Microsoft first revealed Gears of War: E-Day during its Xbox Games Showcase last year, and at today’s showcase it’s now putting a 2026 release window on the latest entry in the sci-fi shooter series. Developed by The Coalition, E-Day will release in a year that marks 20 years since the original Gears of War game debuted on the Xbox 360, and 25 years of Xbox.
E-Day is set 14 years before the first Gears game, and “tells the story of the first Locust emergence on Sera.” It’s being billed as an origin story, and once again stars Marcus Fenix. E-Day is the first title in the series since Gears 5 debuted in 2019.
Last month, Microsoft also announced a Gears of War remaster that also brings the franchise to PlayStation for the first time. Gears of War: Reloaded is launching on August 26th for Xbox Series X / S, PlayStation, and PC for $39.99. The remaster features 4K resolution, 120fps support, and cross-progression and cross-play for all platforms. Gears of War: Reloaded will also have two-player co-op for the campaign and 8-player multiplayer.
Xbox chief Phil Spencer confirmed the E-Day release window during the Xbox Games Showcase earlier today, and also revealed “the next Forza” is coming in 2026 too, as well as “the return of a classic that’s been with us since the beginning.” That classic may well be the Halo CE remaster I wrote about last year.
The Windows-11-powered Xbox Ally devices promise access to "all of the games available on Windows," including "games from Xbox, Game Pass, Battle.net, and other leading PC storefronts [read: Steam, Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Connect, etc]." But instead of having to install and boot up those games through the stock Windows interface, as you often do on handhelds like the original ROG Ally line, all these games will be available through what Microsoft is calling an "aggregated gaming library."
Microsoft promises an "integrated library" can be used to access Windows games across a variety of launchers.
Credit:
Microsoft
A tap of the Xbox button brings up the Game Bar for quick access to many functions and settings.
Credit:
Microsoft
Asus and Microsoft are stressing how that integrated experience can be used with games across multiple different Windows-based launchers, promising "access to games you can't get elsewhere." That could be seen as a subtle dig at SteamOS-powered devices like the Steam Deck, which can have significant trouble with certain titles that don't play well with Steam and/or Linux for one reason or another. Microsoft also highlights how support apps like Discord, Twitch, and downloadable game mods will also be directly available via the Xbox Ally's Windows backbone.
On Thursday, Anthropic unveiled specialized AI models designed for US national security customers. The company released "Claude Gov" models that were built in response to direct feedback from government clients to handle operations such as strategic planning, intelligence analysis, and operational support. The custom models reportedly already serve US national security agencies, with access restricted to those working in classified environments.
The Claude Gov models differ from Anthropic's consumer and enterprise offerings, also called Claude, in several ways. They reportedly handle classified material, "refuse less" when engaging with classified information, and are customized to handle intelligence and defense documents. The models also feature what Anthropic calls "enhanced proficiency" in languages and dialects critical to national security operations.
Anthropic says the new models underwent the same "safety testing" as all Claude models. The company has been pursuing government contracts as it seeks reliable revenue sources, partnering with Palantir and Amazon Web Services in November to sell AI tools to defense customers.
Something strange is going on with Microsoft’s Xbox app on Windows. Over the past few days, the Xbox PC app has started showing Xbox console games inside the library. While you can’t install games like the original Alan Wake for Xbox 360, it shows up if you own it as part of the “My PC Games” list inside the Xbox PC app.
I don’t believe this is a simple bug, but more the result of Microsoft’s plans to more closely combine its Xbox and Windows stores. I wrote about this effort in March, when I revealed in Notepadthat Microsoft is working with Asus on a Project Kennan handheld. “It’s part of a larger effort from Microsoft to unify Windows and Xbox towards a universal library of Xbox and PC games,” I wrote at the time.
This effort also involves enabling Steam and Epic Games Store games to be visible in the Xbox PC app library. Microsoft accidentally revealed mockup images showing Steam games in the Xbox PC library earlier this year, and at the time sources familiar with the company’s plans told me Microsoft was working on an Xbox app update that will show every game you have installed on your PC.
Microsoft has also been working on making the Xbox app the home of PC gaming over the past year, and it has recently started referring to its Xbox PC app as simply “Xbox PC.” This new branding first showed up in Microsoft’s announcement of Gears of War: Reloaded, and a new gameplay trailer for MIO: Memories In Orbit also shows off the Xbox PC branding and logo that we’re going to see whenever Microsoft wants to let PC players know the game is available on its Microsoft Store.
All of these Xbox PC changes and the handheld work means we’re probably close to seeing exactly how Microsoft lists additional games in the Xbox PC app. The big question will be whether Xbox console games will actually be playable on PC, and Microsoft may need to leverage its cloud infrastructure for that unless it has an emulation breakthrough ready to finally make the dream of playing old Xbox games on PC a reality.
