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StyloBot Release Series: Behaviour-Aware ASP.NET UI
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Sr. Content Developer at Microsoft, working remotely in PA, TechBash conference organizer, former Microsoft MVP, Husband, Dad and Geek.
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Pennsylvania, USA
Can't use Microsoft Foundry because of compliance or an Azure bill that doubles during an AI development spike, but still want the best AI debugging experience in Aspire? Here's how to keep the full GenAI chat-log sparkles while Ollama and Gemma 4 run locally.
Pennsylvania, USA
Highlights this week, starting with AI: DeepSeek V4 Flash and V4 Pro in Microsoft Foundry: Microsoft has added DeepSeek V4 Flash to its Foundry model catalogue (with V4 Pro coming soon), giving teams a single platform to mix a low-latency model for high-volume work with a deeper-reasoning model for complex agentic tasks. Bring Your Own Model to Foundry Agent Service Is Now Generally Available: BYOM in Foundry Agent Service has reached general availability, letting enterprises connect prompt agents to any Chat Completions-compatible model routed through Azure API Management or a third-party AI gateway. Memory in Foundry Agent Service (Public Preview): Foundry Agent Service has gained a managed long-term memory store in public preview that automatically extracts, consolidates and retrieves user preferences and conversation context so agents stay coherent across sessions. Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0 (GA): Microsoft Agent Framework has reached version 1.0 GA for both .NET and Python, providing a production-ready, open-source SDK that unifies Semantic Kernel and AutoGen into a single stack for single- and multi-agent workflows. Automate agent evaluation with the Evaluation APIs: Copilot Studio's Agent Evaluation is now exposed through Power Platform REST APIs and a certified connector, so teams can wire test-set runs into CI/CD pipelines, Power Automate flows or custom tools as quality gates.
Fabric April 2026 Feature Summary: April's Microsoft Fabric round-up brings tabbed multitasking to GA, AI auto-descriptions for semantic models, deeper VS Code integration and notebook retry policies, cross-workspace MLflow logging, ALTER TABLE in explicit transactions, and several new Real-Time Intelligence capabilities including streaming mirrored database change feeds into Eventstreams. Multi-layer Caching with the Decorator Pattern: endjin's Jonathan George walks through layering an in-process IMemoryCache over an Azure Blob Storage cache in front of a Databricks SQL Serverless source, using the Decorator pattern (and a per-key semaphore) to defeat cold-start latency and the thundering-herd problem for an analytical web API.
VS Code Curbs Token Use Ahead of Copilot's Controversial Usage-Based Billing Switch: Two days after GitHub announced Copilot's switch to usage-based billing on 1 June 2026, Microsoft shipped VS Code 1.118 with prompt caching tweaks, deferred tool loading and smaller purpose-built models for search and execution, all aimed at cutting the tokens (and therefore the bill) per agent turn. Microsoft-OpenAI rewrite opens the door for Anthropic and Google: OpenAI and Microsoft have amended their partnership so OpenAI can serve its products across any cloud (including AWS Bedrock) while Microsoft is freed to build its own models and lean more heavily on rivals like Anthropic and Google, with revenue-share payments to Microsoft continuing through 2030.
Finally, Hardening OpenClaw on AKS: Mitigating Container Escapes with Kata microVM Isolation: A step-by-step walkthrough of running the OpenClaw autonomous AI agent inside Kata Container microVMs on Azure Kubernetes Service, swapping the shared-kernel container boundary for a hypervisor boundary so a successful container escape lands inside a guest VM rather than on the host.
Pennsylvania, USA
Hello and Welcome, I’m your Code Monkey!
I am writing this still in Brazil from attending Gamescom Latam, fun event! More on that in a bit.
So my week was a very different week, it involved a 10 hour flight plus trying to do a bit of work at a hotel and meeting a bunch of people (while also visiting a nice city. Parque Ibirapuera is awesome!). Now this coming week I am returning home and got to do a bunch of queued up work!
What about your week? Are you looking forward to attending any events in the future?
Game Dev: Gamescom Latam
Gaming: Tomb Raider 2D
Fun: Chess 1D
Game Dev
What is Gamescom Latam like? Is it for indie devs?
Gamescom Latam has just happened (or actually it's still happening today) and it was a massive event! Hundreds of games being showcased from developers of all sizes.
Over the years I have managed to attend a few events, I have been to half a dozen Unites and two GDCs, but I had never attended just a normal non-game-dev event, until now! It was definitely a more casual event, lots more people in cosplay and fewer people in suits.
