that appears when you select Share > Page link or Share > Loop component, click Settings. This opens the “Link settings” panel.

Changing who has access to a page.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

Changing who has access to a page.

Howard Wen / IDG

Changing who has access to a page.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

Depending on the type of Microsoft 365 plan you have (and the user permissions set by your admin if you have a work subscription), you may see any of these options on this panel:

• Anyone
• People you choose
• People in [your organization]
• People with existing access

For example: if you select People you choose, you can enter email addresses or names of contacts you want to invite to collaborate on your page. “People with existing access” are those you’ve tagged in the page with the @ command.

To change permissions so that anyone with access to this page can only view it (and not edit it): Under “More settings,” click Can edit and change it to Can view.

Next, you can set an expiration date — the link will no longer work after a date that you select. And you can set a password. When someone clicks the web link to your page or pastes its Loop component link into a Microsoft 365 app, they’ll have to enter this password first.

After you make your selections, click the Apply button. A link to your page with these new settings will be generated and copied to your PC clipboard.

Managing your workspaces and pages

As you’re viewing a page in the main window, you can perform the following actions.

Create a new workspace: On the left sidebar, click the name of the workspace that you’re currently in. On the menu that opens, select New workspace.

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-15-switch-workspaces.png?quality=50&strip=all 780w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-15-switch-workspaces.png?resize=300%2C296&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-15-switch-workspaces.png?resize=768%2C758&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-15-switch-workspaces.png?resize=706%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 706w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-15-switch-workspaces.png?resize=170%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 170w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-15-switch-workspaces.png?resize=85%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 85w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-15-switch-workspaces.png?resize=486%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 486w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-15-switch-workspaces.png?resize=365%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 365w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-15-switch-workspaces.png?resize=253%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 253w" width="780" height="770" sizes="(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px">

You can easily switch to another workspace or create a new one.

Howard Wen / IDG

Switch to another workspace: On the left sidebar, click the name of the workspace that you’re currently in. On the menu that opens, click the name of another workspace. Or select Browse all workspaces to go to the Loop home page, and select another workspace from there.

Rename or delete a workspace: On the upper left corner, click the Loop logo, which takes you to the Loop home page. Move the pointer over a workspace. Click the three-dot icon that appears. On the menu that opens, click Rename and style or Delete.

Click the three-dot icon for a workspace to take actions such as opening it, renaming it, or deleting it.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

Click the three-dot icon for a workspace to take actions such as opening it, renaming it, or deleting it.

Howard Wen / IDG

Click the three-dot icon for a workspace to take actions such as opening it, renaming it, or deleting it.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

Change the order of pages in a workspace: On the left sidebar, move the pointer over a page. Click-and-hold the page, drag it up or down, and let it go where you want it to be set in your list of pages.

Rename or delete a page: In the left sidebar, move the pointer over a page and click the three-dot icon that appears. On the menu that opens, click Rename and style or Delete.

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-17-manage-page.png?quality=50&strip=all 961w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-17-manage-page.png?resize=300%2C264&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-17-manage-page.png?resize=768%2C677&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-17-manage-page.png?resize=791%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 791w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-17-manage-page.png?resize=191%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 191w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-17-manage-page.png?resize=95%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 95w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-17-manage-page.png?resize=545%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 545w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-17-manage-page.png?resize=408%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 408w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/microsoft-loop-17-manage-page.png?resize=284%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 284w" width="961" height="847" sizes="(max-width: 961px) 100vw, 961px">

Several commands are available when you click the three-dot icon to the right of a page in the sidebar.

Howard Wen / IDG

Copy a page to another workspace: On the left sidebar, move the pointer over a page and click the three-dot icon that appears. On the menu that opens, click Add to workspace, then select the name of another workspace that you’ve already created. A copy of this page will be added to that workspace.

Using the Loop mobile app

The Microsoft Loop mobile app (for Android and iOS devices) has most of the features of the web app. These include creating and editing pages and workspaces, adding elements to pages, and sharing and setting permissions for pages and workspaces.

The Loop mobile app has many of the same capabilities as the web app.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

The Loop mobile app has many of the same capabilities as the web app.

Howard Wen / IDG

The Loop mobile app has many of the same capabilities as the web app.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

There are currently a few limitations to both the Android and iOS mobile apps, such as the inability to rearrange pages in a workspace. See Microsoft’s Loop mobile FAQ for details.

This article was originally published in July 2023 and updated in August 2024.

If you’re a Windows user who relies on Google Chrome, get ready: your favorite browser is about to cull your extensions.

The Chrome browser is now displaying a message saying some extensions “may soon no longer be supported.” Over the coming months, Google will disable them. (You can turn them back on, but Chrome will still eventually stop running them.) The biggest affected extension: the popular uBlock Origin ad-blocker, though Chrome is warning you’ll have to “remove or replace” many other extensions soon, too.

This is just the next chapter in the “Manifest V3” saga — Google’s long-term plan to phase out support for older browser extensions and require developers to adopt a new browser add-on standard. But you do have options to keep using your favorite Chrome extensions — and some browsers, most notably Firefox, will keep supporting them as well.

Here’s everything you need to know about the move to drop support for extensions like uBlock Origin — along with other browser extensions, including some that may be part of your day-to-day business-week workflow.

Want more timely Windows PC tips? Sign up for my free Windows Intelligence newsletter to get three new things to try every Friday and free in-depth Windows Field Guides, too!

Why does Chrome say some extensions might soon no longer be supported?

The browser extensions Chrome is warning you about are “outdated” — which essentially just means they weren’t written for Google’s newer, most modern extension platform. (It’s important to note that many of the extensions soon to be disabled are likely out-of-date because developers haven’t touched them in years and have no interest in doing so now.)

Here’s the more technical explanation of what’s going on: Google is beginning to remove support for the older Manifest V2 extension platform from Chrome. Browser add-ons must transition to the newer Manifest V3 platform to continue functioning. For now, the browser supports both — but, soon, Google will start tightening the screws and Manifest V2 extensions will stop functioning entirely.

If Chrome is warning you about an extension that “may soon no longer be supported,” it’s not using Manifest V3. Unless the developer takes action to port the extension to the new platform, it will stop working.

Chrome will show a warning message at the top of your Extensions page, warning you about each extension that’s going away soon.

Chris Hoffman, IDG

Why aren’t some Chrome extensions using Manifest V3 yet?

The most popular extension that hasn’t been ported to Manifest V3 is the aforementioned uBlock Origin ad-blocker. That’s because the full version of uBlock Origin can’t be fully ported to the new Manifest V3 platform.

Google is changing the way content blockers work in Chrome, which means the classic version of uBlock Origin won’t be compatible. Rather than allowing the extension to handle ad filtering, the extension will ask the browser to do the job. That should increase performance, which sounds good. But the new platform removes a lot of capabilities from uBlock Origin and other ad-blockers. (This is a good technical look at what exactly is happening with adblockers in Chrome, if you’re interested.)

There are alternatives. The developer of uBlock Origin offers a uBlock Origin Lite extension that supports Manifest V3 but has fewer features than the “full” uBlock Origin extension. (Here’s what the uBlock Origin project has to say about the situation.)

Google has a good argument that the Manifest V3 platform might improve Chrome security, performance, and privacy for browser extensions. On the other hand, the Manifest V3 change is absolutely hurting ad-blockers — and, as a massive company that makes a ton of money in online advertising, Google certainly has a conflict of interest here.

How to check which Chrome extensions will stop working

If you’re interested in seeing which of your Chrome extensions will be disabled, just open the Chrome extensions page: Click the menu button and point to Extensions > Manage Extensions in Chrome. (You can also type chrome:extensions directly into the Chrome address bar, as a shortcut.)

