ID@Xbox has paid indie devs more than $5bn since 2013Program saw over 1,000 games launch last year, including Balatro and PhasmophobiaImage credit: Xbox News by Sophie McEvoy Staff Writer Published on March 19, 2025 Microsoft has revealed it has paid developers in its ID@Xbox program more than $5 billion since it launched in 2013.In a blog post, ID@Xbox director Guy Richards shared that ID@Xbox saw more than 1,000 games launch in 2024 including Balatro, Stalker 2: Heart of Chernobyl, and Phasmophobia.Richards also spoke with GameRant, revealing that ID@Xbox has worked with over 5,000 developers globally and has shipped an estimated 6,000 games since its inception."If you were to ask anybody who was here when we first started the program if we'd be achieving these numbers in 2025, they wouldn't believe it," he said."That is a huge testament to the creativity of independent developers, as well as the willingness of everybody at Xbox to support developers all around the world and find ways to make it easier to bring games into the ecosystem."Of course, it's also a testament to our fans who have the passion to play all these incredible games coming to all of our devices."

I dont remember when I started using Google. Google just is. Its the verb for internet search, it commands 10 times the market share of all its competitors combined, and it is responsible for routing a huge amount of the internets traffic.Almost two years ago, I got out. I signed up for a search engine called Kagi, which charges $10 a month and, in return, promises better search results, no ads, no data collection, and lots of advanced features. Ive tried a lot of search engines and always ended up back with Google the results elsewhere just felt somehow worse. This time, whether its because Kagi is great or Google is declining or both, Ive felt no drop-off whatsoever.Im still using Kagi, and its hard to imagine switching back. Its now Google that looks bizarre and unfamiliar every time I open it. As Google has become more visual, more chaotic, and consistently less good at simply finding the things Im looking for, Kagi has stayed simple and straightforward. It is a page full of links, and theyre usually the right ones.Kagi, as a product, is about three years old, but the company has been around since 2018. It was started by Vladomir Prelovac, who started the company after selling his previous startup to GoDaddy. He tells me he started it precisely because Google is so ubiquitous he found himself wondering, do I want my kids growing up exposed to all these ads and all this data tracking? Hed paid for YouTube Premium, which offered a way to get all the good stuff and none of the ads. And then I thought, why isnt there a search experience like this? he says. When search is a paid product, Prelovac figures, it can be a better one. He doesnt have to worry about engagement in fact, every time you search, it costs him money, so getting you in and out faster is a win for everyone. You pay for information, you get information, he says.Using Kagi feels a lot like using Google a decade ago, and I mean that in a good wayUsing Kagi feels a lot like using Google a decade ago, and I mean that in a good way. You type in a search, and it returns a page full of links. It has image search, video search, maps, news, and even a podcast-specific tab Ive found very useful. Search for something topical, and youll get a few links followed by a side-scrolling carousel of news stories. Search for a person, and Kagi virtually always starts with a short excerpt of their Wikipedia page. In general, I have found Kagis results to be at least as good as any other search engine. This is admittedly hard to quantify, though; its why I waited so long to write this review, to see if Id eventually feel a decrease. I havent. Part of the reason, I suspect, is the search index itself. Kagi has been building its own database for search and for news, and uses that for many searches, but it also calls Google, Bing, WolframAlpha, Wikipedia, and lots of other third-party providers as it looks for information. Thats already a step above most other non-Google search engines, which are just interfaces on top of Bing results, but Kagi also seems to put the pieces together more thoughtfully than most.Kagis index is focused on quality rather than quantity, Prelovac says, which means Kagi is making decisions about what is good and what is bad while Google just crawls everything and hopes for the best. As a result, Kagi seems to be significantly less overrun by SEO junk than Google, and while its default settings are straightforward to the point of being kind of boring a lot of Allrecipes for cooking, a lot of ESPN for sports, a lot of Wikipedia for everything I largely think thats a good trade.When you Google, you almost always get ads. Kagi just shows results. Image: David Pierce / The VergeLet me just offer one example of how the difference in approach plays out in search. Im looking for a new pair of headphones to wear while running (my AirPods are finally starting to die, its all very sad). I search best headphones for running, and on Google, I am confronted with a carousel of sponsored shopping options, a Runners