Windows Weekly (Audio)

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Windows Weekly (Audio) episodes

August 28, 2024WW 896: A Very Buxom Seal - Touchpad right-clicking, Pixel 9 XL, Win11Debloat
It's Week D. Do you know where your preview updates are?
Windows 11
Windows 11 version 22H2/23H2 get the same update

Windows 11 version 24H2 gets a different update, but at least it's on time

Beta: Media controls on the Lock screen, more

Windows security update borks small number of Linux bootloaders, is perfect example of misplaced and faux outrage

Right-click doesn't work correctly with Windows and a touchpad. It's not you
M$FT
Microsoft took Paul's advice. Instead of just blaming the EU, it's holding a security summit with CrowdStrike and other partners to solve the problems highlighted by the botched update outage. (Which it said it would do back in July.)

Microsoft shuffles the decks below its three primary business units

Microsoft: It's all about transparency!

Paul: Nope
Hardware
Lenovo ThinkPad T14s is the best business-class Snapdragon X Copilot+ PC yet

ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 2 is the last gasp of the Surface Pro-alikes

Paul got a Pixel 9 Pro XL - Eerily iPhone Pro-like design, crazy AI features - The combination of hardware and software here is nuts

Pixel 9 series is shipping with Android 14. Google planned to ship Android 14 earlier than ever before this year. Users with Pixel 9 series phones can enroll in Android 15 Beta now. But Android 15 was quietly delayed to October, the normal release time frame

Mark Gurman leaks all the iPhone 16 things

Apple announces launch event

Some navel-gazing about Apple's place in our lives
Magic of Software
Microsoft announces Loop 2.0 on Twitter, no one has it yet

LibreOffice is now native on Windows on Arm!

Google Essentials app will be bundled with some new PCs, starting with HP

Proton Drive for Business now available standalone, and with sale pricing (and more storage)

Brave gets major privacy updates on desktop and mobile

Apple makes further DMA concessions, will let iPhone users change default apps for phone, messaging, more

Threads is testing posts that are as ephemeral as your facts

Paid version of Alexa will allegedly launch in October

Google Meet gets auto PIP for all and AI meeting notes for some
Xbox
Xbox August Update starts rolling out with those new Discord features

Raven labor union files complaint against Microsoft

Microsoft brings Xbox Cloud Gaming to more Fire TV devices
Tips and Picks
Tip of the week: You can still upgrade to 24H2 right now

App pick of the week: Win11Debloat

RunAs Radio this week: The Security Risks of AI with Steve Poole

Brown liquor pick of the week: Mosgaard Moscatel Single Malt

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.
Sponsors:
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2 hr 4 min
August 21, 2024WW 895: I'm Done Transitioning - Recall for Insiders, Loop 2.0, gamescom 2024
This episode of Windows Weekly has Paul, Richard, and Leo chatting about everything from Microsoft Recall's upcoming availability to AMD's move to acquire ZT Systems. Paul reviews a new Meteor Lake-equipped laptop from HP, and Leo shows off his Diablo skills on iPad. The group also takes a look at gamescom news, including a trailer for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (which has a release date!) and an awesome Xbox Adaptive Joystick for accessibility.
Windows 11
Recall will ship with Windows 11 24H2 in preview in October

Canary (last week) - New Sandbox, FAT32 improvements, more

Dev and Beta - One new feature, one removed feature

Lenovo revenues point to ongoing PC market rebound

HP's efforts to overcome Meteor Lake problems are about as successful as they can be
Microsoft 365
Unified Teams client is now available

Supposedly Loop 2.0 is out and/or coming soon as well

Proton shifts ownership to non-profit foundation
AI/Hardware
Paul: I will not pay for AI

AMD tries to acquire its way into being an Nvidia competitor

There's a cheaper new Raspberry 5
Antitrust
Judge in Epic v. Google: Oh, Google is going to pay
Dev
Quick follow-up to last week's VS 2022 releases