You might see a warning at the top of this page listing extensions that could go away soon. You can also examine each extension individually: Click the “Details” button and look for a warning at the top of the extension’s information page. If you don’t see a warning, the extension should continue functioning normally.

Chrome offers a button that will recommend similar extensions. The list of suggested extensions is worth a look.

Chris Hoffman, IDG

If Chrome warns you about an extension, click the “Find alternative” button to see other options in the Chrome Web Store. Our team at The Intelligence has had mixed success with this: For some extensions we use for our day-to-day work, Google recommends high-quality alternatives. For others, the alternatives don’t fit our needs.

For now, you can use these expiring extensions despite the warnings. And even after the Manifest V2 extensions are disabled, users will still be able to turn them back on. But over time, this toggle will go away as well. (According to Google’s Manifest V2 phaseout plan, users will be directed to the Chrome Web Store to find Manifest V3-ready alternatives.)

That’s more or less all you can do: Find an alternative extension that works for you, wait for the developer to update their extension for the new platform, or switch to another browser.

Which browsers will still support Manifest V2 extensions?

Google is removing Manifest V2 support from Chrome. But Chrome isn’t the only browser out there — a whole universe of modern browsers support these extensions.

Unfortunately, most modern browsers are based on the same Chromium open-source code used by Chrome. That means those browsers — including Microsoft Edge — are unlikely to permanently support Manifest V2. (The odd browsers out are Firefox and Apple’s Safari, which aren’t based on Chromium code.)

So let’s take a look at what other popular browsers are doing:

• Mozilla says it will continue supporting Manifest V2 extensions in Firefox for the foreseeable future. This is a big deal. It means uBlock Origin will function best in Firefox, and it also means that some classic Manifest V2 extensions might be available for Firefox, even when they no longer work in Chrome. If your favorite extension stops working in Chrome, you might find it on the Firefox add-ons site (though Chrome extensions themselves notably do not work natively in Firefox; a separate Firefox-specific version is required).
• Microsoft says it’s removing Manifest V2 support in Edge, though it hasn’t announced a timeline yet. Any critical extensions you need might continue functioning in Edge for a bit longer than they would in Chrome.
• Brave says it will “continue to support some privacy-relevant MV2 extensions” for “as long as [it is] able.” Similarly, Vivaldi says it will drop support for Manifest V2 extensions in June 2025. But both Vivaldi and Brave highlight they have built-in ad-blockers, which ensures that ad-blocking extensions like uBlock Origin aren’t as important for them.

Overall, for full Manifest V2 support for older extensions like uBlock Origin and a whole universe of other add-ons you may depend on, Firefox looks like the best long-term solution. You don’t have to switch to Firefox right away, but depending on how critical a particular extension is to you, you might find yourself making that move in the future.

Let’s stay in touch! Sign up for my free Windows Intelligence newsletter — I’ll send you three things to try every Friday. Plus, get free copies of Paul Thurrott’s Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (a $10 value) as a special welcome bonus.

Hey Google: We need to talk.

As part of my admittedly unusual “job” (emphasis on the air quotes, ’cause it’s way too fun to feel like work!), I hear from some of the most passionate enthusiasts of your products every single day. Heck, I’m one of ’em myself; I’ve not only written about Android and other associated entities since their earliest eras, I’ve also used all those things in my own personal and professional life all this time.

And right now, El Googster, lemme tell ya: People aren’t too happy with what you’re got goin’ around Google Assistant and its ongoing devolution/kinda-sorta transition into Gemini.

We’ve talked about this plenty, I know. Heck, I even went as far as to say that Gemini was the new Google+ — and not in a blissfully wistful, nostalgic sort of way, either.

But now, something new is springing up in this dizzying, occasionally vexing narrative you’re mapping out for us. And it’s making the already-murky intersection of Google Assistant and Gemini even more maddening, especially for those of us who rely on Android for our day-to-day doings.

My friend, prepare for some serious facepalming.

[Get fresh Googley insight in your inbox with my free Android Intelligence newsletter. Three new things to know and try every Friday!]

The Google Assistant-Gemini saga

Real quick, back up for a second with me — just to set the stage for this latest perplexing plot twist.

Four fast things to catch up on and bring front of mind, before we go any further:

1. Google Assistant has been the go-to virtual assistant for Android, ChromeOS, and all sorts of other Google apps and services since 2016.
2. For most of the time since then, Google’s been gunnin’ hard to put Assistant everywhere and build up its brand as the connective tissue that ties the entire Google ecosystem together.
3. Then, last year, Google gave us Gemini — née Bard — as a rushed-out response to the hype being created by ChatGPT and the whole generative AI industry.
4. And ever since, the company has seemingly stopped caring about Assistant entirely — with features disappearing, once-reliable functions growing increasingly inconsistent, and all signs suggesting Gemini is set to take Assistant’s place entirely, in spite of that service being nowhere near ready to take on that role.

Got it? Good.

That brings us to this week — and Google’s sudden string of announcements about a slew of new Android-adjacent updates for connected devices like the Nest Hub line of products (which, despite the focus of the excerpt you’re about to read, can be useful in both the home and the office).

Ahem:

Google Assistant in the home has helped millions of households get more things done. And unlike on personal devices like phones, home devices like speakers and displays need to work for every member of your household. As we’ve previously shared, quality improvements are a focus for us this year and we’re applying large language models to improve core experiences such as media playback and setting timers. And later this year we’re bringing a variety of new voices that make interacting with your devices feel more conversational.

With Gemini technology, we’re also reimagining what your home assistant can do with just your voice. This will improve Google Assistant on your Nest speakers and displays, making it more natural and helpful for everyone in your home. The upgraded Google Assistant will be able to better understand you, so you can chat more naturally, and easily go back and forth or ask follow-up questions.

Erm…what?!

Remember: Up ’til now, Google’s been positioning Assistant as the past and framing Gemini as a totally new standalone replacement that’s set to take over our virtual deputy’s role. That’s certainly what we’ve seen happen so far with Gemini’s implementation on Android, on ChromeOS, and throughout numerous Google apps and services — where the Google Assistant name and framework is fading away while Gemini shows up separately as a new and different (and, unfortunately, far less capable in the areas that matter) version of the same core concept.

And now — specific to the smart speaker and display domain, at least — Google seems to be saying that Google Assistant will remain as the name and the framework for the assistant experience, with Gemini essentially just adding new powers in under the hood.

So which is it? Is Google Assistant going away and Gemini becoming the all-around Google virtual assistant service we interact with — or is Assistant remaining and Gemini simply adding more oomph into that environment as an under-the-hood, internal upgrade?

The answer, as it turns out, is both. Befuddled, I reached out to Google to make sure I was interpreting all of this correctly. And sure enough, this is the deal:

• Google Assistant will continue to be the primary brand/presentation/experience for on-demand assistant interactions in places like smart speakers and displays as well as cars and TVs — with additional capabilities being added in only under the hood via Gemini.
• Gemini will still, however, effectively replace Google Assistant entirely on phones and tablets, as we’ve been seeing shape up so far.
• And so moving forward, we’ll soon have completely different assistant experiences on these different types of devices — with Google Assistant (enhanced by Gemini) on smart speakers and displays as well as cars and TVs and Gemini as the new all-around assistant (fully replacing Google Assistant) on phones and tablets.

Whew. I don’t know about you, but my head hurts.

Google’s Gemini-Assistant jumble

All right — time for a quick pinch of irony:

From the get-go, I’ve actually been saying Google should do exactly what we’re seeing play out on the smart speaker and display front now.

Go, go, gadget rewind:

When it comes to an on-demand mobile device assistant, we don’t need the ability to have mediocre text or creepy images created for us from anywhere across Android. We need a fast, consistent, reliable system for interacting with our phone and other connected devices, getting things accomplished with our core productivity services, and getting short bursts of basic info spoken aloud to us in response to simple questions.

