Windows Weekly (Audio)

By TWiTNews Technology Tech News

Windows Weekly (Audio) episodes

June 11, 2025WW 936: Liquid Aero - Microsoft Build ditches Seattle, Washington
Get to know Microsoft's latest Patch Tuesday updates and new features in Windows 11, such as improvements to the Start menu, File Explorer, and Copilot integration. They also cover new AI features coming to the Photos app for Copilot+ PCs and updates to the Microsoft Store. The discussion then shifts to developer conferences like Google I/O and Apple's WWDC, with a focus on their respective AI advancements and product strategies. Plus, the controversy surrounding Microsoft's decision to no longer host its Build conference in Seattle. Don't miss the discussion on the evolving role of the iPad as a potential threat to Surface devices due to recent software enhancements!
Windows 11
June Patch Tuesday is here! Big changes for Windows 11 versions 22H2, 23H2, and 24H2

New Start menu finally debuts in Dev and Beta - synchronized again for some reason

Copilot+ PCs get Relight feature and natural language search in the Photos app

The Microsoft Store gets a major update in the Beta channel

And Canary is still a thing, no one knows why
Developer conference season draws to a close
Build: Protests, problems, and more problems

Microsoft pulls out of Seattle permanently

Google I/O: Stunning array of AI announcements. But Android 16 is on a weird slow boil after a truncated development cycle

Apple WWDC: Apple Intelligence? Look, Liquid Glass! Also, some actual advances across its newly unified platforms

Look out Surface: The iPad is a real computer now - And it only took 15 years

Microsoft, Google, and Apple all played to their strengths

Between Windows 11 2xH2, Android 16, and iOS whatever - do the platform makers even know how to ship software anymore?
Xbox
Microsoft unveils the first Xbox-branded third-party gaming handheld as part of its Xbox Games Showcase 2025 event - a few interesting things there as well - COD: BO7, Gears remake, Gears v.next delayed to 2026

This heavily modified/optimized version of Windows 11 is coming to more gaming handhelds

Looking to the future: What if this is literally the model for future Xbox console hardware? What if the next Xbox was a NUC?

More Game Pass titles across platforms for the second half of June

You can add 4 TB of storage to your Xbox, but it will cost you dearly

Apple loses again in Epic v. Apple, Fortnite can stay in the App Store and developers can stop getting robbed by Apple

The Nintendo Switch 2 launched this past week and is apparently the best-selling console of all time at launch

PS5 controllers to support multiple Bluetooth connections
Tips and Picks
Tip of the week: Share Feature, image crunching

App pick of the week: Dia Browser

RunAs Radio this week: The Case for Telemetry with Liz Fong-Jones

Brown liquor pick of the week: Glenlossie 26

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
1password.com/windowsweekly
2 hr 27 min
June 04, 2025WW 935: Don't Spritz Yourself - The Great Notepad Controversy of 2025!
Richard Campbell is out this week! Microsoft continues to make changes to Notepad as it tests 'lightweight text formatting' in Notepad. 22H2, 23H2, and 24H2 got preview updates. And Microsoft has reportedly delayed its first-party Xbox / Windows gaming handheld.
Windows
THE GREAT NOTEPAD CONTROVERSY OF 2025
Microsoft announced it was testing "lightweight text formatting" in Notepad.

This is one of MANY changes its made to Notepad in recent years.

The community has collectively lost its s#$t - most thought this was RTF support - it's not.

Everyone is wrong. In defense of Notepad.
24H2
Last Tuesday, 22H2/23H2 got a preview update in Week D, but 24H2 did not.

The 24H2 update appeared later, with a ton of new features as expected - it's possible an out-of-band update requirement is responsible for the delay.

Now we know for sure what's coming on Patch Tuesday next week.
Windows Insider updates
Today, in Canary: Energy saver in Intune, re-rollout of Phone companion, more.

Dev and Beta (24H2): Quick machine recovery, Phone Link improvements - Plus, more just in Dev.

Canary: Voice access and some bug fixes.
Microsoft makes more DMA changes to Windows 11/Edge
We all need these changes.

Apple needs to pay attention.

Also, hilarious: Apple copies what Microsoft did in the 1990s. Twice.
Earnings:
HP

Dell

Nvidia
Microsoft 365/AI
Microsoft announces (internally) its third major AI reorg in 15 months - Too ... slow?
Microsoft is killing password management/autofill in the Microsoft Authenticator app (announced previously, but now a warning is showing up in the app).
Good, you should use a third-party password manager anyway. Also, it's really an identity manager. Also, wake up.