OpenAI reaches 3 million paying business users with 50% growth since February, launching new workplace AI tools including connectors and coding agents to compete with Microsoft.Read More
OpenAI‘s Sora was one of the most hyped releases of the AI era, launching in December 2024, nearly 10 months after it was first previewed to awe-struck reactions due to its — at the time, at least — unprecedented level of realism, camera dynamism, and prompt adherence and 60-second long generation clips. However, much of the luster has worn o…Read More
One of Microsoft’s latest AI models can accurately predict air quality, hurricanes, typhoons, and other weather-related phenomena, the company claims. In a paper published in the journal Nature and an accompanying blog post this week, Microsoft detailed Aurora, which the tech giant says can forecast atmospheric events with greater precision and speed than traditional meteorological […]
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.
Earlier this month, Nintendo received a lot of negative attention for an end-user license agreement (EULA) update granting the company the claimed right to render Switch consoles "permanently unusable in whole or in part" for violations such as suspected hacking or piracy. As it turns out, though, Nintendo isn't the only console manufacturer that threatens to remotely brick systems in response to rule violations. And attorneys tell Ars Technica that they're probably well within their legal rights to do so.
Sony's System Software License Agreement on the PS5, for instance, contains the following paragraph of "remedies" it can take for "violations" such as use of modified hardware or pirated software (emphasis added).
If SIE Inc determines that you have violated this Agreement's terms, SIE Inc may itself or may procure the taking of any action to protect its interests such as disabling access to or use of some or all System Software, disabling use of this PS5 system online or offline, termination of your access to PlayStation Network, denial of any warranty, repair or other services provided for your PS5 system, implementation of automatic or mandatory updates or devices intended to discontinue unauthorized use, or reliance on any other remedial efforts as reasonably necessary to prevent the use of modified or unpermitted use of System Software.
The same exact clause appears in the PlayStation 4 EULA as well. The PlayStation 3 EULA was missing the "disabling use... online or offline" clause, but it does still warn that Sony can take steps to "discontinue unauthorized use" or "prevent the use of a modified PS3 system, or any pirated material or equipment."
An outdated Meta AI model was apparently at the center of the Department of Government Efficiency's initial ploy to purge parts of the federal government.
Wired reviewed materials showing that affiliates of Elon Musk's DOGE working in the Office of Personnel Management "tested and used Meta’s Llama 2 model to review and classify responses from federal workers to the infamous 'Fork in the Road' email that was sent across the government in late January."
The "Fork in the Road" memo seemed to copy a memo that Musk sent to Twitter employees, giving federal workers the choice to be "loyal"—and accept the government's return-to-office policy—or else resign. At the time, it was rumored that DOGE was feeding government employee data into AI, and Wired confirmed that records indicate Llama 2 was used to sort through responses and see how many employees had resigned.
Harvey CEO Winston Weinberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Harvey; Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
Harvey committed $150 million to Azure cloud services over two years.
The startup, which builds software for lawyers, has partnered with Microsoft since at least 2024.
Harvey's expansion includes clients like Comcast and Verizon, and new foundation model integrations.
Legaltech startup Harvey has agreed to a two-year, $150 million commitment to use Azure cloud services, according to an internal email seen by Business Insider.
Jay Parikh, who leads Microsoft's new CoreAI unit, included the deal in an internal memo, writing that his unit "announced expanded partnership with Harvey Al with a 2-year $150M MACC and $3.5M unified expansion." Parikh joined Microsoft in October to lead a new engineering group responsible for building its artificial-intelligence tools.
Microsoft declined to comment, and Harvey declined to comment on the agreement.
MACC, or Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment, is an agreement customers make to spend a specific amount on Azure for a period of time, often for a discount.
Harvey, which builds chatbots and agents tailored for legal and professional services, is scaling up and entering the enterprise market. It's adding legal teams at Comcast and Verizon as clients, while developing bespoke workflow software for large law firm customers.
It has raised more than $500 million from investors, including Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and OpenAI Startup Fund, a Harvey spokesperson told BI.
Harvey has closely partnered with Microsoft since at least early 2024. That year, the company deployed its platform on Microsoft Azure, followed by a Word plug-in designed for lawyers.It also introduced a SharePoint integration, allowing users to securely access files from their Microsoft storage system through Harvey's apps.
For years, Harvey, founded in 2022, ran its platformon OpenAI models, primarily because they're hosted in Microsoft's data centers, Harvey CEO Winston Weinberg told BI last month. Law firms handle highly sensitive information and trusted Microsoft to keep it safe, Weinberg said.
"Law firms refused to use anything that wasn't through Azure," Weinberg said. That's now changing, he said, as vendors like Anthropic build the features enterprises require.
Last week, Harvey expanded its use of foundation models to Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude.
