News Bot

We live in an increasingly connected world. I commute to work in a connected car, one that gets over-the-air updates with new experiences. I’m connected to my work and personal life in real time with my smartphone and laptop. And I work in a connected office, one that knows how to automatically save energy and ensure security. From the moment I woke up today, I was immersed in an IoT world. And so were you. We are surrounded by connected devices, all of them collecting and transmitting vast amounts of information. That makes a seamless, smart and secure Internet of Things (IoT) important to us all. This week at IoT Solutions World Congress we are announcing new capabilities that further simplify the customer journey and deliver highly secured IoT solutions. These solutions help customers embrace IoT as a core strategy to drive better business outcomes, improve safety and address social issues, such as: Predicting and preventing equipment failures Optimizing smart buildings for space utilization and energy management Improving patient outcomes and worker safety Tracking assets across a supply chain that is constantly being optimized IDC expects that 41.6 billion devices — including smartphones, smart home assistants and appliances — will be connected to the internet by 2025[1]. At Microsoft, we are committed to providing a trusted, easy-to-use platform that allows our customers and partners to build seamless, smart and secure solutions regardless of where they are in their IoT journey. Making IoT seamless:Delivering new IoT innovations from cloud to edge In 2018, we  announced our commitment to invest $5 billion in IoT and intelligent edge — technology that is accelerating ubiquitous computing and bringing unparalleled opportunity for transformation across industries. Since then, we have launched more than 100 new services and features in our IoT platform designed to make IoT solutions more secure and scalable, reduce complexity, make our platform more open and create opportunities in new market areas. Azure IoT Central, our IoT app platform, reduces the burden and costs associated with developing, managing and maintaining enterprise-grade IoT solutions. With IoT Central you can provision an IoT application in 15 seconds, customize it in an hour and go to production the same day. And today, we are excited to announce a set of breakthrough features to help solution builders accelerate time-to-value: 11 new industry-focused application templates to accelerate solution builders across retail, health care, government and energy API support for extending IoT Central or integrating it with other solutions, including API support for device modeling, provisioning, lifecycle management, operations and data querying IoT Edge support, including management for edge devices and IoT Edge module deployments IoT plug-and-play support for rapid device development and connectivity The ability to save and load applications to enable application repeatability More data export options for continually exporting data to other Azure Platform as a Service (PaaS) services Multitenancy support to build and manage a single application with multiple tenants, each with their own isolated data, devices, users and roles Custom user roles for fine-grained access control to data, actions and configurations in the system A new pricing model for early 2020 to provide customers and partners with predictable pricing as usage scales A variety of partners are already using IoT Central to transform their industries. For example, C.H. Robinson, a Fortune 500 provider of multimodal transportation services and third-party logistics, is using Intel intelligent gateways and IoT tags managed by IoT Central, allowing it to quickly integrate IoT data and insights into its industry-leading Navisphere Vision product. Key retailers are using Navisphere, including Microsoft’s own supply-chain teams who are optimizing logistics and costs as we prepare to deliver Surface and Xbox products for the holidays. Read more on our IoT Central blog about how partners are leveraging IoT Central to transform their businesses and their industries. Making IoT smarter Azure IoT Hub is the core of our Azure IoT platform services. It is used by IoT Central and acts as a powerful cloud gateway, enabling bidirectional communication with millions of IoT devices. We are excited to announce new features that will make IoT solutions using IoT Hub even smarter: Azure Event Grid on IoT Edge brings the power and flexibility of Event Grid’s pub-sub semantics and event-driven model to the edge. The same runtime in the edge and the cloud creates a portable programming model to publish between modules, edge devices or to the cloud. As with the cloud, publish your own events or connect other modules like Azure Blob Storage on IoT Edge to leverage their built-in event capabilities when new blobs are created IoT Hub message enrichment adds the ability to stamp messages with rich information before they are sent, simplifying downstream processing and accelerating customer insights IoT Hub integrates with Azure Event Grid making it easier to send device telemetry events to Azure services These features will be in general availability by the end of November. Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping company, is using IoT Hub to move over 12 million containers a year all over the globe. “With Azure IoT Hub, we have seamless two-way communication between our IoT platform and devices,” says Siddhartha Kulkarni, digital solutions enabler, A.P. Moller – Maersk. “The ability to send commands from within Azure IoT Hub makes it a command and control system and not just a data ingestion system. Being able to set up Azure IoT Hub globally in different locations and regionalize data ingestion opens up many future options for us.” Read the Maersk customer story here. And Danfoss, a Danish company that creates products and provides services used to cool food, heat and air condition buildings and more, is using Azure IoT Hub to build IoT solutions with reliable and secure communications between its IoT devices for refrigerators and an Azure-hosted solution backend. Azure Maps inherits the goodness of Azure — including global scalability, robust security and data sovereignty — and provides location intelligence to IoT applications with mapping and geospatial services to drive insights and action. For 12 consecutive years, Gartner has recognized Microsoft as a leader in analytics and business intelligence. With integration into Power BI, Azure Maps now enables Power BI users to easily perform Geospatial Analytics, enabling customers to build out Azure Maps solutions that don’t require developer resources. And to provide world-class security, protection and compliance to government customers, Azure Maps is now available on Government Cloud. And now, in partnership with AccuWeather, Azure Maps customers can add geospatial weather intelligence into their applications to enable weather-based scenarios, such as routing, targeted marketing and operations optimization. “This is a game changer,” says Dr. Joel N. Myers, AccuWeather founder and CEO. “AccuWeather’s partnership with Microsoft gives all Azure Maps customers the ability to easily integrate authentic and highly accurate weather-based location intelligence and routing into their applications. This opens up new opportunities for organizations large and small to benefit from our superior weather data based on their unique needs.” Azure Time Series Insights provides a turnkey, end-to-end IoT analytics solution with rich semantic modeling for contextualization of time series data, asset-based insights, and a best-in-class user experience for discovery, trending, anomaly detection and operational intelligence. It is purpose-built for IoT scale data, allowing customers to focus on their businesses without having to worry about manageability of their infrastructure, regional availability or disaster recovery. We are excited to announce the new capabilities, releasing soon: Multilayered storage that provides the best of both worlds: lightning-fast access to frequently used data (“warm data”) and fast access to infrequently used historical data (“cold data”) Flexible cold storage: Historical data is stored in the customer’s own Azure Storage account, giving them complete control of their IoT data. Data is stored in open source Apache Parquet format, enabling predictive analytics, machine learning, and other custom computations using familiar technologies including Spark, Databricks and Jupyter Rich analytics: Rich query APIs and user experience supported interpolation, new scalar and aggregate functions, categorical variables, scatter plots and time shifting between time series signals for in-depth analysis Enterprise-grade scale: Scale and performance improvements at all layers, including ingestion, storage, query and metadata/model Extensibility and integration: New Time Series Insights Power BI connector allows customers to take queries from Time Series Insights into Power BI to get a unified view in a single pane of glass Through our Express Logic acquisition, Azure RTOS (real-time operating system) continues to enable new intelligent capabilities. It unlocks access to billions of new connected endpoints and grows the number of devices that can seamlessly connect to Azure. Renesas is a top MCU (MicroController Unit) manufacturer who shares our vision of making IoT development as easy and seamless as possible and we are excited to announce that Azure RTOS will be broadly available across Renesas’s products including the Synergy and RA MCU families. It is already integrated into the Renesas Synergy Software Package and will be integrated out-of-box with the Renesas RA Flexible Software Package). Making IoT more secure, from cloud to edge Enabling a future of intelligent and secure computing at the edge for organizations, enterprises and consumers will require advances in computer architecture down to the chip level, with security built in from the beginning. Microsoft is taking a holistic approach to securing the intelligent edge and IoT from the silicon to the cloud in a way that gives customers flexibility and control. Azure Sphere is quickly becoming the solution of choice for customers across industries — including Starbucks, Gojo and Leoni — as they look to securely connect existing mission-critical equipment and develop net-new devices and equipment with security built in. Today we are excited to announce the upcoming general availability of Azure Sphere in February 2020. Read more about the upcoming Azure Sphere general availability on the Microsoft Security blog. Our mission is to set a new standard for IoT security that makes it easier to securely connect existing equipment and create new devices with built-in security. In April 2018, we introduced Azure Sphere as an end-to-end solution that includes an Azure Sphere-certified chip, the Azure Sphere Operating System and the Azure Sphere Security Service. The solution is designed to make it easy for manufacturers to create innately secure devices and keep those devices up-to-date over time with over a decade of security and OS updates delivered directly to each device by Microsoft. Since we first introduced Azure Sphere, we’ve made tremendous progress delivering on our ambitious product vision, investing in partnerships and capabilities that help us serve customers wherever they are in their IoT journey. This includes our partnerships with silicon leaders to enable heterogeneity at the edge; our longstanding partnership with MediaTek, and our recent partnership announcements with NXP and Qualcomm, which will introduce the first cellular-enabled Azure Sphere-certified chip. Discover how to unlock your own IoT opportunities We have a number of ways to learn more, no matter what your goals are and where you are on your IoT journey. Come see us at IoT Solutions World Congress 2019 in Barcelona, Oct. 29–31, 2019. We will be bringing IoT solutions to life in our booth (#D411), across various industries and scenarios: IoT at Home, featuring ABB & EnOcean IoT on My Commute, featuring Dover Oil & Accenture IoT in the Office, featuring Bosch & Edge IoT in Store, featuring Codit & Cognizant IoT for a Drink, featuring Celli Group IoT in the Factory, featuring Softing & PTC [*]You can also catch my keynote on Tuesday, Oct. 29, Unlocking the Next Frontier of the Internet of Things. Join us at Microsoft Ignite in Orlando, Nov. 4–8, 2019. Visit us online to learn how to make great things happen with Microsoft Azure IoT. IoT has already revolutionized our lives by transforming everyday devices into an incredible connected universe. The question now is, are you ready for what’s next? [1] Worldwide Global DataSphere IoT Device and Data Forecast, 2019–2023, Doc # US45066919, May 2019 Continue reading...

