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This is one of my favorite weeks of the year! It’s a week where Microsoft leaders connect with thousands of partners from around the world to talk about what’s new and the opportunity in front of us in the coming year. Since our last partner conference a year ago, we’ve been working together to better serve customers who have continuously evolving demands of technology. We’re on a mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more in the Modern Workplace. A big part of that mission is delivering a new way for customers to transform their business with modern Microsoft products and services that help make employees more productive, creative and secure. Just last week we announced new security and management features in Windows 10 that will arrive in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. The Mixed Reality Partner Program is an expansion of the HoloLens Agency Readiness Partner Program which was announced just over a year ago at //build 2016. At that time, we welcomed 10 digital and creative agencies to develop mixed reality solutions. As we have expanded Microsoft HoloLens to more developers and commercial customers around the globe, we added new Europe-focused partners to the program. Now with more than 16 HoloLens Agency Readiness Partners, we’re creating the future of mixed reality experiences with partners and customers. As the technology landscape continues to advance at unprecedented rates, Microsoft and the Windows and Devices Group will be at the forefront with new ideas to enhance the way our partners work with customers. Hearing from our partners is extremely important and we look forward to talking with you during a great week at Inspire! The post Connecting with partners to empower the modern workplace appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders! Today we are excited to release Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16237 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring! Upcoming Bug Bash We’re really excited to do our 2nd (and final) Bug Bash for the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update! The Bug Bash will start at 12am (Pacific Time) on Friday July 14th and will run a full week ending at 11:59 pm (Pacific Time) on Sunday July 23rd. As usual, we will be publishing new quests and will be doing some Mixer webcasts. So be sure to open Feedback Hub and complete as many quests as you can! More details to come early next week! What’s New in Build 16237 For PC Microsoft Edge Improvements: Read aloud with word and line highlighting for all websites: With the read out loud feature for web, users will be able to read aloud any webpage with word and line highlighting. PDF read aloud: With the read out loud feature for PDF, users will be able to read aloud any PDF document with word and line highlighting. Other improvements to address your feedback including: If you click Share in Microsoft Edge, the Share UI will now match the Microsoft Edge theme if it is different from the rest of the system. Share UI will also now launch under the Share button, rather than in the center of Microsoft Edge. When you add a favorite, you will get a delightful animation now that indicates where users can find their most important websites in the future. We fixed an issue where copying double byte characters (for example Japanese or Chinese) out of Microsoft Edge and pasting into another app wouldn’t show the characters correctly in the second app. We fixed a Microsoft Edge issue from the previous flight where opening links in a new tab might cause a new window to open with the link instead. We fixed an issue from recent flights where the Print dialog in Microsoft Edge would show a blank preview page and lead to printing a blank page. We fixed an issue resulting in the Microsoft Edge context menu not showing up on pen barrel button tap. We fixed an issue when returning to Edge after a crash. Your tabs will be automatically restored for you. Windows Shell Improvements: No more logging out to fix blurry desktop apps: Hey, do you hate having to log out and back in to Windows to fix blurry desktop apps after docking, undocking, or remoting? We do too! In this flight, you only have to relaunch these apps in order to have them render crisply. If you have a high DPI display (a 4K display or other high dots-per-inch (DPI) display, such as Surface displays) and change the display scaling value in any way (this can happen when you dock/undock, remote from a device with a high DPI display, or otherwise change the display scaling setting) most desktop apps become blurry. This is due to 1) the apps don’t respond to a DPI change notification, because they haven’t been updated and 2) Windows keeps the display scaling/DPI data that it reports to apps constant until you log out and back in. In this flight we’ve changed the way that Windows provides DPI-related information to these applications such that each time one of these applications starts, they’ll get updated data from Windows. This means that for these applications, you simply re-launch them in order for them to render correctly if they’re blurry. While this isn’t what we all want: having these applications render crisply all the time, we feel that it’s a lot less painful to relaunch apps instead of having to close out of all apps and going through a log-out/log-in cycles. Some things to note: this won’t work for all desktop apps (and doesn’t apply to UWP apps). Also, this only helps apps that become blurry after a change to the display scale factor of the main/primary display. This change, unfortunately, doesn’t improve apps that are blurry on secondary displays when in “extend” display mode. Please give this change a try and let us know if you hit any bugs. Notification and Action Center improvements: https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/84cce1d2b797269c2f6d1eb2f2691f3c.png We’ve adjusted our notification buttons to now span across the bottom of the notification, rather than being right-justified. We just made it easier for you to take action on your notifications by auto-expanding the first notification in each notification group in the Action Center. Now you can quickly triage your emails, snooze your reminders, reply to your texts, etc. without the need to expand every single one of them. In response to feedback about the X to “dismiss” notifications being confusing, we’ve adjusted it to now be an arrow to make it more clear that the notification is actually being pushed to the Action Center to be reviewed later. We fixed an issue from recent flights where if you received 20 notifications from a specific app, then received more (without ever clearing them from the Action Center), ShellExperienceHost would start crashing repeatedly in the background. We fixed a recent issue where tapping on the chevron of an expanded notification in the Action Center wouldn’t collapse the notification. We fixed an issue from recent flights where opening the Action Center might not clear the badge on the Action Center icon, leading one to later believe there were new notifications when there weren’t any. We fixed an issue where Notifications and Actions Settings might have unexpectedly had a number of unnamed apps listed at the top in recent flights. We fixed an issue where Windows Defender notifications might include unparsed parameters (showing a % sign). My People improvements: Notification badges for people pinned to the taskbar will now be consistent with the color of your theme if you’ve opted into showing color in Start, Action Center, and other places on the system. When you receive emoji from people pinned to the taskbar, we now refer to this as a “pop”. You’ll see this terminology reflected under Settings > Personalization > Taskbar. Input Improvements: Emoji Panel turns it up a notch: Type to search with the new Emoji Panel now supports emoji 5.0! We also added a bunch more keywords along the way. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/4faa956721b42c26ab32301d93d0dbed.gif Have you ever wondered “What the heck is this emoji supposed to be”? Wonder no more! If you hover your mouse over any of the emoji in the Emoji Panel, you’ll now see a handy showing you the exact Unicode character name. Bonus: we’ve added tooltips to the categories so they’re no longer a mystery. We fixed an issue for our dark theme lovers where the X to close out the Emoji Panel was black on black. Improved touch keyboard experience: We fixed an issue where the touch keyboard was passing the wrong window size information when shapewriting with the one-handed keyboard, leading to accuracy issues. Please try it again in today’s build and let us know if it seems improved. As you type with the touch keyboard, you will now hear a sound with each key press – much as you did with the previous version of the keyboard before we introduced our new one. We fixed some issues in learning your typing style, so you should find text predictions improved now the more you type and correct using the touch keyboard. Since we now will relaunch the keyboard where you left it, we’ve decided to remove the left and right docked modes from the one-handed keyboard. As a refresher, if you want to move the keyboard, simply drag the candidate bar. We improved the reliability of the Japanese one-handed 10-key Kana touch keyboard. We fixed an issue from recent flights where the touch keyboard and handwriting panel would unexpectedly appear sometimes. We fixed an issue where the text candidates would appear using unexpectedly small font. We fixed an issue where only the one-handed keyboard was available on PCs with small screens. Handwriting panel improvements: We fixed an issue where if the text in the handwriting panel shifted while you were inking, it could result in an unintentional ink stroke across the panel. We fixed an issue where a word might be inserted twice if you dismissed the panel by changing focus to somewhere else on the screen. PC Gaming Improvements: We have updated the Game Mode icon on the Game bar. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/78774df87581792f6ee0c7b3bf846ecb.png Task Manager Improvements: With Build 16226, we added GPU support to the Task Manager. We’ve made some improvements to the Performance tab, and in today’s build you’ll find: GPU performance updates: We’ve made a few small changes in this build to the GPU performance tracker in Task Manager. We’ve updated the UI layout, and added more details like DirectX version and the physical location of your GPU. Only hardware GPUs show up in the list, and the software-only basic display adapter is hidden. More improvements coming soon! https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/754f14587f8f4f2542e66d2a6e5ff66f.png Hyper-V Improvements You will see a new “virtual machine gallery” under quick create. There isn’t anything in the gallery yet and we’ll have more details on this in the future. In the meantime, choosing “Local installation source” will allow you to pick an image from your computer. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/78d1409927a80bb385a5c0d55d890d4d.png If you’re wondering where the options for VM Name and networking went, they’re in the “More options” section which introduces another new feature in Hyper-V. Hyper-V on Windows 10 provides a default network so your virtual machines share networking with your computer using NAT. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/262f87a64cf17a2eadc9dc21cbecae20.jpg Changes, improvements, and fixes for PC We fixed an issue from the last flight where doing a PC reset via Settings > Update & security > Recovery and choosing “Remove everything” might put your device into a reboot loop. It is now safe to use this option again. We fixed the issue causing some inbox apps to be displayed with a name that looked like “ms-resource:” and listed at the bottom of Start. We fixed an issue from recent flights resulting in the Photos, Groove Music, and certain other app’s live tiles not working. We fixed a high hitting crash impacting Start and Cortana in recent flights. We fixed a recent issue where you’d find two Connect apps in Start – one as expected, with a blue app icon, one unexpected with a light grey app icon and non-functional. We’ve updated Start so that if you press and hold on an app in the all apps list, the context menu will now appear after a moment, rather than first having to lift your finger. We’ve added a new option to Cortana to enable or disable showing your cloud content in the search results. We fixed an issue where Cortana search might drop the first typed character if Microsoft Edge was the foreground app. We fixed an issue from recent flights where Alt+<number> wasn’t working in Win32 apps to input special characters. We fixed an issue resulting in the up/down keys potentially hanging input when used after typing something into certain search boxes that offered dropdown suggestions. We fixed an issue where the Network & Internet Status Settings page might say a network was public even though it had been set to be private using the Control Panel. We fixed an issue where the “More”/“Less” text wasn’t localized in the custom color picker in Color Settings. We fixed an issue where switching away and back to Windows Spotlight in Lock Screen Settings resulted in an infinite spinner in the preview image. In order to fulfill our promise to always ship with quality, we have made the decision to disable Chinese (Simplified) dictation. It will be back once we have had some time to smooth out the experience. Voice input for English (United States) will still be available. We fixed an issue from the last few flights where Task Manager was frequently hanging on launch for some Insiders. We fixed an issue from the last flight resulting in Storage Spaces unexpectedly erroneously saying there was no disk space available. For Insiders flighting using the Pro edition on a Surface Laptop, we’ve addressed a recent issue where Win32 apps (for example PowerShell and Command prompt) were blocked by Device Guard after upgrading. We fixed an issue some people were experiencing resulting in content copied from Screen Sketch and pasted elsewhere appearing to be just a black box rather than the expected sketch. We fixed the issue causing Xbox Live in-game experiences such as gamer profiles, achievement details, and other dialogs to fail to load. We’ve updated the Win32 MessageBox