Table of contents:

1. Windows 10 and 11 news
2. Windows Insider Program
3. Updates are available
4. Gaming news
5. Great deals to check
6. Random fact about Microsoft

Windows 11 and 10

Here we talk about everything happening around Microsoft's latest operating system in the Stable channel and preview builds: new features, removed features, controversies, bugs, interesting findings, and more. And of course, you may find a word or two about older but still supported versions.

If you plan to clean-install Windows 11 version 24H2 once it is fully out in the Stable Channel, you should beware of automatic drive encryption. Without any warning, Windows 11 may soon encrypt all your physical drives, so keep that in mind before re-installing Windows. If you do not want that to happen, check out our guide describing how to prevent Windows 11 24H2 from encrypting your drives during setup.

Some interesting updates are happening in the CPU world. Windows 11 24H2, for one, will not work on the first-gen Windows on ARM computers with the Snapdragon 835. Even though they were never supported, customers can bypass hardware limitations and install Windows 11 23H2. Sadly, version 24H2 bumps hardware requirements to ARM v8.1, which means no more Windows 11 for the ARM v8.0-based Snapdragon 835.

Bad news is allegedly coming soon to Windows 10 users planning to build systems with the next-gen Ryzen 8050 or 9000 Series processors. According to a new report, AMD will not support Windows 10 on those CPUs.

Windows Insider Program

Here is what Microsoft Released this week for testing in the Windows Insider Program:

Build 26212 from the Canary Channel is undoubtedly the most interesting one this week since it contains quite a lot of hidden stuff. The biggest discovery is the so-called "Companion Apps" for the Start menu. In other words, those will be small widget-like apps sitting next to the Start menu so you can get glanceable information from various apps every time you open the menu. Yes, that totally sounds like Live Tiles 2.0.

Also, another Copilot integration is coming to the Settings app. This time, you will be able to quickly ask Copilot about a certain setting or feature if the built-in search box cannot return a proper result.

Windows Server 2025 also received a new build: 26212 added Delegated Managed Service Accounts and more.

Besides new builds, Microsoft released fresh preview updates for some Windows apps. For example, the Snipping Tool app can now scan QR codes. Paint, on the other hand, got a new name for the Paint Cocreator feature. The latter is now just "Image Creator."

Updates are available

This section covers software, firmware, and other notable updates (released and coming soon) delivering new features, security fixes, improvements, patches, and more from Microsoft and third parties.

Microsoft Edge received a bunch of updates. Edge 126 Dev received new features for the Sidebar and a few fixes. Version 125 Beta got improvements for copy-paste controls, and the stable release received patches for security vulnerabilities exploited in the wild.

Interestingly, Microsoft appears to be testing new blocks that would prevent you from customizing Edge on inactivated Windows installations.

Microsoft 365 Insiders can try new past settings for Word. Microsoft is finally letting you set the "Merge formatting" as the default one so that whatever you paste into your document does not create a style mess. OneNote users also received their fair share of new features, namely better inking and PDF annotations.

Microsoft Teams admins can now preconfigure shift settings for frontline workers, and Microsoft Teams Public Preview now has a new Presenter window for screen sharing. As for Outlook, it received a better way to add polls in its web version.

Skype, Microsoft's slightly forgotten messaging platform, has been updated in its insider program to version 8.119. It is yet another big feature update with a new call panel UI for mobile on the web, a picture-in-picture call monitor on iOS, simplified audio controls on Windows, and SMS improvements.

No week goes by without Copilot news, which now feels like the most important thing for the company. Microsoft announced a number of third-party plugins for Copilot for Security. Microsoft 365 users are getting new features for Copilot, such as auto-complete for writing prompts. Also, there are rumors that Microsoft is making a new in-house LLM that could rival ChatGPT.

On the third-party side, Files, a popular File Explorer alternative in Windows 10 and 11, has been updated to version 3.4. Key improvements include the ability to set custom backgrounds, customize shortcuts, use Listray integration, and find files faster, thanks to real-time filtering.

Rufus, another third-party app we love to use, is now available under version 4.5 Beta with runtime UEFI media validation and various fixes and improvements.

Apple remembered that it had iTunes to update on PC, so it released version 12.13.2 with support for the new 11 and 13-inch iPad Air and iPad Pro tablets.

Other notable updates include the following:

• The first-gen Surface Laptop Studio received a big firmware update with gaming improvements, display fixes, and more.
• Microsoft released a big update for GroupMe, turning it from a normal app into a web app.
• Clipchamp is coming to Microsoft 365 Education customers.
• Microsoft Loop received GitHub, Jira, and Trello integrations for work and school accounts.
• Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps added support for browser protection in Edge for Business.
• Microsoft teamed up with DARPA to provide help with its two-year AI Cyber Challenge.
• Microsoft announced new security services and features for AI deployments.
• Microsoft launched a new spy AI service for US intelligence organizations.
• GitHub Copilot Chat is now available on iOS and Android.
• Stardock launched DesktopGPT to provide quick access to LLMs right from your desktop.

And here are the newest drivers released this week:

• Intel 31.0.101.5448 WHQL with Hades II support.
• Nvidia 552.44 WHQL with Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut support.

Finally, here is the latest edition of Microsoft 365 Roadmap Weekly, where we track features coming soon to Microsoft's productivity apps. In this week's episode, we take a look at new capabilities for Outlook on Windows, Copilot for Loop, Teams upgrades, and more.