World ad, a Bose ad, a couple of buying guides, some Reddit links, a Best Buy link, a what people are saying carousel that repeats a bunch of the above, an Amazon link, more shopping links, and a bunch of ads. Kagis search results include 14 straight links to various buying guides. Google is filled with one-click answers but hardly any information or context, while Kagi helps me actually browse the internet. There are only two things for which I find myself going back to Google. One is maps: Kagis interface is pretty rough, and Google is just unbeatable on all things local. The second is for really esoteric stuff. Like, if Im searching for an email address that only appears on one webpage anywhere or a statistic from a long-since-deleted blog post that only exists in archived form, the sheer size and scope of Googles search index is simply unbeatable. But that happens once a month, if that. For absolutely everything else, Kagi is enough.Being as good as Google is a big win. Where Kagi starts to separate itself is by giving you a vast set of controls over how the search engine works. You can click next to any search result and select More results from the site to increase how often a given domain will appear; you can select Remove results from this site and stop seeing it altogether. (You can also go to Settings to add which domains you want to see more or less of. Kagi even keeps a public list of the most-blocked and most-raised domains, which is hilarious people do not want Pinterest in their search results. And with two clicks, it can be gone forever.You can flip a toggle in the search results to Small Web and see only results from a hand-curated set of personal blogs, well-liked publishers, and the like. Another toggle searches exclusively in forums, another specifically on programming-centric websites. Kagi calls these Lenses, and you can create your own I set one up that searches for news only on sites I like and subscribe to, which essentially created my own personal Google News. Its great.Lenses let you change where Kagi looks for information or you can create your own filters. Image: David Pierce / The VergeThis kind of customization is so clearly how every search engine should work, and it extends all over the platform. By default, I think Kagis mustard yellow accent design is kind of an eyesore, but there are a couple of theme options, and you can also write your own CSS to change the app in whatever way you want. The whole point, Prelovac tells me every time we talk, is that you should be able to make it whatever you want. Thats what you pay for.You also pay for privacy, which I think Kagi handles well. Both Prelovac and Kagis privacy policy say that Kagi doesnt store data on what you search for or what you click on. To be clear, its not a fully private thing: some of its third-party integrations collect data on your activity, and the app itself has some information about you and your preferences. But at least the search engine isnt watching your searches. Its not a perfect solution, but its better.At the top of some searches, Kagi will show a small prompt for a Quick Answer, which is essentially its version of Googles AI Overviews. Click on it, and youll get a short, AI-powered snippet of information attempting to answer your question, plus a few links. If you pay for Kagis most expensive tier, which is $25 a month, you also get access to the Kagi Assistant, which you can use both like a general-purpose chatbot (with access to ChatGPT, Claude, and more) and to interact more deeply with search results. The $10 monthly plan does get you some AI access: theres a chatbot called FastGPT, which is basically just a dedicated page for Quick Answers, and you can plug any link into its Universal Summarizer to get basic information out. Kagis way of thinking, paired with AI assistants, could be really interesting over time. But right now, thats not what I use it for.Kagi looks kind of like Google, which is a good thing it makes switching easy. Image: David Pierce / The VergeThe simplest way to switch to Kagi is to download the browser extension, which also helps you switch to Kagi as your default search engine. (This is generally very simple on desktop and irritatingly complicated on mobile, but Kagis help docs are a good guide to get you through it.) If youre going to use Kagi, theres nothing to do but go all in you absolutely shouldnt pay for a search engine unless youre going to use it full time. Kagi also has a mobile app and a dedicated browser called Orion, both of which are fine, neither of which I use very often.Paying for search is a tough ask, and $10 a month isnt cheap. (You can try Kagi for free for 100 searches, if you just want to see how it works.) But search is a core part of the online experience, and right now, it feels like search is dying. Google is investing heavily in an AI overhaul of search designed to answer your questions directly and is turning everything into a hyper-visual, shopping-focused, and often just worse experience. Meanwhile, companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Perplexity are building their own AI search products. Search is no longer about actually searching and more about simply trying to do things for you. Efficiency at all costs.I have become increasingly uninterested in having the internet done for me. We live too much of our lives inside of too many algorithms, products with hidden agendas, and platforms with no concern for our best interest or user experience. Thats why I believe in the fediverse, and in RSS readers, and in algorithms. They offer me an internet experience that I am in charge of. It seems to me that a search engine meaning, a way to find things on the internet is a crucial part of that experience. And Kagi is a search engine I control. I give it 10 bucks, and it gives me the internet. I like that trade.See More:

