A judge is racing to break up Google's advertising empire before they can appeal, while Microsoft's Copilot stumbles on camera. Australia's sweeping social bans, Roblox's selfie requirement, and flawed AI moderation spark sharp debate on what happens when online gatekeeping gets serious.

• Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Trolls
• NetChoice Sues Virginia To Block Its One-Hour Social Media Limit For Kids
• Roblox is requiring 9yo kids to submit a video selfie to prove age
• Outage at Cloudflare Disrupts Parts of the Internet
• It's not just you, many websites are not working this morning amid Cloudflare outage
• Cloudflare-related variation on the classic XKCD
• Trump's DOGE Is Dead and We Won't Miss It
• Meta Wins FTC Antitrust Trial Over Instagram, WhatsApp Deals
• Europe is scaling back its landmark privacy and AI laws
• Talking to Windows' Copilot AI makes a computer feel incompetent
• 780,000 Windows Users Downloaded Linux Distro Zorin OS in the Last 5 Weeks
• Fortnite is getting Unity games
• Oops. Cryptographers cancel election results after losing decryption key.
• SEC Dismisses Case Against SolarWinds, Top Security Officer
• Google Starts Testing Ads In AI Mode
• A decision about breaking up Google's adtech monopoly is on the horizon
• Work is "optional" and irrelevant money: Musk's creepy utopian dream
• White House Tries to axe the GAIN act (Act that would have prevented AI tech from being sold to other nations.)

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, Molly White, and Wesley Faulkner

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

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:

• spaceship.com/twit
• helixsleep.com/twit
• expressvpn.com/twit
• zscaler.com/security
• deel.com/twit

What does it take to build tech the world actually trusts? Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales joins the crew to dig into the real crisis behind AI, social networks, and the web: trust, and how to build it when the stakes are global.

• Teen founders raise $6M to reinvent pesticides using AI — and convince Paul Graham to join in
• Introducing SlopStop: Community-driven AI slop detection in Kagi Search
• Part 1: How I Found Out
• $1 billion AI company co-founder admits that its $100 a month transcription service was originally 'two guys surviving on pizza' and typing out notes by hand
• His announcement leaving Meta
• White House Working on Executive Order to Foil State AI Regulations
• Nvidia stock soars after results, forecasts top estimates with sales for AI chips 'off the charts'
• Jeff Bezos Creates A.I. Start-Up Where He Will Be Co-Chief Executive
• Jack Conte: I'm Building an Algorithm That Doesn't Rot Your Brain
• AI love, actually
• Cat island
• road trip: liquidator's warehouse
• Gentype
• The Carpenter's Son...
• My excerpt from the Q&A
• Image of the paper

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau

Guest: Jimmy Wales

Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines.

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:

• ventionteams.com/twit
• zapier.com/machines
• agntcy.org
• spaceship.com/twit

Ahead of Microsoft Ignite 2025, Windows boss Pavan Davuluri tweeted an innocuous post about nothing, and all hell broke loose. We are broken as a community and it's time to cull the herd.

Ignite 2025

• Fun aside: Google could have announced Gemini 3 at any time, but they chose the opening day of Ignite. Who's dancing now?
• No Satya and suddenly the keynote is watchable again
• Microsoft brings Anthropic models to Foundry along with Nvidia architecture
• MCP comes to Windows 11 in public preview for developers
• New Microsoft 365 Copilot agents for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Agent 365 is the obvious name of an AI agent management service
• Windows 11 is getting agents on the Taskbar because it isn't annoying enough already

Windows 11

• Two new Release Preview builds, a new Canary build, and the first release of Copilot Actions
• The RP builds are a preview of Patch Tuesday in December, it's bigger than expected
• Dev/Beta build with experimental AI agent capabilities, more

AI

• OpenAI released ChatGPT 5.1 and it's like no one noticed
• Mozilla announces AI window for Firefox, with immediate backlash

Xbox and gaming

• Qualcomm JUST announced a new control panel for Snapdragon X gaming
• Hands-on with the Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE) for Windows 11
• FSE Transforms a gaming handheld PC into a device-like experience
• Frame rates see a dramatic jump in FSE Call of Duty, which was surprising
• Fortnite is coming to the Xbox app in Windows, adding Xbox Play Anywhere support
• Xbox announces a new set of titles coming to Game Pass across platforms
• Xbox Partner Preview event is set for November 20
• As predicted, Steam Machine is the "Xbox Microsoft wanted to make." Yes, it's a good idea now that someone else is doing it

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Tiny11 Builder, again
• Hardware pick of the week: Lenovo Legion Go 2
• RunAs Radio this week: Azure SRE Agents with Deepthi Chelupati
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Jameson Rarest Vintage Reserve 2007

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:

• ventionteams.com/twit
• helixsleep.com/windows
• framer.com/design promo code WW

Think your cell phone is safe from tracking? Steve reveals how global networks let anyone pinpoint your location—no hacking required and no malware involved.

