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| PC World - 6 Feb (PC World)Microsoft will release the last update for Windows 10 with the Patchday on October 14, 2025, after which this version of Windows will no longer receive any updates. What does this mean for users?
Windows 10 is not immediately insecure or no longer usable
First of all, there is no need to panic about this date. Windows 10 will theoretically continue to run indefinitely, as Microsoft is not discontinuing the functionality of the operating system, there will “only” be no more updates from November. This means that you can continue to use Windows 10 in principle, but no more security gaps will be closed, for example.
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Of course, given that cyber attacks on companies and private individuals continue to increase, this can be a problem for Windows 10 users in the long term. This is because newly discovered security gaps in the operating system can give attackers access to the computer, its data, and the network. PCs connected to the internet in particular are then fundamentally less protected. However, the security functions of the operating system remain active, including malware protection.
As a precaution, you can disconnect your PC from the internet completely, but this reduces the usefulness of the computer, especially in a private environment. In principle, there is nothing to be said against Windows 11, especially as Microsoft still allows you to update for free.
Windows 10 upgrade to Windows 11
Ralf Liebhold/Shutterstock.com
These are the real dangers for Windows 10 without support
New security vulnerabilities are regularly discovered in the various versions of Windows — even years later. From October 2025, Microsoft will no longer close these in Windows 10, so the likelihood of malware gaining access to a PC increases with each passing day. As most PCs are connected to the internet via a router with a firewall, there is often no danger to be expected via this route. However, there are numerous websites that are contaminated with malware.
MacPaw Moonlock Lab
There are also emails that you receive or programs that you download. These can contain malware that spreads on your PC if the malware scanner does not recognize it. If you actively use your PC with the internet, especially in sensitive areas such as online banking, you should always update the operating system or switch to Linux, for example. In this case, using Windows 10 is too high a risk.
As soon as Windows 10 is no longer supported, the developers of third-party software will also stop releasing updates for Windows 10 at some point. This will also make these programs less secure and in some cases no longer usable. This will not happen immediately, but it is an inevitable development. It therefore also makes sense to update your software for reasons of compatibility and security.
Cyber criminals will focus heavily on Windows 10
According to Statcounter, Windows 10 still has a large market share of over 60 percent compared to just over 30 percent for Windows 11. The security company ESET estimates that 32 milion PCs are still running Windows 10 in Germany alone. This means that cyber criminals will increasingly focus on Windows 10 security vulnerabilities after the end of support because it will be worth it. As soon as these gaps are publicly known, tools and programs will appear that exploit them. From this moment on, users of the outdated operating system risk losing their data.
Windows 10 blue screen
Mashka/Shutterstock.com
At the end of support for Windows 7 in 2020, the operating system only had a market share of 20 percent. It is therefore to be expected that many criminals are already working on attacks on Windows 10, if only because of the enormous spread of the operating system.
Get Windows 11 pro for cheap
Windows 11 Pro
If malware has infiltrated a PC in the home network, all data is at risk, including that on internal network storage such as NAS devices.“It’s five to twelve to avoid a security fiasco in 2025. We strongly advise all users not to wait until October, but to switch to Windows 11 immediately or choose an alternative operating system if their device cannot be updated to the latest Windows operating system. Otherwise, users expose themselves to considerable security risks and make themselves vulnerable to dangerous cyber attacks and data loss,” explains IT security expert Thorsten Urbanski from ESET.
Can you continue to use Windows 10 safely?
Of course, it is not advisable to panic and immediately disconnect your PC from the internet or network in October. If you want to continue using Windows 10, you can book the Extended Security Updates program from Microsoft. This costs around $60 for the first year until October 2026. In this case, you will continue to receive updates from Microsoft. This extension runs a total of three times until October 2028, after which updates will also stop.
An alternative that you can already use now is the 0Patch security solution. This is a company that provides security updates for Windows 10 until 2030. However, the company’s cloud-based software does not update the Windows 10 system files, but activates the patches in the computer’s RAM. This means they have to be reloaded every time the computer is started. The software is even free to use. If you want more comprehensive protection, you can book the paid version for a little more than $25 per year (25 euros).
Thomas Joos
There are many tips on the internet about using the Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 operating system. This basically corresponds to Windows 10 Enterprise with all functions and will receive updates until 2032, but its use as an office PC is not permitted under licence law. Technically, however, you can safely use the operating system after purchase until 2032. There are also enough solutions for protection against malware that you can use in parallel, some of which are completely free of charge.
For most people, updating to Windows 11 is the easiest option
Of course, not all hardware supports Windows 11, but where installation is not a problem, you should carry out the free update. The operation of Windows 11 is still very similar to that of Windows 10 and you will continue to receive security updates and new functions. Before updating, check that all the applications and tools you use are compatible with Windows 11.
In general, it is also very useful to make a complete backup of the operating system on an external hard drive and create a rescue disc beforehand. This can be done free of charge in Windows 10 and Windows 11 with on-board tools.
The data snooping of Windows 11 can be deactivated with on-board resources and free tools, for example with ShutUp10 . Run “tpm.msc” to check whether your PC has a TPM module. This is necessary for the update. If the tool does not display the TPM, check the BIOS to see if it is switched off. If your PC’s hardware has problems with Windows 11, it may be time to buy a new PC. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 5 Feb (PC World)Firefox 135 debuts today, with (what else?) AI built right into the browser.
