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The screen on the 2024 iPad Pro is a hair bigger, yet the tablet is somehow thinner and lighter than the prior model. | Photo: David Pierce / The Verge

The newest iPad Pro and iPad Air models don’t hit store shelves until Wednesday, May 15th, but we’re already seeing preorder discounts on select colors ahead of the launch. The 11-inch iPad Air is down to $569.99 ($30 off) with Wi-Fi and 128GB of storage at Amazon, while the base 13-inch iPad Air is going for 769.99 ($30 off) at Amazon. Meanwhile, the 256GB 11-inch iPad Pro with the M4 chip / Wi-Fi is down to $949.99 ($50 off) at Amazon; you can also save $50 on all 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models at Best Buy if you’re a My Best Buy Total or Plus member (which itself starts at $49.99 a year).

We can’t speak to their worth just yet, but the 2024 iPad Air and iPad Pro are likely to be safe bets. On paper, neither rock the boat so much that you should expect a vastly different user experience from that of their predecessors. The latest iPad Air, for example, now has a Wi-Fi 6E radio and a last-gen M2 chip — which enables hover support for the second-gen Apple Pencil — but is also now available in a bigger 13-inch size in addition to the 11-inch model.
The iPad Pro, on the other hand, offers a more impressive jump. Apple has found a way to make it even thinner and lighter, for starters, while including a new M4 chip that features dedicated computing headroom for the advanced AI features iPadOS may receive at WWDC next month. It also touts a brilliant OLED display and exclusive compatibility with the new $129 Apple Pencil Pro, which offers haptic feedback, new gestures, and a gyroscope sensor for added control and precision.

Read our 2024 iPad Pro hands-on impressions.

A few more deals worth a look

The new Beats Solo 4 are on sale for around $149.95 ($50 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. It’s the first sale we’ve noticed on the refreshed on-ear headphones, which support features like Fast Pairing and Find My in addition to Bluetooth and wired audio over USB-C and the 3.5mm jack. Aesthetically, they’re very similar to the Beats Solo 3 and sound pretty good, even when the battery dies and you’re using them wired. They’re also more comfy than the last-gen model and offer 50 hours of battery life, though they lack premium features like ANC and waterproofing. Read our review.

Anker’s 615 USB Power Strip is down to $35.99 ($24 off) at Amazon for Prime members when you clip the on-page coupon. The 65W GaNPrime travel charger bears two three-pronged AC outlets, two USB-C ports, and a USB-A port. The three-foot power cable fits perfectly into the recessed groove that Anker built into the middle of the charging brick, too, allowing you to stow the cable neatly using the included rubber cover when traveling.
Now until May 29th, you can get a Street Fighter II Arcade1Up cabinet for $324.99 ($175 off) with a 90-day warranty at Woot. The Capcom-licensed cabinet comes with a matching riser and 12 games. This includes six different versions of Street Fighter II and six other classic titles: Darkstalkers; Final Fight; Commando; 1944; Strider; and Ghosts ‘n Goblins. You can switch between games at will (no coin drop required) and play them on the included 17-inch screen.

The screen on the 2024 iPad Pro is a hair bigger, yet the tablet is somehow thinner and lighter than the prior model. | Photo: David Pierce / The Verge

The newest iPad Pro and iPad Air models don’t hit store shelves until Wednesday, May 15th, but we’re already seeing preorder discounts on select colors ahead of the launch. The 11-inch iPad Air is down to $569.99 ($30 off) with Wi-Fi and 128GB of storage at Amazon, while the base 13-inch iPad Air is going for 769.99 ($30 off) at Amazon. Meanwhile, the 256GB 11-inch iPad Pro with the M4 chip / Wi-Fi is down to $949.99 ($50 off) at Amazon; you can also save $50 on all 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models at Best Buy if you’re a My Best Buy Total or Plus member (which itself starts at $49.99 a year).

We can’t speak to their worth just yet, but the 2024 iPad Air and iPad Pro are likely to be safe bets. On paper, neither rock the boat so much that you should expect a vastly different user experience from that of their predecessors. The latest iPad Air, for example, now has a Wi-Fi 6E radio and a last-gen M2 chip — which enables hover support for the second-gen Apple Pencil — but is also now available in a bigger 13-inch size in addition to the 11-inch model.

The iPad Pro, on the other hand, offers a more impressive jump. Apple has found a way to make it even thinner and lighter, for starters, while including a new M4 chip that features dedicated computing headroom for the advanced AI features iPadOS may receive at WWDC next month. It also touts a brilliant OLED display and exclusive compatibility with the new $129 Apple Pencil Pro, which offers haptic feedback, new gestures, and a gyroscope sensor for added control and precision.

Read our 2024 iPad Pro hands-on impressions.

A few more deals worth a look

The new Beats Solo 4 are on sale for around $149.95 ($50 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. It’s the first sale we’ve noticed on the refreshed on-ear headphones, which support features like Fast Pairing and Find My in addition to Bluetooth and wired audio over USB-C and the 3.5mm jack. Aesthetically, they’re very similar to the Beats Solo 3 and sound pretty good, even when the battery dies and you’re using them wired. They’re also more comfy than the last-gen model and offer 50 hours of battery life, though they lack premium features like ANC and waterproofing. Read our review.

