Its a treasure trove of wholesome forgotten memories.

Despite shared concerns about Googles power, critics of the company and former executives express little agreement on what, if anything, can really be done to increase competition.

The Echo Show 21 is the largest yet, plus the Echo Show 15 gets a second generation.

Gautam Adani and his associates were accused of paying more than $250 million in bribes to obtain lucrative solar energy contracts.

The company, which dominates the market for chips used to build artificial intelligence, expects another big jump in the current quarter.

MacworldApple has offered a Retouch tool in the macOS Photos app for several releases. This brush-like tool lets you paint over an area or in spots and have Photos interpolate detail, removing noise and dust.Starting in macOS 15.1 Sequoia, however, some readers who rely on Retouch noticed it disappeared. Thats because Apple added a more powerful but still in-progress replacement feature: Clean Up. Clean relies on Apple Intelligence, the companys beta machine-learning product. You need an M1 or later Apple silicon Mac.If youre using an M-series Mac, when you double-click an image and click Edit, and click Adjust in the button at the top of the editing window, Retouch no longer appears in the right-hand adjustment list. Instead, a new Clean Up button is available at the top of the screen. Click that, and you can adjust a Size slider and click, circle, or paint an area on a photo.Clean Up seems to work best on small areas and in removing certain kinds of distractions, like power lines, people in the background of a photo, or objects. When I drag or circle larger areas instead of painting, the results are quite poor compared to the control offered in Retouch.Retouch isnt perfect, but it seems to smooth out dust from the top-right of an iPad mini without being too obstrusive (left). Circling an area with Clean Up removed some dust with no trace, but then made other splotches more extreme (right).FoundryThe trouble is, you cant opt to return to Retouch. Even if you disable Apple Intelligence in > System Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri, Clean Up still remains in Photos, and Retouch is still missing. While Apple Intelligence remains in beta, you would think Apple would offer a switch between the two or keep both in place. Unfortunately, its provided a dubious upgrade that youll have to suffer through (orrevert to 15.0 Sequoia).This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Martin.Ask Mac 911Weve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently, along with answers and links to columns:read our super FAQto see if your question is covered. If not, were always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours tomac911@macworld.com, including screen captures as appropriate and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered; we dont reply to emails, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.

MacworldIs Apple finally going to make a real effort into the smart home market? In this episode of the Macworld Podcast, well examine a few recent reports on some rumored products: an iPad-like control center, smart home cameras, an Apple television set, and more!This is episode 910 with Jason Cross, Michael Simon, and Roman Loyola.Watch episode 910 on YouTubeListen to episode 910 on Apple PodcastsListen to episode 910 on SpotifyGet infoFor more information about the topics discussed on the show, click on the links below.Apples next big thing may be a smart iPad you can hang on your wallApple may be gearing up to launch its first smart home cameraBelieve it or not, an Apple TV set is still a possibilityA new AirTag is coming next year with enhanced privacy, security featuresApples next HomePod might be more robot than speakerSubscribe to the Macworld PodcastYou can subscribe to the Macworld Podcastor leave us a review!right here in the Podcasts app. The Macworld Podcast is also available on Spotify and on the Macworld Podcast YouTube channel. Or you can point your favorite podcast-savvy RSS reader at: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/macworldTo find previous episodes, visit Macworlds podcast page or our home on MegaPhone.Apple

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Microsoft atthis weeksIgnite conferenceunveiled new Copilot Studio features aimed at both expanding the functionality of AI agents createdwiththe application and improving the accuracy of outputs.Copilot Studio wasunveiled at last years eventas a way to customize Microsofts generative AI(genAI)copilot assistants for different business use cases. Since then,the companyhas stepped up its messaging aroundAI agents that can perform a wider variety of taskson behalf of workers.Among thelatestupdates to Copilot Studio is the ability to connect agents to third-party applications such as Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Zendesk.The goal is toprovide access to real-time knowledge that helps answer complex questions, Microsoft said. Thatfeature is now in preview.[ Related: Microsoft Ignite 2024 news and insights ]In addition, Copilot Studio now integrates with the newAzure AI Foundryto enable access to a wider range of data within an organization, Omar Aftab, vice president ofconversational AI at Microsoft,saidin ablog post. By connecting all their data sources, organizations can see that agents are more grounded in their business data and provide specific, high-quality responses, he said.There are also new multimodal AI enhancements to Copilot Studio agents.Users canembed an agent built in Copilot Studio into an interactive voice system (used in automated voice calls for customer service, for example) to create speech enabled agents, said Aftab.These can also be embedded in various applications, standalone kiosks, concierge systems, and more, he said. And Copilot Studio agents can now analyze images, allowing users to upload files and ask questions aboutthem.Microsoft has also opened accessin a public previewto autonomous agent builder tools in Copilot Studio, asannounced last month. Makers can now build agents that work on their behalf, without having to prompt the agent, saving human hours and increasing efficiency, said Aftab. They can create these agents from scratch or configure agents that are prebuilt in Copilot Studio.Theres an agent library to help users get started,too, (also in public preview), with pre-built agents tailored to common work processes such as leave management, sales orders and deal acceleration, Microsoft said.Among the other announcements Tuesday is the ability to build customized agents with a streamlined Copilot Studio experience thats now embedded in the BizChat interface of Microsoft 365 Copilot. These agents are created using natural language directions, and can be given access to enterprise data held in apps such as Dynamics 365 and SharePoint. There are also pre-built agents,includingan Employee Self-Service agent.Copilot Studio can address some of the shortcomings of a horizontal tool such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, which often requires a lot of guidance to access the right data, and may produce hallucinations,said J.P. Gownder, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester.The Copilot Studio tools help to fill this gap by allowing organizations to create more finely tuned solutions that nevertheless are a lot easier and cheaper than training a model from scratch, he said.Improved tuning and sourcing in Copilot Studio allows more retrieval augmented generation(RAG)-based approaches, said Gownder, which specifies data more precisely, reducing the likelihood of both vague outputs and hallucinations. The ability to use custom Azure AI Search indexes as a knowledge sourceforcustom RAG scenariosanother of the Copilot Studio updates at Igniteallows for more specific, contextual, and accurate outcomes, he said.Being able to then take these Copilot Studio agents and plug them into Microsoft 365 Copilot could democratize some of these innovations, allowing employees to tap into them right in their flow of work, said Gownder.This heightened context, accuracy, and specificity could solve some of the problems that enterprise leaders have cited as downsides to M365 Copilot.Microsoft has rolled out a lot of Copilot solutions with sunny story lines that enterprises arent always able to replicate in their own environments, said Gownder. So, while the Copilot Studio announcements sound promising, we must wait and see if they truly work as advertised to create value.

