Apple (xip, downloads):
Xcode 26.1 includes Swift 6.2.1 and SDKs for iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, tvOS 26.1, macOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1. Xcode 26.1 supports on-device debugging in iOS 15 and later, tvOS 15 and later, watchOS 8 and later, and visionOS. Xcode 26.1 requires a Mac running macOS Sequoia 15.6 or later.
Steve Troughton-Smith:
It might be just me, but Xcode 26.1 seems to have thrown a grenade into the visionOS build process. Getting things to build with the right deployment targets and the correct images in the assets catalog is a mess
Steve Troughton-Smith:
PSA: from what I’ve seen, Xcode 26.1 ignores your minimum deployment target for visionOS apps, and sets it to 26.1. Re-setting it to the intended version does seem to work. Saw this across a bunch of my projects. I haven’t checked if it does this for iOS or other platforms, but that’s a nasty bug to slip through…
Paul Haddad:
Xcode 26.1 still doesn’t seem to let you get rid of the AI icon from the Toolbar, but hey at least it still works on Sequoia.
James Thomson:
Xcode 26.1 seemingly removes the undocumented “—enable-icon-stack-fallback-generation=disabled” flag for actool, which enabled you to supply different icons for older systems.
It also means if you have lots of alternative icons, you’re back to extensive rebuild times as it re-renders all those icons every single time you touch your asset catalog.
I do not recommend updating to Xcode 26.1 if you, like me, are relying on this flag.
Previously:
Asset Catalog (.car) Mac macOS Tahoe 26 Programming Xcode
Thomas Claburn (Hacker News, Slashdot):
Among the software developers who use Microsoft’s GitHub, the most popular community discussion in the past 12 months has been a request for a way to block Copilot, the company’s AI service, from generating issues and pull requests in code repositories.
The second most popular discussion – where popularity is measured in upvotes – is a bug report that seeks a fix for the inability of users to disable Copilot code reviews.
Both of these questions, the first opened in May and the second opened a month ago, remain unanswered, despite an abundance of comments critical of generative AI and Copilot.
Sergiu Gatlan (Hacker News):
“Starting in October 2025, Microsoft will begin automatically installing the Microsoft 365 Copilot app on Windows devices [outside Europe] that have Microsoft 365 desktop client apps,” the company said in a Microsoft 365 message center update on Friday.
[…]
While the newly installed app will be added to the Windows Start Menu and enabled by default, IT administrators responsible for managing Microsoft 365 app deployments will be able to opt out in the Apps Admin Center.
Pierre Igot:
Once Microsoft introduced its AI crap (Copilot) in its Office apps and forced me to pay for the “upgrade”, even though it initially was possible to completely turn it off, I knew it wouldn’t take long before it would invade my work environment.
Sure enough, a couple of months later, even though I still have everything turned off under “Privacy”, I now have all kinds of Copilot-related controls in PowerPoint that I cannot remove or make disappear. (And of course they don’t work.)
Pierre Igot:
Example of Copilot now interfering with my work in Microsoft PowerPoint even though I’ve turned off everything I could: If the text spills beyond the frame at the bottom, the floating button that I cannot turn off hides the left side of the text.
Emma Roth (Slashdot):
Microsoft Excel is testing a new AI-powered function that can automatically fill cells in your spreadsheets, which is similar to the feature that Google Sheets rolled out in June. You would use the “COPILOT” function followed by a natural language prompt and (optionally) specify the cells you want it to reference; the AI would then classify information, generate summaries, create tables, and more.
[…]
Microsoft notes that you can combine its new AI function with other Excel functions, including IF, SWITCH, LAMBDA, or WRAPROWS. The company adds that information sent through Excel’s COPILOT function is “never” used for AI training, as “the input remains confidential and is used solely to generate your requested output.”
The COPILOT function comes with a couple of limitations, as it can’t access information outside your spreadsheet, and you can only use it to calculate 100 functions every 10 minutes. Microsoft also warns against using the AI function for numerical calculations or in “high-stakes scenarios” with legal, regulatory, and compliance implications, as COPILOT “can give incorrect responses.”
Dare Obasanjo:
This is going to cause some hilarious and disastrous results as people inevitably forget about hallucinations and use this to crunch numbers.
Avram Piltch:
As of the latest Windows Insider Dev and Beta builds, the “Ask Copilot anything” box is available if you know how to switch it on.
Though it’s off by default, using the Copilot search box feels like glancing into the future. As Microsoft has become more aggressive about pushing its AI services, we can totally see this becoming a default part of the UI.
