The Windows 11 update 24H2 includes a new feature called Connected Camera that lets you turn your smartphone into a webcam. The folks at PCWorld have tested the feature out, and it looks pretty easy to use, though you do need to have an Android phone to use it.
Using your phone as a webcam — either for your desktop or your laptop — isn’t new, but native support for it has been patchy. At first, people had to use third-party apps to do the job. Then Apple users got Continuity Camera, and a few years later Android 14 users got a similar feature, too.
Now Windows has joined the club (late as always), giving us even more ways to ditch the grainy old laptop webcam for the fancy cameras we carry in our pockets. To try the feature out, you need a PC with Bluetooth running Windows 11 24H2 and a phone running Android 8.0 or later.
Start by connecting your phone to the PC either using Phone Link or the Manage mobile devices controls. Both devices will need to be on the same Wi-Fi network, and you’ll need to agree to certain permissions, so your PC has access to your phone camera.
Once your phone appears under the My devices menu on the Manage mobile devices page, you’ll see a toggle option called Use as a connected camera. Toggle it on and your phone should appear as a webcam device in any video call app like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams.
You can use either your front-facing or rear camera to capture the footage, and the camera feed will automatically switch between vertical and landscape mode depending on how you hold your phone. If your PC supports Windows Studio Effects, they’ll still work even when you’re using your phone camera.
As expected for a new Windows feature, however, not everything works quite as it should. PCWorld noted that using the feature on a laptop resulted in a 720p resolution feed, even though the native webcam captured at 1080p. I’m sure Microsoft has added it to the list of Windows 11 24H2 issues it needs to fix.
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Two residents of Chicago have filed a lawsuit in the US over claims that robots run by Coco Robotics and Serve Robotics captured their facial and hand measurements without consent, bringing renewed attention to the food delivery robots. The cases raise a troubling question: If a robot delivers food to your door, can it also be gathering sensitive information about you?
According to a report by The Associated Press, the proposed class-action lawsuits were filed in Cook County on Oct. 9 and allege violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. The complaints claim that the robots’ cameras and LiDAR sensors captured information on customers’ faces and hands as they approached the machines to pick up their orders. Both have denied the allegations.
Nearly a month after announcing the GPT-6.1 Sol model, OpenAI unveiled GPT-6.1 Terra today. The latest addition to the family focuses on computer use, visual reasoning, coding, and professional work, while costing 50% less through the API than GPT-5.6 Terra.
OpenAI says Terra can handle everything from filling out browser forms and working inside spreadsheets to interpreting technical drawings and editing videos. The company says it can also complete computer-based tasks more than three times faster than GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol.