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This could be Windows’ M1 moment — but expect it to cost a ton

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang holds up two RTX Spark laptops at Computex 2026

Nvidia's announcement that it's getting into the consumer laptop chip space with RTX Spark is huge. Apple has proved for years that Arm-based chips can perform incredibly well while also delivering great battery life - at least on the Mac. In the Windows world, performance hasn't fully matched up under Qualcomm chips, mostly in the graphics department. There's clearly still untapped potential, and Nvidia seems to be promising to deliver it.

This could be Windows' moment to blow us away with a new generation of supremely capable chips, much like Apple's back in 2020, with the introduction of the M1. But why does this launch feel simultaneous …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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Gemini’s new AI agent is about as good as Google’s demo

Google's new "24/7" AI agent, Gemini Spark, can be shockingly good at doing things on your behalf. But I'm not sure it's worth the financial cost and potential privacy tradeoffs.

The company gave me access to Spark last week. Google advertises Spark as an AI agent that can take on tasks and work on them in the background - even tasks that have multiple steps - allowing you to put your phone down or walk away from your computer. It also advertises at the very top of the Spark website that it's "always under your direction," that "you choose to turn it on," and that "it's designed to check with you before taking major actions." Given the moun …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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Microsoft to unveil new AI models and Windows improvements at Build

Text reads “BUILD” written in blocky, pixelated letters with Microsoft’s brand colors.

Microsoft is heading to San Francisco this week in a bid to win back developers at its Build conference. I've been attending Build since the days when Microsoft called it the Professional Developers Conference, and I can't remember a more pivotal moment. As Microsoft continues to reshuffle its entire business around AI, it's moving Build into a smaller, more intimate venue. Trust in Windows and GitHub is at an all-time low, and this is Microsoft's chance to reconnect with developers and outline the future.

Sources tell me that we'll hear about new AI models in Windows, a new reasoning model from Microsoft AI, and a Copilot "super app." But …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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Xbox and PlayStation have a lot to prove

The Xbox and PlayStation booths facing each other at E3

Things are bad out there.

Despite 2026 shaping up to be a great year when it comes to actual games, it couldn't really be worse for the people that make them or the industry as a whole. Hardware prices keep going up, layoffs have shown no signs of stopping, and even big-budget titles backed by large corporations can feel precarious.

That all makes it a somewhat awkward time for Summer Game Fest, a weeklong spectacle of events that kicks off on Tuesday. Splashy announcements won't do much to stem the negative sentiment around the industry. But given the challenging state of console gaming in particular, both Microsoft and Sony have an oppo …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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Microsoft could be the next Big Tech antitrust target

Microsoft headquarters with FTC seal

Over the past several years, Microsoft has largely managed to withstand populist calls to break up Big Tech while peers faced sweeping lawsuits. But a probe by the Federal Trade Commission suggests that grace period could be nearing an end.

Earlier this year, Bloomberg outlined the contents of civil investigative demands (CIDs) - similar to a subpoena - the FTC sent to at least half a dozen companies that compete with Microsoft. New details obtained by The Verge further reveal the FTC's interests, suggesting the agency is particularly concerned with potentially exclusionary behavior around Microsoft's Azure cloud services, as well as its ro …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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