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With Windows 10, our goal is to have the effect of the Gutenberg Press on this next generation of computing, enabling 3D creativity, mixed reality, and eSports & game broadcasting for everyone. At our core, we believe each of us are creators. I’m personally inspired by creators who use technology to build a better world for each of us, who build communities with technology, and who develop revolutionary new ways to educate all types of students. However you choose to create, we are building Windows for each of you. We want to help you make your mark on the world and for Windows to be the place you love to create and play. New Surface Devices Designed for Creators From the beginning, our Surface journey has been about empowering people to work and create in new ways. It led us to create the first tablet that could truly replace your laptop with Surface Pro and to redefine the ultimate laptop with Surface Book. We believe there is a special alchemy when a device and software pair perfectly to create something new – a profound experience that can create an entirely new category. Today, we unveiled our next new category – an all new Surface device, designed for creators and professionals. With a 4.5k ultra HD screen, Surface Studio delivers 63% more pixels than a state-of-the-art 4K TV. Surface Studio turns your desk into a creative studio. It is a new class of device that transforms from a desktop PC into a powerful digital canvas, unlocking a more natural and immersive way to create on the thinnest display ever built. With a 4.5k ultra HD screen, Surface Studio delivers 63% more pixels than a state-of-the-art 4K TV. Surface Studio works beautifully with pen, touch, and the new Surface Dial. Click to view slideshow. Surface Dial is a new input device designed for the creative process, enabling you to work with both of your hands. It integrates with Windows 10 to work with any Surface device for a faster and more intuitive way to scroll, zoom, and navigate. It also enables a set of unique experiences exclusive to Surface Studio, such as app-specific digital tools that allow you to quickly access shortcuts and move seamlessly through your workflow. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/71af257d76573d8e4172bb9973e2a150.png Surface Book with Performance Base, the most powerful Surface Book yet, packs 16 hours of battery life into the same sleek, versatile design people love. It has more than twice the GPU processing power than the original Surface Book. No other laptop combines this combination of battery life, performance and pixels, in as lightweight a package. The new Surface devices will be available for pre-order starting today. The Windows 10 Creators Update Coming as a free update early next year to the more than 400 million devices running Windows 10 and available to Windows Insiders this week, the Creators Update will bring 3D and mixed reality to everyone, empower every gamer to be a broadcaster, connect people faster to those they care about most, and much more. 3D for Everyone With the Creators Update, you and the millions of other Windows 10 users will turn on your laptop and be able to start capturing in 3D, printing in 3D, creating in 3D, sharing in 3D, and experiencing mixed reality. With more than 100 million monthly users, Paint is one of the most popular creation tools today, and with Paint 3D, anyone can now create and build 3D objects. We also unveiled Remix 3D, a online community to connect creators and creations around the world and bring 3D content to the masses. Trimble’s 3D modelling program SketchUp – and their millions of creators and creations from 3D Warehouse will be part of Remix3D.com. Office will be adding native support for 3D content next year. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/071c9ce152d6df20de9fe857b2da789a.jpg With Microsoft HoloLens, rich 3D content can break free from your screen and Microsoft Edge is the first browser to fully embrace 3D across devices. Showcasing the potential of this level of 3D immersion, we demo’d a prototype Houzz site where you can select furniture in the site and visualize it in your home before you buy it. Powerful and affordable virtual reality is coming to everyone with the Creators Update. HP, Dell, Lenovo, ASUS, and Acer will ship the first VR headsets capable of mixed reality with the Windows 10 Creators Update. And these accessories will be the first and only with inside-out, six-degrees of freedom. Unlike every other virtual reality headset in the market today, there will be zero need for a separate room and complicated setup. While the less immersive VR accessories today cost more than $500, or require a new expensive device, these accessories will start at just $299 and work with affordable laptops and PCs. The Best Experience in 4K Gaming and in Game Broadcasting The Creators Update will make it easy for you to create and enjoy live game streams and customized eSports tournaments on Xbox Live. Gaming is incredibly popular on Windows 10 – increasing 500% in the last year. The Creators Update will make it easy for you to create and enjoy live game streams and customized eSports tournaments on Xbox Live. Beam system integration will enable interactive broadcasting and viewing of gameplay on Xbox Live, so you can watch your favorite streamer play and interact with them in real time. The Creators Update will also bring user-generated tournaments via Arena on Xbox Live, so you can define the rules of competition, invite friends and track tournament progress seamlessly across devices. Plus, with a Windows 10 gaming PC, you’re able to play games like “Forza Horizon 3,” “Gears of War 4,” and more in 4K, in the highest possible visual fidelity. A Faster Way to Connect and Share with People who Matter Most The common thread between our most productive and our most fun moments is our people, those we share these moments with. Yet today, they are confined within separate applications, social networking apps, and email. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/41eb79a4414913aa447e52bfac5a42fc.png With the Creators Update, we are placing people at the center of your Windows experience – right where they belong. Your most important friends, family, and co-workers will be instantly accessible. With Windows MyPeople, you can pin your favorite contacts to the Windows task bar and easily drag and drop any document, photo or video right on top of the contact for easy sharing. You can receive unique notifications, Shoulder Taps, and easily view and open emails, IMs, shared documents and more, all in one place. The Windows MyPeople experience is also integrated across universal Windows apps for easy sharing. We are excited for you to try the Creators Update and our expanded family of Surface devices, and we can’t wait to see what you’ll create. Terry Continue reading...

On Wednesday, Microsoft shared its aspiration to empower a new wave of creativity with the Windows 10 Creators Update, the introduction of Surface Studio and Surface Dial, a new Surface Book and more. “With Windows 10, our goal is to have the effect of the Gutenberg press on this next generation of computing, enabling 3D creativity, mixed reality, and eSports and game broadcasting for everyone,” says Terry Myerson, executive vice president, Windows and Devices Group. “At our core, we believe each of us are creators,” Myerson writes on the Windows Blog. “However you choose to create, we are building Windows for each of you. We want to help you make your mark on the world and for Windows to be the place you love to create and play.” Learn more about these exciting announcements by reading Myerson’s post on the Windows Blog. Suzanne Choney Microsoft News Center Staff The post Windows 10 Creators Update, Surface Studio and more unleash a new wave of creativity appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

Microsoft has released an updated version of Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit, a system for deep learning that is used to speed advances in areas such as speech and image recognition and search relevance on CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs. The toolkit, previously known as CNTK, was initially developed by computer scientists at Microsoft who wanted a tool to do their own research more quickly and effectively. It quickly moved beyond speech and morphed into an offering that customers, including a leading international appliance maker and Microsoft’s flagship product groups, depend on for a wide variety of deep learning tasks. “We’ve taken it from a research tool to something that works in a production setting,” said Frank Seide, a principal researcher at Microsoft Artificial Intelligence and Research and a key architect of the Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit. With the latest version of the toolkit, which is available on GitHub, developers can use Python or C++ programming languages in working with the toolkit. With the new version, researchers also can do a type of artificial intelligence work called reinforcement learning. Find out more about it at Next at Microsoft. Athima Chansanchai Microsoft News Center Staff The post Newly updated Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit can help speed advances in deep learning appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders! Today we are excited to be releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14955 for Mobile and PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. What’s new in Build 14955 Outlook Mail & Calendar Update (PC & Mobile): We have updated the Outlook Mail and Calendar apps to 17.7466.4062x.0.. This update introduces a few new things for you to check out: You can now open email messages in a new window. You can now use Quick Actions directly from new email notifications. Get someone’s attention with @mentions. Type the @ symbol anywhere in the body of your email and start typing to pick the person you want to address. Context Awareness in Narrator (PC): As you navigate around, you can be notified about different groups or other areas you move to, such as groups in the Office ribbon. To configure the amount of context you hear, cycle through options with ALT + Caps Lock + /. To change whether the context is read before the item with focus or after, use CTRL + Caps Lock + /. To check the context at any point. Press Caps Lock + D twice. Other improvements and fixes for Mobile We fixed the issue causing you to be unable to sign into apps such as Feedback Hub, Groove, MSN News, etc. with your