On the gaming side

Learn about upcoming game releases, Xbox rumors, new hardware, software updates, freebies, deals, discounts and more.

Some bad stuff happened in the Xbox world this week. The company announced major cuts and layoffs across its gaming division, primarily impacting studios under Bethesda Softworks, sparking major discontent among the remaining team members. Arkane Austin will shut down, just like Tango Gameworks, the maker of The Evil Within and Hi-Fi Rush. To add insult to injury, on the announcement day, Microsoft unveiled a new custom Xbox controller with the "Feel the burn" headline. And what a burn it was...

Shortly after the announcement, Microsoft Xbox president Sarah Bond gave an interview to Bloomberg and attempted to justify their difficult decision to close several Xbox studios. In addition to that, Sarah confirmed that Microsoft will launch a web-based mobile game store later this year.

Xbox Insiders can try a new way to find discounts in the Microsoft Store. Recent Xbox Insider updates made it easier to identify sales in the Microsoft Store or when searching from the Home page or the guide.

Another thing that is now available to Xbox Insiders is an upgraded Compact mode for the Xbox app on PC. It now features nine recent titles and improvements for the social widget so that you can find your friends.

Xbox and PC Game Pass may soon receive Lords of the Fallen and Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2. There are no specifics but expect those games somewhere later this year.

Nvidia announced a new wave of games you can now play on GeForce NOW. They include Honkai: Star Rail, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, Little Kitty, Big City, and more.

Here are some other gaming stories from this week:

• Turn 10 Studios announced details about the upcoming Forza Motorsport update with multiplayer improvements and new content.
• Microsoft is reportedly thinking about launching Hellblade II on PlayStation 5.
• God of War Ragnarok is coming to PC very soon.
• Star Citizen Alpha 3.23 is out with wildlife, a new character creator, DLSS, FSR, and more.

Finally, we have updated our top picks for the most anticipated Xbox Series X|S games in 2024.

Deals and freebies

Looking for something new to play on your PC, but paying $70 is not an option? The latest Weekend PC Game Deals installment is here, choke-full of discounts and specials with some high-profile titles and neat bundles. The Epic Games Store is giving away Circus Electrique, and the original Marathon game from Bungie is now available for free on Steam.

Random fact about Microsoft

And here is a randomly selected piece of trivia about the company, Windows, and other Microsoft-made things.

Did you know that Brian Eno, the composer of the startup sound in Windows 95, was tasked to create "a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, and emotional..." all that no longer than just 3.25 seconds. As Brian once said in an interview, the idea was funny and amazing, and making the startup sound was like making a tiny jewel. In the end, Eno created eighty-four variants of micro music for Windows 95... on a Mac.

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It also had the side effect of generating a lot of new interest in the game franchise. Sales of those titles got boosted on Steam, and on April 23, Bethesda announced that almost five million people were playing games in the series in just one day.

This week, the GSD (Game Sales Data) research group which monitors both physical and digital sales of games, announced that Fallout 4, the single-player RPG that launched in 2015, was the best-selling video game in April 2024 in the UK. The info, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz, did not give specific sales numbers, but it did say that the data showed that Fallout 4 was "comfortably" in the top spot.

In fact, other games in the series showed up on the GSD sales list. Fallout: New Vegas was the eighth-selling game in April in the UK, followed by the online title Fallout 76 in the ninth position, and Fallout 3 came in as the 11th-best-selling UK game in April.

This is a bit of good news for both Bethesda and its owner Microsoft which has had its share of bad news recently. Earlier this week, Microsoft announced it was shutting down three game studios under the Bethesda-ZeniMax Media division, and merging a fourth with another dev team.

Overall, the GSD data showed a big slowdown in overall console hardware sales, with 71,000 units sold in April, down 39 percent from a year ago. In terms of games, there were no new titles in the top 10. Stellar Blade, the PS5 exclusive game that launched in April, came in 12th place on the list. EA Sports FC 24 was the second best-selling game, and Arrowhead's sci-fi shooter Helldivers 2 was number 3.

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SpaceX has the luxury of launching its own satellites for cheap on its reusable Falcon 9 rockets. However, with the unprecedented launch cadence – for both the launcher and the mega constellation – and the subsidizing of user terminals, the expenses of building and operating such a platform are huge.

Despite that, only five years since the launch of the first full batch of Starlink satellites, the service should be profitable in 2024, Ars Technica reported quoting the Tuesday presentation of research firm Quilty Space.

Quilty Space estimates that Starlink, nearing three million customers worldwide, will reach $6.6 billion in revenues this year and an estimated free cash flow of $600 million, essentially turning a profit for SpaceX for the first time in its short history.

Chris Quilty, the co-founder of the research firm, acknowledges that SpaceX’s efforts were significantly underestimated in terms of launch cadence and the impact on the market. Additionally, SpaceX's vertical integration in satellite design has enabled it to reduce costs not only in launch expenses but also in manufacturing.

Another interesting point is the claim that SpaceX is no longer subsidizing the proprietary user terminals in the U.S., and the company has also addressed some more concerns about its long-term economic viability.

Ars predicts that Elon Musk’s business will receive an additional boost once the giant Starship rocket is operational. This will enable new, heavier versions of Starlink satellites to be placed in orbit and provide a direct-to-cell connection that doesn’t rely on user terminals.

Getting rid of the user terminals down the road would be a win-win situation for both the users and SpaceX. The company would eliminate an expensive hardware element from the service chain, while the users would also save significantly. This feature would make procuring the service more accessible and improve the mobility of using the service outside of the user’s home address.

