WW 873: Amino Man! - Microsoft AI's leadership, Azure's free egress, Office 2024
20 March - 2 hours 1 minOn this episode, Paul, Richard, and Mikah talk AI developments, Windows 10 (yes, 10), Azure egress, and even VR gaming! Is the new Microsoft AI organization an "acquisition" in disguise? How did NVIDIA's recent GTC keynote go? Plus, why it makes sense for Apple to partner with Google for Gemini on iPhone.
AI Reorg
Microsoft has created a new Microsoft AI "organization" that reports directly to Satya Nadella
Led by former Inflection co-founders and staffed in part by several ex-Inflection employees
Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott, who orchestrated Microsoft's OpenAI partnership, will continue forward in his other role as executive vice president of AI and will remain responsible for Mic...
Series Episodes
WW 881: Big Boy Teams - Snipping Tool and Word updates, Snapdragon X Leak
Windows 11 Patch Tuesday Windows 11 gets those stupid lock screen widgets Snipping Tool is being updated with emojis and QR code scanning Microsoft is testing widgets in the Windows 11 Start menu New Dev and Beta builds Dell PCs based on Snapdragon X leak Microsoft 365 Microsoft Word gets a long-overdue overhaul to default paste AI OpenAI kicks off the week with its Spring Update Google I/O follows up with a Microsoft-style keynote Xbox Microsoft to launch Xbox mobile games store in July Xbox consoles will support game update pre-loads, finally Microsoft discounts Xbox 360 titles ahead of Store closure We have another round of Game Pass titles and you're never going to believe what we didn't get, again Starfield May Update is here with 60 fps support on Series X Xbox Cloud Gaming supports keyboard and mouse with 26 games Xbox app gets more improvements tied to handheld gaming PCs Sony has now sold almost 60 million PS5s, roughly even with PS4 at this point in time Tips and picks Tip of the week: Remote Desktop is another feature semi-broken by MSA sign-ins App pick of the week: VMWare Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro are free RunAs Radio this week: MLOps + DevOps + Kubernetes with Annie Talvasto Brown liquor pick of the week: Lagavulin 16 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: HP.com - https://bit.ly/4adilko Melissa.com/twit GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT - code TWIT30
2 hours 46 mins
15 May Finished
WW 880: B.C. in a Bottle - Passkeys, Xbox Studios, Democracy Prevails!
Microsoft is promising to put security first, again. Three features have been added to Windows 11 Canary build 26212. Microsoft shuts down some game developer studios under its Xbox Games Studios, including a popular one that published Hi-Fi RUSH. And Playstation recinds PSN account requirement for Helldivers 2 on PC. Microsoft & Security Microsoft promises to put security first. Again. Microsoft adds passkey support to Microsoft accounts. Windows 11 Windows 11 Canary build 26212 adds three features from the beta channel. Microsoft starts controlled feature rollouts (CFRs) on Windows Insider dev channel. Microsoft acknowledges VPN connection issues on Windows 11 and Windows 10. More improvements to Tiny11 Builder. Arc for Windows shipped last week. Armed and Ready Apple announces M4 along with new iPad Pros. Qualcomm earnings flat, but big promises for current quarter. AI Better prompt writing is coming to Microsoft 365 Copilot. OpenAI is allegedly testing its replacement for Google Search. Microsoft allegedly testing LLM that challenges OpenAI. Xbox Microsoft shuts down more Xbox studios, triggering a new round of angst. Starfield is getting the 60 FPS support it should have had at launch on Xbox Series X. Nintendo has now sold over 141 million Switch consoles, promises Switch 2. Just kidding on the PSN account requirement for PC Helldivers 2. Tips and picks Tip of the week: Build Blogger Bash App pick of the week: DesktopGPT Plus: Proton Pass gets much-needed account protection features. RunAs Radio this week: Identity Governance with Jef Kazimer. Brown liquor pick of the week: Shelter Point Cask Strength 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. Sponsor: kolide.com/ww
2 hours 10 mins
8 May Finished
WW 879: The Cockroach of CPUs - FY24 Q3 Earnings, AI Explorer, Github Copilot Workspace
FY24 Q3 Earnings, AI Explorer, Github Copilot Workspace Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell For full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/879 Sponsors: GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT - code TWIT30 cachefly.com/twit
2 hours 22 mins
1 May Finished
WW 878: If You Build It, You Are Dumb - Snapdragon X Series SKUs, Phi-3-mini, Fallout
