As modern technologies such as artificial intelligence grab today’s headlines, it’s worth remembering that their foundations were being laid more than half a century ago by computer scientists, philosophers, psychologists, developers, entrepreneurs, and more. These pioneers and those who followed tackled issues and solved problems that future generations may never know existed — but without their seminal work, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

As we look back on 2025, Computerworld honors the lives of those we lost, including our own beloved colleague Lucas Mearian. Here are 22 tech trailblazers whose accomplishments helped shape our world.

Steve Langasek: Debian devotee

April 27, 1979 – January 1, 2025

Steve Langasek discusses the Ubuntu release process and what it takes to manage it. Credit: Ubuntu

After experimenting with Slackware and Red Hat as a teenager, Steve Langasek began contributing to Debian Linux at 21 — then dedicated the rest of his life to open-source software. He eventually rose to principal engineer, volunteer release manager for Debian, Ubuntu release manager for Canonical, and maintainer or co-maintainer of packages such as samba, pam, and openldap2.3 — all while serving as a respected Linux leader, organizer, and mentor.

“Steve shone with a clarity of purpose that motivated many others to build the very best open source platforms they could dream about,” wrote Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth. “He touched thousands of people’s lives directly, and his work improves the lives of millions.”

Langasek was 45 when he passed.

Mike Maples Sr.: The adult in the room

August 25, 1942 – January 9, 2025

Mike Maples, Sr. discusses the early days of Microsoft on the Legends & Losers Podcast. Credit: Legends & Losers Podcast

In 1988, Microsoft hired Mike Maples Sr., a decades-long veteran of IBM, to serve as the executive vice president of the Worldwide Products Group. Microsoft “was just a bunch of kids struggling to figure out how to do things,” said Maples, who, at 46, was more than a decade older than co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Maples restructured Microsoft so it could evolve from startup to enterprise, and he raised the bar for quality assurance and customer commitments, reducing defects and release delays for products as vital as Windows and Microsoft Office.

Maples headed the products group at Microsoft until his retirement in 1995. He was 82 when he died.

Cordell Green: Theoretical logician

December 26, 1941 – February 12, 2025

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Kestrel Institute

Logic programming dates to the 1970s with Prolog and Datalog, languages that presented radically different approaches to programming. Still used today in applications such as big data processing, these languages, as well as modern, inference-based AI systems, were made possible by Dr. Cordell Green, who established the theoretical basis for the field of logic programming. His work earned him the Grace Murray Hopper Award in 1985.

Green also worked at the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, later renamed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), where he assisted those who were creating ARPANET, the precursor to the internet. And in 1981, Green founded the Kestrel Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to software program synthesis, refinement, analysis, and verification. He died at 83.

Rod Burstall: AI educator

November 11, 1934 – February 13, 2025

Rod Burstall’s career at the University of Edinburgh spanned from 1964 to his retirement in 2000. In the late 1960s, he contributed to the creation of programming languages COWSEL and POP-2, which persisted for decades and were used to teach early AI programming to college students in the 1980s. And in 1987, Burstall and three colleagues founded the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science (LFCS), a collaborative community of scientists exploring the analysis and design of computing systems. The lab exists to this day, having researched such fields as blockchain technology, quantum computing, and secure voting models. Burstall was 90 when he passed.

Ronald A. Katz: Inventing connections

March 10, 1936 – March 28, 2025

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UCLA

Ronald Katz began innovating in the phone industry at the age of 25, when he co-founded Telecredit, a company that provided vendors with automated phone verification of personal checks. A prolific inventor, Katz held more than 50 US patents involving phone-routing systems, speech recognition, video monitoring, and more. Call centers that relied on his inventions included those of IBM, Microsoft, AT&T, HP, and Citibank.

Katz used his fortune to fund the establishment of the Ronald A. Katz Center for Collaborative Military Medicine at UCLA and UCLA Health Operation Mend, supporting the physical and mental health needs of veterans; and UCLA’s 3 Wishes Project, helping end-of-life patients achieve their final wishes. He died at 89.

David Täht: Battling bufferbloat

August 11, 1965 – April 1, 2025

Dave Täht relates his conversation with Elon Musk about Starlink’s bufferbloat on TWiT.tv’s FLOSS Weekly show.Credit: TWiT Tech Podcast Network

If you’ve ever streamed a movie, hopped on a video call, or played an online game, you can thank Dave Täht — CEO of TekLibre and chief science officer at LibreQoS — for that seamless experience. Täht tackled the issue of network latency by zeroing in on “bufferbloat,” the tendency of internet routers to buffer too much data, resulting in lag. With Jim Gettys, he co-founded the Bufferbloat Project to address this flaw at the software level, leading to improvements across many Linux distributions powering today’s routers. The beneficiaries of his work range from consumers to corporations such as Netflix and Microsoft. Täht was 59 when he died.

Lee Yong-tae: Korea’s PC pioneer

August 18, 1932 – April 14, 2025

In the 1970s, while the United States was adopting computers that used the Roman alphabet, Lee Yong-tae was developing the first terminals to accept Hangul, the Korean alphabet. In 1980 he founded Sambo Computers, Korea’s first dedicated computer company, which released the first Korean-made PC in 1981; an Apple II clone in 1982; a PC-compatible in 1984; and, in 1989, a laptop that supported MS-DOS, Mac OS, and Unix. By 1990, Sambo also controlled 80% of the country’s printer market, and it proceeded to manufacture millions of laptops a year and to provide broadband internet access through its ISP, Dru-net.

After facing stiff competition in the 2000s, the company was broken up in 2010, with some assets now managed by Lee’s son. The founder died at 92.

David Cope: Music modeler

May 17, 1941 – May 4, 2025

Computer History Museum interview with David Cope. Credit: Computer History Museum

In 1981, UC Santa Cruz music professor David Cope found himself creatively blocked and unable to compose an opera he’d been commissioned to write. So he instead developed software  to write the music for him. The result was EMI, or Experiments in Musical Intelligence, a program that could ingest an artist’s work and then create a new score in the same style. Cope used EMI to create new works in the style of Mozart, Brahms, and other classical greats, with results so stylistically similar to those of the original artists that even trained listeners couldn’t tell the difference. AI-generated music is practically a parlor trick today, but 40 years ago, Cope’s work was an unprecedented crescendo. He was 83 when he passed.

