NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - OCTOBER 04: Assistant coach Dan Muse of the New York Rangers handles the bench during the game against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on October 04, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Microsoft has rolled out a major update to the Windows Notepad app for Windows 11, now available to Canary and Dev Channel testers. The new version adds text formatting features, including bold, italic, hyperlinks, lists, and headings. A formatting toolbar has been added next to the main menus, with an option to clear formatting and return to plain text.

Notepad now includes integrated Markdown support. Users can write with Markdown syntax, edit Markdown files, and switch between raw syntax and a formatted preview using the view menu or a status bar toggle. This update caters to developers and technical writers who prefer Markdown’s lightweight format.

While some users may favor the traditional plain text interface, Microsoft has included a settings toggle to fully disable the new formatting features and preserve the classic Notepad experience. This update comes just after the introduction of an AI-powered Write feature, which allows users to generate text drafts by providing prompts within Notepad.

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The danger journalists face isn’t limited to covering conflicts or crime — in fact, the risk is often greatest at the airport. Going through a border check puts reporters at risk of surveillance, refusal of entry, or detainment, and it can be triggered by something as simple as an unlocked phone.

For 15 years, the journalist Vegas Tenold has investigated extremist groups and authoritarian regimes, reporting from places where simply doing his job could land him in prison, or worse. To prevent this from happening, Vegas has developed a go-bag of privacy-focused tools. When reporting the truth is a criminal act, decoy phones, dummy wallets, and Faraday bags aren’t just gear — it’s how he stays safe.

In this short documentary, Vegas walks us through the kit that keeps him out of jail, the threats that come with border crossings, and the hard lessons he’s learned after years of working where surveillance is constant and trust is rare.

Why we support Vegas’s work

Vegas’s privacy arsenal isn’t about being paranoid, it’s about being prepared. Every lock he adds, every hidden USB he uses, every encrypted partition he builds is a response to the real-world threats that journalists, activists, and everyday people face when speaking truth to power.

This mindset is at the core of Proton’s mission. Privacy shouldn’t be reserved for those with technical expertise or insider knowledge. We believe everyone should have access to tools that make them safer — whether that’s with encrypted email, a trustworthy VPN, or a zero-knowledge password manager.

Firefox has launched its long-awaited tab groups feature, responding to the most upvoted request in Mozilla Connect's three-year history. The feature allows users to organize tabs by name or color through a drag-and-drop interface. Mozilla is now developing an AI-powered "smart tab groups" feature that automatically suggests organization based on open tabs. Unlike competitors, the company said, Firefox processes this data locally, keeping tab information on the user's device rather than sending it to cloud servers.

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The Dutch parliament approved motions urging the government to reduce reliance on U.S. software companies by developing a sovereign cloud platform and reconsidering contracts with American firms. Reuters reports: While such initiatives have foundered in the past due to a lack of viable European alternatives, lawmakers said changing relations with the United States under the presidency of Donald Trump have given the issue fresh urgency. "The question we as Europeans must ask ourselves is: do we feel comfortable with people like Trump, (Meta CEO Mark) Zuckerberg and (X owner Elon) Musk ruling over our data?" said Marieke Koekkoek of the pro-European Volt party, who authored one of the eight motions, in an email to Reuters. In addition to launching a sovereign cloud services platform, the motions called on the government to re-examine a decision to use Amazon's web services for the Netherlands' internet domain hosting, and to develop alternatives to U.S. software and preferential treatment for European firms in public tenders. [...] Bert Hubert, a Dutch technology expert who has advocated for reducing dependency on the U.S., said: "This is only the first step in potentially doing something." But he said one important outcome would be forcing agencies to publicly report on risks related to their reliance on U.S. cloud firms. "With the advent of Trump 2.0, it has become clear that this is not something you can harmlessly sign off on," he said.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In an email sent to customers today, Amazon said that Echo users will no longer be able to set their devices to process Alexa requests locally and, therefore, avoid sending voice recordings to Amazon's cloud. Amazon apparently sent the email to users with "Do Not Send Voice Recordings" enabled on their Echo. Starting on March 28, recordings of everything spoken to the Alexa living in Echo speakers and smart displays will automatically be sent to Amazon and processed in the cloud. Attempting to rationalize the change, Amazon's email said: "As we continue to expand Alexa's capabilities with generative AI features that rely on the processing power of Amazon's secure cloud, we have decided to no longer support this feature." One of the most marketed features of Alexa+ is its more advanced ability to recognize who is speaking to it, a feature known as Alexa Voice ID. To accommodate this feature, Amazon is eliminating a privacy-focused capability for all Echo users, even those who aren't interested in the subscription-based version of Alexa or want to use Alexa+ but not its ability to recognize different voices. [...] Amazon said in its email today that by default, it will delete recordings of users' Alexa requests after processing. However, anyone with their Echo device set to "Don't save recordings" will see their already-purchased devices' Voice ID feature bricked. Voice ID enables Alexa to do things like share user-specified calendar events, reminders, music, and more. Previously, Amazon has said that "if you choose not to save any voice recordings, Voice ID may not work." As of March 28, broken Voice ID is a guarantee for people who don't let Amazon store their voice recordings. Amazon's email continues: "Alexa voice requests are always encrypted in transit to Amazon's secure cloud, which was designed with layers of security protections to keep customer information safe. Customers can continue to choose from a robust set of controls by visiting the Alexa Privacy dashboard online or navigating to More - Alexa Privacy in the Alexa app." Further reading: Google's Gemini AI Can Now See Your Search History

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