Microsoft didn't document an important change to how Windows 11 theming works in .NET 9 Preview, all hell broke loose

Continued work on WPF app modernization—dialogs, custom title bar area—and a long chat with Rafael uncovers the serious problems remaining here
Xbox
Xbox Insiders can test Game Pass Standard for $1

Microsoft shows off lots of Xbox games and one PS5 game at gamescom

Phil Spencer defends this strategy at the show

Microsoft's Xbox Series X|S refreshes are available for preorder, ship in October

Microsoft announces new Xbox accessibility accessories

New Game Pass titles to include early access to COD: Black Ops 6

Nvidia GeForce Now adds auto sign in to Xbox

Epic Games Store launches on Android and iOS

It's not just regular laptops that are getting better at gaming: AAA mobile gaming is real

New Atari 7800
Tips and Picks
Tip of the week: Windows on Arm - Then and Now

App pick of the week: Start11

RunAs Radio this week: Threat Modeling in the Cloud with Romina Druta & Daniela Cruzes

Brown liquor pick of the week: Armorik Sherry Cask

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.
Sponsors:
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1password.com/windowsweekly
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2 hr 37 min
August 14, 2024WW 894: This Isn't the Airport Jail! - Intel Innovation delay, QuakeCon 2024, Compact Mode
Windows 11
Synchronicity achieved! Patch Tuesday updates put 22H2, 23H2, and 24H2 on the same page, as expected

Dev and Beta channels (last week) - simplified system tray is back, new jump list behavior is optional

Clipchamp is getting two new AI features soon, for free
AI/Developer
Security researcher (and ex-Microsoftie) demonstrates several Copilot flaws. He at least did the right thing and disclosed them to Microsoft first

Intel delays Innovation event to 2025. And innovation to 2028, presumably. But we kid

Google's Pixel event was really about Gemini AI. But it was also really about Pixel

Paul bought a Pixel 9 Pro XL. Yes, he may have a problem. But it kind of pays for itself, too

iPhone 16 series to be minor update. All phones are minor updates now

UK CMA investigating Amazon + Anthropic partnership

Visual Studio something something

VS 2022 17.11 is here

VS 2022 17.12 is in preview, will be the release with .NET 9

.NET 9 preview 7 is here, no WPF improvements
Antitrust
U.S. government is weighing a Google breakup - This isn't as out there as it may seem

After changing App Store rules that violate the DMA to new rules that also violate the DMA, Apple finally lets Spotify communicate with its own customers!

Apple sets a date for opening up NFC, and it will be worldwide
Xbox
There's a BIG QuakeCon sale on Bethesda games you need to check out - and a "new" OG DOOM/DOOM II bundle

Microsoft starts testing a Compact Mode for Game Bar

Next Flight Simulator will let gamers walk around the world as well

Microsoft might be working on a new mixed reality something for some reason
Tips and Picks
Tip of the week: Proton offers a Duo plan

App pick of the week: More web browsers

RunAs Radio this week: Implementing Passkeys with Tarek Dawoud

Brown liquor pick of the week: Bowmore 15

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.
Sponsors:
1password.com/windowsweekly
Melissa.com/twit
lookout.com
cachefly.com/twit
2 hr 28 min
August 07, 2024WW 893: The WordStar Look - Intel Q2 Earnings, Security Core Priority, Legent
It's the last Windows Weekly in the TWiT Eastside Studio! The Week D mystery continues in this episode. And Windows Insider has had a relatively quiet week. Intel is in trouble, with stock price dropping over 25 percent! WordStar is back, but the big news here is the documentation archive. Also, Paul thinks the improved Reader mode in Firefox 129 is pretty sweet.
Windows 11
Last week, Microsoft issued Week D update for 22H2/23H2 late

Last week, Microsoft issued 24H2 build to the Release Preview channel but nothing for Week D. Paul speculated this would replace the Weed D update, head to stable in August

Since then, Microsoft quietly issued Week D update for 24H2 one week late (on last day of July)