Unlike Microsoft Edge and Copilot or Brave’s own Leo AI chatbot, Firefox isn’t investing in its own AI capabilities. Instead, the company is building in AI access to third-party chatbots such as Anthropic’s Claude and ChatGPT, plus lesser-known LLMs like HuggingChat and Le Chat Mistral.
As of a week ago, this AI capability was labeled “experimental” and was being pushed to a small part of the Firefox user base. Now, the Firefox release notes state that it’s being pushed out gradually to all users. Additionally, Firefox is providing a wider variety of translations, as Firefox can now translate Chinese, Japanese, and Korean pages.
Some additional features are also welcome. Firefox is stepping in to prevent sites from abusing the history function by injecting additional pages. You’ll probably see this when you try to “back out” of a page by clicking the back arrow; sites that abuse this on other browsers will take you to another page on that site itself.
How AI will look within Firefox.Firefox
There are also behind-the-scenes improvements, such as enforcement of the CRLite certificate revocation checking mechanism, which can help enforce certificate transparency — a requirement that a web server provide proof that certificates were publicly disclosed.
Firefox isn’t paying for or providing AI subscriptions to third-party services; you’ll have to do that yourself. To access it, you can pick the “sparkle” button from the sidebar. You can also switch AI providers via a drop-down menu.
Not everyone wants AI. But it you’re a Firefox user and want AI, you’re in luck. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 5 Feb (PC World)Climate change, rising inflation, the possible demise of American democracy — it’s a lot to handle. Opera may have the right product at the right time: Opera Air, a free web browser that was actively designed to help de-stress and calm you as you navigate the web.
With strong competition from other free Windows browser makers, Opera has tried everything from early integration of useful features like VPNs to slightly more dubious “gaming browsers” like Opera GX. Think of Opera Air as somewhere in the middle, with a sedate UI bolstered by features like calming binaural beats and even stretching exercises that can use your laptop’s camera to help ensure you’re performing them correctly.
Essentially, the new Opera Air browser is the standard Opera browser, which ships with its no-log VPN capabilities, ad and tracker blockers, and a sidebar with various apps and “workspaces” of collected tabs. The UI, however, uses a “frosted glass” appearance to give the browser an aura of calm, according to the company.
Furthermore, Opera Air is based upon new features that help you through an ongoing journey of sorts: Beginning your day with an inspirational quote, then providing “Boosts” of calming or stimulating music as you browse the web. Every so often, Opera will encourage you to take a break, and can help focus your mind through stretching or meditative exercises.
Opera’s Boosts are designed around what are known as binaural beats, a method of either stimulating or calming your brain. The theory behind binaural beats is that broadcasting tones of different frequencies in each ear prompts the brain to “fill in the differences” between the two, creating its own frequency or beat. The brain’s neurons then synchronize to the new beat, with a variety of different effects. (The effects of binaural beats aren’t well studied, and a WebMD article notes that effects can vary, depending on the user, from positive feelings to a trigger for depression.)
Opera’s Boosts combine binaural beats, ambient music, and nature sounds.Mark Hachman / IDG
Opera’s Boosts can be tuned from theta waves (associated with meditation) to alpha waves (stress-free work) to beta waves (active concentration) to gamma waves (peak mental performance), with timers that can be set for brief periods to a length of infinite duration. Each Boost can also be mixed with other sounds, like lo-fi tracks and piano, or nature sounds like rainfall, forest noises, or ocean waves. All told, there are 19 different Boosts available.
Opera Air can be set for users to “take a break” every 45 to 180 minutes, with a reminder to stand up and move or simply pause work.
Alternatively, Opera Air offers a choice of relaxation activities (led by real actors, Opera says, and not AI). They include standard breathing exercises, a deeper meditation, and even a “full body scan” that can help you relax the various parts of your body.
A fourth activity, neck exercises, can be synced with your laptop camera to ensure that you’re performing them correctly. This is optional, Opera said. If you turn it on, the information will only be processed locally, the company said.
A summary slide with Opera Air’s new features.Opera
Hands-on with Opera Air
Opera offered me a build of the Opera Air browser to try out in advance of its launch.
On the surface, Opera Air isn’t that different from an ordinary browser. By default, Opera offers to import your bookmarks and other data from another browser, and a brief setup process allows you to pick a theme. When opened, Opera Air puts the customary arrangement of tabs and bookmarks at the top of the page, as well as a hokey inspirational saying — “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf”– at the bottom of the screen.
Opera Air’s new features are hidden in the browser sidebar.Opera
The real innovations, however, are in the new Boosts, as well as the ability to take a guided break.
There’s an old saying: “No whistling in the newsroom.” For some people, simply hearing music — especially if it’s attached to a known song — distracts the brain by causing it to fixate on the song itself. I usually fall into that camp. Each Boost is essentially a pre-configured mix of a predetermined list of ambient music samples, the binaural beat, as well as some ambient nature sounds. (If there was a way to change the background noise of ocean waves to birdcalls, or from soft low-fi music to Brahms, I couldn’t find it.)
Surprisingly, though, it worked. Boosts require headphones or earbuds, and I did have to play around a bit to get the overall volume, and the mix between the various sounds, so that they would fade into the background. But I was surprised to find that I wasn’t distracted, and I began to bang out this article in a mode that I would describe as focused.
I was mildly impressed by the stretching exercises that Opera’s “Take a break” mode offered. Let’s face it: Giving yourself the grace and freedom to actually pause from working for a moment or two is a blessing in itself. The instructors themselves are not particularly impressive, simply leading you through a series of stretching exercises. Turning on my camera (and trying to “break” the instruction) didn’t work, either. I’m also not sure if I was supposed to hold a stretch for a minute or two, or if the process simply glitched.