Anker’s 615 USB Power Strip is down to $35.99 ($24 off) at Amazon for Prime members when you clip the on-page coupon. The 65W GaNPrime travel charger bears two three-pronged AC outlets, two USB-C ports, and a USB-A port. The three-foot power cable fits perfectly into the recessed groove that Anker built into the middle of the charging brick, too, allowing you to stow the cable neatly using the included rubber cover when traveling.
Now until May 29th, you can get a Street Fighter II Arcade1Up cabinet for $324.99 ($175 off) with a 90-day warranty at Woot. The Capcom-licensed cabinet comes with a matching riser and 12 games. This includes six different versions of Street Fighter II and six other classic titles: Darkstalkers; Final Fight; Commando; 1944; Strider; and Ghosts ‘n Goblins. You can switch between games at will (no coin drop required) and play them on the included 17-inch screen.

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Screenshot: YouTube

OpenAI is making a number of its previously subscription-only features available to free users of ChatGPT, with the biggest being the ability to create custom chatbots and browse its GPT Store.
The company opened its GPT Store to paid subscribers just four months ago on January 10th. The store lets users create their own chatbots, called GPTs, and share them. Some of the trending bots right now include an image-generating bot, a chatbot called Consensus that’s geared toward helping with scientific research, and a logo-making bot.
The company said it would offer an engagement-based revenue sharing program for GPT builders — that started testing in March. But the audience for the bots has been limited due to the feature’s restriction to paying ChatGPT users.
Developing…

Screenshot: YouTube

OpenAI is making a number of its previously subscription-only features available to free users of ChatGPT, with the biggest being the ability to create custom chatbots and browse its GPT Store.

The company opened its GPT Store to paid subscribers just four months ago on January 10th. The store lets users create their own chatbots, called GPTs, and share them. Some of the trending bots right now include an image-generating bot, a chatbot called Consensus that’s geared toward helping with scientific research, and a logo-making bot.

The company said it would offer an engagement-based revenue sharing program for GPT builders — that started testing in March. But the audience for the bots has been limited due to the feature’s restriction to paying ChatGPT users.

Developing…

Read More 

Image: OpenAI

ChatGPT is getting a desktop app — but it’s only available on macOS for now. OpenAI CTO Mira Murati announced the news during an event on Tuesday, where she also said that ChatGPT is getting a refreshed UI.
In the demo shown by OpenAI, users could open the ChatGPT desktop app in a small window, alongside another program. They asked ChatGPT questions about what’s on their screen — whether by typing or saying it. ChatGPT could then respond based on what it “sees.”

Image: OpenAI

OpenAI says users can ask ChatGPT a question by using the Option + Space keyboard shortcut, as well as take and discuss screenshots within the app. Both free and paid users will be able to access the new app, but it will only be available to ChatGPT Plus users starting today before a broader rollout in “the coming weeks.”
OpenAI is planning to launch a Windows version of the app “later this year.” ChatGPT is already available as an app on iOS and Android.
OpenAI also shared an image of ChatGPT’s new UI on web, and it looks like it comes with pretty minor changes to the home screen and message layout. “We know that these models get more and more complex,” Mirati explains. “But we want the experience of interaction to actually become more natural, easy, and for you not to focus on the UI at all, but focus on the collaboration with ChatGPT.”
In addition to the new app and the new UI, the company also showed off its new GTP-4o model, which is free to all users.

Image: OpenAI

ChatGPT is getting a desktop app — but it’s only available on macOS for now. OpenAI CTO Mira Murati announced the news during an event on Tuesday, where she also said that ChatGPT is getting a refreshed UI.

In the demo shown by OpenAI, users could open the ChatGPT desktop app in a small window, alongside another program. They asked ChatGPT questions about what’s on their screen — whether by typing or saying it. ChatGPT could then respond based on what it “sees.”

Image: OpenAI

OpenAI says users can ask ChatGPT a question by using the Option + Space keyboard shortcut, as well as take and discuss screenshots within the app. Both free and paid users will be able to access the new app, but it will only be available to ChatGPT Plus users starting today before a broader rollout in “the coming weeks.”

OpenAI is planning to launch a Windows version of the app “later this year.” ChatGPT is already available as an app on iOS and Android.

OpenAI also shared an image of ChatGPT’s new UI on web, and it looks like it comes with pretty minor changes to the home screen and message layout. “We know that these models get more and more complex,” Mirati explains. “But we want the experience of interaction to actually become more natural, easy, and for you not to focus on the UI at all, but focus on the collaboration with ChatGPT.”

In addition to the new app and the new UI, the company also showed off its new GTP-4o model, which is free to all users.