Speculation was correct: These are all the same thing, with the same new features, most CFRs

Microsoft's release schedule gets even more chaotic. It's been missing the Week D Tuesday release schedule more often than not in recent months

BIG update to the Microsoft Store in Canary and Dev today
Hardware
Snapdragon X is a huge leap forward for the PC, but Apple/MacBook Air still have big advantages

AMD's new chips are getting rave reviews

Intel is on track for Lunar Lake in September

Intel earnings crater, with layoffs, cost reductions

Stock price drop second worst in corporate history

Intel extends Core processor Gen 13/14 warranty by 2 years (PC bundles only)

Core processor warranty is extended to retail sales

Surface Laptop 7, Surface Pro 11 for Business available for preorder
Microsoft 365
The new Outlook is now generally available and the Microsoft community celebrates in the streets
Antitrust/Corporate
Google found guilty of abusing its Search monopoly

Big point: Google's revenue share deals with Apple, etc. Could this kill Mozilla?

Microsoft and Bing come up over 500 times (!) in the ruling. Obsessed much?

Apple would like to have its antitrust case dismissed. Good luck with that

Context: The paradox of antitrust

Thanks to Manifest V3, ad- and tracker- blocking in Chrome is going to get less effective

Microsoft: We are STILL serious about security. No, really

Arm revenues up 39 percent to $939 million

Qualcomm up 11 precent to $9.4 billion

Apple up 4.9 percent to 85.8 billion in revenues

Amazon up 10 percent to $148 billion
Xbox
Microsoft promises over 50 playable games at Gamerscom this month in Germany, ahead of IFA

Valorant is a free-to-play shooter now available on Xbox Series X|S

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, more comes to Xbox Game Pass

Sony sold 2.4 million PS5s in the quarter, total at 61.7 million

Nintendo sold 2.1 million Switch consoles, total at 143.42 million
Tips and Picks
Tip of the week: You can experience WordStar for MS-DOS again

App pick of the week: Web browser updates

RunAs Radio this week: Optimizing Cloud Recovery Costs with Natalie Serebryakova

Brown liquor pick of the week: Legent Bourbon

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.
Sponsor:
1password.com/windowsweekly
2 hr 47 min
July 31, 2024WW 892: Capacious Chyrons - Microsoft's FY24 Q4, Xbox 360 Store closes, Skype ad-free
On this episode of Windows Weekly, the show has a new yet similar look (as Leo tries to read chyrons that may be a tad tiny). Microsoft announces its quarterly (and annual) financial results. They're doing OK. The company also expands on what it has done and will do, with Windows security in the wake of the CrowdStrike outage. Finally, Paul advises that the password manager in a browser isn't enough, as secure users need more capabilities like 2FA code generation, dark web monitoring, passkey storage, and more.
Earnings
Microsoft announces its quarterly (and annual) financial results. They're doing OK.

Microsoft's FY24: a net income of $88.1 billion on revenues of $245.1 billion, up 22 percent and 16 percent

Windows - Barely mentioned, another solid $10 billion+ in revenues, no gain from Copilot+ PC

Office - Solid growth, mostly commercial

Surface - Flush twice, it's a long way to New Mexico

Xbox - Problematic, propped up mostly by Activision, but there are huge costs there too

AI - Huge investments, Microsoft can afford it. $19 billion (!) in infrastructure costs in this quarter, and it's going up next year ... when/how does AI pay off?