Over 150 games were at the event, with lots of booths to play them. For me this was fun since normally I'm so busy that I don't have time to play games, here I enjoyed myself quite a bit.
I played a game from a dev that recognized me, Apogea, awesome super complex MMO made by a 4 person indie team! Another one where the dev came up to me was Bloodfang, also super well polished, nice action game with meaty combat and powerful animations. Played Islets Defense which is a very unique take on tower defense. Tellyport is a complex puzzle game, and Retail Hell was unique and interesting.
There is a page on Steam with the games shown there, lost of awesome stuff!
All in all it was a very interesting event, obviously focused on playing games instead of developing them. Players all over the place trying out the latest games and what's coming in the future.
On the game dev side I would say these events are probably great for getting playtesters and feedback. There are tons of players walking around that mostly only play AAA games, they likely only try indie games in these events where they are right next to the AAA games, so if you want exposure to playtesters from that specific audience then these events can be good.
However in terms of indie game marketing, these events are usually not worth it. It's unlikely you will get a massive amount of wishlists or press coverage, so if the event requires payment (which at least it usually requires you pay for your own flight and hotel) then usually you have other better places to spend your marketing dollars.
 | I really enjoyed this event! First time attending and I definitely want to return. Even on a non-game-dev event I still had some devs recognize and come up to me which is always super fun! I playtested some awesome games! Now I really want to attend Gamescom in Germany and a bunch more events! |
Affiliate
Spring Sale!
The Unity Asset Store is currently running their Spring Sale!
As always you can get most of the top assets at 50% OFF, and along with Flash Deals up to 95% OFF!
My own Code Monkey Toolkit is on sale! And I just recently updated it adding a bunch more tools, now it’s over 50!
Gaming
Tomb Raider in 2D by fans for fans!
Are you a fan of the original 1996 classic Tomb Raider? I am! I loved dueling pistols, doing all kinds of acrobatic maneuvers, and shooting dinosaurs!
Well some fans are reimagining the classic game as a 2D side-scroller! That's pretty fun!
They have converted the mechanics really well, it's not just a lazy port but it actually looks like it has the vibe of the original game. All the levels with the same assets, the starting level, the traps with lava, the underwater level. Plus all the sliding on platforms, the traps coming from behind, the lava, and more!
Now of course the question when it comes to these projects is what about the original IP owner? Will they come after the developers and kill this project? Or will they leave them be? I hope they leave them be, I don't think this is killing sales of the original game at all. The goal is to release in May 2026 so pretty soon!
| I love when fans of games do things like these. Developers making original games is awesome, of course, but it's also awesome how some devs are so dedicated to modding and making things based on already existing things which sometimes leads to unique projects like this one. |
The World's Biggest Dev Event Hits Silicon Valley
WeAreDevelopers World Congress comes to San José, CA — September 23–25, 2026. 10,000+ developers, 500+ speakers, and the full software development lifecycle under one roof, in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Kelsey Hightower. Thomas Dohmke (fmr. CEO, GitHub). Christine Yen (CEO, Honeycomb). Mathias Biilmann (CEO, Netlify). Olivier Pomel (CEO, Datadog). The people actually building the tools you use every day — all on one stage.
AI, cloud, DevOps, security, architecture, and everything real builders ship with. Workshops, masterclasses, and the official congress party.
Tickets from $599. Use code GITPUSH26 for 10% off.
Fun
Chess in 1D!
Chess is a game that has existed for millennia, and in all that time it hasn't really had "updates"
But now one developer tried to update it, instead of the usual 2D grid, now it works in just 1 dimension!
There are only 3 pieces on the board. I don't know much about chess, and it seems this makes the game way too simplistic with only a few possible moves, but still this is a fun experiment!
| I love inventive iterations like this, maybe this is a fun exercise for you, what is something that already exists that you can twist in a new unique way? Make it a design challenge for yourself! |
How does Ray Tracing Work in Video Games and Movies?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOlehM5kNSk
Another excellent video by Branch Education, Ray Tracing is impressive!
The Secret Behind Photorealistic And Stylized Graphics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkOkx0FiHDA
Rendering math still confuses me, but this is the closest I've gotten to understanding it
Get Rewards by Sending the Game Dev Report to a friend!
(please don’t try to cheat the system with temp emails, it won’t work, just makes it annoying for me to validate)
Thanks for reading!
Code Monkey
Pennsylvania, USA
Microsoft has officially confirmed that they’re making Widgets in Windows 11 quieter by default, which is corporate language that means they will stop showing the MSN feed when you hover over the Widgets.