Read More 

Screenshot: OpenAI

OpenAI announced the launch of GPT-4o, an iteration of its GPT-4 model that powers its hallmark product, ChatGPT. The latest update “is much faster” and improves “capabilities across text, vision, and audio,” OpenAI CTO Mira Murati said in a livestream announcement on Monday. It’ll be free for all users, and paid users will continue to “have up to five times the capacity limits” of free users, Murati added.
In a blog post from the company, OpenAI says GPT-4o’s capabilities “will be rolled out iteratively (with extended red team access starting today),” but its text and image capabilities will start to roll out today in ChatGPT.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted that the model is “natively multimodal,” which means the model could generate content or understand commands in voice, text, or images. Developers who want to tinker with GPT-4o will have access to the API, which is half the price and twice as fast as GPT-4-turbo, Altman added on X.
Prior to today’s GPT-4o launch, conflicting reports predicted that OpenAI was announcing an AI search engine to rival Google and Perplexity, a voice assistant baked into GPT-4, or a totally new and improved model, GPT-5. Of course, OpenAI was sure to time this launch just ahead of Google I/O, the tech giant’s flagship conference, where we expect to see the launch of various AI products from the Gemini team.
Developing…

Screenshot: OpenAI

OpenAI announced the launch of GPT-4o, an iteration of its GPT-4 model that powers its hallmark product, ChatGPT. The latest update “is much faster” and improves “capabilities across text, vision, and audio,” OpenAI CTO Mira Murati said in a livestream announcement on Monday. It’ll be free for all users, and paid users will continue to “have up to five times the capacity limits” of free users, Murati added.

In a blog post from the company, OpenAI says GPT-4o’s capabilities “will be rolled out iteratively (with extended red team access starting today),” but its text and image capabilities will start to roll out today in ChatGPT.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted that the model is “natively multimodal,” which means the model could generate content or understand commands in voice, text, or images. Developers who want to tinker with GPT-4o will have access to the API, which is half the price and twice as fast as GPT-4-turbo, Altman added on X.

Prior to today’s GPT-4o launch, conflicting reports predicted that OpenAI was announcing an AI search engine to rival Google and Perplexity, a voice assistant baked into GPT-4, or a totally new and improved model, GPT-5. Of course, OpenAI was sure to time this launch just ahead of Google I/O, the tech giant’s flagship conference, where we expect to see the launch of various AI products from the Gemini team.

Developing…

Read More 

Ikea’s new Energy Insights feature will offer real-time data on energy consumption and electricity spot prices. | Photo: Ikea

Energy management is a big benefit of the smart home, and more companies are starting to offer easier ways to monitor and control your home’s energy use through their app on your phone. The next level is offering intelligent ways to automate the process to save you money without you having to think about it.
Swedish furniture giant Ikea just took a small step toward providing that to users of its smart home platform, Home Smart. This week, it launched an Energy Insights feature to monitor your home’s energy use and announced its first energy-monitoring smart plug, the Inspelning, is coming in October.

Image: Ikea
The Inspelning is Ikea’s first energy monitoring smart plug.

Ikea says the Inspelning can monitor energy use for “any device.” It requires Ikea’s Dirigera smart hub and will be available globally, including the US, at launch. Ikea currently offers the Tradfri smart plug (global) and the Tretakt smart plug (EU / UK only), but neither has energy monitoring capabilities.

The new Energy Insights feature is limited to Sweden at launch, and Ikea is calling it a “pilot project,” insights from which will be used to explore how it can be scaled up and made available to other markets.
According to Ikea, Energy Insights will offer real-time data on energy consumption and electricity spot prices and compare your home’s usage to similar households. This way, you can adjust how and when you use more energy-intensive appliances to save money and reduce energy use.
The company says it plans to bring actionable tips on how to save energy to Energy Insights “in the future,” along with personalized recommendations on products and services available from Ikea that help reduce energy use.

“While the launch of Energy Insights is currently a pilot in Sweden, it represents a significant step in our strategic initiative to explore smart energy solutions,” said David Granath, Range Manager at Ikea of Sweden. “This is a small beginning of our journey to support our customers in saving energy and making informed decisions around their use of electricity.” He said they plan to improve the app further and expand their range of smart products that tackle energy costs and consumption in the smart home.
Energy Insights can work without energy-monitoring smart devices, said Granath. If you provide the app with details about your home, it will give you data and comparisons based on general energy usage information and electricity spot prices. You can also get more information if you give the app access to the energy data from your smart meter.
Earlier this year, Ikea added beta support for Matter, a new smart home standard designed to improve interoperability between connected devices. Last week, Matter added energy monitoring capabilities to its spec, meaning products with energy monitoring capabilities (like the Inspelning smart plug) could connect to other Matter ecosystems through Ikea’s Dirigera hub and share their data.
While none of the smart home platforms currently offer energy monitoring through Matter, many offer features that provide insights into energy use in your home. It’s likely we’ll see a big uptick in these types of features, as well as more support for energy management across the smart home. Energy monitoring combined with automated, intelligent management of how a home consumes energy has huge potential to help us both reduce our energy use and save money.

Ikea’s new Energy Insights feature will offer real-time data on energy consumption and electricity spot prices. | Photo: Ikea

Energy management is a big benefit of the smart home, and more companies are starting to offer easier ways to monitor and control your home’s energy use through their app on your phone. The next level is offering intelligent ways to automate the process to save you money without you having to think about it.

Swedish furniture giant Ikea just took a small step toward providing that to users of its smart home platform, Home Smart. This week, it launched an Energy Insights feature to monitor your home’s energy use and announced its first energy-monitoring smart plug, the Inspelning, is coming in October.

Image: Ikea
The Inspelning is Ikea’s first energy monitoring smart plug.