https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/e97b6868edff2bbbdf641206f61b7f5b-1024x578.jpg The Outer Worlds, which won the best original game at E3 2019, is now available across the Xbox One family of devices, including Xbox One X and Windows PC. In this game, you awake from hibernation after drifting in space for 70 years on a lost colonist ship, the Hope. Here at the edge of the galaxy, corporations control all aspects of life in Halcyon, and they are hiding a dark secret that could destroy the colony. As you explore multiple locations in the game’s world, you will encounter various factions, and meet a host of multi-faceted characters who may offer assistance in your missions. But choose carefully, as the actions and choices you make will determine how this player-driven story unfolds. The Outer Worlds is available now for $59.99 for Xbox One and Windows PC through the Epic Games Store and Microsoft Store. It’s also available with Xbox Game Pass for Console and PC. Find out more on Xbox Wire. The post Outer Worlds now available on Windows PC and Xbox One appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19008 (20H1) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. IMPORTANT: As is normal with pre-release builds, these builds may contain bugs that might be painful for some. If you take this flight, you won’t be able to switch Slow or Release Preview rings without doing a clean-install on your PC. If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head over to Flight Hub. You can also check out the rest of our documentation here including a complete list of new features and updates that have gone out as part of Insider flights for the current development cycle. Not seeing any of the features in this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re on the Fast ring. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected. General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC For Insiders that were experiencing their PCs getting stuck on restart and shutdown on Builds 18999-19002: A fix for this was included with the update to Build 19002.1002, but in case you didn’t see it, including a note here too. If you didn’t install Build 19002.1002, you may need to use the workaround in order to upgrade to this build. We fixed an issue where, when optional updates were available, Insiders with the Settings header might see the Windows Update indicator in a warning state, although the main page of Windows Update Settings showed that everything is up to date. We fixed an issue resulting in sometimes not being able to bring Settings back up after minimizing the window. We’ve done some work to improve the launch speed of the taskbar jump lists. We fixed an issue resulting in the Program Compatibility Assistant popping up for some Insiders We fixed an issue resulting in Windows Hello unexpectedly showing an error message periodically saying “Can’t turn camera on” on recent builds. We cleaned up some UI in the Mouse pointer settings in Ease of Access. We fixed a bug in Narrator where Narrator was not reading link text in the proper language in the Chrome Browser. Known issues BattlEye and Microsoft have found incompatibility issues due to changes in the operating system between some Insider Preview builds and certain versions of BattlEye anti-cheat software. To safeguard Insiders who might have these versions installed on their PC, we have applied a compatibility hold on these devices from being offered affected builds of Windows Insider Preview. See this article for details. We’re investigating an issue where initiating “Reset this PC” with the cloud download option isn’t working on this build or the previous one when started from Windows RE. We’ve heard that Settings still isn’t available outside of launching via the URI (ms-settings:) for some Insiders and are investigating. When using dark theme, the hardware keyboard text prediction candidate window is unreadable due to black text on a dark grey background. Bluetooth devices may not reconnect as expected after closing the device lid for certain devices. We’re working on a fix, but in the meantime, you can toggle Bluetooth off and back on in the Settings app or reboot the device and that should resolve the issue. Some Insiders are still reporting that after successfully updating to a new build, the Windows Update Settings page may show the same build needs to install. You can verify the build was successfully installed by checking the build number in the corner of the screen or going to Win + R, typing winver, and confirming the build number. We’re investigating this issue. Some Insiders are still reporting that when viewing Optional drivers in the new section on the Windows Update page, there may be older drivers showing as available for download. If accepted, they will attempt to install and fail to do so. We’re investigating this issue. Go flight now! Another Windows Insider Program 5th Anniversary surprise is coming soon for our Windows Insiders, but you have to be flighting to receive it. Start flighting by October 31st to earn your next badge! Celebrate Halloween with Bing! Are you ready to get spooky? Our Halloween feature provides you with the best costumes, recipes, crafts, movies, and so much more. Whether it’s throwing a Halloween party or winning the best costume, you can do it all with Bing! If you want to be among the first to learn about these Bing features, join our Bing Insiders Program. Thanks, BLB The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19008 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/2019/10/USDA-1024x683.jpg The USDA is using data and AI to address the critical need to sustainably feed a global population, potentially revolutionizing how food is grown. I have been talking a lot this year about democratizing digital. It is about empowering everyone to have a digital experience and enabling everyone to participate in the digital economy. This trend is large-scale, with broad business and social impact. This was clear earlier this month at the Microsoft Government Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C. There, I met with federal agency and department leaders to discuss how cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) are delivering new levels of innovation and impacting entire markets and industries. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers one of the best examples of the power of data and AI to transform agricultural productivity through the FarmBeats initiative. By using data from sensors, drones, satellites and tractors, farmers hope to reduce costs, increase yields and grow crops that are more sustainable. The USDA is piloting FarmBeats at its largest research facility — a 7,000-acre farm in Beltsville, Maryland, with plans to expand the technology to more than 200 farms in the national research network, ranging from small family farms to large commercial operations. Another example of government innovation is taking place within the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Office of Aviation Services. The DOI is increasing the speed, accuracy and scalability of data captured from over 500 million acres of land from its unmanned aviation systems — more commonly known as drones. By leveraging Power BI and PowerApps, employees can build tools and custom applications to quickly gain insights from data captured during critical missions (like natural disaster relief). https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/2019/10/Novartis-1024x576.jpg Novartis is bringing together deep bioscience and AI to help patients worldwide, reinventing treatment discovery and development. Health care is one of the most important areas of focus as we talk about democratizing digital. To support this, we have announced three important partnerships, each aimed at solving pressing challenges facing doctors, researchers and patients. Yesterday we announced our seven-year partnership with Humana to develop predictive solutions for personalized and secure patient support. Using the Microsoft Azure cloud, Azure AI and Microsoft 365, Humana will also be able to equip home health care workers with real-time access to information and voice technology to better understand key factors that influence patient health. We also announced last week a partnership with health care solutions provider Nuance to transform the doctor-patient experience through the delivery of ambient clinical intelligence technologies (ACI). By using speech-recognition technology and advanced conversational AI with Azure, doctors will have more time to focus on meaningful conversations with their patients. Once a patient gives consent to the ACI system, the clinical documentation writes itself — all while meeting the security and privacy requirements of this regulated industry. Novartis will bring Microsoft AI capabilities together with its deep expertise in life sciences to address specific challenges that make the process of discovering, developing and delivering new medicines so costly and time-consuming. Today, it typically takes 10 years and more than $2 billion to develop and bring to market a new prescription drug. Because streamlining this process could save so many lives, our goal is to empower Novartis associates at each step of drug development to use AI to unlock the insights hidden in vast amounts of data, even if they are not data scientists by training. https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/2019/10/Technicolor-1024x576.jpg Technicolor is empowering creative professionals to collaborate together in the cloud from anywhere in the world. I am excited to see the cloud revolutionizing the media and entertainment industry, empowering creators to tell stories more collaboratively. Studios and broadcasters around the world are looking to the cloud to unlock new, more efficient ways to create, produce and distribute content. We are working with The Walt Disney Studios, as a StudioLAB innovation partner, to pilot new ways to use the Microsoft Azure cloud platform to accelerate innovation in the production and postproduction process — or from “scene to screen.” Technicolor is moving Pulse, its cutting-edge data asset management platform, to Azure to empower content creators to quickly and easily organize and access their work from anywhere in the world. Plus, in India, we are collaborating with Eros Now to build a next-generation platform on Azure, strengthening the company’s position as a leading provider of online video streaming entertainment for viewers around the world. https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/2019/10/Majans-1024x576.jpg Majans is one of the first manufacturers in the world to deploy the IoT intelligence capabilities of Dynamics 365 Supply Chain, capturing salt, flavor and moisture readings from its production line. Seeing the industry momentum above reinforces the fact that every company can be a technology company, and everyone can benefit from a digital experience to become more agile, efficient and data-driven. Ste. Michelle Wine Estates is creating a holistic consumer experience by reimagining the shopping journey with Dynamics 365 Commerce, bridging physical and digital channels. The leading Australian snack food business Majans is using Dynamics 365 AI-driven insights to create a digital feedback loop for production and distribution on a global scale, bringing the company closer to its factory of the future. To keep inspiring innovation, we continue to expand and deepen our relationships with many companies — including other technology providers. We are working with Oracle to streamline workflows that enable customers to use AI-powered voice within Microsoft Teams to access Oracle Cloud Applications. Two days ago, we announced an extensive go-to-market partnership with SAP to continue powering business transformation for enterprise customers, making it easier to migrate to the cloud. This exciting milestone is another step toward helping our customers reduce complexities and minimize cost while leveraging best-in-class technologies. Further, we are building upon our long-standing partnership with Samsung to combine our intelligent experiences with Samsung’s devices to help people be more productive on any device, anywhere. Across all these examples, I am amazed by the scale and impact of our customers’ digital ambitions — from government to health care to media and beyond. I look forward to seeing our customers’ innovations solve even more business, industry and societal challenges around the world. Continue reading...

https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/70d12a32e147141f6c62d7372c45d3d7-1024x578.jpg Since Panos Panay announced the new Surface line-up on Oct. 2, we have seen strong excitement from our customers. We’re thrilled to add this amazing new line up of Surface devices to Microsoft Store, including: Surface Pro 7 available today, starting from $749. New and improved, Surface Pro 7 remains the most versatile 2:1 device you can buy. The always-connected Surface Pro X, a bold new take on the iconic 2:1, will be available soon on November 7 and can be pre-ordered today. Surface Laptop 3 delivers style and speed, now with a choice of 13.5” display (starting from $999) or 15” display (starting from $1,199). New colors and finishes are available today. We encourage all customers to visit our Stores today and experience the entire Surface line-up. Our associates are trusted advisers and can help you find the perfect Surface for you. Or, you can learn more and buy now at microsoft.com. You can also easily compare and choose the best Surface for you by answering just a few short questions, using our Help Me Choose tool. Celebrating the arrival of new Surface devices at Microsoft Store Microsoft Store strives to be the best place to experience Surface devices, offering the following: New Surface devices are available for as low as $20/month with qualifying trade-in and 24-month financing. Surface All Access enables you to get a new Surface and Office 365 for one low monthly price with no upfront cost. This option makes it easy to start working right away with your new Surface device, Office 365 subscription, and the accessories you want, while getting world-class protection and support. Microsoft Store offers expert advice on how to make the most of your Surface. For a limited time, when you buy your new Surface at Microsoft Store in U.S. or Canada, you receive free personal training – over $100 value – to help you set up your new device and learn new skills. At Microsoft.com, you can shop all of the new Surface devices online with free shipping and free returns, buy online and pick up in store, and easy access to great accessories for your new Surface. All day today Microsoft Store will be hosting launch celebrations at all locations, including personal setup and free personal training of new devices from our expert staff. Experience product demos like the magic of Surface Pen on OneNote, join creativity and productivity workshops and more. We look forward to helping you find the perfect Surface for home, work, school or anywhere in between. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/27bab381637c8d5c18e5d52c714c3e40.jpg New Surface devices keep you in your flow As Panos shared, Surface keeps you in your flow so you can be your most creative and productive. Surface Pro 7 is redesigned from the inside out, and is now twice as fast with a 10th Generation Intel Core processor, both USB-A and USB-C and an all-day battery.1 Surface Pro X is the thinnest, lightest, most powerful and most connected Surface Pro ever. The new Microsoft SQ1 processor codesigned with Qualcomm offers 2 teraflops of graphics processing power and is the fastest Qualcomm processor ever created for a PC. The new Surface Pro X Signature Keyboard includes pen docking for secure storage and charging for the new Slim Pen. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/50c210d1d87fbdddaa8836e1239ac939.jpg Balancing power and elegance, the new Surface Laptop 3 is twice as fast with the same slim design and all-day battery life.2 Updated with the 10th Generation Intel Core processor, Surface Laptop 3 13.5” comes in new colors including Sandstone, Cobalt, tone-on-tone Alcantara or new machined aluminum all-metal finish. Surface Laptop 3 15” is the fastest 15” laptop you can buy3, offering industry-leading integrated graphics performance with the new AMD Ryzen Surface Edition processor. Surface Laptop 3 offers both USB-A and USB-C and Fast Charging, taking your Surface device to an 80% charge in about an hour. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/fcb9cedd83208b5f2c1e2d4bf1aae165-1024x683.jpg Come and visit us at Microsoft Store or microsoft.com and get your new Surface device today! 1 Up to 10.5 hours of battery life based on typical Surface device usage. Testing conducted by Microsoft in September 2019 using preproduction software and preproduction Intel Corehttps://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11.2.0/72x72/2122.png i5, 256GB, 8 GB RAM device. Battery life varies significantly with settings, usage and other factors. See surface.com. 2 Up to 11.5 hours of battery life based on typical Surface device usage. Testing conducted by Microsoft in September 2019 using preproduction software and preproduction 13.5” Intel Corehttps://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/11.2.0/72x72/2122.png i5, 256GB, 8 GB RAM and 15” AMD Ryzen 5 3580U Mobile Processor with Radeon Vega 9 Graphics Microsoft Surface Edition devices. Battery life varies significantly with settings, usage and other factors. See surface.com. 3 Class as defined as premium ultrathin 15” that are max 20mm in height and have a TDP of 15W and which run AMD Ryzen processors. Data measured by AMD and Microsoft in September 2019. Tests run on pre-production Software and Hardware. The post New Surface devices now available at Microsoft Store! appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

I’m excited to announce that Microsoft has acquired Mover, a leading provider of cloud file migration, including admin-led and self-service offerings. As customer demand to move content to the cloud continues to grow, Mover will help make it easier than ever for customers to migrate files to Microsoft 365. Our goal is to help customers move to the cloud with confidence. Today, we offer several options to support cloud file migrations, including FastTrack and offerings from trusted Microsoft partners, as well as the SharePoint Migration Tool for migrating content from on-premises SharePoint sites and file shares to Microsoft 365. Mover will enhance these offerings with proven tools, plus more self-service options over time. Today, Mover supports migration from over a dozen cloud service providers – including Box, Dropbox, Egnyte, and Google Drive – into OneDrive and SharePoint, enabling seamless file collaboration across Microsoft 365 apps and services, including the Office apps and Microsoft Teams. The Mover team also brings deep expertise and migration technology, which advances Microsoft’s commitment to providing organizations of all sizes with the right tools, people and partners to successfully migrate to the Microsoft Cloud. Together with Mover, we’ll continue to provide customers with fast and reliable migrations to the cloud, with best practices and security and more connectors to more source systems, ultimately making the move into Microsoft 365 as seamless and cost effective as possible. We are excited to welcome Mover to Microsoft and encourage you to get started on your migration today at Mover.io. Learn more here about how to use and adopt Microsoft 365 with Microsoft FastTrack. Stay tuned for updates at Ignite 2019 (November 4-8, 2019), where we plan to share more details about Mover integration and new capabilities to make it easier to plan, analyze, and move your content into Microsoft 365. Continue reading...

