Your PC has a new webcam: Your phone

Plus: Windows 10 gets Copilot AI  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [Windows Intelligence](#) [Windows Intelligence](#) Have you noticed how bad laptop webcams are? It's no surprise: Most people aren't comparing webcam specs when buying their next PCs. Meanwhile, our phones have incredible cameras. But here we are, sitting blurry and pixelated in meetings and online video chats. Thankfully, Google just rolled out an awesome new feature that lets you use your phone as a webcam. Microsoft is working on something similar, too. There are also third-party tools that will let you do this on any type of phone, too — even if you have an iPhone! Scroll down to this week's Things to Try section for the details. [Chris Hoffman, AUthor] Chris Today's read: ⌚ 3 Things to Know: 2 minutes ⌚ 3 Things to Try: 2 minutes ⌚ Top Thurrott Thoughts: 30 seconds ⌚ Just for Fun: 20 seconds ​ [] [3 Things to Know This Week] ​ 1. Copilot is getting some polish (and Windows 10 support) ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: Copilot is Microsoft's big priority, and the company is focusing on improving it. 🔎 KNOW MORE: Microsoft is improving Copilot's interface on Windows 11 — and bringing it to Windows 10. Some changes are already here, and others will arrive in the coming months. - This month's Patch Tuesday update made the Copilot sidebar work more smoothly on Windows 11. You can now Alt+Tab to it, and it opens faster. - Soon, you'll be able to "undock" the Copilot sidebar and treat it like a normal desktop window. Microsoft is also testing moving the icon to the bottom-right corner of the taskbar — after all, the Copilot sidebar does appear on the right side. - Windows 10 just got an update that enables Copilot. I don't see it on my PCs yet, however — Microsoft says the Copilot icon will gradually appear on more PCs over the next few months. 📌 READ MORE: This news post has [more info about the recent updates](=). --------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Microsoft wants to protect you from old printer drivers ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: Microsoft is on a mission to phase out messy printer drivers and make printers "just work." Some recent bugs have highlighted how important that work is. 🔎 KNOW MORE: The latest Insider testing version of Windows 11 includes an optional "Windows Protected Print Mode," which is disabled by default. - When enabled, Windows will only work with "Mopria-certified" printers that use the modern Windows printing system. - You won't have to go through a clunky software installation process — printers will all one day "just work" like plugging in a USB drive. - Windows has recently been installing the HP Smart printing app on PCs without HP printers and randomly renaming non-HP printers to "HP LaserJet." Hopefully these printing-system changes can help avoid problems like this in the future. 📌 READ MORE: Check out [the changes in the last Windows 11 Insider build of 2023](). Or, read about [the recent HP-related printing bugs](=). --------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Notepad keeps getting more useful ➜ THE SHORT VERSION: Microsoft is axing a lot of built-in Windows applications lately. But Notepad isn't just sticking around — Microsoft keeps on improving it. 🔎 KNOW MORE: The latest Insider builds of Windows 11 add even more useful features to Notepad, on top of the features Microsoft has spent the last few years adding to the classic text editor. - You'll soon be able to right-click a file in File Explorer and select "Edit in Notepad" for easy text-editing action. - Notepad will have a character counter, so you'll be able to look at the status bar on the bottom of the window to see the number of characters in the current document. - These are on top of all the other features Microsoft has added to Notepad over the last few years, including tabs and automatic saving of your open text documents. 📌 READ MORE: Microsoft mentioned the improvements deep in [this blog post](=). SPONSORED MESSAGE How 100K+ smart investors stay informed [Cartoon of stocks rising on a graph](=)​ Ben Franklin once said, "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." But how can you make sure that you invest in knowledge on, well…investing? Easy! Subscribe to [The Yellowbrick Road](=), for free (so, actually, no investment at all!) to get the best stock ideas delivered straight to your inbox each day. How it works: 🤖 The Yellowbrick Road uses AI to surface and summarize stock market news each day 🧑‍💻 An non-AI real person reads the summaries to find the best trade ideas 📨 They send the best ones out to you each morning ➜ [Sign up for The Yellowbrick Road today with just one click to grow your investment knowledge for tomorrow!](​ [​BETTER INVESTING STARTS HERE ➜]( ​ [] [3 Things to Try This Week] 1. Use your phone as your PC's webcam Google just released an update that lets you use a Pixel phone as a webcam for your PC. Plug your phone in via USB, flip a switch, and you have a USB webcam with an amazing camera. Microsoft appears to be working on adding this feature to its Phone Link app, too, giving Android phone users another way to turn a phone into a PC webcam ➜ Meanwhile, there are other ways to turn any Android phone — or iPhone — into a webcam for your PC. ⌚ You can get started in about 10 seconds. 