to now be natively per-monitor DPI aware! That means it should no longer be blurry when used in mixed DPI environments, or when changing DPI. Curious to try it? One place in particular MessageBox is used is in Notepad, in the error dialog that pops up if you search for a word that’s not found in the text. Known issues for PC Thank you to everyone who tested and submitted feedback on the Cortana Vision features –including the Camera Roll Insights and Cortana Lasso – which we introduced in Build 16215. These features will no longer be available in Insider Preview builds going forward. The cross device Map Handoff feature has also been removed from Insider Preview builds. You will no longer see directions shared with your mobile device after searching for a location on your PC. We’re continuing to investigate reports that the battery status on certain laptops isn’t updating while the device is unplugged. If you think you are seeing this, please send in feedback via Feedback Hub and use the capture feature when logging your feedback so we can get your logs. Depending on the implementation of the 3rd party firewall product, it might result in Windows Defender Security Center showing an ‘Unexpected’ state. We’re investigating options for addressing this. Until that time, if you are using a 3rd party firewall product, and see this state in Windows Defender Security Center, please reference the UI of your 3rd party provider to understand your protection status. In Recovery Settings if you choose “Reset This PC” > “Keep My files” the operation will fail at 1% and will revert with no changes to the system. “Remove My files” option will work as expected. Apps that call into the firewall, such as Microsoft Edge and other apps that use networking, may become unresponsive until you reboot. Trying to use the dictation hotkey (WIN + H) in UWP apps won’t work – you’ll see the UI come up and immediately dismiss. If you’d still like to use dictation, the microphone in the touch keyboard will work. You can right-click the taskbar for an option to show the touch keyboard button if it’s not already visible. We’re investigating your reports that the Copy Link option displayed in Microsoft Edge when you right-click a hyperlink isn’t working in recent builds. And finally: Check out what our amazing friend and fellow Insider Dux Raymond Sy from AvePoint (got for our team. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/fde2dbcc34b3d6a863c8c172eb8ab478.jpg We are off to the Inspire conference in Washington D.C. next week to say the words and do the thing. Insiders who are attending, please do come by our booth and say hi! No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service, Dona <3 The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16237 for PC appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Starting July 7 through September 17, your local Microsoft Store is offering savings on best-in-class products for back to school. Before heading back to school or setting out on that first job search, there is a moment where the excitement, hope for the future and desire to learn is empowering, and Microsoft Store is the best place to discover and purchase the technology to help you achieve more. Starting July 7 through September 17, your local Microsoft Store is offering savings on best-in-class products, including the well-crafted Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book to help students and young professionals start new adventures and make ideas happen. Microsoft Store offers a 10 percent discount for students, faculty, and staff currently attending or working at a higher education institution in the U.S. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/5bd074141b0fb50f22406d8fcf3922f4.jpg Below are the deals available to help students and new professionals make their ideas happen: https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/8d5fc59e4681bffae47ebd57c27e1b45.jpg Get a Surface Pro 4 and a black type cover for $999, $899 for students*: Surface Pro 4 is powered by Intel Core processors and Windows 10 – with features like Paint 3D, game broadcasting, Windows Ink, Microsoft Edge and more. Surface Pro 4 combines the portability and performance of a laptop to enable the creator in all of us. With its unmatched versatility as a tablet or a laptop, it’s perfect for students, teachers and anyone who needs to get things done on the go, with a sleek and light form factor. With Microsoft Store’s Recycle for Rewards, customers can also trade in their old devices including laptops, tablets, phones and gaming consoles for up to $850 off a new Surface Pro or Surface Laptop**. Additionally, students and teachers get Office 365 for Education for free, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and now Microsoft Teams, with additional classroom experiences. All you need to get started is a valid school email address. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/bf472ed111c7d2228ca8c74757354dfe.png Save up to $150 on Surface Book: Surface Book is the ultimate laptop combining the power of a high-performance laptop with the versatility of a tablet. Surface Book enables people to do what they need to work with professional-grade software, anywhere they want. Receive a 3-month Groove membership with any Surface purchase: Surface devices are well-crafted, beautiful devices that help people get stuff done, and with a Groove membership, you will have access to millions of ad-free songs, custom and expert-curated playlists and artist radio. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/09ce94e6eb8bbe419d910687a82d320b.jpg Dell XPS 15 powered by Windows 10. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/9b205a654728248ad9226e86e2ca0cc7.jpg Lenovo Yoga 910 powered by Windows 10. Get creative with a free Intel Software Starter Pack with eligible PCs: Receive the software bundle, worth $429, with seven apps centering around creativity, entertainment, and productivity when you purchase an eligible PC, including Dell XPS 15, Dell XPS 13, HP Spectre x360, and Lenovo Yoga 910. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/e42136dc624638ff150cc56a0a4eb0ec.png Save $20 on select Xbox One S 500GB bundles: For those looking to purchase an Xbox One S console, save $20 on 500GB bundles including the Xbox One S Battlefield 1 Bundle, Xbox One S Battlefield 1 Special Edition Bundle (only available at Microsoft Store) and Xbox One S Forza Horizon 3 Bundle. Technology not only helps to inspire your best ideas, but also helps take those ideas, and make them a reality! Visit your local Microsoft Store and microsoft.com for the best-in-class products to start a school year or first job off on the right foot. Need help finding the right fit? Microsoft Store’s knowledgeable and friendly associates are on hand to help, support and make recommendations that best fit your technology needs. Customers can learn how to make the most of their technology at the Microsoft Store with personal training, workshops, and more. Happy shopping! Deals begin on July 7 and are available at local Microsoft Store and microsoft.com, while supplies last. Unit limit per customer will also vary. Surface Pro 4 bundle offer runs through September 19. *With valid student ID. **Based on the appraised value of the trade-in device. Surface Book offer runs through July 15 and Groove membership offer runs through September 17. Intel creativity software starter pack offer runs through August 31. Xbox One S console offer runs through August 30. Valid in the U.S. only at Microsoft retail and microsoft.com For local store hours visit this link The post Announcing Microsoft Store back to school deals that begin today appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

It may be a shortened week due to the U.S. holiday, but there was still a fair amount going on at Microsoft. Join us for this edition of Weekend Reading where we run down the week’s top news. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/ea5d4ecc99bcbd1f77cbaf21d2d62ce9.jpg There are few issues more important than health. Meet those exploring new frontiers of collecting and analyzing health data, from a mindful cyborg to researchers predicting disease outbreaks with mosquito blood, in the second .future podcast. The podcast, which debuted last week, is a new Microsoft series about making the future happen, exploring tomorrow’s technology today and how it will affect generations to come. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/3b08270b79ccb5d5f12883ad3b849102.png Microsoft Workplace Analytics, a powerful new tool providing behavioral insights that can be used to improve productivity, workforce effectiveness and employee engagement, is now available. Workplace Analytics taps into Office 365 email and calendar metadata to shine a light on how organizations collaborate and spend time, turning data into a set of behavioral metrics that can be used to understand what’s going on in an organization. Customers are using the solution in a variety of ways — to improve sales productivity, boost manager effectiveness and reduce employees’ travel time to meetings, among others. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/4510174d15c4b6f5bfb22c7f95023d83.png Developed by teachers Koen Timmers and Tammy Dunbar, the Human Differences project uses Skype in the Classroom to teach students empathy and global understanding. The program helps students create connections, explore gender inequality and learn about other cultures. “When you make connections with others around the world, that bond creates not only friendship but empathy and compassion,” says Dunbar, who, like Timmers, is a Skype Master Teacher and Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/9e79c3ea185cf19997b028a7a6a0a76d.jpg Anime Month is back in the Windows Store, where fans of the genre can find huge savings and earn rewards on TV, movies and games through July 31. They can also get the first seasons of “Dragon Ball Z,” “Fairy Tail” and “Yu Yu Hakusho” for free all month on Microsoft Movies & TV. Also, keep up with what’s hot, new and trending in the Windows Store on Twitter and Facebook. Thanks so much for joining us for Weekend Reading. Keep an eye out next Friday for another roundup of the week’s highlights. Thomas Kohnstamm Microsoft News Center Staff The post Introducing Workplace Analytics, using Skype to teach empathy, exploring tech in health — Weekend Reading: July 7 edition appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

We hope you enjoyed today’s episode of This Week on Windows! Check out .future, the new podcast from Microsoft and Gimlet Creative about making the future happen; read our Windows 10 Tip on how to keep your apps organized with virtual desktops; head over here for more on the Ultimate Game Sale – or, keep reading for what’s new in the Windows Store. In case you missed it: Here’s what’s new in the Windows Store this week: Adventure Time has arrived for Minecraft on Bedrock Engine Platforms! https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/1d43569c08989b4e6c303913f6f15a67.png Today, we’re bringing the Adventure Time Mash-Up Pack to Minecraft players on our Bedrock Engine Platforms! Those who are in the mood for some princess-saving on Windows 10, Pocket Edition and VR devices are now free to do so. Featured in this pack are all of your favorite Adventure Time characters, the world of Ooo, a bespoke texture set and original soundtrack – all for 990 coins in the Minecraft Marketplace. For the full announcement, head over to Minecraft.net! Anime Month in the Windows Store https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/2d41862f20d594bbd24ae9fcdff79960.jpg Anime Month is back! Now through July 31, enjoy huge savings and earn rewards on TV, movies, and games. Plus, get the first seasons of Dragon Ball Z, Fairy Tail, and Yu Yu Hakusho for FREE all month long on Microsoft Movies & TV. Check out all that Anime Month has to offer in the Movies & TV section of the Windows Store. Have a great weekend! The post This Week on Windows: .future podcast debut, virtual desktops and more appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Happy Monday! We’ve showed you how you can easily view and manage all the apps and programs you have open at once with Task View and Snap – today, we’re going to show you how you can keep your open apps better organized with virtual desktops in Windows 10. Here’s how to get started with virtual desktops: https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/be2c18d626937cd9f83edcd36e6599a4.gif To create a new virtual desktop, select the Task View button on the Windows Taskbar (or hit Windows key + Tab) – then, select New desktop near the lower-right corner of the screen. You can switch between virtual desktops by selecting the Task View button, and then the thumbnail for the virtual desktop you want. Move an app from one virtual desktop to another: https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/4a430098b6538f2debc792bde5075bd7.gif Select the Task View button, and right-click on the thumbnail of the app you want to move. Select Move to, and then select the virtual desktop where you want to move the app. Have a great week! The post Windows 10 Tip: Keep your apps organized with virtual desktops appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