Google Assistant did that. It did it with a recognizable, known brand Google has spent endless energy working to build up over the past several years and a recognizable, known voice Android users have come to trust and appreciate. Throwing all of that away now to create an entirely new system that introduces out-of-place, unnecessary additions and doesn’t do the Assistant basics as effectively is a puzzling — if perfectly Googley, in the most facepalmy sense imaginable — move.

Now, polishing up Assistant, fixing its woes, and adding in Gemini as an optional add-on you could summon for its generative capabilities, if and when such a need were to arise? That could make an awful lot of sense. But positioning Gemini as a flat-out replacement for Assistant when it’s so much worse at practically everything is an awfully strange move to make — one that seems to be forcefully trying to make the wrong tool work for a very specific purpose.

So, yeah: On the one hand, Google moving closer to this more sensible-seeming setup is a welcome shift. But at the same time, the company is sticking with the current Gemini-as-a-full-fledged-Assistant-replacement path everywhere else — including, critically, on Android — which only serves to make matters even more awkward and confusing, with the complete lack of consistency from one Google product to the next.

To be clear, this isn’t just about a name. It’s about an identity — and a foundation. It’s about how people perceive, understand, and interact with this service that plays such an outsized role across Google’s entire ecosystem of platforms, products, and services. 

Already, people around the world are bewildered and uncertain about what’s happening with that core part of their experience. And unfortunately, it seems that sense of confusion is only gonna get worse.

To say that Google’s bungled this rollout so far would be an understatement. The good news, though, is that it isn’t too late to fix it — if Google (a) acts soon to figure out what, exactly, it wants for the future of Assistant and its intersection with Gemini, (b) works swiftly to communicate that to its customers and implement it consistently across all of its apps and platforms, in terms of the outward-facing brand, presentation, and experience, and (c) starts taking steps to clean up the confusion-creating mess it’s already made.

Hey Google: Start a stopwatch. Time is a-tickin’ and patience is wearing thin, but you can still set this ship right.

Get practical tips, personal recommendations, and plain-English perspective on the news that matters with my free Android Intelligence newsletter — three things to know and try each week, straight from my keyboard to your inbox.

Dell Technologies is reportedly laying off thousands of staffers from its sales team.

The layoffs are part of the hardware vendor’s reorganization efforts targeted at increasing its revenue from AI-related sales by putting in a new sales unit focused on AI products, according to a Bloomberg report.

“We are getting leaner,” sales executives Bill Scannell and John Byrne were quoted as saying in an internal memo to Dell employees.

 “We’re streamlining layers of management and reprioritizing where we invest,” the executives explained, adding that the company would be changing its approach towards data center sales.

In an emailed statement to Computerworld, Dell said, “Through a reorganization of our go-to-market teams and an ongoing series of actions, we are becoming a leaner company. We are combining teams and prioritizing where we invest across the company. We continually evolve our business so we’re set up to deliver the best innovation, value and service to our customers and partners.”

In March of this year, the company revealed in a filing that it was continuing to execute cost management measures, such as workforce reductions, limiting external hiring, and employee reorganizations, as it tried to navigate issues related to the ongoing macroeconomic environment.

The layoffs in March resulted in a reduction of the company’s overall headcount. After their completion, the employee count stood at approximately 120,000, declining from the 133,000 recorded in February 2023.

A repeat of last year

During the first week of February last year, the company laid off 6,650 workers, about 5% of its total workforce, due to declining PC sales and infrastructure requirements.

The company had already tried to cut costs by pausing hiring and limiting travel before taking the decision to downsize its workforce, Co-Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke shared in a blog post at the time.

In addition to the downsizing, Clarke said the company would introduce a slew of changes that include changing the structure of its sales team and integrating the services division of its consumer and infrastructure businesses.

“We have further opportunity to drive efficiency through department reorganizations, which has resulted in a reduction of team members across the globe,” a company spokesperson said in an email after the 2023 layoffs.

Tech industry layoffs continue

Dell Technologies is not the only company that has had to lay off staffers this year, especially in its sales team, to maintain business operations.

In January, Google, in an extension to the restructuring strategy it planned last year to maintain investor confidence and adjust to market conditions, laid off a few hundred staffers from its advertising sales team and started relying on machine learning to automate advertising.

After two years of massive layoffs at IT companies, 2024 was expected to be a year of recovery for the industry. While there are early signs of that, with global IT spending expected to increase 8% to cross $5.1 trillion in 2024 according to Gartner, jobs continue to be impacted in the sector.

So far in 2024, 387 tech companies globally have laid 126,032 employees, according to job reduction tracker website layoffs.fyi.

Those companies include the likes of Intel, Cisco, Microsoft, SAP, and Docusign.

Google has released a new batch of security fixes that close 46 vulnerabilities in Android; the most serious flaw is found in the kernel and has the designation CVE-2024-36971, according to Bleeping Computer.

The vulnerability has reportedly been actively exploited by hackers for some time, which makes it especially important to install the security fixes as soon as possible.

To get more information about the vulnerabilities that have been patched, users can check out the latest edition of the Android Security Bulletin .

Apple is on the cusp of becoming the world’s leading ecosystem for personal productivity AI, with the software features introduced at WWDC soon to be accompanied by the world’s most computationally powerful (yet efficient) Macs, iPads, and iPhones. 

This fully integrated, platform-wide approach spanning mobile, PC, and even cloud is not currently matched by anyone else in the business. That Apple’s platforms already have hundreds of millions of users means its AI offer should achieve market traction incredibly quickly, even as it works in partnership with AI firms to deliver the things its own intelligence doesn’t do.

Apple’s AI-augmented fab gadgets

Thanks to its powerful processor, the M4 iPad Pro has turned Apple’s tablet sales around, according to IDC. And while Apple’s fastest M4 processor has only been available in the iPad Pro, that still gives developers a perfectly viable machine on which to test software built to exploit Apple’s APIs for AI. No Macs run these chips, yet, but that’s about to change. 

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman (who I imagine has bugging devices across Apple Park, judging from the frequency of his leaks) tells us Apple will put M4 Apple Silicon processors inside the MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini this year — with the rest of its Macs set to gain these chips in 2025.

There is little doubt that the upgrade to an M4 Mac will be hugely tempting for those of us running M1 models.

When the going gets tough, Apple goes pro

Given the steady improvements in computational power and battery life in each iteration of Apple’s chips, the upgrade may be as significant as the original transition from Intel to Apple Silicon was. This also means the world’s most personal and private AI will run natively on the world’s fastest low-energy computers. 

That’s by design, of course, and was more or less hinted at by Apple CEO Tim Cook who said recently, “We will continue to make significant investments in this technology and dedicate ourselves to the innovation that will unlock its full potential.”

Gurman’s news follows hotly on speculation Apple will actually introduce Apple Intelligence features a little later than had originally been expected. Again, that makes plenty of sense if the intention is to introduce Apple Intelligence alongside a host of new — and powerful — devices capable of running it.

Reading between the lines, the significance is that by the end of 2024, Apple will offer a full-fledged AI-augmented ecosystem in every plausible productivity category: smartphone, computer, and tablet. Some elements of Apple Intelligence will eventually make it to other devices as well.

When Black Friday comes around again, Apple will be offering a range of devices that also have the best user satisfaction rankings in the industry. 

If there’s a one more component to this, it has to be that Apple’s unique approach to privacy means that when it comes to AI, it is already forging a path toward the on-device, edge-based, cloud secure tools enterprise users need.

And it’s doing so at precisely the same time as the recent Crowdstrike disaster showed the inherent weakness of the dominant PC platform. For Apple, the Mac, and the company’s other products, the only way is up.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

Zoom has added a document creation tool that uses generative AI (genAI) to help create and manage information related to meetings. 

