Technology

New? There's a hidden file on xp that records all your emails and web browsing.

The only new part is it's now AI driven?

At a glance this sounds even more intrusive than it's been with Win10 (and maybe 11?), and sadly it's no surprise as even without AI junk, I think the defaults with Win10 (and maybe 11) are to track your PC use to try to provide some "convenience" features, e.g. display of recently used programs/accessed files when you go to open a new desktop (Win key + Tab).

If they would be more transparent about this and indicate whether and how much of that info, "anonymized/depersonalized" or not, is being taken by them, I think people would still be understandably annoyed but more understanding; at least with an easy opt out or better still, the default being that you must opt in for any of it.

At this point, I’m afraid to even boot up my windows partition. It’s only there to build windows versions of my software, but maybe that’s not worth it.

It also allows users to search through teleconference meetings they've participated in

I think that this may not be legal for users to have their computer doing in some states. Some states require you to notify the other party before recording phone or videoconference sessions. Maybe if it's not saving audio, it's okay?

EDIT: Yeah, someone on the original beehaw post raised that issue as well.

Windoes gonna trash some SSDs

This is the best summary I could come up with:

At a Build conference event on Monday, Microsoft revealed a new AI-powered feature called "Recall" for Copilot+ PCs that will allow Windows 11 users to search and retrieve their past activities on their PC.

To make it work, Recall records everything users do on their PC, including activities in apps, communications in live meetings, and websites visited for research.

By performing a Recall action, users can access a snapshot from a specific time period, providing context for the event or moment they are searching for.

For example, someone with access to your Windows account could potentially use Recall to see everything you've been doing recently on your PC, which might extend beyond the embarrassing implications of pornography viewing and actually threaten the lives of journalists or perceived enemies of the state.

Despite the privacy concerns, Microsoft says that the Recall index remains local and private on-device, encrypted in a way that is linked to a particular user's account.

To use Recall, users will need to purchase one of the new "Copilot Plus PCs" powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chips, which include the necessary neural processing unit (NPU).

The original article contains 596 words, the summary contains 188 words. Saved 68%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Why do I hear all the teenage boys screaming in horror?

I find the concept interesting anyways, does anybody know of an open source alternative?

Welp, can't say I'm surprised at this point

records everything you've done

It records the past!? Holy shit! That's amazing!

How is this not bigger news? How does it do it?

My powerful laptop with Windows is already waaaaay slower than my older laptop with Linux. How much slower will it be with this nonsense? These people should switch places with the homeless.

Is the AI/copilot integration already rolled out to end users? I haven't seen it myself, but I'm in the EU where it's apparently disabled by default (and I'd like to keep it disabled).