Apple hasn't iterated on its Vision Pro hardware since launching it in early 2024 for $3,499, opting instead to refine the headset with a steady stream of software updates. But Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that a new version of the Vision Pro could arrive "as early as this year," with a replacement for the 3-year-old Apple M2 chip and a more comfortable strap.

Gurman says that the updated Vision Pro would ship with Apple's M4 processor, which launched in the iPad Pro last year and has since found its way into new MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, a new iMac, and a redesigned Mac mini.

Our tests in Apple's other devices (and publicly available benchmark databases like Geekbench's) show the M4 offering roughly 50 percent better multicore CPU performance and 20 or 25 percent better graphics performance than the M2—respectable increases for a device like the Vision Pro that needs to draw high-resolution images with as little latency as possible. Improvements to the chip's video encoding and decoding hardware and image signal processor should also provide small-but-noticeable improvements to the headset's passthrough video feed.

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In the summer of 2024, corporate anti-malware provider CrowdStrike pushed a broken update to millions of PCs and servers running some version of Microsoft's Windows software, taking down systems that both companies and consumers relied on for air travel, payments, emergency services, and their morning coffee. It was a huge outage, and it caused days and weeks of pain as the world's permanently beleaguered IT workers brought systems back online, in some cases touching each affected PC individually to remove the bad update and get the systems back up and running.

The outage was ultimately CrowdStrike's fault, and in the aftermath of the incident, the company promised a long list of process improvements to keep a bad update like that from going out again. But because the outage affected Windows systems, Microsoft often had shared and sometimes even top billing in mainstream news coverage—another in a string of security-related embarrassments that prompted CEO Satya Nadella and other executives to promise that the company would refocus its efforts on improving the security of its products.

The CrowdStrike crash was possible partly due to how anti-malware software works in Windows. Security vendors and their AV products generally have access to the Windows kernel, the cornerstone of the operating system that sits between your hardware and most user applications. But most user applications don't have kernel access specifically because a buggy app (or one hijacked by malware) with kernel access can bring the entire system down rather than just affecting the app. The bad CrowdStrike update was bad mostly because it was being loaded so early in Windows' boot process that many systems couldn't check for and download CrowdStrike's fix before they crashed.

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Last fall, Microsoft announced that individuals who wanted to keep using Windows 10 past its official end-of-support date could do so by opting into the company's Extended Security Update (ESU) program at a cost of $30 per PC. That payment would get users a single year of additional security updates. Today, less than four months before that October 14, 2025, cutoff, Microsoft is announcing additional options for people who can't or don't want to pay that fee.

Individuals who want to pay $30 for the additional year of updates will still be able to do so. But Microsoft will also extend a year of additional Windows 10 security updates to any users who opt into Windows Backup, a relatively recent Windows 10 and Windows 11 app that backs up some settings and files using a Microsoft account. Users can also opt into ESU updates by spending 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, which are handed out for everything from making purchases with your Microsoft account to doing Bing searches.

These offers don't formally extend the end-of-support date for Windows 10. But for users who don't want to move to Windows 11 or who can't do so because their PC doesn't meet the requirements, they do effectively offer an additional year of free updates for the OS that's still installed on a slim majority of the world’s Windows PCs, according to Statcounter data.

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As with any operating system that ushers in a major new look and feel, this year's Apple operating systems and their new Liquid Glass aesthetic will likely merit some extra attention from power users who want to see all the new stuff and developers who suddenly need to acclimate to a new design language. Apple put out one early beta build of all of its new operating systems after its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote a couple of weeks ago—these updates are the first to standardize on year-based version numbering, making them all version 26—and today the company has formally released the second developer betas of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and most of its other updates.

