On this episode, Paul Thurrott gets a bit better at unmuting! Mikah is back once again while Leo is away, and Richard features a classic single malt scotch. Wave 2 of Microsoft 365 Copilot kicks off, including an agent builder! Lenovo's got an everything-in-one ThinkBook, HP's got a Ryzen AI 300-based Copilot+ PC, and Netflix has a new series with Bill Gates.

Windows 11

• Microsoft comes clean on the schedule for Windows 11 version 24H2
• First AMD Zen 5-based Copilot+ PC in here (if here means "Paul's house")
• A few thoughts on where we're at with Copilot+ PCs, AI, etc
• Microsoft deprecates legacy DRM in Windows
• Google is bringing desktop windowing capabilities to Android

Microsoft 365 + AI/Dev

• Microsoft announces "Copilot Wave 2" with new Agent Builder, Pages experience, more
• Slack: Look at me, look at me! I have agents too!!
• Office LTSC 2024 is now available for businesses - consumer versions in "the coming weeks"
• Microsoft held its security summit with CrowdStrike, etc. There were no reports of a tarp on the floor
• Apple releases annual upgrades for all its hardware platforms and not an iota of AI in sight
• This is the end of an era. An era we will think back on as "the good old days"
• Microsoft issues .NET 9 RC1 ahead of November release. Clear to Paul that the WPF support in this release will never be updated again, which sucks

Hardware

• Intel finally has some good news: Foundry subsidiary spin-off, AWS expanded partnership, more CHIPS money
• Intel also has some bad news: It lost out on the PS6 contract to AMD, which made previous gen PS chips
• A Windows 11 2-in-1 (like Surface Book) in which the detachable display is a powerful, standalone Android tablet

Xbox

• Microsoft lays off 650 more Gaming division employees
• Microsoft realizes that some Xbox members do have friends, is bringing back Friends Requests
• Microsoft concludes September with three more Game Pass titles
• Bonus points: How many of these are Activision Blizzard titles?
• Bonus tip: If you play Overwatch 2 on Xbox, there are now some bonus perks for Game Pass members: Six hero skins, 30 Mythic prisms to spend on Mythic unlocks, a stackable XP boost, and access to Overwatch 2 Shop cosmetics from prior seasons
• Unity: Just kidding about that runtime fee, please stop harassing us now

Tips and Picks

• Tip of the week: How to spend your time and your money
• App pick of the week: ExplorerPatcher
• RunAs Radio this week: Asymmetric Encryption with Eli Holderness
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Talisker 10

Hosts: Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Mikah Sargent

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

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The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

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Paul is back from Berlin! Mikah Sargent subs in for Leo, while Richard brings a glass of Einar's whisky to the show! They talk about the latest from IFA 2024, including the state of Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm. Later, tune in for intriguing updates about Parallels Desktop, Windows 10's Photos app, and Apple's lineup of (currently) AI-less devices.

IFA Part Deux

• More perspective from industry insiders on where Intel, AMD and Qualcomm are at now
• Why did Qualcomm launch lower-end Snapdragon X chips now?
• Intel bails on 20A manufacturing process to focus on 18A - making lemonade
• Intel lands a punch with Lunar Lake. Is it enough for a comeback?
• Qualcomm has reportedly been trying to buy Intel's chip design business for months
• Lenovo launches new PCs with Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm chips - Photo gallery
• Copilot+ PC-class PCs with AMD and Intel chips come with 24H2e

Windows

• Patch Tuesday arrives - 22H2/23H2 and 24H2 all get updates - same as last month's preview updates, of course
• Microsoft still doesn't list 24H2 in Windows 11 Update History on the Support sit
• Parallels Desktop 20 will benefit from Microsoft's Prism emulator too
• Microsoft is updating Photos app in Windows 10 too
• It's not just macOS Sequoia, ChromeOS is copying Windows's Snap feature too

Apple launches new devices but AI is not ready

• Apple launches iPhone 16 series without AI, plus new Apple Watch and AirPods 4 also without AI... and confirms next software updates, also without AI - AI is for later, sometimes much later
• This was a lackluster launch by any measure. But AI might make things more interesting in time
• Dashlane recommends skipping out on Apple Passwords

Microsoft 365, AI, more

• Microsoft opens up Ignite 2024 registration
• Windows App set to replace various RDP apps

Xbox

• Sony tips PS5 Pro for a November 7 launch at $699
• Xbox Game Pass Standard launches
• Netflix allegedly saw 210 million game downloads

Tips and Picks

• Tip of the week: Lose the bookmarks, gain a (free) New tab page
• Tip of the week #2: Amazon Prime Games has free games too
• RunAs Radio this week: Microsoft 365 and PowerShell with Tony Redmond
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Einar's Great Skua Single Malt

Hosts: Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Mikah Sargent

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

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Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com

The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin.

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In this week's episode, Paul is in Germany in preparation for IFA 2024. Some of the big PC players have made timely hardware announcements, including Intel launching their Core Ultra 200V series processors, Qualcomm revealing an 8-core Snapdragon X Plus chip, and Dell listing a new XPS 13 laptop for preorder. Plus, does the Wall Street Journal have something for Intel? A suspiciously-timed gaming article might suggest so. Tune in for more news on all the related companies, from HP and NVIDIA to Proton and Google!

IFA begins (just kidding)

• Microsoft comes clean on Copilot+ PC features on non-Snapdragon X PCs: Next-gen AMD and Intel systems will get Copilot+ PC features in November, but will not be called Copilot+ PCs
• Intel formally launches Lunar Lake as Core Ultra processor Series 2
• Dell announces Lunar Lake-based XPS 13, pre-order now
• Qualcomm launches 8-core Snapdragon X Plus processor
• Google Drive is going native on Arm - And ExpressVPN and NordVPN are live on Arm now!
• Richard got an email from Arrow Electronics about his Snapdragon Dev Kit (and what happens next will shock you!)
• Surface Pro 11, Surface Pro 7 for Business - plus 5G coming to Surface Pro 10 for Business
• Is the recent WSJ piece an Intel hit job?

Windows

• Windows 11 version 24H2 - Some clarity? Come on!
• Everyone announces that you'll be able to remove Recall from Windows 11. You won't
• New Canary and Beta builds (last week) - lots of things in both, for a change
• Vivaldi is fully optimized for Windows 11 on Arm
• HP earnings: Slim growth, thanks to PCs

AI

• Copilot Wave 2 event is coming soon. The great rebrandening?
• UK CMA OK's Microsoft "acqui-hire" of Inflection. Oh, and it's a merger
• ChatGPT now has 200 million active users
• Firefox 130 offers third-party AI chatbots
• More Apple Intelligence in latest betas
• Proton Scribe is available to consumers now too

Antitrust

• Microsoft complains to UK CMA about Apple App Store fees, licensing
• Plus, Apple keeps getting passive aggressive with those that complain about its business practices
• Yelp finally sues Google
• Intel is considering breaking itself up to survive - will likely take baby steps first
• NVIDIA seems to be OK, but next year will be interesting. Oh wait, the stock just cratered

Xbox

• Call of Duty Black Ops 6 Early access is here
• More Game Pass titles appear, none from Activision Blizzard
• PlayStation 5 Pro design leaks
• Sony has its Redfall moment, launches and then kills Concord

Tips and Picks

• Tip of the week: Looking for a cheap gaming laptop?
• App pick of the week: Windows App
• RunAs Radio this week: Evolving Generative AI with Alison Cossette
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Cley Whisky Palo Cortado

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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:

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