The new Widgets experience is gradually rolling out with the Windows 11 Insider Experimental Preview Build 26300.8346, and Microsoft’s goal here is to make Widgets less distracting and overwhelming.
Right now, just brushing your cursor over the weather icon in the bottom-left corner of the taskbar triggers the massive Widgets board to slide out, showing a cluttered grid of mostly low-value content.
It’s quite obvious that Microsoft was aware that all users found the Discover feed on the Widgets board bothersome. However, the fact that the feed contained ads likely made the Widgets board a revenue driver for the company. So, when Microsoft said “we’re testing a new set of default settings [in Widgets] designed to reduce unexpected alerts and visual interruptions.”, I was genuinely surprised.
It’s not like the company had a choice either, as even Satya Nadella admits that Microsoft needs to “win back” Windows 11 fans.
Either way, Microsoft is testing the new Widget experience with Insiders by modifying a few default settings.
All changes coming to Widgets in Windows 11:
- Windows will now disable “Open on hover” by default. So only a deliberate click on the Widgets icon brings up the Widgets interface.
- Turning off taskbar badging, which is the red notification dots or alerts that appear over the Widgets icon to notify you of the number of breaking news and other alerts. These badges are a huge distraction, and there is no practical reason to have them.
- Limiting taskbar alerts, which are the animated Widgets icons that cycle through dynamic alerts like severe weather or stock market changes. These won’t show up anymore until you have already interacted with the Widgets board.
- When launching the Widgets board for the first time, it will show you the core “widgets experience” (your pinned mini-apps like weather, calendar, and system stats) instead of bombarding you with the MSN news feed.
The last change has to be the most impressive one, especially as it comes from Microsoft, which is infamous for data collection to show personalized ads.
You can already turn off these features manually, but most people who use Windows aren’t aware of it, and some don’t seem to care. While Microsoft got away with it for a while, now the situation has gotten out of hand, and people are switching away from Windows 11 because of forced features like Copilot and MSN feed in Widgets.
Now, Microsoft is on a path to rebuild Windows 11 around what users actually want. That said, the Widget features or the lack of them are currently under testing, and there is no mention about when it will reach regular users.
Meanwhile, you can turn off defaults in Widgets manually.
How to turn off Open Widgets board on hover?
Hover over the Widgets or press Win + W, click the settings icon on the top right, and turn off the toggle that says Open Widgets board on hover.
How to turn off MSN feed in Widgets?
Just below the Open Widgets board on hover, click “Show or hide feeds”, then turn off the toggle for Feed. Click Turn off when prompted.
How to turn off Widgets completely in Windows 11?
Go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > turn off the toggle for Widgets
You’ll then have a cleaner taskbar.
You’ll then have a cleaner taskbar.
But I actually prefer to have something on the left side, and just having the weather is good enough. But I do not need to see the MSN feed when I hover over it, nor do I want to be distracted by constant alerts.
Microsoft recently said that they want to make Windows 11 a calmer OS with fewer upsells or ads. Changing the default behavior of the Widgets board so it shows only your widgets when deliberately clicked, while hiding the MSN feed unless you want to see it, is them keeping their promise.
Speaking of the MSN feed, do not doubt that Microsoft is going to phase it out. In fact, a new design change is coming to the MSN feed in the Widgets board that would give each tile extra rounded corners, like the ones in Copilot, that Edge is also trying to mimic.
To be honest, this new cleaner design with clear separation between the Widgets and the MSN Discover feed does reduce the claustrophobic feeling of the old MSN + Widgets look. So, maybe if Microsoft focuses on making MSN feed better with less clickbait and more useful content (without AI-generated summaries), then there might be some genuine takers for the decades-old MSN feed.
Still, it doesn’t look like Microsoft will go back on their promise, and as this new Widget experience reaches all users, the MSN feed, random alerts, and open on hover will all be turned off by default.
Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see how Microsoft plans to recoup the lost revenue from MSN feed, especially as Bing officially crosses 1 billion users for the first time.
The post Microsoft is finally turning off the MSN feed and ads in Windows 11 Widgets by default appeared first on Windows Latest
Pennsylvania, USA
Windows 11 users have a new, redesigned and faster Run dialog to look forward to, says Microsoft. After months of working rebuilding it from the ground up, the company says that the new Run dialog is gradually rolling out to users. To start with, it is – predictably – Windows Insiders who get first access to the new tool, but it should not be long before everyone is able to use it. But to get access right now, you need to be signed up to the correct channel and opt to enable the feature manually. The channel you need is… [Continue Reading]
Pennsylvania, USA
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