The most secure Windows device today is an updated one: running both the most recent feature update – the Windows 10 Creators Update – and the most recent monthly quality update. In each Windows feature update we build the latest security technology deep into the operating system, providing defense-in-depth features that prevent entire classes of malware from impacting your device. In each monthly quality update, we add another layer of security, one that tracks emerging and changing trends in malware to make up-to-date systems safer in the face of changing and evolving threats. Taking extra steps to keep systems updated and secure Given the Windows 10 Creators Update provides the latest security protections to help keep you safe, we want to help update your device as soon as possible. In April, I shared as part of our commitment to your privacy, you will have the opportunity to review your privacy settings before your device is eligible to take the Creators Update. If you have not already taken this update, starting this week, we will prompt you to review your privacy settings. You can choose to postpone this process up to five times with the next prompt asking for confirmation of your privacy settings. It will only take a few moments for what we believe provides you with the best balance between privacy, security, and control. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/bd045faa030911bb852e0edc2b5e908c.png Please note that we are not changing the update experience itself. Once your machine is ready to update to the Creators Update, you still have choice over when that update happens as I described earlier in my April blog. By staying up to date on both the latest feature and quality updates, you’re assured of being on the most secure version of Windows 10. If you want to double check that your system is up to date, simply visit the Windows Security page and scroll down to click “Verify you’re updated.” We’ll let you know if you need to update your device to the Creators Update. And, if you are having trouble updating your device, see this helpful article. End of Service As a reminder, the first version of Windows 10 is at end-of-service. While you can continue to use this version and your computer will still work, you will no longer receive the monthly quality updates that contain protection from the latest security threats. To remain secure your device should be updated to the latest feature update. We will start sending a notification if your device needs to be updated to the latest feature update. If you have trouble, try these helpful tips. Your privacy and security are important to us. We will continue to evolve our approach in providing a great Windows experience. As always, we encourage you to share your feedback as we grow and improve. The Feedback Hub application is a great way to do this. The post Ensuring Windows 10 devices are up to date has never been more important appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

This was a week for jocks and geeks to unite, as they convened at Hashtag Sports, an innovation conference in New York City exploring the convergence of media, sponsorship, content, advertising and culture. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/6f9b6079698e85b20625656684916abd.jpg A Chicago Bears fan shows his passion at the FoxTales kiosk. (Image courtesy of FoxTales) Microsoft, an official partner of the event, hosted a media event where tech trailblazers from companies including Arccos Caddie showed how they’re elevating our favorite games. Sal Syed, CEO and co-founder of Arccos, demonstrated how cloud-based golf technology is helping weekend golfers get more birdies. FoxTales CEO Josh Hubberman highlighted his company’s custom baseball card technology and other conduits to foster new relationships between teams and fans. Staff from the Seattle Reign FC professional women’s soccer club talked about the team’s embrace of technology in an effort to boost performance and score more goals by more efficiently measuring and managing the cumulative toll of the games on players’ bodies. And NASCAR officials showed off a new race management app that helps them see individual cars better within the fluid motion of the field, in a sport where every second counts. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/cacfbdecda4045a7c1a9266021a261b3.jpg Seattle Reign midfielder/winger Megan Rapinoe. (Image courtesy of the Seattle Reign) This week’s focus on fun technology wasn’t limited to New York – L.A. got in on the action, too. AEG’s L.A. LIVE entertainment and sports district, which 20 million people pass through each year, got a new addition with the revamped Microsoft Lounge that uses tech to blend Hollywood’s past and present. Visitors not only are surrounded by the plush décor of old Hollywood speakeasies with antique furniture and brick walls, they’ll also experience artist installations that include a massive Kinect-powered wall of wooden tiles that moves based on guests’ motions, a photo booth with social sharing features and a mosaic mural of images continually compiled from the latest visits. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/55b20dcb010b99b860c9e8d35b9472b5.jpg The week wasn’t all fun and games, though – The Markle Foundation and Microsoft Philanthropies signed a significant partnership to connect workers with new opportunities in the digital economy. Microsoft said it will invest more than $25 million over three years to expand Markle’s successful Skillful initiative, first across Colorado and then to other states. The move comes as technological advancements are putting the workforce through “an upheaval unlike anything we’ve seen since coal and steam propelled machines to the forefront of industry in the 19th Century,” Microsoft President Brad Smith and Markle President and CEO Zoë Baird wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “This is one of the single biggest philanthropic investments Microsoft Philanthropies has made, reflecting the importance of the work involved.” Microsoft also awarded Affordable Access Initiative grants to 10 companies in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the U.S., including Picosoft Nepal, which is working to bring low-cost internet to schools in the country’s heavily rural areas. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/0477d399ef03fc4f563b9b7744db7ed1.jpg Amid that workplace upheaval, Microsoft is taking steps to help employees better manage their work-life balance. The company is now offering workers around the world up to four weeks of fully paid leave if they need to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition. And Lakshmi Sasidharan, a search account manager for Microsoft in Singapore, talks about a “no-barriers career” alongside an ideal professional landscape that allows her to celebrate her role as a mother. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/5b0f5e47d42e850c0d0683d9c07be7d0.jpg Lakshmi Sasidaran near the Microsoft Singapore office The week also brought the first podcast of .future, a new series about making the future happen, hosted by science and technology reporter Cristina Quinn in conjunction with Microsoft Story Labs and Gimlet Creative. The first episode explores what it takes to secure the information we store in the cloud and protect against personal and global attacks on the digital battlefield. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/aee4c12eee0df6c9e56a41fa4e36b256.jpg In apps this week, making your own music has never been simpler with the software behind Music Maker Plus, which is celebrating its launch in the Windows Store with a 50 percent off sale. For a limited time, you can also buy any book in the new Books store for Windows 10 and get $5 off the next one – but hurry, because the offer expires at the end of Friday, June 30. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/534583020dbe82e95e47bd24b8fc8d77.jpg Whether you’re enjoying music, reading a good book, making the world a better place or using new tech to help you play or watch sports, we hope you have a terrific weekend, and we’ll see you back here next week! Posted by Susanna Ray Microsoft News Center Staff The post The intersection of sports and tech, help amid workforce upheaval and a new .future podcast – Weekend Reading: June 30 edition appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

We hope you enjoyed today’s episode of This Week on Windows! Check out our Windows 10 Tip on how to personalize your PC with themes in the Windows Store; head over here for more on the Ultimate Game Sale, beginning Friday, June 30; read all about the biometric identity ring that works with Windows Hello; get better viewing with Sling TV Cloud DVR, now for Windows 10 – and keep reading for what’s new in the Windows Store. In case you missed it: Pinball FX3 coming to Windows 10 and Xbox One this summer https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/7d0e330610d412f97c5e79d9e8861bf0.jpg Pinball FX has a long and storied history on Xbox Live, having released in the early days of Xbox LIVE Arcade in July 2010 (almost 7 years ago!). Now the time has come to evolve the Pinball FX2 platform, with Pinball FX3: the biggest, most community-driven pinball game ever created. New single-player modes have been developed that will help make players develop their skills and perform better, and you can bring the majority of your previous PFX2 purchases to PFX3 at no charge. Head over to Xbox Wire to read more, and keep an eye on pinballfx.com for news and updates! Here’s what’s new in the Windows Store this week: Spartan Jerome-092 and Arbiter Ripa ‘Moramee clash in Halo Wars 2 on Windows 10 and Xbox One Two iconic figures from the Halo Wars series return to the forefront in the latest downloadable content for Halo Wars 2: the Icons of War pack. First up is Commander Jerome-092, Spartan-II super soldier and leader of Red Team aboard the UNSC Spirit of Fire. Next is the deadly and merciless Arbiter Ripa ‘Moramee, who may not have survived his stint as the primary antagonist of the first game, but arrives in Halo Wars 2 with loads of resentment and zero Regret. Both Jerome-092 and Arbiter Ripa ‘Moramee are available as part of the Halo Wars 2 Season Pass, or available for individual purchase at $5.99 USD each. You can also purchase a special 2-pack version that includes both Leaders for $9.99 USD. As always, new Halo Wars 2 content will continue to come in the months ahead, so follow @Halo and stay tuned to Halo Waypoint and Xbox Wire for the latest info. See you on the battlefield! Killer Instinct https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/1b47bc23c5e9c2de8261e5814893293a.png A new warrior comes to Killer Instinct ($4.99) in this latest update. For Aria, Eagle is the most valuable being on the planet. His ability to commune with and influence all forms of life, including machines, holds the key to her total destruction. Now, set free after years of imprisonment in Aria’s dream world, Eagle returns to restore balance to the Earth. Fate of the Furious https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/fa3d771a20115ef77b8e352f679b7f20.jpg When a mysterious woman draws Dom into her world of crime in Fate of the Furious, his friends will crisscross the globe to stop her and bring back the man who made them a family. Own the latest installment in this blockbuster franchise two weeks before Blu-ray, available now in the Movies & TV section of the Windows Store. Plus, for a limited time, purchase Fate of the Furious and get a free in-game item for the Rocket League game on Xbox One! Preacher Season 2 – Buy from $22.99 https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/30cb3323f1659a13a308d716e980e112.jpg Preacher ($24.99 HD, $22.99 SD) is back for a thrilling second season as Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy set out on a road trip to find God and get caught up in an epic battle spanning Heaven, Hell and humanity. Watch the season premiere of this twisted comedic drama now in in the Movies & TV section of the Windows Store! Have a great weekend! The post This Week on Windows: Ultimate Game Sale, customize your desktop and more appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/f1971ed4899ae0db48382e11ec25c041.jpg There’s a good chance you’ve received an email today saying, “Congratulations, you’ve won!” or that “Your friend has tagged a photo of you” on a social networking site and you need to check it out now. Online schemes often shift from technical to social, and you don’t need to be a tech guru to know that there are bad guys out there trying to compromise your identity. Our online identities are presented and verified hundreds of times each day as we navigate documents, apps, services and websites. Establishing trusted identities is how a web-based economy functions, and criminals know it. What’s more, passwords can be a hassle, and most of us don’t create strong passwords or follow the best practice of maintaining a different password for every site. Often times, we create easy-to-remember passwords and typically use the same passwords across all of our accounts. Studies show more than 80 percent of people use the same password across multiple web sites, managing around 20-30 different accounts. When the same password is used across several sites, compromising one account can expose many others to abuse. Log in credentials are such an important layer in securing your device because malicious actors can use social engineering, phishing, or keylogging techniques to steal passwords from your device, or compromise the server where the passwords are stored. Protecting identities while simultaneously empowering people to be productive requires solutions that are engineered from the ground up to work together. At Microsoft, our approach to multi-factor authentication is a combination of a device and a second factor, say a PIN or a biometric signature, you create on the device. So it requires something you have as well as something unique only you know or have. Microsoft designed Windows Hello to help enable people to move to a password alternative that is fast and has enterprise-grade security from the online threats and we’re thrilled to work with Token to make the Windows Hello experience even better. With its simple design, Token – a biometric identity ring changing the way you prove and protect your identity by streamlining the process of authentication throughout your day – logs you into Windows 10 seamlessly in a way that feels natural and familiar. We’re excited to continue working with our partners like Token to make Windows devices and people’s online experiences more secure. Embracing new innovations like this one, we are continually fostering a vibrant ecosystem of partners across the industry who are committed to working together to make life harder for the bad guys, and easier for you. The post Windows Hello in Token, a biometric ring appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/b918d1d92febe12e40787966f796c065.jpgI am pleased to announce that Microsoft has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cloudyn, an innovative company that helps enterprises and managed service providers optimize their investments in cloud services. As customers grow their cloud usage across many projects, it can be challenging to gain visibility and understand costs for existing projects, to optimize those investments and to project future usage. It is critical that customers have access to enterprise-grade management capabilities for detailed visibility into their Azure consumption, cost and performance in order to stay within budget and ensure business success. This acquisition fits squarely into our commitment to empower customers with the tools they need to govern their cloud adoption and realize the strategic benefits of a global, trusted, intelligent cloud. Cloudyn gives enterprise customers tools to identify, measure and analyze consumption, enable accountability and forecast future cloud spending. As a Microsoft partner, Cloudyn has supported cost management for Microsoft Azure and other public clouds, helping customers continuously improve their cloud efficiency. Cloudyn customers have been able to optimize their cloud services usage and costs through automated monitoring, analytics and cost allocation. Since working with Cloudyn, one U.S.