First announced last year, Zoom Docs is now generally available within Workplace, Zoom’s an all-in-one collaboration app, the company said in a blog post Monday.

Docs is pitched as a word processor that can be used create and share information related to meetings, though it supports different content types, such as wikis, whiteboards, and project tracking tables. 

Docs can be pulled up and edited directly from within a Zoom video meeting, with real-time co-editing for up to 100 colleagues; it also includes collaboration features such as @mentions and comments within documents. 

A key part of Zoom Docs is the integration with Zoom’s AI Companion. The genAI  assistant can be used to create text from scratch, such as drafting an agenda prior to a meeting.  

After a video meeting has taken place, the AI Companion can then turn the conversation transcript into a summary document for sharing and editing with coworkers. Available templates allow documents to be crafted in a certain format, such as a basic summary of key points and next steps, or a “brainstorm” document that highlights ideas proposed during the meeting. 

Zoom Docs is a genAI-focused tool that’s now included in Zoom Workplace to bolster collaboration and productivity.

Zoom

As with other AI assistants, Zoom’s AI Companion can also be used to revise and enhance text; check for grammatical and spelling errors; or change tone and style.  

Zoom Docs is available at no extra cost to paid Zoom Workplace customers. Those on the free version can create up to 10 shared documents and unlimited personal documents, but won’t have access to Zoom’s AI Companion.

In a major setback for Google, a US District Court has declared the search engine giant a monopoly, asserting it used its dominance in the online search market to stifle competition.

This ruling is likely to increase regulatory scrutiny and changes in Google’s business practices, potentially allowing more room for competitors to gain market share.

Google has said it will appeal the ruling, which adds to its other legal challenges.

A separate trial focusing on Google’s advertising practices is scheduled for later in 2024.

The ruling is also likely to bolster antitrust enforcers targeting other major tech firms, like Microsoft, Nvidia, and OpenAI. In recent years, regulators have also acted against Meta, Amazon, and Apple.

Impact on Google’s business

While the latest ruling marks a significant legal victory for antitrust regulators, it is only the first step in what could be a prolonged legal battle, as Google plans to appeal.

Consequently, there may not be any immediate impact on partners, advertisers, or consumers.

However, analysts speculate on the potential next steps, noting that the court found Google has spent tens of billions of dollars on exclusive contracts to maintain its dominant position.

“The court’s decision opens the door for a range of potential remedies, including forced divestitures, breaking up Google’s search and advertising operations, or prohibiting exclusive search engine deals,” said Prabhu Ram, VP of the industry research group at Cybermedia Research. “The ultimate outcome of this case will determine the shape of the search market for years to come.”

Advantages to competition

A notable impact of the ruling could be the encouragement of market competition.

In his 277-page opinion, Judge Amit Mehta noted that Google commands nearly 90% of the search market and almost 95% on mobile devices. In contrast, Microsoft’s Bing holds about 6% of all search queries, significantly lower than Google’s share by 84%.

“Even if a new entrant were positioned from a quality standpoint to bid for the default when an agreement expires, such a firm could compete only if it were prepared to pay partners upwards of billions of dollars in revenue share and make them whole for any revenue shortfalls resulting from the change,” Mehta wrote.

Hyoun Park, CEO and chief analyst at Amalgam Insights pointed out that Google’s competitors in search, most notably Microsoft Bing, definitely will try to use this antitrust ruling to open up exclusive contracts that Google has with Apple and other large companies.

“The multi-billion-dollar contracts that exist here to allow Google to be an exclusive search provider have long been a target for every other search company,” Park said. “Google’s competitors would like a situation where the search is treated more as a utility that can be chosen by the user in all of the areas that are currently exclusive to Google search.” 

Potential to transform web search

Significantly, the ruling comes just weeks after OpenAI announced the launch of SearchGPT, a potential rival to Google. Ram said that while Google has long been the dominant search engine, this ruling could transform the search landscape.

“With the rise of AI, the paradigm is shifting from traditional search to a more dynamic ‘seek’ approach, where users can ask AI for answers,” Ram pointed out. “The antitrust ruling potentially opens the door for alternatives, including AI-powered search. For new market entrants, such as SearchGPT, this ruling is a boon.”

Park added that it would be interesting to see if other smaller providers, such as DuckDuckGo or Perplexity, will also get a fair shot at these competitive search contracts or whether they are simply handed to Microsoft.

“That market opportunity will largely determine whether this decision actually breaks up a monopoly or simply redistributes billions of dollars from one large tech company to another to create a mostly uncompetitive duopoly,” Park said.  

Response from other regulators

The latest ruling may also prompt regulators to scrutinize Google more closely. The company has already been fined €2.4 billion ($2.6 billion) by the European Union for violating antitrust rules, a penalty Google sought to appeal last year.

“The current American Federal Trade Commission led by Lina Khan is very aggressive in enforcing antitrust law and trying to break up monopolies,” Park said. “Now that there is also a judge who has shown a willingness to make rulings on antitrust, this strengthens the current US government stance on trying to break up or modify monopoly services.” 

However, despite more scrutiny, customers are still likely to choose Google for search, according to Faisal Kawoosa, chief analyst at Techarc.

“I believe other regulators will examine this issue, but it’s unlikely to lead to significant changes,” Kawoosa added. “For example, in India, the competition regulator has already mandated that Android smartphones unbundle search engines, allowing customers to choose their preferred option. However, many still select Google, making it a customer-driven choice rather than one limited by OEMs.”

In a landmark decision, a US District Court on Monday ruled that Google is a monopoly that used its dominance in the online search market to suppress other search engines and keep them from gaining market share.

“By 2020, it was nearly 90% [of the search market], and even higher on mobile devices at almost 95%” US District Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his 277-page opinion. “The second-place search engine, Microsoft’s Bing, sees roughly 6% of all search queries — 84% fewer than Google. Google has not achieved market dominance by happenstance.

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta added.

The decision by the US District Court for the District of Columbia said Google’s dominance has gone unchallenged for well over a decade — allowing it to grow even stronger at the expense of its competitors.

Google Search is parent-company Alphabet’s oldest and most profitable business. A Google spokesperson said the company plans to appeal the decision.

Ken Walker, Google’s president of Global Affairs, said the court’s decision both “recognizes that Google offers the best search engine,” but it also restrains the company from making it easily available.

“We appreciate the Court’s finding that Google is ‘the industry’s highest quality search engine…, particularly on mobile devices’,” Walker said in an email to Computerworld. “Given this, and that people are increasingly looking for information in more and more ways, we plan to appeal.  As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use.”

After a lengthy trial last fall, the court found Google has spent tens of billions of dollars on exclusive contracts to secure a dominant role as the default search engine for web browsers and mobile devices. The court even used a competitive analysis performed by Google itself in 2020 to illustrate the point; that study estimated it would cost Google competitor Apple $20 billion to create a similar product that could compete with Google search.

Other rivals, such as Microsoft Bing and Duckduckgo.com, suffer the same inability to compete — and as Google’s revenue has grown, so has its ability to continue locking its competition out.

“In 2014, Google booked nearly $47 billion in advertising revenue. By 2021, that number had increased more than three-fold to over $146 billion. Bing, by comparison, generated only a fraction of that amount — less than $12 billion in 2022,” Mehta wrote.

While Mehta didn’t offer a solution to the monopoly Google has built, the court’s decision will likely affect other lawsuits against the company and change the way its search engine works in the future. If it prevails through the appeals process, the ruling is also likely open the door to Google’s competition to grow their own business and search engine market base.

Google’s court woes are far from over with the Monday ruling. A second lawsuit by the Department of Justice brought by the Biden administration will challenge the company’s advertising technology business.