Microsoft to give employees a one-time cash award on top of bonuses

TikTok was paying Microsoft $20 million per month through at least March for OpenAI on Azure, close to 25 percent of Microsoft's total revenues for that business

AMD revenues - the next NVIDIA?
Windows
Windows 11 versions 22H2/23H2 get theirs a few days late, features we saw in Release Preview a few weeks ago

Nothing for 24H2, but a new Release Preview build is almost certainly its equivalent, meaning we'll see these features in stable in August

All channels: Support for Android file system navigation in File Explorer

Beta channel (last week): Widgets is about to get third party feeds

It's not a dud, but the HP EliteBook Ultra doesn't measure up

Qualcomm and AMD have spoken, now Intel is delivering Lunar Lake on September 3
Microsoft 365 and AI
No more ads in Skype! Cue the Skype jokes from all the jerks

OpenAI announces SearchGPT, search features it will add later to ChatGPT - and just today, more natural advanced voice mode voices for ChapGPT

Apple ships some Apple Intelligence in Beta. it's pretty good! But it's also delayed to iOS 18.1 etc

Canva buys Leonardo for its AI

X (Twitter) is using your posts to train Grok (its AI). You can disable it. But these names all suck
Xbox
Xbox is getting new Discord and streaming features in a coming update

With Xbox in the toilet, some thoughts about gaming PCs to go

RIP, Xbox 360. We had a good run
Tips and Picks
Tip of the week: What to look for in a password manager

App pick of the week: Password managers - 1Password, Dashlane/Proton Pass, and Bitwarden

RunAs Radio this week: Microsoft Cloud PKI with Richard Hicks

Brown liquor pick of the week: Laird of the Fintry BSV Pipe Finish

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.
Sponsors:
Melissa.com/twit
1password.com/windowsweekly
bigid.com/windows
2 hr 18 min
July 24, 2024WW 891: Scent of Carbon - CrowdStrike Outage, Windows 23H2, Halo Series
CrowdStrike: Terrible name, terrible outage
CrowdStrike, a company no one has ever heard of, ships an update that borks Windows PCs, servers, and clouds services at the heart of the worldʼs infrastructure. Naturally, everyone blamed Microsoft at first

Microsoft says outage impacted under 1 percent of PCs. It was just the worst PCs imaginable

Microsoft blames EU regulation for its inability to be like Apple

That is not a good look. It's also deceptive.

Microsoft issues repair tool (later updates).

CrowdStrike explains what it did wrong. TLDR: everything.
Windows
Windows 11 version 23H2 is fully available! Wait, what?

Surface Laptop 7 review: big, heavy, no presence sensing or fingerprint reader. Right, I love it.

Also, the ThinkPad T14s arrived.

Related: Intel cops to mistake in Core Gen 13/14 processors, will issue fix. Why this is unprecedented. And also precedented. Also, why precedented is a word.

Microsoft is FINALLY bringing ads to the Microsoft Store search box.

Microsoft starts testing new Start menu layouts. Surely one of them has live tites.

Canary build today: Duplicate File Explorer tab, not much else.
AI/Antitrust
Meta is making a surprising—and surprisingly strong—case for AI as open-source.

Proton adds an AI writing assistant to its Drive-based Docs.

Amazon lost an alleged $25 billion on Alexa devices over four years, so itʼs all in on AI-based devices now! (Panos Panay is the perfect fit for this business if the goal is to be unprofitable).

Google effectively kills Privacy Sandbox in a victory for regulation.

Microsoft probably cleared the final hurdle to avoid EU antitrust action on cloud licensing. Hey, it worked with security companies and the Windows kernel!
It's That Time of the Quarter Again
Alphabet / Google: Double-digit revune gains YOY, but how much of this is AI?

Subscription services (Netflix, Spotify, not so much Game Pass) are KILLING it,but theyʼre also in full-on enshirtification mode - how do we fix this? Can we fix this.
Xbox
FTC complains about Xbox Game changes. They're not wrong. But they're not

right either.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare III lands on Game Pass today - what the what

Also, Microsoft muffed the landing badly - but it appears to be working now

Halo TV series canceled. It's the worst thing that's happened with Xbox this entire year