Ikea says the Inspelning can monitor energy use for “any device.” It requires Ikea’s Dirigera smart hub and will be available globally, including the US, at launch. Ikea currently offers the Tradfri smart plug (global) and the Tretakt smart plug (EU / UK only), but neither has energy monitoring capabilities.

The new Energy Insights feature is limited to Sweden at launch, and Ikea is calling it a “pilot project,” insights from which will be used to explore how it can be scaled up and made available to other markets.

According to Ikea, Energy Insights will offer real-time data on energy consumption and electricity spot prices and compare your home’s usage to similar households. This way, you can adjust how and when you use more energy-intensive appliances to save money and reduce energy use.

The company says it plans to bring actionable tips on how to save energy to Energy Insights “in the future,” along with personalized recommendations on products and services available from Ikea that help reduce energy use.

“While the launch of Energy Insights is currently a pilot in Sweden, it represents a significant step in our strategic initiative to explore smart energy solutions,” said David Granath, Range Manager at Ikea of Sweden. “This is a small beginning of our journey to support our customers in saving energy and making informed decisions around their use of electricity.” He said they plan to improve the app further and expand their range of smart products that tackle energy costs and consumption in the smart home.

Energy Insights can work without energy-monitoring smart devices, said Granath. If you provide the app with details about your home, it will give you data and comparisons based on general energy usage information and electricity spot prices. You can also get more information if you give the app access to the energy data from your smart meter.

Earlier this year, Ikea added beta support for Matter, a new smart home standard designed to improve interoperability between connected devices. Last week, Matter added energy monitoring capabilities to its spec, meaning products with energy monitoring capabilities (like the Inspelning smart plug) could connect to other Matter ecosystems through Ikea’s Dirigera hub and share their data.

While none of the smart home platforms currently offer energy monitoring through Matter, many offer features that provide insights into energy use in your home. It’s likely we’ll see a big uptick in these types of features, as well as more support for energy management across the smart home. Energy monitoring combined with automated, intelligent management of how a home consumes energy has huge potential to help us both reduce our energy use and save money.

Read More 

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

Here’s the situation: you’re typing a report for work, and you suddenly have to write the phrase “Jones née Berkowitz.” Or you are adding a phrase in Spanish and need to use the word “años.” How do you add the special characters to the letters?
Special characters (also known as diacritical marks) may be more common in certain languages, but there are plenty of circumstances in which English speakers may need to use them. But because they are so rare in English, native English speakers may not have learned how to add those marks to documents, emails, or other writings. It’s not difficult to add them to your Windows document, although it’s not quite as smooth an operation as on a Mac, where all you have to do is hold the appropriate key down. (In fact, once upon a time, you would have had to look up the symbol character codes…)
Use the touch keyboard
The easiest way to add diacritical marks to a document is to enable the Windows touch keyboard. (Thanks to Ed Bott from ZDNet for first leading me to this method.) The touch keyboard automatically appears if you’re using a Windows tablet or if you’re using a PC in tablet mode. If you don’t have a touchscreen, you can use the keyboard icon that appears in the taskbar, on the right side near the date. Don’t see it? This is how you get it:

Right-click on the taskbar.
Click on Taskbar settings, which will take you to the Personalization > Taskbar page. Find Show touch keyboard icon, where you can choose from Never, Always, or When no keyboard attached.

Screenshot: Microsoft Windows
You can choose to always show the touch keyboard icon.

Now, when you want to use a special character:

Click on the touch keyboard icon
The touch keyboard will appear. Long-press (with your mouse button or, if you have a touchscreen, your finger) on the letter you want to use
You’ll now see several extra keys showing the ways you can type that letter with different symbols. Select the one you want, and it will appear on your document.
If you want to enter an emoji or a GIF, click on the emoji key to the top left of the “keyboard,” next to the task cog.

Screenshot: Google Docs
Select the special character you want, and it will appear on your document.

Use the emoji keyboard
Another keyboard that you can access and can let you easily add special characters to your text is Windows’ emoji keyboard. Yes, it is mainly for adding emoji to your text, but it’s got other uses as well. And it’s simple to use:

Hold down the Windows key (the one with the Windows symbol on it) and hit the period key.
The emoji keyboard will pop up, showing a variety of emoji. Click on the symbols tab on top (the second from the right).

Screenshot: Google Docs
The emoji keyboard also lets you access special characters.

Use the menu on the top line to select the type of symbol you’re looking for (in this case, Latin symbols). Then scroll down until you find the character you want.
Use the character map
If you’d like to try a more old-fashioned method of adding special characters to Windows, you can use the character map, which is a less polished and more complicated version of the touch keyboard but offers a similar service.
To access it:

Open a search box by hitting the Win-Q keys, and search for “character map.”
You’ll get a pop-up map showing a bunch of special characters for a specific font. You can change the font by clicking on the drop-down font menu at the top.

The character map lets you access a wide variety of special characters.