The National Vulnerability Database has shown a significant increase in the number of targeted firmware attacks since 2016. To protect the integrity of the PC boot process and data stored in memory, Microsoft and its OEM partners have created a new set of device requirements that have been built into specially designed PCs and apply security best practices of isolation and minimal trust to the firmware layer, or the device core, that underpins the Windows operating system. These new devices are called Secured-core PCs. “These devices are designed specifically for industries like financial services, government and healthcare, and for workers that handle highly-sensitive intellectual property, customer or personal data, including PII as these are higher value targets for nation-state attackers,” says David Weston, Microsoft partner director of OS security, in a Microsoft Security blog post. “Secured-core PCs combine identity, operating system, hardware and firmware protection to add another layer of security underneath the operating system. Unlike software-only security solutions, Secured-core PCs are designed to prevent these kinds of attacks rather than simply detecting them.” Visit the Microsoft Security blog post to learn more about firmware security and what’s behind the design of Secured-Core PCs. You can also find out how to get devices verified as Secured-core PC, including those from Dell, Dynabook, HP, Lenovo and Panasonic. The post Microsoft and partners build firmware protection into Secured-core PCs appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Our partnership with SAP is built on a shared commitment to deliver the best cloud experience for customers. From working together to create a trusted path to digital transformation in the cloud, to simplifying and accelerating cloud journeys through a shared commitment under the Project Embrace program, the SAP and Microsoft partnership continues to power business transformation for enterprise customers. Today’s announcement marks another exciting milestone in our longstanding partnership. Through a new, unique and differentiated agreement that builds upon and strengthens the Embrace program, Microsoft Azure is now SAP’s preferred cloud partner to move on-premise SAP ERP and S/4HANA customers to the cloud. The new go-to-market agreement ensures our customers can choose a cloud migration strategy to SAP S/4HANA on Azure that reduces complexities, minimizes cost, and leverages the best-in-class technologies and expertise of both companies. Our customers want our two companies to come together to enable their business outcomes and drive digital transformation, and this agreement is an important step in that direction. With our renewed commitment to the Embrace program, we will offer our customers a powerful combination of unified reference architectures, industry-specific best practices, implementation services and support all packaged up in a holistic bundle that makes it easy to migrate to the cloud. The SAP and Microsoft partnership has spanned more than 25 years, and with our dedication to working together to bring the power of the cloud to an expanded base of customers, we are excited to see what the future holds. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19002 (20H1) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. IMPORTANT: As is normal with pre-release builds, these builds may contain bugs that might be painful for some. If you take this flight, you won’t be able to switch Slow or Release Preview rings without doing a clean-install on your PC. If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head over to Flight Hub. You can also check out the rest of our documentation here including a complete list of new features and updates that have gone out as part of Insider flights for the current development cycle. Not seeing any of the features in this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re on the Fast ring. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected. What’s new in Build 19002 Update on improving your Bluetooth Experience With Build 18985 we announced we were working on improving our streamlined workflow for pairing your Bluetooth devices. We’re happy to share that this change is now rolling out to 100% of Insiders–thank you to those that have already tried it and shared feedback! https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/d25e0c431d638c08a800e86bb0cde993.gif We also wanted to add two new peripherals to our supported device list: Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard Microsoft Bluetooth Mouse General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC We fixed an issue that could result in upgrades failing with error 0x8007042b. We fixed an issue resulting in the acrylic effect in the Action Center only appearing after the Action Center opening animation had finished. We fixed an issue where with multiple monitors and different DPIs, the File Explorer search box could become enlarged and offset. We fixed an issue with the search indexer resulting in unexpected files being returned as search results when searching using French (France). We fixed an issue for Japanese users where the user name in the Settings header wasn’t displayed in the correct order. We fixed an issue resulting in clipboard history, WIN+(Period), and the touch keyboard displaying English text when being used with non-English display languages. We fixed a race condition that could result in devices not reconnecting after toggling Bluetooth off and back on. We fixed an issue resulting in the VPN sometimes not automatically connecting after waking your device from sleep. We fixed an issue that could result in the brightness getting stuck at 0 or 100% and requiring a reboot before it could be changed. Text cursor indicator works better in more experiences (e.g. Word, Run dialog, Outlook) now. The Magnifier centered text cursor option should now work correctly when switching Magnifier modes. We fixed the mouse pointer visual when using the Magnifier docked mode. We fixed a bug where Narrator was not saying the state of Scan mode when Edge was opened or closed. We fixed a bug in Narrator where Narrator sometimes say password twice when focus was in a password edit field. We fixed a bug in Narrator where scan mode was getting stuck in edit fields in Firefox. We’ve made some general improvements and bug fixes for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), please see the WSL release notes for details. If you were one of the Insiders experiencing frequent explorer.exe crashes recently, please go to the Microsoft Store and check for Xbox game bar app updates (specifically version 3.34.4xx should have the fix). If you’re on this app version and still seeing explorer.exe crashes, please file feedback and we will investigate. Just a heads up that we’re expanding the rollout of the Settings header to more Insiders, so it may now appear for you when it hadn’t before. As always, we welcome feedback about Settings – in the Feedback Hub you can share it under Desktop Environment > Settings. Known issues We’re working on a fix for an issue that started with the previous flight where some devices are getting stuck during shutdown or restart and appreciate your patience. If you’re impacted by this issue, please see this forum post for workaround options. There has been an issue with older versions of anti-cheat software used with games where after updating to the latest 19H1 Insider Preview builds may cause PCs to experience crashes. We are working with partners on getting their software updated with a fix, and most games have released patches to prevent PCs from experiencing this issue. To minimize the chance of running into this issue, please make sure you are running the latest version of your games before attempting to update the operating system. We are also working with anti-cheat and game developers to resolve similar issues that may arise with the 20H1 Insider Preview builds and will work to minimize the likelihood of these issues in the future. We’re investigating an issue where initiating “Reset this PC” with the cloud download option isn’t working on this build or the previous one when started from Windows RE. We’ve heard that Settings still isn’t available outside of launching via the URI (ms-settings:) for some Insiders and are investigating. When using dark theme, the hardware keyboard text prediction candidate window is unreadable due to black text on a dark grey background. When optional updates are available, Insiders with the Settings header may see the Windows Update indicator in a warning state, although the main page of Windows Update Settings shows that everything is up to date. Bluetooth devices may not reconnect as expected after closing the device lid for certain devices. We’re working on a fix, but in the meantime, you can toggle Bluetooth off and back on in the Settings app or reboot the device and that should resolve the issue. September Windows Insider Leaderboard now available See if you topped our lists on the new September 2019 Windows Insider Leaderboard, and try to make next month’s by giving us feedback for new builds, getting upvotes on your feedback, and completing quests through the Feedback Hub! Learn more about how you can be on the Leaderboard. Learn more about the US 2020 Candidates with Bing Are you keeping up with the US 2020 Candidates? Bing makes this easy. Learn more about these individuals through Bing’s carousel feature for both Democratic Candidates and Republican Candidates. Through the carousel, Bing provides you with news articles, opinions, special dates, and videos related to your selected candidate. Stay informed with Bing! If you want to be among the first to learn about these Bing features, join our Bing Insiders Program. But wait there’s more… Shout out to the Windows Insider Cadenzza on Twitter who is lucky we released Build 19002 today instead of Build 19001, so he doesn’t have to delete his computer. We’re not sure how one deletes an entire computer, but we’re happy he doesn’t have to do this. Thanks, BLB The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19002 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Today, I’m proud to announce the second Female Founders Competition, a global contest to identify and fund top women entrepreneurs who are leading enterprise tech startups. This year, Microsoft’s venture fund, M12, is partnering with Mayfield and Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company founded by Melinda Gates, to help create a more equitable playing field for innovative female founders. It’s well-documented that women-led companies deliver higher returns over time than those founded by men, yet female founders—particularly of enterprise tech startups—continue to receive significantly less access to capital. In fact, last year companies founded solely by women received only 2.3% of the total capital invested in venture-backed startups. While we’re seeing some pockets of progress, we as a VC community can do much more to support and financially back innovation and ideas from women-led companies. But where do we start? Last year, M12 and our partners set out to expand the path to funding for women entrepreneurs by upending the traditional formula for sourcing potential investments. Through our first Female Founders Competition, we set the standard VC networks aside and made an open call for the talent to come to us. It worked. We received hundreds of applications and awarded a total of $4 million to two innovative women entrepreneurs: Greta Cutulenco, CEO and co-founder of Acerta; and Julie Dorsey, founder and chief scientist of Mental Canvas. In the time since, I’ve been inspired by how the winners leveraged these investments as springboards to expand their companies and grow their industry footprints. For me, it’s a deeply personal issue – I share more on the subject in this Evoke essay. I’ve worked with startups for much of my career. I’ve seen the obstacles that female founders face just to get a seat at the table. And women like Greta and Julie remind me every day of the incredible opportunity that these underrepresented founders represent – not just for investors, but for all of us who believe in the power of technology. That’s why I’m proud to share our commitment to helping continue this progress by casting an even wider net. As part of this year’s competition, we’re expanding our geographic reach, adding a new award category and increasing our combined investment with Mayfield and Pivotal Ventures from $4M to $6M. This enables us to award funds to four female-founded companies: two $2M awards for B2B enterprise technology and two additional $1M awards for women-led companies in deeptech, which is another critically underfunded area of opportunity. We’re also extending eligibility beyond the United States, Europe, and Israel by accepting applications from India. I encourage you to watch this video where Pivotal Ventures’ Melinda Gates, Mayfield’s Navin Chaddha and I discuss why we’re so passionate about this issue and this competition. I hope you will be inspired, as we are, to find new ways to help create a more equal seat at the table for women founders. YouTube Video Submissions are open now through December 15, 2019. Female-founded teams building enterprise SaaS or deeptech solutions are encouraged to apply at www.FemaleFoundersComp.com. We can’t wait to see who we find and fund. Continue reading...