Leo, Paul, and Richard steer towards the performance race as they speculate about how Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite/Plus PCs will compare to Apple Silicon MacBooks. What makes a laptop truly user-friendly? System reliability, UI consistency, battery life? Plus, the recent Fallout TV series, the practicality of using winget for browser installations, and how the ARM chipset switch is revving up the PC market. ARMed & ready Qualcomm announces the Snapdragon X Plus and confirms Paul's report that the Snapdragon X Elite will have three SKUs (product editions) All four SKUs outperform Apple M3, Intel Core Ultra 7/9, AMD Ryzen 9 7940/8945HS on most benchmarks Why? PC makers asked Qualcomm for familiar choices Previously, an X Plus-based Surface Pro 10 and an X Elite-based ThinkPad T40s leaked. Paul can now confirm from a source that Surface Laptop 6 (13 and 15-inch) and Surface Pro will all be on X (something} Vivaldi is bringing its browser to Windows on Arm too Windows 11 The April 2024 Week D preview update is here: Recommended apps and frequently used apps in Start, Widgets icon updates, Lock screen widgets improvements Canary: Moves off 24H2 train to build 26200, no more switch to Dev, minor changes to the Widgets board and Taskbar (no new build for Dev) Beta: New Widgets design with navigation bar, new account manager in Start, Gmail in Share, MSA recovery advertisement, and new Game Pass recommendation card in Settings Microsoft Store app downloads from the web get simpler, more sophisticated After yet another Quest 2 Headset price cut, and mounting problems for Apple's Vision Pro, Meta opens up Horizon OS, Microsoft is sort-of on board Microsoft 365/Dev Office LTSC 2024 commercial is now available in preview Classic Teams rides off into the sunset on July 1 Dropbox offers deeper Microsoft 365 integration GitHub sees success in 2FA push AI The European Commission will not formally investigate Microsoft/OpenAI partnership Microsoft released a new SLM Microsoft gives a sneak peek of VASA-1, a crazy and scary "talking faces" AI tool Google copies Microsoft again, announces massive AI reorg - that has Pixel fans worried Adobe's generative AI image capabilities are predictably fantastic Xbox Get an Xbox Mastercard in the US, if you're a tool Microsoft announces IGN x ID@Xbox digital showcase - indie games Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Have you heard the one joke about the one time you need to use Edge? App pick of the week: Tiny11 Builder RunAs Radio this week: PowerShell 7.4 with Sydney Smith Brown liquor pick of the week: GlenKinchie 12 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: kolide.com/ww GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT - code TWIT30
2 hours 32 mins
24 April Finished
WW 877: The Tiger in the Grass - Backlash against tech criticism, Ralf Groene retires, Hardcore Software
Backlash against tech criticism, Ralf Groene retires, Hardcore Software Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell For full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/877 Sponsors: GO.ACILEARNING.COM/TWIT - code TWIT30 kolide.com/ww Melissa.com/twit
2 hours 16 mins
17 April Finished
WW 876: Solder On - Snapdragon X Elite impressions, KB5036893 update, CHIPS & Science Act
On this episode, Paul shares his thoughts on the Snapdragon X Elite chip with Leo and Richard. Windows 11 24H2, AI, NPUs, and SoCs from Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm are all on the way this year. But a schedule is finally starting to emerge. And it looks like we'll soon have answers to the questions about how or why AI will matter on PCs. Windows, AI, and the future Windows 11 version 24H2 - staggered release schedule as discussed last week Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite-based PCs in May/June - nothing but good news to date, but Paul went hands-on last week. It's the real deal. Intel's first-gen Core Ultra chipsets are lackluster, but now we have big promises for Arrow Lake in late 2024 Microsoft Build 2024 is in mid-May, and now we have a session list with some nice clues. For example, Introducing the Next Generation of Windows on Arm Microsoft is expected to unveil 24H2 and new X Elite-based Surface PCs at Build Computex and other milestones, and then back-to-school and holiday selling periods Windows 11 Moment 5 arrives in stable with yesterday's Patch Tuesday (which is now called the General Availability channel, by the way). Of course, we still don't have all the features. In particular, waiting on Android phone as a webcam. IDC says PC market grew by 1.5 percent in Q1 and acts like it's the turnaround of the century Microsoft is manually blocking certain registry keys related to default browsers now: Apple-like non-EU belligerence or pragmatic protection of user choice? Why can't it be both? Beta channel (last week) - Copilot actions improvements New Store app update improvements performance dramatically The Windows 11 de-ensh*ttification experiments continue Does Windows 11 Enterprise solve the problem? No. So it's time to move on Hardware TSMC gets some of that sweet, sweet CHIPS Act money to expand its US operations AI Three AIs comparison Blockbuster report claims OpenAI/Microsoft, Google, and Meta stole content at scale to train AI Microsoft opens a new AI hub in London Google mulls charging for generative AI in Search Spotify lets user create AI playlists using text prompts now Brave brings Leo to iOS, so it's on all supported platforms now. And it added Leo to Brave Talk Premium too Google rebrands Studio Bot to Gemini in Android Studio, still in preview. This is their GitHub Copilot Xbox Microsoft rolls out April updates for Xbox consoles, Xbox app on PC Xbox reorgs, Kareem Choudhry leaves Microsoft A rumored game preservation team is too obvious not to be true Tips and Picks Tip of the week: Microsoft Store hosts its annual Spring Sale App picks of the week: Standard Notes & Beeper RunAs Radio this week: Securing AI with Sarah Young Brown liquor pick of the week: Dalwhinnie 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. Sponsor: cachefly.com/twit
2 hours 43 mins
10 April Finished
