Microsoft turns Windows Copilot into a regular app

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Currently stuck in a sidebar, Copilot will soon be a regular Windows app you can resize and move around freely. This means easier access and multitasking. Instead of a disappearing sidebar, a click on the new Copilot icon in the taskbar launches a movable window.

Microsoft explains it this way: "With this change, users of Copilot will get the benefits of a traditional app experience such as resizing, snapping, and moving the window."

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Microsoft Surface Pro rebooted: Faster, AI-ready, and now Qualcomm-powered

Microsoft unveiled the all-new Surface Pro, ditching numbers in favour of a fresh start. It's one of the first in a new generation of what Microsoft calls Copilot Plus PCs. This flagship device boasts the new Qualcomm Snapdragon X processors (Elite and Plus versions), promising a significant performance leap—up to 90% faster than its predecessor.

The Pro embraces the future with optional 5G connectivity and a long-lasting battery—up to 14 hours of video playback (though not quite reaching the Surface Laptop's 20 hours). It remains incredibly thin and light, maintaining its familiar size despite the internal overhaul.

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A new Copilot AI feature in Edge can summarize videos (with caveats)

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Microsoft’s AI Copilot in the Edge browser can now generate text summaries of videos—with some limitations. According to Mikhail Parakhin, Microsoft’s CEO of advertising and web services, this feature only works on videos that have been pre-processed by Microsoft or have subtitles.

Parakhin explained that Copilot needs a text transcript of the video to create a summary. He said, "In order for it to work, we need to pre-process the video. If the video has subtitles—we can always fallback on that, if it does not and we didn't preprocess it yet—then it won’t work."

Copilot can also summarize video meetings and calls in Microsoft 365, but it requires audio transcription first. Similarly, Copilot on Microsoft Stream can summarize any video, but it needs users to generate a transcript.

The feature was demonstrated by designer Pietro Schirano, who posted a screen recording of Copilot summarizing a YouTube video about the GTA VI trailer. The video had subtitles, so Copilot was able to produce a summary with highlights and timestamps in seconds.

However, not all videos have subtitles or transcripts. Parakhin said that most publicly available videos (i.e. YouTube) should work.

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Microsoft Copilot is now available for everyone

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Copilot, the AI chatbot that used to be called Bing Chat, has officially launched following its public preview. You can now use Copilot in 105 languages and 169 countries and on any modern browser for mobile and web, says Caitlin Roulston, the director of communications at Microsoft. Roulston also says that Microsoft will keep launching new features in preview so they can get feedback from users and make Copilot better.

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