Windows Weekly 930: Flocculation & Saponification
YOU ARE THE PRODUCT! But... are you? In Russia, Windows 11 uses you! Plus, something happened to Paul on the way to dual-booting Ubuntu 25.04 on Surface Laptop 7, but all is well! Also, you should be using Brave. But if you don't like/trust Chromium, Firefox 138 finally added profile management support.
Windows
Windows 11 24H2 preview update for April finally arrives
Now we know why Microsoft waited: It wanted to announce the "general availability" of Recall, Click to Do, and "improved Windows Search" (we're still struggling with a name for that one)
Dev and Beta (24H2) builds add a profanity filter, a Pen shortcut for Click to Do, improved Windows Search for work and school accounts, Accessibility flyout in Quick settings
Microsoft (sort of) explains why Windows Insider Preview channels don't follow a logical order anymore
Microsoft deprecates Map app in Windows 11
That makes sense. But also VBS Enclaves in pre-24H2 versions, which is interesting
Corporate
Microsoft says it will defend EU companies against US government
Alphabet/Google is doing just great, thanks
Intel earnings are flat, and that's as good as that news gets
Samsung posts record revenues on strong S25 series sales
Dev
Build and Google I/O are coming in hot
Google is holding a separate Android event for the first time, ahead of I/O
What about Surface? At Build last year, the company announced Copilot+ PC
AI
Microsoft has an OpenAI problem - duh and/or hello
Microsoft is part of an AI unholy quaternity on new Moto phones
Duolingo announces controversial "AI first" strategy - And then announces 148 new AI-based courses
Apple on Apple Intelligence: Just kidding!
OpenAI on GPT-4o: Just kidding!
ChatGPT goes shopping and OpenAI improves Deep Research
Google updates NotebookLM audio overviews with support for over 50 languages
YouTube starts testing AI overviews for videos - and Spotify is using AI for playlists
Adobe updates Firefly models, adds third party support
DuckDuckGo's Duck.ai now supports real-time model switching
Meta launches a standalone AI app that no one should want
Xbox
Xbox-exclusive game Towerborne is here in preview on Xbox, PC, and Game Pass
Tips and Picks
Tip of the week: Be prepared
App pick of the week: Firefox 138
RunAs Radio this week: Modern Work in 2025 with Karoliina Kettukari
Brown liquor pick of the week: Highwayman Whisky Abbey 2024
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 shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit
Sponsors:
uscloud.com
cachefly.com/twit