Microsoft News Roundup: Windows 12 and Windows 11 hidden themes, the RX 7900 XT, and more
With so much news coming out every week, it’s easy to miss some stories. That’s why we’re here to bring together the biggest trends and topics in the Microsoft and Windows worlds. Over the past seven days, we’ve seen hidden themes revealed in Windows 11, Microsoft discussed the future of HoloLens, and AMD launched its new flagship graphics cards.
If you prefer to hear the latest news discussed in more detail, be sure to check out The latest episode of the Windows Central Podcast.
Windows 12 Wish List
While no official information has been revealed about Windows 12, or whatever Microsoft decides to call its next version of Windows, our senior editor Zac Bowden has compiled a wish list of what he’d like to see in the operating system.
Microsoft is known to be working hard on the next version of Windows. It is currently codenamed ‘Next Valley’ and has a target release date of 2024. But it is in the early stages of the operating system currently, we could see many changes before Microsoft ships the major update to Windows.
For now, you’d better take a look at what Bowden asked for, such as a better lock screen and scalable functionality.
Hidden themes in Windows 11
Windows 11 2022 Update has many new features and improvements for PCs when it was introduced earlier this year. But this week, our Senior Editor, Zach Bowden, highlighted a bunch of hidden, previously undiscovered desktop themes. Themes were originally intended for Windows 11 SE but can be set on any Windows 11 PC.
Twitter user PhantomOcean3 was the first to discover the wallpapers.
Fun fact: Windows 11 22H2+ includes Education Topics, intended for students using school machines. You can enable them using regedit: 1. Open it and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device2. Create a key in the terminal, name it education (cont) pic.twitter.com/t9OB3qVqiHDecember 11, 2022
AMD RX 7900 XT and XTX launched
New flagship graphics cards from AMD shipped this week. Although finding the RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX in stock proved challenging, the GPUs became publicly available.
The XT and XTS are the first GPUs to have a microchip design similar to AMD’s Zen-based Ryzen CPUs. The cards’ RDNA 3 architecture improves performance by more than 54% over the previous generation, according to AMD.
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT and 7900 XTX cost $899 and $999, respectively, at least when found at MSRP. We have a directory with regularly updated retail listings of cards to help you find a GPU in stock.
HoloLens 3 is coming
Two HoloLens stories appeared this week. A flurry of updates for HoloLens 2 fully integrated Microsoft Teams with an augmented reality headset. Users can now view shared content, chat, and better guide people through operations through augmented reality. Microsoft has also highlighted success in the industry, such as Toyota’s use of HoloLens 2.
Perhaps even more interesting to the general public is the fact that Microsoft publicly discussed the next version of HoloLens this week. The company’s vision for augmented reality has been in question for some time, especially after the departure of Alex Kipman. Microsoft’s vice president of mixed reality, Scott Evans, said the company will ship a new version of the HoloLens when the time is right.
The VP made it clear that the next version of the HoloLens should be a “meaningful update,” not just a small spec bump.
Tour review
Our expert team stays up to date with the latest gadgets, games, and more. This week, we looked at the Logitech G Cloud, Geekom Mini IT8, and a handful of other devices.
#Microsoft #News #Roundup #Windows #Windows #hidden #themes