For those who don't normally dabble in Apple's beta programs, the company offers two tracks: a developer beta and a public beta. The developer beta builds are offered earlier but tend to be buggier and less stable, and they change more from release to release. The public betas, which typically hit in mid- to late-July, are usually roughly the same code as the third or fourth developer beta and represent a nearer-to-final, more stable experience. Once the public betas begin, both developer and public beta builds are usually updated more or less in lockstep, though the developer betas are still usually available slightly earlier.

Apple used to gate its developer betas behind a $99-per-year developer program paywall. While app developers who want to distribute apps on Apple's App Stores still need to pay that fee, two years ago Apple began making developer betas available to anyone who signed up for a free developer account.

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"What's this purple laptop? It's cool."

Over a decade-plus of doing gadget reviews and review-adjacent things, my wife (and, lately, my 5-year-old) have mostly stopped commenting on the ever-shifting selection of laptops I have in my bag or lying around the house at any given time. Maybe she can't tell them apart, or maybe she just figures there isn't that much to say about whatever black or silver metal slab I'm carrying around. Either way, they practically never elicit any kind of response, unless there are just too many of them sitting out in too many places.

But she did ask about the Framework Laptop 12, the third and latest major design in Framework's slowly expanding lineup of modular, repairable, upgradeable laptops. With its five two-toned color options and sturdy plastic exterior, it's definitely more approachable and friendly-looking than the Laptop 13 or Laptop 16, both metal slabs with a somewhat less-finished and prototype-y look to them. But it retains the features that a certain kind of PC geek likes about Framework's other laptops—user-customizable and swappable ports, an easy-to-open design, first-class Linux support, and the promise of future upgrades that improve its performance and other specs.

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One weakness of Valve's Steam Deck gaming handheld and SteamOS is that, by default, they will only run Windows games from Steam that are supported by the platform's Proton compatibility layer (plus the subset of games that run natively on Linux). It's possible to install alternative game stores, and Proton's compatibility is generally impressive, but SteamOS still isn't a true drop-in replacement for Windows.

Microsoft and Asus' co-developed ROG Xbox Ally is trying to offer PC gamers a more comprehensive compatibility solution that also preserves a SteamOS-like handheld UI by putting a new Xbox-branded user interface on top of traditional Windows. And while this interface will roll out to the ROG Xbox Ally first, Microsoft told The Verge that the interface would come to other Ally handhelds next and that something "similar" would be "rolling out to other Windows handhelds starting next year."

Bringing a Steam Deck-style handheld-optimized user interface to Windows is something Microsoft has been experimenting with internally since at least 2022, when employees at an internal hackathon identified most of Windows' handheld deficiencies in a slide deck about a proposed "Windows Handheld Mode."

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The Nintendo Switch 2 is launching with a handful of new games, but for many of the people getting one this week, the main thing to play on it is software made for the original Switch.

We’ve known for months that the Switch 2 would maintain backward compatibility with the vast majority of Switch games, but one major question was whether the Switch 2’s improved hardware would benefit older Switch games in some way. Especially in recent years, first- and third-party Switch games have struggled with the original system’s aging Nvidia chipset, which was already a bit dated when the system came out in 2017.

After a day or so of testing various Switch games on the Switch 2, we can report firsthand that Switch games can look dramatically better on the new system. For games that Nintendo has taken the trouble to update—those with Switch 2 upgrade packs and those with free updates—players can expect higher resolutions, better frame rates, less texture and character pop-in, and smoother animations all around. Even games that haven’t been updated for the Switch 2 can run a bit more consistently on the new systems, though games without Switch 2-specific updates don’t improve as much as games with updates.

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Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off on Monday with the company's standard keynote presentation—a combination of PR about how great Apple and its existing products are and a first look at the next-generation versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and the company's other operating systems.

Reporting before the keynote rarely captures everything that Apple has planned at its presentations, but the reliable information we've seen so far is that Apple will keep the focus on its software this year rather than using the keynote to demo splashy new hardware like the Vision Pro and Apple Silicon Mac Pro, which the company introduced at WWDC a couple years back.

