AI is democratizing the making of things, from bespoke/custom apps to websites, designs of all kinds, and everything else you might imagine. It's a new world, and it's time to create. Plus, Helium is a new Chromium-based web browser that's completely open source, lightweight, secure, and private. There's a native version for Windows 11 on Arm, too. Also, Firefox 150 arrives with over 270 security fixes!

Windows 11

Reports of a Recall security vulnerability are, once again, bogus, Microsoft says
New builds on all channels, still on the old system
Xbox Mode is now available in all channels
Release Preview shows us the May Patch Tuesday updates: Xbox Mode, File Explorer improvements, Haptic improvements, Drop Tray renaming, Agents on the Taskbar
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x - Snapdragon X2 Elite, 14-inch display impressions
Lenovo IdeaPad 5x - Snapdragon X2 Plus, 15.3-inch display impressions

Microsoft 365, Surface, more

OneDrive now supports Markdown natively
New Surface PCs with Intel chips coming soon
Microsoft is making changes to its Rewards program

AI

GitHub Copilot moves to token-based billing in a sign of the true cost of AI
Claude Design democratizes visual design on the heels of Claude Opus 4.7
OpenAI Codex moves into productivity
OpenAI releases ChatGPT Images 2.0
Chrome AI Mode gets a big update
Mozilla announces Thunderbolt, sovereign AI for businesses
Google brings vibe coding to Android apps with Android CLI

Xbox and gaming

Microsoft drops Xbox Game Pass prices (!), but also drops Call of Duty from Day One
Plus, Xbox teases a Game Pass Discord perk
More Game Pass titles for April: Kiln, Vampire Crawlers, more
Xbox April Update is here with that Quick Resume feature we all want
There's an ID@Xbox event on April 23 to highlight indie games
Xbox is selling Forza Horizon 6 limited edition controller and headsets
Starfield is coming to the Nintendo Switch 2
A Call of Duty movie will finally arrive in 2028
Try out the Modern Warfare remake on Game Pass, it's a reminder of COD's gritty past
PS5 Digital is down to its $399 launch price temporarily

Tips and picks

Tip of the week: Just make it
App pick of the week: Helium
RunAs Radio this week: The Life and Death of Microsoft Deployment Toolkit with Michael Niehaus
Brown liquor pick of the week: Ned Australian Whisky

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

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WW 980: Running Outta Tolkiens - Hands-On With 2 Snapdragon X2 Laptops!

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