• Apple introduces a new Digital ID inside Wallet.
• Checkout.com refuses to pay a ransom demand.
• Google announces "Private AI Compute" in the cloud.
• Google backpedals on their "devs must register" demand.
• Win11 added a Passkeys API which 1Password & Bitwarden support.
• Russia tracks SIM card appearances to thwart drone usage.
• Google sues Chinese Phishing as a Service platform.
• Lots of interesting listener feedback.
• Global cellphone tracking is alive, well, malware free and a distressingly common commercial enterprise

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1052-Notes.pdf

Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now.

You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page.

For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve's site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6.

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:

• threatlocker.com for Security Now
• bigid.com/securitynow
• veeam.com
• bitwarden.com/twit
• joindeleteme.com/twit promo code TWIT

Speculation about Tim Cook's eventual successor is ramping up, as he may announce his retirement as early as next year. A federal jury in California rules that Apple must pay Masimo $634 million for patent infringement. And Apple unveils how cases for the Apple Watch Series 11 & Ultra 3 were 3D-printed this year.

• Apple intensifies succession planning for CEO Tim Cook.
• Apple COO Jeff Williams is now officially retired.
• Jury says Apple owes Masimo $634M for patent infringement.
• UK refuses Apple's request to appeal $2 billion App Store ruling.
• Apple wins camera patent dispute, as Supreme Court refuses to hear appeal.
• 2026 iPad roadmap: Here's when to expect every upcoming model.
• Mapping the future with 3D‑printed titanium Apple Watch cases.
• Joe Rogan beats The Daily to top Apple Podcasts' Top Charts for 2025.
• Apple's new App Review Guidelines clamp down on apps sharing personal data with 'third-party AI'.
• Apple's iPhone overhaul will reduce its reliance on annual fall spectacle.
• Apple takes 25% share of China smartphone market in October on iPhone 17 demand.
• Survey data shows Wi-Fi speeds are much faster on iPhone 17, thanks to Apple N1 chip.
• Apple loses iPhone Air designer to unnamed AI startup.
• Is "F1: The Movie" getting a sequel?
• Legendary game designer, programmer, Space Invaders champion, and LGBTQ trailblazer Rebecca Heineman has died.

Picks of the Week

• Andy's Pick: A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
• Shelly's Pick: Magnetic Airpod Pro Lanyard
• Jason's Picks: Alternatives to Bartender

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell

Guest: Shelly Brisbin

Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly.

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:

• spaceship.com/twit
• zapier.com/macbreak
• framer.com/design promo code MACBREAK
• cachefly.com/twit

Meta's Ray-Ban Display glasses steal the spotlight on a Rome trip, triggering debates about privacy, wearable tech etiquette, and the uncomfortable power of recording the world through your eyewear. Plus, gadgets scanning your urine, bots shaping your inbox, and the future of Disney+!

• Counting Renaissance butts in Rome with the Meta Ray-Ban Display
• Jury says Apple owes Masimo $634M for patent infringement
• Google ordered to pay $665 million for anticompetitive practices in Germany
• Disney and YouTube TV reach deal to end blackout
• The future of Disney Plus could involve AI-generated videos
• X is finally rolling out Chat, its DM replacement with encryption and video calling
• Tim Cook could step down as Apple CEO 'as soon as next year'
• iPhone Pocket revealed in hands-on videos of new Apple accessory
• AMD continues to chip away at Intel's X86 market share — company now sells over 25% of all x86 chips and powers 33% of all desktop systems
• Google DeepMind is using Gemini to train agents inside Goat Simulator 3
• George Lucas' narrative art museum opens next year in LA
• Spotify's new audiobook recap feature uses AI to remind you of the story so far
• PNG is back!
• 3 SeatGuru alternatives for finding the best airline seats
• What Are We Going to Do With 300 Billion Pennies?
• Withings Beamo

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Victoria Song and Christina Warren

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

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:

• zapier.com/twit
• deel.com/twit
• zscaler.com/security
• helixsleep.com/twit
• ventionteams.com/twit

Can radical optimism about AI truly shape our future, or are we stuck in a cycle of doom-and-hype? This episode features an unfiltered debate with Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly on why most fears about artificial intelligence might be missing the bigger picture.