Tips and Picks
Tip of the week: The best thing about Copilot in Windows 11 now
With Copilot switching from a pane to an app, thereʼs an unintended benefit that comes into play when you use an AI PC with a Copilot key on it. Youʼre never going to believe what happens next.
App pick of the week: Microsoft Designer for image generation
Microsoft Designer exited preview last week and thereʼs at least one secret benefit to using it: Unlike Copilot, you can create wide and portrait images (and not just square) without paying. This is why I pay for Copilot Pro. (You do need to sign in with an MSA, however.)
RunAs Radio This Week: Data Risk Management using Purview with Joanne Klein
https://runasradio.com/Shows/Show/942

Brown Liquor Pick of the Week: Writerʼs Tears Tequila Cask

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.
Sponsors:
e-e.com/twit
betterhelp.com/WINDOWS
Melissa.com/twit
1password.com/windowsweekly
2 hr 38 min
July 17, 2024WW 890: Nub Muscles - Checkpoint cumulative updates, Cheeky Controller, CISPE
This episode features Paul, Richard, and Leo discussing Microsoft's new "checkpoint cumulative updates" and HP's announcement of its AMD-based AI PC. Afterward, Paul goes over his review of the Yoga Slim 7x laptop, which features a 14.5-inch OLED display. Other topics include the hiring of Inflection staff, Microsoft's settlement with the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe, Leo's ZDTV hat, .NET 9 Preview 6, OS/2 Warp, the Xbox Game Pass mess, Amazon Prime Day, and a controller designed by Deadpool!
Windows
Windows 11 version 24H2 introduces a new way to update Windows because WTF Microsoft

HP announces an AMD-based AI PC that is/is not a Copilot+ PC - lots going on here

AMD comes clean on the new chips, which ship at the end of July

With a Snapdragon X-based ThinkPad on the way, Paul reviews the Yoga Slim 7xp

Windows 11 Photos app now integrates with Microsoft Designer

Dev (last week): Testing/deployment of new features resumes after long pause

Beta (last week): More changes to the home page in File Explorer

Release Preview (last week): Duplicate a File Explorer tab, drag and drop to pin from Start to Taskbar, more. Also a Windows 10 build (hooray?)
AI/Antitrust
UK CMA investigates Microsoft for its Inflection AI hirings

Microsoft settles with (most of) CISPE on cloud licensing in EU

iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia public betas arrive, but with no Apple Intelligence features

Opera beta on iPhone and iPad has new UI, some AI
Dev
.NET 9 Preview 6 arrives

Paul makes massive progress on Windows 11 port of .NETpad with the updated WPF. Plus a neat third-party add-on that might put this project over the top

Google is bringing Android Studio to the web
Xbox
Xbox controversy of the month, but this one is real: Microsoft ensh*ttifies Xbox Game Pass - more info now that the dust has settled, but still no announcement from Microsoft

Microsoft, you HAVE to announce what's going on with AB and Game Pass

Now that Microsoft owns Call of Duty, Xbox gamers are getting next beta on day one - well, Game Pass members anyway

Microsoft offers a cheap Xbox streaming bundle on Amazon

The Deadpool Xbox wireless controller is priceless

Microsoft announces three day-one titles for Game Pass, none from AB
Tips and picks
Tip of the week: Amazon Prime Day is here

App pick of the week: Proton Pass

RunAs Radio this week: The Power of Data in the Cloud with Arun Ulag

Brown liquor pick of the week: Crown Royal Blender's Mash

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.
Sponsors:
1password.com/windowsweekly
bigid.com/windowsweekly
canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT
2 hr 40 min
July 10, 2024WW 889: Works Best With Netscape - OneDrive calms down, Surface firmware, Field Guide resize
In this episode, Paul seems to be sitting in a familiar room! Could this be a sign that a game-changing enhancement to Notepad is rolling out? That's not all, as OneDrive seems to be undergoing some behavioral changes in a positive direction. After 3 weeks since the Copilot+ PC launch (2 weeks since Paul got his 1st model), the future of Intel and x86 may not be as dire as some think. Plus, Affinity announced that its award-winning Photo, Designer, and Publisher apps are now free for 6 months with no obligation to buy!
The Morning After
The end of Intel and the x86 era? You guys are cute

Comparing the HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft entries: A few differentiators, but these things are very, very similar. There's a reason why

IDC throws cold water on the AI PC/Copilot+ PC parade

We still need official Windows 11 on Arm ISOs, Microsoft. Until then, there are workarounds.
Windows 11
GAME CHANGER: Notepad FINALLY supports spell-checking and auto-correct!

