Update For Windows Live Hotmail

By Digital Trends Staff Published October 25, 2009

Update For Windows Live Hotmail

If you logged into Hotmail yesterday, you’ll have first seen a screen announcing a new look for the service. As Microsoft said in its blurb:

“No big changes – more like a repainted room than a remodeled house. We’ve just made a few improvements to Hotmail based on feedback from customers like you.”

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The look is indeed slightly different, and there is a choice of themes for those who want them, but there are a few other things that users will find more useful.

Contact Picker, for instance, simplifies looking up contacts when writing a mail, and there’s also a predictive text feature in addresses, much like Google’s Gmail.

A reading pane allows users to preview messages either to the right side or bottom of the inbox, a feature reminiscent of Outlook.

Microsoft claims the new service will offer 70% faster access to their mail, and new features set for the coming months will include greater storage and the ability to send instant messages from the inbox.

Digital Trends Staff

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Computing

Windows Notepad is about to get way more useful

Microsoft is bringing AI capabilities to its simplistic Notepad app, which is known for its plain text functions, such as saving in .txt files.

The new feature, called Rewrite will allow you to generate alternative text to fit your specific needs. You’ll be able to modify the text to be longer, shorter, or to be written in a certain tone or format. The feature will generate three variations for you to select, and you will also have the option to retry if none of the results meet your standards.

Computing

ChatGPT: the latest news and updates on the AI chatbot that changed everything

ChatGPT app running on an iPhone.

In the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, ChatGPT stands out as a groundbreaking development that has captured global attention. From its impressive capabilities and recent advancements to the heated debates surrounding its ethical implications, ChatGPT continues to make headlines.

Whether you're a tech enthusiast or just curious about the future of AI, dive into this comprehensive guide to uncover everything you need to know about this revolutionary AI tool.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT (which stands for Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is an AI chatbot, meaning you can ask it a question using natural language prompts and it will generate a reply. Unlike less-sophisticated voice assistant like Siri or Google Assistant, ChatGPT is driven by a large language model (LLM). These neural networks are trained on huge quantities of information from the internet for deep learning — meaning they generate altogether new responses, rather than just regurgitating canned answers. They're not built for a specific purpose like chatbots of the past — and they're a whole lot smarter. The current version of ChatGPT is based on the GPT-4 model, which was trained on all sorts of written content including websites, books, social media, news articles, and more — all fine-tuned in the language model by both supervised learning and RLHF (Reinforcement Learning From Human Feedback).
When was ChatGPT released?
OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022. When it launched, the initial version of ChatGPT ran atop the GPT-3.5 model. In the years since, the system has undergone a number of iterative advancements with the current version of ChatGPT using the GPT-4 model family. GPT-5 is reportedly just around the corner. GPT-3 was first launched in 2020, GPT-2 released the year prior to that, though neither were used in the public-facing ChatGPT system.
Upon its release, ChatGPT's popularity skyrocketed literally overnight. It grew to host over 100 million users in its first two months, making it the most quickly-adopted piece of software ever made to date, though this record has since been beaten by the Twitter alternative, Threads. ChatGPT's popularity dropped briefly in June 2023, reportedly losing 10% of global users, but has since continued to grow exponentially.
How to use ChatGPT
First, go to chatgpt.com. If you'd like to maintain a history of your previous chats, sign up for a free account. You can use the system anonymously without a login if you prefer. Users can opt to connect their ChatGPT login with that of their Google-, Microsoft- or Apple-backed accounts as well. At the sign up screen, you'll see some basic rules about ChatGPT, including potential errors in data, how OpenAI collects data, and how users can submit feedback. If you want to get started, we have a roundup of the best ChatGPT tips.

Computing

Security experts warn of new hacker strategy targeting Windows drivers

hacker, cybersecurity

As if there weren't enough threats to your Windows computer already, here is another one to be careful with. Kaspersky reports that tens of thousands of compromised PCs are infected as cybercriminals advertise fake activators and cracks to lure in unsuspecting users for distinct software such as AutoCAD, JetBrains, and Foxit PDF Editor.

The malicious package named SteelFox has been quietly spreading since February 2023, but its distribution has exploded recently. The malware is dispersed using torrent trackers and forums, where it is used as a tool to activate authentic versions of the previously mentioned software.