TRANSCRIPT · Windows 11 tries new shortcuts for Xbox gaming mode and search ## Windows 11 tries new shortcuts for Xbox gaming mode and search (The Verge) https://www.theverge.com/tech/1024058/windows-11-search-improvements-xbox-quick-settings GRANT BRICKMAN: Breaking: Windows 11 is testing new Xbox mode shortcuts and a search box that does a lot more. GRANT BRICKMAN: Breaking news this hour. Windows 11 is testing new shortcuts for Xbox gaming mode, and a revamped search. This just landed. GRETA FOOTNOTE: The Verge reports the latest Windows Insider builds revamp search with filters, actions and phone controls. GRANT BRICKMAN: Phone controls from a search box? Like the teletext page, only louder. Greta, who is it calling? GRETA FOOTNOTE: It can perform actions on a connected phone, Grant, including making calls. Nobody is ringing you. KAI: Huge. I'm live at the datacenter. In Xbox mode you can control Bluetooth, WiFi and power settings without exiting the game. Huge. KAI: Search is the other half. Filter for files, actions or web results, or just type to change brightness or volume. KAI: Here's the new search box on screen. Results can show when a file was last modified and its author, or pull in charts for stock prices and weather. KAI: You can even train it with inline thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Still no word on my USB-C demands, but the builds are huge. GRETA FOOTNOTE: Beta Build 26220.9836 and Experimental Build 26340.9843 are both available now to Windows Insiders. Microsoft's blog post has the full list. ## 3D Printed Einstein-Szilard Refrigerator Cools with Fire (Hackaday) https://hackaday.com/2026/10/31/3d-printed-einstein-szilard-refrigerator-cools-with-fire/ GRETA FOOTNOTE: A fridge that cools with fire, built transparent so you can finally see how. GRANT BRICKMAN: Now our Deep Dive. For viewers just joining, we first told you about this at 9:33 this morning: a fridge that cools with fire. DR. VERA VECTOR: Ben Krasnow built a transparent Einstein-Szilard refrigerator, 3D printed, per Hackaday. The point is to see how it works. DR. VERA VECTOR: Absorption fridges in general can run on waste heat alone and have no moving parts. Camper vans and industrial plants use them. GRETA FOOTNOTE: Vera, why make it transparent? DR. VERA VECTOR: The article says the principle is hard to grasp. Usual ammonia-and-water designs need more pressure than glass or plastic holds comfortably. DR. VERA VECTOR: Here, a strong ammonia solution is boiled apart. The gas lowers the refrigerant's partial pressure, so it evaporates. Then the cycle restarts. DR. VERA VECTOR: The catch: these fridges may not deliver the highest efficiency. They earn their place on waste heat and reliability. DR. VERA VECTOR: The refrigerant is usually butane. With an open flame in play, Ben Krasnow chose another one; the report cuts off before naming it. GRETA FOOTNOTE: So the fridge runs on fire to keep things cold. Somewhere a thermostat is filing a complaint. GRANT BRICKMAN: Cold from a flame. Nature, I'm told, loves a contradiction. ## HIGHER OR LOWER (PXL) GRANT BRICKMAN: Prue plays Higher or Lower with real GitHub stars. Billy is very loud about it. BILLY MAYHEM: Welcome to HIGHER OR LOWER, the show with REAL GitHub stars! Tonight's contestant: Prudence Nuance! PRUDENCE NUANCE: Happy to be here. Mostly. Ask me again after the stars. BILLY MAYHEM: Round one! jakubkrehel/skills has 9,559 stars. Is AgriciDaniel/claude-seo HIGHER or LOWER? BILLY MAYHEM: The number: 24,942 stars! HIGHER! That is CORRECT! PRUDENCE NUANCE: Correct, though I'd have accepted partial credit for caution. BILLY MAYHEM: Round two! claude-seo has 24,942 stars. Is YuJunZhiXue/dsh-purge HIGHER or LOWER? PRUDENCE NUANCE: Higher. Crowds rarely stop at one repo, and I'm told momentum is catching. BILLY MAYHEM: The number: 14,522 stars! LOWER! That is WRONG! PRUDENCE NUANCE: Wrong. Though higher was a perfectly reasonable thing to be wrong about. BILLY MAYHEM: Final score: 1 of 2! One CORRECT, one WRONG! Thanks for playing HIGHER OR LOWER! ## [AD · fictional product] Passwordine DR. VERA VECTOR: Do you feel a tightness when a site asks for a new password? You may be using the same one everywhere. DR. VERA VECTOR: Passwordine helps you create strong passwords, store them safely, and forget them, so you don't have to remember. DIRECTOR MARGE: Side effects may include phishing nostalgia, sticky-note relapse, sudden fondness for hunter2, tab hoarding, and the urge to ask whether this is sponsored. AI-written satire. The text of the news items comes from the linked articles.