When/why to use Microsoft Authenticator.

And why you should also use Google Authenticator.

June 2025 update for the new Outlook adds tons of new features.

Research and Analyst AI agents are now GA in Microsoft 365 Copilot.

You can experiment with short, phone videos on your phone with Bing Video Creator.

FU, OpenAI! NYT licenses its content to Amazon.

Samsung may drop Gemini for Perplexity.
Xbox/Gaming
Microsoft has reportedly delayed its first-party Xbox/Windows gaming handheld.
Xbox continues to be in a holding pattern on hardware - Theories include an Arm revolution in waiting and Amy Hood getting serious about trying to make this business profitable.

Are handheld gaming PCs the next Netbook or mini-tablet ... or this is market real, sustainable, and big enough to matter?

SteamDeck/Linux could be a problem here - related to this, Nvidia news.

Microsoft reaches its first-ever agreement with a game studio union.

Semi-related: J Allard is one of about 100 former Microsoft execs at Amazon now, and we have an update.
Tips and picks
Tip of the week: You can replace OneDrive/Google Drive with a NAS.
My Synology NAS is better than expected as a Little Tech replacement for OneDrive and Google Drive. This changes everything
App pick of the week: Microsoft Edge 137
Edge 137 has quietly emerged as the biggest release of this browser since its inception.

Edge 137 adds PIP and business improvements, removes Wallet Hub and some truly pointless features.

It adds Windows 11 App action support to PWAs.

It brings Game Assist for Game Bar to everyone.

Photoshop for Android is here and it's free

Pa

These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/935

Hosts: Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott
Sponsors:
1password.com/windowsweekly
threatlocker.com/twit
uscloud.com
2 hr 37 min
May 28, 2025WW 934: OK, JK - Paint, Notepad, and Snipping Tool Get AI Upgrades
Microsoft shakes up Windows Update with third-party app integration while AI features flood into Paint, Notepad, and Snipping Tool. Plus, the browser wars heat up as Arc pivots to agentic AI and Opera launches Neon, while Richard calls in from Cape Town with whiskey wisdom.
Windows 11
It's Week D! Microsoft issues preview updates for 23H2/22H2 - Windows Key + C for Copilot, Drag tray, FAQs in Settings, Lock screen widget customization, IT admin controls for Taskbar
Windows Insider Program
Canary - Microsoft adds support for asymmetrical key encryption that won't be vulnerable to quantum computing attacks

Beta (24H2) - New Microsoft 365 text actions in Click to Do, Lock screen widget customization, multiple dashboards in Widgets, App recommendations in Open with dialog, PC to PC migration experience in Windows Backup

New Paint, Notepad, and Snipping Tool features in Canary and Dev - Paint sticker generator and Object select tool, Snipping Tool perfect screenshot and color picker, Notepad writing tools (draft from prompt, rewrite text, etc.)

Now Windows Update is going to update third-party apps too

As promised last week, Notion is now available in the Microsoft Store

Signal will explicitly prevent Recall from screenshotting the app
Related: Why is Lenovo doing so well financially?
Also related: IDC predicts 4.1 percent growth in PC market this year to 274 million units
AI and Web Browsers, Oh My
Browsers go agentic
The Browser Company says it will no longer offer functional updates to Arc as it focuses on Dia

Opera announces Neon, its agentic AI web browser

Hand-wringing as OpenAI buys Jony Ive's newish company

Duck.ai if you ask it nicely (and use the right model)

Yes, Google is going to put ads in Search AI Mode

Vivaldi 7.4 arrives for desktop and for mobile

Firefox 139 is a minor update - maybe it's time to move to a 6 week schedule?
Xbox and Games
Xbox's Copilot for Gaming Launches on iOS and Android in Beta

FTC drops its bid to unwind Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard

Sony discounts PS5 and peripherals temporary to undercut Switch 2
Tips and Picks
Tip of the Week: 'Fear and Loathing in Seattle' and 'More Fear and Loathing in Seattle'
App Pick of the Week: Instapaper
Plus: Fences 6 is GA on Windows 11