Microsoft Account if you sign out or get signed out of these apps. We fixed the issue that was causing some devices to appear “stuck” on the blue Windows logo screen during the boot cycle when rebooting a phone on earlier builds. We fixed a bug resulting in notifications banners not appearing from Outlook Mail accounts that had been pinned as tiles to Start. We fixed an issue resulting certain apps being unexpectedly missing from the Share dialog. We fixed an issue where Insiders who had configured a data limit on their phone may have ended up in a state where they would receive frequent notifications about having exceeded that limit. We fixed an issue where the horizontal progress dots (as displayed when using the indeterminate ProgressBar control, for those who are familiar with XAML) were incorrectly fading out at the right side. We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to enter input into the Time or Place fields when creating a Reminder in Cortana. Other improvements and fixes for PC Now you can draw along the protractor and have the degree visual remain visible until you start drawing again. We’ve also updated the degree visual to be more clear – black text on a white background, as opposed to the previous black text on a red background. We fixed the issue causing you to be unable to sign into apps such as Feedback Hub, Groove, MSN News, etc. with your Microsoft Account if you sign out or get signed out of these apps. This build includes several fixes for precision touchpad: We fixed an issue where precision touchpad was mis-classifying presses when mousing with one finger and pressing with another. We fixed the issue in which “Reset touchpad” was appearing on PCs that don’t support precision touchpad (legacy touchpad). We fixed the issue where the 4-Finger gesture graphic would be viewable in Settings on PCs that support only 3-contact. We fixed an issue with popular graphics app Paint.NET where horizontal scrolling was broken. [*]This build includes several fixes for Narrator: We have added a new key command to read the active window title of the current application. You can use Caps Lock + / for this. We’ve improved Narrator’s recognition of edit boxes on the web in Scan Mode so you get the message to use space to edit more consistently when focus has moved to an edit box. We’ve done work to ensure that continuous reading is interrupted appropriately if focus changes or you issue a Narrator command that should stop continuous reading. We’ve also worked to ensure that continuous reading doesn’t stop when it shouldn’t. [*]We’ve updated the Trusted Platform Module Management control panel (TPM.msc) to provide additional detail when the TPM is “Not ready for use” or “Ready for use, with reduced functionality”. [*]We fixed an issue resulting in Task Manager always opening with the default view, despite having configured it on the previous launch (for example, to “Show more details”). [*]We fixed an issue where attempting to partition a USB drive via DiskPart would fail with the error “The system cannot find the file specified”. [*]We fixed an issue where certain USB drives were failing to mount automatically or via Device Manager, despite being mountable using Disk Management. [*]We fixed an issue where Accessibility settings were failing to roam down-level to some PCs running the Windows 10 Anniversary Update – triggering a sync loop and possibly causing some performance issues on those down-level PCs. If you have encountered this issue, to get out of this state – you will need to change a setting under Settings > Ease of Access so that fix will roam down-level. Whichever setting you changed to trigger roaming can be changed back if needed. [*]We fixed an issue where Settings would crash when copying hardware properties from the Wi-Fi settings page. [*]We fixed an issue where files were no longer automatically selected after being pasted into a folder in File Explorer. [*]We fixed an issue resulting in not being able to enter input into the Time or Place fields when creating a Reminder in Cortana. [*]We’ve updated the advanced tab of the device properties window in the Sounds control panel to now allow you to select the following sample dates as the default format for devices that support it: 24 and 32 bit at 176400Hz, and 16, 24 and 32 bit at 352800 Hz. [*]USB Audio 2.0 devices are now named based on the make/model of the device, rather than using a generic name, in places across the system, for example Device Manager. [*]We fixed an issue in Microsoft Edge that prevented dragging content out of the browser to other windows [*]We fixed an issue that caused Microsoft Edge to crash when using the Share button to share web pages and PDFs to Mail. Known issues for Mobile If your device never successfully updated to Build 14951, please see this forum post. If your device did receive Build 14951, you should be able to download and update to this build just fine. THANK YOU Insiders who helped us with getting the 0% download issue fixed last week! Some Insiders are receiving an 0x80242006 error trying to update to the latest builds. We are investigating – see this forum post. You will be unable to install additional languages, keyboards, and speech packs on your phone for the next few weeks. If you have existing languages, keyboards, and