Gail Wellington: Herding CATS 

January 14, 1940 – May 14, 2025

Gail Wellington recounts stories from her time at Commodore. Credit: Amiga Bill

The Commodore PET was one of three computers that launched the personal computing revolution in 1977. In 1981 Commodore hired Gail Wellington, who had a degree in tech writing, to produce user manuals for third-party software that ran on the PET. She rose through the company’s ranks to become head of software operations and later worldwide Amiga product manager. She oversaw the 1985 launch of the Amiga computer, the 1987 formation of the Commodore Applications and Technical Support (CATS) group, and the development of the Commodore Dynamic Total Vision (CDTV), a home entertainment and gaming console that was released in 1991 but was a commercial flop.

Commodore declared bankruptcy in 1994, but not before redefining the home computing landscape — and modern versions of its hardware are still available. Wellington was 85 when she died.

Peter Lax: Explosive equations

May 1, 1926 – May 16, 2025

Peter Lax in 1969
Konrad Jacobs

Hungarian mathematician Peter Lax was a child prodigy who, at the age of 19, worked on the Manhattan Project, calculating shockwaves from nuclear bombs. After the war, Lax earned his PhD and joined the faculty at NYU but continued to work for Los Alamos and the US Atomic Energy Commission.

While he was best known for his mathematical breakthroughs in the field of hyperbolic partial differential equations, for which he was awarded the prestigious Abel Prize in 2005, he had a profound impact on information technology through his early and ongoing application of supercomputers to a variety of mathematical problems. Throughout his career, Lax used computers to analyze complex data, effectively demonstrating the value of computers in science and engineering and laying the groundwork for their use across a wide variety of disciplines today. He was 99 when he passed.

Jean-Raymond Abrial: A model scientist

November 6, 1938 – May 26, 2025

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Dinesbjorner

Computer scientist Jean-Raymond Abrial developed Z notation — not a programming language, but a series of mathematical rules and specifications for how a computing system should operate. He later created B method — a way to define and refine mathematical models that ultimately results in software development. These approaches to software engineering are still in use today, having been used to develop the code for the Paris Métro Line 14 train, which runs through the center of Paris. The B-Book, which details his method, is still in print. Abrial died at 86.

George E. Smith: Picture perfect

May 10, 1930 – May 28, 2025

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Prolineserver

In 1969, George E. Smith and his Bell Laboratories colleague Willard S. Boyle developed the charge-coupled device (CCD), an integrated circuit the size of a dime that converts photons to electrons. Bell used the CCD to showcase a video telephone at the 1964 World’s Fair — decades before Zoom or FaceTime.

But the CCD was no mere novelty: it became the basis for digital photography and is used in millions of modern devices, from smartphones to x-rays to the Hubble Space Telescope. The global impact of this small invention earned Smith and Boyle the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics. Smith was 95.

Bill Atkinson: Graphical visionary

March 17, 1951 – June 5, 2025

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Jay Cross

Bill Atkinson joined Apple Computer as employee #51 at the age of 27. He designed and developed both a graphical user interface (GUI) and its underlying technology, LisaGraf (later QuickDraw), for the Apple Lisa — a commercial flop, but also a proving ground for nascent technologies for Apple’s next product. Atkinson then became one of the founding members of the team developing the Macintosh, the success of which was in large part owed to its intuitive GUI.

Atkinson also developed MacPaint, which shipped with the Mac, and HyperCard, a hypermedia database program, which Sir Tim Berners-Lee cited as an inspiration in his original proposal for what became the World Wide Web. Without Atkinson, neither Apple nor the Web would be what they are today. He was 74 when he passed.

Barry Vercoe: Audio engineer

July 24, 1937 – June 15, 2025

Barry Vercoe’s TEDx Talk about lessons learned from founding the MIT Media Lab. Credit: TEDx Talks

New Zealand-born Barry Vercoe joined MIT in 1971, where he spent the next five decades researching, developing, and teaching digital audio analysis and processing. In 1984, he became a founding member of the MIT Media Lab, where he developed Csound, an open-source programming language for audio programming. Csound is still used by computer music composers today, and it powers the audio aspects of the One Laptop Per Child project. Structured Audio Orchestra Language (SAOL), derived from Csound, is a key component of the MPEG-4 compression codec used in almost all modern audio and video formats. Vercoe passed at age 87.

Mike Woodger: ACE pilot

March 28, 1923 – July 14, 2025

A history of the Pilot ACE, narrated by Mike Woodger and James Wilkinson. Credit: National Physics Laboratory

While at the United Kingdom’s National Physical Laboratory in the 1940s, Alan Turning designed the ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) computer. When he left in 1947, it fell to Mike Woodger and his team to complete the project, which culminated in a scaled-down prototype in 1950. The Pilot ACE, one of the UK’s first computers, was so practical that a full-fledged ACE was never built; instead, the Pilot ACE was adapted for commercial use under the name DEUCE.

Woodger later contributed to the development of the programming languages ALGOL 60 and Ada. The latter was commissioned by the US Department of Defense to replace over four hundred different programming languages then in use across the DoD; the department still uses Ada today. Woodger was 102.

Margaret Boden: AI philosopher

November 26, 1936 – July 18, 2025

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Bengt Oberger

As a philosopher and cognitive scientist, Margaret Boden dedicated her life to studying artificial intelligence. She theorized not only what AI could and could not be capable of (such as various kinds of creativity), but also how it could serve as a model for the human condition and thought processes.

In 2010, Boden contributed to “Principles of Robotics,” an influential paper proposing five rules for responsible robotics development, such as “the illusion of emotions and intent should not be used to exploit vulnerable users” and “robots should be designed and operated to comply with existing law, including privacy.” These standards became the basis for UNESCO’s official recommendations for laws to govern our growing use of AI tools such as large language models — tools that Boden herself predicted but never experienced firsthand, as she was already in a care home by the time LLMs emerged. Boden was 88 when she passed.

Gilles Dowek: Formal unifier

December 20, 1966 – July 21, 2025

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Sébastien Dolidon

Gilles Dowek was a researcher at the National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria), a French computer science and applied mathematics research institute. There, he observed that Inria’s different teams were siloed, using different organizational methods and proof systems to conduct their research. Dowek set out to unify these formal logic systems to improve communication and discoverability between teams. His later work focused on programming languages for quantum computers and logic as a field of thought.

Dowek was also a tireless human rights advocate who chaired the Association for the Recognition of the Rights of Homosexual and Trans People to Immigration and Residence (Ardhis), ensuring that French citizens and nationals, at home or abroad, have the right to residence and asylum. He was 58 when he died.