• Vibe Coding' Named Word of the Year By Collins Dictionary
• OpenAI CFO Says Company Isn't Seeking Government Backstop, Clarifying Prior Comment
• Montana Becomes First State to Enshrine 'Right to Compute' Into Law - Montana Newsroom
• Sam Altman's Worldcoin Project Struggles Toward Billion-User Ambition With 17.5 Million Sign-Ups
• Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun reportedly plans to leave to build his own startup
• Exclusive: US Army to buy 1 million drones, in major acquisition ramp-up
• Facebook Dating Is a Surprise Hit For the Social Network - Slashdot
• 12 Things I've Heard Boomers Say That I Agree With 100%
• The FBI has subpoenaed the domain registrar of archive.today, demanding information about the owner of the archiving site as part of a criminal investigation
• How Similar Are Grokipedia and Wikipedia?
• What We Can Learn From Brain Organoids
• If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here's Where They Should Go
• LLM-Based Multi-Agent System for Simulating and Analyzing Marketing and Consumer Behavior
• No. 10's synthetic voters
• Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow's NPCs: Non-Player Consumers
• Eric Schmidt: This Is No Way to Rule a Country
• My torture for you
• Ohio State to hire 100 new faculty with AI expertise
• 'A frightening development': How AI-Articles are flooding the internet with fake news
• Internet Archive's legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost
• YouTube TV deal reportedly hung up on ESPN pricing as Disney loses $30 million a week
• How people really use ChatGPT, according to 47,000 conversations shared online
• Tort Law museum visit
• Bread and Puppet Museum
• We're famous in Germany
• Brand new bridge

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau

Guest: Kevin Kelly

Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines.

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:

• zapier.com/machines
• ventionteams.com/twit
• Melissa.com/twit
• agntcy.org

Windows 11 just got its most noticeable Start menu revamp in a while, but is it a productivity boost or just more Microsoft meddling? The team digs into Patch Tuesday's big surprises and whether generative tools are transformative essentials or just a passing fad.

Windows 11

• Patch Tuesday was yesterday, your new Start menu is right where Microsoft left it
• Copilot+ PCs: Improvements to Click to Do, File Explorer, Voice access, and Windows Search
• All PCs, eventually: Taskbar improvements, Administrator Protection (off by default), Quality updates
• Heading into Ignite next week, Microsoft cites recent security wins in Windows 11 and Surface
• First 26H1 build comes to Canary to prove that there will be nothing new in it, ever
• Qualcomm takes a one-time $5.7 billion hit thanks to Big Stupid Bill but still nails it in quarterly earnings

Microsoft

• WSJ continues its Microsoft financial accountability criticisms
• Also reports that internal documents state OpenAI expects to lose $74 billion in 2028, the year Anthropic will break even
• If Paul starts a business and it loses money for three years in a row, it becomes a hobby. So WTF is OpenAI exactly?

AI

• Microsoft AI creates a Superintelligence team as a sort-of alternative to AGI
• Microsoft launched .NET 10 at .NET Conf on Tuesday - Plus, Visual Studio 2026 with a new monthly release schedule and Insider versions going forward
• Double-digit performance improvements again, somehow
• Uno announced Uno Platform Studio 2.0 with a fun surprise for Paul: They upgraded the original WPF version of .NETpad into a cross platform app in 3 minutes! There will be a demo on Thursday
• .NETpad is transitioning to WinUIpad with the Windows App SDK rewrite. It is going poorly because Windows App SDK is terrible, cannot be open sourced quickly enough

Xbox

• Steam announces a new videogame console, the Steam Machine!
• Backbone Pro Xbox Edition is now available
• Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition is here with with Xbox Play Anywhere support, Creations
• Halo: Campaign Evolved is coming, so Halo: Infinite becomes a lot more finite
• Call of Duty Black Ops 6 player on PC? Hope you enjoyed that 180 GB "update" you had to install before playing a year-old game (also got a 6.7 GB update Wednesday. For the love of God)
• GTA VI has been delayed yet again as it edges into Duke Nukem Forever territory
• Sony has now sold over 84 million PS5 consoles, meaning it has outsold every Xbox generation ever made
• Sony is selling a 27-inch gaming display in the U.S. and Japan

Tips & picks

• Tip of the week: Solving the problem over identifying the problem
• App pick of the week: Tiny11 Builder
• RunAs Radio this week: Azure Resiliency with Chris Ayers
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Kyoto Whisky Kuro-Obi Black Belt Blended

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:

• bitwarden.com/twit
• outsystems.com/twit
• auraframes.com/ink
• zapier.com/windows

Amazon is taking Perplexity AI to court over its agentic browser that shops on your behalf, raising urgent questions about who controls your online buying experience when bots do the heavy lifting.