Click on the letter(s) or special characters that you want to use in your document and then click on the Select button. They’ll appear in the Characters to copy field.
Once you’ve selected all the characters you want, click on the Copy button and then paste the character(s) into your document

Use the US International Keyboard
If you’re an English speaker who is multilingual and uses special characters a lot, you may want to try the US International Keyboard, which maps your keyboard to more easily allow you to add special characters. (Thanks to “shiroledat” for the tip.)
First, you need to add the US International Keyboard to Windows:

Go to Settings > Time & language > Language & region
Look for Preferred languages and (assuming you’re an English speaker in the US) click on the three dots to the right of English (United States). Then click on Language options.
Look for the Keyboards section, which (if you’ve never been there before) will probably only contain a single keyboard icon labeled “US / QWERTY.” That’s the keyboard map you’re now using. Click on the Add a keyboard button.
In the pop-up menu that appears, scroll to “United States-International / QWERTY” and click on it

Screenshot: Microsoft Windows
Click on “Add a keyboard” and look for “United States-International.”

Now you have the choice of using either the standard US keyboard or the US International Keyboard. You can see which one is active in the lower-right side of your taskbar, near the date. It will either read “ENG / US” or “ENG / INTL.” You can click on that to switch from one to the other, or just hit the Windows key+space bar.

Screenshot: Microsoft Windows
Click on the icon to switch keyboards.

The US International Keyboard gives you two ways to add a special character:

Use the right-hand Alt key in combination with the appropriate letter to get one of the more common combinations (for example, Alt+e will result in: é).
Press the symbol you want to use and then the letter you want to use it with (for example, if you first press the ~ symbol and then the “n” key, you’ll get: ñ).

Washington State University has published a useful chart showing all of the symbols you can get using the US International Keyboard.
Use the Unicode value
If you look at the lower left-hand corner of the character map after you’ve chosen a letter or special character, you’ll see a “U” and a four-digit number. This number represents the Unicode value of the symbol, and it’s the time-honored standard for adding characters.
If you use a few special characters consistently, it can be faster to simply add the character you want using your keyboard. There are several ways to do this; here are two of the easiest (each of which has its limitations):

Press the Alt key and then type the four-digit Unicode value. For this to work, you need to have a separate number pad on your keyboard, and the NumLock key should be enabled.
If you’re working with Microsoft Word, WordPad, Outlook, or another Microsoft app, you can type in the Unicode value and then type Alt-X.
You can also press the Control key plus a symbol, and then the letter you want to accent. For example, Ctrl+’ and “e” will result in “é” — assuming you’re in a Microsoft app.

Update May 13th, 2024, 12:47PM ET: This article was originally published on March 26th, 2021, and has been updated for Windows 11 and to add additional tips.

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge

Here’s the situation: you’re typing a report for work, and you suddenly have to write the phrase “Jones née Berkowitz.” Or you are adding a phrase in Spanish and need to use the word “años.” How do you add the special characters to the letters?

Special characters (also known as diacritical marks) may be more common in certain languages, but there are plenty of circumstances in which English speakers may need to use them. But because they are so rare in English, native English speakers may not have learned how to add those marks to documents, emails, or other writings. It’s not difficult to add them to your Windows document, although it’s not quite as smooth an operation as on a Mac, where all you have to do is hold the appropriate key down. (In fact, once upon a time, you would have had to look up the symbol character codes…)

Use the touch keyboard

The easiest way to add diacritical marks to a document is to enable the Windows touch keyboard. (Thanks to Ed Bott from ZDNet for first leading me to this method.) The touch keyboard automatically appears if you’re using a Windows tablet or if you’re using a PC in tablet mode. If you don’t have a touchscreen, you can use the keyboard icon that appears in the taskbar, on the right side near the date. Don’t see it? This is how you get it:

Right-click on the taskbar.
Click on Taskbar settings, which will take you to the Personalization > Taskbar page. Find Show touch keyboard icon, where you can choose from Never, Always, or When no keyboard attached.

Screenshot: Microsoft Windows
You can choose to always show the touch keyboard icon.

Now, when you want to use a special character:

Click on the touch keyboard icon
The touch keyboard will appear. Long-press (with your mouse button or, if you have a touchscreen, your finger) on the letter you want to use
You’ll now see several extra keys showing the ways you can type that letter with different symbols. Select the one you want, and it will appear on your document.
If you want to enter an emoji or a GIF, click on the emoji key to the top left of the “keyboard,” next to the task cog.

Screenshot: Google Docs
Select the special character you want, and it will appear on your document.

Use the emoji keyboard

Another keyboard that you can access and can let you easily add special characters to your text is Windows’ emoji keyboard. Yes, it is mainly for adding emoji to your text, but it’s got other uses as well. And it’s simple to use:

Hold down the Windows key (the one with the Windows symbol on it) and hit the period key.
The emoji keyboard will pop up, showing a variety of emoji. Click on the symbols tab on top (the second from the right).

Screenshot: Google Docs
The emoji keyboard also lets you access special characters.

Use the menu on the top line to select the type of symbol you’re looking for (in this case, Latin symbols). Then scroll down until you find the character you want.

Use the character map

If you’d like to try a more old-fashioned method of adding special characters to Windows, you can use the character map, which is a less polished and more complicated version of the touch keyboard but offers a similar service.

To access it:

Open a search box by hitting the Win-Q keys, and search for “character map.”
You’ll get a pop-up map showing a bunch of special characters for a specific font. You can change the font by clicking on the drop-down font menu at the top.

The character map lets you access a wide variety of special characters.