Morton Meyerson: The outsourcer

June 3, 1938 – August 5, 2025

Morton Meyerson discusses his biggest mistakes and lessons learned as part of Next Jump’s CEOTalks series. Credit: Next Jump

H. Ross Perot may have revolutionized IT outsourcing when he founded Electronic Data Systems (EDS), but Morton Meyerson was the brains of the operation. Hired in 1966 as EDS’s 54th employee, Meyerson swiftly secured the company a contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. Meyerson used this opportunity to implement a business model that became known as IT outsourcing, leading EDS’s profit to increase a hundredfold in just two years. Meyerson eventually became the president of EDS, remaining in the role even after General Motors bought EDS for $2.5 billion in 1984.

He later founded a family investment firm, 2M Companies, and a philanthropic nonprofit, Morton H. Meyerson Family Foundation. He was inducted into the Outsourcing Hall of Fame in 2013. Meyerson died at age 87.

Stephanie Shirley: Call me Steve

September 16, 1933 – August 9, 2025

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Lynn Hart

Born in Germany to a Jewish family in 1933, Stephanie Shirley escaped to the United Kingdom, where she became a gifted and determined mathematician and computer scientist. After being subjected to the sexism that was rampant in a male-dominated industry, Shirley set out to ensure a different experience for those who followed. She founded Freelance Programmers, an outsourcing company that hired women, especially mothers, almost exclusively. Contracts came more easily when she signed her name “Steve,” and Freelance Programmers eventually grew into Xansa, a multi-billion-dollar company whose projects included the Concorde airplane’s “black box” flight recorder.

Shirley gave away most of her fortune to charities and even to her own employees, making millionaires of countless other women. Shirley was 91.

Warren Brodey: Enhancing AI

January 25, 1924 – August 10, 2025

Warren Brody reflects on his long and unusual life on his 100th birthday. Credit: Post-Utopia

Trained as a psychiatrist, Warren Brodey nonetheless focused on cybernetics and artificial intelligence throughout his life. Starting in 1965, he spent most of his career at MIT, where he worked alongside famed AI researcher Marvin Minsky. Whereas Minsky advocated for AI based on large quantities of existing data, thus reinforcing existing norms, Brodey campaigned for AI that, by being creative and revolutionary, would rethink and enhance humanity.

Brodey co-founded two labs, the Environmental Ecology Lab and later Ecology Tool and Toy, where he further explored materials and environments that responded to and improved human behavior — concepts he still believed possible, even with the rise of modern AI that followed Minsky’s model. He died at 101.

Vaidyeswaran Rajaraman: India’s grandfather of IT education

September 8, 1933 – November 8, 2025

Vaidyeswaran Rajaraman reminisces about establishing India’s first computer science education program at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Credit: DoRA IITK

As a student at the Indian Institute of Science (IIsc) in 1956, Vaidyeswaran Rajaraman was instrumental in designing the Philbrick Rideout Electronic Differential Analyzer (PREDA), India’s first analog computer. He went on to establish the country’s first formal computer science program of study at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) in 1965. In 1987, he helped the government found the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, bringing supercomputer development to India.

Over the course of his long career in academia, Rajaraman wrote 23 computer science textbooks on topics ranging from Fortran to ecommerce, informing and influencing generations of computer scientists worldwide. Some of his own students went on to lead Indian IT giants Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys. He was 92 when he passed.

Rebecca Heineman: Burger Becky

October 30, 1963 – November 17, 2025

srcset=”https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?quality=50&strip=all 2442w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=292%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 292w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=768%2C790&quality=50&strip=all 768w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=995%2C1024&quality=50&strip=all 995w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=1493%2C1536&quality=50&strip=all 1493w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=1990%2C2048&quality=50&strip=all 1990w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=677%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 677w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=163%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 163w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=82%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 82w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=466%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 466w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=350%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 350w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/tech-luminaries-2025-rebecca-heineman.jpg?resize=243%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 243w” width=”995″ height=”1024″ sizes=”auto, (max-width: 995px) 100vw, 995px”>Rebecca Heineman
Ken Gagne

In 1980, a teenage Rebecca Heineman was crowned Space Invaders champion in the first-ever national video game tournament. Her star continued to rise from there: in 1983, Heineman was one of four co-founders of Interplay Entertainment, where she developed such games as The Bard’s Tale and Battle Chess. Later games from Interplay included Wasteland, Fallout, and Baldur’s Gate. Many of these franchises exist to this today, having inspired countless sequels, copycats, and television adaptations.

Heineman later founded Contraband Entertainment, MacPlay, Logicware, and Olde Sküül, and she was a trans advocate on Amazon’s LGBTQ+ group and with organizations such as GLAAD and Press XY. Through her memorable games, public advocacy, and “Burgertime” YouTube series, “Burger Becky” inspired countless developers, gamers, and members of the queer community. She was 62 when she died.

Source:: Computer World

By Paulo Vargas Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 4 Pro just cleared the FCC, a late-stage sign launch is near. A leaked 57mAh per-earbud battery, up from 48mAh, could finally make endurance the main upgrade.
The post Leak says Galaxy Buds 4 Pro battery grows, your wait may pay off appeared first on Digital Trends.

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By Nadeem Sarwar A new study just found a link between bedtime disciple and two serious ailments. Turns out, my Apple Watch has been logging it automatically for months.
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By Deepti Pathak ASUS has announced the launch of the VM670KA All-in-One PC in India, bringing Copilot+ powered AI…
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Tesla’s viral videos show its Optimus humanoid robot serving drinks to guests — a glimpse of AI in the real world that a new AI innovation, called world models, is expected to make more reliable. (For one, humanoid robots will do a better job in navigating and serving people their custom drinks.)

World models — which some refer to as video language models — are the new frontier in AI, following in the footsteps of the iconic ChatGPT and more recently, AI agents. Current AI tech largely affects digital outcomes, but world models will allow AI to improve physical outcomes.

World models are designed to help robots understand the physical world around them, allowing them to track, identify and memorize objects. On top of that, just like humans planning their future, world models allow robots to determine what comes next — and plan their actions accordingly.

“If you think about how generative AI started…, the difference with world models is that it needs to know what is actually possible,” said TJ Galda, Nvidia’s senior director of product management for Cosmos, a world model.

Beyond robotics, world models simulate real-world scenarios. They could be used to improve safety features for autonomous cars or simulate a factory floor to train employees.

World models pair human experiences with AI in the real world, said Deepak Seth, director analyst at Gartner. “This human experience and what we see around us, what’s going on around us, is part of that world model, which language models are currently lacking,” Seth said.

