Windows Weekly (Audio)

Paul, Leo, and Richard get into new Windows features (thanks to the Feature Tracker), hardware shifts for Microsoft/Intel/Apple, AI moves from OpenAI/Apple/Adobe, Notion Mail, a Hawaiian drink, the National Recording Registry, rice cookers, and electronic timer tunes! Windows 11 Feature Tracker. Since we last talked, Microsoft has announced the following new features for Windows 11: Semantic search can now search for Windows settings using natural language - Dev and Beta (24H2) channels, no clear stable date but guessing June Narrator can more accurately describe images by detailing the people, objects, colours, text, and numbers in them, Snapdragon X only, same builds as above Snipping Tool with "Text extraction" in the capture bar - This in Canary now, but it was in at least Dev previously, this could ship in stable at any time, it's an app Recall (preview) and Click to Do (preview) head to the Release Preview channel (24H2) - Expect this in May Patch Tuesday Narrator speech recap, Phone Link/Start integration, File Explorer Home updates, Windows Share with Edit all head to Release Preview (23H2) - Expect these in May Patch Tuesday - They were added to Beta channel (23H2) a few days earlier Plus, Microsoft Edge is up to 9 percent faster at web rendering and we're having a fiesta Also, the Windows 95 startup/logout chime has been inducted into the National Recording Registry Hardware Surface Hub OG hits EOL this year just like Windows 10 First major change under new Intel CEO What's a computer? The iPad, supposedly, but we'll see Everything's fine, but Google laid off hundreds in Pixel/Android group AI Apple is making big changes so that Apple Intelligence will actually be intelligent Adobe is going agentic too OpenAI is creating its own social network because the world needs another social network OpenAI announces three GPT-4.1 models - may retire GPT-4 soon - plus now o3 and o4-mini models ChapGPT gets an image library and a memory Claude gets Research and Google Workspace integration Meta will start training its AI models with EU data, wink wink Xbox and games Xbox app on mobile will soon let you buy games (!) and add-on content, join Game Pass, and redeem perks. Did Microsoft get a concession from Apple/Google?? COD: Modern Warfare II (OG) and more are coming to Game Pass in the next few weeks Xbox announces Doom: The Dark Ages limited edition accessories Sea of Thieves is coming to Battle.net Sony forced to raise the price of PS5 in three locales Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Think like an individual, not an enterprise App pick of the week: Notion Mail RunAs Radio this week: How to Not Hate PowerShell with Barbara Forbes Brown liquor pick of the week: 12th Hawaii Distiller's Reserve Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: 1password.com/windowsweekly uscloud.com

Introducing the Windows 11 Feature Tracker "From the 'I should have done this two years ago' files, the 'I have wasted my life' files, and the, 'great, I needed more work to do' files ... There is a need for this. So I made one. But it will evolve. Maybe into a web app/wiki/something else... like a Notion website?" - Paul Patch Tuesday brings a metric ton of new features - And what the tracker showed clearly Two seconds after posting the tracker, Microsoft changed the Copilot app yet again - proving the need for the tracker - And demonstrating why the Insider Program is so screwed up A hidden new Start menu in recent builds presents an interesting conundrum: How to handle something Microsoft has not announced? More Windows 11 Beta build for 23H2: File new tab/new window changes, Explorer context menu regression may be permanent Dev and Beta (24H2): Taskbar icon scaling is a blast from the past we all need desperately Intel is killing Unison app and service Like winter, Build is coming Build session catalog is live - mostly AI as expected. Paul and Richard are going Overview of the Windows Copilot Runtime (one year after it was announced), Windows Actions, standard Kayla Cinnamon talk on Windows productivity, using your own model with WCR, native app experiences(!), Arm64 app perf, etc. AI Final thoughts on Microsoft's 50th: Biggest accomplishment wasn't any tech, it was changing with the times. What it's best at: Democratizing tech for the commoners, an expansion on Jack Tramiel/Commodore's "computers for the masses, not the classes" schtick. And that is exactly what it is doing with AI right now Microsoft hosts a consumer AI event and announces a metric ton of new Copilot features We need a Copilot feature tracker. Copilot = every single feature other AIs have - Copilot Actions on the web, memory and personalization, Copilot Vision on mobile and Windows, AI-generated podcasts and Microsoft releases Copilot Search in Bing Is AI turning us all into Charly from Flowers for Algernon? AI is making us stupider! There