TechCapsules

WhatsApp has begun testing an AI‑powered photo expansion feature called Extend, available to select iOS users via TestFlight and the main app. The tool, similar to those in ChatGPT and Photoshop, lets users pinch or drag to enlarge images beyond their original borders. After a brief AI analysis, the expanded photo appears in the drawing editor, where users can send it or undo the change. The feature also works on status updates, and a broader rollout is [...]

Microsoft has launched a new Xbox PC app for its Insider program, allowing early access to the platform’s latest features. The app, available today, enables users to stream games, manage game libraries, and receive real‑time updates directly from the Xbox ecosystem. It is part of Microsoft’s broader strategy to integrate its console and PC gaming experiences, offering a unified interface for cross‑platform play and content discovery. The release follows a series of updates aimed at enhancing user [...]

Microsoft’s PowerToys suite received version 0.102 on October 21, moving the Color Picker and Text Extractor utilities from WPF to native WinUI 3. The migration introduced a redesigned overlay, editor and magnifier for Color Picker and a new borderless‑window snipping system for Text Extractor, while extracting OCR logic into a PowerOCR.Core library. This update follows earlier transitions of Keyboard Manager, Image Resizer, Quick Accent and Mouse Jump, bringing the total of WinUI 3‑based tools to six this year and 17 utilities [...]

Sean Endicott, a veteran news writer at Windows Central, specializes in covering Windows 11, Surface devices, Microsoft 365, AI, and related apps. Since joining the site in 2017, he has authored over a thousand pieces, ranging from breaking news to in‑depth analysis and opinion. His reporting tracks Microsoft’s software updates, hardware launches, and the company’s expanding AI and services strategy. Endicott also pens the weekly “Windows Wrap” column, which curates the most significant stories of the week and contextualizes [...]

Instagram has released a Mac version of its free video‑editing app, Edits, adding a larger workspace, multi‑track timelines, keyframe transitions, and advanced color grading tools. The desktop app supports 4K watermark‑free exports, multiple aspect ratios, and direct publishing to Instagram with native tagging, location, and Reel features. Users can import custom LUTs, fonts, and keyboard shortcuts, and access Instagram’s audio library and automatic captions. Weekly updates and user feedback will shape future improvements.

WhatsApp has expanded its Events feature, allowing users to create shareable invites with cover photos, QR codes, and email or text links. Guests can view details and RSVP without a WhatsApp account or app download, and their phone numbers remain hidden unless they RSVP. The update introduces a dedicated Events section in Settings for managing invites, RSVPs, reminders, and plus‑one options, and it will roll out to all users over the coming weeks.

Apple has re‑announced its subscription retention message API, now allowing developers to receive real‑time alerts when a user lands on a cancellation page, even before the Cancel button is tapped. The alert includes the user’s location and the original transaction ID, enabling developers to push a tailored retention offer in the appropriate language and currency. The feature, first launched in July 2025, originally only triggered after a Cancel tap; the new capability expands the timing of the prompt. [...]

Microsoft has enhanced Outlook Classic’s search by adding a relevance‑ranked set that can display up to seven top results, replacing the previous limit of three. The update also enables Outlook Classic to fall back to Windows Search when cloud search is slow or offline, improving reliability for locally stored emails and attachments. These changes are rolling out immediately, while similar features for New Outlook remain in development. The update aims to make email retrieval faster and more [...]