Though today’s AI models and large language models (LLMs) can’t fathom beyond the digital realm, world models will make human and AI collaboration possible in the physical world. (The humanoid robot population could reach 1 billion by 2050, Nvidia said, citing a recent Morgan Stanley study.)

In addition to Nvidia’s real-world model Cosmos, Google’s DeepMind has developed a world model called Genie 3. World models use complex mathematics and physical simulations to help robots comprehend, anticipate, and plan real-world actions, such as navigating a room or loading a dishwasher.

Cameras and sensors provide robots with raw visual and physical information about their surroundings. World models can then blend with multimodal systems to interpret visual or image-based commands before getting to work.

“In physical AI, this model would have to capture the 3D visual geometry and physical laws — gravity, friction, collisions, etc. — involved in interacting with all types of objects in arbitrary environments,” said Kenny Siebert, AI research engineer at Standard Bots.

World models then help robots understand and evaluate the consequences of ththeyactions it may take. Some world models generate short video-like simulations of possible outcomes at each step, which helps robots choose the best action. 

“I think the difference with world models is [that] it’s not enough just to predict words on a sign or the pixels that might happen next, but it has to actually understand what might happen,” Galda said. For example, a robot could read signs such as “stop” or “dangerous zone” on a factory floor or the road and understand it has to be extra cautious moving forward.

“If you’re building a car or a robot or something that has to take AI into the physical space amongst people, you need to be extremely sure it’s safe and understand what it will do,” Galda said.

World models are one of several tools that will be used to deploy robots in the real world, and they will continue to improve, said Kenny Siebert, AI research engineer at Standard Bots. 

But the models suffer from similar problems — the hallucinations and degradation — that affect the likes of ChatGPT and video-generators. Moving hallucinations into the physical world could cause harm, so researchers are trying to solve those kinds of issues.

A new general world model called PAN helps robots run “thought experiments” and test more action sequences in a safe, controlled simulation. PAN’s model builds an internal memory and maintains a level of coherency of how scenes should change.

Robotics isn’t the only game in town for PAN, which was created by researchers at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. It could also be used in autonomous driving, safety simulations, and long real-world simulations that “predict, and reason about how the world evolves in response to actions,” the researchers said in the paper detailing PAN.

PAN takes a cue from human behavior to first imagine, then visualize, then plan actions, working to understand the cause-and-effect of an action before seeing how it looks in a video. Typical actions use input of visual frames and natural language.

PAN then generates longer and more coherent video simulations and is designed so the simulated scenes stay consistent over time rather than drifting into unrealistic outcomes.

In contrast, current video-generation models don’t track cause-and-effect or hold steady over time and structure. They lose consistency over long simulated sequences.

“Existing video generation models typically produce single, non-interactive video segments,” the researchers said in the paper.

Some video-generation models include Google’s Veo-3 video and OpenAI’s Sora, which the company views as a “world simulator.” 

“In contrast, PAN shows superior capacity to precisely simulate action-driven world evolution” compared to other video generators and open-source world models, the researchers said.

The key PAN breakthroughs include a Generative Latent Prediction (GLP) capability, which allows the model to imagine and visualize future states. Structural upgrades — which researchers call Causal Swin-DPM — keep videos coherent over time, while reducing noise and uncertainty.

World models will only get better over time, Standard Bots’ Siebert said. “We see several potential use cases including evaluation in simulation, long-tail training data generation, and distillation to smaller hardware-constrained models. As world models progress, we expect the list of use cases to grow beyond what we can foresee today.”

Source:: Computer World

By Nadeem Sarwar The Apple Watch is loaded with features that can take your wearable experience to the next level with extra conveniences and wellness perks.
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By Omair Khaliq Sultan If you’ve been eyeing a pair of on-ear headphones that you can basically forget to charge, Best Buy just dropped the Marshall Major V to $89.99. That’s a $60 discount for a newer model that leans into Marshall’s classic, rugged styling and long-haul listening. The big hook here is simple: you’re getting a legit brand-name […] The post Marshall Major V headphones are down to $89.99 at Best Buy, saving you $60 appeared first on Digital Trends.

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It’s great to get a new computer, but it’s not so great to realize that all your stuff is on the old one.

You’re in luck, though. It’s easier than ever to transfer your data from an old PC to a new one. We’ve covered multiple ways you can do it, below.

In this article:

Before you begin

Use Windows Backup to transfer files and settings to a new PC

Transfer files with OneDrive

Transfer files via a File History backup

Transfer files via an external drive

Transfer files with a USB data-transfer cable

Transfer files locally over Wi-Fi or LAN

Transfer files, settings, and more via file-transfer software

Install and set up apps on your new PC

Transfer browser bookmarks to your new PC

What to do after migrating your files and apps to the new PC

Before you begin

You’re probably eager to get started with your migration, but first, here are two tips that may help smooth the migration process.

Migration tip #1: Clean up your files

Before transferring all your data to your new PC, consider going through all your files, folders, and emails and weeding out the cruft. There’s a good chance you’ve got some ancient files and emails you no longer need. Cleaning out your old data will make transferring your data to a new PC go more quickly, and in the future you won’t have to sift through old clutter to find the files you need.

Migration tip #2: OneDrive can help with migrations

If you store your files in Microsoft OneDrive, you’ll find it exceptionally easy to migrate them to a new PC. OneDrive stores files locally on a Windows PC or Mac and also in the cloud. So if you use OneDrive on your existing PC, you’ll only need to sign into OneDrive on your new PC to transfer them over. OneDrive won’t transfer settings or applications, so you can use other ways to transfer those, as detailed below.

Even if you don’t use OneDrive now, consider moving to it before you migrate. If you have a Windows 10 or 11 PC, OneDrive is most likely already installed on it. If not, you can download it from Microsoft. You’ll get the added benefits of having your PC constantly back up its files to the cloud so you can easily restore them or transfer them to a new PC.

To move files and folders stored on your PC into OneDrive, simply drag and drop them into your OneDrive storage in File Explorer (on a Windows PC) or Finder (on a Mac).

In this article, we’ll cover ways to migrate with and without OneDrive, so either way, we’ve got you covered.

