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Turtle Beach’s Stealth Pivot attempts something audacious: a single Xbox‑licensed controller that physically transforms between a traditional pad and a compact 2D/fighting layout, and in doing so it forces a serious rethink about what a premium Xbox controller can — and should — offer to modern players. Background / Overview The Stealth Pivot launched as a direct heir to the modular ambitions we saw from Victrix and later PDP, but with Turtle Beach’s own spin: rotating “pivot” modules on...

Microsoft’s simple advice — use Storage Sense — is both practical and timely: Windows includes built‑in tools that will reclaim disk space, avoid “disk full” errors, and reduce the need for third‑party cleaners or a full reinstall, but only if users configure those features thoughtfully and respect the limits of what they touch. The recommendation to rely on Storage Sense and other native utilities is grounded in Microsoft’s own documentation and the community testing that followed, yet it...

Microsoft has quietly removed the online CD metadata lookup that generations of Windows users have taken for granted, leaving both the classic Windows Media Player (Legacy) and the modern Media Player app in Windows 11 unable to auto-populate album titles, track names, artwork, composer credits, or genre when an audio CD is inserted. Background / Overview For decades, one of the small but powerful conveniences on desktop Windows was automatic CD metadata lookup: insert a disc, and the player...

It’s 2026 and the practical tech playbook for independent financial advisors has shifted from “what’s possible” to “what to adopt and how to govern it.” A recent Globe and Mail roundup of seven practical categories — from AI copilots to meeting assistants, portals, planning engines, schedulers, integrated CRMs and documentation tools — captures the choices advisors face as they try to reclaim time and scale service while preserving compliance and client trust. Overview: why 2026 is a tipping...

Microsoft’s lightweight mobile scanner, Microsoft Lens (formerly Office Lens), has been formally retired and its core scanning functionality consolidated into OneDrive and the Microsoft 365 Copilot family — a phased shutdown that imposes firm deadlines for users and IT teams who rely on Lens for local, offline, or accessibility-focused capture workflows. Background / Overview Microsoft Lens launched as Office Lens and for more than a decade became one of the simplest, most reliable ways to...

PayPal and Microsoft have quietly collapsed discovery, decision and payment into a single conversational lane: Copilot Checkout lets U.S. shoppers find products, open a branded in‑chat checkout, and complete payment without leaving the Copilot interface — with PayPal powering inventory surfacing, branded and guest checkout, and card payments starting on Copilot.com. Background Microsoft unveiled Copilot Checkout as part of a broader retail and “agentic commerce” push that turns AI assistants...

Samsung’s PC browser beta has just taken a meaningful step toward tighter credential protection: the latest Samsung Internet for PC beta (version 29.0.0.148) now requires Windows sign‑in verification before Samsung Pass will reveal saved credentials, forcing local Windows authentication — PIN, fingerprint, facial recognition or other Windows Hello methods — as an additional gate to users’ passwords and autofill data. Background Samsung Internet has long been a core part of Samsung’s software...

Acer’s latest Veriton family pushes the company further into the “AI-first” PC era with a compact new mini workstation that markets itself as a Windows 11 Copilot+ PC and a trio of business-focused All‑in‑One and tower systems that aim to balance AI performance, security, and sustainability for offices and creatives. The headline product—the Acer Veriton RA100 AI Mini Workstation—pairs AMD’s Ryzen™ AI Max+ 395 APU with an unusually high memory ceiling in a tiny chassis and is positioned to...

Lenovo’s new Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition arrived at CES 2026 promising a lot more than a brighter screen: Lenovo says the 16‑inch creator laptop pairs a staggering 1,600‑nit tandem OLED with Panther Lake Core Ultra silicon, an optional NVIDIA RTX 5070 mobile GPU, and a redesigned thermal system that—according to early hands‑on testing—can keep fan noise down to about 20 dB in Quiet mode under load. The combination of an ultra‑bright PureSight Pro Tandem OLED, a six‑speaker Dolby Atmos array...

Microsoft’s latest Insider preview lands as a targeted, practical release: Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7535 (delivered as KB5072046) expands Copilot’s accessibility reach by integrating Copilot-powered image descriptions into Narrator across more devices, and it gives IT administrators a cautious but supported way to uninstall the consumer Copilot app on managed endpoints via a new Group Policy—while also adding a developer option for Cross‑Device Resume and a handful of modest UI...