RunAs Radio This Week: How to Talk to Security with Sarah Young

Brown Liquor Pick of the Week: Aerstone 10 Sea Cask

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:
Melissa.com/twit
cachefly.com/twit
2 hr 28 min
May 21, 2025WW 933: Live from Build - Protestors, AI agents, Edit, Doom: The Dark Ages
Agentic AI is the theme of the show this year, and this time its multi-agent with orchestration! But first, we need to discuss the protestors. Paul and Richard have stories. So many stories!
Build 2025
New Microsoft 365 Copilot features are rolling out now because it's a day that ends in y

Tuning is the unexpected Build Bingo center square term - rolling out to agents

GitHub Copilot is open source in VS Code, more

Win32 app support improvements, no more fees in Microsoft Store

A shift in making Windows 11 the best place for developers - some things said, some left unsaid

Edge gets new AI features too of course

New native app capabilities in Windows App SDK, React Native

And, pre-Build, 50 million Visual Studio users

Copilot for consumers does image generation now. Fun tip: You can Minecraft-ize photos

OpenAI has a coding agent too, obviously

And OpenAI is buying Jony Ive!
Windows
Administrator Protection is coming soon - And not just for businesses. This feels very much like the firewall in XP SP2, it's going to be disruptive

New 24H2 features in Release Preview: New text actions in Click to Do, a lot more

New 24H2 features in Dev and Beta: AI actions in File Explorer, Advanced Settings, Search improvements, more

New 23H2 features, Windows 10 features in Release Preview

Surface Laptop Studio RIP

Calendar companion app for Windows 11/M365

Microsoft may finally put the Teams antitrust issue in the EU behind
Xbox
Fortnite returns to the Apple App Store

Apple blocked it first, Epic complained to judge

And Microsoft files a legal motion against Apple and for Epic Games

Qualcomm job listing confirms Xbox plans to some degree

What happens when you combine Qualcomm NPU with Nvidia GPU?

Xbox May Update arrives and it's a big one

Retro Classic Games for Xbox Game Pass

Game Bar updates, Edge Game Assist, GeForce now etc. on PC

Custom Xbox gift cards

More streaming of your own games

Hellblade II is coming from Xbox to PS5

Many more games coming to Xbox Game Pass across platforms
Tips and Picks
App pick of the week: You can try Microsoft's command line editor now

Game pick of the week: Doom: The Dark Ages

RunAs Radio this week: PowerShell 7.5 and DSC 3.0.0 with Jason Helmick

Brown liquor pick of the week: Tamnavulin Sherry Cask

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:
spaceship.com/twit
uscloud.com
2 hr 10 min
May 14, 2025WW 932: The Last Australian - Microsoft lays off 3%, Windows 10 ESU, "Hey Copilot"
It's go time: The biggest Patch Tuesday of 2025 sets the stage for 2025! Microsoft has finally revealed whether it will further extend Windows 10 support past October (it won't). Also, Microsoft designed notifications in Windows 11 to be annoying and pointless, so Paul has some advice. Plus, Proton Drive gets a long awaited albums feature, and more on the way.
Windows 11
Recall (preview) and Click to Do (preview) come to stable for the first time

Let's give Microsoft a bit of credit for this one non-reported behavior

Also: Improvements to Settings, Narrator, Start, Phone Link, Widgets, File Explorer

You knew this was coming: Microsoft now testing a "Hey, Copilot" feature

It's opt-in and an alternative to holding down Alt + Spacebar for two seconds

Microsoft discusses the new Start design and it's not a s#$t show like it was three years ago

No builds for the second Friday in a row

Improvements to Settings AI agent, intelligent text actions in Click to Do, a few small changes come to 24H2 in Dev and Beta channels

Copilot Vision gets Highlights and 2-App Support across all channels

Google's big Android reveal includes Material Expressive, big Wear OS update. Android, like Windows 11 (and iOS) is just being updated all the time now
Windows 10
Extended support program

Will support Microsoft 365 on Windows 10 through October 2028

Those time frames are identical

So what about those Surface PCs that can't upgrade to Windows 11? Microsoft has an answer (for all unsupported PCs) and it's not as cynical as you think

Microsoft quietly discontinued entry-level 13.8-inch Surface Laptop and 13-inch Surface Pro when it introduced those smaller new models last week
Layoffs
Microsoft just made $70 billion, so naturally it's laying off employees. How to explain this?

