Top 5 weekly: A Raspberry Pi router, lots of Intel developments, and more

Phew – IFA has really taken all of us at XDA for a spin. Everyone on the team has either been writing news about it, pitching features about it, or even walking among its hallowed halls and seeing all of the next-gen hardware up close and personal. I think I’ve seen more press releases in the last few days than I have in months.

However, as is tradition, the news did not let up despite IFA going full bore. So, if you’ve kept your eyes on the big event and missed out on all the little bits that fell to the wayside, here’s a recap of the top five news pieces this week.

5 Microsoft briefly allowed us to uninstall Recall before taking it away again

A brief moment of joy

A little while ago, we caught wind that Microsoft may make Recall uninstallable. It sounded great on paper, but there were some oddities, such as the option not becoming available in other test builds of Windows 11. However, given how the first people to spot this feature were from Germany, I chalked it up to a potential clash between Microsoft and the DMA forcing it to add the ability to uninstall Recall.

While that would have been a disappointment for people outside of the EU, the reality was far more saddening. Turns out, Microsoft isn’t making Recall uninstallable. What the German company spotted was a bug that Microsoft stated allowed for unintended behavior, and it was fixed. Those who desire some AI privacy won’t have their wishes come true this time.

4 Intel had its ups and downs in a rollercoaster of a week

The company is doing all that it can

After its stock took a massive hit, Intel has been navigating some rough waters. With the recent layoffs combined with the Raptor Lake instability issues, investors have had issues trusting Intel to navigate itself through the coming years. As such, things have looked a little dire for the company for a few weeks now.

There was some rejoicing as Intel put up a big fight during IFA, showing off its plans to take on both Qualcomm and Apple. And then the day after, all that enthusiasm petered out again when Intel revealed that Arrow Lake wouldn’t be produced on Intel 20A as its roadmap claimed. As such, we can expect a bumpy ride as the tech world watches on the sidelines to see if Intel can make it out of this mess in one piece.

Bring your own router

If you’re looking for a new project to tinker with, why not try your hand at making a PiFi? This handy little router works with all Wi-Fi-enabled devices and even comes with some built-in VPN and ad-blocking capabilities. You can tweak all of its settings using a smartphone app, and everything (including the router firmware) is totally free.

ExpressVPN is now fully Armed and ready to go

Windows on Arm has been making stride after stride these last few weeks, as third-party developers bring their apps over to the Arm architecture. While ExpressVPN’s solution is to use Windows’ emulation tools, the company claims that it provides just as good performance as if it made a fully native app. And given how we crowned ExpressVPN as the best overall VPN for speed , it’s good to see it arrive on Snapdragon devices, emulated or not.

Handheld gamers, rejoice

The AMD Z1 Extreme chip has found its way into the best Steam Deck alternatives , but AMD isn’t done yet. The company announced that it’s working on the Z2 Extreme chip, which will help power the handheld devices of the future. We still don’t know a lot about it, but it’s definitely exciting times if you enjoy gaming on the go.