💻 This works on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. 📌 Check out my latest guide for [instructions on turning your Pixel phone into a PC webcam](=) — and what to do if you have another Android phone or an iPhone instead. --------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Type with your voice on Windows 10 Yes, you can type with your voice on Windows 10 as well as Windows 11. This is the part of the newsletter where I admit a mistake last week: I said that Voice Access works on both Windows 11 and Windows 10. Not so! Voice Access is just a Windows 11 feature. But Windows 10 does still have the similar Voice Typing feature for dictation. ⌚ You can start typing with your voice in just 5 seconds. 💻 This works on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. ➜ On Windows 10, you can use Voice Typing to type nearly anywhere with your voice. Just press Windows+H to launch Voice Typing. A toolbar will appear at the top of your screen. You will be prompted to enable online speech recognition, if necessary. [The Voice Typing bar on Windows 10.] (Windows 11 also includes Voice Typing in addition to Voice Access. But Voice Access works a bit better. For one thing, Voice Access does all the heavy lifting on your PC, while Voice Typing uploads your speech to Microsoft's servers. On Windows 11 PCs, I recommend launching Voice Access from the Start menu instead of pressing Windows+H to pull up Voice Typing.) --------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Get live captions for any audio on your PC Windows 11 is packed with some very impressive — and very useful — accessibility features. "Live Captions" is one of them. When you activate Live Captions, Windows will listen to the audio coming from your PC and automatically convert it to text, showing you text captions for anything happening on your PC — a video you're watching, a meeting you're in, or whatever else. This all happens 100% on your PC without uploading anything, so it's nice and speedy. ⌚ You can activate Live Captions in 3 seconds. 💻 This feature is only available on Windows 11. ➜ To activate Live Captions, just open the Start menu, search for "Live Captions," and launch the "Live Captions application. That's it! You'll see a bar at the top of your screen, and it will display captions automatically. You can use the buttons at the right side of the bar to adjust various settings — for example, you can change the language, if you like. [The Live Captions bar displaying text for a video on Windows 11.] ​ [] [Top Thurrott Thoughts] Some standout links and expert analysis from our friends at Thurrott, who have been covering Windows since 1994: - ​[Epic Wins: Federal Jury Rules That Google Illegally Protected its Play Store Monopoly]() - A huge legal decision. - ​[Why Epic Games Really Prevailed Against Google (Premium)](​ - Read Paul Thurrott's analysis of the case. - ​[Microsoft Details Four New Clipchamp Features]( - Microsoft's video editor keeps improving. - ​[Apple Could Let Apple Pay Rivals Use the iPhone’s NFC Chip in Europe]( - Interesting things happening in Europe. - ​[Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 4 Review]() - "A near-perfect business-class laptop and a great example of why I recommend this type of PC to individuals as well." ​ [And Just for Funsies...] It's the holiday season, and it's time for holiday music. That's right — it's time to play [Microsoft Holiday Hits](), "the greatest selection of holiday songs ever assembled." Wait, what? While the full holiday album isn't real, Microsoft did create a real video advertisement for it. You can hear wonderful songs like: - Joy to the Word - Please Mute Ye Merry Gentlemen - Bingle Bells Microsoft shared this joke on Twitter back in December 2020. I must have missed it at the time! [twitter profile avatar] Microsoft [Twitter Logo] [Twitter Logo] @Microsoft [Reply All Records presents: Microsoft Holiday Hits. The great selection of holiday songs EVER assembled. 🔈📺](=) [video] 4:26 PM • Dec 11, 2020 326 Retweets 1331 Likes [Read 102 replies](=) ​ It's a shame it isn't real! I'd love to hear "Deck the Halls with '90s Clip Art." Until next week... And now I'm signing off! I've still got one more issue left to go before the holiday break, so I'll see you again next week. Goodbye for now! 🤚 Wait! Before you go: What'd you think of this issue? 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