Opera Air’s “Take a break” offers stretching exercises.Mark Hachman / IDG
I could never be truly sure if some placebo effect was at work, or just being told to essentially pause work, relax, and stretch out cramped muscles was something I could do on my own. But yes, I did feel that setting Opera Air’s Boost to “Peak Concentration” helped me knock out this report, lickety-split.
What does Opera Air need? More configuration options, maybe. I also wouldn’t mind seeing a “startup” and “wind-down” option that would kick in to help users begin and end their workday. But otherwise, I was moderately impressed.
So, yes, I’d say that Opera Air deserves a quick, free download. Setup really takes just a few seconds, and you’re free to keep on using the browser. But let’s face it: The next few years could be among the most stressful of our lifetimes. Could Opera Air alleviate that? Boy, do I hope so. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 5 Feb (PC World)Netflix is still the most successful streaming service today. Nowhere else can you watch such well-known shows such as Wednesday or Squid Game, which attract millions of viewers. But what are the most watched series on the streaming platform? In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the figures Netflix published and the ones it hasn’t.
Further reading: The secret to saving big on streaming services: Ruthless disloyalty
What the official figures say
On the official Netflix website, you can find the most streamed series of all time. However, this overview is broken down in two ways. You’ve got the English vs. non-English productions and the different seasons.
This makes the result somewhat confusing, but also ensures that series with only a few seasons are not at a disadvantage. According to this calculation, the show Wednesday, for example, is in first place with its first and only season to date. However, many series appear several times in the list such as Bridgerton.
It’s also somewhat unfortunate that Squid Game or House of Money are excluded from the main statistics as non-English language productions, even though they’ve accumulated more views than many others. That’s better, isn’t it?
Netflix’s most-watched series
We wanted to find out which series had the most views on Netflix across all the released seasons. This isn’t so easy, as Netflix doesn’t publish official figures.
However, if you add up the known results of all the seasons, taking into account both English and international productions, you get the following list of the most successful and most watched Netflix series:
Squid Game (two seasons, 417,700,000 views)
Stranger Things (235,500,000 views for seasons three and four alone, at least 335,000,000 million views for all four seasons)
Bridgerton (three seasons, 313,100,000 views)
Money Heist / Haus des Geldes (285,200,000 views for parts three, four, and five alone, no data on parts one and two)
Wednesday (one season, 252,100,000 views)
Lupin (167,900,000 views for parts one and two, at least 217,600,000 views for parts one to three)
The Witcher (three seasons, approx. 198,500,000 views)
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (one season, 115,600,000 views)
Queen’s Gambit (one season, 112,800,000 views)
The Night Agent (one season, 98,200,000 views)
The Korean series “Squid Game” is, unsurprisingly, the most-watched Netflix series ever if you add both seasons together.Netflix
Note: Unfortunately, we were unable to find any official information from Netflix on a few series and their seasons and therefore had to rely on older reports on the success of the seasons and older versions of the Internet Archive page. However, this list is almost identical to this list of the most-watched Netflix series within the first 28 days of release and seems to us to be a relatively good estimate.
The following shows fall out of the statistics
During our research, we noticed that Netflix has not updated the figures for older seasons for some time. We assume that the actual viewing figures differ slightly, but that the popularity of the respective series has remained roughly the same.
We also assumed that shows like Sex Education and You would be quite high up in the rankings. Unfortunately, we have found few meaningful figures on this.
The new seasons were watched by around 40 million households within the first few weeks of their release. However, as both shows received four seasons each, we estimate the total number of views to be up to 160 million, which would put them somewhere between The Witcher and Dahmer in the ranking.
The fifth season of You is already on its way. Can it shake up the statistics once again?
It was also difficult to find reports on the successes of the older seasons, especially for the international series. This is particularly unfortunate in the case of House of Money, as the Spanish production is in fourth place in the overall ranking with its more recent seasons alone. If the previously released seasons were included, it could even surpass Bridgerton.
The series Elite also enjoyed great popularity on Netflix for a long time, with almost all eight seasons repeatedly landing in the top ten. Unfortunately, apart from seasons three and four with around 50 million total views each, none of the later seasons appear in the statistics (we had to consult the Internet Archive for this). Nevertheless, the Spanish production would also have a good chance of making it into the top ten if we had data on all seasons.
Perhaps Netflix will one day publish an overall ranking of the most successful series that takes into account all productions and all seasons released. Until then, however, we will stick to our list and, if possible, update the figures accordingly. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 5 Feb (PC World)At a glanceExpert`s Rating
Pros
Sleek, sturdy design
Sharp OLED screen
Pleasantly tactile keyboard
Good battery life
Cons
AI features still lacking
Some keyboard keys too cramped
Too many pre-loaded apps
Our Verdict
The Acer Swift 16 AI is a capable machine with a big, beautiful screen, but its AI chops are still unproven.
Price When Reviewed
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Acer is all in with AI computers, having now released half a dozen machines with the AI oomph to qualify for Microsoft’s in-development Copilot designation. The largest of them so far is the Acer Swift 16 AI, which sports a lovely 16-inch OLED screen and the latest Intel Lunar Lake CPU.
This laptop is thin and light with a gorgeous display and ample connectivity options. The keyboard and trackpad are solid, notwithstanding the rather unnecessary LED AI indicator. However, there are faster computers out there for the same price, and the AI features could be more robust. It’s good for the MSRP but even better if you can find it on sale.