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The chirping of birds, the buzzing of bugs, the soft patter of Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s shoes as he bounds across the stage. The sounds of spring are here, so you know what that means: Google I/O is blooming.

Hot on the heels of Apple's iPad launch event last week, Google is going all out for its I/O developer conference on Tuesday, May 14. The event is taking place at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, just down the road from Google's headquarters. The keynote starts at 10 am PDT on Tuesday, and as usual, it will be livestreamed. Expect to hear and see updates about Android 15, Google search, the already announced Pixel 8A budget phone, and just an absolute torrent of news about the tech topic of the decade: artificial intelligence.

AI All the Way Down

While Google's Gemini AI platform has experienced some growing pains, the company is still eager to put its generative AI offerings into any and all of its services: search, its photo and video tools, and its workspace suite of tools like Gmail and Google Docs. Google has also been slowly infusing AI features into its Google Assistant, so it will be interesting to see whether those new capabilities result in a more evolved form of natural-language voice assistant, or more of a true AI assistant that acts as an agent to perform tasks through all your connected services.

The company will, of course, show off features from its upcoming Android 15 mobile operating system, more in-car integration through Android Auto, and its smartwatch software Wear OS. Expect each of those to be newly endowed with all sorts of exciting (and maybe slightly creepy) AI-powered features.

Google’s AI announcements could also offer a hint at whatever news Apple might have in store for its WWDC developer conference keynote, which will take place June 10. Just a couple months ago, news trickled out that Apple may be working with Google to wrangle the latter's Gemini AI platform into iOS. Neither company has officially confirmed the news, and it’s not entirely clear what such an uneasy partnership between the two mobile heavyweights might look like on the iPhone. Google’s presumably AI-heavy keynote announcements could provide a hint at whatever is being cooked up on Apple devices.

Hard Where?

I/O is a software-focused event, but that hasn’t stopped Google from using the keynote to announce new hardware devices in the past. If the dearth of recent leaks about the company’s ambitions are any indicator, this year may be slimmer on the hardware front that I/Os past.

Generally speaking, Google is usually pretty unbothered about keeping its new gadgets under wraps before a big public event. Details about its upcoming Pixel 8A phone leaked a couple weeks ago, but Google officially announced the device last week. (The phone goes on sale on May 14, the same day as I/O.) Google will probably talk about its new Pixel on the block, and how it will utilize Android 15 and Gemini AI.

It’s always possible that another device might appear. Google announced its first Pixel Fold at I/O last year, and that’s probably due for an upgrade at some point, but we aren't expecting that to come this month. Google has also been keeping quiet about any new augmented reality tech it's working on, though it has shown concepts like Project Starline and language-translating smart glasses at past I/O events. We really expect that with so much attention being paid to artificial intelligence development, Google will likely make its AI announcements the star of the show.

Watch This Space

Google’s keynote address, which should open with remarks from Pichai before the team rolls out all the new stuff, starts Tuesday, May 14, at 10 am PDT (1 pm EDT). You can watch it on Google’s I/O website or on Google’s YouTube channel. The videofeed is also embedded right here on this page.

Beyond the main keynote, there’s a subsequent developer-focused keynote starting at 1:30 pm PDT (4:30 EDT), viewable using the same links as the first stream.

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With the M4 processor, it is surely a powerful tablet that your money can buy right now. The Geekbench scores of the M4 processor powering the iPad Pro have surfaced online, and it has become the new single-core performance champion on the Geekbench listing.

Geekbench listing (via MacRumors) reveals how much faster Apple's second-generation 3nm chips are compared to M3, M2, and older Apple Silicon chips. According to Geekbench, the 10-core Apple M4 SoC achieved a single-core score of 3,695 and an average multi-core score of 14,550 across 10 benchmarks.

Here are the single-core and multi-core performance of various Apple silicons compared to the M4 silicon:

Notably, the M4 is faster than the M3 Max MacBook Pro and somewhat similar to the M2 Max in multi-core scores. Besides, when comparing it with the M2 processor, which powered the previous generation of iPad Pro, the M4 chipset is 46% faster in single-core performance and 55% faster in multi-core performance.

Although the M3 processor did not power any iPads, when compared, the M4 processor is 24% faster than the M3 processor. So, going by the Geekbench results, Apple's claim that the M4 processor offers 1.5x faster CPU performance than the M2 processor powering the previous generation iPad Pro is accurate.

Reportedly, Apple has plans to power all of its products with the M4 silicon, starting with the M4-powered MacBook, which is slated to launch later this year. If you are looking to purchase a new iPad Pro, then do check out our detailed comparison between the 2022 iPad Pro and the 2024 iPad Pro.

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When OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, it set off alarm bells at Google HQ about what OpenAI’s artificial intelligence (AI) tool could mean for Google’s lucrative search business. Now, those fears seem to be coming true, as OpenAI is set for a surprise announcement next week that could upend the search world forever.

According to Reuters, OpenAI plans to launch a Google search competitor that would be underpinned by its large language model (LLM) tech. The big scoop here is the date that OpenAI has apparently set for the unveiling: Monday, May 13.

Intriguingly, that’s just one day before the mammoth Google I/O 2024 show, which is usually one of the biggest Google events of the year. Google often uses the event to promote its latest advances in search and AI, so it will have little time to react to whatever OpenAI decides to reveal the day before.

The timing suggests that OpenAI is really gunning for Google’s crown and aims to upstage the search giant on its home turf. The stakes, therefore, could not be higher for both firms.