If you haven't been keeping track, here are a few of the things that are most likely to happen when the pre-recorded announcement videos start rolling next week.

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When it comes to Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5060 graphics card, the GPU itself is less interesting than the storm Nvidia stirred up by trying to earn it better reviews. If you don’t follow the twists and turns of graphics card launch metanarratives, allow me to recap the company's behavior for you.

Though the RTX 5060 launched on May 19, Nvidia and its partners were uncharacteristically slow to ship graphics cards to reviewers. For outlets that received pre-launch hardware, Nvidia didn’t provide the pre-launch drivers that it usually sends out so that reviewers could run their own tests on the cards, informing reviewers on a call that drivers would be available to them and the public on the 19th.

Except! Nvidia did offer advance drivers to a handful of publications on the condition that they run a few benchmarks that had been pre-selected by Nvidia and that they only report numbers from tests performed with the 50-series new DLSS Multi-Frame Generation (MFG) setting enabled.

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We've been covering the small, reversible USB Type-C connector since the days when it was just a USB Implementers Forum tech demo, and in the decade-plus since then, the port has gradually taken over the world. It quietly migrated from laptops to game consoles, to PC accessories, to Android phones, to e-readers, and to iPhones. Despite some hiccups and shortcomings, we're considerably closer to a single connector that does everything than we were a decade ago.

But some confusion persists. A weakness built into the USB-C from the very beginning was that the specification for the physical connector was always separate from the specifications for the USB Power Delivery specification for charging, the USB-C Alt Mode specification for carrying non-USB signals like DisplayPort or HDMI, and for the USB protocol itself (that is, the data transfer speed a given port is capable of).

All of these specifications were frequently grouped together so that individual USB-C ports could handle charging, display output, and data transfers (or some combination of all three at once), but they weren't required to go together, so occasionally users will still run into physical USB-C ports that fall short of the port's do-everything promise.

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Late on Friday, Amazon announced that it was canceling its TV adaptation of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, after several uncomfortable weeks of silence that followed the show’s third season finale.

Fans of the series can take some cold comfort in the fact that it apparently wasn’t an easy decision to make. But as we speculated in our write-up of what ended up being the show’s series finale, an expensive show with a huge cast, tons of complicated costuming and effects, and extensive location shooting only makes mathematical sense if it’s a megahit, and The Wheel of Time was never a megahit.

Adapting the unadaptable

I was sad about the cancellation announcement because I believe this season was the one where the show found its footing, both as an adaptation of a complex book series and as a fun TV show in its own right. But I wasn't surprised by it. The only thing I found surprising was that it took this long to happen.

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For the last three months or so, I've been learning to use (and love) a Bambu Labs A1 3D printer, a big, loud machine that sits on my desk and turns pictures on my computer screen into real-world objects.

In the first part of my series about diving into the wild world of 3D printers, I covered what I'd learned about the different types of 3D printers, some useful settings in the Bambu Studio app (which should also be broadly useful to know about no matter what printer you use), and some initial, magical-feeling successes in downloading files that I turned into useful physical items using a few feet of plastic filament and a couple hours of time.

For this second part, I'm focusing on what I learned when I embarked on my first major project—printing upgrade parts for the A1 with the A1. It was here that I made some of my first big 3D printing mistakes, mistakes that prompted me to read up on the different kinds of 3D printer filament, what each type of filament is good for, and which types the A1 is (and is not) good at handling as an un-enclosed, bed-slinging printer.

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By late 2021, major updates for Windows' built-in Notepad text editor had been so rare for so long that a gentle redesign and a handful of new settings were rated as a major update. New updates have become much more common since then, but like the rest of Windows, recent additions have been overwhelmingly weighted in the direction of generative AI.

In November, Microsoft began testing an update that allowed users to rewrite or summarize text in Notepad using generative AI. Another preview update today takes it one step further, allowing you to write AI-generated text from scratch with basic instructions (the feature is called Write, to differentiate it from the earlier Rewrite).