Still, Harvey's $150 million Azure deal signals it's not backing away from Microsoft anytime soon. The company's growing cloud footprint suggests that, while other partners are gaining traction with the legaltech start, Azure remains integral to Harvey's growth for now.
Microsoft employees have discovered that any emails they send with the terms "Palestine" or "Gaza" are getting temporarily blocked from being sent to recipients inside and outside the company. The No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA) protest group reports that "dozens of Microsoft workers" have been unable to send emails with the words "'Palestine," "Gaza," and "Genocide" in email subject lines or in the body of a message.
"Words like 'Israel' or 'P4lestine' do not trigger such a block," say NOAA organizers. "NOAA believes this is an attempt by Microsoft to silence worker free speech and is a censorship enacted by Microsoft leadership to discriminate against Palestinian workers and their allies."
Microsoft confirmed to The Verge that it has implemented some form of email changes to reduce "politically focused emails" inside the company.
"Emailing large numbers of employees about any topic not related to work is not appropriate. We have an established forum for employees who have opted in to political issues," says Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw in a statement to The Verge. "Over the past couple of days, a number of politically focused emails have been sent to tens of thousands of e …
Signal is taking proactive steps to ensure Microsoft’s Recall feature can’t screen capture your secured chats, by rolling out a new version of the Signal for Windows 11 client that enables screen security by default. This is the same DRM that blocks users from easily screenshotting a Netflix show on their computer or phone, and using it here could cause problems for people who use accessibility features like screen readers.
While Signal says it’s made the feature easy to disable, under Signal Settings > Privacy > Screen Security, it never should’ve come to this. Developer Joshua Lund writes that operating system vendors like Microsoft “need to ensure that the developers of apps like Signal always have the necessary tools and options at their disposal to reject granting OS-level AI systems access to any sensitive information within their apps.”
Despite delaying Recall twice before finally launching it last month, the “photographic memory” feature doesn’t yet have an API for app developers to opt their users’ sensitive content out of its AI-powered archives. It could be useful for finding emails or chats (including ones in Signal) using whatever you can remember, like a description of a picture you’ve received or a broad conversation topic, but it could also be a massive security and privacy problem.
Lund notes that Microsoft already filters out private or incognito browser window activity by default, and users who have a Copilot Plus PC with Recall can filter out certain apps under the settings, but only if they know how to do that. For now, Lund says that “Signal is using the tools that are available to us even though we recognize that there are many legitimate use cases where someone might need to take a screenshot.”
Artist and musician Brian Eno — who also composed the iconic Windows 95 operating system startup chime — called on Microsoft today to “suspend all services that support any operations that contribute to violations of international law,” saying the company plays a role in “surveillance, violence, and destruction in Palestine.” It’s the latest high-profile instance of the tech giant being pressed on its contracts with the Israeli government.
“I gladly took on the [Windows 95] project as a creative challenge and enjoyed the interaction with my contacts at the company,” Eno wrote on Instagram. “I never would have believed that the same company could one day be implicated in the machinery of oppression and war.”
The musician — who was a member of the influential rock band Roxy Music and has also had a long, storied solo career — specifically called out Microsoft’s contracts with Israel’s Ministry of Defense. Microsoft acknowledged last week that it has contracts with the Israeli government for cloud and AI services, but claimed that an internal review conducted found “no evidence” that its tools were used to “target or harm people” in Gaza.
Microsoft has been taken to task in recent weeks over its business dealings with the Israeli government specifically. The outcry over Microsoft’s contracts relates to Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza following the October 7th, 2023, Hamas attack. Human rights groups, including commissions at the United Nations, have accused Israel of war crimes and genocidal acts in its military operation that has killed thousands; as of this month, the Gaza Health Ministry reported more than 52,000 deaths, though some researchers say that number could be as high as 109,000 people.
Some of Microsoft’s fiercest critics are its own employees opposed to the company’s ties to Israel.
Earlier this week during Microsoft’s developer conference, multiple onstage events were disrupted, including CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote speech on Monday. During the event, Microsoft employee Joe Lopez interrupted Nadella, yelling, “How about you show Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?” The following day, a protester described only as a “Palestinian tech worker” disrupted another executive’s presentation. On Wednesday, protesters disrupted a third session — and in the commotion, Microsoft inadvertently revealed internal messages regarding Walmart’s use of AI.
In April, Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad disrupted a 50th-anniversary event, calling Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman “a war profiteer.” Another employee disrupted a second Microsoft event the same day. The acts of protest were organized by the No Azure for Apartheid group, which calls for Microsoft to terminate contracts with the Israeli government and endorse a permanent ceasefire, among other demands. Aboussad was fired from the company; the second protester, Vaniya Agrawal, was dismissed early after putting in her resignation.
Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Eno, a longtime critic of the Israeli government who’s backed pro-Palestine efforts, said on Instagram he would use his original earnings from the Windows 95 startup chime to help “the victims of the attacks on Gaza.”
