On September 30, Microsoft is widely expected to give the world its first official look at Windows 9.
To this point, rumors indicate that Windows 9 will likely include a revamped version of the Start menu, a version of Microsoft’s Cortana voice assistant, and a reworked Windows Update which may give you the ability to download brand new versions of Windows straight from the utility.
Related: Windows 9 news, rumors, leaks, screenshots, more
On top of that, Windows 9 may ditch the Charms menu, though leaked screenshots of what appears to be Windows 9 tell us that Charms may just get integrated directly into Metro apps via a menu at the top of each program. Plus, you may be able to disable the Start screen altogether, allowing you to bypass the tiled (and often reviled) Metro UI that debuted with Windows 8.
Also, one rumor claims that Windows 9 may be offered as a free upgrade to people who currently use Windows XP, Vista, and 7. Interestingly, when that rumor surfaced, Windows 8/8.1 users were not mentioned as possible recipients of this free upgrade.
Assuming that most or all of these rumors are accurate, we couldn’t help but wonder how many people would be willing to make the switch over to Windows 9. Would all the tweaks and additions be enough create a mass exodus, or are most people simply content with prior versions of Windows?
Related: How to survive the end of Windows XP support
That’s where you come in. We’re running a poll that’s asking this very question, which you’ll find below. To cast your vote, just click on the statement that you agree with. Once Windows 9 gets its official coming out party on September 30, we’ll run a similar poll to see if the information contained in Microsoft’s upcoming presentation swayed people one way or another.
Scroll through any app for five minutes, and you’ll find someone maxxing something. Their skin, their sleep, their protein intake, even their Friday night on the couch. That little suffix has been everywhere this year, and now it has a trophy to show for it. In a recent announcement, Dictionary.com named maxxing its 2026 Word of the Year.
What are people actually doing when they’re maxxing?
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?