Microsoft's Clippy has been resurrected for a cameo appearance in the company's latest Copilot update, which broadly aims to make its AI assistant more friendly, warm, and human-centered in its interactions. Microsoft's Copilot Fall Release introduces Mico – an animated orb that serves as the voice mode's visual companion. Mico (its name a nod to Microsoft Copilot) listens, reacts, and changes colors based on the user's interactions, with the aim of giving the AI chatbot a cuter, more approachable presence. That said, Microsoft's attempt to soften its AI offering could backfire if users tap Mico repeatedly – the action briefly turns Mico into Clippy (officially named Clippit), the animated paperclip assistant that first appeared in Office 97 and became a…

Microsoft has launched new features for its AI "Copilot Mode" in Edge, following a raft of recent new offerings from competing browsers. First announced in July, Copilot Mode brings a chat interface to each Edge tab where users can ask questions, search, or enter URLs directly. The mode can also analyze content across all open tabs simultaneously, meaning users are able to compare products or summarize information from multiple windows. Two new preview features are rolling out to U.S. users. Copilot Actions adds agentic capabilities, letting the AI handle tasks like unsubscribing from emails or making reservations. Actions also includes voice capabilities, allowing users to speak to their browser to open web pages or ask Copilot to find specific topics…

Meta is getting ready to pull support for its desktop Messenger apps on Windows and macOS. Both apps have already been removed from the Microsoft Store and Mac App Store, and existing users are starting to get notifications that the desktop apps will disappear fully in December. A Meta support page, first spotted by Apple Insider, reveals that Mac Messenger app users will have 60 days to use the app before it’s fully deprecated, and then a block will be put in place. The Messenger app on Windows is warning existing users that it will no longer be available on December 14th. The removal of the Messenger desktop apps means existing Windows users will have to use the Facebook app…

It’s been a while since Apple last mocked Windows security, but the iPhone maker has just released an ad that hits Windows hard. The eight-minute commercial pokes fun at the CrowdStrike Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) issue that took down millions of Windows machines last year. Apple’s ad follows The Underdogs, a fictional company that’s about to attend a trade show, before a PC outage causes chaos and a Blue Screen of Death shuts down machines at the convention. If it wasn’t clear Apple was mocking the infamous CrowdStrike incident, an IT expert appears in the middle of the ad and starts discussing kernel-level functionality, the core part of an operating system that has unrestricted access to system memory and…

The European Union wants to assess if Apple, Google, and Microsoft are doing enough to prevent the proliferation of online scams on their platforms. The Financial Times reports that EU regulators are formally requesting information from the three US tech companies under the Digital Services Act regarding their efforts to tackle financial fraud, alongside Booking Holdings, the global accommodation platform that owns Booking.com and other travel sites. “We see that more and more criminal actions are taking place online,” EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen told the publication. “We have to make sure that online platforms really take all their efforts to detect and prevent that kind of illegal content.” Regulators will evaluate how Apple and Google are handling fraudulent applications like fake…

U.S. stocks hit new peaks on Friday, driven by a record-breaking rally as trade talks between the U.S. and China progressed and the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks surged. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4%, the S&P 500 climbed nearly 0.5%, and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7%, boosted by Apple’s stock rally amid excitement for its new iPhone launch. Amalya Dubrovsky, Karen Friar, and Laura Bratton for Yahoo Finance: ‎ All three major indexes hit all-time highs for a second session in a row, ending the week on an upbeat note as the dust settled on the Federal Reserve’s return to interest rate cuts. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq cinched their third straight weekly gains, adding 1.2% and 2.2%,…