Microsoft is rolling out a new gamepad keyboard for Windows 11 that lets you type with an Xbox controller. It improves the on-screen keyboard in Windows 11 making it a lot easier to navigate with an Xbox controller and type into text fields throughout the operating system.The gamepad keyboard even has shortcuts that are designed for an Xbox controller, including the X button for backspace, the Y button for the spacebar, and the menu button to hit enter. These shortcuts are identical to the ones Microsoft uses in the Xbox dashboard, too.This improvement to typing with an Xbox controller is part of the many changes Microsoft is making to Windows for handheld gaming PCs. Microsoft is working on combining the best parts of Windows and Xbox together, while addressing basic needs like being able to navigate with a controller.Microsoft has also made the Game Bar in Windows more handheld-friendly, thanks to a compact mode for smaller screens. The main Xbox app for PC was also updated with controller improvements last year to make it easier to navigate with just a controller. The gamepad keyboard first went into beta testing in September and is now available in the Release Preview version of Windows 11, meaning it will be available to all Windows 11 users in the coming weeks and to those who opt into the latest non-security updates in a matter of days.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has come to dominate entertainment with its interconnected series of films and TV shows that all tie together to form a long-running, cohesive narrative. Marvel video games, however, do not exist in the same universe, telling stories entirely separate and unrelated to each other. Insomniacs Marvels Spider-Man games, for example, have nothing to do with Eidos-Montreals Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. Similarly, upcoming Marvel games such as Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, Marvel's Wolverine, and Marvels Blade, have no connective tissue.But there was once an idea at Disney to create a Marvel Gaming Universe that would do for Marvel video games what the MCU went on to do for Marvel movies and TV shows. So what happened?Speaking on The Fourth Curtain podcast, host Alexander Seropian and guest Alex Irvine recalled this MGU idea, which both worked on, and revealed why it fell by the wayside.Seropian, perhaps best known as one of the founders of Halo and Destiny developer Bungie, went on to run Disneys video game business before leaving in 2012. Irvine was the long-running writer of Marvel games, most recently working on the world-building, dialogue, and character backstories for smash hit Marvel Rivals.Discussing his prior work on Marvel games, Irvine discussed the scrapped MGU.When I first started working on Marvel games, there was this idea that they were going to create a Marvel gaming universe that was going to exist in the same way that the MCU did, Irvine said. It never really happened.Seropian then explained that the MGU was his initiative, but it never got funded by the higher-ups at Disney.When I was at Disney, that was my initiative, Hey, lets tie these games together. It was pre-MCU, Seropian said. But it didnt get funded.Irvine, who had worked on the iconic Halo alternate reality game (ARG) I Love Bees while at Bungie, went into some detail on how this MGU would have worked.That was so frustrating because we came up with all these great ideas about how to do it, he said.And I was coming out of ARGs at that point and thinking, Wouldnt it be cool if we had some ARG aspects? There would be a place where players could go that all the games touched, and we could move them back and forth from game to game. We could link in comics, we could loop in anything, we could do original stuff. And then, as Alex said, it didnt get funded. So we made a bunch of games.But why did the MGU fail to get the internal buy-in to move forward? Irvine suggested the idea became so complex it ended up putting some people at Disney off.Even back then, we were trying to figure out, If theres going to be this MGU, how is it different from the comics? How is it different from the movies? How are we going to decide if it stays consistent? And I think some of those questions got complex enough that there were people at Disney who didnt really want to deal with them, Irvine explained.Its fun to imagine what might have been had the MGU idea got the funding it needed to become a reality. Perhaps if it had, Insomniacs Spider-Man games would have existed