The DOJ complaint has alleged that Google monopolizes advertising and uses technologies to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its advertising dominance. That case is expected to head to trial in early September.

After the ruling was made public, Attorney General Merrick Garland weighed in with a statement: “This victory against Google is an historic win for the American people,” said Garland. “No company — no matter how large or influential — is above the law. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce our antitrust laws.”

“This landmark decision holds Google accountable,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter. “It paves the path for innovation for generations to come and protects access to information for all Americans.”

The Court’s desicion also referenced what it called “specialized vertical providers,” such as Amazon, DoorDash, Expedia, and Yelp as Google competitors for shopping and food queries.

A Yelp spokesperson said in an email to Computerworld that the historic decision “clearly found that Google willfully used illegal means to monopolize the online search market.

“While we are still reviewing the ruling, it validates what Yelp’s CEO and co-founder Jeremy Stoppelman has said for more than a decade, ‘When one company controls the market, it ultimately controls consumer choice.’ If competition really were just ‘one click away,’ as Google suggests, why have they invested so heavily to be the default choice on web browsers and mobile phones? Clearly they are not taking any chances.”

(Stoppelman was deposed in the US vs. Google case.)

Any remedy for “Google’s misconduct” should require the company to stop its exclusionary conduct and instead compete based on the merits of its products, Yelp’s spokesperson said.

“Additionally, there must be serious consideration of requiring Google to spin off services that have been artificially boosted by its illegal search monopoly, which harms consumers and businesses,” he said. “We applaud Judge Mehta’s watershed ruling and the important work of the US Department of Justice and state attorneys general to vigorously address anticompetitive practices.”

Google’s dominance in the search arena has given rise to two major antitrust lawsuits from the U.S. government, which allege that the company has manipulated the market to maintain that dominance, to the exclusion of its competitors and the detriment of the public at large.

The first lawsuit, targeting Google’s search business, kicked off in mid-September 2023, and drew to a close in May 2024 with the delivery of closing arguments; a second trial against the tech giant, focusing on advertising, is scheduled for later this year.

The cases heavily echo the turn-of-the-century Microsoft antitrust case in several respects, not least of which is the fact that Google faces the possibility of being broken up by regulators if it is unsuccessful in its legal battles.

Here’s our condensed timeline of the two lawsuits, and their progress through the court system.

Aug. 5, 2024: In a major defeat for Google, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that the company had engaged in anticompetitive behavior in an effort to protect its search business. In the 277-page decision, Mehta was blunt: “After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.” Attorney General Merrick Garland, in a statement from the Department of Justice, said: “This victory against Google is an historic win for the American people. No company — no matter how large or influential — is above the law.” Mehta’s ruling did not include remedies for the anticompetitive behavior; those will be decided later.

May 3, 2024: Over two days of closing arguments, the Department of Justice revisited its case for Google having a monopoly on search advertising, and Judge Mehta quizzed both parties about whether other platforms could be viewed as substitutes for Google’s search advertising business. He hasn’t said how long he expects to take to reach a decision, but if he rules against Google, a second hearing will take place to decide on any remedies.

November 16, 2023: The evidentiary phase of the trial finishes, as Judge Mehta issues instructions for post-trial submissions. Despite considerable amounts of redaction and closed-door testimony, the case revealed some unprecedented details about the relationships between the largest tech companies in the world, including the fact that Apple apparently keeps 36% of the search revenue from Google searches in Safari, and Apple once considered buying Microsoft’s Bing search engine as leverage against Google. Judge Mehta has scheduled closing arguments in the case for May 1, 2024.

October 31, 2023: Google CEO Sundai Pichai takes the stand, for long-awaited testimony about the relationship between his company and Apple. He gave some details about Google’s negotiations with Apple over a contract that made Google the default search engine on Apple’s iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Google has paid billions for the privilege of being the default search on Apple products, and the relationship is a key part of the case – which was underlined by the Justice Department’s cross-examination of Pichai, during which he admitted that default search status is a major driver of market share.

October 18, 2023: Google begins its defense, calling Paul Nayak, a vice president of search, to the stand as its first witness. Nayak downplays the importance of scale in his testimony, stressing that machine intelligence, compute infrastructure, and a team of 16,000 staff that checks on search results are crucial to maintaining quality of service. DOJ witnesses including DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had testified that Google keeps an edge over competitors via an ever-increasing trove of data — the result of its default search engine status, maintained through exclusive contracts and billions of dollars in payments to Apple, Samsung and other companies. This data gives Google an advantage in refining search engine results, they said. 

October 3, 2023: As a witness for the prosecution in the Google antitrust trial, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warns that Google’s monopoly profits could lock in publishers as AI-enabled search arrives. Nadella argued that it’s almost impossible to compete with Google, given the search leader’s massive competitive edge in collecting and analyzing user data. He also warned that Google, with its vast profits and lock on the search market, stands poised to extend its monopoly power in a new era where artificial intelligence technologies will turbocharge the search business.

September 26, 2023: Apple’s Eddy Cue testifies behind closed doors in the Google search case, as critics slam presiding Judge Amit Mehta’s decision to hold much of the trial’s testimony from witnesses secret, allow documents to be heavily redacted, and block some documents from public view — mainly at the insistence of Google, but also at the request of other companies, including Apple. By the end of Cue’s testimony — and after a wek of wrangling by all parties — Judge Mehta rules that documents used during the trial can be published online at the end of each day, but still allows time Google and third parties to object to exhibits being shown publicly before the DOJ presents them in court. 

September 21, 2023: Judge Mehta rules that public access to court exhibits, which have been mostly internal Google documents thus far, should be removed, after Google challenged the Justice Department’s regular publication of them. The company said that it was concerned for its employees’ privacy.

September 12, 2023: The default search trial begins with opening statements, and the government begins its case.

August 2023: Judge Mehta grants partial summary judgment for Google in the search case, saying that the government had failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact on antitrust charges relating to contracts around the use of the Android operating system, as well as Google Assistant and IoT devices. The claims relating to Google’s exclusive “default search” contracts, however, are allowed to proceed to trial.

July/August 2023: Google and the plaintiffs in the search case argue various motions in limine, designed to control what evidence should be included or excluded in the actual trial. Discovery and motion practice over evidence continues in the advertising case.

June 2023: Judge Mehta schedules a trial date of September 12, 2023 for the search case.

April 2023: Judge Leonie M. Brinkema denies Google’s motion to dismiss in the advertising case.

March 2023: Google’s motion to transfer the advertising case to New York is denied by Judge Brinkema, who orders the parties to propose discovery schedules within two weeks of the order. Two weeks later, Google moves to dismiss the case for failure to state a claim, arguing that the plaintiffs have simply produced legal conclusions, and not specific facts, that could support their claims. Judge Brinkema schedules pre-trial conferences for January 2024.

February 2023: The plaintiffs in the default search case case move for sanctions against Google, accusing it of spoliation, which refers to the destruction, alteration or failure to preserve relevant evidence in a case. Elsewhere, in the advertising case, Google moves to transfer the case from the Eastern District of Virginia to the Southern District of New York, which is seen as an attempt to consolidate the case with related digital advertising antitrust litigation.

January 2023: A second antitrust action, this one filed by eight states and the DoJ, is filed in federal district court in eastern Virginia. The plaintiffs, who call for Google’s advertising business to be split up, accuse Google of manipulating its dominant position in the online advertising world to squeeze out rivals and control both the supply and demand side of the advertising market. Google, according to the complaint, thwarted fair competition by manipulating fees, punished advertisers for using alternative platforms and ad exchanges, and engaged in a host of further anti-competitive behavior in the interest of monopolizing the marketplace.