-based Fortune 500 customer has seen a 286 percent return on investment (ROI) with regard to their cloud efficiencies, demonstrating Cloudyn’s ability to help customers accelerate their cloud adoption. Cloudyn capabilities will be incorporated into our product portfolio that offers customers the industry’s broadest set of cloud management, security and governance solutions. We’re excited to bring the Cloudyn team and their technology to Microsoft. I look forward to seeing the impact their contributions will have on continuing to help our customers and partners accelerate their digital transformation with Azure. Sharon Wagner, the founder and CEO of Cloudyn, shares his thoughts on today’s news here. The closing of the acquisition is subject to regulatory approval. The post Microsoft’s acquisition of Cloudyn will help Azure customers manage and optimize their cloud usage appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders! Today we are excited to release Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16232 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring! We are also releasing Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview Build 15228 to Insiders in the Fast ring. Earlier this week, we announced new end-to-end security features coming with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and this build for PC includes some of those new security features. A note about app updates In order to provide Windows customers with the highest quality inbox apps possible, we will pause testing new versions of our inbox apps with Windows Insiders. This means that Insiders will not receive app updates from the Windows Store for our inbox apps that are newer than the apps included in the build. Insiders may notice that some features we were testing in our inbox apps – including recent updates to the Photos app – will temporarily disappear. This is because some of our inbox apps won’t have all the latest new features without getting an update from the Store. It is critical that Insiders are experiencing the same version of Windows that will be released as the default version for all Windows users. Insiders will once again start receiving app updates in the very near future. As always, your feedback will help us tremendously to define the overall Windows experience and insure the quality of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is excellent for our customers. What’s New in Build 16232 For PC Windows Defender Application Guard (WDAG) Improvements: Giving you access to all the rich features in Microsoft Edge while using Application Guard: Building on our work in Build 16188, we have added support for Microsoft Edge data persistence while using Application Guard. Once enabled, data such as your favorites, cookies, and saved passwords will be persisted across Application Guard sessions. The persisted data will be not be shared or surfaced on the host, but it will be available for future Microsoft Edge in Application Guard sessions. How to take advantage of Data Persistence when using Microsoft Edge with Application Guard: You enable Data Persistence for Microsoft Edge in Application Guard using Group Policy. Note that Data Persistence for Application Guard with Microsoft Edge sessions is not enabled by default. To enable data persistence, close all Microsoft Edge windows and update the Windows Components > Windows Defender Application Guard policy to turn on data persistence: https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/52146b20cbca9392f3388b7bcb998b9c.png After the Group Policy settings are set, next launch New Application Guard Window from the Microsoft Edge menu: https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/0b70bd22a57ade29e5b5379d8b2f3cf0.png https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/09ca8d957234cc1903393ee60bbb6a02.png Then browse to your favorite web site and add it to Favorites in Microsoft Edge as shown here: https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/e12a0d42a6650b61a0688067a67cf4e4.png How to find your Favorites after you close Edge with Application Guard: Since you have enabled Data Persistence using Group Policy for Application Guard, the site you saved to your Favorites will be available for later use, with Microsoft Edge in Application Guard, even after reboots as well as build to build upgrades of Windows. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/67c7d370ad64f1bdbe898f022a355506.png Read more about what the Windows Defender Application Guard team has been working on in this latest Insider Preview by visiting this community page To learn more about what’s coming in Windows Defender Application Guard, please take a look at this new . Introducing Exploit Protection: We’ve heard your feedback regarding the upcoming EMET EOL, so we’re excited to announce that starting with this build you can now audit, configure, and manage Windows system and application exploit mitigation settings right from the Windows Defender Security Center! You don’t need to be using Windows Defender Antivirus to take advantage of these settings. After upgrading to this build, you can find these settings by opening the Windows Defender Security Center and going to the App & browser control page: Either right-click the icon in the notification area on the taskbar and click Open, or search via the Start menu for Windows Defender Security Center From Windows Defender Security Center, click on App & browser control and then scroll to the bottom of the resulting screen to find Exploit Protection https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/c76812fc3320de05bfb647abeeb57b58.png More detailed documentation will follow on Microsoft Docs, and remember that Exploit Protection is a work-in-progress and might not be fully functional just yet! Introducing Controlled folder access in Windows Defender Antivirus: In this build, we’re making it easier for you to protect valuable data from malicious apps and threats, such as ransomware. To enable the feature, search for and open the Windows Defender Security Center from Start, go to the Virus & threat protection settings section, and set the switch to On: https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/4838c8273cd6c0fc6ccceb2d3b3b323d.png Controlled folder access monitors the changes that apps make to files in certain protected folders. If an app attempts to make a change to these files, and the app is blacklisted by the feature, you’ll get a notification about the attempt. You can complement the protected folders with additional locations, and add the apps that you want to allow access to those folders. Allowing apps can be useful if you’re finding a particular app that you know and trust is being blocked by the Controlled folder access feature. Click Allow an app through Controlled folder access and locate and add the app you want to allow. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/969b167e02777129b7e8a6bf5a0911cf.jpg You can add additional folders to the list of protected folders, but you cannot alter the default list, which includes folders such as Documents, Pictures, Movies, and Desktop. Adding other folders to Controlled folder access can be handy, for example, if you don’t store files in the default Windows libraries or you’ve changed the location of the libraries away from the defaults. Click Protected folders in the Controlled folder access area and enter the full path of the folder you want to monitor. You can also enter network shares and mapped drives, but environment variables and wildcards are not supported (for right now). https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/a027b50c949518ba518278da4de17bdf.jpg Changes, improvements, and fixes for PC We fixed the issue that was causing updating to the latest build to fail and roll back to the previous build if you had the .NET 3.5 Framework installed. You should no longer need to uninstall .NET 3.5 before trying to update to this build. We fixed an issue for those with certain languages installed in the last flight where ctfmon.exe would go into a crash loop, resulting in typing in the Start menu and UWP apps becoming impossible. We’ve listened to feedback and in Windows Defender Security Center you will soon have the option to dismiss recommendations (yellow badged items). In this build, you will see the upcoming addition however it is under construction and not up and running yet. Stay tuned and we’ll let you know when we have it finished. We fixed an issue where some games like Mass Effect 3 would crash if you used Alt + TAB after 5 minutes of game play. We fixed an issue resulting in Word 2016 crashing if you attempted to ink in it. We fixed an issue where using the new Ctrl + Win + C hotkey to enable and disable color filters would unexpectedly open Settings. We fixed an issue from the last flight where auto-complete in the URL bar of Microsoft Edge might fail on some devices – searching for a partial string instead of the autocompleted text. This fix should also address the feedback some of you were reporting where Cortana sometimes couldn’t keep up with typing on that flight and the letters would end up out of order. We fixed an issue where the File Explorer Ribbon assets were blurry if the window’s DPI was not equal to the system DPI. We fixed an issue resulting in apps that start with X, V or Q being incorrectly categorized in Start on Polish builds. We’ve moved the new Video Playback Settings page to now be listed under the Apps category, and have fixed the issues on the page where the video and battery dropdown weren’t displaying correctly. We fixed an issue with the XAML Acrylic Brush that could result in certain apps, for example Maps, occasionally crashing due to attempting to load acrylic brushes while the app was suspended. We fixed a rare condition that could result in Start menu appearing to flash/flicker continuously. Known issues for PC Your PC may fail to update to this build with an 0x80070643 and rolls back to the previous build. We are investigating. We’re continuing to investigate reports that the battery status on certain laptops isn’t updating while the device is unplugged. If you think you are seeing this, please send in feedback via Feedback Hub and use the capture feature when logging your feedback so we can get your logs. You may notice some of your inbox apps are now displaying a name that looks like “ms-resource:” and are listed at the bottom of Start. We’re investigating. In the meantime, the app should still launch normally, it’s only the name resource that’s impacted. Some UWP apps such as Twitter will crash on launch. Xbox Live in-game experiences may fail to load. These include gamer profiles, achievement details, and other dialogs that may pop up on top of an Xbox Live-enabled game. Please avoid doing a PC reset via Settings > Update & security > Recovery and choosing “Remove everything”. This may put your device into a reboot loop. Task Manager may hang on launch on this build. Changes, improvements, and fixes for Mobile We have fixed notifications (SMS, Calendar) with all Fitbit trackers. We have fixed crashes reported while using Photos app. We have fixed a deployment issue in where if an admin uses ActiveSyncCSP to provisioning email account on device running the Windows 10 Creators Update without providing a valid password, and the email server enforces a limited number of denied access retries, then the server will lock out the email account. We have improved battery performance by fixing a bug in a scenario where 30% more power was used during Camera app preview and capture mode. Some Insiders provided feedback that playing video on phone resulted in a black flash and/or stuttering when in landscape mode. We have fixed this issue. We have improved Bluetooth connectivity with Garmin Wearable devices. General improvement in reliability of phones by fixing top crash issues. Office Insider Poll Our friends in Office are running a poll on their Twitter account asking what is most important to you as an Office Insider. Help them out by answering the poll! Not an Office Insider? Click here to join the Office Insider Program. As an Office Insider, it’s most important for me to: — MS Office Insiders (@OfficeInsider) June 26, 2017 No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service, Dona <3 The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16232 for PC + Build 15228 for Mobile appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Mark your calendars as summer kicks into high gear beginning this Friday with the Ultimate Game Sale, featuring a killer collection of deals on more than 350 games, gaming hardware and accessories. With savings up to 50% across the Microsoft Store, Xbox Store and Windows Store, the Ultimate Game Sale will appeal to PC and Xbox gamers alike. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/d9723dd30c40b94923ea2863aecf9516.png You could also win one of two Ultimate Prize Packages by participating in the Ultimate Game Face Sweepstakes!