WW 933: Live from Build - Protestors, AI agents, Edit, Doom: The Dark Ages

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. WindowsTHE 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

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

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

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

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