December 14 Tech news roundup: OpenAI launches an AI video generator, Apple Intelligence comes to more countries, Windows Recall is still a mess

Apple Intelligence is now available in 6 more Countries

Apple Intelligence debuted with iOS 18.1 in the U.S. in October. Now, the highly-anticipated AI features are available in 6 more Countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Users can now enable Apple Intelligence in these regions, to access various features that are powered by artificial intelligence. Siri now has ChatGPT integrated into it, and you can use it without signing in to your OpenAI account. You may optionally choose to sign in to your account if you have a ChatGPT Plus subscription, to enjoy the premium features it has to offer.

Apple Intelligence offers options such as Rewrite, Proofread, and Summarize, which you may access via many apps including Notes, Mail, etc. The Image Wand can create images based on a note’s content. Those who wish to create images with AI will find Image Playground useful, it is integrated in many apps including Messaging, and is also available as a standalone app. Camera Control, Visual Intelligence, Genmoji, are some of the features that users can now access on devices with iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2 and macOS 15.2 Sonoma.

While it may seem impressive on paper, the fact remains that Apple Intelligence is still only available for English-speaking users. Naturally, users around the world are not happy with the delay, especially considering how aggressively Apple Intelligence was promoted as a flagship feature. Apple says it plans to release an update in April next year to bring some of the features to more Countries. Apple will add support for Chinese, English (India), English (Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese next year, and has confirmed that Apple Intelligence will be available in the European Union too.

Sora: OpenAI’s video generator is here

OpenAI wants to take AI to the next level after dominating the chatbot industry with ChatGPT. The company has launched Sora, its AI-powered tool that can generate videos from text, images, and videos. Users will be able to use Sora to create videos that are up to 20 seconds long, just by entering text prompts. It is incredible that you can generate a video from scratch just by describing what you want to see. Alternatively, you can also upload some images or videos, and ask the AI tool to create a video based on the media.

Sora has many limitations, primarily to reduce the load on its servers. That’s the reason why Sora isn’t available for free users, or for those with a ChatGPT Team, Enterprise, or Edu subscription. OpenAI has made Sora exclusively available to the ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Pro tiers. The latter was announced last week, and costs $200 per month, but includes unlimited usage of Sora.

Pegasus spyware infections could have been more widespread

The Pegasus spyware could have spread more widely than imagined. While the tool had primary been used to target Government officials, journalists, and activists, a report by iVerify suggests that the spyware which impacted both Android and iOS users, had managed to infect 2500 devices for every 1 million phones.

As part of its Mobile Threat Hunting process, the company has launched an app called iVerify Basic, which helps detect whether a device is infected by Pegasus spyware. Users can purchase the app for $0.99 and install it on their iPhone or Android device, to scan it for Pegasus infections. The app also offers security guides to protect user data. It is unclear how efficiently the app can detect the spyware.

Google Search’s non-personalized results are not anonymous

Google has introduced a new feature for its search engine that allows users to look up queries without personalization. What this aims to deliver are better search results based on a user’s data such as past searches, activity, location, interaction with ads, etc. Google uses your usage to learn how relevant the results are to you, and this happens even when you are not signed in to your account.

Users who land on a search result page on Google’s website on mobile platforms or on PC, can click on the “Try without personalization” option that appears at the bottom of the page, to view results that the company claims are not tailored to your usage.

There are a couple of problems with how the feature has been advertised. These non-personalized results are not truly anonymous, so Google will still use the data to improve its results. When you disable personalization, it also disables Autocomplete. Google has admitted that the feature still relies on some user data to generate the search results, even if a user has activated the “do not personalize” option.

Want a Vertical Taskbar on Windows 11? Get Start11

StarDock has done the impossible, it has given users of the Start11 program the power to move the Windows 11 Taskbar to the sides of the screen. Thousands of users have been requesting Microsoft to add an option for a Vertical Taskbar on Windows 11, but the company has ignored the requests, instead focusing on other areas of the operating system. It is worth mentioning that this feature existed in previous versions of Windows, so the removal of the option had disappointed many users.

Start11, which is a premium app that costs $9.99, has been updated to a beta version v2.5. This new release adds an option that allows you to move the Taskbar to the left or right side of your monitor. All it takes is a couple of clicks to apply the change. It also improves support for left aligned Start Button on multiple screens, you can now use it on more than two monitors. Users have criticized Microsoft for failing to do what a third-party app has achieved.

Windows Recall collects sensitive data even if you tell it not to

Microsoft’s Windows Recall was met with criticism from privacy and security experts, who were alarmed by the privacy risks it posed. The AI powered tool records the screen once every 5 seconds, meaning that it knew anything and everything that you do on your computer. Shortly after, Microsoft pulled Recall from Copilot+ PCs that were launched. However, it did not stop the Redmond company from working on the controversial app.

Recall is currently being tested in Insider Builds, but it appears the company has still not learned its lesson. Now, information has surfaced that says that Windows Recall collects sensitive information even when a user has toggled a filter for sensitive data off. The app reportedly recorded data from Notepad, content in PDF forms in Microsoft Edge, and custom web forms that had user data such as a credit card number, although it did seem to block the information on online stores.