are studies!! This is the argument against every single tech advance from the steam train to the ballpoint pen to this Microsoft's AI demo of vibe-coded Quake II highlights the problem nicely Sometimes it's the little things: AI recaps for book series in Kindle GitHub Copilot updated with Agent Mode, Cursor-style code overviews, more Xbox & gaming Microsoft announces new Xbox Games Showcase for June Edge Game Assist gets new features, support for new games GTA V and enhanced version for PC coming to Game Pass on April 15 - In addition to the previous Game Pass titles we discussed last week Good: Nintendo Switch 2 supports ray tracing and DLSS Bad: Nintendo delays Switch 2 to figure out the tariffs mess Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Programmers at Work App pick of the week: Apple Music RunAs Radio this week: Application Risk in Security Copilot with Ari Schorr Brown liquor pick of the week: The Heart Cut #02 These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/927 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Bill Gates celebrates the 50th anniversary of Microsoft with the release of the source code for Altair BASIC 1.0. Plus, Paul celebrates with 99 cent books: The Windows 10 Field Guide, Windows 11 Field Guide, and Windows Everywhere are all 99 cents for 24 hours! Also available: Eternal Spring: Our Guide to Mexico City in preview!Windows The plot thickens. Paul writes epic take on future of Windows 11, describes Dev channel-only features and when/if they were ever released - in other words, an extensive but partial Windows 11 feature roadmap for 2025 Two days later, Microsoft announces a Windows 11 feature road map - one that is woefully incomplete, pathetic, and sad Microsoft announces when (sort of) new on-device AI features will come to all Copilot+ PCs, meaning Intel and AMD, too - "not a glimpse at the future of the PC, but the future of the PC." Live captions with live language translations, Cocreator in Paint, Restyle image and Image creator in Photos, plus Voice access with flexible natural language (Snapdragon X only) But not Recall or Click to Do in preview, go figure As expected, March 2024 Preview update for 24H2 arrives, a few days late - with AI-powered search experience enabled Dev and Beta builds - Friday - Quick Machine Recovery (Beta only?), Speech recap in Narrator, Blue screen to get less blue, WinKey + C shortcut for Copilot returns, Spanish and French Text actions in Click to Do, Edit images in Share, AI-powered search (Dev only?) Then, Microsoft more fully describes Windows Quick Recovery Beta (23H2) - Monday - A lot of familiar 24H2 features - Narrator improvements, Copilot WinKey + C, Share with Image edit, plus System -- About FAQ for some freaking reason Proton Drive is now native on Windows 11 on Arm, everyone gets new features Proton VPN is now built into Vivaldi desktop browser Intel's new CEO appears in public, vows to spin off non-core businesses. Everything but x86 chip design and Foundry, then Microsoft 365 Windows 365 Link is now available The Office apps on Windows already launch instantaneously but apparently that's not invasive enough - we need fewer auto-start items, not more of them Microsoft Excel to call out rich data cells with value tokens AI & Dev NYT copyright infringement lawsuit against Open AI and Microsoft can move forward, judge rules And now Tim O'Reilly says Open AI stole his company's paywalled book content too. Book piracy is sadly the easiest thing in the world Open AI raised more money than any private firm in history, now worth $300B ChatGPT releases awesome new image generation feature for ChatGPT And now it's available for free to everyone Google's Gemini Pro 2.5 is now available to everyone too Amazon launches Alexa+ in early access, US only Some thoughts about vibe coding, which isn't what you think it is AMD pays $4.9 billion to take on Nvidia in cloud AI Apple Intelligence + Apple Health is the future of something something Xbox & Games Nintendo announces Switch 2. Looks awesome, coming earlier than expected. But that price! And no Xbox/COD news at the launch?? Luna's not dead! Amazon announces multi-year EA partnership, expands Luna to more EU countries Microsoft announces a new Xbox Backbone controller for smartphones New titles for Xbox Game Pass across PC, Ti These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/926 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: uscloud.com