• FFmpeg teaching assembly language for performance.
• The state of Nevada recovers after not paying ransom.
• A "rounding error" nets a clever attacker $128 million.
• Why would Chrome decide to start form-filling driver's licenses.
• The UK's six major telecom providers to block number spoofing.
• XSLT support being removed from browsers. Will anyone notice.
• Firefox introduced paid support options for organizations.
• Russia continues to fight against non-Russian Internet.
• Google acquires another Internet security company (Wiz).
• The EU to finally fix their cookie permission mistake.
• More countries drop Microsoft office for open choices.
• More countries question and examine Chinese made buses.
• Microsoft discovers some information leakage from LLMs.
• What does Amazon's lawsuit against Perplexity's agents mean for next-generation browsers

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1051-Notes.pdf

Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now.

You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page.

For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve's site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6.

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:

• veeam.com
• hoxhunt.com/securitynow
• zscaler.com/security
• zapier.com/securitynow
• vanta.com/SECURITYNOW

What is the iPhone Pocket? Apple is nearing a $1 billion a year deal to use Google AI with Siri. Could the OLED MacBook Pro redesign be limited to just the M6 Pro and Max models? And is Apple TV's new show, Pluribus, good? It's good enough to have brought Apple TV down for a period of time during its initial release.

• Introducing iPhone Pocket: a beautiful way to wear and carry iPhone.
• Apple nears $1 billion-a year deal to use Google AI for Siri.
• Report: OLED MacBook Pro redesign may be exclusive to M6 Pro and M6 Max models.
• The iPad Pro at 10: a decade of unrealized potential.
• Apple's losing its podcast legacy — why it matters, and how to save it.
• Forget Liquid Glass, Apple TV's new logo was shot with actual glass.
• Did Pluribus trigger the AppleTV+ crash?
• Vince Gilligan wants you to know that Pluribus was 'made by humans'.
• Apple original films acquires J S Mayank & David Carlyle's manuscript 'Fallen Astronaut'.
• Future of Apple Fitness+ 'under review'.
• B&H lists HomePod Mini as discontinued amid refresh rumors.

Picks of the Week

• Andy's Pick: Club TWiT & Central Heating!
• Stephen's Pick: Foodnoms App
• Alex's Pick: The Oh Hellos

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, and Andy Ihnatko

Guest: Stephen Robles

Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly.

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:

• framer.com/design promo code MACBREAK
• auraframes.com/ink
• Melissa.com/twit

Elon Musk's eye-popping trillion-dollar pay package, Apple's big F1 gamble, and Meta's scam-friendly ad policies set the stage for a candid debate on Big Tech's priorities and who really pays the price for innovation (and neglect).

• Musk gets approval for bumper Tesla payout but, unlike his robot, there are strings attached - Behold the one trillion dollar man
• SpaceX to Buy Another $2.6 Billion of Echostar Spectrum
• Chinese Astronauts Stuck in Space After Suspected Damage to Return Craft
• YouTube's Goes Bonkers, Removes Windows 11 Bypass Tutorials, Claims 'Risk of Physical Harm'
• Scammy Ads Generated an Estimated 10% of Meta's Revenue in 2024
• Texas Sues Roblox For Allegedly Failing To Protect Children On Its Platform
• YouTube TV responds to Disney memo with no deal in sight
• YouTube TV exec calls Disney 'unnecessarily aggressive'
• Sports streaming is a fragmented hot mess
• Denmark's Government Aims To Ban Access To Social Media For Children Under 15
• The Department Of Defense Wants Less Proof Its Software Works
• China suspends export restrictions for a year on five critical minerals to the US, including gallium and germanium, used to make certain types of semiconductors
• Immigration agents have new technology to identify and track people
• Internet Archive's legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost
• FBI subpoenas the web registrar behind Archive.is
• Trump AI Czar Says 'No Federal Bailout For AI' After OpenAI CFO's Comments
• Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo
• Take-Two delays 'GTA VI' for second time to November next year
• Apple TV's new Pluribus show might be its best sci-fi series yet
• After more than 200 years, the 'Farmers' Almanac' is shutting down for good

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Iain Thomson, Ashley Esqueda, and Janko Roettgers

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

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:

• expressvpn.com/twit
• shopify.com/twit
• ziprecruiter.com/twit
• NetSuite.com/TWIT
• bitwarden.com/twit

Is today's AI stuck as a "spiky superintelligence," brilliant at some things but clueless at others? This episode pulls back the curtain on a lunchroom full of AI researchers trading theories, strong opinions, and the next big risks on the path to real AGI.