Click on the letter(s) or special characters that you want to use in your document and then click on the Select button. They’ll appear in the Characters to copy field.
Once you’ve selected all the characters you want, click on the Copy button and then paste the character(s) into your document

Use the US International Keyboard

If you’re an English speaker who is multilingual and uses special characters a lot, you may want to try the US International Keyboard, which maps your keyboard to more easily allow you to add special characters. (Thanks to “shiroledat” for the tip.)

First, you need to add the US International Keyboard to Windows:

Go to Settings > Time & language > Language & region
Look for Preferred languages and (assuming you’re an English speaker in the US) click on the three dots to the right of English (United States). Then click on Language options.
Look for the Keyboards section, which (if you’ve never been there before) will probably only contain a single keyboard icon labeled “US / QWERTY.” That’s the keyboard map you’re now using. Click on the Add a keyboard button.
In the pop-up menu that appears, scroll to “United States-International / QWERTY” and click on it

Now you have the choice of using either the standard US keyboard or the US International Keyboard. You can see which one is active in the lower-right side of your taskbar, near the date. It will either read “ENG / US” or “ENG / INTL.” You can click on that to switch from one to the other, or just hit the Windows key+space bar.

Screenshot: Microsoft Windows
Click on the icon to switch keyboards.

The US International Keyboard gives you two ways to add a special character:

Use the right-hand Alt key in combination with the appropriate letter to get one of the more common combinations (for example, Alt+e will result in: é).
Press the symbol you want to use and then the letter you want to use it with (for example, if you first press the ~ symbol and then the “n” key, you’ll get: ñ).

Washington State University has published a useful chart showing all of the symbols you can get using the US International Keyboard.

Use the Unicode value

If you look at the lower left-hand corner of the character map after you’ve chosen a letter or special character, you’ll see a “U” and a four-digit number. This number represents the Unicode value of the symbol, and it’s the time-honored standard for adding characters.

If you use a few special characters consistently, it can be faster to simply add the character you want using your keyboard. There are several ways to do this; here are two of the easiest (each of which has its limitations):

Press the Alt key and then type the four-digit Unicode value. For this to work, you need to have a separate number pad on your keyboard, and the NumLock key should be enabled.
If you’re working with Microsoft Word, WordPad, Outlook, or another Microsoft app, you can type in the Unicode value and then type Alt-X.
You can also press the Control key plus a symbol, and then the letter you want to accent. For example, Ctrl+’ and “e” will result in “é” — assuming you’re in a Microsoft app.

Update May 13th, 2024, 12:47PM ET: This article was originally published on March 26th, 2021, and has been updated for Windows 11 and to add additional tips.

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Photo: Meta

Meta Quest headsets are ready to go on flights with you as Meta has announced a new Travel Mode. The company is rolling out the experimental feature to Quest 2 and 3 headsets running Quest software version 65 or later, allowing owners to use the headset in passthrough on a flight without windows drifting away from them.
To try it, opt in under Settings > Experimental features. Then the new mode will live in the Quick settings panel, where you can toggle it from the Quest’s universal menu. Travel Mode isn’t without limitations — it’s not designed to account for the motion of a car or train, for instance; Meta says support for other transportation methods is coming. Also, if a game or app requires an internet connection, your plane will still need to offer Wi-Fi.

Image: Meta

Quest headsets could already be used on flights, but doing it required turning off positional tracking, which also disables passthrough, as UploadVR notes.

The new mode seems aimed straight at Apple’s Vision Pro, which launched with a similar travel mode (and similar caveats). I’ve tried the headset in a car — as a passenger, of course; I’m not a monster — and it still mostly worked as long as the car wasn’t stopping and going a lot, and tracking failed if I looked out the side windows. Depending on how the Meta Quest’s new mode works, that could be the case for it as well, or it could be that it simply refuses to work if it doesn’t think you’re on a plane.
The new Travel Mode joins a growing list of Vision Pro-style features that Meta has added to its headset that debuted on Apple’s $3,500 headset earlier this year. This includes more expansive pinch controls as well as the ability to use it lying down and play back spatial videos recorded on an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max.

Photo: Meta

Meta Quest headsets are ready to go on flights with you as Meta has announced a new Travel Mode. The company is rolling out the experimental feature to Quest 2 and 3 headsets running Quest software version 65 or later, allowing owners to use the headset in passthrough on a flight without windows drifting away from them.

To try it, opt in under Settings > Experimental features. Then the new mode will live in the Quick settings panel, where you can toggle it from the Quest’s universal menu. Travel Mode isn’t without limitations — it’s not designed to account for the motion of a car or train, for instance; Meta says support for other transportation methods is coming. Also, if a game or app requires an internet connection, your plane will still need to offer Wi-Fi.

Image: Meta

Quest headsets could already be used on flights, but doing it required turning off positional tracking, which also disables passthrough, as UploadVR notes.

The new mode seems aimed straight at Apple’s Vision Pro, which launched with a similar travel mode (and similar caveats). I’ve tried the headset in a car — as a passenger, of course; I’m not a monster — and it still mostly worked as long as the car wasn’t stopping and going a lot, and tracking failed if I looked out the side windows. Depending on how the Meta Quest’s new mode works, that could be the case for it as well, or it could be that it simply refuses to work if it doesn’t think you’re on a plane.

