Windows Weekly 904: Not Sexy, But Important

Leo, Richard, and Paul discuss the Snapdragon Dev Kit, Windows 11 and Week D, Microsoft 365, AI, Xbox, and more.

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In case you missed it

You didn’t. But Qualcomm canceled that Snapdragon Dev Box, will refund customers

• Qualcomm picked the wrong company for this
• Also, there are plenty of Copilot+ PCs and does it make more sense to develop against the type of PC your customers will use?

Windows 11

Week D arrives

• 23H2 gets a preview update, as expected
• 24H2 … nope, not yet.
• Copilot key customization, Gamepad for virtual keyboard, notification suggestions, etc.

Windows 11 on Arm: Qualcomm and Microsoft solve Paul’s only hardware issue with Arm, more

Related: Qualcomm brings Oryon cores to the phone, comes out firing against Intel, and is sued by Arm —- some thoughts on that

Windows Insider Program

• Dev channel: That Gamepad virtual kb thing
• Canary: That Copilot key customization thing
• Photos app gets Super Resolution feature – Microsoft says in preview, but Paul sees it in stable
• Microsoft Store is getting “immersive trailers” because ADHD

Microsoft 365, AI, more

Report details mounting tensions between Microsoft and OpenAI. Worst partnership ever?

• Several months after releasing Mac and iPhone ChatGPT apps, OpenAI delivers a comicly-named “early version” of it for Windows. Thanks guys, don’t hurt yourselves.

Microsoft announces first AI agents for commercial space, DIY in AI Studio

• AI in phases?
  • Copilot is phase one, this thing that works beside you (app, essentially)
  • Agents is phase two, this thing that works on your behalf away from you (service, essentially)

Copilot comes to OneNote for Mac, iPad in beta

Two years behind in AI, Apple has figured out the right quips and marketing messages

• Tim Cook: “Best, not first”
• Craig Federighi: “Those other chatbots are great if you want to ask a question about quantum mechanics, and then have them write a poem about it, but they won’t open your garage or send a text message”
• Is Apple really two years behind?

As expected, Google gets a stay of execution (pardon the pun) in Epic case (also, pardon the pun)

WTF is happening with smartphones? Did Apple and Google look at the 2024 Windows 11 Mess and say, we want us some of that?

• Apple Intelligence to roll out over at least four major iOS 18 updates and then forever
• Google rushes Android 15 dev to meet new August deadline for Pixel 9 series, whiffs it, and then delivers it 2 months late … But at least it’s jam-packed with AI

Xbox

Age of Empires goes mobile

In the wake of Xbox/Halo adopting Unreal Engine, Unity ships Unity 6 Engine

Netflix shuts down AAA game studio – I could’ve saved you guys a lot of money

New Xbox Wireless Headset more battery, better Bluetooth, new voice isolation

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Scott and Mark, sitting in a tree…

Two of my favorite people have started a fun little podcast that speaks to all kinds of things, but also to how open and transparent Microsoft can be compared to some other Big Tech companies (cough, Apple).

• Speaking of which, NotebookLM. Dear God.

App pick of the week: Affinity Photos 2.6 Beta

• Free for customers to test
• Arm 64 native since May
• New AI features – Object Selection and Subject Selection use the NPU in Snapdragon X chips

Also, Opera One R2

RunAs Radio this week: Securing Data using Azure Virtual Desktop with Jim Duffy

https://runasradio.com/Shows/Show/955

Brown liquor pick of the week: Glenmorangie Nectar D’Or

https://www.glenmorangie.com/products/the-nectar-16-years-old

Leo, Richard, and Paul discuss the Snapdragon Dev Kit, Windows 11 and Week D, Microsoft 365, AI, Xbox, and more.