• Why "Everyone Dies" Gets AGI All Wrong
• The Nonprofit Feeding the Entire Internet to AI Companies
• Google's First AI Ad Avoids the Uncanny Valley by Casting a Turkey
• Coca-Cola Is Trying Another AI Holiday Ad. Executives Say This Time Is Different
• Sam Altman shuts down question about how OpenAI can commit to spending $1.4 trillion while earning billions: 'Enough'
• How OpenAI Uses Complex and Circular Deals to Fuel Its Multibillion-Dollar Rise
• Perplexity's new AI tool aims to simplify patent research
• Kids Turn Podcast Comments Into Secret Chat Rooms, Because Of Course They Do
• Amazon and Perplexity have kicked off the great AI web browser fight
• Neural network finds an enzyme that can break down polyurethane
• Dictionary.com names 6-7 as 2025's word of the year
• Tech companies don't care that students use their AI agents to cheat
• The Morning After: Musk talks flying Teslas on Joe Rogan's show
• The Hatred of Podcasting | Brace Belden
• TikTok announces its first awards show in the US
• Google wants to build solar-powered data centers — in space
• Anthropic Projects $70 Billion in Revenue, $17 Billion in Cash Flow in 2028
• American Museum of Tort Law
• Dog Chapel - Dog Mountain
• Nicvember masterlist
• Pornhub says UK visitors down 77% since age checks came in

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau

Guest: Jeremy Berman

Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines.

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:

• threatlocker.com/twit
• agntcy.org
• spaceship.com/twit
• monarch.com with code IM

We've heard that Microsoft will go off script this year with a 26H1 release of Windows 11 specifically aimed at Snapdragon X2-based PCs, as it did with the early release of 24H2 last year for the first-generation Snapdragon X. Also, Microsoft's latest earnings call left analysts baffled as execs dodged questions about multibillion-dollar AI losses and the real story behind OpenAI's ballooning deficit.

26H1!

• Now confirmed by the release notes of a Windows Update
• And the Dev channel will soon switch over to 26H1 testing, with Beta moving to 25H2 (from 24H2)
• Expectations? All three versions will be functionally identical except for some Copilot+ PC-specific features that may be briefly only on Snapdragon X2. And then there will be a 26H2 for everyone

More Windows 11

• Microsoft (over) simplifies its Windows Update naming scheme, and then has to backtrack a bit because of admin/IT backlash
• October Preview Update screwed up Task Manager a little bit
• Dev/Beta update noted above included a new build with Ask Copilot in the Taskbar, Full-screen experience for Xbox gaming handhelds, Shared audio over Bluetooth LE in preview, and improvements to the WOA Prism emulator (which partially explains the expectations bit above)
• Microsoft Edge password manager can now save and sync passkeys, but you should still use a third-party password/identity manager
• Microsoft Store gets a bulk installer but only on the web

Earnings learnings

• Microsoft earnings: Revenues up 18 percent to $77.7 billion but cost of AI is spiraling out of control and will only get bigger this FY
• Productivity and Business Processes revenues up 17 percent YOY to $33 billion
• Intelligent Cloud revenues of $30.9 billion, a gain of 28 percent YOY
• More Personal Computing delivered $13.8 billion in revenues, up 4 percent YOY.
• CapEx/AI infrastructure build-out costs are $34.9 billion (vs. $20 billion one year ago), plus a $4.1 billion loss attributed to OpenAI that was mentioned in a 10-Q (SEC) filing but not in its earnings reports
• Paul's analysis sticks mostly to Wall Street complicity in Microsoft's earnings non-transparency shenanigans. This is getting weird, given the amounts of money we're now talking about
• This isn't a first, but Spotify's earnings announcements includes a few BS sleights of hand too
• AMD: 36 percent revenue growth isn't enough for Wall Street
• Alphabet/Google: Up 16 percent to $102.3 billion, ads are 72.5 percent of revenues
• Amazon: Up 13 percent to $180 billion in revenues, $30 from AWS
• Apple: Up 8 percent to $102.5 billion, this quarter will be its best ever