The new Travel Mode joins a growing list of Vision Pro-style features that Meta has added to its headset that debuted on Apple’s $3,500 headset earlier this year. This includes more expansive pinch controls as well as the ability to use it lying down and play back spatial videos recorded on an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max.

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The North American ID Buzz. | Photo: Volkswagen

Volkswagen is one step closer to delivering the ID Buzz in the US, today revealing initial battery, powertrain, and trim options available when the all-electric microbus goes on sale later this year.
To start, the automaker will offer a First Edition model that comes with exclusive wheels, badging, and extra unknown “gifts.” Alongside that, VW has a Pro S model that is rear-wheel drive only (282 horsepower) and a Pro S Plus that can option in all-wheel drive (335 horsepower) and comes with standard premium features like a heads-up display.
While European customers have had fun going on road trips and camping for a year, Volkswagen has been slow to bring the retro-inspired microbus stateside. Last summer, the automaker confirmed the larger, long wheelbase version of the ID Buzz is bound for the US, with a large 91kWh battery and 20-inch wheels standard.
If you opt for the First Edition, you get some of the Pro S Plus options standard, including an electrochromic panoramic glass roof that switches from transparent to opaque, roof rail crossbars, and a bench seat that allows for seven passengers (only for RWD).
Meanwhile, the lower-tier Pro S still gets the standard tech of the upper models like the 12.9-inch infotainment, digital gauge cluster, color ambient lighting, wireless phone charging, and IQ Drive advanced driver assistant.
In an email to The Verge, Volkswagen spokesperson Mark Gillies writes that US ID Buzz pricing will be announced closer to launch in the fourth quarter of this year. Volkswagen has yet to provide EPA range estimates, but the 91kWh battery could offer as much as 310 miles on a single charge.

The North American ID Buzz. | Photo: Volkswagen

Volkswagen is one step closer to delivering the ID Buzz in the US, today revealing initial battery, powertrain, and trim options available when the all-electric microbus goes on sale later this year.

To start, the automaker will offer a First Edition model that comes with exclusive wheels, badging, and extra unknown “gifts.” Alongside that, VW has a Pro S model that is rear-wheel drive only (282 horsepower) and a Pro S Plus that can option in all-wheel drive (335 horsepower) and comes with standard premium features like a heads-up display.

While European customers have had fun going on road trips and camping for a year, Volkswagen has been slow to bring the retro-inspired microbus stateside. Last summer, the automaker confirmed the larger, long wheelbase version of the ID Buzz is bound for the US, with a large 91kWh battery and 20-inch wheels standard.

If you opt for the First Edition, you get some of the Pro S Plus options standard, including an electrochromic panoramic glass roof that switches from transparent to opaque, roof rail crossbars, and a bench seat that allows for seven passengers (only for RWD).

Meanwhile, the lower-tier Pro S still gets the standard tech of the upper models like the 12.9-inch infotainment, digital gauge cluster, color ambient lighting, wireless phone charging, and IQ Drive advanced driver assistant.

In an email to The Verge, Volkswagen spokesperson Mark Gillies writes that US ID Buzz pricing will be announced closer to launch in the fourth quarter of this year. Volkswagen has yet to provide EPA range estimates, but the 91kWh battery could offer as much as 310 miles on a single charge.

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Image: Google

Google’s futuristic videoconferencing technology will soon become a reality. In an update on Monday, Google shared that it’s working on integrating Project Starline with common videoconferencing setups like Google Meet and Zoom.
Google first took the wraps off Project Starline during Google I/O in 2021. Its first iteration involved a 3D video chat booth where you see a projection of the person you’re chatting with and they see a projection of you — almost like you’re talking to each other in the same room.
But Google later fit the technology into what looks like a large TV with a camera system mounted on the top, rather than an entire booth, making it more practical for offices and conference rooms.

Image: Google

Now Google says it’s finally taking Project Starline “out of the lab” and bringing it to the workplace. It’s teaming up with HP to commercialize the product. “We are proud to partner with Google to bring this technology to market, harnessing the power of AI to shape the future of collaboration,” Alex Cho, the president of personal systems at HP, says in a statement.
Google says it will share more details about Project Starline later this year.

Image: Google

Google’s futuristic videoconferencing technology will soon become a reality. In an update on Monday, Google shared that it’s working on integrating Project Starline with common videoconferencing setups like Google Meet and Zoom.

Google first took the wraps off Project Starline during Google I/O in 2021. Its first iteration involved a 3D video chat booth where you see a projection of the person you’re chatting with and they see a projection of you — almost like you’re talking to each other in the same room.

But Google later fit the technology into what looks like a large TV with a camera system mounted on the top, rather than an entire booth, making it more practical for offices and conference rooms.

Image: Google

Now Google says it’s finally taking Project Starline “out of the lab” and bringing it to the workplace. It’s teaming up with HP to commercialize the product. “We are proud to partner with Google to bring this technology to market, harnessing the power of AI to shape the future of collaboration,” Alex Cho, the president of personal systems at HP, says in a statement.

Google says it will share more details about Project Starline later this year.