OpenAI vs Google

(Image credit: Shutterstock.com / rafapress)

We’ve heard rumors before that OpenAI has an AI-based search engine up its sleeve. Bloomberg, for example, recently reported that OpenAI’s search engine will be able to pull in data from the web and include citations in its results. News outlet The Information, meanwhile, has made similar claims that OpenAI is "developing a web search product", and there has been a near-constant stream of whispers to this effect for months.

But even without the direct leaks and rumors, it has been clear for a while that tools like ChatGPT present an alternative way of sourcing information to the more traditional search engines. You can ask ChatGPT to fetch information on almost any topic you can think of and it will bring up the answers in seconds (albeit sometimes with factual inaccuracies). ChatGPT Plus can access information on the web if you’re a paid subscriber, and it looks like this will soon be joined by OpenAI’s dedicated search engine.

Of course, Google isn’t going to go down without a fight. The company has been pumping out updates to its Gemini chatbot, as well as incorporating various AI features into its existing search engine, including AI-generated answers in a box on the results page.

Whether OpenAI’s search engine will be enough to knock Google off its perch is anyone’s guess, but it’s clear that the company’s success with ChatGPT has prompted Google to radically rethink its search offering. Come next week, we might get a clearer picture of how the future of search will look.

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The report comes from Reuters, citing unnamed sources. It does add that the actual date of the AI search engine announcement could change. If it does stick with the May 13 date, it will come just one day before Google's annual I/O developers conference on May 14.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported, again via unnamed sources, that the search engine will use its ChatGPT AI chatbot as its base. It will reportedly search for answers on the web to questions and inquiries and will also cite citations for its search results.

An OpenAI search engine would not only compete with Google Search and Microsoft's Bing search engine, it would also be competing with another AI-based search startup called Perplexity. That company, founded by a former OpenAI researcher, recently secured $73.6 million in Series B funding from investors like Nvidia and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Google has also been working on its own AI-based search engine called the SGE (Search Generative Experience) in its Search Labs.

While Microsoft continues to be a major financial and development partner to OpenAI, the company that's has its co-founder Sam Altman as its CEO has been branching off and reportedly making other deals. In late April, it was reported that OpenAI had entered into discussions with Apple. The two companies reportedly had talks about adding AI tech into Apple's next version of its iPhone operating system, iOS 18.

Earlier this week, OpenAI revealed it had started testing an AI "deepfake" detector so that images that were created by the company's DALL-E AI art maker could be identified as being made by that model. There's no word on when that tool will be officially released.

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Almost two months ago, we reported that the next-gen Intel Core Ultra 200 series Arrow Lake CPUs will come without Hyper-Threading (HT).

A few days ago, well known Twitter based leaker @OneRaichu has revealed the model names for the Core Intel Ultra 200 series for desktops.

Intel Core Ultra 200 Arrow Lake Desktop CPU Model Names. Credit: @OneRaichu.

The model names are a surprise to many, including ourselves. But, for whatever reason, Intel is possibly going to use them for desktop CPUs.

Now, more details are coming forward about their specs.

Intel Arrow Lake Desktop CPU Specs Leak

Benchlife has reported (translated), via VideoCardz, the specs for the Intel Arrow Lake Core Ultra 200 series CPUs.

It reports that Intel Core Ultra 9 will come with a processor configuration of 24 cores / 24 threads (8P +16E).

The Intel Core Ultra 7, on the other hand, will come with a processor configuration of 20 cores / 20 threads (8P + 12E).

As far as Intel Core Ultra 5 series is concerned, the CPUs will come with a configuration of 14 cores / 14 threads (6P + 8E).

It also reports that there will be another processor in the non-K series with 65W TDP. That processor will be part of the Intel Core Ultra 5 series and will come with a config of 10 cores (6P + 4E).

In total, it mentions that the Intel Core Ultra 200 series will consist of 8 processors with 125W and 65W category. For 35W processors, Intel will have about 13 of them in the series.

It also confirms the earlier rumors about the series having only Intel Core Ultra 9, Core Ultra 7 and Core Ultra 5 CPUs. The Core Ultra 3 or the i3 as it was originally called, seems to have been withdrawn.

Specs Table

For the benefit of our readers, we have made a simple Intel Arrow Lake specs table based on the information provided by OneRaichu, Benchlife and VideoCardz.

Conclusion

There are some things which we are still unaware about for the Intel Arrow Lake series. Clock speed, performance and costs are some of them.

As for performance, we have to wait for reviews. But as far as clock speeds are concerned, there are rumors that they will max out at 5.5GHz.

The max clock is especially interesting as recently, reports are coming out that Intel K series CPUs are having issues due to higher wattage settings in the BIOS. So if these CPUs are maxing out at 5.5GHz, either it’s the new architecture’s issue or Intel is pushing for tighter wattage settings in the BIOS.

The Intel Arrow Lake series introduces a new LGA 1851 CPU socket and will also require an entirely new CPU chipset. It will come with multiple chiplets / tiles inside a single CPU. Not to forget, it supports only DDR5 RAM. The release date is expected in the second half of this year.

We will get more details as and when the CPUs are officially announced by Intel.

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Matter is a smart home interoperability standard built through the collaborative efforts of popular technology companies. Samsung and Google are among the members and early adopters of the first specification Matter 1.0 released in October 2022.

