Table of contents for July 2019 in Tech Advisor

Remember the Windows 10 April 2019 Update? Microsoft has now officially dubbed it the Windows 10 May 2019 Update. Also codenamed ‘19H1’, or version 1903, it will begin deploying to all PCs in late May, on a day that hasn’t yet been determined. But there’s something brand new: the update will specifically call out the feature release, and allow users to delay it – and any update, including security patches – for up to 35 days. Even better, Windows won’t decide when to install updates – you will, with an exception or two. “We will provide notification that an update is available and recommended based on our data, but it will be largely up to the user to initiate when the update occurs,” Michael Fortin, the Microsoft corporate vice president…

Now that the upcoming USB4 spec promises to “adopt the Thunderbolt 3 protocol”, some hope it means an end to our international nightmare of USB confusion. You know, the one where there are: TwodifferentconnectorsUSB-A or USB-C Four different active specs: USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and USB 3.1 Gen 1 and Gen 2 ScarceThunderbolt3support despite using the same form factor as USB-C An upcoming USB 3.2 spec that precedes USB4 and introduces yet more confusion through clumsy rebranding More likely, even when USB4 is fully implemented around 2021, confusion will linger. You can’t blame the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) and the USB Promoter Group (USB-PG) either, tempting though it is. They are organizing groups that ratify standards and help certify hardware. With literally tens of thousands of vendors making…

Aside from bringing its Xbox games over to the PC, the Game Bar is arguably the best gesture Microsoft’s made to Windows 10 gamers. It adds a tiny bit of console-esque simplicity to the PC, letting you take screenshots, record video (as pictured above), or stream games with simple system-level shortcuts. But...I never use it. It’s my third-tier preference for screenshots and video, after the tools built into Steam and Nvidia’s Shadowplay. Microsoft is looking to move up in the world though, and it’s doing so by adding a lot more functionality over the next few months – most of it unique to Game Bar. In fact, Game Bar isn’t a fitting name anymore. Game Overlay might be more appropriate, albeit less elegant. Swiss Army Knife Starting today, Windows Xbox…

Nvidia’s GeForce RTX GPU for laptops has arrived, hot on the heels of its announcement at CES. Unfortunately, all the hand-wringing and chest-beating that surrounded the original GeForce RTX has followed. It may magnify further with the newest GeForce RTX laptop GPUs, as detractors look for more evidence that Nvidia’s pursuit of a hybrid ray tracing future is the wrong path. While it’s far too early to pass any judgment on GeForce RTX in laptops, we can at least walk you through the reasons you may actually want to buy a GeForce RTX-based laptop – or not. Reasons to buy a GeForce RTX laptop Put on your green T-shirt and queue up the ray tracing demos so you can rub your friends’ faces in them. Yes, if you’re a fan…

Right on schedule, the first Android Q Developer Preview has arrived, and there’s a lot to unpack. As with the past few releases, there aren’t a tonne of user-facing features just yet – those will likely be reserved for Google I/O and the Pixel 4 launch in September. Nonetheless, the changelog is still filled with plenty of interesting tweaks and additions that will make your phone better than ever once the operating system lands in late summer. The biggest change is one that most people won’t get to enjoy for years to come. Google already previewed its new folding interface with Samsung’s ultra-expensive Galaxy Fold, but now it’s making those new app actions – such as pause, resume, and resizing when opening a screen – available to all developers in…

It’s safe to say that going into this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC), Google’s keynote was the most anticipated on the schedule. Rumours had flown for weeks, though calling them “rumours” is perhaps underselling it. We knew Google was working on streaming games to the Chrome browser, after last year’s Project Stream tests, and it was clear we’d see more about those ideas at GDC. It’s called Stadia, and already the old box-under-the-TV paradigm feels outdated. Meet Google Stadia: Streaming games anywhere “Building a game platform for everyone.” That’s the tag line Google went with during its presentation. You have a desktop? A laptop? A phone? Then you have Stadia. It’s that easy. This is the future that game streaming allows. No, seriously: Google showed it to us. An onstage…

Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 is a technically amazing device. In a matter of minutes, it was comfortably strapped to my head, my eyes were scanned, and a small hummingbird was fluttering in front of my face and ‘landing’ on my hand. Then I looked to the right, and the hummingbird disappeared. Microsoft made a big deal of HoloLens’s two-fold increase in field of vision (FOV) over the original version’s, but it’s still small enough where I was very aware of the edges of the frame. It might look and feel like a VR headset, but it doesn’t behave like one at all. It’s not really anything like the augmented reality (AR) apps on your phone, either. But it’s definitely a bridge to something better in the not-so-distant future. That potential is…