If you’re a fan of anime, you’re likely applauding Microsoft for its latest promotional efforts. Microsoft’s Japanese offices have unveiled the company’s mascot for Windows 10, the latest operating system set to debut this summer. The mascot is an anime-stylized image of a blue-haired woman in a miniskirt, according to WindowsCentral.
The young woman, who is currently nameless, will have her own campaign in June. You’ll be able to offer your opinion on what her name should be. Thus far, we know that she is 17 years old and comes from 100 years in the future. She works at the gadget-heavy Tokyo neighborhood of Akihabara, and in terms of hobbies, she loves gaming (of course). Her attire gives her a schoolgirl-like appearance located on the corner of chic and cute.
Voiceover Actress Ai Nonaka is slated to provide the blue-haired girl with a voice of her own. If you enter the public campaign to name the mascot, which begins on June 19, you’ll be eligible for a series of prizes. Five Grand Prizes will be autographed by Nonaka herself.
While this may seem a little odd in Western culture, it’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time that Microsoft has used this type of advertising in Japan. The company had similar mascots for Windows 7, 8 and Internet Explorer.
Nanami Madobe, a similar-looking blue-haired schoolgirl, was the mascot for Windows 7, and she was given her own video, according to The Verge. Two different characters were used to promote Windows 8 and RT, both of them being schoolgirls (Madobe Yu and Madobe Ai). And a blond-haired anime girl named Inori Aizawa was introduced to promote Internet Explorer. Microsoft gave Inori her own Facebook page, video, website, and a series of wallpapers.
Throughout the past decade, there have been more than 10 separate anime characters created to raise awareness of Microsoft’s products. The latest creation for Windows 10 shows that the practice won’t be slowing down any time soon.
ASUS has started selling its UGen Intel Arc Pro B70 graphics card in Europe, bringing its take on Intel’s workstation GPU to customers with a hefty €1,799 recommended price. The card is available in Germany and Austria, while ASUS lists it at CHF 1,799 in Switzerland.
Intel first introduced the Arc Pro B70 in March 2026, with its own branded model starting at $949. ASUS’s version arrives several months later with the same core GPU architecture but a different cooling design and a higher power rating. The price also places it well above Intel’s original starting point, although the two prices are not directly comparable because ASUS’s European figure includes VAT.
Anthropic has officially filed to go public, and buried inside its S-1 is a blunt warning about the technology at the center of its business. The maker of Claude AI says advanced AI could cause everything from large-scale cyberattacks and geopolitical instability to catastrophic or even existential risks for humanity.
The warnings take up a surprisingly large part of the filing. Axios notes that more than 90 pages, or roughly a third of the prospectus, focus on risk factors. Many of them warn about what could happen as AI systems become more capable and autonomous.
AI giants have a growing autonomy problem on their hands. A new Axios report has revealed that Anthropic's Claude recently accessed publicly available Georgia vote count without human authorization, sparking fresh concerns about AI security ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.