in the same universe as Square Enixs ill-fated Marvel's Avengers and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, with characters from each game making cameo appearances across the titles or the stories all building towards some epic Endgame-style event.Looking ahead, there are questions over Insomniac's Marvel's Wolverine game. Will it be set within the same universe as Marvel's Spider-Man? Could Spider-Man or any other character from those games end up making a cameo in Wolverine in some way?Alas, the MGU goes down as yet another scrapped video game idea. Although, perhaps in another universe somewhere, it is a realityWesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Palworld has a big new update that adds crossplay across all platforms among many other new features.Update v0.5.0 also lets players store Pal data in the Global Palbox and transfer Pals between worlds. A new storage system has 10 times the capacity of the regular Palbox. Not only can guild members access it, but it can be used as a personal storage with private settings.Elsewhere, you can now change your characters appearance without affecting armor stats (transmog), theres a photo mode, blueprint upgrading, and dedicated servers for Mac, among other changes detailed in the patch notes below.Developer Pocketpair said its working on adding dedicated servers for the PlayStation 5 version and will release them at some point in the future.PlayPalworld has had an incredible 32 million players since its early access launch in January 2024. The studio has laid out a content roadmap for Palworld's 2025 that looks fairly lengthy; alongside crossplay, there is an "ending scenario" and more new content on the way for the hugely popular creature-catching survival game.Palworld launched on Steam priced $30 and straight into Game Pass on Xbox and PC a year ago, breaking sales and concurrent player number records in the process. Pocketpair boss Takuro Mizobe has said Palworld's launch was so big that the developer couldnt handle the massive profits the game generated. Still, Pocketpair acted swiftly to capitalize on Palworlds breakout success, signing a deal with Sony to form a new business called Palworld Entertainment thats tasked with expanding the IP, and launching the game on PS5.Looming over all this is a lawsuit from Nintendo and The Pokmon Company, who seek "an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages" on the grounds that Palworld has allegedly infringed on "multiple" patent rights. Pocketpair has provided an update, identifying the patents the studio is allegedly infringing, and it has since tweaked how players summon Pals in Palworld, apparently in response. Pocketpair has vowed to take on Nintendo and The Pokmon Company in court, saying: We will continue to assert our position in this case through future legal proceedings.Palworld update 0.5.0 patch notes:New ContentCrossplay! Cross-play is now available across all platforms.Global Palbox Store Pal data in the Global Palbox and transfer Pals between worlds!Dimensional Pal Storage A new storage system with 10 times the capacity of a regular Palbox! Guild members can access it, and it can also be used as a personal storage with private settings.Cosmetic Armour System! You can now equip armour cosmetically in the Antique Dresser. Change your characters appearance without affecting armour stats!Photo Mode Accessible from the Pal Command Wheel. Hide the UI and move the camera around to take stunning screenshots.Drafting Table Combine low-rarity blueprints to create higher-rarity ones!Dedicated Servers for MacSpecification AdjustmentsBuildings can now be placed even if they overlap with a PalWhen connecting foundations or roofs, the connected pieces will now automatically align in the same directionAssigning an Ice Pal to the Flea Market will slow down item decay in storage and salesAdded torches at the entrances of random dungeons for better visibilityPlayers can now sit on chairs and cushionsSome weapons that dealt ultra-high damage to trees will no longer drop items upon destructionAdded new NPCs and improved NPC behaviour during conversationsBalance AdjustmentsAdjusted elemental chest rewards. Dog Coins will always drop from these chests and they also have a small chance of containing work suitability books. (Existing chests in current worlds will retain old drop tables; new ones will follow the updated table.)Increased EXP gained from defeating the Attack ChopperIncreased the DPS of FlamethrowersAdjusted the default attack used by Electric and Dark Pals when all active skills are on cooldown, making them more in line with the other elementsSome human NPCs now have work suitability and work animations when assigned tasks at a baseSummoned raid bosses can no longer damage other basesAdded Water attribute to DumudNPC event rewards have been adjusted. To maintain fairness, all NPC conversation logs have been reset, allowing players to claim rewards again!UIFavourites have been categorised into Favourite 1, 2, and 3 groupsHolding the +/- button in the Pal Soul Enhancement UI will now continuously increase/decrease valuesAdded a new sorting option for Pal Box: Sort by Work Suitability LevelAdded