In late 2016, Microsoft announced a partnership with companies like Acer to bring Windows Mixed Reality to a broader audience. On Wednesday at the Game Developers Conference, Microsoft delivered on that promise, announcing that Windows Mixed Reality devkits will start shipping later in March.
The headsets will be among the first to deliver built-in inside-out tracking, so you won’t need to set up any lighthouses or external sensors. Microsoft claims that it will provide a plug-and-play setup forgoing any complicated calibration issues, but that will remain to be seen.
“When we begin the phased rollout of the developer kits this month, the kits will include the Acer headset, along with documentation and access to Windows 10 Insider preview builds, and the software development kit to enable developers to build mixed reality applications,” wrote Alex Kipman, a Microsoft technical fellow.
In the same way that Asus, Acer, Dell, etc., produce Windows 10 laptops, Microsoft likely hopes getting the headsets out to developers first will kickstart mixed reality support. It is a different slightly different tack than VR headset manufacturers Oculus and HTC have taken with their own products.
“We’re also excited to share that Windows Mixed Reality experiences will light up on other devices over time, beyond desktop and Microsoft HoloLens. Our plan is to bring mixed reality content to the Xbox One family of devices, including Project Scorpio in 2018,” Kipman continued.
The first step in that plan? The Acer mixed reality headset, which Microsoft detailed at GDC on Wednesday. Not only will it feature built-in inside-out tracking, but two high-resolution LCD screens at 1,440 × 1,440, capable of a native 90Hz refresh rate.
It’s exciting news for anyone interested in augmented reality or mixed reality; these new headsets follow Microsoft’s well-established strategy for inspiring and working with other companies to get Windows products in as many hands as possible.
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).