May 17 tech news roundup: YouTube’s AI will annoy you with ads, Apple says no to Fortnite again, Google Chrome won’t run with admin rights

YouTube has introduced an AI feature, but you won’t like it

YouTube is at it again, it has found another way to display advertisements to viewers. Google has announced a new feature called Peak Points, which is a new tool for YouTube advertisers. Peak Points has been designed to display ads to users at the most engaging moments of videos. As you may have guessed, it is an AI-powered feature, which uses Google’s Gemini to identify key moments in videos to display an ad.

The AI is trained on transcripts of videos and video elements such as frames, to determine the key points in a video, which is used as the best moment for an ad break. Google thinks that this increases the value of ads, and that these ads will make more impressions and click-throughs than regular ads. YouTube is currently testing Peak Points, and it could roll out to more users and advertisers.

Users are already criticizing the move, calling it yet another ploy to push users towards YouTube Premium.

Microsoft is testing “Hey, Copilot” wake word

Microsoft wants users to use Copilot, and it won’t stop adding new ways that people can try its AI. This time, the Redmond company is testing a wake word, “Hey, Copilot“.
Haven’t we heard this before? Oh, that’s right, “Hey, Cortana”. Well, it didn’t work out for Cortana, but that was mostly because nobody liked the app. Copilot on the other hand is significantly popular.

And like I said, it’s everywhere. It is available in Office apps, on your Windows taskbar, in Microsoft Edge, and it’s even available as an app for your Android and iOS phones. People are using it, whether because they like it, or because Microsoft’s trickery is working, but the point is Copilot is successful. In fact, it is so popular that Bing has managed to gain users who once preferred Google.

The “Hey, Copilot” wake word, when spoken, will activate the AI-powered assistant on your computer, provided that your PC is unlocked. Copilot will play a chime, and display a microphone icon on the screen to indicate that it is listening to your query.

Early user feedback indicate people have some privacy concerns. Microsoft says that the app does not start the recording process immediately after the wake word is activated. Instead, there is a ten-second buffer, during which the app listens to your query. If there is no interaction, the call is cancelled automatically. Once your query has been made, Copilot will send it to its server to fetch an answer to assist you.

Apple blocks Fortnite launch on iOS App Store

Apple has blocked Epic Games’ Fortnite submission on the U.S. and European App Stores. The news comes just a week after the company had proudly announced the return of the popular online video game, and this got fans excited. However, their joy was short-lived, as Apple has rejected Fortnite’s return. This comes as a surprise, considering that Epic Games had publicly announced that it had submitted a version of Fortnite that supports Apple’s payment system, along with a third-party payment method.

Apple and Epic Games have been feuding since 2020, when the latter dragged the former to court, accusing it of abusing its power to remove Fortnite from the iOS App Store worldwide. Apple however claimed that it was Epic’s fault since it had breached the App Store guidelines, and included an option to buy in-app purchases using its own payment gateway. A judge ruled in Apple’s favor, but things have changed since then. Apple was asked to allow third-party payment systems in the U.S., and the EU.

The Cupertino company’s implementation has been widely criticized for charging a 27% commission fee on transactions made outside its ecosystem. Recently, a U.S. Federal Judge ruled that Apple had willfully violated an injunction, and ordered it to stop charging the additional fee from developers. Epic Games called it a major victory and announced that it would bring Fortnite back to iOS. It was also willing to drop the lawsuit if Apple agreed to drop charging the additional fee worldwide. But, things have not worked out as expected. But there’s still hope, Epic is said to be working on using its European developer account to get Fortnite back. Whether it succeeds in this attempt remains to be seen.

Google Chrome will no longer run with admin rights, here’s why

Google Chrome will not launch with elevated privileges anymore. Microsoft engineer, Stefan Smolen, who submitted the commit to Chromium’s source code, explained that this feature has been present in Microsoft Edge since 2019. Smolen also advised users that it is not a good idea to run a browser with administrator rights, as it could grant files downloaded from the internet full access to the operating system. This could lead to a malware infection, data theft, etc. When Chrome detects it is running with admin rights, it will restart without the privileges.  There is a command-line fallback to prevent it from automatically launching should it start with admin privileges even after restarting.

Preventing administrator access to Chrome is an excellent way to protect users. People who use automation tools to run Chrome processes in automation mode need not be concerned whether this change would affect their workflow. Google has confirmed that it will not block the browser from functioning in such scenarios.

Valve’s SteamOS compatibility ratings are now available non Steam Deck devices

Third-party gaming consoles are launching with SteamOS by default. The first non-Steam Deck device that will run on Valve’s Linux-based operating system is the Lenovo Legion Go S. And to help such handhelds that adopt its OS, Valve has announced a new system called SteamOS compatibility ratings.

While the Steam Deck has Steam Deck Verified ratings, these are exclusive to Valve’s handheld. The new SteamOS Compatibility ratings are exclusive to third-part systems, and the games will always have a rating that is higher than the Steam Deck. That makes sense, new devices will have better hardware than the Steam Deck. This is great news for people who buy those devices, as they can find out whether their SteamOS console can run the games they want.

Valve is hoping more devices will adopt SteamOS, and rumors indicate that it could come to computers too. This could challenge Windows as a gaming platform.