** Simply share a photo of your Ultimate Game Face on Twitter or Instagram and tag #UltimateGameFace AND #XboxSweepstakes or #PCSweepstakes, now through Monday, July 10, for a chance to win. Visit microsoft.com/ultimategameface for complete details. We’ll be updating this blog post with specific deals on Friday,, June 30, so bookmark this page and be sure to come back to see all the great Ultimate Game Sale deals. *All offers shown are available on select items 6/30/2017 to 7/10/2017. Limited quantities available, while supplies last. No rain checks. Availability and pricing varies by location. May not be combinable with other offers. Certain other exclusions and limitations may apply. Not valid on prior orders or purchases; cannot be transferred or otherwise redeemed. Microsoft reserves the right to modify or discontinue any offer at any time. See webpage for each offer’s specific details. **No Purchase Necessary. Open only to legal residents of the 50 U.S. + DC 14+. Game ends 7/10/17. For details, visit: microsoft.com/ultimategameface/terms. The post Announcing the Ultimate Game Sale, beginning June 30 appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders, If you are in the Slow ring, we’ve released KB4022716 to keep you up to date with the latest Windows 10 Creators Update fixes as we prepare to release a new Windows 10 Fall Creators Update build in the coming weeks. As a result of receiving this update, your PC will be required to reboot to complete the update. With the forth coming release of a new Windows 10 Fall Creators Update build to the Slow ring, we are testing a new update targeting framework and will be delivering the build in staggered phases. This will simulate the rollout process we use when we release major Windows 10 feature updates to retail customers. When we release a new Windows 10 Fall Creators Update build to Insiders in the Slow ring, they can wait to be targeted to install the new build, or instead of waiting Insiders can manually check for updates via Windows Update to get the new build. We know this is different from our usual “everyone at once” model to the WIP rings, however this testing will provide invaluable insights to ensure this new targeting framework is functioning as expected. We thank you for your patience while we complete this testing! Keep hustling team, Dona <3 The post Cumulative Update rolling out to Insiders in Slow ring appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Sports ignite peoples’ passion like nothing else. Standout athletes become legends through their performance on the field. But what sets them apart often comes down to decisions made off the field, such as diet, mental and physical preparation and the frequency or intensity of practice. The difference between a win or a loss can be decided by an extra five minutes of wind sprints, levels of hydration or getting to bed 30 minutes earlier the night before. At Microsoft, we believe sports provide a tremendous opportunity to use technology to transform how individual athletes and teams push the limits and gain the edge they’re looking for in the most challenging of circumstances. Imagine making clutch decisions that are based on insight, rather than gut. And what if coaches could prevent an injury and extend an athlete’s career by correcting her technique or making a small tweak to her training program? That is Microsoft’s vision, and today at Hashtag Sports we announced our Sports Performance Platform, a Microsoft Garage project – a customized, sports analytics solution that will help both athletes and sports teams make better, faster and more data-driven decisions. Teams such as the Seattle Reign FC, Real Sociedad, Sport Lisboa e Benfica and Cricket Australia are already using Sports Performance Platform’s predictive outcome modeling and analytics capabilities to track and improve player performance. Microsoft’s goal is to make those technologies accessible to all levels of sport – professional, academy, high school, individual athletes and coaches. To help gain a competitive edge, teams have spent the past few years digitizing their historical data and improving their data management skills. But a gap still exists between collecting and organizing data and actually seeing and predicting trends and patterns that enable better, faster decision-making. Built on Power BI, Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Surface devices, Sports Performance Platform helps athletes and teams close that gap by giving them access to advances in cloud computing, data aggregation, machine learning and predictive analytics. Combined, these solutions can transform how they play based on new data-driven decisions made on the sidelines, in the locker room and in the sports performance lab. Coaches can create an aggregate view of insights on an athlete’s performance, recovery and readiness, enabling them to run predictive modeling for injury prevention, make clutch-time decisions on a player’s game-day availability and design practice regimens that keep each athlete playing at the optimum level. Microsoft partners Akvelon, Fair Play and POP are helping customers deploy and customize Sports Performance Platform. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/f0cea1787265d0b379721b5da86d5b1d.jpg Seattle Reign Head Coach Laura Harvey gives instructions to players during a match. The Seattle Reign FC is one of the first teams to use Sports Performance Platform. Laura Harvey, head coach for the Seattle Reign FC, and Nick Leman, director of high performance, use GPS data from Catapult and the Fit For 90 monitoring platform to track data about factors such as a player’s heart rate, speed, acceleration and deceleration. Sports Performance Platform aggregates data from these disparate sources into one centralized view. Sports Performance Platform leverages Power BI to provide live dashboards that offer a view into player readiness, training and soreness, among other factors. This dashboard is showing each player’s speed and distance on any given day. This data is then used to validate the design and efficacy of each day’s training plan. Following each match, Leman can review the GPS and Fit for 90 data in one centralized view within the platform. If the players sprinted more than normal, then they might experience more muscle soreness, and if the temperature on game day was especially hot, then they might have experienced more cardiovascular fatigue. Having this data can help Leman give informed recommendations to Harvey on how many days of recovery to give each player, and how hard to train her during her first session back. Reign coaches and performance staff can also track athlete performance over a season, or multiple seasons, more easily and look for players with the speed, agility and explosiveness that are vital for excelling at the professional level. The team is also planning to extend Sports Performance Platform to its Reign Academy, which provides coaching and training for up-and-coming female soccer players in the Pacific Northwest. The field of sports science has evolved dramatically from its beginnings in the ’60s, when pencil, paper and clipboard were state of the art. Today, nearly a dozen different platforms offer services to help athletes and teams by tracking their historical data. What sets Sports Performance Platform from Microsoft apart is the availability of machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities to help predict likely outcomes, and use those insights to make better coaching decisions. Sports Performance Platform builds on our history of working with sporting organizations like NASCAR and the PGA TOUR. Together with our technology partners, we’re creating customized solutions that will deliver the next generation of sports performance for athletes and teams everywhere. Learn more by visiting the Microsoft Garage site here. Additionally, sports organizations interested in receiving the latest updates and availability can sign up to receive our regular communications here. The post Sports Performance Platform puts data into play – and action – for athletes and teams appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

Choose from endless options to make your PC yours, including hundreds of wallpapers, sound options, and custom accent colors. Themes include plants and flowers, landscapes, animals, natural wonders, cityscapes – anything to suit your style. The photography, art, and illustrations you see come from creators across the globe. Windows 10 is all about letting you express yourself and create, and customizing your PC is a great way to jump into the Creators Update. Here’s how to find themes in Windows 10: If you have the Creators Update, you can open Settings, select Personalization, Themes, and then the “Get more themes in the store” link – or, click here to go right to the Windows Store. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/39b25273246c7056a0a17df3acfdc049.gif Once downloaded, you can launch your new theme from the Windows Store or click on it in Settings, Personalization, Themes, and Apply a theme. That’s it! Download as many themes as you’d like. The theme you choose will automatically assign an accent color to your desktop, but it’s easy to customize your own: https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/4dafb6cf5bb581b8dd1f1a7dfab79585.gif Open Settings. Select Personalization, then Themes. Select Color, then pick a color, any color! Select Custom color for even more options. Keep exploring the theme catalogue in Windows Store – we’ll add new themes in each Windows 10 update. Have a great week! *US only The post Windows 10 Tip: Personalize your PC with new themes in the Windows Store appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

No lazy days of summer here. This week, we saw how “Minecraft’s” Block by Block program helps communities build thriving public spaces. We shared how refugees are enriching their new homes. And Microsoft Stream made its general-availability debut. Let’s take a look. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/4f4061111cd82796dfb4663a6266e5c5.jpg Students use “Minecraft” to redesign parts of their neighborhood during a recent Block by Block workshop. On the outskirts of Hanoi, Vietnam, schoolgirls crowded into a computer room this spring and laughed while playing “Minecraft,” but their 3D models were more than an exercise in imagination. They were part of the newest project from Block by Block, a program from the United Nations and Mojang, the makers of “Minecraft,” that uses the power of the game and designs sourced from local residents to improve public spaces around the world. Block by Block is an inclusive approach to urban development — increasingly important as the world’s population moves to cities — and the subject of a vibrant feature this week on Microsoft Story Labs. Also this week, Microsoft Stream, a service that brings intelligence to enterprise videos, became generally available. The service provides a common destination for video management, built-in intelligence and integration across Office 365 for better collaboration and productivity among business users. A new Azure-powered platform that uses carbon, weather and other data is helping consumers figure out how to reduce energy use, cut costs and find the “cleanest” hours of the day. The user-friendly Smart Energy Azure Demonstration platform is available to anyone with an Azure subscription. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/ea365eb61b88e8fc333eb5b5854daabb.jpg On World Refugee Day Tuesday, Microsoft told the story of Farhad Agajan, who fled his home in Afghanistan at age 8, journeyed through countries as an unaccompanied minor and landed in Greece at age 16. Now a Mercy Corps field officer working in refugee camps, Agajan is one of 65 million people displaced from their homes worldwide. His story highlights how refugees enrich their new homes with hope and resilience, and reflects Microsoft’s commitment to refugees, which includes more than $30 million in support this year. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/17b1c2030885d9cf7a3caed49094ac37.jpg In architectural design, mixed reality has become the new design reality, with SketchUp Viewer on Microsoft HoloLens becoming an essential tool for faster, easier ways to create and collaborate. From innovative architect Greg Lynn to Gensler, the largest design and architecture firm in the world, designers are using the immersive technologies to create everything from sports arenas to factory remodels. Do you find typing a chore? You can now type with your voice with Dictate, a new Microsoft Garage project that converts speech to text with state-of-the-art speech recognition and artificial intelligence imbued in Microsoft Cognitive Services. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/fa5cd29875c79f8cdf0f6f6af2007aa1.jpg Finally, in Windows Store app news, music fans are dancing along with Spotify for Windows 10, now available for download in all 60 countries where Spotify is available. The music app lets you enjoy, discover and share millions of songs. That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading and see you next week! The post ‘Minecraft’ improves public spaces, Microsoft Stream debuts and refugees enrich their new homes with hope — Weekend Reading: June 23 edition appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

