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How a ‘Minecraft’ song helped an Akron student find confidence
AppWizard
May 26, 2026

How a ‘Minecraft’ song helped an Akron student find confidence

Jerimiah Worley, a fourth-grader at Bridges Learning Center, performed "Subwoofer Lullaby" at the school's third annual talent show, Bridges Got Talent, accompanied by music therapist Edie Steiner. Bridges Learning Center serves approximately 120 students with emotional or behavioral needs and provides tailored social-emotional and mental health support. Established in 2006, it has expanded to include a program for students up to 21 years old with significant cognitive disabilities. Principal Michele Angelo noted that some students spend their entire K-12 journey at Bridges, while others transition back to home schools after mentorship from the nearly 70-person staff. Last year, about 10 percent of students graduated, gaining skills from music and art therapy. Steiner, the district's sole music therapist, teaches students to explore lyrics and melodies that resonate with their experiences. The talent show allowed students to choose their audience, with guest judges providing encouragement. Jerimiah's aunt, Stasha Heller, expressed pride in his musical journey. Student artwork displayed in the cafeteria reflected emotional landscapes nurtured through art therapy sessions. Art therapist Shenan May provides students with tools for social-emotional wellbeing, including sensory items. Principal Angelo highlighted the significant progress made by students and staff, describing their improvements as life-changing. Steiner hopes the music created will foster meaningful conversations and be shared across generations.
One Move Away is a great cosy packing game, even if it had me rage-flinging boxes into the back of a truck
AppWizard
May 25, 2026

One Move Away is a great cosy packing game, even if it had me rage-flinging boxes into the back of a truck

One Move Away is a game that uses the act of packing as a storytelling device, allowing players to engage with the life of an unnamed protagonist. The game begins in 1973 with the protagonist as a baby, teaching players mechanics like stacking and organizing items. As the protagonist grows, players experience significant life events, such as moving into their first apartment, where they must fit possessions into small moving vehicles. The game captures the satisfaction of packing while also depicting the stress of transitions. Players may reflect on their own moving experiences, facing challenges like fitting large furniture and improvising packing strategies. Ultimately, the game emphasizes the joy of problem-solving and the satisfaction found in imperfect solutions.
Microsoft's new Copilot turns into a Windows 11 sidebar that pushes your apps aside to make room
Winsage
May 24, 2026

Microsoft’s new Copilot turns into a Windows 11 sidebar that pushes your apps aside to make room

Microsoft is integrating its AI assistant, Copilot, into Windows 11 with a new docking feature that allows it to coexist with other applications. Users can access a drop-down menu in the title bar for "snapping" options, enabling Copilot to dock on the left or right side of the screen. The interface adjusts automatically to accommodate the docked Copilot, which can occupy space alongside other applications. Copilot has undergone several redesigns and is now packaged as an Edge-based wrapper, although the reasons for this bundling are unclear.
I tested Windows 11’s return of taskbar positioning and resizing, and it’s not the classic Windows 10 experience
Winsage
May 23, 2026

I tested Windows 11’s return of taskbar positioning and resizing, and it’s not the classic Windows 10 experience

The Taskbar in Windows 11 will receive enhancements allowing users to reposition and resize it, similar to features in Windows 10. The latest build, 26300.8493, enables placement of the Taskbar at any screen edge—top, bottom, left, or right. The interface will adapt to the Taskbar's position, with the Start menu and Search opening downward when docked at the top. In a vertical layout, the year will be abbreviated, and seconds will not be displayed. Users can ungroup app labels using the "Never combine" option when the Taskbar is on the left or right. The new "Taskbar position" setting is found under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar in the "Taskbar behaviors" section.
Microsoft says public sharing of Windows 11 vulnerability violates 'best practices'
Winsage
May 22, 2026

Microsoft says public sharing of Windows 11 vulnerability violates ‘best practices’

A security researcher known as Nightmare-Eclipse revealed a vulnerability in Windows 11, named YellowKey, which allows attackers to access BitLocker-encrypted drives through the Windows Recovery Environment. Microsoft acknowledged the vulnerability, assigned it the identifier CVE-2026-45585, and criticized the public sharing of its proof of concept. Currently, there is no patch available for the BitLocker bypass, but physical access to the device provides some protection. The vulnerability does not exist in Windows 10 due to differences in the Windows Recovery Environment. The attack requires a stolen Windows 11 laptop and a USB stick, and the vulnerable filesystems include NTFS, FAT32, and exFAT. Nightmare-Eclipse speculated that the bypass may function as a backdoor, while Microsoft referred to it as a "security feature bypass vulnerability."
Windows Firewall stands between you and greasy delight
Winsage
May 19, 2026