a "Extra Large" text size optionAdded Fullscreen ModeAchievementsAdded several new achievements Bug FixesFixed an issue where players could get launched into space while climbingFixed a bug where getting stunned by an enemy while riding a flying Pal over water would send the player flying into the skyFixed an issue where commanding a summoned Pal to attack would also target the Black Marketeer and Medal MerchantFixed a bug where Bounty Tokens with identical passive effects did not stack properlyFixed an issue where players would sometimes get launched upward when dismounting AzurmaneFixed an issue on dedicated servers where Pals could get stuck on top of feed boxesFixed an issue where raiding NPCs could attack players through walls if they couldn't reach themFixed a bug on dedicated servers where Bounty Token effects were not applied upon loginFixed an issue where attacking some NPCs did not add to the player's crime levelVarious many other minor bug fixesWesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

No event is more synonymous with the teenage American experience than prom. And the film industry, Satan bless it, has never lost sight of that fact. Prom movies are dime a dozen in the high school subgenre, ranging from the sweet (Never Been Kissed) to the spirited (Footloose) to the downright Shakespearean (10 Things I Hate About You).Not only does prom have a way of heightening the already hormone-saturated high school experience, it has clear winners or losers like any other American institution worth its salt. Getting on that prom court is a must and becoming prom queen is the holy grail. It certainly is for Joan Huang (Shirley Chen), the second-generation Chinese American protagonist of satirical comedy-drama Slanted. In an effort to secure the hallowed crown, Joan undergoes an experimental ethnic modification surgery, coming out the other side as the whiter and more electorally viable Jo Hunt (Mckenna Grace), much to her parents horror.Slanted was the Grand Jury Prize winner in the narrative feature competition at SXSW and one of the best films to come out of the festival this year. Just before the Amy Wang-directed movie conquered Austin, Den of Geek welcomed Wang, Chen, and the rest of the cast to our SXSW studio to discuss their multi-genre crowdpleaser. And, of course, we started with the obvious question.I went to three proms. I snuck into them, star Mckenna Grace says.My prom was during COVID, Amelie Zilber says, explaining her lack of experience in the area despite her characters prom queen bona fides.I was actually prom queen! Chen reveals. Gotta flex on em. Theater prom, queen of the nerds.I didnt go to any proms because I grew up in Australia, Wang says to a rapture of subsequent awwwws from her young cast. Its fine. I got all the prom I need here.Wang indeed has all the prom she needs in Slanted, but the idea for the film arose from tragic real world circumstances. A Chinese Australian filmmaker who grew up in the suburbs of Sydney, Wang was horrified by the uptick in violence against Asians in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic.There had just been a shooting in Atlanta with six Asian American spa workers murdered, she remembers. Later on that day I went out for a walk and it brought back a lot of emotions. Growing up in Sydney, experiencing a lot of racism in my teens, it just made me want to make a movie about this.The subsequent movie she made, while light and breezy as any high school comedy at times, also speaks to the frustrations and insecurities of young racial minorities in the Western world. It certainly spoke to the films star. I grew up in a small town in Washington state where they werent that many Asian Americans, Chen says. I vividly remember lying in bed at night and thinking, Yeah when Im 16 Im going to be blonde and have blue eyes because I didnt understand how any of that worked. Ive grown into being somebody who loves being Chinese and being Asian American and all the community that comes with that. But theres a kernel of that scared and vulnerable girl in me.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!Due to the Slanteds transformational premise, Chen occupies the lead role for only a little over half of the films running time before giving way to Grace as the new Jo. An ascendant young performer with major roles in The Haunting of Hill House, I, Tonya, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Grace worked closely with Chen to establish consistency in their character.It was definitely an interesting breakdown of a character to get. I was like Who? You want me to do what?' Grace says. I could never understand what its like to be this character but I could deeply understand what its like to be a very insecure teenager. I really connected with that when reading it. [Chen and I] came up with a bunch of mannerisms to tie the two characters together. We wanted to make sure it translated.Mckennas an ABG, cant you tell? Chen jokes of her counterpart, before clarifying for a baffled interviewer: Asian Baby Girl!If the concept of two actresses playing the same role in a comedy with elements of body horror and social commentary sounds familiar, its