speech packs installed – they will carry over when you update to new builds. You just can’t install any new ones. If you do a hard reset of your phone on these builds – you will also be unable to install additional languages, keyboards, and speech packs. You can use Windows Device Recovery Tool to go back to Windows Phone 8.1 or Windows 10 Mobile, install any languages, keyboards, and speech packs you need and then update to the latest build in the Fast ring as a workaround. Excel Mobile will freeze after adding sheets and eventually crashes. Known issues for PC If you have a 3rd party antivirus product installed on your PC – your PC might not be able to complete the update to this build and roll-back to the previous build. Insiders may experience the Windows Ink Workspace crashing when using the protractor – we’re investigating. Upcoming Bugbash Just a reminder that we are planning to kick off our next bugbash starting on Tuesday, November 8th and finishing at the end of the day on Sunday, November 13th. I’ll have more details in the coming weeks. Looking forward to seeing a lot of participation from Insiders! If you have ideas on what Quests you will like to see for the Bug Bash, let us know! Team Updates I am currently in New Zealand to keynote the Microsoft Ignite conference. My keynote was about being entrepreneurial, no matter if you work for yourself or a company. My examples were all, of course, Windows Insiders related. You and your stories inspire me every day! https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/39e525b3ce1bc20c9a14e317487751a4.jpg https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/c207007d38dd88ce10064599abf508ae.jpg The talk resonated with the audience. The format was 65 minutes of tech demos by experts for AI, bots, collaboration tools, sentiment analysis, holograms and I closed with a step-by-step “how to bring this home to your company or organization” with some real examples of Windows Insiders who are doing this very thing. The bonus: getting 2500 people to #NinjaCat! I cannot thank the organizers of Ignite New Zealand enough! When Regan Murphy reached out to be 12 months ago and asked me to keynote this event, I had *no idea* it was the biggest tech conference in New Zealand. It’s been absolutely incredible to watch so many of our Microsoft partners and customers gather at this amazing yearly event (21 years and running!) to learn, be inspired and connect with one another. The comment I keep hearing over and over is “we wait all year for this event”. The community is VERY strong here and our team is learning a ton of things to take back home. We also have two other sessions on the Windows Insiders: One of our Group Program Managers who drives selfhost and flighting, Katharine Holdsworth delivered the Inside the Windows Insider Program session, talking about the history of the program and the infrastructure that makes it run. Our Director of Marketing, Jeremiah Marble and I are delivering the session on CoCreate(Community) about how we work with the Windows Insiders globally to build Windows together. We will be hosting local Windows Insiders for dinner on Wednesday night to talk about some of the upcoming things for the program as well as to understand what people are looking for from the program. There are also going to be some podcast and radio show surprises so please do stay tuned for more from New Zealand! Thank you everyone and keep hustling, Dona <3 Continue reading...

https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/daa452f3d726903a6ad73bd8fbb629f3.gif Our Microsoft Windows 10 Event is taking place this week, and we invite you to join us to see what’s next for Windows 10. You can watch the livestream of our #MicrosoftEvent this Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016 at 10AM EDT/7AM PDT. If you’re a member of the press, you can watch the keynote here. Tip: Ask Cortana* to “Spark my imagination.” *Cortana available in select markets. Continue reading...

Masterpass, the omni-channel digital payment service from Mastercard, is connecting with Microsoft Wallet. You’ll soon be able to shop at hundreds of thousands of online merchants that accept Masterpass. The Masterpass vision is to support all forms of commerce to address the full range of consumer needs. In bringing two iconic consumer brands together, users of Windows 10 phones, tablets and desktops that are also Mastercard cardholders will have a simple and secure way to pay online. Why else are we excited to be working with Microsoft? Reach: With more than 400 million monthly active devices now running Windows 10, the Windows platform represents a great way to reach consumers in the U.S. and around the world. Security: Masterpass, which already has multiple layers of security including EMV standard tokenization and encryption, will get even more secure with Windows Hello technology. Acceptance: Masterpass today is helping hundreds of thousands of merchants across the world accept millions of secure transactions. Tthis partnerships will enable Microsoft Wallet to reach a growing network of online merchants in a simple and secure way. Windows devices offer a versatile computing platform for consumers and we are excited to bring the best payment experience to these devices. Continue reading...

