Featured content

Microsoft has set a firm cutoff for one of its long‑running, quietly useful apps: the Sway Windows desktop client (the Win32 app) will be retired on June 1, 2026, with Microsoft directing all creators and administrators to the Sway web experience at sway.cloud.microsoft as the supported path forward. Background Sway was introduced in 2014 as a web‑first storytelling canvas aimed at producing visually polished, responsive presentations, newsletters, and interactive reports without the design...

Acer’s new Veriton RA100 AI Mini Workstation arrives as a compact, Windows 11 Copilot+ PC built around AMD’s Ryzen™ AI Max+ 395 APU, promising a rare combination of high‑end CPU cores, an integrated RDNA‑class GPU, and a substantial on‑chip NPU intended to accelerate local AI inference and Copilot+ experiences for prosumers, creators, and small teams. Background The PC industry is in the middle of a transition from cloud‑first AI workflows to a hybrid model in which meaningful neural...

Microsoft’s Copilot is no longer just an adviser — it’s becoming a checkout lane, and Stripe has been named as one of the payments engines powering that shift as Microsoft rolls Copilot Checkout into U.S. users’ experiences. The announcement ties together Microsoft’s new agentic commerce direction — which includes branded shopping agents, catalog-enrichment templates and in-chat purchases — with payments and platform partners (Stripe, PayPal and Shopify) that provide the tokenized plumbing...

Microsoft Azure has quietly become the default backbone for enterprise IT, and by 2026 the platform’s role in cloud computing, AI, and hybrid infrastructure is the primary reason demand for Azure skills and services is higher than ever. The shift away from on-premises hardware toward elastic, software-defined infrastructure accelerated through 2023–2025, and Azure’s combination of enterprise integration, hybrid tooling, and a fast-expanding AI stack has turned the service from an IT...

Microsoft’s latest Current Channel update for the Classic Outlook desktop client has broken a common encrypted‑mail workflow for Windows users, leaving certain messages unreadable and forcing administrators and end users into a scramble for workarounds while the Outlook team investigates a permanent fix. Background Classic Outlook for Windows remains a widely used client in enterprises that depend on mature features like S/MIME and Microsoft’s Office Message Encryption (OME). Those...

PayPal is now an in-chat payment lane inside Microsoft Copilot: Copilot Checkout lets users discover, compare and complete purchases without leaving the Copilot experience, with PayPal powering inventory surfacing, branded and guest checkout, and card acceptance at launch on Copilot.com. Background Microsoft revealed Copilot Checkout as part of a broader retail and “agentic commerce” push that folds conversational shopping, catalog tooling and store-ops automation into the Copilot family...

Microsoft has quietly turned Copilot into a direct shopping channel: Copilot Checkout lets users discover and buy products inside Copilot conversations without being redirected to retailer websites, and the feature is rolling out in the United States with support from PayPal, Shopify, Stripe and Etsy as early partners. Background Copilot Checkout is part of a wider industry push to integrate conversational AI with commerce flows so shoppers can move from inspiration to transaction inside a...

Microsoft has set a firm cutoff for the Sway Windows desktop app: the Win32 client will be retired on June 1, 2026, and users will be routed to the web-based Sway at sway.cloud.microsoft for all future access and feature parity. Background / Overview Launched in 2014 as a lightweight, web-first storytelling canvas, Sway sits between slide-based PowerPoint and full-fledged web pages — designed for quick, visual newsletters, interactive reports, and embedded micro-sites. Over the years...

Microsoft’s experiment of running a console-style front end on top of Windows has moved from experiment to strategic roadmap: Microsoft is reportedly preparing “major updates” to the Xbox PC app and the Windows 11 Full Screen Experience (FSE) so the next full-size Xbox can present a TV-optimised, controller-first dashboard while running a full Windows stack underneath. This is a deliberate shift that ties the Xbox console UX to Windows 11’s FSE tooling, leans on Microsoft’s multi-year...

