June 21 Tech news roundup: Microsoft’s next Xbox console could be a PC, WhatsApp annoys users with ads, Steam gets an improved overlay and accessibility features

The next Xbox gen console could also be a gaming PC

Microsoft’s Xbox and AMD have announced a partnership to co-engineer the next gen Xbox consoles. The two companies have been working together on console chips for a while now, so this may not seem surprising. But the announcement also confirmed some important news. The next Xbox will be compatible with existing games.

Xbox President, Sarah Bond, says that Xbox is all about building you a gaming platform that’s always with you, including the ability to play games across devices anywhere. This likely refers to further handheld consoles like the ROG Xbox Ally. The Xbox and Windows teams are working together to improve the experience of gamers, and this has already been noticeable in the Xbox Ally which has drawn praise for its Xbox full screen that delivers improved performance.

Bond stated that the Xbox will not be locked to a single store, or tied to one device. This essentially means that Xbox consoles would allow users to access third-party stores like Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, just like a PC. That is big news for gamers.

Microsoft’s migration tool will help Windows 10 users move to Windows 11

Windows 10 is reaching end of support in October 2025. Microsoft is advising users whose computers do not meet Windows 11 system requirements, to buy a new PC to get security updates. But this comes with a problem, moving data from one PC to another.

In order to make the process simpler, Microsoft has launched a Windows 11 Migration tool. It is part of the Backup app that debuted in 2023, which allows users to back up their data to OneDrive.

Microsoft is currently testing the Migration Tool in the Windows Insider Program, to help users transfer their files from their old computer to their new one. Both computers will need to be connected to the same network for the file transfer. It is worth noting that the app only backs up some folders such as Documents, Videos, or Pictures, as well as credentials, settings, and some apps. It may not be perfect, but at least you don’t have to start from scratch.

Windows 11 will soon let you create GIFs

Microsoft is testing a built-in GIF maker in Windows 11’s Snipping Tool. The feature will allow users to record their screen, and export it to an animated GIF. Microsoft says that GIFs have a maximum duration of 30 seconds, and users can decide whether they want to save the file in low quality or high quality.

Snipping Tool already has a video recorder that lets you save the content to an MP4 video, but exporting small clips as GIFs could be useful for sharing content on social media, to create small tutorials, etc. The downside is that you cannot edit the videos or GIFs using Snipping Tool, so a third-party program may be necessary for editing the media. The GIF creator is currently being tested in the Windows Insider Program, and it may not take long for the feature to be available for all users.

Microsoft is making some changes to the Windows 11 Start Menu, but it’s not all good news.

WhatsApp now displays ads, and users are not happy

Meta has finally done it, WhatsApp Messenger now displays ads. But they are not everywhere. WhatsApp displays ads on the Status page, which is under the Updates tab. Meta says that the ads were designed to help users find new businesses and contact them about their products/services. In addition to these ads, WhatsApp now shows Promoted channels, which are essentially sponsored channels.

Meta claims that its ads are privacy-friendly, and that WhatsApp does not use personal messages, calls, or groups to determine which advertisements a user might see. Instead, WhatsApp uses general information like the Country or City a user is located in, their language, the channels they are following, to determine the ads to be displayed. Users were far from pleased to hear about the announcement, despite Meta’s reassurances that user data remains end-to-end encrypted.

On a side note, Meta has added Passkey support for the Facebook mobile app.

Steam improves accessibility support, adds new overlay tools

Valve announced several improvements for Steam. Desktop users can now enable a new overlay to monitor the FPS, CPU, GPU and RAM usage in games, along with temperature levels. This overlay, which is called Performance Overlay, was previously only available on Steam Deck. Gamers may find the stats helpful to learn how a game’s performance is, and also to check if they have a CPU or GPU bottleneck. Users can customize the tools that appear in the overlay, as well as adjust the background opacity, and text contrast/saturation from the settings.

Steam Big Picture Mode now has improved accessibility support with features such as UI Scaling, High Contrast Mode and Reduce Motion Setting. Steam Deck and SteamOS devices have some exclusive features including a Screen Reader, and 3 color filters to choose from: Grayscale, Invert Brightness, and Invert Colors. Valve has also enabled Proton on Linux by default, this Steam setting was previously disabled and remained an unknown feature to many. Enabling the option will allow users to run Windows games in Proton, resulting in better performance.

All these features are currently available in the Steam beta version.

DuckDuckGo Browser enhances Scam Blocker with scams and scareware protection

DuckDuckGo Browser now protects you from scams, fake cryptocurrency exchanges, scareware, and fraudulent/sham e-commerce site. These protection layers have been added to the Scam Blocker in the desktop and mobile versions of the browser.

It is similar to Google’s Safe Browsing, but DuckDuckGo’s Browser does not send the data to Google, it processes the data anonymously. It relies on an offline database that is updated from time to time by Netcraft, an independent cybersecurity company.  When a user visits a potentially dangerous website, the browser will display a warning to educate the user about the threat, to convince them to close the page and protect themselves.  Advanced users may opt to bypass the warning to access the website.

DuckDuckGo Browser’s Scam Blocker is enabled by default.