Like Rewrite and Summarize, Write requires users to be signed into a Microsoft Account, because using it requires you to use your monthly allotment of Microsoft's AI credits. Per this support page, users without a paid Microsoft 365 subscription get 15 credits per month. Subscribers with Personal and Family subscriptions get 60 credits per month instead.

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For a couple of years now, I've been trying to find an excuse to buy a decent 3D printer.

Friends and fellow Ars staffers who had them would gush about them at every opportunity, talking about how useful they can be and how much can be printed once you get used to the idea of being able to create real, tangible objects with a little time and a few bucks' worth of plastic filament.

But I could never quite imagine myself using one consistently enough to buy one. Then, this past Christmas, my wife forced the issue by getting me a Bambu Lab A1 as a present.

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When Nintendo took the wraps off the Switch 2 in early April, it announced that around a dozen first-party Switch games would be getting free updates that would add some Switch 2-specific benefits to older games running on the new console. We could safely assume that these updates wouldn't be as extensive as the $10 and $20 paid upgrade packs for games like Breath of the Wild or Kirby and the Forgotten Land, but Nintendo's page didn't initially provide any game-specific details.

Earlier this week, Nintendo updated its support page with more game-by-game details about what players of these older games can expect on the new hardware. The baseline improvement for most games is "improved image quality" and optimizations for the Switch 2's built-in display, but others include support for GameShare multiplayer, support for the new Joy-Cons' mouse controls, support for HDR TVs, and other tweaks.

The most significant of the announced updates are frame rate improvements for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the main-series Pokémon games released in late 2022. Most latter-day Switch games suffered from frame rate dips here and there, as newer games outstripped the capabilities of a low-power tablet processor that had already been a couple of years old when the Switch launched in 2017. But the Pokémon performance problems were so pervasive and widely commented-upon that Nintendo released a rare apology promising to improve the game post-release. Subsequent patches helped somewhat but could never deliver a consistently smooth frame rate; perhaps new hardware will finally deliver what software patches couldn't.

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Microsoft has continued to design, manufacture, and sell new Surface hardware since longtime team leader Panos Panay left the company for Amazon in late 2023, including both Intel- and Qualcomm-powered Surface Pro tablets and Surface Laptops. New smaller versions of both of these mainstays were introduced just a couple of weeks ago.

But the weirder, more unique parts of the Surface lineup have been mostly neglected since Panay's departure. Late last year, Microsoft discontinued the Surface Studio all-in-one desktop, which was never updated consistently and started at a whopping $4,300. But it provided one of the few alternatives to the basic "monitor with a computer inside it" all-in-one design template. Now, The Verge reports that Microsoft stopped manufacturing the Surface Laptop Studio 2 earlier this month and that the PC will disappear after current retail stock is sold.

Microsoft reportedly plans to officially announce the end-of-life status of the Laptop Studio 2 in June. The company will support the Laptop Studio with driver and firmware updates as necessary through at least October of 2029, in accordance with its six-year support lifecycle for Surface hardware.

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When Microsoft announced new Surface devices earlier this week, we noted that there wasn't a lot of daylight between the starting prices of the new but lower-end devices ($799 for the 12-inch Surface Pro, $899 for the 13-inch Surface Laptop) and the starting prices of the older-but-higher-end Surfaces from last spring ($999 for both).

It appears Microsoft has quietly solved this problem by discontinuing the 256GB versions of the 13.8-inch Surface Laptop 7 and the 13-inch Surface Pro 11. Microsoft's retail pages for both devices list only 512GB and 1TB configurations, with regular prices starting at $1,199. Though not technically a price hike—the 512GB versions of both devices also cost $1,199 before—it does amount to an effective price increase for last year's Surface hardware, especially given that both devices have user-replaceable storage that can easily be upgraded for less than the $200 that Microsoft charged for the 256GB-to-512GB upgrade.