December 2022: Google moves for summary judgment against the separate Colorado case and the larger, DoJ-led case. A summary judgement motion is essentially a request by one of the parties in a lawsuit that the judge rule in their favor and end the case, arguing that, based on the undisputed facts, they are entitled to win the case as a matter of law.

May 2022: A deadline of June 17 is set for the production of all discovery materials. Further documents – for example, those whose is existence is first disclosed in late in the discovery window – can be produced until June 30.

May 2022: Judge Mehta denies a government motion to sanction Google for inaccurately classifying documents as attorney-client privileged. The plaintiffs had argued that emails on which Google’s lawyers were listed as recipients or CCed, but that the lawyers never responded to, constituted a misuse of the attorney-client privilege rules.

December 2021: Judge Mehta conditionally splits Colorado’s claims from the case at large, ordering that separate trials on that state’s issues of liability and remedies will be “more convenient for the Court and the Parties, and will expedite and economize this litigation.”

August-October 2021: Discovery-related motions and orders continue, as Yelp and Samsung join the fray. (Those companies, like Microsoft and Apple, are relevant to the case even if they aren’t parties themselves, as their internal records are potentially relevant to Google’s liability.)

June/July 2021: The discovery process continues, and the U.S. and Google both file several documents with the court under seal. (Microsoft files two sealed documents, as well, in response to Google’s subpoenas for company records, and Apple becomes involved after the government requests access to some of its internal information.)

March 2021: Meetings between Google and the various governmental plaintiffs continue, with periodic status reports on the discovery process.

January 2021: Google files a response to the complaint, admitting to many of the facts alleged by the Justice Department and associated attorneys general, but categorically denying the substance of the government’s claims of illegality. Further responses to separate but related claims, generally to specific state attorneys general, follow in the subsequent weeks and months.

December 2020: Judge Amit Mehta approves the joinder of Michigan, Wisconsin and California to the suit.

October 2020: The Department of Justice, along with the attorneys general of 11 states, sues Google in DC federal district court for unlawfully maintaining a monopoly, in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. The case centers on Google’s use of exclusive contracts that mandate its use as the default search engine in a host of different hardware and software applications, with the government alleging that this represents an artificial constraint on any possible competition for the search giant.

Apple has introduced what might seem a controversial new Safari feature to make surfing the web a lot less annoying, as it removes those overlays that sometimes gets in the way of the experience. The new feature is called Distraction Control.

What is Distraction Control in Safari?

Coming this fall to Safari, Distraction Control lets users hide distracting items such as sign-in banners, newsletter subscription sign-ups, pestering subscription requests, or content overlays users see while browsing the web. 

These kinds of elements are not removed by most ads blockers; now, Safari will do it for you. It lets you choose which overlays to remove, after which you won’t be exposed to them next time you visit the site. In the context of user need, that’s great, but as a unique feature it gives Apple’s browser an additional USP as it is forced to open its platforms up. (If you’re using latest iOS and macOS betas you can now work with Distraction Control, which is scheduled to ship with macOS Sequoia, iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.)

How does Distraction Control work?

The tool is only automatic to an extent. That means the first time you visit a site that carries these kinds of overlays, Safari will render them precisely as the website wants.  But this is where Safari gives you a choice: just tap in the Smart Search field to surface the Page Menu, where you will find the Distraction Control tool (Hide Distracting Items). Tap this and you will be able to select the distracting site element(s) you want removed from view. Safari will then automatically remove that element and won’t show it again until the content is changed — it’s not a 100% removal solution.

To unhide these items, click the Hide icon in the search field and then tap Show Hidden Items.

What doesn’t Distraction Control do?

Distraction Control is not an ad blocker — you’ll need other tools for that. What it does is identify these items to provide you with the option of removing them. Safari is not generating content it thinks sits behind these on-page items, either. It just shows the content itself. The feature is not designed and cannot be used to evade paywalls. 

Why might it be controversial?

The new feature adds to Apple’s privacy-first browser, which is festooned with protective features such as Intelligent Tracking Prevention and private browsing that is actually private. Over time, however, many of the privacy-protecting tools Apple has put inside Safari have raised resistance, usually from across the less salubrious parts of the surveillance-based advertising industry. Because this new tool might reduce the effectiveness of some of the most annoying on-page elements out there, it seems inevitable Apple will face resistance once again.

Perhaps the most controversial part of this involves the economics of running websites. Many site publishers have seen income yields fall dramatically since tougher GDPR rules came into effect. The impact of these has been particularly tough on small web publishers who, in some cases, have seen incomes collapse.

Many of these had turned to subscriptions and mailing lists in an attempt to claw back some of this income, and Apple’s new feature could make the task of attracting those signups more difficult — even as AI developers continue to grab content from those same sites to make their technologies seem more genuine. 

What privacy features does Safari provide?

As noted, Safari already offers a host of privacy protecting features, including:

• Intelligent Tracking Prevention to prevent cross-site tracking.
• Private Browsing.
• Passkeys: Better than passwords.
• Password monitoring: Built in protection against compromised passwords.
• Privacy Report — what trackers are tracking you and who is being blocked.
• Social widget tracking prevention.
• Fingerprinting defense: Prevents advertisers and websites tracking you using the unique features of your device.

You can also read an extensive whitepaper detailing Safari’s privacy protecting technologies; it’s available here.

What else is coming to Safari this fall?

Apple has already revealed several additional features for its Safari browser. 

First, it tweaked how Safari tools are accessed by making these available via the URL bar; in keeping with the rest of the UI, this also gives the company a little more space within which to offer additional tools in the future.

New tools also include Highlights, which automatically detects relevant information on a page and highlights this as you browse and a much improved Reader tool that adds a summary and table of contents when you look at web content.

The company has also spun out Safari’s built in Keychain-based password manager as a standalone app. These new features will appear when the operating systems ship in fall.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

Nvidia has notified customers that its new AI chips in the Blackwell series will be at least three months late, according to The Information.

The B200 chip was shown off in March, but a serious design flaw found recently needs to be fixed before they are rolled out widely, according to the site’s sources.

According to The Verge, it will be difficult for Nvidia and its partner TSMC to deliver any larger quantities of the chip before the end of the year, as they need to do extensive testing first. The delay is a major setback for Nvidia, but also for Microsoft, Google and Meta, which ordered tens of billions of dollars worth of chips.

Nvidia’s work on AI chips has sparked something of a chips war with rivals Intel and AMD.

OpenAI has for more than a year had a tool to watermark text generated by the company’s AI assistant ChatGPT, according to information provided to The Wall Street Journal via The Verge. (OpenAI itself has confirmed that it’s been working on such a tool in a blog post.)

According to Journal, the watermarking should not affect the quality of the content ChatGPT creates — but OpenAI has chosen not to start using the tool because internally there are divided opinions about it.

The generative AI (genAI) ​​company reportedly commissioned a survey that showed four times as many people are disposed to using tools that can identify AI content as opposed to them. At the same time, another survey found that 30% of ChatGPT users would use the service less if it contained watermarked content.

One of the most enticing uses for generative AI is to help you write. Anyone can get writing help from Microsoft’s Copilot genAI tool via the free Copilot web or mobile app. But Copilot becomes especially useful when it’s integrated with various Microsoft 365 apps.

As you compose, edit, or view a document in Word, for example, you can summon Copilot to assist you in several ways: It can generate rough drafts, polish or change the tone of your writing, and summarize long passages of text. Copilot can also help you compose or summarize emails in Outlook and help you rewrite or summarize notes in OneNote.

This guide will get you started on the basics of using Copilot for your writing in Microsoft 365 apps. But you’ll have to pay for a Copilot subscription in addition to your current Microsoft 365 plan.