Once again, global greenhouse-gas emissions are projected to hit a new high in 2024.In this time of shifting political landscapes and ongoing international negotiations, many are quick to blame one country or another for an outsize role in causing climate change. But assigning responsibility is complicated. These three visualizations help explain why and provide some perspective about the worlds biggest polluters.Greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil fuels and industry reached 37.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2024, according to projections from the Global Carbon Budget, an annual emissions report released last week. Thats a 0.8% increase over last year.Breaking things down by country, China is far and away the single biggest polluter today, a distinction it has held since 2006. The country currently emits roughly twice as much greenhouse gas as any other nation. The power sector is its single greatest source of emissions as the grid is heavily dependent on coal, the most polluting fossil fuel.The US is the worlds second-biggest polluter, followed by India. Combined emissions from the 27 nations that make up the European Union are next, followed by Russia and Japan.Considering a countrys current emissions doesnt give the whole picture of its climate responsibility, though. Carbon dioxide is stable in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. That means greenhouse gases from the first coal power plant, which opened in the late 19th century, are still having a warming effect on the planet today.Adding up each countrys emissions over the course of its history reveals that the US has the greatest historical contributionthe country is responsible for about 24% of all the climate pollution released into the atmosphere as of 2023. While its the biggest polluter today, China comes in second in terms of historical emissions, at 14%.If the EUs member states are totaled as one entity, the group is among the top historical contributors as well. According to an analysis published November 19 by the website Carbon Brief, China passed EU member states in terms of historical emissions in 2023 for the first time.China could catch up with the West in the coming decades, as its emissions are significant and still growing, while the US and EU are seeing moderate declines.Even then, though, theres another factor to consider: population. Dividing a countrys total emissions by its population reveals how the average individual in each nation is contributing to climate change today.Countries with smaller populations and economies that are heavily reliant on oil and gas tend to top this list, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.Among the larger nations, Australia has the highest per capita emissions from fossil fuels, with the US and Canada close behind. Meanwhile, other countries that have high total emissions are farther down the list when normalized by population: Chinas per capita emissions are just over half that of the US, while Indias is a small fraction.Understanding the complicated picture of global emissions is crucial, especially during ongoing negotiations (including the current meeting at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan) over how to help developing nations pay for efforts to combat climate change.Looking at current emissions, one might expect the biggest emitter, China, to contribute more than any other country to climate finance. But considering historical contributions, per capita emissions, and details about national economies, other nations like the US, UK, and members of the EU emerge as those experts tend to say should feature prominently in the talks.What is clear is that when it comes to the emissions blame game, its more complicated than just pointing at todays biggest polluters. Ultimately, addressing climate change will require everyone to get on boardwe all share an atmosphere, and were all going to continue feeling the effects of a changing climate.Notes on data methodology:Emissions data is from the Global Carbon Project, which estimates carbon emissions based on energy use. Territorial emissions take into account energy and some industry, but dont include land use emissions.Data from the European Union is the sum of its current 27 member states. The bloc is represented together because the EU generally negotiates together on the international stage.Historical emissions for some countries are disaggregated from former borders, including the former USSR and Yugoslavia.The per capita emissions map uses official World Bank boundaries, with the exception of Taiwan, which has separate emissions data in the Global Carbon Project.Western Saharas energy data are reported by Morocco, so its emissions are included in that total. Per capita emissions for Morocco are also used for Western Sahara on the map.More detailed information about the Global Carbon Project methods (including the particulars on how territorial emissions are broken down) is available here.