Microsoft’s Copilot Checkout launch and a high-profile insider sale at Etsy have collided in recent days to produce a new, more complex narrative about Etsy’s place in an evolving AI-driven commerce ecosystem—one that shifts questions from pure product differentiation to distribution, merchant economics, and leadership optics. Background / Overview Microsoft unveiled Copilot Checkout on January 8, 2026, positioning Copilot as more than an assistant: it’s now a transactional surface where...

Pax8 closed 2025 with a clear push to convert partner momentum into agentic opportunity across EMEA — expanding its footprint into Ireland, Switzerland and Denmark, opening local offices in Dublin and Zurich, and rolling out new AI-focused programs and commercial tooling aimed at turning traditional MSPs into Managed Intelligence Providers (MIPs). Background Pax8 has built its reputation as a cloud commerce marketplace that packages software procurement, billing, and enablement for managed...

Hanshow’s announcement at NRF 2026 that it is partnering with Microsoft to “explore the future framework of Store Digital Twin” signals a practical step toward a new, measurable phase of retail digital transformation—one that stitches in-store sensing, edge intelligence, and cloud-based digital twin platforms into a single operating fabric for physical stores. Background / Overview Retailers have entered a moment where physical complexity and digital expectation collide: shoppers want...

NVIDIA’s June 29, 2023 GeForce Game Ready Driver 536.40 is a fully WHQL‑certified package that explicitly lists the GeForce GTX 745 among its supported GeForce 700‑series cards for Windows 10 (64‑bit) and Windows 11 systems, making it a legitimate, vendor‑approved option for owners of that card who need an up‑to‑date driver. Background The GeForce GTX 745 is an OEM card built on NVIDIA’s Maxwell (GM107) silicon. It shipped as a low‑power, single‑slot option with a 55 W TDP, 384 CUDA cores...

A newly published proof‑of‑concept (PoC) called EDRStartupHinder demonstrates a local, pre‑boot startup technique that can prevent antivirus and EDR agents from initializing on Windows 11 25H2 by abusing the platform’s Bindlink API and the interaction between DLL loading and Protected Process Light (PPL) policies. The tool — released on January 11, 2026 — creates a malicious service that runs before security services, uses bind links to redirect critical System32 DLLs to attacker-controlled...

Amazon Prime Video subscribers are reporting rising frustration: higher prices, more ads, confusing rental paywalls — and now a fresh surge of complaints about the Prime Video Windows app crashing repeatedly on laptops and desktop PCs, leaving viewers who prefer a PC-based experience stuck, rebooting, or switching to the browser instead. Background Prime Video’s service model changed dramatically beginning in 2024 when Amazon began rolling limited advertisements into Prime Video content and...

Microsoft just opened a narrow window for Windows Insiders—and warned that delaying action could mean a time-consuming clean install later to undo the change. Background: what Microsoft announced and why it matters On January 9, 2026 Microsoft published Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26220.7535 (KB5072046) to the Dev and Beta channels and included a clear operational reminder for the Insider community: while the Dev and Beta channels are temporarily aligned on the same 25H2 build, Insiders...

Linux Mint's latest 22.3 "Zena" refresh lands with a focused set of desktop and system refinements that make the distribution an even more attractive option for Windows users looking for a familiar, low-friction switch — while also delivering meaningful under-the-hood modernizations and new troubleshooting tools. The headline change is Cinnamon 6.6, which brings a redesigned application menu, improved input and on-screen keyboard handling, and a suite of small but important usability...

Microsoft’s latest in‑product push to keep Windows users from installing Google Chrome is no longer subtle: Edge now interrupts the Chrome download flow with targeted pop‑ups, comparison cards and even Microsoft Rewards incentives designed to persuade users to “try” or stay with Microsoft Edge instead of switching browsers. These messages — tested in Windows 11 and visible in certain Edge/Bing sessions — present Edge as both a performance‑efficient and more secure choice, tout exclusive...

Windows 11 machines failing to download or install the July cumulative packages — notably KB5028185 and the related .NET cumulative KB5028851 — have frustrated users with stalled downloads, repeated rollbacks and cryptic error codes for months. The problem has two overlapping faces: routine update failures caused by corrupted or blocked update components on an affected PC, and a separate distribution-side quirk tied to outdated installation media and legacy file‑manager endpoints that can...