AI, antitrust, & dev

• Epic Games and Google announce settlement in Epic v. Google, a dramatic common-sense move that Apple should (but won't) emulate
• Regulatory filings tied to Microsoft earnings suggest OpenAI lost $12 billion in most recent quarter
• Freed from Microsoft, OpenAI immediately signs $38 billion infrastructure deal with AWS
• .NET 10 to launch next week at .NET Conf 2025

Xbox & games

• Xbox Game Pass getting Call of Duty Black Ops 7, five more Day One games in coming days (with an *)
• Xbox October Update rolls out with game shader preloading on Xbox Ally, new modules in Game Hubs on console, more games to stream on Xbox Cloud Gaming, more
• Nintendo Switch 2 is off to a blockbuster first year with

T

These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/957

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Sponsors:

• helixsleep.com/windows
• framer.com/design promo code WW
• 1password.com/windowsweekly
• auraframes.com/ink

AI-powered web browsers are hitting the scene fast, but Steve and Leo unpack why these smart assistants could usher in an era of security chaos most users aren't ready for. Brace yourself for the wild risks, real-world scams, and the privacy questions no one else is asking.

• Secret radios discovered in Chinese-made busses.
• Edge & Chrome introduce LLM-based "scareware" blocking.
• A perfect example of what scareware blocking hopes to prevent.
• Aardvark: OpenAI's new vulnerability scanner for code.
• Italy to require age verification from 48 specific sites.
• Russia to require the use of only Russian software within Russia.
• Russia further clamping down on non-MAX Telegram and WhatsApp messaging.
• 187 new malicious NPM packages. Could AI help with that?
• BadCandy malware has infiltrated Australian Cisco routers.
• Github's 2025 report with the dominance of TypeScript.
• Windows 11 gets new extra-secure Admin Protection feature.
• A bunch of interesting feedback and listener thoughts.
• And why the new AI-driven web browsers may be bringing a whole new world of hurt

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1050-Notes.pdf

Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now.

You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page.

For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve's site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6.

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:

• bitwarden.com/twit
• joindeleteme.com/twit promo code TWIT
• canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT
• bigid.com/securitynow
• threatlocker.com for Security Now

iOS 26.1 & macOS 26.1 are out now, with updates to Liquid Glass. Apple had big results in its Q4 2025. More rumors are emerging about Apple's entry into the low-cost laptop market. And Apple finally launches the App Store for the web!

• Apple releases iOS 26.1, macOS 26.1, other updates with Liquid Glass controls and more.
• iOS 26's Shortcuts app adds 25+ new actions, here's everything new.
• Charts: Apple caps off high-flying fiscal year with Q4 record.
• Apple results: Holiday dunks and questions dodged.
• Apple preps low-cost laptop to rival Chromebooks and Windows PCs.
• Hello, Robot: Sandwich launches "immersive commercial"
• Use the Apple Vision Pro app on iPhone and iPad.
• Apple launches App Store for the web.
• Apple debuts new Apple TV intro with music by Finneas following "Vibrant" rebrand.
• Apple's Eddy Cue, Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht talk 'F1' and Emmys success, upcoming slate, and launching a platform.
• OpenAI acquires Software Applications Incorporated, maker of Sky.
• Introducing WhatsApp for Apple Watch.
• Canva's new free Affinity app wants to sink the Adobe flagships.
• Tim Cook just turned 65, renewing speculation about his successor.
• Apple slices its logo for new Apple One branding.
• How Tim Cook evaded disaster at Apple this year.

Picks of the Week

• Andy's Pick: Logoer
• Leo's Pick: Iconfactory Tapestry
• Alex's Pick: Shutter Encoder

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell

Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly.

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:

• zocdoc.com/macbreak
• 1password.com/macbreak
• threatlocker.com/twit
• framer.com/design promo code MACBREAK

From AI-powered code generation boosting productivity to adversaries using the same tools to hunt zero-days, the panel exposes the coming wave of AI-fueled cyberattacks—and why most companies aren't ready for it.

