GoKawiil
Tech News
Following a directive from the Trump administration discouraging use of the term 'artificial intelligence,' executives at major tech companies including Nvidia and Microsoft have been adjusting their language in public remarks, sometimes correcting themselves mid-sentence. The shift reflects an effort by firms to align their messaging with the administration's preferred terminology while still describing the same technology.
Several Canadian regions, including parts of British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba, stopped observing daylight saving changes on November 1, locking into fixed UTC offsets. Microsoft has confirmed that Outlook, Power Automate, Fabric and SharePoint On-Prem have not fully adapted, producing incorrect meeting times and requiring manual fixes from users and administrators.
OpenAI consumer product lead Adam Fry said at a Monday press event that ChatGPT's search query volume has reached roughly 20 percent of Google's. Fry defined a search as any query triggering a web search, excluding simple definitions or how-to answers, and did not disclose the source of the Google comparison figure.
Microsoft's new Xbox Nano controller, launching tomorrow, includes an unannounced feature allowing it to pair directly with Xbox Cloud Gaming servers over Wi-Fi via the Xbox mobile app, bypassing a console or PC. The capability is currently being privately tested on Microsoft's new Xbox Cloud Gaming website.
Microsoft released a Windows 11 update that it says makes the OS up to 20 percent more responsive and multitasking up to 40 percent faster on PCs with 8GB of RAM, according to Windows chief Pavan Davuluri. The gains come largely from improved memory compression, letting Windows keep up to 2GB more active data in RAM rather than offloading it to slower disk storage, alongside memory-saving changes to Edge, widgets, and Microsoft 365 apps that Davuluri says cut committed-memory growth by up to 900MB.
Microsoft has released the Xbox Nano, its smallest controller yet at just over 5 inches long and 101 grams, aimed at children and people with smaller hands. The controller shrinks the ABXY buttons, thumbsticks, triggers and bumpers compared with a standard Xbox controller, while keeping the D-pad and center Xbox button the same size.
AI strategist Peter Gostev sparked discussion by declaring presentation software dead, pointing to AI tools like Anthropic's Claude Design that generate interactive web-based decks from a prompt, exportable as HTML or PowerPoint files. Microsoft counters by embedding AI editing features directly into PowerPoint, reporting a 36% jump in new-user retention, while some business owners and coaches are already building presentations as websites using AI coding tools.
After certain Canadian provinces stopped observing daylight-saving time changes on November 1, Microsoft confirmed widespread time-zone bugs across Outlook, Power Automate, Fabric, SharePoint and Power Pages. Fixes range from manual calendar updates in Outlook to workarounds that have users select unrelated time zones like Saskatchewan, Arizona or Bogota in Power Automate and Fabric, with some permanent fixes not expected until mid-November or December.
Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 11 version 26H2, released September 29, 2026, is now rolling out to all eligible devices running 24H2, 25H2 or compatible hardware. The upgrade also remains free for up-to-date Windows 10 systems enrolled in extended support, though earlier Windows 10 versions no longer qualify.
Microsoft's newly released Digital Defense Report warns that government agencies are prime targets for AI-driven cyberattacks. The report does not mention that many of these attacks have exploited vulnerabilities in Microsoft's own software.
Helen Chiang, who left Microsoft as Xbox's chief operating officer less than two weeks after her July promotion, published a LinkedIn post denying she was fired for policy violations, leaking confidential information, or joining a rival. She also denied allegations of discrimination, bullying, harassment, insider trading, embezzlement or fraud, while confirming she was terminated.
Apple is due to release its quarterly financial results today, following a rocky week of earnings from major tech companies. Google and Amazon both disappointed investors last week, triggering a broad sell-off in tech stocks, while Microsoft was a notable exception that satisfied Wall Street.