ACTUAL GAME CHANGER: Microsoft is apparently stepping back some of the OneDrive terribleness in Windows 11 version 24H2

Patch Tuesday: BIG deal for Windows 11 22H2, 23H2 with 24H2 features

Nothing to speak of for 24H2, as predicted - just security updates

It's nice when things happen as expected for a change

Canary: Lock screen widget changes

Paul put the Windows 11 Field Guide on a diet - and then the other books too

PDF went from 377 MB to 107 MB, EPUB went from 344 MB to just 86 MB (!)

Similar gains for Windows Everywhere, Windows 10 Field Guide

Updated the Win10 add-in that comes with the Windows 11 Field Guide too
Surface
Surface Laptop 7 and Pro 11 get second firmware updates
AI
The OpenAI drama consumes Microsoft

Opera brings Aria AI features to its GX gaming browser too
Xbox
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate gets a price hike

Xbox Cloud Gaming is now available on newer Fire TV Sticks. Also, free Fortnite!
Tips and Tricks
Tip of the week: Get all three Affinity apps on all three platforms for free for six months!

App pick of the week: Firefox 128 and Vivaldi 6.8

RunAs Radio this week: The Hardware of Azure with Rani Borkar

Brown liquor pick of the week: Raasay Single Malt

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Guest: Mary Jo Foley

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.
Sponsors:
bigid.com/windowsweekly
1password.com/windowsweekly
2 hr 36 min
July 03, 2024WW 888: Find the Blue Penguin - Handwriting recognition, more Copilot+ PCs tests, Brave BYOM
It's only been one week, but it's really been 14 years, and Paul is calling: Microsoft and Qualcomm have finally made Windows 11 on Arm both viable and desirable. Nothing is perfect, but this platform is pretty incredible. Some notes from the past week:
Mission Accomplished
As a reminder, Paul finally got the Yoga Slim 7x last week and updated on app compatibility, hardware compatibility, gaming, and in-box AI experiences in time for WW - only found one non-working app, Google Drive. Then...

More app and game compatibility testing. Since then, played a lot more DOOM (2016), ran into one issue that's surely WOA-related (note beta graphics driver, though)

Video encoding performance: Snapdragon X vs Snapdragon X vs Core Ultra 9 H-series vs MacBook Air M3

Initial thoughts on battery life and then More thoughts on battery life. The Yoga Slim 9x and Surface Laptop both get about 10 hours of real-world battery life (so far), compared to 15 hours for the MacBook Air 15-inch M3.

Hardware compatibility update: Only one of my devices doesn't work, the Focusrite.

Surface Laptop 7 first impressions and second impressions

HP Elitebook Ultra first impressions
Windows 11
After skipping Week D last Tuesday, Microsoft belatedly delivers a Week D preview update for Windows 11 version 24H2

No new features, so next Patch Tuesday will be light for 24H2

22H2 and 23H2 got a big Week D update last Tuesday, so Patch Tuesday will be meaningful

As of July's Patch Tuesday, 22H2, 23H2, and 24H2 will all provide the same basic feature set

Canary, Dev, Beta (last Friday): nothing exciting, a few small features or changes
AI & Microsoft 365
European Commission "shifts" investigation of Microsoft/OpenAI partnership. Is Ken Starr in charge of this thing?

Microsoft highlights new Copilot features coming to Microsoft 365 in July

Copilot in OneNote can now recognize handwritten text. It's 2002 all over again!