The world of IoT is more exciting than ever, transforming every business on the planet, and that transformation is accelerating. Advances in AI and ML are helping companies across industries gain efficiencies; reduce downtime, waste, and errors; and improve customer satisfaction by harnessing the power of the Intelligent Edge and Intelligent Cloud. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/063c8014b177993b981b9cce4b1ce908-1024x535.jpg Windows has been powering enterprise-grade embedded devices for more than two decades, and during the keynote today at CEATEC Japan, I shared Microsoft’s strategy for how Windows for IoT helps device builders of all sizes quickly create IoT solutions that bring digital transformation to life for customers with smart and secure IoT devices. With a special focus at CEATAC on the evolution of smart cities, smart buildings and smart infrastructure under the “Society 5.0” framework, we’re excited that Windows for IoT delivers a scalable family of operating systems as the foundation for building intelligent edge devices. This family includes: Windows 10 IoT Core is built for small-footprint smart devices, while still offering the manageability and security expected from Windows, and along with Windows 10 IoT Core Services ensures long-term OS support and services for managing Over-the-Air (OTA) device updates and device health. A great example of how Windows 10 IoT Core is being used is Hourfleet, a ride-sharing platform addressing urban mobility challenges faced by many cities, towns, and communities. The Hourfleet platform is a globally deployable, robust and cost-effective product underpinned by Windows 10 IoT Core and Azure IoT. Windows 10 IoT Enterprise This full-featured edition of Windows 10 IoT delivers enterprise manageability and locked-down capabilities for fixed-function smart devices. Companies like City Beacon are building next-generation intelligent infrastructure based on Windows 10 IoT Enterprise. City Beacon has built a Smart Hub that can be located on city streets and venues; these multifunctional kiosks house a variety of IoT devices, connected to fast networks providing citizens with access to hyperlocal apps and services. Windows Server IoT 2019 Windows Server IoT is for the most demanding edge-computing workloads, for connecting, storing and analyzing data from large databases of connected applications, networks and web services. Expanding silicon choices Today we are announcing the General Availability of the Windows 10 IoT Core Board Support Packages for the NXP i.MX family of processors, including i.MX6, i.MX7, i.MX 8M and i.MX 8M Mini application processor families. NXP is a leader in highly secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications and bringing NXP i.MX and Windows 10 IoT Core together provides device builders with additional choices for building secure, commercial-grade, connected devices. Windows 10 IoT Core enables secure, power-optimized devices for the Intelligent Edge. Developers can quickly build new intelligent devices using the familiar and powerful Windows development environment and commercialize them using our powerful Azure IoT platform. By embracing the NXP family of processors, we’re bringing a whole new range of industrial-grade silicon choices to IoT project engineers. “We are pleased to have reached the General Availability milestone and continue to build our partnership with Microsoft,” says Jeff Miles, vice president of Business Development, Secure IoT Edge to Cloud Products at NXP. “With this addition, NXP customers now have access to industry-leading edge-computing solutions, from i.MX 6 to i.MX 7 and i.MX 8M across Windows 10 IoT Core for advanced industrial and IoT applications, harnessing the full power of Azure in their intelligent edge products.” Customers adopting NXP i.MX and Windows 10 IoT Core We are already seeing boards and devices using the NXP i.MX processors with over 15 boards available or in development from the partner ecosystem. As an example, Diagramics has built an NXP i.MX8-based solution with Windows 10 IoT Core to build rich client devices, certified by Azure IoT Device Catalog, and enable IOT plug-n-play registration of these devices with Azure IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service. More information can be found on the boards and solutions. During the keynote I also shared a brand-new solution from Smart Tower based on the combination of Windows 10 IoT Core, NXP, and Azure IOT. The solution is designed to improve reliability and reduce downtime for critical public infrastructure, such as cell towers or electricity distribution networks. Smart Tower designed the solution to take full advantage of edge processing, creating a sensor module attached to the tower and a ground control unit that analyzes the health of the tower in real time, supporting high latency or disconnected scenarios. Additionally, the solution leverages Azure IOT Hub to manage and connect the devices and enables historical analysis across the whole network of towers being monitored. Smart Tower chose the combination of NXP, i.MX and Windows 10 IoT Core because of the extreme operating conditions the device would endure, and the familiar Windows IoT platform reduced the development costs and time to market. Continued Innovation at the edge Earlier this year, we enabled support for Azure IoT Edge on Windows 10 IoT Enterprise and Windows Server IoT 2019. This makes it easy and seamless to integrate the IoT Edge runtime, making it possible to move machine learning algorithms and other similarly complex computing functions from the cloud to edge devices. Windows for IoT also supports Windows Machine Learning and Windows Vision Skills, which allows you to run advanced AI algorithms developed in Azure on any Windows for IoT device. Industry-leading ML at the edge: New Windows ML Container The new Windows ML container, available today as an insider preview, is specifically designed for delivering AI-inferencing workloads built using the Windows ML API. Windows ML container gives businesses a fast and agile platform to build enterprise-grade IoT solutions. It combines the advanced features of Windows with the security of the Windows 10 IoT platform and the manageability of the Azure IoT Edge service. Windows ML containers provide hosted AI workloads with hardware acceleration and direct access to the host’s peripheral devices. Hosted workloads can use sensors or cameras connected using USB, I2C, SPI or GPIO. Hardware acceleration is available using any DirectX 12- capable GPU or Microsoft Compute Driver Model-compliant ASICs attached to the host. By optimizing the container specifically for AI workloads, the on-disk size of the container is approximately 350 MB, significantly smaller than any other GPU-enabled inferencing container in the market. With this smaller size, customers can manage Windows ML containers more easily and at lower cost. Find out more about the Windows ML container Insider Preview. Introducing SQL Server IoT 2019: Data storage and analytics on Windows for IoT SQL Server has been available for embedded usage for many years, and we are excited to bring the latest SQL Server 2019 capabilities to embedded device builders. We are introducing SQL Server IoT 2019, which is the binary equivalent to SQL Server 2019 and will be licensed through the OEM channel and is specifically designed for dedicated-use, server-class edge appliances running application software. Coupled with Windows Server IoT 2019, Microsoft SQL Server IoT 2019 provides a comprehensive database platform for mission-critical data analytics and unmatched scalability, industry-leading performance and security and intelligence over all your data. SQL Server IOT brings real-time analytics on operational data with in-memory technologies with higher concurrency and scale through persistent memory. Microsoft SQL Server IoT 2019 will be available before the end of the year. Microsoft is making substantial investments in cloud connectivity and using the power of Windows to accelerate our customers’ journeys to the cloud and the intelligent edge. The innovations we announced at CEATAC and the real-world IoT solutions being built by our customers and partners are just the start of the exciting path ahead for Windows for IoT. If you’re at CEATEC this week, be sure to visit Microsoft booth A012 to experience these Windows IoT solutions firsthand or on the web. The post Windows for IoT adds expanded silicon support and new intelligent edge capabilities to accelerate digital transformation appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/d838e29e23edfca187af47fd65ff2d7e-1024x509.jpg Razer has debuted what it calls “the world’s first optical keyboard designed for gaming laptops,” meaning that it has added next-generation optical switches to the Razer Blade 15 gaming laptop. This keyboard has been designed for gaming enthusiasts who demand near instant key actuation, satisfying tactile feedback and rapid-fire inputs. Under every key, an infrared light beam detects when a key is pressed (actuation), allowing for much greater precision and speed versus conventional laptop keyboards. Players can thus input more commands in less time in the heat of battle. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/5cf4c5fdbfe2b4240d2444bfa0744b8c-1024x593.jpg The optical keyboard also features N-Key Rollover (NKRO) with anti-ghosting. Since the optical keyboard utilizes light to register inputs instead of a traditional physical contact, this ensures that only one stroke is registered instantly without any delay. The new optical laptop keyboard is currently available only in the Razer Blade 15 Advanced for $2,649 with more models to follow in 2020. It’s available now from Razer.com and select retailers in the U.S., Canada and China. It will be coming soon to select countries in Asia-Pacific. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/1eda0f6fc60aaf52edcf7b8b86013f51-1024x576.jpg Razer also announced the addition of a Quartz Pink color option, exclusive to the Razer Blade 15 Base model with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics. The base model features the staple CNC milled aluminum chassis and unibody design but with an anodized pink finish. It is decorated with a subtle tone-on-tone Razer logo and comes with a full Quartz Pink keyboard with Razer Chroma RGB lighting and a custom Quartz Pink OS theme. Internally, the Razer Blade 15 Quartz Pink Base model packs a six core Intel Core i7-9750H processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU. The laptop also features a full array of connectivity options including Gigabit Wi-Fi speeds, Bluetooth 5, Thunderbolt 3 and Ethernet. It comes loaded out with 16GB DDR4 RAM and a 512GB PCIe SSD, both of which can be easily upgraded. It’s now available for $1,999 through Razer.com and select retailers in the U.S., Canada and China. The post Razer introduces ‘world’s first optical laptop keyboard’ and Quartz Pink to Razer Blade 15 gaming laptop appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders! We are now getting the Windows 10 November 2019 Update (19H2) ready for release. We believe that Build 18363.418 is the final build and we will continue to improve the overall experience of 19H2 on customers’ PCs as part of our normal servicing cadence. Build 18363.418 includes all of the latest 19H2 features as well as the latest fixes included as part of KB4517389. Windows Insiders in the Release Preview ring already have this build, so no action is needed from them to get this build. As we have communicated previously, the May 2019 Update (version 1903) and November 2019 Update (version 1909) share the same servicing content. That means they share the same Cumulative Update packages. For customers who were given the option to install 19H2, an enablement package is downloaded from Windows Update that turns on the November 2019 Update features. This changes the build number for the OS from Build 18362 to Build 18363. Because they use the same servicing content, the build revision number (the number that comes after the dot) will always match between May 2019 Update and November 2019 Update. Today, customers on the May 2019 Update have Build 18362.418 but Windows Insiders on the November 2019 Update have Build 18363.418. Check your Windows Insider Program settings With the Windows 10 November 2019 Update now being finalized, we are planning to move Windows Insiders in the Slow ring forward to 20H1. We are looking to make this change in the coming weeks. Now is the time for you to verify your desired Windows Insider Program settings by going to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Insider Program to ensure you are on the ring you want to be on before this change occurs. If you are an Insider who wishes to remain on the November 2019 Update – you will want to switch to the Release Preview ring. In the coming weeks, we plan to move Insiders who are on Build 18362.100xxx forward to the final November 2019 Update build. How to get the November 2019 Update from the Release Preview ring For those who are not already on the Release Preview ring – you can get the November 2019 Update today by joining the Windows Insider Program with your Microsoft account (MSA) or Azure Active Directory account and joining your PC to the Release Preview using the following steps. Step 1: Go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Insider Program and click the “Get started” button. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/b789c9d28b0b25321d0a98b12749fb86.png Step 2: Link your Microsoft account or Azure Active Directory account. This is the email account you used to register for the Windows Insider Program. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/6a7b5c495efbc557f1359d39f71f0904.png Step 3: Choose “Just fixes, apps, and drivers” to join the Release Preview ring and get the November 2019 Update. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/2ea5c577bdcfe2d55873bba61ff65c9f.png Step 4: Confirm the legal stuff. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/8cc54b9bc368b29961a9dcf6641c0a68.png Step 5: Press “Restart Now” to ensure your PC is now in the Release Preview ring. Without restarting your PC, your PC won’t be fully be joined. A restart is required. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/4db8c33b0af2534d824a84ec5626ab74.png Step 6: After rebooting your PC, double-check your Windows Insider Program settings via Settings > Update & Security > Windows Insider Program and make sure it shows “Release Preview” under “What pace do you want to get new builds?”. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/9886dc80228bd86b46bf6695d859918e.png Step 7: If you go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and press the “Check for updates” button – your PC should receive the November 2019 Update. Once your PC is on the November 2019 Update, we will continue to release Cumulative Updates as you normally would that improve your experience. Thanks, BLB The post Getting the November 2019 Update Ready for Release appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18999 (20H1) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. IMPORTANT: As is normal with pre-release builds, these builds may contain bugs that might be painful for some. If you take this flight, you won’t be able to switch Slow or Release Preview rings without doing a clean-install on your PC. If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head over to Flight Hub. You can also check out the rest of our documentation here including a complete list of new features and updates that have gone out as part of Insider flights for the current development cycle. Not seeing any of the features in this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re on the Fast ring. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected. Other updates for Insiders Your Phone app – unveiling Calls, now even more ways to stay connected to what matters We first announced the Calling feature at the Samsung Unpacked event in August, and you saw a live demo at last week’s Surface event. Today, we’re excited to unveil the Calls feature to the Windows Insider community. Check out this early preview and let us know what you think. No need to dig for your Android phone to answer your personal or work calls. You can now stay connected by simply answering (or not) your phone calls on your PC. Tap into your PC’s speakers, microphone, and large screen for a richer calling experience. With the Calls feature you can: Answer incoming phone calls on your PC. Initiate phone calls from your PC using in-app dialer or contact list. Decline incoming phone calls on your PC with custom text or send directly to your phone’s voicemail. Access your recent call history on your PC. Clicking on a specific call will auto populate the number within the dialer screen. Seamlessly transfer calls between your PC and phone. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/353d84aedcab0624e95567e0aea09337.png Calls requirements: Android Phones 7.0 or higher Windows 10 PC with Bluetooth radio Requires 19H1build or newer Requires minimum Windows 10 build 18362.356 Known issue: In certain instances, Calls feature may require you to pair your mobile phone & PC again. If you have previously paired your devices, unpair your devices and go through the Calls set up flow again. This feature will gradually roll out to Insiders on 19H2 builds or newer, so it may take a few days to be available inside the Your Phone app. We value your feedback, so give it a try and let us know what you think. You can report any issues under the Your Phone > Settings > Send feedback. Update on the ability to move & resize Cortana’s window We first started rolling out this change with Build 18975, and wanted to share that as of today’s build, this work is now available for all Insiders. Please note that we’re still in the process of expanding language/region support of the new Cortana app (as discussed here), and Insiders outside of English (United States) will see a message when launching Cortana saying “Cortana isn’t available.” We’ll update you when the availability increases. General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders seeing error 0x8007023e when installing updates. We fixed an issue where, after successfully updating to Build 18995, the Windows Update Settings page might show the same build still needs to install. After installing Build 18999, you won’t see this issue on future flights. We fixed an issue resulting in the Optional Features page in Settings crashing for some Insiders. We fixed an issue where some Insiders were finding that Settings doesn’t launch from the button in Start, isn’t listed in the All apps list, or as a search result. If you are impacted, pressing WIN+R and inputting “ms-settings:” (without the quotes) will launch Settings if you need it. We fixed a deadlock in the Network and Sharing Center Control Panel, that could result in it not loading. We fixed an issue where if Cortana had been moved from the default position, then it wouldn’t be visible when you tried to launch it via the WIN+C keyboard shortcut. We fixed an issue where when on battery saver SearchFilterHost.exe might use an unexpectedly high volume of CPU. We fixed an issue where search would crash if a Start Menu layout including a folder had been applied via group policy. We fixed an issue impacted VPN connection reliability. We fixed an issue in Narrator which caused Chrome to become unstable when navigating web contents. In Narrator braille, group header contextual elements are now represented with a “grp” abbreviation instead of “group.” Narrator would not show the text being spoken when returning to the same edit field in braille just after navigating back from an element that did not support a standard text control. Magnifier now remembers its window position after close and will reopen in that same location next time. We fixed an issue where the text cursor indicator did not adjust to show in the correct location after content was scrolled. We fixed an issue in the Search bar in either Control Panel or File Explorer where the box becomes grey and prevents input. We fixed an issue where devices configured for dual scan (WSUS and Windows Update) for updates may not have been offered new builds in the Fast ring. We fixed an issue where some devices configured to Use HDR may have experienced a bluish tint on their HDR displays after using Night Light. We fixed an issue where certain 2D apps (like Feedback Hub, Microsoft Store, 3D Viewer) were incorrectly being treated as having protected content within Windows Mixed Reality and were blocking their content from being recorded. We fixed an issue where, when capturing a repro video while filing a bug via Feedback Hub in Windows Mixed Reality, you couldn’t select Stop video. Known issues There has been an issue with older versions of anti-cheat software used with games where after updating to the latest 19H1 Insider Preview builds may cause PCs to experience crashes. We are working with partners on getting their software updated with a fix, and most games have released patches to prevent PCs from experiencing this issue. To minimize the chance of running into this issue, please make sure you are running the latest version of your games before attempting to update the operating system. We are also working with anti-cheat and game developers to resolve similar issues that may arise with the 20H1 Insider Preview builds and will work to minimize the likelihood of these issues in the future. Share your experience using Windows and Office 365 Do you use key features of Windows like notifications, OneDrive, digital inking, or Family and peace of mind and digital safety features? Do you have an Office 365 subscription that you use on Windows? Our engineers would like to invite you to upcoming user research sessions. Organized by Microsoft User Research, these voluntarily, online sessions are a unique opportunity to talk directly with the engineers who design and develop Windows and Office 365. Tell them what you like and what you think could be improved—plus get the chance to talk about the future of these features. Microsoft User Research session: Windows OS Wednesday, October 9, 2019, 1:00–3:00 PM PDT FIND OUT MORE AND JOIN THE WINDOWS OS SESSION Microsoft User Research session: Office 365 Wednesday, October 9, 2019, 1:00–3:00 PM PDT FIND OUT MORE AND JOIN THE OFFICE 365 SESSION Get ready for 2019-20 NBA Starting Season with Bing Get your head in the game! October 22nd marks the official start of the 2019-20 NBA Regular Season and we know how important it is to stay up to date. Bing has everything you need on our NBA feature—from game schedules, standings, news, and more. Enjoy the season with Bing! If you want to be among the first to learn about these Bing features, join our Bing Insiders Program. Thanks, BLB The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18999 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders! Today we are pleased to release a new Insider preview build of the Windows Server VNext Semi-Annual Channel editions. Available Content Windows Server vNext Semi-Annual Preview The Server Core Edition is available in the 18 supported Server languages in ISO format and in VHDX format in English only. Windows Server Core App Compatibility FoD Preview Windows Server Language Packs Windows Admin Center 1909 Symbols are available on the public symbol server – see Update on Microsoft’s Symbol Server blog post and Using the Microsoft Symbol Server. Matching Windows Server container images will be available via Docker Hub. For more information about Windows Server containers and Insider builds, click here. The following keys allow for unlimited activations of Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel Previews Server Standard: V6N4W-86M3X-J77X3-JF6XW-D9PRV Server Datacenter: B69WH-PRNHK-BXVK3-P9XF7-XD84W This Windows Server Preview will expire July 31st, 2020. How to Download Registered Insiders may navigate directly to the Windows Server Insider Preview download page. See the Additional Downloads dropdown for Windows Admin Center and other supplemental apps and products. If you have not yet registered as an Insider, see GETTING STARTED WITH SERVER on the Windows Insiders for Business portal. We value your feedback! The most important part of a frequent release cycle is to hear what’s working and what needs to be improved, so your feedback is extremely valued. For Windows Server, use your registered Windows 10 Insider device and use the Feedback Hub application. In the app, choose the Windows Server category and then the appropriate subcategory for your feedback. In the title of the Feedback, please indicate the build number you are providing feedback as shown below: [server #####] Title of my feedback See Share Feedback on Windows Server via Feedback Hub for specifics. We also encourage you to visit the Windows Server Insiders space on the Microsoft Tech Communities forum to collaborate, share and learn from experts. For Windows Admin Center, Send us feedback via UserVoice. We also encourage you to visit the Windows Admin Center space on the Microsoft Tech Communities. Known Issues There is an issue where the App Compatibility FOD cannot be added to the OS .wim image offline using DISM /image method. After upgrade, it is necessary to reinstall the new FOD using DISM /online method. Terms of Use This is pre-release software – it is provided for use “as-is” and is not supported in production environments. Users are responsible for installing any updates made available from Windows Update. All pre-release software made available to you via the Windows Server Insider program are governed by the Insider Terms of Use. Thanks, BLB The post Announcing Windows Server vNext Insider Preview Build 18995 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Screen time is something so many families think about every day, including me, both at work as the product and strategy lead for family at Microsoft, and at home as a mother of two. I’m excited to share the next step in our efforts to empower families to strike the right balance of technology use in their lives with new app and game limits. Starting today, you can access this new feature in preview within our existing family settings across Windows 10, Xbox One and Android via Microsoft Launcher. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/e11591e01d4e2dddd2a2c28bdc3519f0-1024x576.jpg You may already be familiar with our existing device screen time feature, which allows parents to set limits at the device level. For instance, I can give my kids one hour of screen time on their Windows 10 PC devices, and another hour on their Xbox One console. Alternatively, parents can also choose to set a combined allowance of two hours, giving kids the option to spend it whichever way they want across both Windows 10 and Xbox One devices. With the new app and game limits feature, we introduce two new key elements to screen time: You can now set how much time your children spend within specific apps or games. Rather than a blanket time limit for time spent on device, you can now set limits at the app or game level, enabling you to be more specific with how your kids are spending their time with technology. This can be extremely helpful as parents struggle to balance the needed screen time for homework or education purposes when children use the same devices for gaming and entertainment. The app and game limits you set will apply across Windows 10, Xbox One and even your child’s Android phone running Microsoft Launcher. We want to provide families the convenience of setting this up once, and letting it carry over across your child’s devices. This means one hour of Netflix per day is one hour of Netflix per day – my daughters can no longer pull a fast one by switching from one device to another. One thing we learned from our research is that families tend to agree to different screen time allocations for weekdays and weekends. For example, you may want to allow your child to play a game until 9 p.m. on Saturday but want them done before dinner during the week. That led us to design the app and game limits feature with additional granularity to allow for both a variety of set time limits and different windows during which those limits apply, depending on the day. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/e32bebe5c8b08258f960247289211e6a-647x1024.jpg Ultimately, our goal is for the app and game limits feature to provide flexible and customizable tools to meet each family’s unique needs. You as parents know what’s best for your children — no technology can ever replace that — but we’re hoping these tools can help you to strike the right balance. To get started with app and game limits, and the many other family features we offer, the first step is to create a family group and ensure each child or teen in the family has their own Microsoft account. This is an important step for you to be able to manage their safety settings. We have recently made significant improvements to the child account creation, and credit cards are no longer required. Once the family group is created, we encourage parents to have an open conversation with their children about their use of technology, how to empower them to learn and grow, connect with family and friends, play games and have fun; and at the same time, place guardrails to help them stay focused on their goals. When children begin using an app or game, they are reminded of how much time they have. They will also get a reminder when they’re within 15 minutes of reaching the limit, and another reminder at five minutes, at which point they will have the option to ask for additional time. You, as the parent, can grant or deny that via email or more conveniently, via the Microsoft Launcher notification on your Android phone. Starting today, you can access this feature in preview across the devices tied to your child’s account, which is connected to your Microsoft family group. The new app and game limits feature completes a large set of family features we’ve been developing over the past few years to empower families to develop healthy digital habits, including weekly activity reports – sent to both parent and child as a great opportunity to foster a dialog – content filters, device screen time, spending limits, child location and Xbox privacy and online safety settings. Check out Xbox Wire for more information. We hope you will give this new feature a try and let us know what you think so we can continue to build experiences and tools that meet the needs of today’s families. (Go to any of the family web pages and click on Feedback in the bottom right.) The post New app and game limits empower parents with more specific settings appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Our Windows Insider community plays a critical role in the momentum we have seen for Windows 10. You show up constantly. Your engagement each week with new builds and the feedback you give us are instrumental in helping deliver a great experience for our customers. You engage with us on social media and you show up at our events. We love shaping Windows with you. Thank you for your continued dedication. Most of you know Dona Sarkar – our Chief #NinjaCat of the Windows Insider Program. She’s been a steward for the program and tireless advocate for the community and the important role you play. Though bittersweet, today I’m proud to announce that Dona will be moving to a new role at the company. She will be joining the Microsoft Developer Relations team to lead advocacy for Citizen Developers, especially how they use the Power Platform (Microsoft Flow, PowerApps and Power BI). Under Dona’s leadership, the Windows Insider program has grown and expanded to hundreds more cities and rural areas around the world. Dona’s passion for helping others learn to code and build businesses is a great match for her new role. I am so appreciative of all she’s done for the program and wish her well in her new adventure. Currently, we are conducting a search for a new leader of the Windows Insider Program. In the meantime, I and the Insider crew (including Brandon, Jennifer, Blair, Jason, Vivek, Eddie) look forward to continuing to engage with you each week as we ship new builds. And as we’ve done since the beginning of our program, we’ll continue to evolve to best meet the needs of this fantastic community. Thanks again, Eran The post Windows Insider leadership update appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Artificial intelligence can help us to solve some of society’s most difficult challenges and create a safer, healthier and more prosperous world for all. I’ve already shared the exciting possibilities in the fields of healthcare and agriculture in previous posts. But there may be no area where the possibilities are more interesting – or more important – than education and skills. From personalized learning that takes advantage of AI to adapt teaching methods and materials to the needs of individual students, to automated grading that frees teachers from the drudgery of assessing tests so they have more time to work with students, to intelligent systems that are transforming how learners find and interact with information, the opportunities to improve education outcomes and accessibility will be truly transformational. There are many classrooms around the world where educators teach very diverse groups of students from different cultures, who speak multiple languages. Take The Dhour Shweir Public Secondary School in Lebanon, for example. It improved the academic interaction between students and educators through applications like OneNote and Microsoft Teams which provides real-time language translation, allowing students who speak different languages to communicate with one another. The tools not only promote better collaboration and productivity, but also enhanced interaction between the students and their teachers. We also saw just how much more Teams can do when Australian professor, David Kellermann, recently demonstrated how he created a unique learning experience for his university students – from a Question bot that can answer students’ queries on its own to a Power BI dashboard that shows how students’ exam answers compare to peers’ and helps build personalized study packs for future tests based on previous performance. I am intrigued by a new digital assistant that was recently launched by Staffordshire University, in England. Called Beacon, it is designed to help ease the stress and anxiety that many students experience in their first year at university. Hosted on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform, Beacon takes advantage of the fact that students at Staffordshire, one of the UK’s leading institutions for digital technologies, are more likely to use their mobile phone to find information or search for help than to talk to a lecturer or seek out a member of the university’s staff. Part information source and part digital coach, Beacon answers questions, suggests activities that students might be interested in, checks on their mood, and supports them in their classwork. If the digital assistant detects signs that a student is struggling, it can send an alert to a university staff member who is able to offer help. By providing insights about how each student is adjusting to university life and