It's now confirmed that there'll be no Windows 12 this year. Instead, the company's "next version of Windows" will officially be called Windows 11 24H2. It's also an open secret that Microsoft will introduce a lot of AI features in the update, which might include Microsoft's own version of DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) to make games sharper.

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures From Dune 2 in February to Sonic 3 in December, and everything else in between. Continue reading…

New York City shrouded in wildfire smoke on Wednesday, June 7th, 2023. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Air quality in the US is projected to backslide in the coming decades, landing back where it was in the mid-2000s as a result of climate change, according to a new report. The report comes with an online tool for users to zoom in on individual properties to see what kind of air quality residents might experience there in the future. It paints a picture of a changing landscape for regulators, who are going to have to adapt to evolving threats.“Air quality really highlights how the changing climate is being felt by individuals.”A hotter planet sets the stage for more wildfire smoke and supercharges the chemical reactions that lead to smog. That means the game is changing when it comes to how to prevent pollution in the future. After... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After weeks of rumors of Xbox exclusives coming to PS5 and Nintendo Switch, Microsoft is now planning to discuss its vision for the future of Xbox at an event later this week. Microsoft’s Xbox business update event will take place on Thursday, February 15th at 12PM PT / 3PM ET.Weeks of rumors suggest that Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, and even Bethesda titles like Starfield and Indiana Jones could appear on non-Xbox platforms. Microsoft hasn’t addressed these rumors directly, but Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer didn’t dismiss them last week. “We’re listening and we hear you,” said Spencer, before announcing the Xbox business update event. Please join us for a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast.Hear from Phil Spencer, Sarah... Continue reading…

Photo by Ashish Vaishnav/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Microsoft appears to be readying its own DLSS-like AI upscaling feature for PC games. X user PhantomOcean3 discovered the feature inside the latest test versions of Windows 11 over the weekend, with Microsoft describing its automatic super resolution as a way to “use AI to make supported games play more smoothly with enhanced details.”That sounds a lot like Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology, which uses AI to upscale games and improve frame rates and image quality. AMD and Intel also offer their own variants, with FSR and XeSS both growing in popularity in recent PC game releases. Screenshot by Tom Warren / The Verge A new AI super resolution feature has been discovered in Windows 11 test... Continue reading…

Building a PC has its ups and downs. There's the excitement of ordering new parts and assembling your new rig, but you also have to deal with perfect cable management and, often, some starting troubles. But, the actual hardware we use to build our PCs has mostly stayed the same over the years — until now.

Image: Microsoft With rumors of some Xbox games coming to PS5 and Switch, Microsoft gets ready to lay out its vision for the future of Xbox. Continue reading…

Illustration by William Joel / The Verge The US government has committed $42 million to further the development of the 5G Open RAN (O-RAN) standard that would allow wireless providers to mix and match cellular hardware and software, opening up a bigger market for third-party equipment that’s cheaper and interoperable. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) grant would establish a Dallas O-RAN testing center to prove the standard’s viability as a way to head off Huawei’s steady cruise toward a global cellular network hardware monopoly. Verizon global network and technology president Joe Russo promoted the funding as a way to achieve “faster innovation in an open environment.” To achieve the standard’s goals, AT&T vice president of RAN technology R... Continue reading…

Working with multiple apps simultaneously can be time-consuming and inconvenient at times. Thankfully, Microsoft offers several ways to organize apps on the desktop. The software giant has already delivered a robust multitasking experience on Windows 10, and with Snap assist on Windows 11, Microsoft took it to the next level. Whether you work on a laptop, or monitor or have a multi-screen setup, here’s how to use split screen on Windows.

Google’s first foldable is intriguing, but it was hard to recommend before today’s discount. | Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge When it first launched, we felt the Google Pixel Fold was a little too expensive ($1,800, whew) compared to other foldables at the time, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and its sequel, which had the same starting cost. If you’ve been waiting for a price drop to experience Google’s infantile take on the form factor, however, today is the day to unfold your wallet. Right now, you can buy an unlocked Pixel Fold with 256GB of storage for $1,399 ($400 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the Google Store, which matches the lowest price we’ve seen.We love the Fold’s potential and we’re elated to know Google now has a firm stake in building fold-friendly features into Android’s core. We’re hoping that will eventually convince third-party developers... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge Threads is rolling out a new test in the US that shows a list of popular topics that other users are discussing, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a post on Threads. The list will appear on the search page and in the For You feed, allowing you to browse through posts about a particular topic.In addition to testing a way to save posts, Meta recently said it will add controls to limit political content recommendations on Threads.Instagram head Adam Mosseri says Threads uses machine learning AI systems to determine what goes on the list. It takes into account how many people are talking about a certain topic, as well as how many people have interacted with posts about it. Image: Meta Top topics should hopefully... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge Were you aware that the “.af” domain extension is administered by Afghanistan’s government? That’s a truth that the “queer.af” Mastodon instance is now reckoning with as the Taliban, which has controlled the country since 2021, has shut down the domain, according to 404 Media. And it may not be alone, given reports that other .af domains have abruptly gone dark, too.Erin Shepherd, the administrator of the instance and key ActivityPub developer, told the outlet they were already planning “to shut things down” instead of renewing in April, but that the early termination was a surprise. An email from the Afghanistan Ministry of Communications and IT that Shepherd posted said that the queer.af domain had been suspended and that websites or... Continue reading…