Microsoft

The study (pdf) analyzed 37.5 million de-identified Copilot conversations to show patterns in how people interacted with AI, but are we that surprised there’s a spike in existential questions around 2AM?

Microsoft seems to have gotten the message that Linux is becoming real competition and that the Xbox Ally needs more work! “[W]e will continue refining system behaviors that matter most to gaming: background workload management, power and scheduling improvements, graphics stack optimizations, and updated drivers,” the company writes.

The “production release” of  Windows MIDI Services just hit the Dev and Beta Windows Insider channels, and Microsoft says it will land on retail installs in “the next few months.” This means higher-resolution expression, two-way communication between devices, and less need for third-party drivers. MIDI 2.0 was announced in 2019, but adoption has been slow, with macOS and Android adding support in 2021 and 2022, respectively. There are still only a handful of compatible devices available, too.

We’ve had year-end recaps from Apple Music, YouTube, Spotify, and more so far, but real heads are waiting for the big one.

Multiple sales teams lowered how much salespeople are expected to grow annual sales of Foundry and other AI products, reports The Information, citing sources who called the move “rare.”

The tech industry “needs to earn the social permission to consume energy” for AI data centers he says in an interview with Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner. Nadella also called for faster permitting for new power infrastructure and “innovation” in energy efficiency and generation.

Meta is booting rival AI companies out of WhatsApp to reduce the competition for its own Meta AI assistant, a classic sign of confidence.

Microsoft, just like OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity, has announced new AI shopping updates, as US users of Copilot in Edge will have access to Cashback, Price Comparison, Price History, Product Insights, and Price Tracking features. It also says Copilot’s AI will now proactively tell you if there’s a cheaper deal elsewhere.

The feature is rolling out for Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels, according to Microsoft. I like using tables in Apple Notes, so I think they’ll be pretty useful in Notepad, too.

Yesterday Microsoft announced it’s making the classic Zork games open-source, and apparently some folks have gotten a little excited about it.

The original Zork I, Zork II, and Zork III games are now available under the MIT license. Microsoft, Xbox, and Activision have teamed up to preserve the clever Z-Machine engine that powered the Zork games and allow students, teachers, and developers to study the code and learn from it. Microsoft has also worked with Jason Scott, from the Internet Archive, to grant this open-source license.

If you’ve experienced performance issues in games after installing the latest Windows 11 October 2025 update (KB5066835) then Nvidia now has a hotfix driver to address the problems. It’s not clear what games have been impacted by Microsoft’s latest update, but you can grab the latest hotfix driver here or wait until the next non-beta release.

Microsoft is finally bringing back calendar appointments to the notification center in Windows 11. It was removed at the launch of Windows 11 in 2021, after Microsoft reworked the taskbar. The new “Agenda view” will be available in preview builds of Windows 11 next month, according to Microsoft.

Allow me to walk you through my experience of talking to Microsoft’s Copilot AI on Windows 11 for a week. From the world famous crystal caves of New Jersey to the foremost stocked shelves of BestBuy.com/11BestBuy.

In addition to launching across the Gemini app, in Search, and a new Antigravity platform, Google’s flagship AI model has arrived in preview for GitHub Copilot subscribers, who can now choose Gemini 3 Pro from the model picker menu across GitHub and VS Code.

Microsoft is previewing its Azure Cobalt 200 CPU today at its Ignite conference. It’s the next generation of the cloud chip that was first announced two years ago, and Microsoft says it will have up to 50 percent higher performance than Cobalt 100. Built on 3nm TSMC, it will also reduce energy consumption for cloud apps on Azure.

The next generation of BitLocker, Microsoft’s encryption feature in Windows, will require next-generation Windows devices that are built on unannounced chips. “Hardware acceleration of BitLock requires the capability in the silicon platform,” says Windows chief Pavan Davuluri. “As and when those capabilities are available, the OS will be able to unlock them for users.”

Sysmon was first released in 2014 as a utility for security analysis into the Windows Event Log. Built by Microsoft technical fellow Mark Russinovich with assistance from Thomas Garnier, Sysmon is now making its way directly into Windows 11 in early 2026. It will make it easier for security teams to detect and respond to threats.