Migration techniqueProsConsWhat you needWindows Backup: PC-to-PC transferExtremely simple way to transfer files and settings; doesn’t require OneDriveDoesn’t transfer all settingsWi-Fi network; personal Microsoft accountWindows Backup: backup and restoreFast and easy to restore files, settings and credentials from backupDoesn’t transfer locally stored filesInternet connection for each computer; personal Microsoft account and OneDriveOneDriveSimplest way to transfer files from Windows or macOSDoesn’t transfer settings; can be time-consuming if you don’t already use OneDriveInternet connection; Microsoft account (personal, work, or school)File History backupFlexible way to transfer files; doesn’t require OneDriveDoesn’t transfer settings; can be confusing to set upExternal hard drive or USB driveDirect transfer with a removable driveFlexible way to transfer files; doesn’t require OneDriveDoesn’t transfer settings; requires an external drive; is more time-consuming than a File History backupExternal hard drive or USB driveTransfer with a USB data-transfer cableSimple solution for transferring files; doesn’t require OneDriveDoesn’t transfer settings; you need to shop carefully to find the best cablesA specialized USB cable designed to transfer dataTransfer locally over Wi-Fi or LANSimple solution for transferring files; doesn’t require OneDriveDoesn’t transfer settings; getting it to work can be difficult and flakyWi-Fi or LAN connectionTransfer via third-party file-transfer softwareCan transfer applications and settings in addition to files; doesn’t require OneDriveSoftware can be costlySpecial software for transferring files

Use Windows Backup to transfer files and settings to a new PC

The simplest and fastest way to transfer files and settings from an old Windows 10 or 11 PC to a new one is to use Windows Backup. Introduced to Windows 11 in 2023 and later to Windows 10, Windows Backup is primarily a backup-and-restore tool — that is, you use it to back up your PC to the cloud (specifically OneDrive), and you can restore files, settings, and preferences from that backup should your hard drive fail, if you accidentally delete files permanently, or for any other reason. You can also use it to “restore” your current PC’s files, settings, and preferences on a new PC.

It still does all those things, but a recently added PC-to-PC transfer feature lets you  migrate files and settings to a new PC over a Wi-Fi network.

Windows Backup’s main screen, where you choose whether to back up your PC or initiate a PC-to-PC transfer.
Preston Gralla / Foundry

Note that Windows Backup is meant to be used with personal Microsoft accounts; it doesn’t work with work or school accounts. Your old PC can have either Windows 10 or Windows 11 installed, but your new PC must run Windows 11 24H2 or later.

You can use Windows Backup to transfer your files, settings, personalizations such as wallpaper and themes, and, depending on which method you use, your passwords and credentials.

Applications on your old PC won’t be transferred. You’ll have to install them after your new PC is set up. But Windows Backup’s “restore from backup” method does remember the apps you had installed on your old PC, and it puts placeholders for them on the new PC. This means you won’t have to hunt them down individually, and many can be installed with a single click.

Backup and restore vs. PC-to-PC transfer

The main difference between using Windows Backup as a backup-and-restore tool and using its PC-to-PC transfer feature is that PC-to-PC migration requires your old PC and new PC to be on the same Wi-Fi network. Files are copied directly from the old PC to the new one. In a backup-and-restore operation, your new PC and old PC can be anywhere with an internet connection. When files and settings are transferred from your old computer, they are first copied to the cloud and from there are copied to your new PC.

Another difference is that the backup-and-restore method can save account information and passwords, while the PC-to-PC transfer method can’t. On the other hand, the backup-and-restore method relies exclusively on OneDrive, while the PC-to-PC method can transfer local files.

Which method should you use for migrating to a new PC? If you’re already using Windows Backup to back up your old PC, use the backup-and-restore method — it’ll save you time. In fact, if you’ve already set up backups for your Microsoft account in Windows Backup, you’ll be steered toward the restore method when you set up Windows on your new PC.

Otherwise, use the PC-to-PC method. However, after you do that, consider using Windows Backup to regularly back up your PC. That way, should anything go wrong with your new PC, you can always restore it. And it’ll be easier to migrate the next time you move to a new PC.

PC-to-PC transfer in Windows Backup

When you migrate files directly between your old PC and new PC, your wallpaper, themes, and many personalization settings will be transferred, but saved passwords, sign-in credentials, and drives encrypted with BitLocker can’t be transferred. If you want files from those encrypted drives to transfer, first decrypt them with BitLocker.

Here’s how to do a PC-to-PC transfer:

1. On both PCs, sign into your Microsoft account. Make sure both PCs are plugged into power outlets, are on the same Wi-Fi network, and have the latest Windows 10 or Windows 11 updates. 

2. Open the Windows Backup app on the PC you’ll transfer files and settings from. Select Transfer information to a new PC and click Next.

3. On the screen that appears, you’ll see the old PC’s name. Enter it into a screen that pops up on the new PC after you’ve begun its setup and click Next.

Here’s the name of an old PC whose files and settings will migrated to a new PC.
Preston Gralla / Foundry

4. A screen pops up on the new PC. Enter the old PC’s name here and click Next. The new PC displays a one-time code.

5. Enter that one-time code into the screen that appears on your old PC. That pairs the PCs.

6. Once they’re paired, a list of folders you can transfer appears on your old PC. The list includes Documents, Pictures, Desktop, Music, and Videos, as well as files and folders on your hard disk that aren’t on OneDrive. Make your selection and click Start Transfer.

7. The files in the folders you selected, along with your settings and preferences, now transfer from your old PC to your new one. You’ll get a summary of everything that’s been transferred. When the transfer is done, your new PC will continue its setup routine.

8. On the new PC, sign into OneDrive if you use it, and your OneDrive files and folders will be automatically transferred to it. You’ll have to install your apps onto the new PC, as well as input your passwords and sign-in data.

Restore a backup from Windows Backup

If you’re already using Windows Backup to back up your files, settings, and preferences on your old PC, getting them onto your new PC couldn’t be easier. All you need to do is sign into your Microsoft account on your new PC when installing it, and it will transfer the existing backup to your new PC, as detailed in step 7 below.

If you haven’t yet set up a backup routine on Windows Backup, here’s how to make a backup.

1. Make sure you’re signed into your Microsoft account on your old PC, then launch Windows Backup.

2. Click Back up this PC.

3. You’ll see a screen that lets you specify the folders, apps, settings, and credentials you want to save.

Here’s the first step in creating a backup to migrate to your new PC.
Preston Gralla / Foundry

4. Click Folders. A list of folders whose files you can back up appears on your old PC. The list is a short one: Documents, Pictures, Desktop, Music and Videos. When you select them, they will be synced to OneDrive. If you want all your OneDrive files to be transferred to your new PC during this process, move them all to folders you create within your OneDrive Documents folder.

5. Back on the main screen, click the down arrows next to Apps, Settings, and Credentials. Choose what you want to back up. This includes installed app info, accessibility settings, accounts and passwords, themes and other personalizations, language preferences, and other Windows settings.