Microsoft has quietly launched an updated Spotlight-like launcher app for Windows that provides quick access to commands, apps, and development tools. The software maker originally launched its PowerToys Run launcher for Windows 10 nearly five years ago, and the updated version — Command Palette — now includes search for apps, folders, and files, calculations, system commands, and much more.
Command Palette is available for any Windows user from the PowerToys app, but it looks like Microsoft is now targeting this particular utility at power users and developers. You use Command Palette to access Windows commands or launch command prompts and shell shortcuts. Command Palette also has the ability to quickly open websites, web searches, and search through folders and files like you’d expect from a Spotlight- or -Alfred-like interface.
Microsoft has also moved its previous Window Walker PowerToy into Command Palette so you can easily switch between open windows. The most interesting part about Command Palette is that Microsoft has made it fully customizable thanks to extensions support so you can add additional commands and features beyond what’s available by default.
The PowerToys Command Palette has been available since early April, and you can activate it using the Win+Alt+Space shortcut once it’s installed. Microsoft says “Command Palette is intended to be the successor of PowerToys Run,” but both are still available for now. Microsoft made some tweaks and changes to Command Palette this week ahead of its Build developer conference on May 19th.
Microsoft is going to allow Xbox owners to pin apps and games directly to the Home UI. The latest change to the homescreen section of the Xbox dashboard will be available to Xbox Insiders this week, alongside options to hide system apps, choose the number of apps and games listed, and modify the size of the tiled UI.
You’ll soon be able to pin up to three of your recently played games or apps to the homescreen. “These pins will stay near the front of the list as you launch other things, giving you quick access to your go-to titles,” explains Eden Marie, principal software engineering lead for Xbox experiences.
If you don’t want to see system apps listed on the homescreen, you’ll be able to disable these to focus solely on games and apps. If you really want to take customization a step further, you’ll also soon be able to reduce the number of visible tiles in the recently played games and apps list. Microsoft says it’s “refining this setting” and it’ll be available to Xbox Insiders soon.
Microsoft is making these Xbox Home interface changes because fans have requested more customizability. “We’ve heard from many of you that Home should feel more like your space,” says Marie. “Whether it’s surfacing your favorite games, hiding what you don’t use, or simply making Home feel less crowded, this update is a direct response to that feedback.”
Microsoft previously tested a big overhaul of the Xbox Home UI in 2022, before shipping it broadly to Xbox owners in 2023. The software maker made more room for backgrounds, quick access to games, the store, and settings as part of the UI overhaul.
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.
Apple ranked No. 1 on Kantar BrandZ's annual most valuable global brand report.
Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto
Big Tech dominated Kantar BrandZ's most valuable global brand ranking.
Apple topped the list for the fourth year in a row.
Companies like ChatGPT and Chipotle made their debut.
Try as they might, brands can't take a bite out of Apple.
Kantar BrandZ, a marketing data and analytics company, published its annual ranking of the world's most valuable brands.
The global market has weathered storms in the past, but the volatility caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and shifting consumer expectations over the last five years have rattled the landscape. The ongoing tariff discussions between the United States and other countries have added another layer of uncertainty to the formula. While some companies succumbed to the pressure, others steamrolled ahead.
Topping the list for the fourth year in a row is Apple with a brand value of about$1.3 trillion. That's a 28% increase from 2024, according to Kantar.
After overthrowing Jeff Bezos' Amazon in 2022, the tech giant has continued to dominate the list while Google, Microsoft, and Amazon vie for second, third, and fourth place. Under CEO Tim Cook, Apple has managed to fend off international competitors like China's Huawei and South Korea's Samsung.
Another standout on this year's list is Jensen Huang's Nvidia, which saw its brand value increase 152% from 2024. The chipmaker, which reached a $3 trillion valuation after announcing a deal with a Saudi Arabian tech firm, appeared at No. 5 on the list.
Here is Kantar's top 10 most valuable global brands:
Apple
Google
Microsoft
Amazon
NVIDIA
Facebook
Instagram
McDonald's
Oracle
Visa
Kantar's report also highlighted some "newcomers," brands making their debut on the list.
ChatGPT was the highest-ranking newcomer at No. 60, coming 25 spots ahead of financial service company Stripe and 26 spots ahead of Chipotle.
Martin Guerrieria, head of Kantar BrandZ, said brands need to do more than differentiate themselves from competitors to stay afloat in the global market.
"The dominance of brands like Apple, Instagram, and McDonald's underlines the power of a consistent brand experience that people can relate to and remember," he said. "ChatGPT's dramatic rise shows how a brand can find fame and influence society to the extent that it changes our daily lives. But with generative AI competition accelerating, OpenAI will need to invest in its brand to preserve its first-mover momentum."
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