Further reading: Best laptops 2025: Premium, budget, gaming, 2-in-1s, and more
Acer Swift 16 AI: Specs and features
Acer has used several different chipsets for its AI PCs, and some machines have multiple options across the various SKUs. The Acer Swift 16 AI, however, plays it straight with an Intel Lunar Lake CPU, paired with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. There are no other versions of the machine, which is available at Best Buy, but it does have an expansive OLED screen, which is a big step up from the IPS displays on Acer’s cheaper AI PCs.
CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 256V
Memory: 16GB LPDDR5X
Graphics: Intel Arc 140V
Display: 16-inch 2880×1800 OLED
Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD
Webcam: 1440p IR Webcam
Connectivity: 2x USB-C (Thunderbolt 4, 40Gbps), 2x USB-A (5Gbps), 3.5mm audio jack, HDMI 2.1
Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Battery capacity: 70Whr, 65W charging
Dimensions: 14.02 (W) x 9.92 (D) x 0.58-0.69 (H) inches
Weight: 3.37 lbs (1.53 kg)
MSRP as tested: $1,199.99
The Acer Swift 16 AI is a competent laptop for all your general computing and productivity needs.
Acer Swift 16 AI: Design and build quality
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
Given the large footprint, I was surprised how thin and light the Acer Swift 16 AI is. It’s always a balancing act with larger laptops, but Acer threaded the needle fairly well here. The machine is barely half an inch thick, and the entire chassis is aluminum. However, the metal body isn’t very thick. There are places like around the fan grilles where you can see the frame flexing a bit too much, but the build quality is noticeably improved versus the smaller Acer Swift 14 AI.
When closed, the Acer Swift 16 AI looks elegant in an industrial way. The flat black lid is free of branding, save for a small acer logo and the AI “dots” badge in opposite corners. The edge of the machine is flat where the ports are, but it tapers along the rest of the body, making it easy to pick up this sizeable laptop. It’s not too hard to wrestle into a bag, though, weighing in at 3.37 pounds. That’s a bit less than the average 16-inch laptop.
The hinge on this machine feels appropriate for its $1,200 price point. The laptop stays closed securely, but it only takes one hand to open the screen, which swings smoothly into place. There’s a small lip around the camera that helps open the laptop, too.
The rear edge of the display frame has feet that boost the rear of the laptop a few millimeters, giving it a slight incline that makes typing more comfortable. The camera lacks a privacy shutter, which I’d like to see at this price. The 1440p webcam supports Windows Hello biometric login, and the video quality is good but not better than the 1080p cameras on most laptops.
The Acer Swift 16 AI has a good selection of ports, including two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4, as well as two legacy USB-A ports. There’s also a full-sized HDMI port and a headphone jack. I don’t love that both USB-C ports are on the left side, meaning the charging cable has to be on that side. The right side has just one USB-A and the headphone jack.
Acer Swift 16 AI: Display and speakers
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
The Acer Swift 16 AI looks great, but it’s not quite the showstopper it could be. The 2880×1800 resolution is very sharp at normal viewing distances, and the touch response is fast and precise. It also supports an optional 120Hz refresh rate if you want smoother animations at the expense of battery life.
As an OLED, the colors are gorgeous if slightly unrealistic. You can also enable HDR content on this display, but it might not pop quite like you expect. The brightness tops out at 340 nits, which is a bit on the low side for HDR. It is, however, a good bit brighter than the LCDs and IPS screens you normally see at this price. The brightness is good enough for use in all indoor settings, but the highly reflective screen makes outdoor use questionable.
The speakers are on the underside near the front, a common location for speakers on notebooks. They sound good at low and mid volume levels, but there’s distortion and very little bass when you crank it up. They’re very average for a laptop in 2025 in spite of the DTS audio certification.
Acer Swift 16 AI: Keyboard and trackpad
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
The quality of Acer laptop keyboards varies hugely across its product line. In the case of the Acer Swift 16 AI the typing experience is overall very good. The keys are stable, quiet, and quite tactile. The power button is in the far upper right corner, and despite the lack of any visual identification, it’s also a fingerprint sensor. It’s very accurate but sluggish like all Windows Hello biometrics.
Most of the important keys are a good size, but I don’t care for having the up and down arrows crammed into a single key unit. There is a full number pad on this machine, but it’s quite squished. These keys are only about 75 percent as wide as the alphas, which makes it hard to rely on muscle memory to enter numbers on the pad. It’s still better to have it than not, given the ample surface area of this laptop.
The trackpad doesn’t take full advantage of all that room. It’s a bit on the small side, though it is sturdy and accurate. The overall feel of the trackpad, as well as the click mechanism, are a big step up from the Arm-based Acer Swift 14 AI, which felt quite off to me.
The trackpad has the same light-up AI logo in the corner as the company’s other AI-branded laptops. It blinks when you access AI features. It’s totally unnecessary, but you can turn it off in the Acer settings.
Acer Swift 16 AI: Performance
Acer loads its PCs with more software than most PC vendors—that has the potential to be good, but it’s mostly bad. There’s the McAfee suite, a few settings apps, a photo editor, a collection of third-party games, and several custom AI tools. It will take a bit to clear away the bloatware, but even Acer’s software won’t get much use.
On one hand, I applaud Acer for actually bundling AI tools on its AI laptops. On the other, they don’t work very well. Apps like Acer Assist and VisionArt load an AI model locally to provide a chatbot and background generation, respectively. The model is about 5GB gigabytes in size, so it’ll leave you with very little free memory on this 16GB system.