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Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is attempting to solve the hassle of coordinating with colleagues on when everyone will be in the office. It’s a problem that emerged with the increase in hybrid and flexible work after the recent covid-19 pandemic, with workers spending less time in the office. Microsoft Places is an AI-powered app that goes into preview today and should help businesses that rely on Outlook and Microsoft Teams to better coordinate in-office time together.
“When employees get to the office, they don’t want to be greeted by a sea of empty desks — they want face-time with their manager and the coworkers they collaborate with most frequently,” says Microsoft’s corporate vice president of AI at work, Jared Spataro, in a blog post. “With Places, you can more easily coordinate across coworkers and spaces in the office.”

Image: Microsoft
Employees will be able to select which days they’re using an office space.

Microsoft Places includes a dedicated location plan section where you can set and share the days you’ll use the office and view which days your co-workers are proposing to head in. Managers can set up priority days for in-office plans, so if there’s an important event or a team day, everyone knows about it. This location data will then be fed into Outlook calendars, so you know when events are taking place in the office and when you’ve elected to head in.
Later this year, Microsoft also plans to integrate this entire experience into Microsoft Copilot. You’ll be able to ask the AI assistant “which days should I go in this week?” and you’ll get a list of suggestions based on in-person meetings, when your co-workers are planning to be in, and any team days or events. “You will be able to ask Copilot to adjust your schedule based on this information — changing your work location to the office on recommended days and rescheduling in-person meetings,” says Spataro.
Microsoft Places will also have a finder feature that makes it easier to book meeting rooms or shareable desks, and this will all be accessible in Outlook, too. You’ll even get reminders in your calendar if you forget to book a room or desk for your in-office days. Later this year, this end-to-end booking experience will also be available in Copilot, so the AI assistant will automatically find and book meeting spaces for your meetings.

Image: Microsoft
The location data will feed into Teams to help you better understand who is in the office.

The Microsoft Places location data will also feed into other Microsoft 365 apps. If you’re working in Teams, you’ll see colleagues are marked as nearby if they’re also in the office, and you can type @nearby to notify people who are in the office about an impromptu conversation or just to arrange lunch.
Microsoft will also allow real estate and facilities management employees to access a space analytics feature of Microsoft Places later this year that shows how widely used a building is and which days are the most popular with employees. IT admins will also be able to better manage and adapt spaces or improve meeting rooms and shared huddle rooms. The dashboard appears to be focused on building and room analytics, rather than offering managers another way to track individual employees.
Microsoft Places will eventually be part of Microsoft Teams Premium, which is currently offered at an additional $7 per user per month thanks to promotional pricing. (It’s usually $10 extra.) Teams Premium also includes an AI-powered intelligent recap feature, watermarking to deter leaks, and many other additional features. You can sign up for the Microsoft Places preview program right here.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is attempting to solve the hassle of coordinating with colleagues on when everyone will be in the office. It’s a problem that emerged with the increase in hybrid and flexible work after the recent covid-19 pandemic, with workers spending less time in the office. Microsoft Places is an AI-powered app that goes into preview today and should help businesses that rely on Outlook and Microsoft Teams to better coordinate in-office time together.

“When employees get to the office, they don’t want to be greeted by a sea of empty desks — they want face-time with their manager and the coworkers they collaborate with most frequently,” says Microsoft’s corporate vice president of AI at work, Jared Spataro, in a blog post. “With Places, you can more easily coordinate across coworkers and spaces in the office.”

Image: Microsoft
Employees will be able to select which days they’re using an office space.

Microsoft Places includes a dedicated location plan section where you can set and share the days you’ll use the office and view which days your co-workers are proposing to head in. Managers can set up priority days for in-office plans, so if there’s an important event or a team day, everyone knows about it. This location data will then be fed into Outlook calendars, so you know when events are taking place in the office and when you’ve elected to head in.

Later this year, Microsoft also plans to integrate this entire experience into Microsoft Copilot. You’ll be able to ask the AI assistant “which days should I go in this week?” and you’ll get a list of suggestions based on in-person meetings, when your co-workers are planning to be in, and any team days or events. “You will be able to ask Copilot to adjust your schedule based on this information — changing your work location to the office on recommended days and rescheduling in-person meetings,” says Spataro.

Microsoft Places will also have a finder feature that makes it easier to book meeting rooms or shareable desks, and this will all be accessible in Outlook, too. You’ll even get reminders in your calendar if you forget to book a room or desk for your in-office days. Later this year, this end-to-end booking experience will also be available in Copilot, so the AI assistant will automatically find and book meeting spaces for your meetings.

Image: Microsoft
The location data will feed into Teams to help you better understand who is in the office.

The Microsoft Places location data will also feed into other Microsoft 365 apps. If you’re working in Teams, you’ll see colleagues are marked as nearby if they’re also in the office, and you can type @nearby to notify people who are in the office about an impromptu conversation or just to arrange lunch.

Microsoft will also allow real estate and facilities management employees to access a space analytics feature of Microsoft Places later this year that shows how widely used a building is and which days are the most popular with employees. IT admins will also be able to better manage and adapt spaces or improve meeting rooms and shared huddle rooms. The dashboard appears to be focused on building and room analytics, rather than offering managers another way to track individual employees.

Microsoft Places will eventually be part of Microsoft Teams Premium, which is currently offered at an additional $7 per user per month thanks to promotional pricing. (It’s usually $10 extra.) Teams Premium also includes an AI-powered intelligent recap feature, watermarking to deter leaks, and many other additional features. You can sign up for the Microsoft Places preview program right here.

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