We hope you enjoyed today’s episode of This Week on Windows! Check out our Windows 10 Tip on how to watch 360° videos with the Windows 10 Creators Update, catch up on all the Xbox news out of our E3 Briefing, learn more about the launch of Surface Laptop and Surface Pro, head over here for six things you need to know about Windows 10 S, or, keep reading for what’s new in the Windows Store. In case you missed it: There has never been a better time to buy a Surface https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/6a29a57fad3f5e54f06aea32aca7552a.jpg If you’ve been waiting to purchase your new Surface, there’s never been a better time. We announced last week that at all physical Microsoft Stores in the US or Canada, when you trade in an old device, including an Apple MacBook or iPad, you will receive up to $850 off most Surface devices, including the new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop*. Microsoft Store associates will help find the right Surface for you with a device fitting, and with the new Surface Migration Assistant app, you can easily transfer all your files, pictures, music and settings to your new Surface device without missing a beat. Come into a Microsoft Store and let us show you how easy it is to make the switch to a Surface. Here’s what’s new in the Windows Store this week: djay Pro Sale – Buy for $39.99 https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/6bb7a5b3c7c8b10187a3a7a6e2bdff29.jpg Thirty million downloads are powerfully persuasive recommendations – and djay Pro ($39.99, regularly $49.99, June 19-25, 2017) doesn’t disappoint. Now, get all its amazing features and effects – including Surface Dial integration, for scratching – along with the access to millions of tracks that Spotify integration delivers, for 20% off June 19-25. Sling TV Cloud DVR comes to Windows 10 https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/38950b332ba57905e0049a8f37115277.jpg This week, discover more features and easier, better viewing with Sling TV Cloud DVR – now for Windows 10 (free to download; services start at $20 per month; $5 per month more for 50 hours of DVR storage). Sling TV Cloud DVR gives even more control over how, when, and where you watch. More channels allow you to see more of your favorites. Schedule, manage, and record on most channels with Windows 10. Want to record content from local FOX channels, Nat Geo, or FX? No problem – they’re part of the new channel lineup. If you have a favorite episode, epic sports play, or another never-forget moment, just choose “Protect” in the Manage DVR section, and it’s saved as long as you subscribe. Signing up is easy – you add Cloud DVR just like any other extra on Sling TV. Just sign in to your account on sling.com and select “Add Cloud DVR.” Change the way you watch – and enjoy – on Sling TV, today! Spotify https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/3afff6da158108f173d484894b18ceb8.jpg Spotify for Windows 10 is now available to download in the Windows Store. We first announced our partnership with Spotify in early May and are thrilled to bring the Spotify app to Windows 10 and Windows 10 S customers following on the heels of the release of Surface Laptop and Windows 10 S last week. The Spotify app is available today in all 60 countries where Spotify is available. Learn more in this blog post! Kong: Skull Island – Buy from $14.99 https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/ae5525b6a04680c30eeea1f227b2a7fc.jpg When a group of scientists set out to explore an uncharted island in the South Pacific, they get more than they bargained for when they encounter the island’s extraordinary – and terrifying – wildlife. Kong: Skull Island ($29.99 UHD, $19.99 HD, $14.99 SD) is now available to own in the Movies & TV section of the Windows Store four weeks before Blu-ray. Have a great weekend! *Offer valid from June 15, 2017, to July 31, 2017, while supplies last. Available only in Microsoft retail stores in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and Canada. To receive full store credit towards the purchase of a new select Surface device, a customer must trade-in qualifying Surface Pro device subject to these terms. To be eligible for trade-in, you must own the qualifying device, device must power on, battery must hold charge and not be required to be plugged in to operate, and be in fully functional, working condition without broken/missing components, cracked display/housing, liquid damage, modification(s) or have device warranty seal broken to be considered working. Cannot be password protected, and include original chargers/accessories. Must contain a hard drive. Any appraised value will be determined at trade-in and provided as a Microsoft retail store credit. All trade-ins are subject to Microsoft’s discretion and approval. All trade-ins are final. Recycle for Rewards program provided by CExchange, LLC., and other terms and conditions may apply. Not valid on prior orders or purchases; cannot be transferred or otherwise redeemed for cash or gift cards. May be combinable with other offers. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Microsoft reserves the right to modify or discontinue offers at any time. Other exclusions and limits may apply. See store associate for details. The post This Week on Windows: Spotify in the Windows Store, 360° videos, E3 and more appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Earlier this spring, 45 schoolgirls in matching uniforms crowded into the computer room at the custard-colored North Thanglong Economic & Technical college on the outskirts of Hanoi, Vietnam. Beyond intermittent ripples of laughter and excitement, the 15- and 16-year-olds stayed focused throughout the day on the hard work at hand: playing Minecraft. Together they built 3D models that reimagined the darker corners of their neighborhood as a safer, more functional and more beautiful place for them and their families to inhabit. But this wasn’t just an exercise in imagination. The girls were taking part in the newest project from Block by Block, a program from the United Nations and Mojang, the makers of Minecraft, that uses the power of Minecraft and designs sourced from local residents to improve public spaces around the world. Thoughtful, inclusive approaches to urban development like this are increasingly critical as the world’s population increasingly moves to cities. Through a combination of birth rate and rural immigration, Hanoi has nearly doubled its population since the year 2000. And it’s not alone. Cities around the globe are swelling by a total of some 200,000 people per day. Read the full story. The post Minecraft’s Block by Block program is helping communities build thriving new public spaces around the world appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders! Today we are excited to release Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16226 for PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring! What’s New in Build 16226 For PC New features in Microsoft Edge Giving you more control over closing tabs: Building on our work in Build 16199, we’ve updated Microsoft Edge to ensure the X in the tab band is always available to close a tab, even when a JavaScript (i.e. alert, prompt, etc.) dialog is showing within Microsoft Edge. Additionally, closing the Edge window always remains an available option. You can also access many browser capabilities (i.e. favorites bar, settings, etc.) while a dialog is showing. Making it easier to move from another browser: Users can now migrate Cookies and Settings from Chrome to Microsoft Edge, which will make it easier for users to make the move to Microsoft Edge as their primary browser. More EPUB improvements in Microsoft Edge Copy and Ask Cortana: Now, when you select your text, you can Copy and Ask Cortana in addition to adding notes, highlighting and underlining. Cortana can help you do a little research while you’re reading an EPUB book! https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/d089f6bf79e0eaf1f7f30890b72ae0a1.png Ink Notes: Got ink? Add a note and write or draw on it with your pen. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/841d485b2c580e533aad2dc66f99b42f.png To see your note, just hover over the note button—no need to open it. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/839f1d03a2b45ced552d01ec7f6ed65f.png Books roamed across devices: Your books from the Windows Store are available on your Windows 10 devices, and your reading progress, bookmarks, and notes are kept in sync. Improved Favorites experience in Microsoft Edge: New experience when saving new favorites: You can now view your favorites as a directory tree when you save new favorites, and collapse or expand folders from within the “Add to favorites” dialog. Just click the “Save in” folder list to get started! https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/7e9d1a4dcad102617c24928fa2a0a9b9.png Edit URL for Favorites: You can now edit the URL of any favorite in the Favorites menu or the Favorites Bar. You can use this to update the location of a site that has moved, or to create Bookmarklets in the favorites bar. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/f32ed0094352c3869c0957be0018095f.png Favorite manageability for Enterprise: IT admins can now configure favorites via group policy and mobile device management, including the ability to define and lock pre-configured favorites in addition to the user’s favorites. Emoji Updates Emoji 5.0! We have added support for the latest Unicode updates – including new snacks, actions, dinosaurs, and even fantasy characters like genies, fairies and zombies! They’re all accessible via both the touch keyboard and the Emoji Panel. Bonus: Along the way, we also updated our emoji pickers to now make it possible to access the profession emoji and gender diverse options for some of our people actions (for example, you can now select male or female face palm). Finally, we’ve tweaked some of our original emoji designs based on your feedback and to improve consistency with how the emoji is displayed on other platforms (while maintaining our Windows style). New emoji include: https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/84bfe915e408ec5f3ec2b8d4c2ba1782.png Examples of updated emoji – before: https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/0b582a3ea6b4ae54b8c2843dc9ed13fb.png And after: https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/ffb5cfad44b6f837c160ec6137bb901d.png Search for emoji in Emoji Panel: We’ve updated the hardware keyboard’s new Emoji Panel to now provide a search feature! After opening the panel via the Win + period (.) or semicolon (;) hotkeys, keep typing! The words you type will be used to filter the emoji displayed. If you close the panel by clicking “x” button or pressing Esc, the words will remain. We’re still working on enriching our emoji keywords – have any suggestions? Log feedback! Note: The Emoji Panel is currently only available when the en-us keyboard is active. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/0e1a25886c2b8c636f820b9a966c7ce0.png Dark theme for Emoji Panel: Do you love dark theme? Because we do ????. If you have dark theme enabled (via Settings > Personalization > Colors), you’ll now see the Emoji Panel background display using dark colors instead of light. OneDrive Files On-Demand Last week, we released OneDrive Files On-Demand to Windows Insiders running Build 16215 and higher. This is essentially like OneDrive placeholders – but better. This was a highly requested feature from Insiders so be sure to check it out! Additionally, we wanted to make sure that our customers are in control of all file downloads from the cloud. When they use OneDrive Files On-Demand (or another cloud provider), and an app (like a photo editor) tries to download files that the customer has stored only in the cloud, we’ll show a message displaying: what’s being downloaded, which app is requesting the download, and options to dismiss the message, cancel the download, or block the app from downloading. (We also added a way to unblock apps in Settings > Privacy > App-requested downloads, in case you change your mind.) https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/3217f520551cb8edcf72d6af2245a501.png Touch Keyboard Improvements Shape writing for more languages: In addition to English, Shape writing is now available on the new touch keyboard for the following languages: Catalan (Catalan), Croatian (Croatia), Czech (Czech), Danish (Denmark), Dutch (Netherlands), English (India), English (United States), English (United Kingdom), Finnish (Finland), French (Canada), French (France), French (Switzerland), German (Germany), Greek (Greece), Hebrew(Israel), Hungarian (Hungary), Indonesian (Indonesia), Italian (Italy), Norwegian, Persian (Iran), Polish (Poland), Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian (Romania), Russian (Russia), Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain), Swedish (Sweden), Turkish (Turkey), Vietnamese (Vietnam). If you speak any of these languages, please take a moment to try it out and log feedback. If you have anything you can specifically repro consistently, be sure to mention it in the problem report. Note: For this and the below work to work, the language resources will need to be downloaded. If you upgrade with the language, it should happen naturally, but if you add the language after getting the build, you may need to go to Optional Features and manually download them. If language resources for that language have not been downloaded, then you will see the swipe pattern, but no text will be input into whatever field you’re typing in. In addition, you will not see any text predictions. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/678d5102d7629008b8deb424cbb3c1d5.png Text prediction for more languages: We also support text prediction upon your typing on the languages above and more! Please try out your mother tongue with our keyboard! Touch keyboard for East Asian languages: Now the new touch keyboard supports some of East Asian languages such as Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean! One-handed curve-flick touch keyboard for Japanese: We’re excited to announce that curve-flick input is coming to the PC! We’ve had this for a while on Windows 10 Mobile, and we know how much you like it, so with today’s build you’ll now be able to use it with the Japanese one-handed keyboard on PC too ^_^. For those who are unfamiliar with it, curve-flick input is an advanced method for quickly inputting Japanese Kana. If you’ve ever used flick input with your phone, please try it out today on your PC and share feedback! (and, if you’ve never tried it on your phone, share your feedback too! We love to hear your thoughts). https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/acb22696057c74d2100a489cc8072056.png Moving with ease: We’ve made some adjustments based on your feedback. First: you no longer need to hold the move icon to move the touch keyboard. We’ve removed that, and now you can just grab anywhere on the candidate pane that doesn’t have predictions, and place the keyboard where you want. Second: when using the one-handed keyboard, you’ll find that the left-most option is now “undocked”. If you use this option, then whenever you relaunch the touch keyboard it will appear back in the location it’d been in before being dismissed. Paste away: If you have text copied to your clipboard, you’ll now see a clipboard icon in the touch keyboard candidate pane. Tapping it will paste the clipboard contents into the text field with focus. Shifting up a gear: We’ve heard your feedback, and we’re very excited to let you know that with this build of Windows, you can now use the shift key to cycle between capitalization states – just like on W10M! Updated settings flyout: We’ve updated the design of our settings flyout so you can now easily access Language Settings, Keyboard Settings, or help if needed. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/3ad273d79766b0b2b7d55f9a46852a7c.png Other UI and reliability improvements including: We fixed an issue where the X to close would turn white on white if you hovered a mouse over it. We fixed an issue where the touch keyboard would stop launching after you had used the Emoji Panel. We’ve adjusted the emoji section so that it now scrolls horizontally. We’ve added more padding to the emoji section when using the one-handed keyboard. We’ve added a language key to the one-handed keyboard for easier language switching. The emoji section will now stay open after you input an emoji, so you can enter all the emoji you want at once. We’ve adjusted the size of our wide keyboard layout to be a bit bigger. Refining handwriting and pen interactions in Windows 10 Handwriting panel improvements: You can now erase words in the handwriting panel with the back of your pen. We’ve updated the processed text in the handwriting panel to now be drawn using Segoe UI. We fixed an issue where the font would sometimes be an unexpected size when selecting text and seeing it appear in the handwriting panel. As a result of your feedback, we’ve updated the English mode button in the Chinese handwriting panel to now use “中“ and “英” as a label, instead of “全部”. Pen scrolling now works in Win32 apps: Building on what we lit up with 16215, you can now use your pen to scroll in File Explorer and other win32 apps. Windows Sonic spatial sound on PC Windows Sonic, available in the Windows 10 Creators Update, is now even easier to enable with this update. Plug in a pair of headphones, right-click the sound icon in the notification area, and select Spatial sound to choose your preferred format. You can also configure your 5.1, 7.1, or Dolby Atmos for home theater from this menu if it’s your currently selected default endpoint. You can learn more about Windows Sonic here. Gaming Improvements New help options: We have added a new “Xbox Networking” section under Settings > Gaming. Here, we’ll help you attempt to identify and resolve issues preventing you from using voice chatting and playing multiplayer games with other Xbox Live users. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/c8751f8ed17af59142ca7d4e17ae1155.png Track your GPU performance: For the Task Manager fans out there, we’re happy to share that we’ve heard your feedback and we’ve updated Task Manager to now include GPU info. Our engineering team used the feedback you gave us that is part of this Feedback Collection https://aka.ms/olx5pn to prioritize and to design the feature – thank you! The Performance tab shows GPU utilization information for each separate GPU component (such as 3D and Video encode/decode), as well as graphics memory usage stats. The Details tab shows you GPU utilization info for each process. Please note that this feature is still under construction and you will find issues and bugs, as always please send us feedback in Feedback Hub under Desktop Environment > Task manager. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/f0b076c87116eaac84b8e3f0b8800d95.png Settings Improvements Storage Sense update: Head to Settings > System > Storage > Storage Sense and you’ll find: Delete your previous versions of Windows straight from Storage Sense: With all the work we’ve been doing to enhance Storage Sense features for freeing up space, we felt it just made sense to bring in windows.old clean up too. A new look: Since we’ve added a few new features, we’ve tweaked the design a bit to make everything fit together a bit neater. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/3eb9ac111ac6092728c9d87cdf4fa00a.png New Remote Desktop Settings Page: As part of our ongoing effort to converge Settings and Control Panel, you can now enable Remote Desktop and configure related settings from Settings > System > Remote Desktop! We’ve improved this page from its counterpart in Control Panel to help you more easily establish a remote connection to your PC from a Remote Desktop client application. On the new Remote Desktop settings page, you can find associated settings like sleep (“Keep my PC awake for connections when it is plugged in”) and PC discoverability to help you know if your PC is remotely accessible. We also surface your PC name on this page, which you will need to connect from the RD client applications. Improving your update experience: If an update has failed, when available, to help you better understand what went wrong we will now use a plain text string to describe the error that was encountered. This text, and the error code if visible, will now be selectable so you can easily copy and paste it elsewhere. Shell Improvements Reveal: The new Reveal Highlight behavior is an interaction visualization that helps guide users. Reveal is now enabled by default on ListView and other XAML collection controls in experiences that target the Fall Creators Update. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/7f2b4ac3acd4ed8771f46c4bdbc0ddb3.gif Note: This gif is from our UWP Style Guide, and showcases both the use of Acrylic material, and the use of Reveal. With this update, we are only enabling Reveal by default. Updated File Explorer context menu: You can now Share a file in File Explorer via the right-click context menu! Right-click on a file in File Explorer or on the Desktop to bring up the context menu, then share away. NOTE: “Share with” in the context menu has been changed to “Give access to”. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/affad4d16b9a6469c521212731b3ca32.png My People Improvements: We’ve added text to the overflow area in the People flyout to make it more clear the people listed there are pinned. We’ve updated the “Switch apps” button in the People flyout to now use the a hamburger icon, to make it more visually distinct from the back button. If you right-click the taskbar, you’ll now find an option to easily turn on or off People. We fixed an issue from the last flight where the People flyout would crash if you tapped “Find and pin contacts”. Calculator cashes in with a Currency Converter feature Since the launch of Windows 10, one of the top customer feedback requests we get is to include a Currency Converter function in Calculator. Wait no longer! As of desktop version 10.1706.1602.0 (included with the Fall Creators Update, available for update via store as we speak), you’ll find “Currency” as the top item under the “Converters” menu. It does most everything you’d expect from a Currency Converter, all expressed within the fresh and shiny Fluent Design System we rolled out last month. One aspect of the feature that we think is interesting is an offline mode…so if you’re roaming internationally and want to see how much that train ticket or souvenir is going to cost without rolling up extra data charges, we’ve got you covered. As ever, we value and await your feedback on this new feature, so send us your thoughts via Feedback Hub or Store Review! https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/5dd008a9faf3b8bfc60233ddad166241.png Ease of Access Improvements: Narrator gains auto-captioning: Narrator can now use artificial intelligence to generate descriptions for images that lack alternative text! The service also includes the ability to extract text from images using optical character recognition. Want to try it out? Turn on Narrator, set focus to the image below, then press Capslock + Shift + D to hear its description. You will need to be connected to the internet for it to work. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/2c848e2ab8345a2df977eb5e09ea3165.jpg Improved bitmap scaling for Magnifier: Text will now appear smoother when magnified using Magnifier. To enable or disable this, go to Settings > Ease of Access > Magnifier > “Enable bitmap smoothing”. Improvements for IT Pros Windows 10 and SMB1: As part of a multi-year security plan, we are removing the SMB1 networking protocol from Windows by default. This build has this change, however the change only affects clean installations of Windows, not upgrades. We are making this change to reduce the attack surface of the OS. Here are some more details to take note of: All Home and Professional editions now have the SMB1 server component uninstalled by default. The SMB1 client remains installed. This means you can connect to devices from Windows 10 using SMB1, but nothing can connect to Windows 10 using SMB1. We still recommend you uninstall SMB1 if you are not using it. In a later feature update of Windows 10, we may uninstall SMB1 client if we detect that you are not using it. All Enterprise and Education editions have SMB1 totally uninstalled by default. The removal of SMB1 means the removal of the legacy Computer Browser service. The Computer Browser depends exclusively on SMB1 and cannot function without it. For more information on why SMB1 is being removed, see: https://aka.ms/stopusingsmb1 For more information on software and devices that require SMB1, see https://aka.ms/stillneedssmb1 Hyper-V Improvements: Share your VMs with ease with the new VM Sharing feature! On today’s build you’ll find a new icon in Virtual Machine Connection that will compress your VM into a “.vmcz” file. Double click this file on your destination machine to start importing the VM – easy as that! https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/f5792c1980e0f2b83de9093c21302d46.png Japanese Input Method Editor (IME) Improvements: Enhanced learning for predictive input: The IME now understands when you use predictive candidates followed by backspaces, and will adjust the candidates accordingly so you don’t have to repeat candidate selection and backspace each time you frequently want to use only part of a particular predictive candidate. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/046a12b351ec21d4ea185891524216e5.png English predictive candidates with spelling correction: With the Anniversary Update, we added a feature to show English words along with Japanese words in Japanese IME’s predictive candidates. We’ve been improving it over time, and with this release we’re now enable spelling corrections for English candidates as well, so that even if you make a typo we’ll still suggest the appropriate English words. For example “appointment” and “appointments” are shown if you type “apointmen”. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/4f1c3df49c9591743e91d654601af90f.png Search from Japanese IME Candidate List: We added the ability to execute search from the predictive candidate window. Specifically, text candidates you’re are not familiar with can now be easily searched from the IME UI. To search for a definition, click on the search icon shown next to the candidate, or highlight the candidate and press the shortcut key (Ctrl + B). Search results will open in browser. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/8462405d222a30593e18ab07abf47b5a.png Also when the comment window is displayed during conversion, you can search about the word by clicking the candidate in the comment window. Changes, improvements, and fixes for PC If you were impacted by the issue causing your upgrade to get stuck or hung at around 33% trying to update to Build 16215, we fixed the issue and you should be able to upgrade to this build (Build 16226) without getting stuck at 33%. We fixed the issue causing PCs to bugcheck (GSOD) with inaccessible boot device on install, and the Windows Update error 0x80070643 after rollback. We fixed an issue preventing PDFs from opening in Microsoft Edge on some devices with enterprise configurations. We fixed the issue causing some PDFs and sites to open in a cropped view (zoomed in) in Microsoft Edge, causing part of the content to be inaccessible to the user. We fixed an issue from the previous flight where accented characters couldn’t be input properly into Win32 apps using the hardware keyboard. We fixed a Hyper-V issue resulting in some Insiders not being able to connect to VMs in the last flight. We fixed an issue resulting in Start now working for a small percent of Insiders on the last flight. We’ve adjusted the application of Fluent Design in Start and Action Center to now be a touch more transparent and let more of the underlying color through. Along the way we also updated the Action Center to use the newer conscientious XAML scrollbar design. We fixed an issue where notifications in the Action Center lost their outline if acrylic fell back to having no transparency, for example on battery saver. We also fixed an issue where the Action Center background might become 100% transparent. We fixed an issue from the previous flight wherein you couldn’t expand notifications displayed in the Action Center. We fixed an issue resulting in some inbox apps unexpectedly appearing to be missing after upgrading to 16215 (although Store said they were installed). Snipping tool is now natively per-monitor DPI aware! That means it should no longer be blurry when used in mixed DPI environments, or when changing DPI. We’ve gone through all our image resource files and removed unneeded XMP metadata. We fixed an issue where some of the older control panel dialogs were unexpectedly showing grey sections instead of white. We fixed an issue from recent flights where selecting “Restart” in the power options list with a pending update had the same effect as “Restart and Update”. When you right-click the network icon in the system tray, “Open Network and Sharing Center” will now open Network & Internet Settings. We fixed an issue where the Start Fresh page was included in Microsoft Edge’s recovery store, leading to potentially multiple Start Fresh pages being visible in each window after Microsoft Edge was reopened. We fixed an issue where the red heart emoji was displayed in superscript. We fixed an issue resulting in ink lag and short ink strokes not being detected in recent flights. We fixed an issue where there was an unexpected Microsoft Text Input Application visible in Start after using the touch keyboard. We fixed an issue from the last flight where Chinese IMEs would hang when typing into Cortana. We also fixed an issue that generally could make the Chinese IMEs hang when typing on the last flight. We fixed an issue for some input methods in the last flight resulting in certain apps crashing if you switched to that input method while the app had focus. We fixed an issue where Cortana’s search box could end up in the wrong place if you set focus to it then brought up the Emoji Panel. We’ve updated the casing of the Settings category “Update & security” to now be “Update & Security” based on your feedback. We