Month: November 2023

Enlarge (credit: picture alliance / Contributor | picture alliance)

Apple has officially joined Meta and TikTok in appealing the European Union's designation of their services as "gatekeepers" under the Digital Markets Act (DMA)—a strict EU antitrust law aimed at "preventing gatekeepers from imposing unfair conditions on businesses and end users" and "ensuring the openness of important digital services."

On Friday, the EU Court of Justice confirmed the Apple appeal in a post on X. No other details about Apple's legal challenge have been made public, Reuters reported. But last week, sources told Bloomberg that Apple's appeal was expected to oppose gatekeeper status of its App Store, iOS operating system, and Safari browser. That report, however, noted that sources had only seen a draft of the appeal, which could have been edited ahead of filing.

Apple had previously argued that its App Store could be considered not one software application marketplace, but five distinct marketplaces offered across five devices: iPhones, iPads, Mac computers, Apple TVs, and Apple Watches. Following this logic, only the iOS App Store should be considered a gatekeeper, Apple argued. Ultimately, the EU disagreed, saying that the "nature, function, and usage of the different devices on which the App Store can be accessed" does not "alter the common purpose the App Store serves across all Apple's devices."

Enlarge (credit: Microsoft)

In the last two years, Windows 11 has ushered in significant updates for most of Windows' built-in apps, and things like the system tray, Start menu, Settings app, and taskbar have continuously evolved with each new update. But few of these changes have been made available for Windows 10, which is still, by every publicly available metric, the most-used version of Windows on the planet. (Notable exceptions include the redesigned Outlook app and continued development of Microsoft Edge.)

Today, the company is making a major exception: The new AI-powered Windows Copilot feature from Windows 11 is being backported to Windows 10 and will be available in the Windows Insider Release Preview channel for Windows 10. This version of Copilot, which will be branded as a preview at first, will be available for the Home and Pro versions of Windows 10. But it won't be available for the "managed" versions of Windows 10 just yet—Enterprise and Education editions, as well as Pro PCs that are joined to a domain or are otherwise managed by an IT department.

"We are hearing great feedback on Copilot in Windows (in preview) and we want to extend that value to more people," writes Microsoft in a separate blog post. "For this reason, we are revisiting our approach to Windows 10 and will be making additional investments to make sure everyone can get the maximum value from their Windows PC including Copilot in Windows (in preview)."

Enlarge / If you have a bunch of Windows systems, Microsoft now has an app for that. It's called "Windows App." Microsoft just has a certain way with naming things. (credit: Microsoft)

It feels strange to say it, but it's true: There is an app called, simply, "Windows." It's available for early testing on Mac, iOS and iPad, the web, Windows, and eventually Android, and it's made by Microsoft. The fact that it exists, with such a strong and simple name, says something larger than the rather plain and starting-stage app it is now.

"Windows App," as named by Microsoft in a rare bit of minimalism, is essentially a convenient remote desktop connection to a Windows OS on a physical system, an Azure virtual desktop, a Dev Box, or elsewhere. There are some other tricks you can pull off, too, like using your local device's webcam, speakers, and printer connections with your remote Windows system. But you can easily read a "Windows app" for multiple platforms, including web browsers generally, as being the next step in Microsoft's slow march toward making a virtual Windows OS something that seems convenient for everybody, whether on a business or personal account.

At the moment, you need a work or school account with Microsoft to use most of the features beyond a traditional remote desktop connection. To use a remote desktop connection, the Windows instance you're connecting to must be running a Pro edition, as Home lacks the ability to host a remote desktop connection. There are, of course, many ways to connect to a remote PC from nearly any device, including RealVNC and others.

Enlarge / Artist's conception of the CRISPR system in action, with the guide RNA (red) leading a protein to a specific site in the genomic DNA (blue) where it makes a cut. (credit: Stephen Dixon and Feng Zhang)

The UK has become the first country to approve a therapy based on Crispr gene editing, with the regulator authorizing a treatment for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has approved the therapy, called Casgevy, which was developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Crispr Therapeutics. The drug could be used to replace bone marrow transplants.

The UK regulator has promised to focus on speeding the most innovative treatments to market after being given permission from next year to cut its workload by following other countries’ recommendations on approvals of other drugs. It had been struggling to keep up because of a lack of resources after the UK left the EU, where it had been a key part of the bloc’s regulatory agency.