Windows Weekly (Audio)

Windows

Week D arrives, and this time we get updates - a preview of Octoberʼs Patch Tuesday
24H2/25H2 Minor update with new Copilot key remaps, Wi-Fi in WRE, more

26H1 Major update that brings all new 26H2 features—Start, Taskbar, Search —to 26H1. Finally.


Windows Insider Program

Four new builds last Friday - Biggest change is Cloud Rebuild in WRE (in Experimental) gaining new capabilities.

Software

30 years ago, Dave Plummer created Task Manager, and now heʼs vibe-coded a modern version that works on Mac and Linux too.

Stardock announces a new Windows 11 utility called Snipboard.

Clipchamp does AI upscaling to 4K now

Hardware

The Lenovo ThinkPad X9 15p Aura Edition is nearly perfect, with 11 hours of battery life.

Googlebook revealed!
Questions answered - $899 starting price is much lower than expected.

This is Androidʼs Copilot+ PC moment - An AI PC? What a concept!


AI/dev

Microsoft announces a OneDrive + Copilot event in October - Also a separate Copilot event before then.

Financial Times reveals internal OpenAI prediction of $278 billion in losses over the next five years.

NYT copyright case discovery reveals what Microsoft and OpenAI really think about stealing content.

Anthropic merges Cowork into chat, adds Docs and Slides.

Google Labs CC turned into Gemini Daily Brief, so now itʼs an AI agent for families.

Google opens up its Home smart home ecosystem to other AI assistants.

XAML.io is a web-based vibe coding IDE for .NET apps and it looks amazing.

XBOX and Gaming

A big reorg and a small number of layoffs at XBOX sets off a new round of hand wringing.

Tip and Picks

Tip of the week: Get Auto SR on Panther Lake-based laptops

Auto SR was designed to make gaming viable on Windows 11 on Arm/Snapdragon X/X2, but now itʼs available on Intel Core Ultra Series 3-based PCs and it is worth experimenting with.

App Pick of the Week: Affinity

Possibly the greatest free app in existence, Affinity just got 60 new features and is even better.

Hosts: Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott

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.

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originhq.com/windowsweekly

Windows

Week D arrives, and this time we get updates - a preview of Octoberʼs Patch Tuesday
24H2/25H2 Minor update with new Copilot key remaps, Wi-Fi in WRE, more

26H1 Major update that brings all new 26H2 features—Start, Taskbar, Search —to 26H1. Finally.


Windows Insider Program

Four new builds last Friday - Biggest change is Cloud Rebuild in WRE (in Experimental) gaining new capabilities.

Software

30 years ago, Dave Plummer created Task Manager, and now heʼs vibe-coded a modern version that works on Mac and Linux too.

Stardock announces a new Windows 11 utility called Snipboard.

Clipchamp does AI upscaling to 4K now

Hardware

The Lenovo ThinkPad X9 15p Aura Edition is nearly perfect, with 11 hours of battery life.

Googlebook revealed!
Questions answered - $899 starting price is much lower than expected.

This is Androidʼs Copilot+ PC moment - An AI PC? What a concept!


AI/dev

Microsoft announces a OneDrive + Copilot event in October - Also a separate Copilot event before then.

Financial Times reveals internal OpenAI prediction of $278 billion in losses over the next five years.

NYT copyright case discovery reveals what Microsoft and OpenAI really think about stealing content.

Anthropic merges Cowork into chat, adds Docs and Slides.

Google Labs CC turned into Gemini Daily Brief, so now itʼs an AI agent for families.

Google opens up its Home smart home ecosystem to other AI assistants.

XAML.io is a web-based vibe coding IDE for .NET apps and it looks amazing.

XBOX and Gaming

A big reorg and a small number of layoffs at XBOX sets off a new round of hand wringing.

Tip and Picks

Tip of the week: Get Auto SR on Panther Lake-based laptops

Auto SR was designed to make gaming viable on Windows 11 on Arm/Snapdragon X/X2, but now itʼs available on Intel Core Ultra Series 3-based PCs and it is worth experimenting with.

App Pick of the Week: Affinity

Possibly the greatest free app in existence, Affinity just got 60 new features and is even better.

Hosts: Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott

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 audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:
trustedtech.team/twit

originhq.com/windowsweekly

Microsoft's record-breaking Patch Tuesday unleashed nearly a thousand fixes, but the bonus story is in the chaos that followed as out-of-band updates and AI-driven bug hunts left admins scrambling to keep up.

Windows

Patch Tuesday was so buggy Microsoft had to release an emergency fix to address all the issues

New Release Preview builds for 24H2/25H2 - I guess we're moving past the features that are also in the initial 26H2 release - New Copilot key remapping feature, they will get it right eventually

Five builds across Experimental and Beta channels - All over the map as you'd expect

Google releases the Gemini app for Windows

Adobe released Photoshop and Premiere Elements 2027

AnyType is a top-tier Notion alternative and it's about to get very interesting

Microsoft previews an October Windows + Surface event that's clearly all about Nvidia - but is this also tied to 26H2 release?

HP announces a new Ryzen-based portable workstation with an interesting detail about unified memory

Apple announced iPhone 18 Pros, iPhone Duo, Watch 12 + Ultra 4, AirPods 5, and then released its '27 OS updates - And sure whatever

AI

AI fear-mongering reaches new heights (or new lows): Is this just PR from Big AI to keep the money rolling?

Bill Gates says Gates Foundation will donate $1+ billion to solve AI inequality

Big AI could solve the PR problems by actually doing something positive for mankind. Just a thought

Copilot Work and Copilot Studio get app building capabilities

Google will bring MCP to Google Home, in early preview now

Mozilla and Mistral partner on Firefox Smart Window AI

XBOX and gaming

Gears of War: E-Day and more is coming to Game Pass in the second half of September

XBOX is going to the Tokyo Game Show and a nice surprise for Kojima fans

Valve opens up Steam Frame preorders and it's only $1060!