The model output is also extremely slow, and I wasn’t impressed with the chatbot’s capabilities or the lack of options in the wallpaper app. It’s also odd that these tools don’t use the Lunar Lake chip’s NPU—all the AI work is done on the GPU. Acer says it is planning to improve the on-device models soon, which will include support for running them on the NPU.
The general system performance with the Core Ultra 7 is good. While Intel’s latest chips aren’t ideal for heavily multithreaded applications, the GPU is among the best you’ll see short of a dedicated chip. Thermal performance is also good, but Acer’s default power state is a bit slower than competing machines. When in high-performance mode, the laptop does get noticeably louder. It’s whisper-quiet in Normal mode.
To give you a better idea of how the laptop performs, here are our standard benchmark tests.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
PCMark 10 is designed to test a machine across a variety of metrics like web browsing, video chat, and photo editing. The Acer Swift 16 AI easily bests Meteor Lake chips here, but its default performance tuning makes it slightly slower than other Lunar Lake-based machines with a score of 6,539. The latest AMD Ryzen chips are also running ahead in this system benchmark.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
Cinebench is a CPU-focused test that shows how a PC handles heavy but brief multi-core workloads. More CPU cores grant higher scores in Cinebench and cooling doesn’t matter very much. With Intel’s move away from hyperthreading, the Core Ultra 7 doesn’t do as well in this test, bringing up the rear with even the Meteor Lake TravelMate P4 ahead. However, switching to the Acer performance mode boosts the score to about 10,000, which is more in line with competing laptops.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
The Handbrake test is similar to Cinebench in that it shows how a computer handles multithreaded tasks, but this is a longer-duration test where thermals matter more. While we don’t have any concerns with the laptop’s thermal performance, the eight-core/eight-thread design keeps this machine near the bottom of the heap. Switching to performance mode does shave a few hundred seconds off the encode, but AMD’s AI 300 parts run away with this one.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
Our main gaming test is 3DMark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU performance. This isn’t a gaming computer, but Intel’s latest iGPUs are quite good. Here, the Acer Swift 16 AI is near the top at 3,988, besting even the Ryzen AI 9 with its Radeon GPU. The Acer Swift 16 AI is fast enough to play simple modern games or titles that are a few years old at lower settings.
Acer Swift 16 AI: Battery life
The Acer Swift 16 AI sports a 70Wh battery, which is average for a laptop of this size. It charges over USB-PD via either of the USB-C ports, with a peak speed of 65W. That’s standard for productivity laptops these days. The machine comes with a clunky charger, but we tested more compact third-party options, all of which charged the Acer Swift 16 AI just as well.
IDG / Ryan Whitwam
The Acer Swift 16 AI will last you an entire work day and then some. To quantify that, we ran our standard battery rundown test, which consists of playing a 4K video on a loop at set brightness until the machine dies. The Acer Swift 16 AI lasted 1,053 minutes (about 17.5 hours), which is very competitive. The display was in the default 60Hz mode for this test—switching to 120Hz will reduce battery life.
Acer Swift 16 AI: Conclusion
Like its smaller incarnation, the Acer Swift 16 AI is a competent laptop for all your general computing and productivity needs. Acer is trying as hard as any OEM to justify the AI hype with features like Acer Assist. However, even all this effort does not guarantee a good AI experience. Microsoft’s Copilot+ features are still barely there in Windows 11.
Beyond all the marketing, the Acer Swift 16 AI is fast enough for almost everyone with a Core Ultra 7, but I wish Acer made this laptop in a Core Ultra 9 variant. Even then, the machine’s multithreaded performance would be lacking. If you’re going to be editing video, an AMD-based machine is your best bet right now.
While this laptop shares a lot with the 14-inch Acer AI PC, it looks nicer. The step up to an OLED screen, with its vibrant colors and deep blacks, is appreciated as well. The keyboard is a delight to use, and it’s nice to see a full number pad, even if the keys are a bit cramped.
The $1,200 MSRP feels slightly high for what you get, particularly when machines like the HP Omnibook Ultra regularly sell for around the same price. The Acer Swift 16 AI has dropped below $900 on sale, which is a steal. If you happen to catch it on sale for a few hundred off, this is a great purchase. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 5 Feb (PC World)Everything to do with artificial intelligence has been the big IT hype of the past two years. Even if the initial enthusiasm for ChatGPT and others has now given way to a more sober assessment, there is hardly a software company at the moment that is not taking a close look at the possibilities of the technology.
Microsoft in particular has invested huge sums in AI development and is demonstrating how AI can also be integrated into familiar programs: Gradually, more and more applications are being given functions that fulfill their tasks with the help of artificial intelligence.
Microsoft has also released its Large Language Model (LLM) Copilot as its own app and browser extension.
Other companies have now also embedded AI functions into apps, some of which are available for free. There are now a large number of chatbots and AI-supported search engines on the market.
In the professional sector, there are numerous providers of AI-supported software that automatically add subtitles to films and videos in real time. However, these tools are almost exclusively available for a fee.
For this article, we’ve compiled programs and apps with AI functionality that have emerged outside the Microsoft cosmos. We have not limited ourselves to stand-alone applications, but also included extensions for the browser.