probably because another movie in that remarkably targeted genre just found major success on the awards show circuit: The Substance.It was totally on purpose, Wang jokes of timing the release of her film to the Demi Moore/Margaret Qualley project. Thats been really great. From the get-go I wanted the movie to be satire and I wanted her face to fall apart. Its definitely been a journey to combine these different genres from family drama to teen stuff with the comedy and the body-horror.Slanted has a lot of genres to straddle, from the gooey body horror of Chen and Graces imperfect procedure to the social satire of a modern day United States that seems permanently stuck in the immediate post-9/11 era. Through it all, however, lingers the most timeless of cinematic themes: teenagers and their problems. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who plays Jos friend Brindha, previously starred as Devi Vishwakumar in the Netflix high school series, Never Have I Ever. Despite the tonal shifts between the two projects, she sees the universality in teenage insecurity.Theyre so different in tone and character, Ramakrishnan says. Its actually been really refreshing to play someone who is so comfortable in her own skin, which is nice representation in and of itself for audiencesjust seeing someone being happy to be who they are. The high school experience of friendships breaking down is heartbreaking. And I think thats a universal experience.Lets hope thats the only part of Slanted that remains a universal experience. Slanted premiered at the SXSW Film Festival on March 8.

Growing up, I loved chatting with my aunt about her various crafty habits. Whether it was canning her gardens latest harvest or making jewelry, her hands were always moving. Her passion for stained glass, however, always held my attention the most. She would spend hours in her workshop, only to emerge with these whimsical art pieces that absolutely enamored me. To this day, I seek out stained glass works whenever I visit historic homes or churches. So, when I noticed more homes with stained glass accents crossing my desk at Country Living recently, I got excited. In 2025, stained glass is officially back! Related StoryIve seen a notable rise in demand for stained glass in interiorsespecially with adventurous residential clients who are embracing this timeless craft in modern, innovative ways, says California stained-glass artist Debbie Bean. The colorful glasswork is just the latest grandma-adjacent decorating trend to make a comeback in recent years. (Looking at you, caf curtains and wood-paneled walls.) Its also a part of the wider design trend that rejects monochromatic sameness and has gained popularity in recent years as homeowners and design-lovers alike reject the homogenization of algorithm aesthetics. While stained glass has historic roots that go all the way back to the 7th century, it didnt reach its prime in American residential spaces until the late 19th and 20th centuries when it was popularized by Charles Lewis Tiffany. (Yes, hes that Tiffany of the famed Tiffany & Co.) Todays popular iterations reference historic forms Tiffany wouldve worked with, such as flowers, or embrace the geometrics that became popular during the Arts & Crafts movement. Regardless of your style, whether modern farmhouse or classic cottage, there are stained glass accents that could work for you and your home. Below, weve gathered up some of my favorite places to use it. The Five Best Places to Use Stained GlassIn the Entry Read McKendree for Country LivingDesigner Marynn Udverhelyi opted to keep this stained glass door, which was installed by the previous homeowner that owned a glass business, in her Nantucket cottage project.In the KitchenReid RollsDesign duo Leanne Ford and Grace Mitchell opted for a stained glass showcase in their Texas cottage kitchen. In the Dining RoomSara Ligorria-TrampStained glass accents add a bit of color to this airy dining room.In the BedroomSara Ligorria-TrampThis barn homes oversized bunk bed pair gets a fanciful spin thanks to the two small stained glass windows.In the BathroomSara Ligorria-TrampStained glass accents add a pop of color to this bathrooms entry.MORE DECORATING IDEAS:Anna LoganSenior Homes & Style EditorAnna Logan is the Senior Homes & Style Editor at Country Living, where she has been covering all things home design, including sharing exclusive looks at beautifully designed country kitchens, producing home features, writing everything from timely trend reports on the latest viral aesthetic to expert-driven explainers on must-read topics, and rounding up pretty much everything youve ever wanted to know about paint, since 2021. Anna has spent the last seven years covering every aspect of the design industry, previously having written for Traditional Home, One Kings Lane, House Beautiful, and Frederic. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia. When shes not working, Anna can either be found digging around her flower garden or through the dusty shelves of an antique shop. Follow her adventures, or, more importantly, those of her three-year-old Maltese and official Country Living Pet Lab tester, Teddy, on Instagram.