• Cotton blocks Trump-backed effort to make daylight saving time permanent
• The End of Cybersecurity
• Amazon says it didn't cut 14,000 people because of money. It cut them because of 'culture'
• Here's How the AI Crash Happens
• US government is getting closer to banning TP-Link routers
• Neato cloud shutdown sees robocleaners robbed of their smarts
• FCC will vote to scrap telecom cybersecurity requirements
• Trump FCC Votes To Make It Easier For Your Broadband ISP To Rip You Off
• Swedish Death Cleaning But for Your Digital Life
• The F5 Hack is a Big Deal
• OpenAI Releases Agentic Security Researcher
• 'Do not trust your eyes': AI generates surge in expense fraud
• Proton Data Breach Observatory aims to alert you in near real-time
• Using a Security Key on X? Re-Enroll Now or Your Account Will Be Locked
• YouTube denies AI was involved with odd removals of tech tutorials
• 10M people watched a YouTuber shim a lock; the lock company sued him. Bad idea.
• Samsung's $2000 smart fridges are getting ads - gHacks Tech News
• ESPN, ABC, and other Disney channels go dark on YouTube TV

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Jill Duffy, Alex Stamos, and Stacey Higginbotham

Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech

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:

• ziprecruiter.com/twit
• zscaler.com/security
• miro.com
• canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT
• Melissa.com/twit

Can an AI truly care about your feelings—or is emotional intelligence in machines just the most sophisticated form of manipulation? Dr. Alan Cowen of Hume AI joins the crew to unpack the promise and peril of emotionally adept bots, even as they're quietly shaping how we connect, seek help, and parent in the digital age.

• Virtual Try On Free Online - AI Clothes Changer | i-TryOn
• Oreo-maker Mondelez to use new generative AI tool to slash marketing costs
• OpenAI Moves to Generate AI Music in Potential Rivalry With Startup Suno
• Surprising no one, researchers confirm that AI chatbots are incredibly sycophantic
• Microsoft's Mico heightens the risks of parasocial LLM relationships
• Armed police swarm student after AI mistakes bag of Doritos for a weapon - Dexerto
• A Definition of AGI
  OpenAI Finalizes Corporate Restructuring, Gives Microsoft 27% Stake and Technology Access Until 2032 - Slashdot
• This mom's son was asking Tesla's Grok AI chatbot about soccer. It told him to send nude pics, she says
• Nvidia Becomes World's First $5 Trillion Company - Slashdot
• Paris Hilton Has Been Training Her AI for Years
• How Realistic is OpenAI's 2028 Timeline For Automating AI Research Itself?
• Tesla's "Mad Max" mode is now under federal scrutiny
• Zenni's Anti-Facial Recognition Glasses are Eyewear for Our Paranoid Age
• Alphabet earnings
• Meta earnings
• You Have No Idea How Screwed OpenAI Actually Is
• Elon Musk's Grokipedia Pushes Far-Right Talking Points
• AOL to be sold to Bending Spoons for roughly $1.5B
• Casio's Fluffy AI Robot Squeaked Its Way Into My Heart
• For the sake of the show, I will suffer this torture -jj
• Machine Olfaction and Embedded AI Are Shaping the New Global Sensing Industry
• A silly little photoshoot with your friends
• Bugonia
• Celebrating 25 years of Google Ads
• The Data Is In: The Washington Post Can't Replace Its "TikTok Guy"
• Peak screen?

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau

Guest: Dr. Alan Cowen

Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines.

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:

• zscaler.com/security
• zapier.com/machines
• agntcy.org
• ventionteams.com/twit

Welp, Azure crashed on Microsoft's earnings day, the cloud's weakest link exposed just as AI investments hit mind-boggling numbers. And 2.5 years into the AI era, things are still moving quickly, and there are extreme opinions on both ends of the spectrum. But Paul finally found a source for a good way to evaluate AI and figure out where it works and where it does not. It came from an unexpected place.

Windows 11

• Week D arrives with a massive Preview Update for 24H2 and 25H2 - including the new Start menu, finally
• Copy & Search, Voice typing improvements, Proactive Memory Diagnostics, more in Dev and Beta
• Copilot Vision in Copilot app updated with text input and output across all Insider channels
• Intel earnings are great unless you understand how numbers work

Microsoft 365

• Australia regulator sues Microsoft over misleading Microsoft 365 consumer pricing
• Copilot is being integrated into the People, Files, and Calendar companion apps for Microsoft 365 commercial
• On the day Microsoft will report earnings, Microsoft 365 and Azure went down. Hilarious!