Further reading: The AI PC revolution: 18 essential terms you need to know
AI for Office use
ChatGPT can not only be used in the web browser, the manufacturer Open AI also offers a Windows client for the AI application.OpenAI
It was only recently announced that Open AI had finally released a Windows client for its chatbot ChatGPT, available for download from the Microsoft Store.
As ChatGPT is an open source project, there is a dedicated page on GitHub at github.com/lencx/ChatGPT. A desktop version for Windows is also available there.
It has the version number 1.1, dates from August 2023, does not require registration, but offers better answers to questions and more functions after registration: For example, access to internal and external GPTs (Generative Pre-trained Transformers). This also includes the Dall-E image generator.
Translating foreign-language texts or translating documents into other languages is another typical task in Office operations. It is also often necessary to revise the spelling, grammar, and style of important correspondence before it is sent out. In both cases, software from the German company DeepL can help.
DeepL is currently regarded as the best translation program available. The manufacturer has now combined it with the writing aid Write and an OCR module in one app.
DeepL
A translator and the writing aid DeepL Write are available on the website. Both services are based on neural networks and are free of charge. However, translations are limited to 3,000 characters and users can upload a maximum of three documents per month for translation.
Without free registration, only texts up to 1,500 characters long can be translated. And DeepL uploads the entered texts to its servers and reserves the right to use them, together with the subsequent corrections by the user, to train its neural networks and algorithms.
In addition to the web version, DeepL offers apps for Windows, Android, and iOS as well as an extension for Google Chrome. In addition to the translator and DeepL Write, they include an image module that recognizes text in images such as screenshots, processes it using OCR and translates it straight away.
Google Gemini is only available on the web and for Android and iOS. Like ChatGPT, the chatbot can create both texts and images and research answers to questions in plain text.
Alternatives to ChatGPT
Google Gemini is only available on the web and for Android and iOS. Like ChatGPT, the chatbot can generate text and images and research answers to questions.Foundry
ChatGPT is the best known, but by no means the only chatbot that works with AI. A whole range of companies have licensed the technology from Open AI and offer their own chatbot clients based on it.
One exception to this is Google, which has developed its own AI engine, Gemini.
On its website, the search engine giant offers a simple input screen where users can ask the AI questions and ask it to create a painting or photo with a predefined content. Gemini uses the Google image generator Imagen 3.
The Hamburg-based company Neuroflash, on the other hand, uses Open AI as the engine for its chatbot of the same name. The web-based app answers questions and writes texts for letters, blogs, CVs, and so on. The app can also create images and edit texts. It speaks several languages but, according to the manufacturer, has been specially trained with German texts. This gives it an edge over ChatGPT in German-speaking countries.
Writesonic also has a chatbot in its program, Chatsonic. It is also based on ChatGPT but, according to the manufacturer, also takes current results from Google searches into account when searching.
The special feature of the chatbot Claude from U.S. company Anthropic is that, according to the company founders, two former employees of Open AI, it should be secure and in line with human values.
Although Claude uses Open AI technology, it automatically warns of system-related weaknesses, possible hallucinations, and points out its own limitations. Claude is a pure chatbot without an image generator or functions for revising texts.
A new Windows app is available for download at claude.ai/download, while apps for Android and iOS have been available for some time.
The American chatbot Perplexity not only answers questions, but also names the sources from which it obtains its information and processes it with the help of artificial intelligence.
Foundry
The American service Perplexity AI is a mixture of chatbot and search engine. Just like Microsoft’s Copilot app, it not only answers questions, but also displays the analyzed sources. Deutsche Telekom has been working with Perplexity for some time and offers its customers a free annual subscription to the Pro version as well as a chatbot in its Magenta app.
Finally, the chatbot Pi from Inflection AI uses its own large language model called Inflection-2. Its specialty is asking users specific questions in order to adapt to their interests, needs, and goals.
The software is more of a dialog partner than an information service or text generator. It is worth noting that Pi can also be reached via WhatsApp.
AI search and extensions
Closely related to universal chatbots are AI-supported search engines. It is often impossible to draw a clear line between the two product categories. For example, ChatGPT is just as suitable for writing texts as it is for searching the internet, and this applies even more to Google Gemini.
In general, AI searches should be able to handle more complex queries and recognize the user’s intentions better than conventional search engines.
Andi is a hybrid between a search engine and an AI chatbot. The software quotes from online sources and displays the references so that the information can be easily double-checked.
IDG
The Andi search engine stands for Advanced Neural Data Intelligence and has its strengths when it comes to questions on topics from specialized fields for which it is supposed to be able to provide detailed answers.
The dialog appears in the middle of the search engine window — Andi itself only speaks English, but also understands other language input — and a selected source. In a sidebar, Andi links to other pages with relevant information and displays thumbnails.
Andi’s free app offers the option of summarizing the search results with a write-up function. This also works in German and is actually a big advantage over conventional searches.
The Duckduckgo search engine, on the other hand, offers an AI chat. After clicking on an icon above the search results, you first have to decide on an LLM; you can choose between GPT 4o, Claude 3, Llama 3.1, and Mixtral, then you can enter your question.
The AI Chat generates an answer text from the search results and memorizes both the question and the answer. The user can then follow up and request information on specific details.
Subtitles and live translations
Several manufacturers are currently working on translations and subtitles in videos and films. Live translations are useful in video conferences, for example, if the participants speak different languages.
Microsoft has already included a corresponding feature in Teams and uses AI functions for this. Other companies offer software that analyzes and translates the spoken language in a film and integrates it into the video in the form of subtitles and artificial voices generated by speech synthesis.