creating an avenue for delivering extra support quickly to those who need it, the hope is that it will reduce the dropout rate and help students thrive. Education doesn’t end with school or University. In today’s world, we must all be prepared to keep learning and re-skilling, as the world of work evolves. Outside of traditional education institutes, AI can also help people to reskill or acquire news skills – for example, through Microsoft’s partnership with Ashoka, a global organization that supports social entrepreneurs who are committed to finding innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social, cultural, and environmental challenges. As part of Microsoft’s worldwide Tech for Good Initiative, at the heart of this new partnership is the Microsoft-Ashoka Accelerator, a program designed to foster an ecosystem of start-ups that take advantage of the power of cloud computing and artificial intelligence to tackle social and environmental issues. I had the pleasure of meeting Arnaud Mourot, Co-Director of Ashoka Europe earlier this year, to talk about support for promising social start-ups. Microsoft is providing access to technology, AI and cloud expertise, and mentors who can help entrepreneurs create intelligent, data-driven solutions, connect to markets, and more. I also attended the opening of the first Microsoft-Ashoka Accelerators in France and India, where we are piloting the program. Among the early participants in the program are Singa, an organization that helps refugees and asylum seekers connect with people, services, and economic opportunities in their host countries; Ipso Health, which is working to improve healthcare systems and expand access to quality healthcare; and Libraries Without Borders, which sets up libraries and provides access to information resources in conflict zones and areas affected by natural disasters. One of the things I like most about this new partnership is Ashoka’s focus on programs for young people and its understanding of the value that comes from helping a new generation of young entrepreneurs gain the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to apply advanced technology to social innovation. Through its Youth Ventures program, Ashoka has worked with more than 500,000 young people around the world. I too, am a strong believer in the value of mentoring young people, and it is something I am actively engaged in through Live for Good, a foundation my family and I founded in 2015 to enable young people from all walks of life to reach their full potential through social entrepreneurship and digital innovation. One of the most important things I have learned is that the world is filled with talented young people who have brilliant ideas and a deep desire to create a better world, but who often lack access to skills training, to technology, or to mentors who can provide the critical guidance they need to truly thrive – in school and at work. Today, AI-based services like Staffordshire University’s Beacon digital assistant and programs like the Microsoft-Ashoka accelerator are providing opportunities for young people to get the support they need to prepare them to lead the way forward, while technologies such as AI are creating new ways to have a positive impact. To me, this is probably the most inspiring and promising aspect of the digital revolution—the doors it is opening for all of us to thrive and to create a better world. The post How AI is transforming education and skills development appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18995 (20H1) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. IMPORTANT: As is normal with pre-release builds, these builds may contain bugs that might be painful for some. If you take this flight, you won’t be able to switch Slow or Release Preview rings without doing a clean-install on your PC. If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head over to Flight Hub. You can also check out the rest of our documentation here including a complete list of new features and updates that have gone out as part of Insider flights for the current development cycle. Not seeing any of the features in this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re on the Fast ring. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected. What’s new in Build 18995 Windows Hello PIN in Safe mode Safe mode starts Windows in a basic state, using a limited set of files and drivers to help you troubleshoot problems on your PC. If a problem doesn’t happen in Safe mode, this means that default settings and basic device drivers aren’t causing the issue. Read more about Safe mode. With the latest flight, we’re taking another step forward in our Passwordless journey by adding Windows Hello PIN sign-in support to Safe mode, so that you no longer have rely on your password when troubleshooting your device. Try it out with the instructions below and let us know what you think! Set up Windows Hello in Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options Boot your device into Safe mode: Settings > Update and Security > Recovery Under Advanced startup select Restart now After your PC restarts to the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart. You may be asked to enter your BitLocker recovery key. After your PC restarts, you’ll see a list of options. Select 4 or press F4 to start your PC in Safe Mode. You can also select 5 or press F5 to use Safe Mode with Networking. [*]Sign in to your device with your Windows Hello PIN https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/e1f832ca4375f6306958d924fdcde107.png Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) Improvements See the WSL release notes for the newest improvements in the latest Insider Preview builds. Other updates for Insiders Your Phone app–multiple new features rolling out to all users We’re pleased to announce that Link to Windows feature, which seamlessly connects your phone to your Windows 10 PC, is rolling out to Samsung Galaxy S10, S10+, S10e, S10 5G, and Fold devices in select global markets. With Link to Windows natively integrated into your device, it’s simple and convenient to send messages, manage notifications, sync photos, and mirror your phone on your PC. Phone screen, which allows you to access your Android phone’s apps right from your PC while using your keyboard and mouse or touch screen, is also rolling out to Samsung Galaxy S10, S10+, S10e, S10 5G, and Fold devices in select global markets. You can try out multi-touch gestures such as pinch to zoom, rotate, or swipe from your PC’s touchscreen while using Phone screen. If you have one of these devices, give it a try. This is a gradual rollout, so stay tuned for more to come on additional markets and devices. Battery level indicator & phone’s home screen wallpaper In addition to Phone screen and Link to Windows expansion, two additional features are rolling out to all users–battery indicator, which will provide quick access to your phone’s battery levels right in the app without needing to check your device, and Your Phone icon within the app, which will show your current static home screen wallpaper for a personal touch. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/9f435dc79108be1e57ca33529d4811ad.png All of these features are gradually rolling out to users, so they may take a few days to be available inside the Your Phone app. Please make sure you have the latest versions of Your Phone Companion and the Your Phone app. We value your feedback, so give it a try and let us know what you think. You can report any issues under Your Phone > Settings > Send feedback. General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC We’ve made some improvements to address an issue resulting in some users frequently seeing a notification saying their account needed to be fixed, but the Settings page that opened showed no action was necessary. We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders seeing error 0x80242016 when trying to upgrade. We fixed an issue where you might be prompted to fix something before you could update, but the dialog with what to fix didn’t display the issue that needed fixing. We fixed an issue resulting in the mouse cursor unexpectedly showing up in screenshots in recent builds. We fixed an issue impacting reliability of taking screenshots with WIN+Shift+S / Snip & Sketch. We fixed an issue where, if you started a snip from Snip & Sketch by pressing New and had “automatically copy to clipboard” enabled, the first initial copy might be blank. We fixed an issue where the Action Center might be visible in screenshots recently if you started them by pressing the Screen Snip quick action. We fixed an issue for multi-mon devices that could cause random crashes in UWP apps when switching focus between monitors. We fixed a high hitting DWM crash from the last few flights. We fixed an issue in recent flights that resulted in Skype unexpectedly closing the first time it was launched and you tried to sign in. We’ve updated our File Explorer context menu logic, so if you right-click on a .HEIC image file, you’ll now have the option to Print or Set as Desktop Background, as you can with other image file types. We fixed an issue where you might need to invoke the File Explorer context menu twice before the option to create a new Text Document would appear. We’ve made some improvements to help address an issue where search may appear blank. We fixed an issue resulting in some users seeing a 0x000007D1 when trying to print. We fixed an issue where the publisher information was unexpectedly blank for some apps in App Settings. We fixed an issue where the Windows Update information in the Settings header could be out of date. We fixed an issue where turning Bluetooth off then back on while a Bluetooth audio device was paired could take an unexpectedly long time. We fixed a crash when adding devices in Devices Settings. We fixed an issue where the ImmGetVirtualKey function wasn’t returning VK_PROCESSKEY even if an IME was enabled. We fixed an issue where pressing space to enter selected word with the Changjie IME when using the touch keyboard might not work. We fixed a ctfmon.exe crash when using the Japanese IME if reconversion was triggered with a partial selection. We fixed an issue where ctfmon.exe would crash if you attempted to use dictation from the touch keyboard in certain apps. We fixed an issue impacting Windows Ink Workspace reliability. We fixed an issue that could result in pinned websites icons in the taskbar sometimes unexpectedly switching from their actual icon to the default browser icon. We fixed an issue where calendar events created from the taskbar clock and calendar flyout wouldn’t have a default 15min reminder set. We fixed an issue where if the taskbar changed scale enough times while an IME was active, it would lead to the input indicator disappearing from the taskbar. We fixed an issue resulting in transparent/invisible app thumbnails in snap assist when snapping an app to the side when in tablet mode. We fixed an issue where Task View would display that the navigation pane of certain apps was expanded, even if it was actually collapsed. We’ve improved Magnifier performance when using touch. We’ve updated our logic, Magnifier UI will now show properly when alt-tabbing if Magnifier was minimized originally. We’ve fixed a few small issues with the Text cursor indicator page in Settings. We fixed an issue where, when using the text cursor indicator, you might unexpectedly see a focusable Eoaexperiences.exe app running in the taskbar. We’ve improved the reading of email when objects such as images are embedded in the message while using Narrator to remove the repeating of information while moving through the content. We fixed a bug in Narrator where the link sound did not play in certain scenarios. We fixed an issue with older drivers showing as available for download. If you continue to see older drivers in the Option updates section of Windows Update, please let us know. Known issues There has been an issue with older versions of anti-cheat software used with games where after updating to the latest 19H1 Insider Preview builds may cause PCs to experience crashes. We are working with partners on getting their software updated with a fix, and most games have released patches to prevent PCs from experiencing this issue. To minimize the chance of running into this issue, please make sure you are running the latest version of your games before attempting to update the operating system. We are also working with anti-cheat and game developers to resolve similar issues that may arise with the 20H1 Insider Preview builds and will work to minimize the likelihood of these issues in the future. Certain 2D apps (like Feedback Hub, Microsoft Store, 3D Viewer) are incorrectly being treated as having protected content within Windows Mixed Reality. During video capture, these 2D apps block their content from being recorded. When capturing a repro video while filing a bug via Feedback Hub in Windows Mixed Reality, you won’t be able to select Stop video, due to the protected content issue noted above. If you want to submit a repro video, you will need to wait 5 minutes for the recording to time out. If you’d like to file the bug without a repro video, you can close the Feedback Hub window to end the recording and resume filing your bug when you reopen the app in Feedback > Drafts. When using the Search bar in either Control Panel or File Explorer, the box becomes grey and prevents input. We’ve identified the cause, and we’re working on a fix for a future flight. Devices configured for dual scan (WSUS and Windows Update) for updates may not be offered new builds in the Fast ring. Selecting Check online for updates from Microsoft Update will scan for updates, but may return with the message, “Your device is up to date.” We’re working on a fix for a future flight. Some devices configured to Use HDR may experience a bluish tint on their HDR displays after using Night Light. We have identified the cause, and we are working on a fix for an upcoming build. Theme packs downloaded from the Microsoft Store fail to apply. Starting with the previous flight, some Insiders may find that Settings doesn’t launch from the button in Start, isn’t listed in the All apps list, or as a search result. If you are impacted, pressing WIN+R and inputting “ms-settings:” (without the quotes) will launch Settings if you need it. After successfully updating to a new build, the Windows Update Settings page may show the same build needs to install. You can verify the build was successfully installed by checking the build number in the corner of the screen or going to Win+R, typing winver, and confirming the build number. We have identified the cause of this issue, and we’re working on a fix for a future flight. Happy 5th Anniversary to the Windows Insider Program! Happy 5th Anniversary Insiders! Thank you so much for your ongoing support of the program. We couldn’t do it without you! We plan to celebrate this anniversary all year long with a few fun surprises for Insiders, and most importantly, by featuring some of you in what we do this year. Stay tuned for some of those coming soon and join us in celebrating on social media by using the hashtags #WIPTurns5 and #InsidersShowUp. Thank you to all Insiders that participated in the Bug Bash We hope you like the big list of fixes in today’s build! The teams are continuing to triage and investigate your feedback. Keep an eye out for #CloseTheLoop on Twitter to see some more of the problems and suggestions your feedback has helped to address. Use Bing to Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month Want to learn more about notable Hispanic and Latino Americans? Check out our Hispanic and Latino Americans feature, where we highlight some of the many monumental impacts this community has contributed to the world. We are featuring politicians, athletes, singers, activists, and so many more incredible people from the Hispanic and Latino community. Celebrate and learn more with Bing here! If you want to be among the first to learn about these Bing features, join our Bing Insiders Program. No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service, Dona <3 The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18995 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