The upshot is that the new Surface PCs make more sense now than they did on Tuesday in relative terms, but it's only because you'll pay more to buy a Surface Pro 11 or Surface Laptop 7 than you would before. The 15-inch version of the Surface Laptop 7 still lists a 256GB configuration and a $1,299 starting price, but the 256GB models are currently out of stock.

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Last week, a federal judge ruled that Apple was in "willful violation" of a court injunction that required the company to refrain from "anticompetitive conduct and anticompetitive pricing" in its tightly controlled iOS App Store. Part of the ongoing litigation between Epic Games and Apple, the injunction specifically forbade Apple from "denying developers the ability to communicate with, and direct purchasers to, other purchasing mechanisms."

Following the ruling, Apple said it would comply with the court's injunction while the company continued to appeal the decision. The day after the ruling was handed down, Apple altered several of its App Review Guidelines to grant developers permission to do things they hadn't been allowed to do before. As summarized in an email to developers, reported by MacRumors:

3.1.1: Apps on the United States storefront are not prohibited from including buttons, external links, or other calls to action when allowing users to browse NFT collections owned by others.

3.1.1(a): On the United States storefront, there is no prohibition on an app including buttons, external links, or other calls to action, and no entitlement is required to do so.

3.1.3: The prohibition on encouraging users to use a purchasing method other than in-app purchase does not apply on the United States storefront.

3.1.3(a): The External Link Account entitlement is not required for apps on the United States storefront to include buttons, external links, or other calls to action.

We're already beginning to see new versions of apps that take advantage of these changes. Case in point: Amazon's Kindle app for iPhones and iPads, which from its original launch in 2009 up until yesterday wouldn't actually let anyone buy books in the app. Users instead needed to navigate on their own to Amazon's store in Safari or on their PC and Mac and buy the books they wanted, at which point the books would be available in the Kindle app.

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Nvidia will release the GeForce RTX 5060 on May 19 starting at $299, the company announced via press release today. The new card, a successor to popular past GPUs like the GTX 1060 and RTX 3060, will bring Nvidia's DLSS 4 and Multi Frame-Generation technology to budget-to-mainstream gaming builds—at least, it would if every single GPU launched by any company at any price wasn't instantly selling out these days.

Nvidia announced a May release for the 5060 last month when it released the RTX 5060 Ti for $379 (8GB) and $429 (16GB). Prices for that card so far haven't been as inflated as they have been for the RTX 5070 on up, but the cheapest ones you can currently get are still between $50 and $100 over that MSRP. Unless Nvidia and its partners have made dramatically more RTX 5060 cards than they've made of any other model so far, expect this card to carry a similar pricing premium for a while.

Compared to the RTX 4060, the RTX 5060 adds a few hundred extra CUDA cores and gets a big memory bandwidth increase thanks to the move from GDDR6 to GDDR7. But its utility at higher resolutions will continue to be limited by its 8GB of RAM, which is already becoming a problem for a handful of high-end games at 1440p and 4K.

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Microsoft is releasing a pair of new Surface devices today, both models that undercut last year's Surface Laptop and Surface Pro on price but also take a pretty big step down in specs. One of the devices is a new 12-inch Surface Pro tablet, which we've covered in more detail here. The other is a new 13-inch Surface Laptop, whose specs and price straddle the narrow gap between the current seventh-generation Surface Laptop and the original price of the aging Surface Laptop Go 3.

The new Surface Laptop starts at $899, and preorders open today. It will be available on May 20.

The new laptop shares many specs in common with last year’s entry-level seventh-generation Surface Laptop, including an Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor, 16GB of RAM, and support for Windows 11’s expanded Copilot+ capabilities. It’s also smaller and lighter than the 13.8-inch Surface Laptop. But the CPU has eight cores instead of 10 or 12, the screen is smaller and lower resolution, and you’re more limited in your upgrade options; we’ve outlined the key differences in the table below.

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