Microsoft has built a corresponding function for audio files called Live Captions into Windows 11 24H2, but it is only available on Copilot Plus PCs.
Translated subtitles for videos, on the other hand, are available free of charge on the web. Captions AI is a popular program that runs in the browser and translates foreign-language films into English, for example.
It can also create promotional videos, split long films into short clips, and add images, transitions, and sounds to videos. Captions AI is primarily aimed at the advertising industry, but is also useful for private videos. The brand new DeepL with DeepL Voice also allows real-time translations.
Live Caption is aimed at a completely different target group. The company has developed an app for Android and iOS that transcribes conversations in the neighborhood in real time and displays them as text on the smartphone — a valuable aid, especially for hearing-impaired people.
Graphics and image processing
AI functions: Cyberlink’s Photodirector can generate photos of people, import other faces, and place the result in front of a ready-made background.IDG
Ever since a photo of the Pope in a white down coat began circulating in the media, it has become clear what possibilities lie in image editing using AI. The company Cyberlink has upgraded its Photodirector with AI functions for generating and editing images.
The user can remove details at the touch of a button, merge faces, or place people in front of a different background. The program is free to download, but some functions require “credits,” which can be purchased (100 credits for $18) or upgraded to the paid Photodirector 365.
Cyberlink also offers AI-supported tools for video and audio editing. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 4 Feb (PC World)Climate change, rising inflation, the possible demise of American democracy — it’s a lot to handle. Opera may have the right product at the right time: Opera Air, a free web browser that was actively designed to help de-stress and calm you as you navigate the web.
With strong competition from other free Windows browser makers, Opera has tried everything from early integration of useful features like VPNs to slightly more dubious “gaming browsers” like Opera GX. Think of Opera Air as somewhere in the middle, with a sedate UI bolstered by features like calming binaural beats and even stretching exercises that can use your laptop’s camera to help ensure you’re performing them correctly.
Essentially, the new Opera Air browser is the standard Opera browser, which ships with its no-log VPN capabilities, ad and tracker blockers, and a sidebar with various apps and “workspaces” of collected tabs. The UI, however, uses a “frosted glass” appearance to give the browser an aura of calm, according to the company.
Furthermore, Opera Air is based upon new features that help you through an ongoing journey of sorts: Beginning your day with an inspirational quote, then providing “Boosts” of calming or stimulating music as you browse the web. Every so often, Opera will encourage you to take a break, and can help focus your mind through stretching or meditative exercises.
Opera’s Boosts are designed around what are known as binaural beats, a method of either stimulating or calming your brain. The theory behind binaural beats is that broadcasting tones of different frequencies in each ear prompts the brain to “fill in the differences” between the two, creating its own frequency or beat. The brain’s neurons then synchronize to the new beat, with a variety of different effects. (The effects of binaural beats aren’t well studied, and a WebMD article notes that effects can vary, depending on the user, from positive feelings to a trigger for depression.)
Opera’s Boosts combine binaural beats, ambient music, and nature sounds.Mark Hachman / IDG
Opera’s Boosts can be tuned from theta waves (associated with meditation) to alpha waves (stress-free work) to beta waves (active concentration) to gamma waves (peak mental performance), with timers that can be set for brief periods to a length of infinite duration. Each Boost can also be mixed with other sounds, like lo-fi tracks and piano, or nature sounds like rainfall, forest noises, or ocean waves. All told, there are 19 different Boosts available.
Opera Air can be set for users to “take a break” every 45 to 180 minutes, with a reminder to stand up and move or simply pause work.
Alternatively, Opera Air offers a choice of relaxation activities (led by real actors, Opera says, and not AI). They include standard breathing exercises, a deeper meditation, and even a “full body scan” that can help you relax the various parts of your body.
A fourth activity, neck exercises, can be synced with your laptop camera to ensure that you’re performing them correctly. This is optional, Opera said. If you turn it on, the information will only be processed locally, the company said.
A summary slide with Opera Air’s new features.Opera
Hands-on with Opera Air
Opera offered me a build of the Opera Air browser to try out in advance of its launch.
On the surface, Opera Air isn’t that different from an ordinary browser. By default, Opera offers to import your bookmarks and other data from another browser, and a brief setup process allows you to pick a theme. When opened, Opera Air puts the customary arrangement of tabs and bookmarks at the top of the page, as well as a hokey inspirational saying — “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf”– at the bottom of the screen.
Opera Air’s new features are hidden in the browser sidebar.Opera
The real innovations, however, are in the new Boosts, as well as the ability to take a guided break.
There’s an old saying: “No whistling in the newsroom.” For some people, simply hearing music — especially if it’s attached to a known song — distracts the brain by causing it to fixate on the song itself. I usually fall into that camp. Each Boost is essentially a pre-configured mix of a predetermined list of ambient music samples, the binaural beat, as well as some ambient nature sounds. (If there was a way to change the background noise of ocean waves to birdcalls, or from soft low-fi music to Brahms, I couldn’t find it.)
Surprisingly, though, it worked. Boosts require headphones or earbuds, and I did have to play around a bit to get the overall volume, and the mix between the various sounds, so that they would fade into the background. But I was surprised to find that I wasn’t distracted, and I began to bang out this article in a mode that I would describe as focused.
I was mildly impressed by the stretching exercises that Opera’s “Take a break” mode offered. Let’s face it: Giving yourself the grace and freedom to actually pause from working for a moment or two is a blessing in itself. The instructors themselves are not particularly impressive, simply leading you through a series of stretching exercises. Turning on my camera (and trying to “break” the instruction) didn’t work, either. I’m also not sure if I was supposed to hold a stretch for a minute or two, or if the process simply glitched.
