October 19 tech news roundup: iPad Mini 7 launched, YouTube Premium Lite is back, Google Shopping brings a For You feed

Apple announces iPad Mini 7

Apple surprised everyone by announcing the iPad Mini 7 out of the blue. The compact tablet is powered by the A17 Pro chip which has a 6-core CPU, a 5-core GPU, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. It will run on iPadOS 18 out of the box, and is compatible with Apple Intelligence and all of its AI features from generative language, image creation models, etc. Apple’s new iPad is equipped with a 12MP rear camera, and a 12MP ultra-wide front camera. The iPad Mini 7th gen supports the Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil USB-C models. The company says that the tablet will offer up to 10 hours of battery life.

In terms of connectivity, the tablet supports Wi0Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and an eSIM mobile for 5G data networks. The iPad Mini 7 has a USB-C port (3.1 Gen 1) that supports up to 10 Gbps data transfer speeds. Apple has priced the iPad Mini 7 at €599 / $499.

Firefox 131 lets you remove the List All Tabs button

Mozilla came under criticism when it released Firefox 131, as users did not like the huge List All Tabs button. Many users found it distracting, and were annoyed that there was no option to remove the button. The developers soon backtracked on their mistake, and released a patch in the Firefox 131.0.3 update, that allows users to remove the List All Tabs button. The need for the button has been debated by users, as some of its features are also available via the Firefox View button.

Speaking of Firefox 131.0.3, the update fixes another major security issue. The previous version of the browser, Firefox 131.0.2, which had been released just days before the latest version, included a fix for a security vulnerability that was exploited in the wild and patched. Firefox 131.0.3 also ships with fixes for crash problems related to Avast and AVG antivirus software, improvements to Enhanced Tracking Protection which had broken some bank websites, and a rendering issue on YouTube.

Google Shopping to display a For You feed

Google is introducing a change to how its search engine’s results are displayed. The Google Shopping tab will now display a For You feed, which offers a tailored experience based on the user’s interests. How does it work? Well, Google uses your search history and YouTube video history to determine your preferences, and uses the data to personalize your experience.

This is quite similar to the For You feed that is used by TikTok and Instagram. Google Shopping will also list discounted products under a personalized offers tab. Interestingly, the Shopping tab will also display AI-generated summaries related to products, and provide shopping tips to assist users with their purchasing decisions. The personalized results are available on desktop via shopping.google.com, and in the Google mobile app.

YouTube Premium Lite relaunched with limited ads

Google has reintroduced the YouTube Premium Lite subscription. The bad news is, it is nearly unrelated to the old version that was discontinued last year. Unlike the regular YouTube Premium which offers an ad-free experience, YouTube Premium Lite comes with limited ads which may be displayed on licensed music content, or during browsing or searching. Subscribers cannot download videos or watch them offline, or enable background play. YouTube Music Premium is not included as part of the Lite version.

YouTube Premium Lite is only available for users in Australia, Germany, and Thailand.

Apple tackles spam calls with new iOS feature

Apple has announced a new feature called Business Connect, which will prevent spam calls on iOS. As the name suggests, this feature will be exclusive to businesses, i.e. individuals will not be able to use it.

Business Connect is a call identification feature available via the Business Program, when active, the iPhone’s lock screen will display the identity of the business that is calling the user. The Business Caller ID includes additional information such as the company’s name, logo, and department or even the area where the caller is based. These measures are designed to protect business users from spam, fraud and phishing attacks.

One interesting fact about Business Connect is that it not only prevent spam via phone calls, it also supports the Mail app, so it can combat scam emails too. Apple Business Connect will be available in 2025 for iOS 18.

Windows 10 support ends in a year

Microsoft will end support for Windows 10 on October 14th, 2025. That is a year from now. Users will need to update to Windows 11, to continue receiving security updates. There are some major hurdles for users who may want to upgrade to Windows 11. Microsoft’s latest operating system has restrictive system requirements for Windows 11, which may prevent PCs with older hardware from receiving the update.

Buying a new PC can be a very expensive ordeal for many users. A cheaper, if not free option, would be switching to a Linux distro, but that has its own complications. However, users could bypass the restrictions for the Windows 11 upgrade, to install the operating system on their computer. This could lead to problems when a new feature update is released. Another option is to extend Windows 10 support using some third-party tools, or by purchasing a subscription for Microsoft’s Extended Security Updates program. The latter is only available for Business users at the moment, and can be quite expensive.

Google Chrome removes uBlock Origin and other Manifest V2 extensions

Several users have begun seeing pop-up notifications that tell them some of their extensions have been disabled. This includes uBlock Origin. The removal of the popular ad blocker extension has raised privacy concerns amongst users.

Why is this happening? If you see a warning that says “This extension is no longer supported” or “These extensions are no longer supported”, it is because those extensions are outdated and does not support the Manifest V3 API. Google made the API mandatory, and the new permissions are restrictive, especially for ad blockers. There are ways to enable the extensions again.

The first method is to simply select the Keep for now option under Chrome’s Menu > Extensions > Manage Extensions. Another workaround is to extend enterprise support for Chrome. Some users have switched to Firefox, as the browser supports uBlock Origin and other extensions that Chrome removed. Other Chromium-based browsers like Vivaldi or Brave have confirmed they will continue supporting uBlock Origin for the foreseeable future.