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Nvidia is launching RTX Spark laptops on October 16th, its first major push into Arm-powered Windows PCs since the ill-fated Surface RT. The company says these machines will run existing Windows software including Adobe, Office, Blender, and games with kernel-level anti-cheat, alongside local AI workstation capabilities with up to 128GB of RAM.
Canonical has released Ubuntu 26.10, codenamed Stonking Stingray, built on the Ubuntu 26.04 LTS base. The update adds Rust-based coreutils, post-quantum-ready package signing, TPM-backed full-disk encryption, Linux kernel 7.3, GNOME 51, RISC-V desktop images, and a new opt-in local speech-to-text feature called Myna. Companion flavors including Kubuntu, Lubuntu, and Xubuntu are also launching today, each with nine months of maintenance support.
A Washington Post list shows six major tech firms — Apple, Nvidia, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta — contributed a combined $92 million toward construction of a White House ballroom. Apple and Nvidia each gave $25 million, Google gave $22 million, Microsoft and Palantir each gave $10 million, and Amazon and Meta gave $5 million apiece. Overall, tech and crypto industry donors reportedly provided more than $150 million to the project.
Microsoft's October 2026 Patch Tuesday update addressed 1,413 security vulnerabilities, the highest monthly total the company has ever released and more than it patched in any entire previous year. Windows accounted for 1,102 of the fixes, with Office, SharePoint Server, SQL Server, and developer tools making up the rest. The release also closed three actively exploited or publicly known zero-day flaws affecting Windows Shell, .NET Framework, and MessagePack-CSharp.
Microsoft has released a redesigned Photos app for Windows 11 that merges photos and videos from a user's PC, OneDrive, and iCloud into one gallery, requiring OneDrive Camera Backup and iCloud for Windows to be set up. The update also rebuilds the editor with four new tool categories—Crop, Enhance, Repair, and Stylize—and speeds up app launch, scrolling, and image viewing, while adding support for HDR preservation, HEIC/WebP editing, and SVG files. The update is rolling out now to Windows Insiders, with a broader release planned later this year.
Microsoft says months of fixes to Windows 11 have made the OS up to 20 percent more responsive, with improvements to Start, File Explorer, Search, Edge and memory management. The company says PCs with 8GB of RAM or less can now keep up to 2GB more active data in memory, and Widgets now load on demand to free over 200MB of memory. Microsoft also cited less disruptive Windows Update behavior, faster Windows Hello sign-in, quicker Bluetooth/AirPods pairing, and a new taskbar repositioning option.
Microsoft confirmed that Windows Server 2022 passed its mainstream support deadline on October 13, 2026, with the October update being the last mainstream security release. The OS now moves into extended support, which provides free monthly security updates through October 14, 2031. Microsoft also extended hotpatching for Datacenter: Azure Edition systems until October 2027.
The makers of multiplayer game Big Walk announced they deliberately excluded an Xbox release as part of a boycott targeting Microsoft, citing the company's involvement with Israel. The developers said they are following the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement's designation of Microsoft and Xbox as boycott targets, and will not bring the game to the platform until that designation is lifted.
Microsoft has fixed a known issue that caused black screens, delayed desktop loading, and Windows Explorer crashes following updates released since August, mainly on Azure Virtual Desktop hosts using FSLogix. The fix shipped in this month's Patch Tuesday cumulative updates dated October 13, 2026, with Microsoft urging affected users to install the latest update.
Microsoft has launched a public preview extending Defender for Endpoint to Linux desktop distributions including Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and RHEL, not just servers. The expanded offering includes antivirus, endpoint detection and response, vulnerability management, threat hunting, and device isolation, using the same deployment methods as server onboarding. Access requires a Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 or Microsoft 365 E5/E7 subscription.
Microsoft has released the Xbox Nano controller, its smallest ever at just over 5 inches long and 3.5 ounces, making it lighter and more compact than most smartphones. The controller retains all 18 standard gameplay inputs and a customizable Action Button, and supports both Xbox Wireless and Bluetooth connectivity via a rechargeable battery. It costs $50 and is available for preorder in the US now, with other markets like the UK, Canada and Australia getting it in November.
Microsoft Threat Intelligence and its Digital Crimes Unit disclosed a Chinese-language phishing ecosystem built around a marketplace called Yam Store, tracked as Storm-3119. The operation sold phishing kits and infrastructure, including repurposed Microsoft and Google domains, and since January has sent over one billion phishing emails and texts to more than 75,000 organizations worldwide. Microsoft and Resecurity identified three kits used in the campaigns—CoGUI, Haozi/Phoenix, and Iron Man System—linked to developers tracked as Storm-2990.