On This Day: Xbox’s 2015 “games everywhere” strategy revisited
On this Day A look back at Xbox’s 2015 “games everywhere” vision — the moment Phil Spencer sketched out a future that Asha Sharma is now fully realizing 11 years later.
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Features
These 3 classic Windows tools desperately need a Windows 11 makeover
Windows 11 Microsoft continues to modernize Windows 11, but these three classic tools still need a major update without losing the advanced features users rely on.
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Windows Wrap: Should the next big Windows 11 upgrade be Windows 12?
Windows 11 Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 11 update brings refreshed Start menu options, Taskbar improvements, and other quality fixes. Is this a missed opportunity to launch Windows 12?
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Which keyboard switch is right for you?
Hardware It's no longer enough to pick the keyboard with the best aesthetics. I dig into switches and how they differ.
I compared Windows 11 from 2021 to today, and it feels like a different OS
Windows 11 Windows 11 has evolved over the past five years. See how the Start menu, Taskbar, File Explorer, Search, AI, performance, and setup have changed.
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Moonraker turns 10 and still looks ahead of its time
Flashback A decade later, Microsoft’s unreleased Moonraker smartwatch still feels like a glimpse into an alternate timeline.
Looking back at 2016’s “I love you, Xbox” — and how much (and little) has changed
Flashback Looking back at the 2016 editorial that captured Xbox’s growing pains and predicted the decade ahead.
Revisiting the LG Lancet, 11 years later
Flashback A look back at the LG Lancet and the era when Windows Phone 8.1 defined Microsoft’s mobile peak.
The 2016 Android‑apps warning that now echoes Googlebooks
Flashback A 2016 warning about Android apps on Chrome feels newly relevant as Googlebooks pushes Android PCs into the agentic era and challenges Microsoft again.
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Windows & Software
GitHub is down and taking Copilot with it
Apps If your workflow just ground to a halt, you aren't the only one staring at an error page.
Ubuntu on Windows 11 might soon be bigger than its own desktop OS
News Canonical, the makers of Ubuntu, have outlined the crazy growth of the Linux distro on WSL, saying it will soon outpace users of its own native desktop OS.
These 3 classic Windows tools desperately need a Windows 11 makeover
Windows 11 Microsoft continues to modernize Windows 11, but these three classic tools still need a major update without losing the advanced features users rely on.
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PC Hardware
The high-end GPU market is in complete chaos
Hardware I'll take the RAM, storage, CPU, motherboard, PSU, and more for free, please.
Demand for RTX Spark laptops is much higher than expected, says ASUS
Hardware ProArt P14 and P16 laptops with NVIDIA's new ARM-powered chip are in high demand from partners.
Cooler Master's new heatsink looks like a V8 engine for CPUs — and it's a monster
Review Cooler Master's V8 ACE 3DHP CPU air cooler includes extra heatpipes within an incredibly dense heatsink, and it comes at a cost that just might be worth it.
Podcast: Everything we know about the leaked "Surface" phone
Podcast On this week's episode: Zac and Jez sit down to discuss the newly leaked images of a mysterious Windows Phone prototype from 2013, plus the latest from Windows and Xbox.
Deals
Some of our favorite 4K monitors are the perfect back-to-school upgrade
Deals Some of our favorite Dell and Alienware monitors with 4K and QD‑OLED panels are a no-brainer upgrade for heading back to school as a new semester begins.
Beat AI-slop artwork by creating better, REAL images using these discounted drawing tablets
Deals Huion is launching a back-to-school campaign, discounting a large variety of its high-quality tablets for note-taking and creating art. Here are our top recommendations from this sale.
Snapdragon X Plus Surface Laptop 27% discount
Deals The Microsoft Surface Laptop (7th Edition) ranks among our top Windows laptops of all time for its clean design and strong performance for everyday tasks, and it's now 27% off
This 2-in-1 touchscreen laptop is ideal for heading back to school and exams
Deals One of Best Buy's Back-to-School discounts has found its way to the HP Omnibook X Flip 14 (2025), a well-made laptop that skips frivolous design choices for straightforward, solid performance.
Handheld Gaming PCs
MSI handheld scalped to $2,599 amid RAM shortages
No limit The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ vanished from retailers almost immediately, and the grey market has responded the only way it knows how: by duct-taping an absurd surcharge to the box and calling it market demand.
Gaming
REVIEW: Mortal Shell 2 is both a love letter and an inspiration to the Soulslike genre
Review A Soulslike with true franchise potential. Find out everything you want to know in our full Mortal Shell 2 review.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 reveals a new gameplay trailer for its upcoming massive 2.0 update
Gaming S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl's 2.0 update will bring about new enemies, weapons, quality-of-life improvements, and so much more, completely for free on August 20, 2026, along with the Hope of Despair DLC expansion
Here's what you need to know on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's insanely stacked beta tests
Gaming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's upcoming betas will provide players with a sneak peek at its multiplayer, campaign, and Warzone modes all at once for the first time in the franchise's history
Artificial Intelligence
Microsoft will remove the COPILOT function from Excel
You will no longer be able to use the COPILOT function in Excel after September 14, 2026. Here is why Microsoft is retiring the preview feature and what it means for your spreadsheets.
Copilot vanishes from classic Outlook, addition by subtraction?
Apps Copilot has gone missing in classic Outlook, drawing joking questions about whether the behavior is a feature or a bug.
ChatGPT adds Recall-esque feature to macOS that records your actions
AI Windows users were (and still are) unsure about Recall, and something similar is now headed to macOS.
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Microsoft confirms unified Copilot app rollout has begun
Copilot We knew it was coming, and now it's official: Microsoft is beginning to rollout a new Copilot app that merges Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot under one experience.
Microsoft
Did the Surface Phone finally leak? — Windows Central Podcast LIVE
LIVE Join Zac and Jez on August 13 at 2PM ET for the LIVE Windows Central Podcast.
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Everything new in Microsoft Teams for July 2026: Meeting Recaps, Frontline AI, and more
Apps Microsoft's July 2026 Teams update introduces a dedicated Recap app for meeting summaries, transcripts, and recordings.
Microsoft stock price rips on earnings, jumping a 'record breaking' 18%
Microsoft Microsoft's FY26 earnings report came in, and it has been taken extremely well on Wall Street, as investors reward $MSFT stock with a 20% bounce in less than a month.
Why Asha Sharma had to kill Phil Spencer's "every screen is an Xbox" vision
QOTD Phil Spencer once envisioned an Xbox on every screen. Here is why new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma had to abandon that multiplatform strategy and double down on dedicated console hardware.
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Peripherals & Accessories
Which keyboard switch is right for you?
Hardware It's no longer enough to pick the keyboard with the best aesthetics. I dig into switches and how they differ.