6. When you’re done, select Continue, and your PC will back up everything you’ve selected to the cloud. 

Windows Backup transferring files and settings to the cloud, which will then be transferred to your new PC.
Preston Gralla / Foundry

7. During the setup process on your new PC, sign into your Microsoft account (the same one you use on your old PC). Windows will recognize that you have a backup and ask you if you want that backup to be transferred to your new PC. You’ll be shown all your backups from all your devices. Select the one you want to use and click Restore from this PC.

8. Your backed up files, settings, and preferences will be restored on your new device. The Start menu on your new PC will have placeholders for all the apps you included in the backup, but the apps are not actually installed. You’ll need to click each app’s placeholder individually. If it’s available in the Microsoft Store, it’ll be installed right away; otherwise, you’ll be directed to the web to download and install it.  

Transfer files with OneDrive

If all your files and folders are stored in OneDrive, you can choose a quick-and-dirty way to transfer them all to your new PC: simply sign into OneDrive on your new PC, making sure to use the same Microsoft account during setup. After that, sit back and let OneDrive do its magic. You’ll have to install your apps and sign into them, and change any settings manually, but you’ll need to do that with most other ways of migrating to your new PC anyway.

Transfer files via a File History backup

Windows 10 and 11 include an old-school backup utility called File History that you can use to restore files (but not settings or apps) from an old PC to a new one. To use it, you’ll need an external drive. It can be any kind of drive, including a USB drive.

With the external drive attached to your PC, type file history into the Windows search bar and click File History. That launches File History in Control Panel. You’ll see any external drives attached to your PC. Select the drive you want to use and click Turn on. Your files will be copied to the drive.

Using File History from Control Panel in Windows 11.
Preston Gralla / Foundry

To exclude folders from the backup, select Exclude folders from the left navigation menu, click Add, and choose the folders you want to exclude.

To copy the backed-up files to your new PC, plug the drive into it, repeat the above steps, and click Restore personal files.

For more detailed instructions, see “How to use File History in Windows 10 and 11.”

Transfer files via an external drive

To migrate files and folders to your new PC, you can dispense with using any special software at all, and instead connect an external hard drive, SD card, or thumb drive to your old PC, copy your files to it, then eject that device from the old computer, plug it into the new PC and copy the files to that new PC. The trick here (besides having enough storage capacity on your transfer drive) is to have your files and folders organized well enough so you get them all.

We recommend that you use the same folder organization on your new PC as on your old computer, at least to start.

Note: If you are transferring files from a Mac to a PC, the external hard drive must be formatted as MS-DOS, not NTFS or APFS. SD cards and thumb drives use the same FAT32 format on both macOS and Windows, so if your files fit on those storage devices, that’s often easier than using a hard drive.

A note about transferring emailIf you use a cloud-based mail service such as Gmail or the Outlook web app, you don’t need to transfer your mail files. However, if you use client-based email software (like the desktop version of Outlook), you’ve got some work ahead of you.Direct file transfer will not move your locally stored email files to the new PC, and copying them to a new PC often doesn’t work because of how they are tied to the email application’s OS settings. We recommend you make sure all your emails are stored in your email server so they can just sync to the email client on your new PC. The Microsoft Outlook client supports several servers, not just Microsoft’s Exchange and Microsoft 365 typically used in business.IT retention policies may limit how far back emails are stored on the server, so you may have local emails you can’t transfer that way. In that case, Microsoft Outlook does let you import the local .PST files to a Windows PC from the Outlook app on another Windows PC or Mac; Microsoft has provided export instructions and separate import instructions.Different client versions of Outlook have different maximum size limits for .PST files that can be transferred from one computer to another. So if you’re planning to move .PST files, read this Microsoft article to find out those limits and get advice on ways you might be able to reduce the size of .PST files before trying to transfer them.Local contacts and calendar entries likewise are very difficult to directly transfer from one computer to another, and it is best to make sure they are stored on a server, such as Exchange, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace/Gmail/Google Calendar, or iCloud, so they will sync to your contacts and calendar apps on your new PC. Your contacts and calendar apps may have an export feature that you can try. (You can often export individual contacts as a VCF file, for example.) These days, few contacts and calendar apps are not server-based, so chances are very high your contacts and calendar entries are stored somewhere they can be synced.

Transfer files with a USB data-transfer cable

One of the simplest ways to move files from your old PC to a new one is to use a USB data-transfer cable. You can’t use just any USB cable; it needs to be one specially designed to transfer data. When you plug the cables in, they often automatically install the drivers they need. They also come with file-transfer software that tends to be bare-bones but does the trick.

You can easily find the cables online. If you’re transferring files between two PCs that have USB-C ports, check out this PCWorld article with recommendations for the best ones.

Transfer files locally over Wi-Fi or LAN

If you’d like, you can move your files from your old PC to your new PC via Wi-Fi or a LAN. To do it, the PC with your files and the PC to which you want to transfer them need to be on the same Wi-Fi or Ethernet network.

To do it, you need to turn on network discovery and file sharing on both the PCs. In Windows 11, select Settings > Network & Internet > Advanced network settings > Advanced sharing settings, and turn on the toggles for Network Discovery and File and printer sharing.

In Windows 10, select Settings > Network & Internet > Network and Sharing Center. That will launch the Control Panel. In Control Panel, select Change advanced sharing settings from the right side of the screen. On the screen that appears, in the Network Discovery section, select Turn on network discovery, and in the File and Printer sharing section, select Turn on file and printer sharing.

You can now drag and drop files and folders from your old PC to your new one using Windows Explorer. Click Network at the bottom of the left-hand pane in File Explorer, find the new PC to which you want to transfer files and folders, and copy them to it.

Note that transferring files this way can be flaky — you may have problems with your PCs showing up on the network. Setting it up takes only a few minutes, though, and if it doesn’t work you can always use another method in this story to transfer the files. (For troubleshooting help, you may want to use the advice in PCWorld’s article “Windows 11: How to set up a local network.”)

Transfer files, settings, and more via file-transfer software

If you want more hand-holding in your file transfer, you can buy and use a utility like Laplink’s $60 PCmover Professional, which has been around for decades. It works over your network (either Wi-Fi or Ethernet) or via Laplink’s Ethernet or USB cables (these cost extra). It lets you choose which files and folders to transfer, and will transfer your settings, bookmarks, and applications too. You can migrate from old Windows versions to later Windows versions, as well as between the same versions. (One exception: you cannot migrate from Windows XP to Windows XP.)

Note: You need administrator privileges in Windows to use all of PCmover’s capabilities.