Pixel 9 family will promote unique "Google AI" features

Brave introduces a BYOM plan for its web browser

Thanks to AI, Google Translate now supports 110 new languages
Xbox
Xbox Cloud Gaming Fire Sticks it to Amazon

Another two weeks of Xbox Game Pass

Forza Horizon 4 (from 2018) to be delisted December 15. Why?
Tips and Picks
Tip of the week: Get $10 off Tony Redmond's Office 365 for IT Pros 11th Edition

App pick of the week: Docs in Proton Drive

RunAs Radio this week: NGINX as a Service with Buu Lam

Brown liquor pick of the week: Jack Daniels Old No. 7

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.
Sponsors:
canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT
cachefly.com/twit
2 hr 37 min
June 26, 2024WW 887: You're Drinking Wood! - Copilot+ PC impressions, Windows Hello ESS, Teams vs EU
We're one week into the Copilot+ PC, and the feedback is positive with caution! Key takeaways so far: Much improved performance and reliability, AI features mostly stink, but there is still uncertainty each time you install/do anything.
Windows 11
Week D arrives with preview updates for Windows 11 versions 22H2 and 23H2 only

The second Patch Tuesday in a row with no 24H2 update (on the day)

This preview update adds 24H2 features to 22H2/23H2 as predicted

Beta channel (last week): Bizarre Start menu extension for Phone Link users

Release preview channel (last week): The 22H2/23H2 builds and features that shipped to stable as a preview update on Tuesday

Canary channel (last week): After pausing the previous build (hint: Recall code), new build arrives with drag-and-drop address bar in File Explorer, notification tweaks
Copilot+ PC
Paul finally got a Copilot+ PC to test, a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x 14"

App compatibility scorecard: Excellent, but with familiar Arm uncertainties

Hardware compatibility: Excellent, but with the same person-by-person caveat

Gaming: Lots of fiddling, but if you can find a compatible game, some great perf and visual quality. Still better than the Mac, and better than any x64 Ultrabook. But not a gaming PC. No Xbox Game Pass support?? COME ON

In-box AI capabilities: With Recall out, there's almost nothing to see here

Plus, Intel and AMD are gunning for Qualcomm

iFixit reports that Surface Laptop 7/Pro 11 repairability is "astonishingly" good. Granted, the bar was low

Microsoft brings Surface Flex Keyboard to Surface Pro 8, 9, and 11

Microsoft releases recovery images for Surface Pro 11/Laptop 7

Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-In Security (ESS) is one of several Copilot+ PC protections that rendered those security researcher complaints about Recall moot. But Paul now has two PCs that use this feature, and it's even more impressive than you think

The Windows 11 decoder ring
Antitrust
As expected, the European Commission announced preliminary charges against Microsoft for Office/Teams bundling

This is antitrust, not DMA (like Apple)

The EU has not explained WHAT Microsoft can do to fix this (unlike with Apple)

This is based on a complaint from Slack, which was created 7 years after Microsoft first offered this type of app/service

Xbox

-Hot off a terrific Xbox Games Showcase event, Xbox promises its "biggest-ever" booth at Gamescom 2024 (which is now the biggest trade show in Europe, apparently)

-Microsoft details how Auto SR and Prism work in WOA11 to make gaming both possible and decent

-Steam Deck LCD models are on sale

Tips and Picks

-App pick of the week #1: New browser upgrades

-App pick of the week: Proton Drive

-RunAs Radio this week: The Hard Part of Machine Learning with Lynn Langit

-Brown liquor pick of the week: Cragganmore 12

Hosts: Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Mikah Sargent

Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.
Sponsor:
1password.com/windowsweekly
2 hr 18 min

About Windows Weekly (Audio)

From the publisher's feed

Windows Weekly is about more than Windows. Veteran Microsoft insiders Paul Thurrott and Richard Campbell join Leo for a deep dive into the most valuable company in the world. From consumer to enterprise, AI to Xbox, Windows Weekly is the only Microsoft podcast you'll ever need.

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