Microsoft’s next Xbox, coming 2028, envisions hybrid computing

Microsoft’s new disc-less Xbox Series X is far from the only news that just leaked out of the FTC v. Microsoft case. The documents may also reveal Microsoft’s far future plans for 2028 — by which the company believed it could achieve “full convergence” of its cloud gaming platform and physical hardware to deliver “cloud hybrid games.” “Our vision: develop a next generation hybrid game platform capable of leveraging the combined power of the client and cloud to deliver deeper immersion and entirely new classes of game experiences.” Image: FTC v. Microsoft documents“Our vision: develop a next generation hybrid game platform capable of leveraging the combined power of the client and cloud”Those are the words…

Anthony Woods
United States

I stopped using Claude for coding, but now I can’t live without it for everything else

Up until recently, Claude was only spoken about in hushed tones in developer communities. It was the quiet favorite of people who lived in their terminals, and the biggest reason for that was just how good Anthropic's models were at coding. To everyone else, Claude was either invisible or vaguely...

John Doe
New York

You don’t need a 4K monitor to make DLSS 4.5 worth it

I totally understand why many people think enabling DLSS makes the most sense on a 4K monitor. At native 4K, you're almost always GPU-bound even if you have a flagship card like the RTX 5090, so DLSS is a great way to avoid paying the performance tax that comes with...

Aleksi Laine
Finland

ChatGPT finally got the memory transparency feature it needed — it still isn’t enough to beat Claude

Every time OpenAI releases a new model for ChatGPT, the buzz it generates makes me think I may be missing out if I don't switch. The latest update is GPT-5.5 Instant, and it's the default model for all ChatGPT users. It's paired with an upgraded memory system that shows you...

Arnold Jenkins
United Kingdom

I self-host my PC game library with Moonlight instead of paying for a second PC or GeForce Now

Nothing ever quite beats couch gaming. That's why I often prefer playing on my PS5 Pro sitting under the TV. However, a problem that kept nagging me over and over again was that most of the experiences I wanted simply lived on my desktop PC instead. High ray-tracing, path tracing,...

Michael Johnson
Chicago

Volvo teases a new affordable EV to replace discontinued EX30

Volvo's compact, quirky EX30 had a lot of problems when it was first released. Tariffs essentially erased its affordability, making it more expensive to own, and a battery recall made it dangerous to park indoors. But its discontinuation didn't spell the end of Volvo's efforts to sell more affordable electric...

William Garcia
Boston

PlayStation exclusives aren’t coming to PC anymore

Sony reportedly won't release its major single-player PlayStation games on PC anymore. According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Hermen Hulst, who heads up PlayStation's studios business, informed employees in a town hall on Monday about the change in strategy. Schreier had previously reported on the shift in March, saying that Sony...

Olivia Miller
Seattle

This Altoids tin ESP32 computer comes with a keyboard, and yes, it runs DOOM

Did you know that there's an entire scene around stuffing chips into an Altoids tin and making it do all sorts of things? We've seen it before with the Raspberry Pi, where someone even created a Kickstarter to help get an Altoid tin console up and running. There's something about...

Sophia Wilson
Atlanta

I stopped using motherboard audio after one cheap USB DAC solved every problem I had

For years, I treated motherboard audio as one of those PC features that simply existed in the background. As long as sound came through my headphones and my microphone worked well enough for Discord calls, I never paid much attention to the audio side of my setup. I spent more...

Aléxis Nunes
Brazil

These 5 simple habits make my PC feel much faster

Over time, Windows PCs start to feel slow. It happens to most of us, and we automatically assume this is linked to hardware limitations. But more often than not, Windows system slowdowns are due to neglect and bad usage habits. Over the years, I have made simple changes to my...

Emily Brown
Houston

Your SSD has built-in maintenance tools that Windows keeps hidden from you

Modern-day SSDs are fast enough for most of us to not really think about their upkeep every day. Back when SSD technology was new, everyone treated their SSDs like fragile glass, sharing notes and advice on how to prolong the life of their drive by any means unnecessary.

Jane Smith
Los Angeles

Microsoft has spent six months turning Windows Terminal into a rival to Warp, and it’s working

For the last few years, Warp has largely dominated the modern terminal space. The command blocks, AI command generation, agentic mode, Warp Drive, and other QoL features all made it a popular choice, and when Warp arrived natively on Windows early last year, it made the default Windows Terminal look...