What's next? Windows 12? Windows 11 25H2? You're not going to believe what happens next! A look back at everything Microsoft tested in just the Dev channel and then did or did not release to stable, and when. The list of unreleased features is unexpectedly long - most of this must be the next Windows version. Plus, If you have a PC Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate subscription, there are more benefits now and they're easier to find.Windows 11 in 2025 Dev channel moves to a new build sequence Microsoft issues Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 10 and Windows 11 23H2 (But not 24H2) Release Preview (24H2) - AI-powered Windows Search experience is barreling towards stable Beta (23H2) and now Canary - Mostly just fixes New AI features in Notepad, Paint, and Snipping tool head to all Insiders Photos app update to all Insiders, adds Copilot integration, more Microsoft 365 Microsoft 365 Copilot gets two reasoning agents, Researcher and Analyst AI - Agents - Reasoning AI --- Reasoning Agents? You got your reasoning in my agent! Microsoft to launch Security Copilots in April Microsoft releases first two Microsoft 365 companion apps for Windows 11, threatens to make more Here comes Copilot in OneDrive, to consumer Microsoft 365 account holders Anonymous document sharing for Word, Excel, PowerPoint comes to iPhone/iPad (is on web already) OneNote for Windows 10 RIP in October after years of malaise AI Browsers to change in the agentic AI era - are they still browsers? Will we still browse? "In Russia, the browser browses for you!" Sam Altman pulls a Bill Gates in executive shift ChatGPT gets image generation with GPT-4o Google brings AI search to Gmail - Hopefully, it's better than AI search in Photos Google releases first Gemini 2.5 model, all will be reasoning (thinking) models going forward Amazon is testing AI-powered Interests feature in the U.S. After it's success with conversational Siri, Apple to bring AI to Apple Watch, AirPods Speaking of which, Apple sued for advertising Apple Intelligence - maybe it's time for a level set here Exec reshuffle to fix Siri woes - maybe it's time to Ol' Yeller this WWDC is on for June 9 - [waves hands] Look, it's iOS 19! Opera upgrades three of its web browsers (really, four) with new Aria AI features Xbox Microsoft wants to make Xbox app in Windows the central hub for all stores Microsoft testing new Game Hub on Xbox Microsoft to release Vibrant Visuals upgrade for Minecraft this year Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is coming to PS5 on April 17 New Assassin's Creed game (Shadows) gets off to a great start, with 2 million players in first 2 days, better than Origins and Odyssey. Most played game on Steam over the weekend, second-highest day-one sales revenue in the franchise's history (behind Valhalla), best ever day-one launch on the PlayStation Store. 27 percent of players are on PC Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Take advantages of Game Pass in-game benefits App pick of the week: Google Drive for Windows RunAs Radio this week: Writing Better PowerShell with Jeff Hicks Brown liquor pick of the week: Kempisch Vuur These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/925 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsors: Melissa.com/twit cachefly.com/twit

Did Copilot uninstall from your computer recently? You're not alone. At least Microsoft is working on a fix. Plus, Satya Nadella has created a new Office of Strategy and Transformation to meet the rapidly evolving needs of the AI era. Discord finally has a Social SDK now, Copilot for Gaming is preparing for mobile testing, and a Call of Duty franchise sale that brings savings up to 67 percent off. Lastly, Paul's app pick is a free, open source, third-party File Explorer replacement that is beautiful and highly customizable. And it never badgers you to backup to OneDrive. Windows March security update hilariously removes Copilot app from Windows 11 New Canary build today Release Preview (today): 24H2 ahead of Week D Release Preview: 23H2 and Windows 10 ahead of Week D Dev, Beta, Beta (23H3) - Voice access suggestions, File Explorer fix Paint is getting new Cocreator features New Notepad and Snipping Tool features for all Microsoft Microsoft announces vague transformation that could be important FTC to move forward with Microsoft antitrust probe Microsoft no longer includes power supply with Surface PCs sold in Europe AI/Dev Gemini adds Canvas and Audio Overview features Plus, Gemini is replacing Assistant in Android (and Chromebook) Zoom AI Companion is going agentic Meta claims one billion downloads of Llama AI models Microsoft ships .NET 10 Preview 2 Xbox Microsoft is bringing Copilot to Xbox Xbox Adaptive Joystick is now available for $29.99 Here are the new games heading to Game Pass in second half of March Epic Games and Qualcomm partner on bringing games to WOA Discord has an SDK now Google Play Games for PC is adding native games Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Call of Duty titles are on sale in the Microsoft Store App pick of the week: Files RunAs Radio this week: Managing AI Costs with Sonia Cuff Brown liquor pick of the week: Toki Suntory Whisky Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: uscloud.com zscaler.com/security 1password.com/windowsweekly