The Matter 1.3 specification and SDK are now available for device makers to integrate into their new and existing products. In a blog post, the alliance stated:

This latest release marks an important step forward, enabling devices that can be more helpful to users in the kitchen and laundry room, enhance entertainment and smart home interaction on screens, and make the smart home more efficient and safer with new energy and water management support.

 

The addition of these new device types and functionalities in Matter 1.3 enables product manufacturers and controllers to begin implementing and certifying these features into new and existing products.

The updated smart home specification will equip EV chargers with consumer-friendly features such as the ability to start/stop charging manually, adjust the charging rate, or decide how many miles to add by a specified departure time.

Matter 1.3 enables energy devices to report data in real-time such as voltage, current, and power consumption or generation. The specification now supports water management devices like rain sensors, controllable water valves, and leak and freeze detectors, allowing users to monitor and manage water "in and around their homes."

Microwaves, oven ranges, cooktops, extractor hoods, and laundry dryers are now a part of Matter's expanded list of supported appliances. The alliance explains that users will be able to control features such as cooking time, power level, and mode of operation for microwaves. They will get notifications such as "food ready" or "end of cycle" when the microwave gets the job done.

Matter already supports laundry washers and the new update will let users set the dryer mode and target temperature on their laundry dryer, the alliance said, adding that users will be able to remotely start or stop their dryer if the local safety regulations allow it.

Adding more to the TV functionality, Matter 1.3 improves interaction with devices in the home, allowing other Matter-enabled devices to send notifications to TVs or other devices with screens. For instance, it will notify through the TV when a robot vacuum gets stuck or the laundry is done.

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What you need to know

• Stardock has unveiled a new AI desktop app dubbed DesktopGPT.
• It ships with access to several models, including GPT-3.5 Turbo, GPT-4, and GPT-4 Turbo.
• DesktopGPT provides insightful templates designed to help newbies in the AI spaces interact with LLMs easily.

A new AI-powered app in the block that could take on Microsoft's Copilot AI for Windows. Stardock, well-known for its best Windows 11 alternative apps like Start11, WindowsBlinds 11 recently unveiled DesktopGPT exclusively on its productivity and personalization suite for Windows, Object Desktop.

According to Stardock, DesktopGPT "brings the latest AI models to Windows 10/11 for quick interactions and powerful prompting with templates." The AI-powered app ships with many sophisticated features, making it easy to interact with multiple large language models (LLMs) directly from your keyboard. 

Furthermore, it ships with access to several models, including GPT-3.5 Turbo, GPT-4, and GPT-4 Turbo. As such, users can select any one of the models that best suits their needs.

DesktopGPT features a unique user experience that's designed to enhance your workflow. It provides insightful templates designed to help newbies in the AI spaces interact with LLMs easily, including translating text to another language and writing cover letters or emails. 

DesktopGPT joins Stardock's productivity and personalization suite of apps designed to improve and complement the Windows operating system. It's worth noting the inclusion of DesktopGPT in the Object Desktop suite won't impact its price.

DesktopGPT is about to give Copilot a run for its money on Windows

DesktopGPT running on Windows 11 (Image credit: Stardock)

As you may know, Windows 11 and Windows 10 ship with an AI-powered assistant dubbed Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat). Microsoft has been fully focused on integrating AI across its products and services after making a multi-billion investment in OpenAI's technology. 

In the past few months, rumors hitting the windmill indicate Microsoft recently transitioned some of its staffers from the Teams Chat app to help with Copilot AI projects, despite the EU watchdog forcing it to unbundle Teams for its Office 365 package globally. 

Going by the recent earning call, Microsoft's AI efforts are paying off having ranked as the world's most valuable company ahead of Apple with over $3 trillion in market capitalization. The same efforts also contributed to Bing's overall success, which has surpassed over 140 million daily active users.

On the flip side, Copilot AI has been received with mixed feelings by Windows users. These sentiments were echoed by a poll featured on Windows Central, with more than half of the polled participants indicating they never use the tool. Microsoft recently announced that it won't be pushing new Copilot experiences to Windows, and will use this time to refine existing ones based on user feedback. 

If DesktopGPT can address some of the critical issues flagged by users about AI on Windows, it could quickly become the best alternative for Copilot on Windows. Besides, it already ships with access to several models that can be used to generate desired outputs by users.

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What you need to know

• Microsoft just released its fourth annual Work Trend Index report.
• It majorly focuses on the state of AI at work.
• Contrary to popular belief, AI is creating more job opportunities than losses, with company leads expressing concern over insufficient talent to fill open vacancies.

Microsoft just released its 4th annual Work Trend Index report. And like last year, it focuses on generative AI, but with a focus on the technology's state at work. Last year's report shed light on the employees' and employer's perspectives on AI in the workplace. 

Two things stood out, a vast majority of the polled participants indicated they didn't have enough time to do their work and wanted to integrate AI into their workflow to make work easier, whereas 49% were concerned about losing their jobs to AI. 

Microsoft immersed itself in the AI wave after making a multi-billion investment in cutting-edge technology, extending its partnership with ChatGPT maker, OpenAI. In one year, the advances in the AI landscape have completely revolutionized the setup at companies, including the qualities recruiters head-hunt for when hiring for new positions, the leadership direction of the company, and how people handle assigned tasks at work.  

According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella:

"AI is democratizing expertise across the workforce. Our latest research highlights the opportunity for every organization to apply this technology to drive better decision-making, collaboration—and ultimately business outcomes."