Amazon Prime Gaming and Luna are having a pretty g26ood September

Apple is reportedly making an iPhone game controller for some reason

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: There's a new MSA bypass for Windows 11 Setup

App pick of the week: Google Dreambeans

RunAs Radio this week: Patching in 2026 with Susan Bradley

Brown liquor pick of the week: Art of the Spirits Honored to Serve

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 audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsor:
trustedtech.team/twit

Microsoft's record-breaking Patch Tuesday unleashed nearly a thousand fixes, but the bonus story is in the chaos that followed as out-of-band updates and AI-driven bug hunts left admins scrambling to keep up.

Windows

Patch Tuesday was so buggy Microsoft had to release an emergency fix to address all the issues

New Release Preview builds for 24H2/25H2 - I guess we're moving past the features that are also in the initial 26H2 release - New Copilot key remapping feature, they will get it right eventually

Five builds across Experimental and Beta channels - All over the map as you'd expect

Google releases the Gemini app for Windows

Adobe released Photoshop and Premiere Elements 2027

AnyType is a top-tier Notion alternative and it's about to get very interesting

Microsoft previews an October Windows + Surface event that's clearly all about Nvidia - but is this also tied to 26H2 release?

HP announces a new Ryzen-based portable workstation with an interesting detail about unified memory

Apple announced iPhone 18 Pros, iPhone Duo, Watch 12 + Ultra 4, AirPods 5, and then released its '27 OS updates - And sure whatever

AI

AI fear-mongering reaches new heights (or new lows): Is this just PR from Big AI to keep the money rolling?

Bill Gates says Gates Foundation will donate $1+ billion to solve AI inequality

Big AI could solve the PR problems by actually doing something positive for mankind. Just a thought

Copilot Work and Copilot Studio get app building capabilities

Google will bring MCP to Google Home, in early preview now

Mozilla and Mistral partner on Firefox Smart Window AI

XBOX and gaming

Gears of War: E-Day and more is coming to Game Pass in the second half of September

XBOX is going to the Tokyo Game Show and a nice surprise for Kojima fans

Valve opens up Steam Frame preorders and it's only $1060!

Amazon Prime Gaming and Luna are having a pretty g26ood September

Apple is reportedly making an iPhone game controller for some reason

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: There's a new MSA bypass for Windows 11 Setup

App pick of the week: Google Dreambeans

RunAs Radio this week: Patching in 2026 with Susan Bradley

Brown liquor pick of the week: Art of the Spirits Honored to Serve

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 audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsor:
trustedtech.team/twit

With Microsoft shattering records for patched vulnerabilities and AI exposing even more bugs, Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell debate whether this tidal wave of fixes signals progress or just bigger trouble ahead for Windows users. Also, Sonos is back and here's something no one has been able to say for, well, forever: It's new app is great! Plus, Gemini's Daily Brief is surprisingly useful, and it's available for free to everyone in the U.S.MICROSOFT MAKES MAJOR FINANCIAL REPORTING CHANGE

The canary in the coal mine has finally been rewarded: Microsoft will dramatically change how it reports earnings, effective immediately.

The good: Didn't see this coming, Microsoft will allegedly be transparent about Azure revenues every quarter

The bad: A simpler structure means more revenues are being hidden and you can only make accurate YOY comparisons dating back two years now

The unknown: What this will really look like in practice

How is it possible that Paul has been all over this for years and Wall Street has mostly ignored it?

Windows

Patch Tuesday arrives - And, yes, it's basically 26H2

New Start, Taskbar, and Windows Search are generally available

Is the "real" 26H2 still on track for October or does it just happen whenever?

Microsoft fixed almost 1000 security vulnerabilities this month (974), with 723 of them in Windows and 112 of them critical-severity. It has already released over double the number of security patches this year (2760) as it did in all of 2025 (1139).

Five new builds drop just ahead of Patch Tuesday updates with three minor new features

Project Zenith is a misguided attempt to make Windows better for developers that shows they've learned nothing

Microsoft Edge team promises two contrary improvements: Faster extension approvals, better quality

It came from IFA

Lenovo: Two AMAZING prototype PCs, one of which is imminent as a shipping product. Two killer NVIDIA RTX Spark-based laptops. Colorful laptops and AIO deflate the MacBook Neo balloon nicely. New ThinkCentre desktops and ThinkBook laptops, including a killer AMD-based workstation that can be daisy-chained

HP: Three new NVIDIA RTX Spark PCs, one of which is a desktop PC

Acer: RTX Spark, gaming handheld, more

Key takeaway: NVIDIA RTX Spark is a game-changer

Apps

Vivaldi adds PWA and address bar improvements

Yes, Virginia, Brave is still the fastest web browser

AI and dev

Newsday and The Seattle Times sue OpenAI and Microsoft for stealing copyrighted content at scale

There's a great new documentary about the making of Visual Studio Code out and it's free

This is a modern example of how tech limitations can spur innovation, something that happened a lot in the early home computer era and happens a lot less now

.NET 11 heads to release candidate phase ahead of November release

XBOX and gaming

XBOX Cloud Gaming is getting usage caps starting in November and a standalone service is on the way

XBOX app is coming to TCL smart TVs

XBOX Insiders are testing startup animation choices, Showcase customization, an improved Remote Play experience, background downloads for Cloud Gaming, and more

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Gemini offers a useful and free daily briefing

App pick of the week: Sonos

RunAs Radio this week: State of WSUS with Adam

Brown


These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/1000
Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell


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