November 16th tech news roundup: Google Gemini launched for iOS, YouTube’s new gesture irks users, OpenAI to launch its own AI agent next year

ChatGPT’s official app for Windows released for everyone

OpenAI has released the official ChatGPT app for all users. The app, which debuted a few months ago, had previously been exclusively available for users with a premium subscription.

Now, anyone with a free account can use the ChatGPT app on their desktop. The program has a keyboard shortcut that lets you access it quickly, even when you are working with other apps. The best part is that the ChatGPT app can be used without opening a web browser, i.e. it functions as a standalone program. Users can interact with the AI-powered chatbot to generate summaries, ask questions, use it for creative writing, etc.

There are some limitations in the free-tier, which are similar to the restrictions that are in place in the web version of the service. ChatGPT Plus users have significant advantages such as support for plugins for third-party services, access to advanced GPT models, Advanced Voice Chat, etc.

YouTube introduces new gesture that annoys users

YouTube has made several changes to its video streaming platform, and one new feature that the company is testing has irked users. Users who watch videos via the YouTube app on their mobile phone will be aware that swiping up on a video switches to full screen mode. Likewise, swiping down the screen exits full screen.

This is changing, YouTube has replaced the full screen swipe gesture with one that suggests new videos. It is not exactly new per se, this is used in YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram. While it may be useful for watching or discovering shorter videos, it does not make sense for using the gesture on longer videos. The good news is that the change is not being implemented for all users, only a few users have been able to access the new feature. Google could change its mind and not decide to replace the gesture permanently.

VMware Fusion and Workstation are now free for commercial and educational use

Six months after making the Pro versions of VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion free for personal use, Broadcom has announced that the two virtualization tools are now free for everyone. You can use the apps for commercial or educational usage. Broadcom has halted the sales of both virtualization programs, but the development of the two hypervisor products have not been stopped, they will proceed as usual. The news comes as a surprise, but a welcome one. There is one drawback though, the company will no longer provide support via its technical channels, and all users will need to rely on community forums, and documentation to troubleshoot issues that they may encounter with Workstation or Fusion.

However, things have not been pleasant for VMware’s enterprise users, several companies have raised their voices against the price hikes imposed by Broadcom. System admins have been switching to alternative platforms like the open-source Proxmox Virtual Environment.

Microsoft Edge may try to import tabs from your browser

Microsoft has found yet another way to advertise its products on Windows 11. This time, it has forced its Edge browser to start up automatically when a PC boots. The browser will display a prompt that advertises the benefits of Edge, such as the capabilities of Copilot AI. It also has an option to bring over your data from other browsers regularly. The sneaky part is that this option is enabled by default, and if you are not paying attention, this will import the tabs from other browsers into Microsoft Edge. This can pose some privacy problems for users who did not intend for their data to be used in such a manner.

This is no accident, Microsoft has confirmed this prompt has been designed on purpose. There is an option to disable the annoying feature.

Google Gemini app released for iOS

Apple is yet to release Apple Intelligence worldwide, but Google has brought its AI app to iOS. The Google Gemini app is now available for iPhone users. Gemini is a free app that you can use to chat with Gemini, and use the chatbot to generate text, get summaries with source links, create images, and connect with various Google apps including Search, Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps.

You can interact with Gemini by typing aka chatting, or your phone’s camera. In addition to this, the app has a new feature called Gemini Live, which allows you to chat with the app using your voice in a conversational style. This feature had debuted on Android just a few weeks ago. Google Gemini also offers an optional Google One AI premium subscription that provides more advanced features.

Gmail app gets new sorting options for search

Gmail is getting some smart features too. The Android version of the email app has some new options that let you sort the search results. These include sorting the mails by relevance or age. It is already available in the web version of Gmail. When the feature is made available in the mobile app, Gmail will display a pop-up to explain how the feature works.

The options appear directly below the filters carousel, in the form of a drop-down menu. You can tap on it to view the Most Recent or Most Relevant results.  This change effectively replaces the previous options which were Results and Top Results. The newer filters are much more efficient to assist users in searching for specific mails in their inbox.

Gmail is improving its alias system

Google is working on making its email alias system better. Gmail’s current system has existed since 2006, and allows users to append some random text at the end of their email address, like [email protected].

The new system that Google is working on is called Shielded Email, and lets users use a temporary email address, including support for custom domains. This can come in handy when you want to prevent sharing your real address with a third-party. All emails that land in the temporary email will be forwarded to your real inbox. Gmail will reportedly also allow replying from a temporary email address. This can be help protect the privacy of users.

OpenAI to launch its AI agent soon

OpenAI is prepping to launch an AI agent called Operator. The AI-powered tool is designed to help users perform tasks by taking over the computer. The agent will be able to program code, book travel, among other things. OpenAI isn’t the only one working on such an agent, Anthropic recently announced a similar tool, and Google is bringing an agent to Chrome. This has raised some privacy concerns among users, so it’ll be interesting to see how these tools evolve.

OpenAI’s Operator is expected to be a step-up in the development of AI technology, as companies are looking beyond the scope of current capabilities, such as generating text and processing images. Several AI agentic systems could be launched in 2025, which in turn will allow businesses to monetize their advancements.