also fixed an issue from the last flight where it might hang when you tried to open this category. We fixed an issue where the OS Build Info link on Windows Update Settings didn’t do anything when clicked. We fixed an issue resulting in the top border of UWP apps sometimes being an unexpected color. We fixed an issue from 16215 where our mini-surveys (we call SIUFs) weren’t popping after the computer had been locked and unlocked. We fixed an issue from 16215 where any external monitor connected to a DisplayLink dock wasn’t working and you’d just see a static logon screen. We fixed an issue from 16215 due to a driver issue where Wi-Fi wasn’t working on certain devices like the Surface Pro 1 and Surface Pro 2 and some USB devices. We fixed an issue from 16215 where printing wasn’t working due to having multiple copies of each printer after upgrading. Known issues for PC If you have the .NET 3.5 Framework installed, updating to this build may fail and roll back to the previous build. As a workaround, uninstall .NET 3.5 before trying to update to this build and then reinstall .NET 3.5 after you update to this build. For more info, see this forum post. Auto-complete in URL bar of Microsoft Edge may fail on some devices, searching for a partial string instead of the autocompleted text picture. This issue will be fixed in an upcoming flight. Some UWP apps such as Twitter will crash on launch. Word 2016 will crash if you try to ink on it. You may notice some of your inbox apps are now displaying a name that looks like “ms-resource:” and are listed at the bottom of Start. We’re investigating. In the meantime, the app should still launch normally, it’s only the name resource that’s impacted. We’re investigating your reports that the battery status on certain laptops isn’t updating while the device is unplugged. No downtime for Hustle-As-A-Service, Dona <3 The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 16226 for PC appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders! We have released Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview Build 15226 to in the Fast ring. Changes, improvements, and fixes for Mobile This build also includes all the improvements from KB4022725. We fixed an issue where some apps could not subscribe to SMS receive notifications. We fixed an issue for Windows Insiders where some binaries stopped working when transitioning from Insider Preview builds to officially released builds. We fixed an audio issue with Bluetooth headphones after Cortana reads an incoming SMS message to the user. Known issues for Mobile In some cases, the WeChat app may crash on launch. Keep hustling team, Dona <3 The post Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 15226 for Mobile appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/97c67ed7d9cbb06b51a11379dd0f8329.jpg Spotify for Windows 10 is now available to download in the Windows Store. We’re excited to announce that Spotify for Windows 10 is now available to download in the Windows Store*. We first announced our partnership with Spotify in early May and are thrilled to bring the Spotify app to Windows 10 and Windows 10 S customers following on the heels of the release of Surface Laptop and Windows 10 S last week. The Spotify app is available today in all 60 countries where Spotify is available and offers the same familiar experiences as the Win32 application**. With Spotify on Windows 10, you can enjoy, discover and share millions of songs wherever and whenever you want. Make and share your own playlists, or let Spotify suggest something great for you. Listen for free or subscribe to Premium for higher quality listening and to take your music offline https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/7685a9af89f0c8641b06bfffa7a53e9a.png Browse the curated playlists section shown on the Spotify app for Windows 10 https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/cbcf580de13a6d8ae83a77d528d01114.png Discover new music genres in the Spotify app for Windows 10 https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/36eb921545b8543d4b267cbbcb90cfb5.png Find out what music is trending by country in the Spotify app for Windows 10 We’re proud to partner with Spotify to make it easy for customers to enjoy music however and wherever they want. Get started with the Spotify app for Windows 10 by downloading it today from the Windows Store. You can also learn more about today’s exciting news over on the Spotify Blog. *Available on Windows 10 PCs and tablets. To download this app, your PC or tablet must be running the Windows 10 Anniversary Update or greater. If you’re not sure which version of Windows your PC is running visit this link. To learn how to get the Windows 10 Anniversary Update click here. **The Spotify app for Windows 10 is available in the following markets, Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Uruguay, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The post Spotify for Windows 10 available now in the Windows Store appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

Video plays a vital role in how we communicate, share ideas and connect in meaningful ways. In the workplace, we rely on video to make our communications with others more impactful and to enhance the way we collaborate across geographies, enabling a more connected organization. We believe that when individuals have access to innovative technologies, they are more empowered to succeed. Last year, we introduced the preview of Microsoft Stream, an enterprise video service that enhances collaboration and productivity for business users across an organization. Today, we are excited to announce the general availability of Microsoft Stream and the new intelligent features that will enable greater productivity and user engagement with video. Microsoft Stream provides a common destination for video management, with built-in intelligence features, deep integration across Office 365 and the IT management and security capabilities that businesses of all sizes require. It is available as a standalone application, or as part of Office 365 commercial plans. Microsoft Stream builds on the learnings from Office 365 Video to bring intelligence and deeper integration into Office 365 and beyond. Read more on Office Blogs. Intuitive design for ease of use and increased participation: Now business users can enjoy a video experience at their workplace that delivers the polish and familiarity of a consumer video service. Ability to upload, share and manage videos with just a few clicks. Personalized home page with trending videos, followed channels and content that’s important to them. Seamless viewing experience across devices and screens means never worrying about being able to access content. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/4b93307d267d607406ab917a9035ee27.png Microsoft Stream puts every video at your fingertips so you can upload, share and manage videos from a common destination. Intelligence features enhance learning and productivity: Everyone can quickly find the content that’s most important to them with new cognitive capabilities. With Microsoft Stream, all the audio in videos becomes searchable, so users can find videos even when they have little or no metadata or description. For even more engagement, faces that appear within the video are shown in a timeline below the video. Transcribed audio becomes searchable text, so simply type in descriptive keywords and jump to any point in a video they are spoken. Face detection enables viewers to see where each person in the video is shown throughout the video, with a clickable timeline indicating every place they appear. Adding time codes in the comments section, text transcripts or table of contents, allows users to quickly get to a specific point in the video. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/f74e59c56a6986daab3741913d867d62.jpg Face detection and speech-to-text can enhance productivity. More ways to manage content permissions: Today we are announcing support for Microsoft Stream groups. These groups are based on Office 365 Groups, which means users can easily manage video permissions and make them available to selected groups – whether their team or others. Teams can further organize content into channels within groups, offering even more flexibility. Each group gets their own personalized page so the content shared is relevant to everyone in the group. A richer experience for collaboration in Office 365: Increase engagement within your organization by integrating video into the applications used every day. We understand that people collaborate in multiple tools across their organization, and now, with Microsoft Stream’s pre-integration, you can seamlessly add videos and channels to collaboration apps like Microsoft Teams, SharePoint and Yammer. Office 365 customers already have access to Microsoft Stream, so they can start using video right away. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/333d0fecc4580f181864a95c2601f1b5.png Add video into all your apps with seamless integration with Office 365 applications. IT management backed by security you trust: Microsoft Stream uses built-in, industry-leading encryption and authenticated access to ensure videos are shared securely. Features that use existing organizational identity through Azure Active Directory and Office 365 Groups make security management simple. Additionally, administrators can add custom guidelines or optionally require employees to accept terms before they can begin to upload videos. View the Microsoft Mechanics to learn more. Start using Microsoft Stream today If you are a current Office 365 customer, you can find Microsoft Stream in the Office app launcher, or visit the Microsoft Stream website to sign in. If you don’t have Office 365, you can try the Microsoft Stream standalone plan or start a free trial. To learn more about Microsoft Stream, join our Ask Us Anything session on the Microsoft Tech Community on June 29, 2017, at 9 a.m. PT. The post Microsoft Stream reaches general availability, bringing intelligence to enterprise video for customers worldwide appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

With the Creators Update, the Movies & TV app* expands your viewing horizon from 2D video to 360° video. You can explore new immersive 360° video content from partners like GoPro, Baobab Studios, LIFE VR, NextVR, Littlstar and more. Go skydiving with a bombsquad, see a rocket launch from up close, visit Portugal, watch the NBA games from the best seats courtside, or even climb Mount Everest; a few of the many immersive experiences featured in the app. Stay tuned as content refreshes frequently. Want to create your own stories? Windows 10 supports a variety of 360° cameras for capturing your own content, so now you can also watch your personal 360° video creations in the Movies & TV app. Here’s how to get started: https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/cf040129d0a8f963707564b268b5d083.gif Launch the Movies & TV app, and head to the “360° videos” section. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/6aca3fd47a417859a3479e38bced3fe9.gif Click on a video to start playing it. If you’re viewing from your Windows 10 PC, simply drag your mouse around to view the 360° videos. If you’re on your Windows Phone or Windows 10 tablet, you can swivel around in all directions to enjoy 360° of video. Come Holiday 2017, you can take it up a notch and step into mixed reality entertainment with your Windows Mixed Reality headset.** Have a great week! *App availability and experience may vary by region and device; some content sold separately. **Headsets sold separately. The post Windows 10 Tip: Watch 360° videos with the Windows 10 Creators Update appeared first on Windows Experience Blog. Continue reading...

The house was empty when he got home from school one afternoon. Eight-year-old Farhad Agajan wandered out to ask if any neighbors had seen his mother or siblings. Crying and increasingly frantic, he reached the home of a relative who lived nearby and heard the words that changed him forever: “He gave me some money, and he told me, ‘Your life is in danger. Take this and leave, immediately,’” Agajan recalled. He would spend the next decade as an unaccompanied minor, journeying from Afghanistan through Pakistan, Iran and Turkey before landing in Greece at age 16 and eventually learning that his mother was still alive back home. By then, he had fallen in love with his new country and considered himself Greek. Now, although Agajan talks with his mother over Skype every week, he’s applying for Greek citizenship and is focused on giving back to his adopted home and people. The resilience and optimism he cultivated throughout his ordeal were what got him through – and what have paved the way toward success as the now 28-year-old works with Mercy Corps as a field officer in refugee camps while finishing high school and learning computer programming. Agajan is one of more than 65 million people in the world who are displaced from their homes – the highest level on record. That staggering figure includes more than 21 million refugees, who had to flee to another country. In Syria, which has become one of the worst humanitarian crises in our lifetime, 11 million people, or half the population, have had to leave their homes. Three-quarters of them are women and children. Agajan’s escape from Afghanistan predates the current global emergency and has put him in an ideal situation to help others weather the trauma. Recognizing the powerful ways technology can help refugees, Microsoft is working to bring the right tools to people like Agajan and aid organizations like his employer, Mercy Corps. In all, Microsoft has committed more than $30 million to support refugees around the world in 2017. “We see our efforts as a big part of the company’s mission of empowering every person and every organization to achieve more,” said Mary Snapp, who leads Microsoft Philanthropies. “Broadly speaking, our focus is to help nonprofit organizations access technologies, especially those in the cloud, to work more efficiently and to serve as many beneficiaries as possible. We also support digital and technical skills training for people who would otherwise be left behind as innovation advances.” Read the full story. The post How refugees enrich their new homes with hope, resilience and grit appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...