In 2026, programming and developer-focused certifications remain powerful accelerants for landing higher-paying roles across cloud computing, AI/ML, backend and full‑stack engineering, and cybersecurity — but the market has matured: employers now expect demonstrable projects, cloud skills tied to production workflows, and careful vetting of credential availability before you invest time and money. Analytics Insight’s “Top 10” roundup is a useful map of the opportunities, and this feature...

OpenAI has quietly scooped up the three co‑founders of Convogo — a small U.S. startup that built an AI product for executive coaches and HR teams — in an acqui‑hire that will wind down Convogo’s service while bringing the team into OpenAI to work on the company’s AI cloud efforts. Overview The deal brings Convogo’s founding trio — Matt Cooper, Evan Cater, and Mike Gillett — into OpenAI, and reportedly was structured as an all‑stock transaction. Convogo’s product and service will be...

Dell’s reversal on the “AI-first” console and the return of XPS at CES 2026 mark a clear pivot: the company will keep Microsoft’s Copilot+ branding on its hardware where required, but it is refocusing messaging and engineering toward build quality, battery life, displays, and gaming rather than selling machines on the promise of local AI inference alone. Background / Overview The PC industry’s bet on marketing “AI PCs” — machines positioned around on-device neural processors and Copilot+...

TCL’s CES 2026 showcase made one thing plain: the company is moving beyond displays and into an AI-first strategy for smart terminals, pairing hardware innovations with Microsoft cloud and generative-AI services to push multimodal, cross-device experiences into consumer and commercial products. Background / Overview At CES 2026 (January 6–9, Las Vegas), TCL presented a broad portfolio of AI-infused devices: smart displays and TVs, mobile phones and tablets with NXTPAPER screens, wearables...

Microsoft has shifted Copilot from helper to checkout lane: the company unveiled a coordinated suite of agentic AI tools that let conversational assistants not only recommend products but complete purchases, enrich product catalogs, and act as frontline operational aides for stores — starting with a U.S. rollout of Copilot Checkout and a set of Copilot Studio templates for Brand Agents, catalog enrichment, and store operations. Background Microsoft frames this release as part of a larger...

The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 and HD 3470 remain common legacy entries in the laptop and small-form-factor GPU market, but the practical reality for Windows 10 users has narrowed: these cards’ hardware specifications are firmly documented, their driver support has been in a legacy state for years, and trusting third‑party repackages or undocumented driver claims now carries real security and stability risk. Background / Overview The Mobility Radeon HD 5470 and HD 3470 are entry-level...

Scality’s ARTESCA+ Veeam converges backup software and backup storage into a single software appliance, promising faster time-to-protection, a smaller attack surface, and an easier path to immutable, on‑prem S3-compatible backups for branch, edge, and mid‑market sites. The offering bundles a Veeam Backup & Replication instance inside Scality ARTESCA on the same validated x86 host, with a guided assistant that configures S3 buckets, enables Object Lock and versioning, and hands off...

The Fallout crossover is live in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone — and if you want the free Sturmwolf 45 SMG and the premium Ghoul operator as fast as possible, the shortest path is a focused XP sprint that stacks every legitimate multiplier and repeatable objective available. Background / Overview Season 01 Reloaded introduced the Call of Duty x Fallout crossover, bringing Fallout TV-show operators (Lucy, The Ghoul, Maximus), a Vault‑themed Nuketown variant, and an event pass with...

Sad man with empty pockets on a blues poster.

Microsoft has begun turning Copilot from a conversational assistant into a direct checkout lane—rolling out Copilot Checkout in the United States with an ecosystem-first, consent-based approach that stitches product discovery, catalog ingestion, and tokenized payment flows into an in-chat purchase experience. Early partners include PayPal, Shopify and Stripe, and Microsoft is shipping merchant tooling—Brand Agents and Copilot Studio templates—to help retailers present brand-voiced shopping...

Microsoft’s new Copilot Checkout flips a familiar shopping pattern: rather than redirecting a customer from a conversation to a retailer’s site, the purchase completes inside the AI assistant itself, turning discovery and checkout into a single, uninterrupted flow that Microsoft says will help convert intent into transactions faster and with less friction. Background Microsoft unveiled Copilot Checkout at NRF 2026 as part of a broader retail push that bundles conversational shopping, catalog...