Microsoft and Qualcomm have announced the cellular carriers that will supply the network capabilities of their upcoming line of Windows 10 Always Connected PCs. These systems are set to use LTE wireless networks to ensure consistent connectivity, whether or not Wi-Fi is available.
China Telecom will supply LTE connectivity in China, Telecom Italia (TIM) will be responsible in Italy, EE has been picked for the U.K., and the U.S. will be accommodated by Sprint and Verizon, according to a report from On MSFT.
“With the commitment of leading mobile operators worldwide, the Always Connected PC will offer consumers one of the most comprehensive mobile computing experiences, with always-on connectivity of up-to Gigabit LTE speeds and ‘beyond all-day’ battery life packaged into innovative, thin, and light PC designs,” said Don McGuire, Qualcomm’s vice president of global product marketing, in a press release.
These partnerships are set to get underway in the first half of 2018, and will stretch until at least the end of this year. As well as providing network capabilities, some of the carriers will offer hardware to customers via their retail locations.
“The collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies has resulted in a new category for the PC – the Always Connected PC,” said Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Windows and devices, Matt Barlow. “With the support of our mobile operator partners, consumers now have the opportunity to enjoy superfast connectivity over LTE networks at an affordable price, anytime and anywhere.”
Windows 10 Always Connected PCs represent an intriguing new attempt to develop laptops that crib some of the advantages of a smartphone – primarily, the fact that they can be woken quickly and conveniently. Asus, HP, and Lenovo are some of the first manufacturers who are on board with the program.
In recent years, we’ve seen Microsoft attempt to modernize the Windows ecosystem by making apps available via the Windows Store. Combined with the touch interfaces supported by many laptops, this can make for an experience that’s equivalent to a smartphone or a tablet.
However, in some ways traditional laptops are still rather sluggish compared to these devices, and this new range of PCs aims to address that gulf. Rock-solid LTE support will certainly go a long way to ensuring their practicality.
Speech-to-text apps have flooded the App Store, making it easier than ever to type on our Macs with just our voice. I have previously covered one such app called TypeWhisper. However, there has been a dearth of good text-to-speech models, and most of the good ones are locked behind a subscription.
Ollama, an open-source app that lets you run local AI models on your computer, wants to change that. It works on macOS, Windows, and Linux, and your prompts are never stored or used for training.
Did you think hitting delete on your AI chatbot conversation actually makes it disappear? Georgia Tech researchers just proved that's not entirely true. They have built a forensic tool called ORISA that can dig deleted conversations from your phone and even rebuild them into a working chatbot session you can keep talking to.
How can ORISA bring deleted AI conversations back?
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).