In a world where every company is transforming to be digital, we see examples of organizations across public and private sectors embracing the concept of ‘tech intensity’ to maximize their impact. From our perspective, there are three aspects to the leadership principle of tech intensity: First, every leader will need to tune their organization to become a fast adopter of best-in- class technology. Second, organizations will need to build their own unique digital capabilities, which starts with workers who are deeply knowledgeable about the latest technology. And finally, leadership in the digital economy will be exponentially amplified by the level of trust that is created with customers, partners, and stakeholders. Today’s landscape demands a different leadership approach to capitalize on opportunities at the accelerated pace required to deliver modern mission outcomes. In the U.S. federal government, leaders are adopting technology to successfully optimize existing programs and to accelerate new services that improve the lives of American citizens. Many of our government customers are leading by example in building their own tech capabilities, which enable them to be more efficient and be better positioned to deliver on their mission service to their citizens. Examples abound and you’ll hear us showcase our partnerships with the Department of Veterans Affairs, USDA Agricultural Research Service, the Department of the Interior and more in the coming weeks. Government is Embracing Tech Intensity Tech intensity is really an equation – Tech Intensity = (Tech Adoption X Tech Capability) ^ Trust and as a company Microsoft is focused on providing the inputs to help our customers solve it. For the government agencies harnessing the benefits tech intensity today there are three critical factors to success we’re seeing them embrace: First, they’re finding ways to increase agility and become fast adopters of best-in-class technology, and equally important, they’re building or looking to build their own unique digital capabilities. Don’t forget the human factor here which starts with workers who are deeply knowledgeable about the latest technology backed by a culture that encourages capability-building and collaboration to generate new, breakthrough concepts. To speed tech adoption, they recognize how vital it is that they are able to access the latest commercial platforms, tools and training, so that they don’t have to re-create technology that already has been commoditized. It’s really the first step to building tech intensity. Finally, to assist government leaders in building trust in technology and its deployment to meet Agency missions, Microsoft provides a variety of tools including AI Business School government curriculum (see below) and books like The Future Computed and Tools and Weapons which provide guidance around the impact and ethics of AI which we are seeing government agencies beginning to adopt. Enabling Government’s Tech Intensity Journey Microsoft is committed to supporting the technology needs of all branches and levels of government and we’ve worked with our government customers to achieve the most certifications of any cloud provider. We’ve built the most trusted, comprehensive cloud for government which includes Azure Government, Microsoft 365 Government, and Dynamics 365 Government. Today, we’re announcing the latest advances to these government cloud solutions, demonstrating our commitment to our customers unique needs and desire to empower their tech intensity journey. Delivering mobility and power at the tactical edge with new Data Box capabilities Microsoft offers a comprehensive portfolio designed to bring compute, data analysis and insight to the tactical edge. Azure Data Box and Azure Stack family of products help government agencies with remote operations access the information they need to make decisions at the edge, along with access to the full range of cloud capabilities as connectivity allows. https://blogs.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/2019/10/DB4-300x200.jpgFor example, Azure Data Box Edge, an AI-enabled edge computing appliance, processes and analyzes data right at the tactical edge and transfers data to cloud when connected. It includes an FPGA on-board to accelerate machine learning inferencing at the edge and transfers the data to Azure over network to retrain the machine learning model or perform aggregated data analytics. Today we’re sharing that we are getting ready to deliver a new form-factor of Data Box Edge, which will be rugged, portable, and battery-operated. The new form-factor will be ruggedized to meet MIL-STD-810G and MIL-STG-461 standards. A single person can carry this appliance in the field, for example, in their backpacks, in remote and disconnected areas. In field operations, speed is of the essence and insights empower decisions. We’ve partnered with Klas Telecom to bring you this new form-factor, which will further the intelligence of the forward-deployed operating units, ground patrols, or similar mission needs at the tactical edge and empower faster decision making. New Microsoft 365 Government capabilities for cross agency collaboration and security In March 2019 we announced that Microsoft Teams – the hub for teamwork– is available in all U.S. Government cloud environments. To further enable cross agency collaboration, we’re excited to announce. Teams Phone Systems and Audio Conferencing are rolling out GCC High and Department of Defense (DoD) environments starting mid-October. These new capabilities along with all the current collaboration services in Teams will enable governments to be mission focused and better service citizens. As governments embrace tech intensity there’s in increasing demand on time and resources to manage data with a secure cloud environment. Microsoft 365 Government includes built-in security capabilities to protect, detect, and respond to cyberattacks. We’ve also recently announced general availability of Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) to the GCC High environment, bringing endpoint detection, response, automated investigation and remediation to U.S. government customers in this environment. New Business Applications capabilities to empower citizens through proactive customer service Empowering citizens to engage is essential to modern government. With our Microsoft Business Applications portfolio, government is better able to interact with citizens, empower employees, optimize operations and transform cities at scale with our immersive solutions across Dynamics 365 and Power Platform. Earlier in 2019, we announced PowerApps and Flow for our GCC environments and Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Government availability meeting DoD requirements for contractors holding, or processing DoD controlled unclassified information or subject to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). By the end of this calendar year, Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Government for DoD will be available. Today, we are expanding the availability of PowerApps and Flow to GCC High environments. This means our government customers and DoD contractors with higher compliance demands can benefit from these tools. PowerApps and Flow, along with Power BI enables users to do three key actions on data: analyze, act, and automate. Power BI, PowerApps, and Flow work together to help anyone, regardless of technical ability, drive decisions with data. Outdated tools, systems and practices can make interacting with the government cumbersome. To provide additional channels of engagement that make connections easier, we are announcing Chat for Dynamics 365 is generally available in GCC environments. Chat is an engagement channel that enables your agents to connect with customers in real-time. Connecting global locations with fast, private, hybrid network connectivity Customers with distributed operations across the United States or across the globe can benefit from the speed and efficiency of high-bandwidth connectivity, intelligent traffic routing, and the global scale of our network. With ExpressRoute Global Reach, customers gain not only a fast, private connection to the cloud, they can also use our global network as a backbone to connect their on-premises networks together. ExpressRoute can also be used to bring satellite data from ground to cloud, so it can be harnessed at the tactical edge or rapidly distributed to locations around the globe. Meeting the full spectrum of data classification requirements As previously announced, Azure Government Secret includes dedicated regions built to support US agencies and partners working with Secret U.S. security classification level data. We’re seeing significant demand for these new regions, and today we’re announcing Sequoia Combine for Azure Government and Azure Government Secret, delivering dev, test and deployment capabilities for classified clouds from an unclassified environment. This emulator service, currently in preview, offers an approved, trusted, and proven approach for IC and DoD air-gapped region solution development. Accelerating the path to compliance We’re continually working to streamline compliance, making it easier for customers and partners to accelerate their path to ATO. FedRAMP is a critical certification for many federal agencies and a growing number of state and local government agencies. Today we’re announcing the built-in Blueprint for FedRAMP to help customers with compliance requirements based on FedRAMP proactively manage and monitor the compliance of their Azure environments. This new offering joins a series of recent releases including the NIST SP 800-53 R4 blueprint, all focused on helping you meet your compliance requirements more easily and efficiently. Responsible AI in Government Business School Module We launched AI Business School because we know AI will be used more and more to help organizations to innovate and solve problems, and we wanted to help leaders be ready to do so in the right way. We recognize that every organization faces its own challenges, and we wanted to provide concrete examples for each of them through tailored information and real-world case studies. That’s why we added a learning path specific to government because of the uniqueness of the problems these agencies face when considering AI applications. Earlier this week, we rolled out a new version of AI Business School, with updates to that government path, new and adapted lessons within our Responsible AI module and a new learning path for education industry decision makers and educators. The new module focuses on identifying governing practices for responsible AI in government and draws on the wisdom from experts at EY and Altimeter Group. In it we share examples from governments around the world to shed light on what government officials should consider and how to take action. It also has information on tools to support responsible AI and how to make AI governance both tangible and measurable We’re on a Mission Together Tech intensity is the motivation behind our mission at Microsoft to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As agencies face a range of new challenges in meeting their missions, we are committed to helping our more than 10,000 government customers use technology to unlock the power of data, which underpins everything they do. I look forward to sharing many more examples of how government is embracing tech intensity to better engage and connect with citizens, modernize the government workplace, and enhance government services to benefit society. Learn more about how government agencies are using Microsoft cloud technology here. The post Enabling government to advance ‘tech intensity’ with newest cloud product innovations appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/10/483f53c2dcbbfaa041f2642d878eabc9-1024x367.jpg [Pre-release product shown, screens simulated and subject to change] Windows 10 is now on more than 900 million devices and we want to thank all of our customers around the world who use Windows 10 every day. Whether it is to run your business, browse the web, collaborate on documents, play games, create or learn, you inspire us and push us to continue to innovate and improve Windows 10. As long as we have been building it, Windows has also evolved based on the possibilities enabled by hardware innovation. Both with Surface and our ecosystem partners, we strive to bring the best of hardware and software together into experiences that better serve your needs. Windows 10X: designed for dual-screen PCs Today in New York we took another step in that journey and shared our vision for a brand-new category of dual-screen devices, including a sneak peek of Surface Neo, soon to be followed by devices from ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo. People are expecting more flexibility from their PCs—they want performant, highly flexible, fully capable and compatible devices that are at the same time delivered in a simple, sleek and, increasingly, mobile form factor. This new hardware requires an expression of Windows 10 that evolves to meet this opportunity. This is Windows 10X. Windows 10X is the best of Windows 10 built to enable unique experiences on multi-posture dual-screen PCs. We have taken the Windows 10 that customers know and love and built Windows 10X in a way that marries the familiar with the new. Flexible postures: meeting the increasingly mobile needs of today Between work and family, our time is precious. With a dual-screen PC and Windows 10X, people can get things done on-the-go faster than ever: take notes on one screen while reviewing the full project proposal on the other while in transit; sit down at a table to write a thoughtful email on a hardware keyboard while waiting for lunch; and then watch a video, browse the web or read a book as you get back to your life. For our commercial customers, we think this experience appeals to mobile professionals who want a device that can keep up when they’re on the go. We see these people looking at multiple charts and data at the same time to study complex problems or viewing a presentation on one screen while on a call and seeing the meeting participants in full video on the other, or having a reference article open while commenting on a document. Technical approach: investing in Windows 10 with enhancements supporting dual screen under the hood Fans of Windows 10 today will be able to use Windows 10X with practically no learning curve. The navigation and functionality will feel familiar and a Windows 10X PC will feel like a natural member of today’s Windows 10 family. But Windows 10X also includes some advancements in the core technology of Windows that optimize it for flexible postures and more mobile use. We needed to deliver battery life that could drive not just one, but two screens. We wanted the operating system to be able to manage the battery effect of our huge catalog of Windows apps, whether they were written in the last month or five years ago. And we wanted to deliver the hardware performance and compatibility our customers expect from Windows 10. To accomplish these goals, we didn’t wipe the slate clean and start over with a brand-new operating system. Our approach is an evolution of where we’ve been going with Windows 10 for the last few years. For those of you not familiar, there are a common set of shared technologies in Windows 10 that unlock a whole host of devices across the spectrum from consumers to businesses and industries. Internally, we call these shared technologies “one core” but what matters most to customers is what they enable. Today, we build desktop PCs, Xbox consoles and HoloLens using this technology. Windows 10X joins the family, built on the latest investments in these shared technologies including newly implemented support for running Win32 applications in a container. This, together with further componentization and additional investments, gives us the power to deliver more flexible experiences with a wide range of input types and hardware postures all while managing Windows applications and how they use the battery. It also has the added benefit of allowing us to innovate in the shared technologies and quickly bring these across the devices built on top of them, allowing us to accelerate how innovation reaches the largest number of customers across a vast array of devices. Availability, timing and ecosystem support Windows 10X will be available on dual-screen and foldable devices starting in the fall of 2020, in time for the holiday season. These will include both Microsoft Surface and devices from several Windows ecosystem partners including ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo. The first wave of devices will vary in size, design and specs, and be powered by Intel. Windows 10X is designed for new dual-screen PCs and not as an OS upgrade if you already own a PC. We are also continuously investing in improving the Windows 10 experience on desktops and laptops, while Windows 10X will enable a new class of PCs that will complement and co-exist with today’s Windows 10 PCs. And with the holidays coming up, there are more innovative Windows 10 PCs available than ever before including the broadest Surface line-up announced today in New York along with devices from all of our OEM partners. We’ll also be engaging with our app developer ecosystem as Windows 10X presents unique opportunities for them to enrich their experiences with dual-screen PCs. We’ll have more to share on that in the coming months. Thank you for your support of and interest in Windows! We’re still in the early stages of this work but we couldn’t be more excited for what the future holds. We’ll continue to listen, learn and adjust as we work towards next year. We cannot wait for everyone to experience how we continue to evolve Windows 10 for desktop PCs and now with Windows 10X for dual screens. The post Introducing Windows 10X: enabling dual-screen PCs in 2020 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

