April 22, 2026

Windows Weekly 980: Running Outta Tolkiens

2 hours 43 minutes

AI is democratizing the making of things, from bespoke/custom apps to websites, designs of all kinds, and everything else you might imagine. It's a new world, and it's time to create. Plus, Helium is a new Chromium-based web browser that's completely open source, lightweight, secure, and private. There's a native version for Windows 11 on Arm, too. Also, Firefox 150 arrives with over 270 security fixes!

Windows 11

Reports of a Recall security vulnerability are, once again, bogus, Microsoft says

New builds on all channels, still on the old system

Xbox Mode is now available in all channels

Release Preview shows us the May Patch Tuesday updates: Xbox Mode, File Explorer improvements, Haptic improvements, Drop Tray renaming, Agents on the Taskbar

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x - Snapdragon X2 Elite, 14-inch display impressions

Lenovo IdeaPad 5x - Snapdragon X2 Plus, 15.3-inch display impressions

Microsoft 365, Surface, more

OneDrive now supports Markdown natively

New Surface PCs with Intel chips coming soon

Microsoft is making changes to its Rewards program

GitHub Copilot moves to token-based billing in a sign of the true cost of AI

Claude Design democratizes visual design on the heels of Claude Opus 4.7

OpenAI Codex moves into productivity

OpenAI releases ChatGPT Images 2.0

Chrome AI Mode gets a big update

Mozilla announces Thunderbolt, sovereign AI for businesses

Google brings vibe coding to Android apps with Android CLI

Xbox and gaming

Microsoft drops Xbox Game Pass prices (!), but also drops Call of Duty from Day One

Plus, Xbox teases a Game Pass Discord perk

More Game Pass titles for April: Kiln, Vampire Crawlers, more

Xbox April Update is here with that Quick Resume feature we all want

There's an ID@Xbox event on April 23 to highlight indie games

Xbox is selling Forza Horizon 6 limited edition controller and headsets

Starfield is coming to the Nintendo Switch 2

A Call of Duty movie will finally arrive in 2028

Try out the Modern Warfare remake on Game Pass, it's a reminder of COD's gritty past

PS5 Digital is down to its $399 launch price temporarily

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Just make it

App pick of the week: Helium

RunAs Radio this week: The Life and Death of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit with Michael Niehaus

Brown liquor pick of the week: Ned Australian 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 audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

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By TWiT

4.3

352352 ratings

April 22, 2026

Windows Weekly 980: Running Outta Tolkiens

2 hours 43 minutes

Windows 11

Reports of a Recall security vulnerability are, once again, bogus, Microsoft says

New builds on all channels, still on the old system

Xbox Mode is now available in all channels

Release Preview shows us the May Patch Tuesday updates: Xbox Mode, File Explorer improvements, Haptic improvements, Drop Tray renaming, Agents on the Taskbar

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x - Snapdragon X2 Elite, 14-inch display impressions

Lenovo IdeaPad 5x - Snapdragon X2 Plus, 15.3-inch display impressions

Microsoft 365, Surface, more

OneDrive now supports Markdown natively

New Surface PCs with Intel chips coming soon

Microsoft is making changes to its Rewards program

GitHub Copilot moves to token-based billing in a sign of the true cost of AI

Claude Design democratizes visual design on the heels of Claude Opus 4.7

OpenAI Codex moves into productivity

OpenAI releases ChatGPT Images 2.0

Chrome AI Mode gets a big update

Mozilla announces Thunderbolt, sovereign AI for businesses

Google brings vibe coding to Android apps with Android CLI

Xbox and gaming

Microsoft drops Xbox Game Pass prices (!), but also drops Call of Duty from Day One

Plus, Xbox teases a Game Pass Discord perk

More Game Pass titles for April: Kiln, Vampire Crawlers, more

Xbox April Update is here with that Quick Resume feature we all want

There's an ID@Xbox event on April 23 to highlight indie games

Xbox is selling Forza Horizon 6 limited edition controller and headsets

Starfield is coming to the Nintendo Switch 2

A Call of Duty movie will finally arrive in 2028

Try out the Modern Warfare remake on Game Pass, it's a reminder of COD's gritty past

PS5 Digital is down to its $399 launch price temporarily

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Just make it

App pick of the week: Helium

RunAs Radio this week: The Life and Death of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit with Michael Niehaus

Brown liquor pick of the week: Ned Australian 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 audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

webroot.com/twit

threatlocker.com/twit

...more

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