AI has cemented its place in the workplace, but the implementation phase is slow

AI is definitely here to stay, and it looks like we need to understand it.  (Image credit: Future | Image Creator by Designer)

Generative AI certainly holds a place in organizations, with three out of four knowledge workers using AI to make their work easier. The report indicates that technology has significantly helped them save time, boost productivity, and even allow them to focus on more important things.

The same sentiments are echoed by 79% of the polled leaders, who say AI is an important ingredient that will foster health competition with rivals in the future. However, 60% of the leaders are worried about the company lacking AI focus and an elaborate plan to implement the tech across their workflows.

Interestingly, while leaders try to find a solution for this critical issue, more than 78% of AI users have started bringing their own AI tools to work.

Surprisingly, AI is creating more jobs

AI isn't just taking jobs as many would fear, it's creating them.  (Image credit: Windows Central)

While job security and privacy remain major concerns for employees with the rapid growth and adoption of AI, the Work Trend Index report shows that the technology is creating more opportunities to the extent that's making people (46%) want to switch career paths and transition to AI. 

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang indicated coding might be dead in the water as a career option for the next generation. Instead, he highlighted the youth are better off exploring opportunities in other areas, including biology, education, manufacturing, or farming. Contrary to these sentiments, 55% of the polled leaders have expressed concerns over not having enough talent to fill open roles in their companies across cybersecurity, engineering, and creative design.

Speaking of creative design, a report recently indicated that AI is on the verge of claiming architecture and design jobs from professionals with the prevalence of sophisticated AI-powered tools like Image Creator from Designer and Midjourney.

Moving forward, it seems that recruiters will consider AI skills heavily before hiring anyone. Per the report, two-thirds of polled leaders indicate they won't hire anyone without AI skills, despite only 39% of the employees in their company having these skills. Professionals are actively upskilling in the AI landscape, perhaps to maintain their importance in the workplace.

Microsoft wants users to learn how to use AI properly

Knowing how to use AI properly and responsibly is going to be an important skill to have.  (Image credit: Future)

As it turns out, more people find AI extremely instrumental at work as it saves over 30 minutes daily. 90% of AI power users indicate the technology has significantly made their overwhelming workload manageable, making it easier for them to enjoy their jobs. 

Per the report:

"Power users work for a different kind of company. They are 61% more likely to have heard from their CEO on the importance of using generative AI at work, 53% more likely to receive encouragement from leadership to consider how AI can transform their function, and 35% more likely to receive tailored AI training for their specific role or function." 

Finally, to make AI easier to use, Microsoft is shipping new capabilities to Copilot for Microsoft 365 to help users with a lack of proper prompt engineering practices, including auto-complete, catch up, and rewrite features. LinkedIn will also provide its premium subscribers free access to over 50 AI courses to help sharpen their skills. The features should ship to broad availability in the coming months.

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Among the findings this year: AI usage has nearly doubled in the past six months, reaching 75% of knowledge workers, according to Microsoft’s annual Work Trend Index. The study is based on a survey of 31,000 people in 31 countries, in addition to Microsoft 365 usage, LinkedIn data, and research conducted with big companies.

The report, released Wednesday morning, presents an optimistic view about the impact of AI on productivity and efficiency, as one might expect from a company betting much of its future on AI adoption by knowledge workers.

AI “power users” are saving more than 30 minutes a day, according to the study, which supports the company’s past promise that AI would reduce the drudgery of everyday work.

Many of those using AI (about 78%) are adopting AI tools on their own, in a trend described in the report as “Bring Your Own AI,” or BYOAI. This finding also plays into Microsoft’s hands, as the tech giant seeks to upsell its business customers on the notion of adding premium AI capabilities to their existing software licenses.

In allowing BYOAI to happen, companies risk “missing out on the benefits that come from strategic AI use at scale and putting company data at risk,” Microsoft says in a summary of the study.

From the perspective of software vendors, it’s reminiscent of the “Bring Your Own Device” trend that rattled corporate IT departments in the early heyday of smartphone adoption, and the grassroots adoption of collaboration tools that spurred corporate decision-makers to sign up for companywide subscriptions.

With the release of the study, Microsoft announced new features for Copilot for Microsoft 365, its flagship AI tool for work, which the company is selling for $30/user per month as an add-on to enterprise licensing packages.

• One new feature offers to autocomplete AI prompts as a user is typing them, and another can rewrite prompts to make them more effective.
• A new chat interface called “Catch Up” offers suggestions about upcoming meetings and other information and insights from user activity.
• An upcoming feature will allow teams to create, publish, and manage the AI prompts that they use, sharing them with other members of their team.

AI is also changing the job market, according to data from LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned business social network. The number of people adding AI skills to their profiles has risen significantly, and job posts that mention AI have seen a 17% increase in the number of applications they receive, the LinkedIn data show.

More than 45% of respondents globally said they were considering quitting their jobs in the coming year, which the company called the highest percentage since the “Great Reshuffle” of 2021.

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The Commerce Department is considering a new regulatory push to restrict the export of proprietary or closed source AI models, whose software and the data it is trained on are kept under wraps, three people familiar with the matter said.

Any action would complement a series of measures put in place over the last two years to block the export of sophisticated AI chips to China in an effort to slow Beijing's development of the cutting edge technology for military purposes. Even so, it will be hard for regulators to keep pace with the industry's fast-moving developments.

The Commerce Department declined to comment. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Currently, nothing is stopping U.S. AI giants like Microsoft (MSFT.O)backed OpenAI, Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google DeepMind and rival Anthropic, which have developed some of the most powerful closed source AI models, from selling them to almost anyone in the world without government oversight.