Windows Firewall stands between you and greasy delight

A fast-food venue in Sheffield's Centertainment is experiencing a glitch on its order progress screen due to a notification from the Windows Defender Firewall, indicating that some software is attempting to breach the kitchen's digital defenses. The pop-up message cannot be dismissed by customers and highlights the restaurant's reliance on technology. The Windows Defender Firewall has been a part of digital security since Windows XP and has evolved significantly over time. The incident suggests potential misconfigurations within the restaurant's system and raises questions about opportunities for branding enhancement.
Why Your Windows 11 PC Doesn't Get AI Features
Winsage
May 18, 2026

Why Your Windows 11 PC Doesn’t Get AI Features

Several hundred million Windows 11 users are experiencing frustrations due to the absence of Microsoft features like Recall and Cocreator, which are only available on Copilot+ PCs. Microsoft has divided Windows 11 into two tiers, with the latest AI functionalities requiring specific hardware known as Copilot+ PC. To qualify, a device must have: - An NPU capable of at least 40 TOPS - A minimum of 16 GB of RAM (DDR5 or LPDDR5) - At least 256 GB of SSD storage - Windows 11 version 24H2 or newer - A processor from specific families: Qualcomm Snapdragon X series, Intel Core Ultra 200V (Lunar Lake), or AMD Ryzen AI 300 series Many PCs lack these features due to missing NPUs, insufficient TOPS ratings, unsupported processor generations, outdated Windows versions, rollout delays, or regional limits. Features locked behind Copilot+ include Recall, Click to Do, Cocreator in Paint, Windows Studio Effects, Live Captions with Translation, Improved Windows Search, and Auto Super Resolution. To check for Copilot+ compatibility, users can verify the presence of an NPU in Task Manager, ensure they have Windows 11 version 24H2 or newer, and confirm their processor against the approved list. While some workarounds exist to enable features on unsupported PCs, they are often unstable and not recommended for primary use. Most users may not need to upgrade their laptops unless they require on-device AI features or their current device is significantly outdated. The AI feature gap is not currently critical for most users, as many features are optional or not essential.
Query billion-scale vectors with SQL: Integrating Amazon S3 Vectors and Aurora PostgreSQL
Tech Optimizer
May 10, 2026

Query billion-scale vectors with SQL: Integrating Amazon S3 Vectors and Aurora PostgreSQL

For managing relational data within Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL and enhancing capabilities with similarity search over large embedding collections, an integration with Amazon S3 Vectors is available. This integration utilizes the pgvector extension for low-latency similarity searches on vectors stored in the database. Amazon S3 Vectors provides cost-effective storage for extensive datasets, scaling to hundreds of millions or billions of embeddings. The integration, facilitated through AWS Lambda, allows users to query S3 Vectors directly from Aurora PostgreSQL using standard SQL, enabling the combination of vector similarity results with relational filters in a single query. The integration offers benefits such as basic key-value metadata support in S3 Vectors for simple filtering, while Aurora PostgreSQL is optimal for complex SQL filters, multi-table joins, and access-control policies. The architecture separates concerns, with Lambda handling API integration and Aurora managing relational data. Security is maintained through IAM role separation and network security measures. Data consistency considerations arise due to the distribution of data across Aurora PostgreSQL and S3 Vectors, necessitating explicit synchronization processes to manage potential stale results. The integration is suitable for use cases that can tolerate eventual consistency, such as recommendations and content discovery. Performance expectations include Lambda invocation latencies of 100-500 milliseconds, while Aurora pgvector typically provides single-digit millisecond response times. S3 Vectors achieves sub-second performance for cold queries and less than 100 milliseconds for warm queries. From a cost perspective, S3 Vectors is more economical than Aurora, making it suitable for high-volume vector data that requires archiving and queryability. The integration architecture consists of three components: Aurora PostgreSQL, AWS Lambda for API translation, and S3 Vectors for executing similarity searches. A typical query involves several stages, including SQL query invocation, function processing, API translation, similarity search, and result processing. Prerequisites for this integration include familiarity with Aurora PostgreSQL, AWS Lambda, vector databases, and SQL. Required AWS resources include an Aurora PostgreSQL cluster, a VPC with internet access, and appropriate permissions for IAM roles and Lambda functions. To deploy the integration, users must gather configuration values from their Aurora cluster, deploy a CloudFormation stack, associate the IAM role, update the Lambda function code, and install the necessary PostgreSQL schema. Sample data can be uploaded to the S3 Vectors index, allowing for testing of vector operations and combined queries. When combining relational and vector queries, developers should be aware of the trade-offs involved in pre-filtering data by metadata, which can improve performance but may reduce recall. Troubleshooting may involve addressing connectivity issues, IAM role misconfigurations, and performance optimizations. To clean up resources after testing, users should remove the PostgreSQL schema, disassociate the Lambda role from the Aurora cluster, and delete the CloudFormation stack to ensure all resources are removed.
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