In the world of commercial research and science, there’s probably no undertaking more daunting – or more expensive – than the process of bringing a new medicine to market. For a new compound to make it from initial discovery through development, testing and clinical trials to finally earn regulatory approval can take a decade or more. Nine out of 10 promising drug candidates fail somewhere along the way. As a result, on average, it costs life sciences companies $2.6 billion to introduce a single new prescription drug. This is much more than just a challenge for life sciences companies. Streamlining drug development is an urgent issue for human health more broadly. From uncovering new ways to treat age-old sicknesses like malaria that still kills hundreds of thousands of people every year, to finding new cancer treatments, or developing new vaccines to prevent highly-contagious diseases from turning into global pandemics, the impact in terms of lives saved worldwide would be enormous if we could make inventing new medicines faster. As announced today, this is why Novartis and Microsoft are collaborating to explore how to take advantage of advanced Microsoft AI technology combined with Novartis’ deep life sciences expertise to find new ways to address the challenges underlying every phase of drug development – including research, clinical trials, manufacturing, operations and finance. In a recent interview, Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan spoke about the potential for this alliance to unlock the power of AI to help Novartis accelerate research into new treatments for many of the thousands of diseases for which there is, as yet, no known cure. In the biotech industry, there have been amazing scientific advances in recent years that have the potential to revolutionize the discovery of new, life-saving drugs. Because many of these advances are based on the ability to analyze huge amounts of data in new ways, developing new drugs has become as much an AI and data science problem as it is a biology and chemistry problem. This means companies like Novartis need to become data science companies to an extent never seen before. Central to our work together is a focus on empowering Novartis associates at each step of drug development to use AI to unlock the insights hidden in vast amounts of data, even if they aren’t data scientists. That’s because while the exponential increase in digital health information in recent years offers new opportunities to improve human health, making sense of all the data is a huge challenge. The issue isn’t just a problem of the overwhelming volume. Much of the information exists in the form of unstructured data, such as research lab notes, medical journal articles, and clinical trial results, all of which is typically stored in disconnected systems. This makes bringing all that data together extremely difficult. Our two companies have a dream. We want all Novartis associates – even those without special expertise in data science – to be able to use Microsoft AI solutions every day, to analyze large amounts of information and discover new correlations and patterns critical to finding new medicines. The goal of this strategic collaboration is to make this dream a reality. This offers the potential to empower everyone from researchers exploring the potential of new compounds and scientists figuring out dosage levels, to clinical trial experts measuring results, operations managers seeking to improve supply chains more efficiently, and even business teams looking to make more effective decisions. And as associates work on new problems and develop new AI models, they will continually build on each other’s work, creating a virtuous cycle of exploration and discovery. The result? Pervasive intelligence that spans the company and reaches across the entire drug discovery process, improving Novartis’ ability to find answers to some of the world’s most pressing health challenges. As part of our work with Novartis, data scientists from Microsoft Research and research teams from Novartis will also work together to investigate how AI can help unlock transformational new approaches in three specific areas. The first is about personalized treatment for macular degeneration – a leading cause of irreversible blindness. The second will involve exploring ways to use AI to make manufacturing new gene and cell therapies more efficient, with an initial focus on acute lymphoblastic leukemia. And the third area will focus on using AI to shorten the time required to design new medicines, using pioneering neural networks developed by Microsoft to automatically generate, screen and select promising molecules. As our work together moves forward, we expect that the scope of our joint research will grow. At Microsoft, we’re excited about the potential for this collaboration to transform R&D in life sciences. As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella explained, putting the power of AI in the hands of Novartis employees will give the company unprecedented opportunities to explore new frontiers of medicine that will yield new life-saving treatments for patients around the world. While we’re just at the beginning of a long process of exploration and discovery, this strategic alliance marks the start of an important collaborative effort that promises to have a profound impact on how breakthrough medicines and treatments are developed and delivered. With the depth and breadth of knowledge that Novartis offers in bioscience and Microsoft’s unmatched expertise in computer science and AI, we have a unique opportunity to reinvent the way new medicines are created. Through this process, we believe we can help lead the way forward toward a world where high-quality treatment and care is significantly more personal, more effective, more affordable and more accessible. The post Bringing together deep bioscience and AI to help patients worldwide: Novartis and Microsoft work to reinvent treatment discovery and development appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2019/09/75650cc1198d323e854a70800de2b25b-1024x768.jpg For those who want one device for both their professional and personal pursuits, the new HP Spectre x360 13 emphasizes mobility and security to work anywhere, anytime. The new Spectre has two times the performance of the previous generation [1], and is HP’s first convertible with a quad-core 10th Generation Intel Core processor and Intel Iris Plus Graphics, verified to the target specification and key experiences of Intel’s Project Athena innovation program. The device has up to 22 hours of battery life [2]. It’s dramatically smaller than its previous generation, with an industry leading 90% screen-to-body ratio at every angle [3]. The new Spectre has also improved cord management by placing the USB-C port angled in the right corner and the power button on the left corner of the device to avoid accidental power shut-offs. To help users protect their privacy, the HP Webcam Kill Switch counters webcam hacking. The new Spectre also comes with standard security features such as a Windows Hello enabled IR camera and a fingerprint reader, conveniently located on the keyboard deck. The device now comes in Natural Silver, adding to already polished finishes in Nightfall Black with Copper Luxe accents and Poseidon Blue with Pale Brass accents. It’s expected to be available in October via HP.com, with a starting price of $1,099. [1] Based on 3Dmark11 overall score comparison between HP Spectre x360 13 (2018) with Intel 8th Generation processor vs. HP Spectre x360 13 (2019) with Intel 10th Generation processor. Estimated performance gain will vary by configuration. [2] Up to 22 hours requires laptop configured with Intel Core i5-1035G4 with Intel Iris Plus Graphics, 8 GB LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM (onboard), 256 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD, 13.3” diagonal FHD (1920×1080) 1W display, Windows 10 Home RS4. Windows 10 MM14 battery life will vary depending on various factors including product model, configuration, loaded applications, features, use, wireless functionality, and power management settings. The maximum capacity of the battery will naturally decrease with time and usage. See www.bapco.com for additional details. [3] Based on all convertible PCs defined as the 2-in-1 laptop category as of 9/30/2019. Small is defined by the laptop foot print, length x width. Screen-to-body measurement is percent of active plus nonactive viewing area compared to active viewing area plus border. Measure with lid vertical to the desk. The post HP Spectre x360 13 debuts appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders! Today we are releasing 19H2 Build 18362.10022 to Windows Insiders in the Slow ring. This build includes the improvements and fixes from KB4515384 as well as general improvements to the overall quality of 19H2. NOTE: For an explanation as to why the 19H2 build number in the Slow ring is different than the 19H2 build number in the Release Preview ring – see this blog post. We are working to move Insiders in the Slow ring to 19H2 Build 18363 builds. We also announced yesterday that we will begin making pre-release Windows 10 feature updates available to IT administrators using Windows Server Update Service (WSUS). For all the details, check out this blog post from Aria Carley. We also announced that Windows Insider Program for Business customers can now request Microsoft Support for Windows 10 Version 1909 (19H2) builds in the Release Preview and Slow rings. As always, Insiders are encouraged to report any issues they experience with these updates through Feedback Hub. Thanks, Dona and Brandon The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18362.10022 (19H2) appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18990 (20H1) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. IMPORTANT: As is normal with pre-release builds, these builds may contain bugs that might be painful for some. If you take this flight, you won’t be able to switch Slow or Release Preview rings without doing a clean-install on your PC. If you want a complete look at what build is in which Insider ring, head over to Flight Hub. You can also check out the rest of our documentation here including a complete list of new features and updates that have gone out as part of Insider flights for the current development cycle. Not seeing any of the features in this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re on the Fast ring. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected. What’s new in Build 18990 Enabling automatic restart for UWP apps Last month, we introduced a new separate setting to control if registered desktop apps from your previous sign-in session are restarted when signing back in to Windows. In the latest Insider Preview builds, in addition to registered desktop apps, when you opt into this setting, the majority of open UWP apps are now also automatically restarted as well! To reduce sign-in time, UWP apps are restarted minimized, in a suspended state, giving Windows and other apps more resources to get started. To try it out: Go to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options and turn on “Automatically save my restartable apps when I sign out and restart them after I sign in.” under “Restart apps”. Start one or more UWP apps, such as Feedback Hub. Sign out and then sign back into Windows. UWP apps that were started, such as Feedback Hub, should restart minimized with a taskbar button. Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) improvements Improved the performance for directory listings in \\wsl$ [WSL2] Injected additional boot entropy [Github Issue 4461] [WSL2] Fixed Windows interop when using su / sudo commands [Github issue 4465] For the full details of changes in this latest Insider Preview build, please see the WSL release notes. Other updates for Insiders Xbox Game Bar Updates In case you hadn’t seen, we’re starting to roll out an FPS counter and achievement overlay! Thanks to everyone who shared feedback about this. The update will come via the Microsoft Store. Just set focus to your favorite game and press WIN + G to get started. NOTE: You may have to be joined to receive Game Bar updates via the Xbox Insider Hub app (under Insider Content) from the Microsoft Store to see this update. Reset your PC from the cloud Earlier today in our Windows Insider webcast, we had the Deployment Team as guests to talk about the new feature that is coming with 20H1 that allows you to reset your PC using the cloud. For more information, check out this article from Program Manager Aaron Lower. You can also watch the on-demand video of this morning’s webcast by visiting our Mixer channel! General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC We fixed an issue where right-clicking on File Explorer’s search box didn’t bring up a context menu that could be used to paste clipboard contents. We’ve updated the default width of the search box in File Explorer to be a little bigger. We fixed an issue impacting Action Center reliability. We fixed an issue resulting in the credentials prompt sometimes not appearing when connecting to certain VPNs from the network flyout, so it said Connecting but never completed the connection. We fixed Magnifier bugs at different DPI levels. We fixed an issue where Magnifier UI wasn’t closing with Alt + F4 keyboard shortcut. We fixed an issue where sometimes Magnifier window became completely black after switching from lens mode to dock mode. We fixed an issue resulting in Magnifier not working when using the Russian display language. We have made it clearer how “Read from here” works in Magnifier. We improved legibility of Magnifier reading highlighting rectangle. We improved reading while in Lens mode. We fixed an issue where text cursor indicator sometimes did not appear, even though the setting was enabled. We made the text cursor shapes more legible and aesthetic. We fixed an issue in Narrator where changing the speech rate with the keyboard commands would speak the new rate using the old rate. We fixed Narrator’s whitespace sound. We improved Narrator’s automatic dialog reading experience. Table navigation hotkeys are now allowed when entering a list view to allow one to navigate across columns while using Narrator. We improved the Narrator’s Page Summary dialog by allowing tab and shift-tab to loop around the dialog controls. Narrator will no longer announce notifications from non-focused Chrome webpages. Narrator now announces the current value of the “thumb” in legacy color picker controls. Narrator is now presenting links and play buttons correctly in iTunes. We improved Narrator’s reading experience in Chrome and Firefox. Certain pages could cause Narrator to loop back up to previous content. Narrator is now updating an attached braille display correctly when some XAML controls are expanded. Thank you to everyone who shared feedback about the design of the input mode switcher on the taskbar for the Simplified and Traditional Chinese IMEs. We’ve adjusted the design based on your feedback that the icon glyph was large and blurry. We fixed an issue where some Chinese characters in the Common Standard Chinese Characters dictionary couldn’t be input with the new version of the Simplified Chinese IME. We fixed an issue where, when switching to English input mode and back to Chinese input mode, the punctuations would become Chinese punctuations, even if “Use English punctuations when in Chinese input mode” was enabled with the new version of Simplified Chinese IME. We fixed an issue where the new version of Simplified Chinese IME candidate window would sometimes not appear. We fixed an issue where the new version of the Traditional Chinese Bopomofo IME didn’t show candidates or next phrase candidates on touch keyboard. We fixed an issue where characters typed with the new version of Chinese Traditional IMEs weren’t committed by Enter key when using certain games. We fixed an issue where the legacy language bar didn’t show IME mode icons while using the new version of Japanese IME, Chinese Traditional IME, or Korean IME. We fixed an issue where the new version of Japanese IME wouldn’t reconvert a word pasted from somewhere else by Henkan key. Known issues Certain 2D apps (like Feedback Hub, Microsoft Store, 3D Viewer) are incorrectly being treated as having protected content within Windows Mixed Reality. During video capture, these 2D apps block their content from being recorded. When capturing a repro video while filing a bug via Feedback Hub in Windows Mixed Reality, you won’t be able to select Stop video, due to the protected content issue noted above. If you want to submit a repro video, you will need to wait 5 minutes for the recording to time out. If you’d like to file the bug without a repro video, you can close the Feedback Hub window to end the recording and resume filing your bug when you reopen the app in Feedback > Drafts. When viewing Optional drivers in the new section on the Windows Update page, you may notice older drivers showing as available for download. If accepted, they will attempt to install and fail to do so. This is a bug related to revised Windows Update detection logic rather than this new UI. The root cause is understood, and a fix will be available in an upcoming build. Devices configured for dual scan (WSUS and Windows Update) for updates may not be offered new builds in the Fast ring. Selecting Check online for updates from Microsoft Update will scan for updates, but may return with the message, “Your device is up to date.” We’re working on a fix for a future flight. The Bug Bash starts tomorrow! Running from Sept. 25th to Oct. 2nd, the Bug Bash is a week–long event that takes place both for Insiders and Microsoft employees to help this release ship with quality. Starting at midnight (PDT), you’ll see Bug Bash Quests light up in the Feedback Hub, continuing throughout the span of the week. More details are available in our coming soon announcement. You’re invited The Bing Team wants to hear from you and get your unique perspective. Join them at exclusive Bing Listens events in Chicago (October 21) and Boston (October 22), where you’ll interact directly with the team and get a chance to ask questions, give feedback, and share your ideas. There will be giveaways, prizes, and great food. This event will let you leave an impact on a future Bing product that will delight you, your friends, and family. Choose a city below to learn more about the Bing Listens Tour and register today! Register for the Chicago event today! Register for the Boston event today! No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service, Dona <3 The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18990 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...