Previously:
Artificial Intelligence Copilot AI GitHub GitHub Copilot Microsoft Excel Microsoft Office Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft Word Web Windows 11
Tom Warren:
The AI-powered mode allows Copilot to search across all your open tabs and handle tasks like booking a restaurant, and it brings the Copilot chatbot to your new tab page.
[…]
Copilot in Edge also supports voice navigation to locate information on a website or to open tabs with products to compare. Microsoft is also planning to let Copilot, with your permission, access your Edge browser history and credentials so the chatbot can book reservations on your behalf.
Sean Lyndersay:
With Copilot Mode on, you enable innovative AI features in Edge that enhance your browser. It doesn’t just wait idly for you to click but anticipates what you might want to do next. It doesn’t just give you endless tabs to sift through but works with you as a collaborator that makes sense of it all. It keeps you browsing, cuts through clutter and removes friction to unlock your flow – all built to the highest Microsoft standards of security, privacy and performance trusted by billions of people and businesses worldwide – with you as the user always in control.
Thomas Claburn:
Whether this process would be quicker than submitting a search query, choosing a paddleboarding location from the results, and making an online reservation would depend upon how long the searcher considered the options and how easily the searcher could navigate the relevant sites. It also requires the AI model not to be confused by the web pages it scans to perform the tasks.
Copilot Mode in Edge can also handle other common LLM-oriented tasks like summarizing web pages and remembering browsing sessions by topic, so that these can be picked up where they were left off.
Of course Copilot Mode has privacy implications similar to those raised by browser extensions. Both potentially have access to everything going on within the browser and Copilot may get even broader data access through explicit tool use permissions. Microsoft however insists it can manage the privacy risks.
John Gruber:
Color me skeptical about the idea that my web browser should be “working for me”, rather than serving as a tool for me to work with. The AI hype cycle is pointing to a future where automated agentic web browsers surf automated AI-generated websites.
[…]
I am reminded of the decade-ago Netflix strategy espoused by Ted Sarandos: “The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us.” I think something similar is behind Microsoft trying to make Copilot front-and-center in Edge, and Google’s concurrent move to junk up Chrome with AI-generated suggestions. Their goal is to make their web browsers chatbots faster than OpenAI can make ChatGPT a web browser.
Tim Hardwick:
Microsoft has launched new features for its AI “Copilot Mode” in Edge, following a raft of recent new offerings from competing browsers.
[…]
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 within articles.
Meanwhile, the Journeys feature organizes browsing history by topic and suggests next steps, making it easier to resume research sessions. It can also group past browsing sessions thematically.
Adam Engst:
But being able to start a conversation with a tab’s contents as context isn’t much more helpful than working directly with ChatGPT or Perplexity. As a result, I haven’t been tempted to switch to these browsers from Arc, where I can navigate fluidly among numerous websites with just a couple of clicks.
[…]
The new hotness is “agentic browsers,” which can perform tasks for you. I’ve struggled to come up with tasks that are even mildly realistic.
[…]
The Copilot chatbot in Microsoft Edge was noticeably faster than the others, even when I prompted it to think more deeply about the task and added three tabs with confirmation lists to the prompt. However, it never even came close to producing the correct results, whether I let it try the entire task at once (154, 174, 144) or asked it to count the number of minors on each list (228, 213, 181).
[…]
When it comes to system prompts, the anxious tone of Copilot’s internal responses suggests a “ship now, apologize later, if you’re caught” system prompt that, if reflected in a real-world workplace, would be problematic. Obviously, AIs don’t have feelings that can be hurt and won’t complain to HR, but such a culture tends to encourage people to cut corners and make poor decisions that compromise quality and customer service. If Copilot is any indication, the same is true for AIs.
Previously:
Artificial Intelligence Copilot AI Mac Mac App macOS Tahoe 26 Microsoft Edge Privacy Web Browser
Sara Fischer (via Hacker News):
Apollo Global Management has reached a deal to sell AOL to Italian tech holding group Bending Spoons in a deal valued at roughly $1.5 billion, Axios has learned.
[…]
AOL still drives hundreds of millions of dollars of free cash flow. […] Bending Spoons CEO Luca Ferrari said AOL has around 30 million monthly active users across its email and web content properties.
[…]
Bending Spoons has also raised $2.8 billion in debt financing that will be used to fund the AOL deal as well as future research and development investments and merger and acquisition opportunities.
Previously:
Acquisition AOL Business