AI

• OpenAI completes its transition to a for-profit owned by a non-profit
• Microsoft's stake is 27 percent. A lot has changed in the Microsoft/OpenAI partnership agreement
• WSJ finally calls out Microsoft for its lack of financial reporting transparency. Paul's been complaining about that for over a decade - Big Tech has became a shell game. These companies are managing money they don't even have and actual products and services and "real" value be damned
• Big Copilot feature dump for consumers with a human touch: Mico, Copilot Groups, memory improvements, connectors, Proactive Actions in preview, Copilot for Health, Copilot in Edge improvements, and Copilot in Windows updates from last week
• Microsoft 365 Copilot is getting App Builder and Workflow agents
• GitHub Copilot to support third-party AI agents
• Grammarly rebrands as Superhuman

Xbox and gaming

• Credible report claims Microsoft requires Xbox/Microsoft Gaming to deliver 30 percent profit margin
• That is impossible and this is clearly coming from Amy Hood and has led to the ensh*ttification of Xbox as a platform
• As Microsoft launches first gaming handhelds, all anyone wants to talk about is the next-generation Xbox console. It started with Sarah Bond last week - "very premium" console with "curated" experience
• Phil Spencer discusses it this week, who implied Windows at the heart of console
• The rumor mill churns up - Will be Windows, as we've said, will drop multiplayer paywall that debuted in 2002
• Now Satya Nadella is commenting on the next console, confirms publisher focus for this business
• Halo: Campaign Evolved is coming in 2026, new features, new Unreal Engine graphics, new PS5 compatibility
• Also, The Outer Worlds 2 is now available. Yes, on PS5 too
• Amazon relaunches Luna, and the new Amazon layoffs point to a new focus on casual gaming

Tips and picks

• Tip of the week: Understand where AI works and where AI is just a marketing term used to hype something that doesn't work
• App pick of the week: Tiny11 Builder
• RunAs Radio this week: AI for DBAs with Grant Fritchey
• Brown liquor pick of the week: Redbreast Dream Casks

These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/956

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Sponsors:

• framer.com/design promo code WW
• auraframes.com/ink
• ventionteams.com/twit
• cachefly.com/twit

Just when you thought DNS cache poisoning was a thing of the past, Steve and Leo reveal why this 17-year-old bug is making a dramatic comeback—and why most DNS resolvers still can't manage high-quality random numbers after all this time.

• The unsuspected sucking power of a Linux-based robot vacuum.
• Russia to follow China's vulnerability reporting laws.
• A pair of Scattered Spider UK teen hackers arrested.
• Facebook,Instagram and TikTok violating the EU's DSA.
• Microsoft Teams bringing user WiFi tracking bypolicy.
• You backed up. That's great. Did you test that backup?
• Coveware reports all-time lowransomware payment rate.
• Ransomware negotiator reports how the bad guys get in.
• Lots of listener thoughts and feedback about NIST passwords.
• And against all reason and begging credulity, it seems we still haven't managed to put high-quality random number generators into our DNS resolvers.

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1049-Notes.pdf

Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now.

You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page.

For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve's site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6.

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:

• hoxhunt.com/securitynow
• zapier.com/securitynow
• 1password.com/securitynow
• veeam.com
• zscaler.com/security

Apple held a special developer event for immersive media experiences last week, and some of MacBreak's own were there! Did Apple reduced production levels for its iPhone Air? Apple crosses the $4 trillion market cap. And what's going on with Apple's lawsuit against Jon Prosser?

• Apple holds special developer event touting immersive media experiences for Vision Pro.
• Samsung takes on Apple's Vision Pro with new Galaxy XR headset.
• Apple iPhone Air cuts mean very little in October 2025.
• iPhone Air production cut orders may not be true.
• The UK CMA says it will label Apple and Google as having "strategic market status", imposing stricter rules on how they run their platforms to boost competition.
• US judge decertifies Apple app store class action.
• Apple crosses $4 trillion market cap for the first time.
• Apple begins shipping American-made AI servers from Texas.
• Apple says Jon Prosser 'has not indicated' when he may respond to lawsuit.
• Apple readies new framework to let iPhone users migrate app data to and from Android.
• iPhone 18 Pro could gain satellite 5G as SpaceX chases Apple partnership.
• Apple seeds iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1 release candidates.

Picks of the Week

• Alex's Pick: Blackmagic Camera
• Leo's Picks: Adobe's Project Indigo & Casio's G-Shock Nano DWN-5600
• Andy's Pick: Susan Kare's Prints
• Jason's Pick: Daft Music

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell

Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly.

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:

• auraframes.com/ink
• zapier.com/macbreak
• outsystems.com/twit
• cachefly.com/twit