July 5 Tech news roundup: Notepad now lets you format text, Chrome fixes fourth zero-day bug of the year, Windows 11 25H2 is coming soon

Microsoft Edge on iOS now supports extensions

iPhone and iPad users, rejoice! Microsoft Edge now supports extensions on iOS and iPadOS. However, the feature is hidden behind a flag that you need to change manually, instructions to do this are available here.

Now, it doesn’t support all extensions by default, as the feature is still in beta. Instead, Microsoft Edge on iOS has a small collection of about 11 add-ons that you can choose from. It doesn’t support any ad blocker or password manager extensions at the moment, but Edge does come with a built-in ad blocker. Despite the limited availability of extensions, this is a major improvement which should give the browser an edge over rivals like Chrome, Firefox, Brave, etc., which lack the ability to install extensions. Microsoft says that support for more add-ons is coming soon.

Windows 11 Notepad gets formatting options

Notepad is no longer just a plain-text editor. You can now use it to format text into bold and italics styling. Bold of you. In addition to this, Windows 11’s default text editor now supports Markdown syntax for formatting text. It allows you to create lists, headings, add hyperlinks (URLs), etc. These features are optional, and can be turned off with a single-click from Notepad’s settings. With features like tabs, autosave, spell check, Notepad is slowly evolving into a really good editor. But, Microsoft did pollute it with Copilot AI-powered features, though you can turn them off as well.

The formatting features are rolling out to users slowly, so it may take a while before it is available for you.

Chrome patches zero-day threat that was actively exploited

Google Chrome has been updated to patch a security issue that has been actively exploited by hackers. Shockingly, this happens to be the fourth such zero-day threat that has been found in the browser since the beginning of 2025.

The latest threat was discovered by Google’s own security research team called Threat Analysis Group. Researchers, Clement Lecigne and Benoît Sevens, discovered that V8 JavaScript engine had a type confusion flaw. Google managed to patch it the next day and has rolled out a security fix in Chrome 138.0.7204.96/.97 for Windows, 138.0.7204.92/.93 for Mac and 138.0.7204.96 for Linux. You should update Chrome as soon as possible to protect yourself from the vulnerability.

Google to roll out mandatory update to fix Pixel 6A battery problem

Google has announced that it will roll out an Android 16 update for the Pixel 6A next week. This update is a mandatory one, i.e. you can’t skip it, the phone will download it, install it and reboot automatically. Google is doing this to protect Pixel 6A devices from an overheating problem that is related to the battery. Some users had shared images of their Pixel 6A catching fire, prompting Google to investigate the issue. The Mountain View company confirmed that the batteries were prone to overheating after reaching 400 charge cycles.

In a bid to mitigate the issue, Google is releasing a mandatory software update that will throttle the battery charging, and in turn the capacity. Users with Pixel 6A phones that have reached 375 charge cycles will see a notification that informs them about the problem, and the update. Google is also offering a one-time free battery replacement for devices that are impacted in some Countries.

Vivaldi gets a new tab context menu, customizable tab stacks

Vivaldi browser has been updated to version 7.5, and the new version ships with some cool improvements. It now lets you customize tab stacks (tab groups) by renaming them, and assigning a specific color to tabs that belong to the same stack.  The context menu that appears when you right-click on tabs has also been improved, which Vivaldi says is faster and more intuitive. Quick Commands now lists tabs that have been synced, and handles errors in a better way

Vivaldi 7.5 fixes some quirks with the address bar, improves the ad blocker by adding support for badfilter, strict3p, and strict1p rules. Users can now use a custom DNS provider in Vivaldi, with support for DNS over HTTPS.

Opera 120 brings privacy-friendly translation for web pages

Opera 120 is now available, and the new version of the browser brings a privacy-friendly option to translate web pages. The built-in translator uses Lingvanex, which is self-hosted by Opera on European servers. This is a nice alternative to Google and Microsoft Translate, which sends data back to the companies. To translate a web page, click on the translate icon that appears when you visit a foreign language web page, you can choose to translate the text into your preferred language. It can also be configured to automatically translate web pages, or to never translate certain languages. Opera 120 also includes some improvements to the Split Screen browsing mode, the feature is now compatible with Opera’s Tab Island option that lets you group tabs.

Opera has overhauled the built-in password manager’s UI, which the developers say is more user-friendly.

Windows 11 25H2 is coming soon, tests already underway

It may seem like Windows 11 24H2 was only released recently, but Microsoft has already confirmed that Windows 11 25H2 is coming soon. The next feature update for the desktop operating system is being tested as part of the Windows Insider Preview program. It is unclear what features it could bring But based on recent improvements that were announced, we could see the animated GIF creator in Snipping Tool, scrollable Start Menu, idle power management, redesigned home page for Recall, among other things.

Windows 11 24H2 has had a very rough year and drew criticism from users, admins for being buggy, causing performance problems, breaking compatibility with games, etc. Hopefully, Microsoft will do a better job with Windows 11 25H2.

Intel Unison has been discontinued

The Intel Unison app has been discontinued, which is a shame considering there are few alternatives that do what it could. Unison allowed users to connect their PCs to phones wirelessly to manage calls, texts, send files, etc. Microsoft Phone Link is the closest replacement to it, but is sadly not as good, and is restricted to Windows. There are open source alternatives such as KDE Connect, Local Send, Syncthing, that users can consider.

It’s worth noting that Intel Unison will continue to work on Lenovo Aura devices until the end of the year.