Government and private sector researchers worry U.S. adversaries could use the models, which mine vast amounts of text and images to summarize information and generate content, to wage aggressive cyber attacks or even create potent biological weapons.

To develop an export control on AI models, the sources said the U.S. may turn to a threshold contained in an AI executive order issued last October that is based on the amount of computing power it takes to train a model. When that level is reached, a developer must report its AI model development plans and provide test results to the Commerce Department.

That computing power threshold could become the basis for determining what AI models would be subject to export restrictions, according to two U.S. officials and another source briefed on the discussions. They declined to be named because details have not been made public.

If used, it would likely only restrict the export of models that have yet to be released, since none are thought to have reached the threshold yet, though Google's Gemini Ultra is seen as being close, according to EpochAI, a research institute tracking AI trends.

The agency is far from finalizing a rule proposal, the sources stressed. But the fact that such a move is under consideration shows the U.S. government is seeking to close gaps in its effort to thwart Beijing's AI ambitions, despite serious challenges to imposing a muscular regulatory regime on the fast-evolving technology.

As the Biden administration looks at competition with China and the dangers of sophisticated AI, AI models "are obviously one of the tools, one of the potential choke points that you need to think about here," said Peter Harrell, a former National Security Council official.

"Whether you can, in fact, practically speaking, turn it into an export-controllable chokepoint remains to be seen," he added.

BIOWEAPONS AND CYBER ATTACKS?

The American intelligence community, think tanks and academics are increasingly concerned about risks posed by foreign bad actors gaining access to advanced AI capabilities. Researchers at Gryphon Scientific and Rand Corporation noted that advanced AI models can provide information that could help create biological weapons.

The Department of Homeland Security said cyber actors would likely use AI to "develop new tools" to "enable larger-scale, faster, efficient, and more evasive cyber attacks" in its 2024 homeland threat assessment.

Any new export rules could also target other countries, one of the sources said.

"The potential explosion for [AI's] use and exploitation is radical and we're having actually a very hard time kind of following that," Brian Holmes, an official at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said an export control gathering in March, flagging China's advancement as a particular concern.

AI CRACKDOWN

To address these concerns, the U.S. has taken measures to stem the flow of American AI chips and the tools to make them to China.

It also proposed a rule to require U.S. cloud companies to tell the government when foreign customers use their services to train powerful AI models that could be used for cyber attacks.

But so far it hasn't addressed the AI models themselves. Alan Estevez, who oversees U.S. export policy at the Department of Commerce, said in December that the agency was looking at options for regulating open source large language model (LLM) exports before seeking industry feedback.

Tim Fist, an AI policy expert at Washington DC based think tank CNAS, says the threshold "is a good temporary measure until we develop better methods of measuring the capabilities and risks of new models."

The threshold is not set in stone. One of the sources said Commerce might end up with a lower floor, coupled with other factors, like the type of data or potential uses for the AI model, such as the ability to design proteins that could be used to make a biological weapon.

Regardless of the threshold, AI model exports will be hard to control. Many models are open source, meaning they would remain beyond the purview of export controls under consideration.

Even imposing controls on the more advanced proprietary models will prove challenging, as regulators will likely struggle to define the right criteria to determine which models should be controlled at all, Fist said, noting that China is likely only around two years behind the United States in developing its own AI software.

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CEO and Co-Founder Steve Huffman said that "It was a strong start to the year and a milestone quarter for Reddit and our communities as a public company." and that "We see this as the beginning of a new chapter as we work towards building the next generation of Reddit."

Key measures of the site's performance, such as Daily Active Uniques (abbreviated to DAUq), show significant increases in user traffic with a 37% bump to 82.7 million year-on-year. Its revenue also increased 48% to $243 million, nearly doubling the growth rate from the prior quarter. Finally, it reports an operating cash flow of $32.1 million and a positive free cash flow of £29.2 million.

However, despite all of this, the site's net loss increased from $60.9 to $575.1 million, which the site attributes to the IPO charges from going public as well as Stock-based compensation expense and related taxes and the % change is marked as not meaningful (NM) in the highlights table included in the post.

Reddit also estimates that it will have consistent revenue going into the second quarter of 2024 of a range between $240 million and $255 million, and its Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the range of $0 to $15 million which is a measure that attempts to represent the cash profit generated by its operations.

Finally, Reddit took the time to announce an update to its Board of Directors in this post. Sarah Farrell, co-founder and Managing Partner of Waygrove Partnership, joins the Board of Directors, having been a board observer since 2021 and increasing the Board to eight directors total.

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was first released in 2015 by developer and publisher CD Projekt RED. The open-world fantasy RPG has sold a total of 50 million copies as of March 2023, according to the last financial numbers from the company.

However, many PC owners of the game have been waiting for CD Projekt RED to release official mod tools for the game for a long time. In November 2023, the company revealed it planned to release its mod tools sometime in 2024. In mid-April, it launched a playtest of the tools for select PC Steam owners.

Today, CD Projekt RED announced on its Steam page that the REDkit mod editor for The Witcher 3 will officially launch for all PC owners of the game on May 21.

The game's official forums talk about the features of the REDkit mod editor, which is described as a "refurbished" version of the same tools that the CD Projekt RED development team used to make the original game:

The Witcher 3 REDkit allows users to edit and add content to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on PC. This set of tools will help our community to customize all elements of the game in larger volumes than ever before. This means the ability to create:

 

• new quests
• new worlds
• new cutscenes
• new characters / monsters / NPCs
• new journal entries, dialogues etc

 

…and more! Users have access to all game files and - for the first time - the means to tweak them with fully supported tools.

