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Microsoft

It might not get the same kind of attention as Google and Apple, but Microsoft is still one of the biggest and most powerful tech companies operating today. It runs Azure, one of the biggest cloud computing services, and maintains Windows 11 and the whole Office suite of software. It also makes plenty of Surface hardware and has a whole slew of gaming products, including the Xbox Series X. But the company is ever expanding — building new hardware, acquiring new game studios, and making sure that even if Microsoft doesn’t run your phone, it can touch plenty of the apps on it.

Microsoft just teased its next-gen Xbox console, and nobody noticed

Microsoft’s Xbox handheld work is an early look at the next Xbox consoles.

Tom Warren
Microsoft’s new Copilot Vision can ‘see’ your apps on Windows

Copilot Vision is now available to all Windows users in the US.

Tom Warren

Latest In Microsoft

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Tom Warren
Microsoft is just leaving some Liquid Glass here.

Who did the glass-like design first? Was it Apple with its Aqua transparency effects in 2000, or Microsoft with its Aero Glass theme in Windows Vista in 2007? Either way, Microsoft seems to think Apple’s Liquid Glass design bears some resemblance to its glass look in Windows Media Center, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Whatever you think, just don’t call it that.

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Andrew Liszewski
Ayaneo’s next modernized Nintendo DS has a larger second screen.

Although the original dual-screen Ayaneo Flip was a flop, the company confirmed it was committed to the line and today announced its new Flip 1S DS. The most obvious upgrade is a 7-inch 1080P OLED main screen with a larger 4.5-inch secondary LCD touchscreen with a 1620×1080 pixel resolution.

It will be powered by an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, run Windows 11, and feature TMR joysticks, but pricing and availability isn’t known yet.

<em>The second screen is still smaller than the Flip 1S DS’ main folding display, but it’s now much larger than it was on the original Ayaneo Flip.</em>
<em>Despite the inclusion of a touchscreen and an optical finger mouse, the Flip 1S DS includes several additional buttons we don’t yet know what they’re used for.</em>
<em>In addition to a D-pad controller, the Flip 1S DS features a pair of analog joysticks that utilize drift-resistant TMR technology.</em>
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The second screen is still smaller than the Flip 1S DS’ main folding display, but it’s now much larger than it was on the original Ayaneo Flip.
Image: Ayaneo
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Tom Warren
Did Microsoft just tease a Halo CE remaster?

Xbox chief Phil Spencer just casually revealed Gears of War: E-Day is coming in 2026, 25 years after the launch of the original Xbox. It’s arriving alongside a “the next Forza,” according to Spencer, and “the return of a classic that’s been with us since the beginning.” That classic sure sounds like the Halo CE remaster I wrote about last year.

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Richard Lawler
Older Windows handhelds are getting Xbox full-screen upgrades too.

If you already bought a Windows gaming handheld, you might not need to upgrade your hardware to get the overhauled Xbox app, Game Bar, and Windows OS that Microsoft and Asus just announced.

Xbox exec Roanne Sones:

The Xbox full-screen experience will first come to the ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X, and our next focus will be updating the in-market ROG Ally and the ROG Ally X. Similar full-screen Xbox experiences will be rolling out to other Windows handhelds, starting next year.”

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Jay Peters
Microsoft Edge’s picture-in-picture mode is getting better controls.

“You can now easily pause, play, skip forward or backward, and seek via the progress bar right from the picture-in-picture window,” according to a blog post. I don’t use Edge, but these seem like good upgrades.

A screenshot of the picture-in-picture changes in Microsoft Edge.
Image: Microsoft
The best Xbox controller to buy right nowThe best Xbox controller to buy right now0
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Quentyn Kennemer and Antonio G. Di BenedettoCommentsComment Icon Bubble
Surface Pro 12-inch review: heart warmer

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Verge Score

Microsoft’s tablet and laptop hybrid now has the right mix of design, power, and battery life.

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Richard Lawler
Microsoft is laying off 300 more employees.

A notification on Washington’s statewide Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) layoff and closure database says the exact number is 305. According to a statement from Microsoft to GeekWire, that number is in addition to the 6,000 layoffs it announced last month,

Surface Laptop 13-inch review: a little less for a little less

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Verge Score

Microsoft’s slightly cheaper notebook is great, but Windows on Arm can still complicate things for some.

Antonio G. Di BenedettoCommentsComment Icon Bubble
Microsoft is racing to build an AI ‘agent factory’

An interview with Microsoft’s new CoreAI chief.

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Tom Warren
Is Panos working on an Amazon foldable?

Former Surface chief Panos Panay left Microsoft for Amazon nearly two years ago, and now rumors are emerging that Amazon is in the early stages of creating a “large-sized foldable device” that might compete with Huawei’s folding laptop. That’s the rumor from Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who says the device, if development progresses, is “projected to enter mass production in late 2026 or 2027.” Perhaps the Surface Neo will finally become an Amazon reality.