The FTC's losing streak against Microsoft continues

A proposal for solving the "Mozilla problem" in U.S. v. Google

Fortnite could return to the iPhone App Store as soon as today
AI
OH MY GOD IS THERE NO AI NEWS FOR ONCE. OK, three small items

OpenAI brings OneDrive and SharePoint integration with ChatGPT for paid business customers

"AI mode" could replace "I'm feeling lucky" on the Google home page

Spotify's AI DJ keeps improving
Dev
Build is next week in Seattle, a few thoughts

.NET 10 Preview 4 is out
Xbox & Games
Today's the day: DOOM: The Dark Ages goes live at 8:00 ET tonight!

Xbox Insiders can now play cloud-enabled games with mouse and keyboard

Paul reviews the Backbone Pro controller

Nintendo revenues slide big ahead of Switch 2 - 15m consoles expected in first year

Sony sold 18.5 million PS5s in the most recent fiscal year, down 11 percent YOY
Tips & Picks
Tip of the week: Windows 11 notifications make iOS look sophisticated

App pick of the week: Proton Drive

RunAs Radio this week: Active Directory in 2025 with Liz Tesch

Brown liquor pick of the week: Limeburners Albany Tawny Cask

These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/932

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell
Sponsors:
1password.com/windowsweekly
threatlocker.com/twit
uscloud.com
2 hr 29 min
May 07, 2025WW 931: The Eaglet Has Landed - New Surface Copilot+ PCs, Xbox raises prices
Microsoft announces big changes to Windows 11: New Start menu, Phone Companion on Start, AI actions in File Explorer, Notepad and other updates. Plus, new Copilot+ PC features: Click to Do actions, AI agent in Search for some reason, new Photos, Paint, and Snipping Tool features, and more.
Windows 11
Microsoft announces new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop models after teasing the announcement last week

Recall improvements, Taskbar improvements, HDR improvements, more come to Beta and Dev

Windows 11 Enterprise 24H2 to start on hotpatching, same schedule as Windows Server 2025

A moment of silence for Skype, we didn't know what we had until you ensh*ttified and then killed it

Google is secretly working on two major changes for Android 16+ - We need something like this for 25H2
Antitrust
Apple is slapped down hard by Judge in Epic v. Apple

Spotify, Amazon, Proton and many other change apps to avoid Apple Tax

The walls are finally tumbling down for Big Tech

US v. Google (ads) has a remedy hearing set for September, that should go well
AI
Open AI: just kidding about that for-profit thing. Did Microsoft squelch this plan?

Google's Little Language Lessons looks like a neat use of AI

GitHub Copilot now has over 15 million users
Xbox & gaming
FTC may have suffered its final defeat in trying to end Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard

Xbox/ASUS portable gaming device leaks

Good news! Xbox consoles are more expensive now! Wait.

New DOOM game and more are coming to Game Pass this month

Gears of War Remastered coming to Xbox, PS5, PC, Game Pass in August

Minecraft drops VR/MR support

GTA VI delayed until 2026

Backbone Pro works with phones directly but also tablets, PCs, and more wirelessly
Tips and Picks
Tip of the week: Go passwordless

App pick of the week: Microsoft Authenticator

RunAs Radio this week: Building a Career in Cybersecurity with Yuri Diogenes

Brown liquor pick of the week: Jura 10

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
Sponsor:
uscloud.com
2 hr 49 min
April 30, 2025WW 930: Flocculation & Saponification - Profanity filter, EU digital commitments, FY25 Q3
YOU ARE THE PRODUCT! But... are you? In Russia, Windows 11 uses you! Plus, something happened to Paul on the way to dual-booting Ubuntu 25.04 on Surface Laptop 7, but all is well! Also, you should be using Brave. But if you don't like/trust Chromium, Firefox 138 finally added profile management support.
Windows
Windows 11 24H2 preview update for April finally arrives

Now we know why Microsoft waited: It wanted to announce the "general availability" of Recall, Click to Do, and "improved Windows Search" (we're still struggling with a name for that one)

Dev and Beta (24H2) builds add a profanity filter, a Pen shortcut for Click to Do, improved Windows Search for work and school accounts, Accessibility flyout in Quick settings

Microsoft (sort of) explains why Windows Insider Preview channels don't follow a logical order anymore

Microsoft deprecates Map app in Windows 11

That makes sense. But also VBS Enclaves in pre-24H2 versions, which is interesting
Corporate
Microsoft says it will defend EU companies against US government

Alphabet/Google is doing just great, thanks

Intel earnings are flat, and that's as good as that news gets

Samsung posts record revenues on strong S25 series sales
Dev
Build and Google I/O are coming in hot

Google is holding a separate Android event for the first time, ahead of I/O

What about Surface? At Build last year, the company announced Copilot+ PC
AI
Microsoft has an OpenAI problem - duh and/or hello

Microsoft is part of an AI unholy quaternity on new Moto phones

Duolingo announces controversial "AI first" strategy - And then announces 148 new AI-based courses

Apple on Apple Intelligence: Just kidding!

