Mark Hachman

1 month ago | pcworld.com | Mark Hachman

Microsoft is adding ways to make the Windows Photos app much more powerful, combining elements of the elegant Designer app and making Photos more of a centerpiece for visual editing. Microsoft is taking optical-character recognition capabilities that it developed several years ago and adding them to Photos, while pulling in design elements from Microsoft Designer, too. Finally, the company is beefing up File Explorer a bit as well, giving it a more robust visual search capability.

1 month ago | pcworld.com | Mark Hachman

Microsoft’s Copilot test within Microsoft Photos probably won’t be part of its redemption arc. While the company is testing a Copilot button within Photos, it arguably doesn’t do really…anything? Anything that you can’t find anywhere else, let’s say. Microsoft said Monday that it’s rolling out a beta of the Photos app with a Copilot button that will appear at the top of the screen. Here’s what it does, according to Microsoft:“Photo Editing Tips: Get expert advice on enhancing your images.

1 month ago | pcworld.com | Mark Hachman

Based on a number of new features being rolled up within new “Release Preview” updates for Windows 11, Microsoft appears to be readying a push for AI-powered enhancements in the coming weeks. Although Microsoft typically reserves major feature releases for the fall, April 2025 is a key month for the software giant because it marks the 50th anniversary of the company’s founding.

1 month ago | pcworld.com | Mark Hachman

One of the roadblocks preventing adoption of Windows on Arm PCs has been lingering concerns over whether users would be able to run a specific app. Google said Monday that it is formally releasing Google Drive for Arm PCs, removing one of those obstacles. The release of PCs powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite Arm processors was generally met with approval, though early tests identified several applications that would run slowly or not at all.

1 month ago | pcworld.com | Mark Hachman

Although ray tracing can add visual realism to top-tier games, it can also maul the performance of otherwise top-tier PCs. It’s been a hurdle for years now, but we’re now one step closer to overcoming it with Microsoft unveiling DirectX Raytracing 1.2, a rendering API that should help improve ray tracing performance by a significant margin. DirectX is the fundamental set of APIs handling multimedia on your Windows PC, with a subset designed specifically for 3D graphics and video.