Did you know that with the Game Bar on your Windows 10 PC and tablet, you can capture screenshots and record game clips? You can even record with your microphone while capturing video, and share all of it through the Xbox app to your Xbox Live activity feed, messages, showcase and even Twitter. Here’s how to record and capture screenshots with the Game Bar: Simply tap the Xbox button if you’re using an Xbox controller – or press Windows Key + G on your keyboard – to bring up the Game Bar. You can easily find and share all your recordings and screenshots in the Xbox app under the GameDVR tab on the left navigation, or in the Video folder on your PC under “Captures.” What’s cool here is that any GameDVR clips you capture on your Xbox One will also appear on your PC for editing and sharing. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/cd02e425d12f82cb5e66e071becc0ab8.gif The Xbox app is also great for downloading your free Games with Gold every month, using Party for free voice chat with your friends on Xbox One and Windows 10, comparing Achievements, launching PC games and streaming your Xbox One games to your PC to play when you’re away from your television. Stay tuned for the updates coming to the app in November: you’ll be able to browse Xbox Live Clubs you belong to and find gamers looking to accomplish similar goals with Looking for Group. If you don’t already have the Xbox app, you can download it here, and check out last week’s Windows 10 Tip: Four ways to get the most out of Microsoft Edge. Have a great week! Continue reading...

We hope you enjoyed this week’s episode of This Week on Windows! Learn more about Instagram’s arrival on Windows 10 PCs and tablets and next week’s Microsoft Windows 10 Event, or head over here to read our Windows 10 Tip on four ways to get the most out of Microsoft Edge. Here’s what’s new in the Windows Store this week: Pre-order Halo Wars 2 for Xbox One and Windows 10 Play Video Restricted Content Confirm your age to continue month JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember day 12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031 year 201620152014201320122011201020092008200720062005200420032002200120001999199819971996199519941993199219911990198919881987198619851984198319821981198019791978197719761975197419731972197119701969196819671966196519641963196219611960195919581957195619551954195319521951195019491948194719461945194419431942194119401939193819371936193519341933193219311930192919281927192619251924192319221921192019191918191719161915191419131912191119101909190819071906190519041903190219011900 The last time we saw the crew of the UNSC Spirit of Fire in Halo Wars, they were settling in for a long cryosleep on their way home, knowing that with a little luck, they’d make it back to civilized space in one piece. Nearly 30 years later, they’re awakened to a new threat to the Halo universe and find themselves as the one thing standing between hope and annihilation. Halo Wars 2 will take us back to the Ark, introduce new heroes and villains, and deliver a new multiplayer mode that has the potential to push the real-time strategy genre forward. Read more over at Xbox Wire and pre-order Halo Wars 2 here! Get ready for Halloween with the Shocktober Collection in the Windows Store, available Oct. 25-31 https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/e2a32b0df0a88f6b6be4ba02f68c4a93.jpg The Shocktober Collection in the Windows Store just might be the ultimate gathering of curated Halloween content, with dozens of music and movie offerings to set your spine a-tingling. Don’t miss The Walking Dead: Michonne for 50 percent off, the Polarr Editor Pro app for 90 percent off and Marilyn Manson’s album Pale Emperor for only 31 cents! And, starting Oct. 28, you can rent the movies The Witch and Insidious for only 31 cents. Look for the collection in the Windows Store on Oct. 25! Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta – Boss Update https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/ecc01ddbbf725985f1764357e4bc5ddb.png A new Boss Update for Minecraft rolls out big changes and cool features, including some of the most ferocious bosses ever devised – Elder Guardians and a new version of the Wither. Ocean monuments, new blocks and beacons are here, along with Add-Ons, which let you change the way things in your game look and behave. In fact, two sample Add-Ons are available for free download this Friday, Oct. 21, at https://minecraft.net/en/addons. How long can you survive in this brave new Minecraft world? Download the new Minecraft Boss Update and find out today. Viber for Windows 10 – Free https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/c8137a81db2173e6417a0cd05f6f173b.jpg Following July’s introduction of Viber for Windows 10, the app just added lots of enrichments to the user experience – features like Media Gallery in the chat info screen, which collects all the photos, videos and links from your conversations in one easy-to-reference location. Large emoticons are also here to give your messages more impact, and now you can answer video calls with video – no fumbling for the video button. Alice Through the Looking Glass – Buy from $14.99 https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/ffea66506dfecaa94a1e1ebd4f424c5e.jpg In this brand-new whimsical adventure based on the beloved characters of Lewis Carroll, Alice returns to the magical world of Underland, where she must travel back in time to rescue her old friend, the Mad Hatter. Watch Alice Through the Looking Glass, available now to rent or own in the Movies & TV section of the Windows Store. Have a great weekend! Continue reading...