OpenAI on GPT-4o: Just kidding!

ChatGPT goes shopping and OpenAI improves Deep Research

Google updates NotebookLM audio overviews with support for over 50 languages

YouTube starts testing AI overviews for videos - and Spotify is using AI for playlists

Adobe updates Firefly models, adds third party support

DuckDuckGo's Duck.ai now supports real-time model switching

Meta launches a standalone AI app that no one should want
Xbox
Xbox-exclusive game Towerborne is here in preview on Xbox, PC, and Game Pass
Tips and Picks
Tip of the week: Be prepared

App pick of the week: Firefox 138

RunAs Radio this week: Modern Work in 2025 with Karoliina Kettukari

Brown liquor pick of the week: Highwayman Whisky Abbey 2024

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
cachefly.com/twit
2 hr 41 min
April 23, 2025WW 929: The Blue Screen of Soup - Agent Store, Oblivion Remastered, Ubuntu 25.04
It's Week D, do you know where your preview update is? 23H2 is out - 24H2, not so much! No surprises in the new features list, but are more new features on the way?
Windows
New text actions in Click to Do - Practice in Reading Coach and Read with Immersive Reader - in Dev and Beta (24H2)

Find cloud-based (OneDrive-based) photos using Semantic search - Comes to EEA, Snapdragon X only for now, Dev and Beta

Voice access improvements - add words to custom dictionary - Dev and Beta

Updated green screen UI - latest Canary build, from today

Minor update to the Beta/23H2 channel, no new features

Ubuntu 25.04 is out and there's a native Arm64 ISO (!) and BitLocker support

Hands-on with WSL (which is stuck at 24.xx) and in Hyper-V on a Copilot+ PC

Is dual-boot even possible on Arm? (Yet)

Friday night update to identity caused accounts to be marked as leaked for 50,000 partner accounts
AI
We're in a new wave: Microsoft 365 Copilot updated, new Agent Store and more on the way

Copilot Vision is now free for everyone in Microsoft Edge

Google is giving Gemini Advanced/Google One AI Premium away for free to US college students

Google estimates its Gemini AI chatbot had 35M DAUs and 350M MAUs worldwide as of last month while ChatGPT had 160M DAUs and 600M MAUs (Erin Woo/The Information)

Perplexity is coming to Samsung and Motorola phones - and Microsoft is apparently coming to Motorola too
Antitrust
It's getting real - 20 years after US v. Microsoft, Big Tech is finally getting a reckoning

Google has now lost two major US antitrust cases in less than a year

US v. Google (search): DOJ wants Judge to break up Google

US v. Google (ads): Google found to have another illegal monopoly

What's the "right" outcome for Chrome and Google's ad businesses?

OpenAI says it would be happy to buy Chrome from Google- hilarious

Google just killed Privacy Sandbox, cites regulatory climate

Apple, Meta fined by EU for not conforming to the DMA

Apple Intelligence is no longer "available now" (Siri: Is it raining?)
Xbox/gaming
Elder Scrolls IV Remastered lands on Xbox, PC, PS5 and Game Pass

Xbox app arrives on LG smart TVs

It's (back) on: Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders rescheduled to April 24 with no price change

And the demand is higher than expected, Nintendo says
Tips and Picks
Tip of the week: It's time to look at Google Fi again

HARDWARE pick of the week: Microsoft keyboards and mice are back, baby

RunAs Radio this week: Agentic AI for IT Pros with Tim Warner

Brown liquor pick of the week: Dark Harmony No. 3 Black IPA Cask

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
Sponsor:
spaceship.com/twit
2 hr 18 min
April 16, 2025WW 928: The Rice is Done - Edge 134's speed, Reboot Chime, Altera
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
2 hr 20 min
April 09, 2025WW 927: Up to Stuff - Intel Unison, Quake II WHAMM demo, Minecraft movie
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
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.

You can join Club TWiT for $10 per month and get ad-free audio and video feeds for all our shows plus everything else the club offers...or get just this podcast ad-free for $5 per month.