In this article:

• How to use Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps
• Generate a rough draft in Word or Outlook
• Get email draft coaching in Outlook
• Rewrite text in Word or OneNote
• Summarize long documents, notes, emails, or threads

How to use Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps

Individuals with a free Microsoft account or a Microsoft 365 Family or Personal subscription can purchase a Copilot Pro subscription for $20 per month. (A one-month free trial is available.) Each person who wants to use Copilot Pro must have their own subscription.

If you have a free Microsoft account, the Copilot Pro subscription lets you use Copilot in certain Microsoft 365 apps on the web only. If you have a paid Microsoft 365 plan, you’ll be able to use Copilot in the desktop and mobile versions of those M365 apps as well. Once you’ve signed up, you may need to refresh your Microsoft 365 license before Copilot becomes available in the apps.

If you’re on a Microsoft 365 business plan (such as through a company you work for), a Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscription costs $30 per user per month. This must be paid annually at $360 up front, and there’s no trial period. (Apparently, Microsoft presumes that your company will foot this hefty tab.) A Copilot Pro subscription cannot be used with a Microsoft 365 business account.

This guide goes over how to use Copilot in Word, Outlook, and OneNote to help you compose and revise text. I’ll demonstrate using Copilot Pro with an individual Microsoft 365 account, but the descriptions also apply to Copilot for Microsoft 365 used with a Microsoft 365 business plan. Most of the steps and user interfaces are alike. I’ll also note additional features that are available under the business versions of Copilot and Microsoft 365.

Note: Microsoft 365 apps aren’t completely consistent on different platforms — for instance, a menu choice in Word for Windows might be named differently from the same option in the web version of Word. In these cases, I’ve tried to include both names. You may still find instances where a button or menu item doesn’t match, but it’s generally obvious what to do.

Generate a rough draft in Word or Outlook

Copilot can help you compose text drafts in Word and Outlook. In Outlook, you use Copilot through a panel that appears over the main area of the app. In Word, you can use Copilot from a similar panel that overlays the document, or from a sidebar that opens along the right of the page.

Using the “Draft with Copilot” panel in Word and Outlook

Word: Start with a new, blank document or open an existing document that you’d like to add more writing to. (Set the cursor where you want the generated text to be inserted.) Click the Copilot icon that appears in the left margin.

To get started with Copilot in Word, click the Copilot icon in the left margin or press Alt-Ion your keyboard.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

To get started with Copilot in Word, click the Copilot icon in the left margin or press Alt-Ion your keyboard.

Howard Wen / IDG

To get started with Copilot in Word, click the Copilot icon in the left margin or press Alt-Ion your keyboard.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

The “Draft with Copilot” panel appears over the document. In the text entry box, you’ll type in a prompt that describes the text you want Copilot to write. (More on that in a moment.)

Type your prompt into the “Draft with Copilot” panel.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

Type your prompt into the “Draft with Copilot” panel.

Howard Wen / IDG

Type your prompt into the “Draft with Copilot” panel.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

In the desktop version of Word for Windows, there’s a Reference a file button at the bottom of the Draft with Copilot panel. Clicking this may let you select a document in your OneDrive or SharePoint for Copilot to base its generated text on, including content, writing style, and formatting. (Business users can select up to three files for Copilot to reference.) You can also type your prompt followed by a / (forward slash) and a document’s file name to trigger Copilot to reference it.

But know that this function may not work for you – it apparently depends on whether Copilot itself thinks you have documents that it can reference for you.

Outlook: With the cursor in the message body of a new email, click the Copilot button on the Home tab of the ribbon toolbar. On the drop-down menu that opens, click Draft with Copilot.

To get started with Copilot in Outlook, click the Copilot button in the ribbon toolbar.

Howard Wen / IDG

On the “Draft with Copilot” panel that opens, type your prompt inside the text entry box. The panel is similar to what you see in Word, but with an additional option: a button with two sliders on it that may say Adjust or Generate options, depending on your version of Outlook. When you click it, a drop-down menu opens that lists options for tone of voice and word length for the generated email draft.

In Outlook, you can designate tone of voice and general length for Copilot’s output.

Howard Wen / IDG

Crafting your prompts

Prompts are sentences that you enter to instruct Copilot (or other AI assistants) how to compose the text you want created. Your prompt should minimally include the subject and a few specifics about the writing you want it to generate.

To get started, describe the kind of text you want Copilot to generate and add a detail or two about it. These prompts can be simple or a little more complex. For example:

• “Create a brief business pitch for a new vegan restaurant that will be located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.”
• “Write an opening paragraph describing my interest in a technical support job opening at Microsoft.”
• “Write a few sentences that inquire if there are any job openings in technical support at Microsoft.”
• “Compose a polite follow-up with the recipient about a video call we had last week.”

The more specifics you include in your prompt, the more likely you are to get good results. For instance, if you have notes that contain specific data points that you want to include in the generated text, copy and paste those notes into your prompt. If you have an outline for the topics you want to cover in the draft, paste that in as well.

But frankly, there are no hard rules about writing prompts — just use your imagination and see how Copilot responds. Expect that the AI may not generate results that you like (if it generates any at all). Keep experimenting with the descriptions in your prompts until you coax Copilot to produce a useful response.

Once you’ve entered your prompt (and optionally selected a tone and length in Outlook), click the Generate button or press Enter on your keyboard and wait for Copilot to work its AI magic.

The results are in – actions you can take

When Copilot has generated a draft, it appears in the document or email with a toolbar below it.

In Word, use the toolbar below the generated draft to keep, retry, discard, or refine the text.

Howard Wen / IDG

You can use the toolbar to perform the following functions:

• Click the Keep it button to keep the newly minted words in your document or email. You can then edit the generated text in the doc or email as you see fit.
• Click the Regenerate button (two circular arrows) if you’re not satisfied with the result and want Copilot to generate a whole new one.
• Click the Discard button (a trashcan) to discard the result.
• Refine the result by typing more prompts in the text entry box (e.g., “add more details,” “make this sound more professional,” or “make it shorter”) and clicking the arrow. Copilot will generate an updated writing result using your additional commands and descriptions.
• Optionally click the thumbs up or down icon in the upper-right corner of the toolbar to rate the quality of the result that Copilot generated. Presumably, this helps train the Copilot to produce better results in the future.

In Outlook, the buttons and text entry box are arranged differently in the toolbar, but they perform the same actions on an email draft that Copilot generates for you. You can also use the Adjust or Generate options button to change the tone or length.

The toolbar that appears with generated text in Outlook offers the same functions as in Word.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

The toolbar that appears with generated text in Outlook offers the same functions as in Word.

Howard Wen / IDG

The toolbar that appears with generated text in Outlook offers the same functions as in Word.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

Important: All AI-generated content can contain errors or outright fabrications, known as hallucinations. When you insert text that Copilot has generated into a document or email, be sure to fact-check it carefully.

AI-generated content also tends to be generic and a bit boring, so you’ll likely want to edit it to inject your own personality or writing style.

Using the Copilot sidebar in Word

On the Home tab in Word’s ribbon toolbar, click the Copilot button. This will open the Copilot sidebar to the right. At the bottom of the sidebar, type your prompt inside the text entry box and click the arrow button (or press Enter). Copilot will generate text and display it inside the sidebar.

Generated text in the Copilot sidebar in Word.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

Generated text in the Copilot sidebar in Word.

Howard Wen / IDG

Generated text in the Copilot sidebar in Word.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

Click the Copy button to copy the writing to your PC clipboard. You can then paste it into a document, note, email, or elsewhere.

Unlike the Draft with Copilot panel, the Copilot sidebar doesn’t include tools for refining text it generates from scratch. What’s more, Copilot’s behavior in the sidebar feels a little unreliable, producing inconsistent results. The sidebar seems better used for summarizing your document or asking the AI questions about it than for generating text.