Growth in US Mac shipments hit more than 25% in the final quarter of last year, outperforming that of all PC makers. Only Acer came close with 20% growth, while market leaders HP and Dell both saw their shipments decline year-on-year.A market intelligence company has suggested a key factor may be Microsoft forcing businesses to replace millions of existing PCs Strong growth in Mac shipmentsCanalys reports that US Mac shipments in Q4 of last year grew 25.9% year-on-year, exceeding that of any PC maker. This boosted Apples share of the (non-tablet) computer marker gew from 14.4% to 17.1%.Acer and Lenovo also saw growth, though at lower levels. Acer saw 20% growth, while Lenovo saw shipments increase by 11.8%.Notably, both market leaders HP and Dell saw their combined market share drop below 50%. HP shipments fell 3.6%, and Dell 2.4%.Microsofts Windows 10 move likely a factorMicrosoft last year announced that it would be dropping support for Windows 10, the move taking effect in October of this year. This includes ending both technical support and security fixes, making it unsafe to continue using the OS.After 14 October 2025, Microsoft will no longer provide free software updates from Windows Update, technical assistance, or security fixes for Windows 10. Your PC will still work, but we recommend moving to Windows 11. Windows 11 offers a modern and efficient experience designed to meet current demands for heightened security.There are millions of older PCs out there unable to run Windows 11, meaning businesses are being forced to replace them.Since they have to replace the machines anyway, Canalys suggests that some may have taken the decision to use it as an opportunity to switch from PCs to Macs.The Windows refresh cycle provides fertile ground for Apple to target both consumers and businesses that may be open to switching operating systems. Historically, manageability and compatibility issues were highlighted as reasons for larger commercial customers to eschew Apple products. However, many of those issues have been addressed by Apple, and along with more competitive pricing and a revamp of its channel partner program later this year, 2025 is set to see Mac make market share gains within the commercial segment.Our Apple @ Work column has regularly highlighted the continued growth of Mac adoption in the enterprise sector.Highlighted accessoriesPhoto byLinus MimietzonUnsplashAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be the slimmest iPhone Apple has ever made, and a report over the weekend suggested that the company even considered making it the first portless phone. It said the iPhone maker ultimately decided against this, in part because it feared removing the USB-C port would have brought it into conflict with the EU.However, Ive had confirmation from the bloc that dropping the USB-C port for a completely portless phone would in fact be completely legal Apples forced switch to USB-CApple famously had to swap out its proprietary Lightning port for a USB-C one in order to comply with EU environmental legislation specifically the Common Charger Directive.The EU was concerned about needless electrical waste when different smartphones and other consumer electronics devices used different charging ports. This resulted in consumers needing multiple chargers for different devices. The bloc therefore required all devices sold in the European Union to use a common charging port.Amusingly, when the legislation was first proposed, the most common port used was the truly awful microUSB, so this would have been the standard specified. Fortunately, by the time the law was finalized, USB-C had become the new de-facto standard, so this became the port embodied into law.Apple had already adopted USB-C charging for Macs and iPads, but was still using the Lightning port for iPhones. The law required it to switch to USB-C for iPhones also.As the January 2025 deadline approached, the only remaining iPhones with Lightning ports which Apple still sold directly were the iPhone SE and the iPhone 14. Apple ceased sales of both models just ahead of the deadline.Weve long suggested that Apple would at some point drop wired charging from one or more iPhone models, and Bloombergs Mark Gurman reported that the company had considered doing so for the iPhone 17 Air.An even bigger idea was to make the Air device Apples first completely port-free iPhone. That would mean losing the USB-C connector and going all-in on wireless charging and syncing data with the cloud. The world is probably