Microsoft’s new Windows 11 update comes with energy use and Wi-Fi enhancements
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at the company’s annual developer conference in Seattle on May 21, 2024.
Max Cherney | Reuters
Microsoft said Thursday that it’s starting the process of releasing a broad update to its Windows 11 operating system for PCs.
Today, Windows accounts for just 9% of Microsoft’s $245 billion in fiscal 2024 revenue, acquisitions of public companies Activision Blizzard and Nuance Communications. But revenue from Windows is highly profitable, and the widespread use of Windows on computers has helped Microsoft attract clients to its Azure cloud. So the product enhancements keep coming, before support for the popular Windows 10 ends in October 2025.
Following its introduction in 2021, Windows 11 is still quickly growing in popularity. The number of active devices was up 50% year over year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told analysts on the company’s earnings call in July.
The Windows 11 2024 Update, also known as version 24H2, is meant to boost basic PC functions, such as downloading files over Wi-Fi, compressing documents and managing energy use.
Microsoft provides new file compression options out of the box in version 24H2 of Windows 11.
Jordan Novet | CNBC
Here are some of the other new capabilities coming to PCs that can run Windows 11 in version 24H2:
More energy consumption controls. You’ll have an option to reduce the power draw of your PC while it’s plugged in, even if it doesn’t have a battery.
Supercharged hearing aids. If you have hearing aids that support Bluetooth LE Audio, you’ll be able to connect them to your computer and directly stream audio and adjust volume levels and balance.
Faster internet. There’s a new kind of router that adheres to the Wi-Fi 7 standard, and these devices can send data at a higher throughput than Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E. Your PC should now be able to make the most of these routers at home or at the office, so you can download files more rapidly and have more devices running at high speed.
Simpler Wi-Fi sharing. In the Settings app, you’ll be able to bring up a QR code showing information for logging on to your Wi-Fi network, so you can quickly get other devices connected.
Rich backgrounds. If your device or display supports high dynamic range, or HDR, signals, then you can select an image file that uses the .JXR file extension and make it your desktop background. The result will make for higher contrast between light and dark parts of an image.
Control mobile files. If you connect your phone to your PC over Bluetooth, you’ll be able to turn on a control in the Settings app that will show files on your phone in a folder inside the File Explorer app. It’s a wireless alternative to connecting your phone to your PC with a USB cable.
Smaller clock. You can make the time take up less space in the System tray. To do this, open the Settings app, select Time & language. Under “Show time and date in the System tray,” you’ll find a new option that says, “Show abbreviated time and date.”
Compression choices. You won’t have to download a program from the web if you want to bundle up your files in the 7-Zip or .tar format. Select a group of files in File Explorer, right-click, hover over “Compress to…” and then select from the ZIP, 7z or TAR options. Or you can pick “Additional options,” which brings up a box where you can increase or decrease the compression level and choose a compression method.
How to get the new features
To find version 24H2 of Windows 11, open the Settings app and go to Windows Update. The update will show up for you to download when Microsoft expects that your device will be ready for it. The company will first push 24H2 out to devices running versions 22H2 and 23H2 that have the “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” option in Windows Update turned on.
Schools and companies that want to distribute version 24H2 to their devices can consult a Microsoft blog post.
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Direxion signage at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. The holiday-shortened week started with gains in stocks amid a broad advance that saw a continuation of the bullish momentum on Wall Street.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Motive, a company with software for managing corporate trucks and drivers, on Tuesday filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “MTVE.”
The paperwork puts Motive among a fast-growing group of tech companies looking to go public in 2026. Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX have all reportedly considered making their shares widely available for trading next year.
Motive is smaller, reporting a $62.7 million net loss on $115.8 million in revenue in the third quarter. The loss widened from $41.3 million in the same quarter of 2024, while revenue grew about 23% year over year. The company had almost 100,000 clients at the end of September.
Ryan Johns, Obaid Khan and Shoaib Makani started Motive in 2013, originally under the name Keep Truckin. Makani, the CEO, is Khan’s brother-in-law.
Investors include Alphabet’s GV, Base10 Partners, Greenoaks, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins and Scale Venture Partners.
Motive’s AI Dashcam device for detecting unsafe driving “has prevented 170,000 collisions and saved 1,500 lives on our roads,” Makani wrote in a letter to investors. Most revenue comes from subscriptions, although Motive does sell replacement hardware and professional services.
The San Francisco company changed its name to Motive in 2022, and as of Sept. 30, it employed 4,508 people. Motive employs 400 full-time data annotators who apply labels that are meant to enhance artificial intelligence models.
Motive has ongoing patent-infringement litigation with competitor Samsara, which went public in 2021 and today has a $22 billion market capitalization.
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Why an analyst sees Meta shares getting back to record highs – plus, another tariff reprieve
A silicon wafer with chips etched into is seen as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris tours a site where Applied Materials plans to build a research facility, in Sunnyvale, California, U.S., May 22, 2023.
Pool | Reuters
The U.S. will increase tariffs on Chinese semiconductor imports in June 2027, at a rate to be determined at least a month in advance, the Trump administration said in a Federal Register filing on Tuesday.
But in the meantime, the initial tariff rate on semiconductor imports from China will be zero for 18 months, according to the filing from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
As part of an investigation that kicked off a year ago, the agency found that China is engaging in unfair trade practices in the industry.
“For decades, China has targeted the semiconductor industry for dominance and has employed increasingly aggressive and sweeping non-market policies and practices in pursuing dominance of the sector,” the office said in the filing.
The decision to delay new tariffs for at least 18 months signals that the Trump administration is seeking to cool any trade hostilities between the U.S. and China.
Additional tariffs could also become a bargaining chip if future talks break down.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached a truce in the so-called trade war in October, as part of a deal that included the U.S. slashing some tariffs and China allowing exports of rare earth metals.
The USTR’s Tuesday filing states that tariffs will increase on June 23, 2027.
The notice is the next step in a process focusing on older chips that started during the Biden administration under Section 301 of the Trade Act.
The new 2027 date gives clarity to American firms that have said they are closely watching how U.S. tariffs could affect their businesses or supply chains.
The tariffs are separate from other duties threatened by the Trump administration on Chinese chip imports under Section 232 of the law.
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