Get coaching on an email draft in Outlook

If you’d rather compose emails yourself but would like some suggestions for improvement, there’s a nifty Copilot feature in Outlook called email coaching. After you’ve written your email draft, click the Copilot button on the Home tab in the ribbon toolbar. On the menu that appears, choose Coaching by Copilot.

Copilot will review your draft and offer specific suggestions for improving it in terms of tone, reader engagement, and clarity.

Copilot can critique your email draft and offer suggestions for improvement.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

Copilot can critique your email draft and offer suggestions for improvement.

Howard Wen / IDG

Copilot can critique your email draft and offer suggestions for improvement.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

Rewrite text in Word or OneNote

You can rewrite passages of text in a Word document or a OneNote page. This can be useful if you feel that your writing could use a little more detail, or if a paragraph sounds too wordy.

In Word, you can use either the Copilot panel or sidebar (as described earlier in this guide) to command Copilot to rewrite. In OneNote, you can use the sidebar or a right-click menu option.

Note: As of this writing, Copilot is available for OneNote only in the Windows desktop app.

Using the “Rewrite with Copilot” panel in Word

Highlight the passage of text that you want Copilot to rewrite. The Copilot button will appear in the margin to the left of the text that you highlighted. Click it, and on the menu that opens, select Auto rewrite or Rewrite with Copilot. Alternatively, you can right-click on your highlighted text, and on the menu that opens, select Copilot > Rewrite with Copilot.

In Word, select the text you want to rewrite, click the Copilot icon in the left margin, and select Auto rewrite.

Howard Wen / IDG

Either way, the “Rewrite with Copilot” panel appears below your highlighted text. Copilot will generate and present up to three rewritten versions in the panel. Click the arrows at the top of the panel to cycle through the rewrites.

Reviewing and refining Copilot’s suggested rewrite for the highlighted text.

Howard Wen / IDG

Below the rewritten text, you can click the following buttons:

• Replace will replace the original text that you highlighted with the currently visible rewritten version.
• Insert below will insert the rewritten version below the original text you highlighted (so that you can decide later if you want to keep it).
• The Regenerate button (two circular arrows) will generate another result.
• In the Word desktop app for Windows, there’s an Adjust tone button (an icon with two sliders); it opens a menu that lets you select another writing style. Copilot will then adjust its result with the style you select.
• In the Word web app, there’s a text entry box where you can refine the result by typing more prompts.

Note: Users with Copilot and M365 business subscriptions can also have Copilot rewrite messages in Teams. This feature works similarly to the Rewrite with Copilot panel in Word.

Using the Copilot sidebar in Word or OneNote

On the Home tab in the ribbon toolbar, click the Copilot button to open the Copilot sidebar to the right. To have Copilot rewrite the whole document or note, type rewrite inside the sidebar’s text entry box. To have it rewrite a specific paragraph, supply the paragraph number. You can also describe how you want the text to be rewritten, such as rewrite first paragraph to be shorter or rewrite paragraph 3 to sound more professional.

Copilot’s rewritten text appears in the sidebar. Below this result you’ll see the Copy button to copy the rewritten text to your clipboard.

A rewritten paragraph in the sidebar.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

A rewritten paragraph in the sidebar.

Howard Wen / IDG

A rewritten paragraph in the sidebar.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

If you want to adjust Copilot’s rewriting result, you can click one of the suggested prompts that appear in the sidebar below the generated text and above the text entry box. To see different prompt suggestions, click the circular arrow icon.

In the text entry box, you can refine the result by typing more prompts.

Although the Copilot sidebar offers more options for refining its rewritten text than it does for text it generates from scratch, it’s still underpowered compared to the Rewrite with Copilot panel. The best way to rewrite text with Copilot in Word is to use the Rewrite with Copilot panel.

Using the right-click menu in OneNote

Alternatively, in OneNote, you can right-click the top bar of a text field on a page. On the menu that opens, select Copilot and on the next menu, Rewrite.

In OneNote, you can use a text field’s right-click menu to trigger a Copilot rewrite.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

In OneNote, you can use a text field’s right-click menu to trigger a Copilot rewrite.

Howard Wen / IDG

In OneNote, you can use a text field’s right-click menu to trigger a Copilot rewrite.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

This action will trigger Copilot to rewrite everything inside this text field. The rewrite will then be set inside the top of the text field.

The rewritten text appears in the text field above the original text.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

The rewritten text appears in the text field above the original text.

Howard Wen / IDG

The rewritten text appears in the text field above the original text.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

Summarize long documents, notes, emails, or threads

You can have Copilot generate a brief summary of a long document in Word or a page in OneNote. For this to work well, Microsoft says the document or page should contain at least 300 words but no more than 20,000.

In Outlook, Copilot can summarize a long email and, even more useful, the conversation within an entire email thread.

Using the Copilot sidebar in Word and OneNote

With the document opened in Word or page opened in OneNote, highlight the text that you want summarized. (If you want a summary of the entire document or page, skip this step.)

Click the Copilot button on the Home tab of the ribbon toolbar to open the Copilot sidebar. Inside the text entry box, type summarize and click the arrow button.

Copilot will generate a summary and display it inside the sidebar.

Copilot’s summary of a long document appears in the sidebar.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

Copilot’s summary of a long document appears in the sidebar.

Howard Wen / IDG

Copilot’s summary of a long document appears in the sidebar.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

Below the summary, there’s the familiar Copy button to copy the summary to your PC clipboard.

Below that, you can click References to see a list of citations within the document that Copilot used to generate this summary. Clicking a snippet of the cited text will show in the main window of the app where in the document or page these words are. Clicking the down arrow to the right of a citation will show the passage that Copilot used as a citation.

Click References to view citations from the document that Copilot used for its summary.

Howard Wen / IDG

Between the results field and the text entry box, you’ll see suggested prompts that you can click to revise the summary. Click the circular arrow icon to refresh these prompts with new suggestions.

Using the right-click menu in OneNote

Right-click the top bar of a text field. On the menu that opens, select Copilot > Summarize. This action will trigger Copilot to summarize everything inside this text field. The summary will then be set inside the top of the text field.

Copilot summaries created via OneNote’s right-click menu appear at the top of the text field being summarized.

Howard Wen / IDG

Summarizing emails and threads in Outlook

Open the email or conversation that you want to summarize. Click Summarize or Summary by Copilot at the top of the email thread. Copilot will generate a summary of the email or thread.

A Copilot-generated summary of an email.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

A Copilot-generated summary of an email.

Howard Wen / IDG

A Copilot-generated summary of an email.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

This summary will be posted at the top of the email or thread. Thread summaries may include citations that Copilot used in generating the summary.  Clicking a citation (denoted by a number) will scroll down the thread to the cited email for you to view.

This Copilot-generated summary of an email thread includes citations you can click to go to the source email.

class="close-button" data-wp-on--click="actions.core.image.hideLightbox">

This Copilot-generated summary of an email thread includes citations you can click to go to the source email.

Howard Wen / IDG

This Copilot-generated summary of an email thread includes citations you can click to go to the source email.

Howard Wen / IDG

aria-hidden="true">

Howard Wen / IDG

Getting a summary when sharing a Word doc (business plans only)

If you have Copilot with a Microsoft 365 business plan, you can use Copilot to generate a summary of a Word document when you share it with your co-workers. This summary is inserted as a passage of text inside the message that your co-workers receive inviting them to collaborate on the document.

With the document open in Word, click the Share button toward the upper right. On the Share panel that opens, click the Copilot icon inside the lower right of the “Add a message” composition box. The AI will generate and insert the summary. You can edit the summary before you send out the invite.

Related:

• Copilot for Microsoft 365 deep dive: Productivity at a steep price
• Is Copilot for Microsoft 365 a lying liar?
• Microsoft cheat sheets: Dive into Windows and Office apps