ready for this change.He went on to say Apple had decided against this, in part because of the EU legislation.Apple ultimately decided not to adopt a port-free design with the new iPhone, which will still have a USB-C connector. One major reason: There were concerns that removing USB-C would upset European Union regulators, who mandated the iPhone switch to USB-C.But EU confirms portless phones are permittedHowever, it was my understanding that the Common Charger Directive only said that if a device has a wired charging port then it must be USB-C thats not the same as saying a USB-C port is mandatory.Ive now confirmed this with European Commission press officer Federica Miccoli, whose remit covers the internal market and industrial strategy, asking whether a portless phone would be compliant with the law.Yes. Since, such radio equipment cannot be recharged via wired charging, it does not need to incorporate the harmonised (wired) charging solution.The law does call on the EU to take action in support of wireless charging standards, rather than proprietary ones.The Commission will promote the harmonisation of wireless charging in order to avoid future fragmentation of the internal market and any negative effects on consumer and the environment. The Commission will monitor the evolution of all types of wireless charging technologies (not only inductive), particularly market developments, market penetration, market fragmentation, technological performance, interoperability, energy efficiency and charging performance.As stated in recital 13 of the Common Charger Directive, the Commission should take action towards promoting and harmonising such solutions to avoid future fragmentation of the internal market.However, Apple has already donated the MagSafe standard to the Wireless Power Consortium, where it has become a common standard branded Qi2. This means that a future portless phone with only MagSafe charging would be perfectly legal to sell in EU countries.It may not be happening in this years iPhone 17 Air, but a fully portless iPhone is only a matter of time.Highlighted accessoriesImage: 9to5Mac collage of images from Apple and CodiofulonUnsplashAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

In today's digital world, security breaches are all too common. Despite the many security tools and training programs available, identity-based attackslike phishing, adversary-in-the-middle, and MFA bypassremain a major challenge. Instead of accepting these risks and pouring resources into fixing problems after they occur, why not prevent attacks from happening in the first place?Our upcoming webinar, "How to Eliminate Identity-Based Threats," will show you how, featuring Beyond Identity experts Jing Reyhan (Director of Product Marketing) and Louis Marascio (Sr. Product Architect). Join them to discover how a secure-by-design access solution can block phishing, adversary-in-the-middle attacks, and morebefore they ever reach your network.What You Will LearnStop Attacks at the Source: Learn to proactively block threats like phishingbefore they can target your systems.Master Key Security Techniques: Discover how secure-by-design solutions enable phishing resistance, verifier impersonation resistance, device compliance, and continuous, risk-based access control.Practical, Actionable Advice: Gain clear, easy-to-implement steps to safeguard your organization without requiring advanced technical skills.Real-World Success Stories: See how these proven strategies work in real-life scenarios that highlight their effectiveness.Gain a Competitive Edge: Prevent breaches to reduce costs and build trust with your customers and partners.Even if you're not a tech expert, you'll learn valuable insights about how identity-based threats operateand how to stop them.It's time to rethink traditional security approaches. Instead of reacting to attacks, discover how to prevent them altogether. By joining our webinar, you'll take a major step toward securing your organization's future.Register now and learn how to eliminate entire classes of identity-based attacks from your threat landscape. Don't miss this opportunity to transform your security strategy and protect what matters most.Watch this Expert WebinarFeel free to share this invitation with colleagues and anyone who values proactive security. We look forward to seeing you at the webinar!Found this article interesting? This article is a contributed piece from one of our valued partners. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.