Before you transfer any applications via a utility like PCmover, sign out of or deactivate any apps on your old computer. Most software these days is tied to an online account that limits the number of active installations or has digital rights management to prevent piracy via copying. You don’t want the transfer to be seen as a piracy attempt or as an additional installation that counts against any limit you may have.

Another option is EhlerTech’s USMTGUI, a graphical front end to Microsoft’s command-line User State Migration Tool. USMTGUI (like USMT) transfers only settings and associated data like emails, not applications. The home version pricing starts at $10, and the corporate license pricing starts at $300.

Install and set up apps on your new PC

Regardless of the transfer method you use, you almost certainly will have apps to reinstall, depending on what IT did for you in preparing your new computer. (PCmover Professional will transfer most apps; its documentation describes its limitations.)

On your new PC, re-download the apps you need and sign in as required. You’ll find some apps on the Microsoft Store, while others you’ll need to download from the software vendor’s website. As noted earlier, if you restore from a backup in Windows Backup, you’ll find placeholders for your apps that can speed up this process.

In most cases, you’ll need to set up your applications’ preferences on the new computer, so set aside the time to do that.

Transfer browser bookmarks to your new PC

You also will want to transfer your bookmarks from your old computer’s browser to your new computer’s browser. There are three methods: direct syncing between the same browser and exporting a browser’s bookmark files to import into a different browser. The first method keeps the browsers in sync, whereas the second method is a manual approach for when you are moving to a new computer (or browser) and won’t use the old computer (or browser) anymore.

Chrome, Firefox, and Edge all sync bookmarks across all your devices if they are all signed into the same account. Just enable syncing in each browser on each device you use. To be clear, you can sync only to the same browser, such as from Chrome to Chrome.

For situations where your browser is not signed into the same account as your old computer, the major browsers all have a facility to export and import bookmarks via files:

Google Chrome: To export bookmarks, click the vertical three-dot icon at the top right of your browser window, then select Bookmarks and lists > Bookmark Manager from the menu that appears. Click the three-dot icon to the right of the search bar and select Export bookmarks. To import bookmarks, follow the same procedure but choose Import bookmarks instead of Export Bookmarks.

Mozilla Firefox: To export bookmarks, click the Menu button (three horizontal lines) on the top right of the screen, then select Bookmarks and click Manage bookmarks at the bottom of the screen. Select Import and Backup from the top of the screen that appears and choose Export Bookmarks to HTML. To import bookmarks, follow the same procedure but choose Import Bookmarks from HTML instead of Export Bookmarks to HTML.

Microsoft Edge: Click the Favorites button (the star icon), then click the three-button icon at the top of the panel that appears and choose Export favorites. To import bookmarks, follow the same procedure but choose Import favorites instead of Export favorites.

What to do after migrating your files and apps to the new PC

When everything is transferred, be sure to take these steps to protect your data:

Sign out of all your accounts on the old computer. This includes Microsoft, Google, browser sync, passwords, financial information, cloud storage accounts, and others. You don’t want the next owner to be able to use your accounts, especially any that may connect to credit and debit cards or bank accounts.

Consider wiping/reformatting the old computer, but check with IT first if it’s a business computer, in case they need to keep it as is for some period of time for regulatory or HR policy reasons. If your own computer and you’re feeling particularly paranoid, you can remove the old hard disk and physically destroy it.

Back up your new PC. Don’t forget to establish a regular backup routine on your new Windows computer, whether it’s through File History, image backup software, or the new Windows Backup facility in Windows 11.

This article was originally published in November 2020 and most recently updated in December 2025.

Further reading:

How to switch from Android to iPhone

How to switch from iPhone to Android

How to move data between your Android phone and a computer

How to move files between an iPhone and Android phone

Source:: Computer World

We talk about tons of tips for making the most of Android and tapping into all the software’s easily overlooked options, features, and shortcuts.

But when it comes to real-world productivity, Google’s actual operating system is really only half the story.

With Android in particular, lots of core OS-level elements exist as their own standalone apps — technically separate pieces of the puzzle that live in the Play Store and are updated numerous times a year in a way that reaches all of us at the same time. It’s a sharp contrast to the all-in-one strategy on the other side of the mobile-tech divide, and it offers up some pretty interesting (if also largely unappreciated) advantages for those of us here in the land o’ Googley matters.

Over the past year, I’ve shared some splendid suggestions for digging in deeper to those apps and uncovering all sorts of buried treasures — genuinely useful options and adjustments that’ll help you work faster and more efficiently and generally just have a better all-around Android experience.

It’s a lot to take in, and it’s all too easy to miss (or maybe just forget!) something worthwhile along the way. So here, as the end of the year approaches, are some of my favorite collections of Google Android app wisdom from the past 12 months.

Use the quiet holiday weeks ahead of us to process ’em all and grant yourself some new spectacular new superpowers for 2026 — and if you aren’t already receiving my Android Intelligence newsletter, by golly, make it your first order of business to fix that now. I send out three new things to try every Friday, and the best tip I can offer for the coming year is to make sure you don’t miss out.

Now, where were we? Oh — right….

The best Google Android app advice from 2025

33 time-saving tips for the Chrome Android browser

Become a mobile browsing pro with these advanced tips for Google’s Chrome Android browser.

6 shape-shifting new Android browser powers

These helpful new features aren’t yet available to the masses — but they’re there and ready for you, if you know where to find ’em.

14 handy hidden tricks for Google Maps on Android

Take advantage of all Maps has to offer by tapping into these easily overlooked features and options.

14 Google Play Store secrets for smarter Android app management

Save time and perform all sorts of advanced Android app sorcery with these off-the-beaten-path Play Store tricks.

Bonus: 9 fast fixes for common Google Docs problems

Knock down distressing Docs issues in no time — on Android and the desktop front alike — with these easy-to-implement, expert-approved solutions.

2026, here we come!

Your mission for the new year, should you choose to accept it: Get yourself set with my Android Intelligence newsletter and get my Android Notification Power-Pack — six powerful enhancements for any device — as a special instant bonus.

Source:: Computer World

A job posting by a Microsoft engineer sparked excitement about a project “to eliminate every line of C and C++ from Microsoft by 2030”, replacing it with Rust — but alas for fans of the memory-safe programming language, it turns out this is a personal goal, not a corporate one, and Rust isn’t necessarily even the final target.

Microsoft Distinguished Engineer Galen Hunt posted about his ambitious goal on LinkedIn four days ago, provoking a wave of excitement and concern.