Opera Air’s “Take a break” offers stretching exercises.Mark Hachman / IDG
I could never be truly sure if some placebo effect was at work, or just being told to essentially pause work, relax, and stretch out cramped muscles was something I could do on my own. But yes, I did feel that setting Opera Air’s Boost to “Peak Concentration” helped me knock out this report, lickety-split.
What does Opera Air need? More configuration options, maybe. I also wouldn’t mind seeing a “startup” and “wind-down” option that would kick in to help users begin and end their workday. But otherwise, I was moderately impressed.
So, yes, I’d say that Opera Air deserves a quick, free download. Setup really takes just a few seconds, and you’re free to keep on using the browser. But let’s face it: The next few years could be among the most stressful of our lifetimes. Could Opera Air alleviate that? Boy, do I hope so. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | RadioNZ - 4 Feb (RadioNZ) Web series - Farewell Guangdong sheds some light on a little-known chapter of New Zealand`s history. Read...Newslink ©2025 to RadioNZ |  |
|  | | PC World - 4 Feb (PC World)It’s hard to find a cheap laptop out there. Well, that’s not quite true. It’s hard to find a cheap laptop that’s actually worth buying.
But today Staples has one that’s a godsend if you’re in the market for an affordable laptop that can run Windows well. The Asus Vivobook 15 is just $379.99, a whopping $220 off its retail price.
I won’t lie to you. This is still a budget model and it’s not going to compete with the latest Zenbook, XPS, or Surface in performance, fit, or finish. But it does have a very recent Intel Core 5 120U processor and 16GB of DDR4 RAM. That’s the bare minimum I would recommend for a Windows laptop these days, considering the memory overhead of the operating system plus a decent web browser.
Other highlights include a 15-inch 1080p screen (non-touch), a surprisingly roomy 512GB SSD, a fingerprint sensor, and a backlit keyboard, which isn’t necessarily a given in this price range. You only get one USB-C port, but there are three USB-A ports and a full-sized HDMI port for easy connections to an external monitor. According to this video, the F104VAP model of this laptop comes with one DDR4 SO-DIMM slot and an M.2 2280 slot available for user upgrade, though I don’t know whether that RAM slot is filled in on this 16GB model.
If there’s one major downside, it’s probably the battery life. Previous Vivobook 15 models didn’t do well in that regard. But for a decently specced laptop under $500 , you’ve gotta make compromises… especially since they might be even harder to find very soon.
Get this Asus laptop with Intel Core 5 and 16GB RAM for $380Buy now at Staples Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 4 Feb (PC World)I think it’s fair to say that people are frustrated with Google these days between the deluge of advertisements and AI-powered results of questionable utility. Normally, swearing at your computer only helps in a placebo effect, but it turns out that throwing in an F-bomb might actually improve the quality of Google search results.
Heads up, there’s going to be a lot of swearing in this article. Absolutely none of which I will enjoy. I’m definitely not giggling like a third grader while I write this, nope.
Ars Technica reports that the latest tech tip making the rounds on social media is that you can disable Google’s Gemini AI-powered search overviews if you add some casual cursing to your search query. Some cursory testing shows that, indeed, modifying your query in this way generally gets rid of the AI Overview.
But after a bit of experimentation, I’ve found that this may or may not translate into meaningfully better results. For example, a Google search for “how to see sold items on ebay” (which I needed for my last PCWorld article) showed the AI Overview, followed by the wrong eBay page, followed by the “People also ask” Google module, followed by the right eBay page (a community forum post).
Changing up the query to “how the fuck do I see sold items on ebay” showed me a YouTube video with a guy making a weird face (which seems to be about 60 percent of YouTube content these days), followed by the same “People also ask” module, and finally a relevant Reddit thread. Both searches gave what I would call “okay” info in a format I didn’t want, and required scrolling to find the actual information I needed in a straightforward way.
Google
For “how to replace ram,” I got an AI Overview followed by a Crucial guide and then a Reddit thread. Pretty good, no scrolling necessary to find info from an authoritative source. Interestingly, “how the hell do I replace ram” gave me a lengthier AI Overview, followed by a bunch of YouTube videos, then that pesky “People also ask” module, then Reddit. An objectively poorer result.
Google
Going a little harder into the PG-13 zone, “how do I replace my goddamn ram” gave me no AI results, a Reddit thread (with the expletive removed automatically), followed by the “People also ask” module, then a CyberPowerPC video on YouTube. That’s a good result if you want instant text-based information, but I’d say it’s about even for the original query in actual utility.
Let’s try one more, a little less focused on tech. “How to poach an egg” gave me an AI Overview, a rather long Downshiftology blog post pointing to a YouTube video, the “People also ask” module (I’m really starting to hate that thing), a bunch of YouTube videos, a Recipes module, then finally a Serious Eats page with a “Jump to recipe” button at the top. A decent bit of scrolling required.
“How the fuck do I poach an egg” gave me a list of instructions immediately, apparently scraped from The Pioneer Woman. That’s a definite win for the potty-mouth searcher.
Google
So it looks like cussing the sky blue at Google might improve your results for some searches, in the same way that adding “reddit” to your query could get you to information coming from actual humans a lot faster… but it’s not a universal cheat code. There’s also the relatively new Web view, which gets rid of auto-generated modules for most searches. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
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