Windows Weekly with Paul Thurrott, Richard Campbell, and Leo Laporte

Jan 24th 2024

Windows Weekly 865

You Don't Drink the Bottle!

Midnight Blizzard, $3 trillion market cap, AI in Reading Coach

Records live every Wednesday at 2:00pm Eastern / 11:00am Pacific / 18:00 UTC.
Category: News

In this episode of Windows Weekly, Leo, Paul, and Richard cover Microsoft's recent hack, new Windows Insider updates, Copilot Pro's image creativity, various browsers, education's compatibility with generative AI, Halo Infinite's slowdown, Notion's calendar service, and Japanese whisky.

Microsoft was hacked

  • A Russia-backed hacker group infiltrated a legacy system and gained access to executive emails
  • This is triggering an escalation in Microsoft’s security makeover either way

Windows 11

  • Beta channel: USB 80 Gbps/USB4 v2 support, bug fixes
  • Dev channel: Teams (commercial) meeting integration in Start, new mobile device management interface
  • New Surface event rumored for March. Possibly two waves of Pro and Laptop releases
  • Microsoft Bing and Edge are obviously not dominant platforms, and will not be subject to EU DMA
  • Microsoft Mesh is here for all your legless meeting needs

AI

  • Microsoft hits $3 trillion market cap on the strength of its AI moves
  • Paul used Copilot Pro and you’re never going to believe what happened next
  • Microsoft is bringing more AI to education. And so is Google
  • Would you pay for an AI-infused Alexa?

Web browsers, oh my

  • Chrome is updated with new AI features
  • Firefox version 122 is out
  • Brave will simplify fingerprint protection. What is fingerprint protection?
  • Opera will pay a brand ambassador $10,000 to spend a month on a deserted Icelandic island

Xbox

  • Microsoft reveals several new games for 2024, key among them an Indiana Jones title
  • 343 slows down Halo Infinite updates dramatically. Is this just about Halo or a hint at a looming new trend?

Tips and Picks

  • Tip of the week: Is it even possible to prevent online tracking?
  • App pick of the week: Arc browser
  • RunAs Radio this week: AI for IT with Gil Pekelman
  • Brown liquor pick of the week: Hibiki Harmony
     

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