The production build of Windows 11 is set to[更新]Fetching major updates currently available from the menu. Build 22621.1344 offers a wide range of new features that Insiders can access in beta, development, or pre-release builds. This includes tighter integration with Teams, more widgets, a tabbed notepad, and screen recording with the Snipping Tool. The real star of the show, however, is the new search box integrated into the taskbar, featuring a prominent promotion for “New Bing.”
In its Windows Experience post about the update, Microsoft makes a bold but exaggerated claim that the update will “bring the amazing features of the new AI-powered Bing directly to your taskbar.” However, AI has become his biggest marketing buzzword of 2023, so it’s worth breaking down what this really means.
AI integration means launching a browser
Typing a search query into the search bar and pressing Enter will open the query in the Edge browser and display its output if your Microsoft account has access to the new Bing chatbot. You can get the same results by typing your query into the Windows 10 search box or by starting a search from the Bing address bar.
For example, typing “write a poem about farts” into the Windows 11 bar opened the browser in Bing and displayed the output of the Bing chat bot. Same thing happened with Windows 10.
There is a Bing icon in the new search box in Windows 11, but if you click on it or click on the blank space in the box, you’ll see the “New Bing” promotion, along with your search history and “Find Fibonacci Sequences with Write Python” It’s a code for
The new Windows 11 search box is the Windows 10 search box
The search box actually offers a better user experience than previous Windows 11 builds, but that improvement has nothing to do with Bing or AI. Whereas in previous Windows 11 builds you had to click the search button and enter your query in a separate popup menu, now the query text appears directly in the search box on the taskbar itself. This is a relatively minor UI change, but it made it less annoying and annoying for me.
However, it’s important to note that the Windows 10 search box has always worked this way. So the new Windows 11 search box is really just the Windows 10 search box. If you were hesitant to upgrade to Windows 11 because of the lack of an integrated search box, this could make a difference.
tabbed notepad
Notepad is not the best text editor in the world, nor is it the best free text editor for Windows. However, many people use it because it’s built into the OS, loads really fast, and is the default app for .txt files.
The program hasn’t evolved much over the years, but now it has tabs. So you can open multiple files in the same window and switch between them by clicking tabs (or pressing Ctrl+Tab). I tested it and it works as advertised. This is great.
But highly recommended for everyone using Windows Download Notepad++ (opens in new tab) Instead, this is the best freeware text editor. There are always tabs, and unlike a regular notepad, Notepad++ lets you split the screen between tabs so you can compare documents side by side. It also features syntax highlighting for various file formats, including various programming languages, HTML, and batch files.
The Snipping Tool, the built-in Windows screenshot app, can now record videos. There are many other ways to record your screen on Windows, such as using the built-in Xbox Game Bar, but the Snipping Tool implementation is very useful.
After launching the Sniping Tool, click the movie camera icon on the toolbar. next,[新規]Click the button and a rectangle will appear around the part of the screen you want to record.
From there,[開始]button to start recording,[一時停止]or[停止]Click the button to finish.
The ability to select and record a specific area of the screen is useful as it is not available in Xbox Game Bar. So if you just want to show someone how to do something in a particular app, just draw a box around that window.
Video captures can only be saved as MP4 files, which is a very common format. However, I would also like to be able to use this tool to create animated GIFs.
Windows Studio Effectiveness: AI for Very Few People
In previous builds of Windows 11, Microsoft introduced Windows Studio Effects. It’s a set of AI camera and audio extensions that you can use to make yourself look and sound better in a video call. These features include background blur, auto-framing, audio focus, and eye contact. This makes it look like you’re looking at the camera even when you’re not looking at it, like Nvidia’s eye contacts, but without the need for an RTX card.
Unfortunately, using any of these features requires one of the few Qualcomm Snapdragon powered Windows devices with an NPU (Neural Processing Unit). You’re out of luck if you have a regular Intel or AMD powered PC, but that’s not necessarily a big tragedy. Many video conferencing apps use the cloud to perform these tasks. For example, Google Meet has a built-in background blur feature. And Nvidia Broadcast is also using his RTX GPU to make them available.
No new Studio Effect features were added to the new version of Windows 11. If you have them, just make sure they’re integrated into your team.
iPhone Link, slightly improved Android Phone Link
Microsoft also announced a new preview of the iPhone Link feature. This will allow you to connect your iPhone to your OS to get calls and texts as well as access photos in iCloud. I don’t have an iPhone, so I wasn’t able to test this feature, but if you’re in the Apple ecosystem, this could be a great tool.
Microsoft also announced that it has added some new features to its existing Phone Link app, which provides call and text access to Android phones… but Samsung phones only.
You can now turn on the mobile hotspot of your Samsung smartphone from within Windows. Why it’s so much more convenient than swiping on your phone is a mystery. However, Google and Bing have long stored your browser history in the cloud, so you could always go back to the sites you saw on your phone by loading your browser history onto your desktop.
Other new features
Other new features in Windows 11 build 22621.1344 include:
- new widget For Phone Link, Xbox Game Pass, and Spotify. These appear when you click the weather button on the taskbar.
- Energy recommendations Power and battery settings menu helps you save power.
- Redesigned Quick Assist app It helps you provide remote support to your friends.
- taskbar collapsed Save space when using touch.
- New accessibility features Braille display support and more.
- AI-powered file recommendations [スタート]on the menu. For users of Windows 11 Pro joined to Azure Active Directory,[スタート]The menu suggests files to work with. This is completely useless for home users.
- Windows 365 apps. If you’re part of a company that bought a cloud PC to use, there’s an app to access it.
To get Windows 11 Build 22621.1344, go to[設定]->[Windows Update]Go to[更新の確認]Just click Otherwise, you’ll end up downloading in the background.