Now he’s been forced to clarify: “My team’s project is a research project. We are building tech to make migration from language to language possible,” he wrote in an update to his LinkedIn post. His intent, he said, was to find like-minded engineers, “not to set a new strategy for Windows 11+ or to imply that Rust is an endpoint.”

Hunt’s project is to investigate how AI can be used to assist in the translation of code from one language to another at scale. “Our North Star is ‘1 engineer, 1 month, 1 million lines of code’,” he wrote.

He’s recruiting an engineer to help build the infrastructure to do that, demonstrating the technology using Rust as the target language and C and C++ as the source.

The successful candidate will join the Future of Scalable Software Engineering team in Microsoft’s CoreAI group, building static analysis and machine learning tools for AI-assisted translation and migration.

Pressure to ditch C and C++ in favor of memory-safe languages such as Rust comes right from the top, with research by Google and Microsoft showing that around 70 percent of all security vulnerabilities in software are caused by memory safety issues.

However, using AI to rewrite code, even in a memory-safe language, may not make things more secure: AI-generated code typically contains more issues than code written by humans, according to research by CodeRabbit.

That’s not stopping some of the biggest software developers pushing ahead with AI-powered software development, though. Already, AI writes 30% of Microsoft’s new code, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in April.

This article first appeared on Infoworld.

Source:: Computer World

Google is launching Disco, a new experiment for the Chrome browser built on Gemini 3. The tool allows users to turn open tabs into interactive web apps, known as “GenTabs”, which can be used for study or travel planning, for example.

The user describes in natural language what they want and Disco builds a customized app with links to relevant sources. The apps can then be further customized with additional instructions. No classic programming knowledge is needed.

Disco is directly integrated into Chrome and can thus take into account multiple tabs and previous Gemini chats. The tool is initially only available on Mac OS via Google’s test platform Google Labs. Access is limited, but interested parties can sign up for a waiting list.

You can see a demonstration of GenTabs in the clip below:

Source:: Computer World

By Partner Content Now, in the fast-paced digital era, content quality is more valuable than ever. And so the…
The post Vmake Review: The Ultimate Video Watermark Remover and Quality Enhancer for Content Creators appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

By Deepti Pathak OPPO is set to launch the Reno 15 Series soon, with a renewed focus on clean…
The post OPPO Reno 15 Series Key Specs Confirmed appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

By Gareth Beavis Can influencers be the key to making 3D printed shoes a success?
The post The 3D-printed shoe company that wants to follow Apple’s lead appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Omair Khaliq Sultan Holiday crunch time is here, and there aren’t many tech gifts left that you can still order with comfortable delivery before Christmas. The Shokz OpenRun Pro are one of the better last-minute picks: they are down to $99.99 (save $60 off the usual $159.99) and, at the time of writing, still show delivery in time […] The post Shokz OpenRun Pro drop to $99.99 and can still arrive before Christmas appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Moinak Pal A new FCC ruling bans approvals for future DJI drones, citing security risks, but current devices remain usable.
The post Are you buying a drone soon? Here’s how the FCC’s move affects you appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

Google is suing SerpApi, a web-scraping company that provides its customers with an API that mimics human searching, the latest salvo in the battle over access to data for training and operating AI large language models.

Many of the large language models powering AI services today were trained on data scraped from websites, often without the knowledge or permission of the sites’ owners. Now, copyright holders are fighting back, suing AI companies or their suppliers, and striking licensing deals worth millions or even billions of dollars.

Google is on both sides of that fight: collecting and curating one of the world’s largest datasets, while simultaneously training its own family of LLMs, Gemini, and integrating them into its services — including search.

Now other companies are seeking to access that dataset to build competing AI products, and Google sees it as a threat.

SerpApi is “circumventing security measures protecting others’ copyrighted content that appears in Google search results,” Google General Counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado wrote in a blog post announcing the lawsuit. “We did this to ask a court to stop SerpApi’s bots and their malicious scraping, which violates the choices of websites and rightsholders about who should have access to their content,” she wrote.

While Google obtains most of its search results by scraping websites itself, Prado said Google’s lawsuit specifically targets SerpApi’s access to content Google has licensed or created. “SerpApi deceptively takes content that Google licenses from others (like images that appear in Knowledge Panels, real-time data in Search features and much more), and then resells it for a fee. In doing so, it willfully disregards the rights and directives of websites and providers whose content appears in Search,” she wrote.

SerpApI denied wrongdoing, saying that it provides developers, researchers, and businesses with access to public search data that is the same information anyone can access from their browser. “We believe this lawsuit is an effort to stifle competition from the innovators who rely on our services to build next-generation AI, security, browsers, productivity, and many other applications,” it said in a written statement. “As we state on our website, ‘The crawling and parsing of public data is protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.’ We work closely with our attorneys to ensure our services comply with all applicable laws, including fair use principles. SerpApi stands firmly behind its business model and will vigorously defend itself in court.”

Google must be particularly concerned about the help that its competitors are receiving from SerpApi. In August, The Information reported that OpenAI and Perplexity were customers of SerpApi. 

No free ride

Some see the lawsuit as an indication that the free ride for AI firms is coming to an end.

“AI development is moving extremely fast precisely because the legal framework around content usage is unclear,” said Martin Jeffrey, founder of AI search optimization consultancy Harton Works. “Companies are optimizing for AI discovery now rather than waiting for permission or clarity, and maybe this is why Google is making these kinds of moves.”

Matt Hasan, CEO of AI marketing firm aiResults, concurs. “The period where AI developers could move quickly with little pushback from content providers is clearly ending. As legal and regulatory constraints tighten, we should expect a slowdown in experimentation, more cautious product development, and a shift toward defensible, licensed, or vertically integrated data strategies. That doesn’t stop AI progress, but it does reshape who can afford to participate and how fast they can move.”

Google’s action will certainly help the company with the continuing development of its own AI offering, said Jeffrey. “Google fell behind a bit with Gemini. They’re catching up now and are implementing Gemini into everything,” he said. He’s curious to see what Google does after its action against SerpApi: “If they win that, will they tackle larger firms? It looks like they’re going after the small guy first; it’s a shot across the bow.”

There are already signs that some of Gemini’s competitors are beginning to be impacted by Google’s strides in the AI market. Earlier this month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declared a ‘Code Red’ alert in his attempt to maintain its market leading position against Google’s incursions into the market. 

The lawsuit against SerpApi is not Google’s first attempt to limit the use its AI rivals can make of its data. In October it limited search queries to just 10 results per request, where previously it would provide up to 100. This action forced companies scraping its site to considerably scale up their crawling efforts to achieve the same results.

Source:: Computer World