Mod makers can also package their creations with these tools and release them as standard mod packages, or as DLC packs for the game.

The Steam version of the game will also have support for Steam Workshop features that should allow mod creators to quickly share their creations with other Steam PC players. PC players outside of Steam like GOG.com and the Epic Games Store can also download mods via the NexusMods site.

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Stardock has announced a new desktop application today that puts the power of AI at your fingertips. DesktopGPT is an application that is exclusive to Object Desktop that brings the latest AI models to Windows 10/11 for quick interactions and powerful prompting with templates.

With DesktopGPT, Stardock is bringing the power of AI to desktop with unique features that makes it easy to jump in-and-out of interacting with multiple large language models (LLM) with a keyboard-first experience. With access to GPT-3.5 Turbo, GPT-4, and GPT-4 Turbo, users have flexibility to easily move between models to find the right tool for their interactions.

From top to bottom: DesktopGPT with template panel open,

DesktopGPT with response panel open,

and DesktopGPT with response modifier panel open.

A core feature of DesktopGPT are the powerful templates that make it easy for beginners and advanced users to engage with various LLMs. From translating text in multiple languages, to writing cover letters or subject lines for emails, DesktopGPT focuses on quick interactions to improve your workflow.

“DesktopGPT is the evolution of a tool that we were using internally at Stardock to help us be more effective with our AI interactions” said Brad Sams, General Manager of Stardock Software. “And at the heart of DesktopGPT are templates that are a powerful way to streamline your repetitive tasks”

Image: DesktopGPT settings panel

DesktopGPT is the perfect complement to Object Desktop that is known for its productivity and personalization apps. With the new desktop application, we are once again raising the value of our suite of desktop enhancements with the inclusion of a new application for no additional cost.

Here's a few of the app's highlights:

• DesktopGPT brings the latest models, including GPT-4 Turbo, directly to the desktop.
• Keyboard-first interface means you never have to take your hands off the keyboard.
• Templates make it easy to get curated responses to common tasks.
• Users can create their own templates that allow them to streamline repetitive tasks.
• Response modifiers make it easy to vary a response with pre-made modifiers.
• All Object Desktop customers get 75,000 tokens at no additional cost.

DesktopGPT is available now exclusively for Object Desktop customers at no additional cost. At this time, Stardock are not planning to offer DesktopGPT independent of Object Desktop.

Object Desktop includes programs such as Fences, Start11, Groupy, SoundPackager, DeskScapes and Multiplicity.

Disclaimer: Neowin's relationship to Stardock

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A private Japanese company has taken the world's first close-up photo of an individual piece of space debris, by parking another satellite next to it in orbit. This orbital photo op is the first step in an ongoing mission to capture and destroy potentially hazardous pieces of space junk that are clogging up our sky.

It's easy to imagine space as a vast, empty frontier. But since the first satellite launched in 1957, the space surrounding our planet has gotten more and more crowded. Human-made space junk — including used rocket stages, decommissioned satellites, frozen fuel and flecks of paint — has been steadily accumulating in Earth's orbit over the past seven or so decades. Now, the space industry is trying to find ways to remove it.

There is currently more than 9,900 tons (9,000 metric tons) of space junk hanging out in Earth's orbit. That debris is a veritable minefield for newly launched satellites and spacecraft; even a tiny piece of debris can tear a hole through a spacecraft with enough momentum. It can even pose a threat to people on the ground when it falls from orbit. And the longer that space debris stays in orbit, the more it multiplies. Collisions between defunct satellites or parts of rockets can break larger debris into smaller pieces, making the resulting fragments harder to track and increasing their chances of hitting an active satellite.

Understandably, space agencies around the world are interested in cleaning up some of that floating garbage before it damages functioning spacecraft. A private Japanese company recently took some of the first steps.

In mid-April, a spacecraft launched by private space company Astroscale successfully identified, approached and photographed a large piece of orbital debris — the upper stage of a Japanese H-IIA rocket that has been circling Earth since 2009. The demonstration was meant to test the craft's ability to maneuver close enough to a piece of space junk to capture it, without crashing into it. By all accounts, the mission was a success, setting the stage for future removal missions.

This milestone earned Astroscale a partnership with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration initiative. The company is currently planning the second phase of the mission, which aims to remove a piece of debris, using a robotic arm attached to the craft to push the debris into a fiery descent through Earth's atmosphere.

JAXA is not the only space agency looking to clean up Earth's orbit. The European Space Agency (ESA) has an active space-debris removal mission called ClearSpace-1, which is scheduled for launch in 2025. NASA is currently developing its own debris-removal program in partnership with six private U.S. space companies. And Astroscale's U.K. branch plans to launch a cleanup mission later next year.

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What is new in the May 2024 firmware update for the Surface Laptop Studio?

• Improves the audio quality of calls and recordings.

• Provides a more enjoyable and smoother gaming experience for the latest games including Mortal Kombat 1, Lies of P, and Starfield, enabling support for 8 new G-SYNC.

• Fixes problems associated with the second monitor display flickering and not working when the device is connected to Surface Dock 2.

• Addresses issues related to recovery of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections when device is on Standby, enhancing connection reliability.

Here is the list of new drivers:

Here is extra information about the release:

The original Surface Laptop Studio has a six-year lifecycle, and it is scheduled to reach the end of support on October 5, 2027.

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