One of the best parts of my job as Microsoft’s chief evangelist is the opportunity it affords me to interact with students. They represent the next generation of innovators, makers and builders, and it is their creativity and hunger to drive change that will help shape what our tomorrow will look like. With that in mind, I am excited to announce the launch of the 2017 Imagine Cup – now celebrating its 15th year as Microsoft’s marquee global student technology competition. This is a big milestone for Imagine Cup, and I’m proud of how we’ve positively impacted the lives of young developers all over the world. To celebrate this special anniversary and match the passion student developers have shown us over the last 15 years, we’ve decided to up the ante and double the top prize to $100,000 for the team that is crowned the next Imagine Cup Champion. Student commitment to Imagine Cup has been nothing short of amazing over the years, and we want to reward that commitment with an equally incredible prize experience. Since the first year of Imagine Cup in 2002, the competition has provided an international stage for students to show us the power of their technological innovations. Some, such as CliniCloud of Australia, which built an easy-to-use diagnostic device to help parents decide when to take their children to the doctor, have gone on to achieve commercial success. Last year, CliniCloud nabbed $5 million in seed funding and a distribution partnership with mega-electronics retailer Best Buy.https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/f641156f85aae78d84ec7d21375bf51a.jpg Other teams have taken their Imagine Cup projects to the next level by collaborating with global partners. Team Virtual Dementia, which created a high-tech way to help caregivers better understand the perspective of people living with dementia, is now bringing its technology to a whole new frontier – outer space – through a partnership with NASA. Earlier this year, the team – now called Opaque Media Group – built a game called “Earthlight” that combines Microsoft’s Kinect technology and a virtual reality headset to allow users to experience the feeling of being an astronaut on a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. Then there’s Team Tactile – a group of six female student developers from MIT – that built a device that will allow people with low or no vision to read everything from textbooks to menus by converting words into Braille on a display roughly the size of a candy bar. Tactile made it all the way to the Imagine Cup U.S. Finals in the spring of 2016, and was one of just four groups of innovators that were accepted into the new Microsoft #MakeWhatsNext Patent Program. Team AMANDA of Greece, which created a gamified virtual reality app to combat bullying and made it all the way to the 2016 Imagine Cup Championship round, was also accepted into the Patent Program. In turn, the Imagine Cup has helped shape the lives of student developers from all corners of the globe and helped them to take their ideas from the concept stage to reality. Take Juliana Pirani, a member of Team eFitFashion, which won the Imagine Cup Championship in 2015. Just a little more than a year after achieving victory, Juliana is getting ready in the next few months to launch Clothes For Me, an online marketplace for custom-made clothing. “Before Imagine Cup, I wasn’t so sure I would be a businesswoman and open my own company. But after all the opportunities and things that have happened, it was like a path I had to pursue,” Pirani said. And so, I invite student developers from all corners of the world to follow in Juliana’s footsteps and create the next game-changing innovation. If that sounds as exciting to you as it does to me, I encourage you to learn more about Imagine Cup today. I can’t wait to see where your imaginations take you this year! Cheers, Guggs The post Imagine Cup rings in its 15th anniversary with $100,000 top prize appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

In this edition of Weekend Reading, we have stories on a historic milestone in speech recognition, an AI supercomputer in the cloud and significant advancements for the Government Cloud. Microsoft has made a major breakthrough in speech recognition, creating a technology that understands a conversation as well as a person does. In a paper published Monday, a team of researchers and engineers in Microsoft Artificial Intelligence and Research reported a speech recognition system that makes the same or fewer errors than professional transcriptionists. The researchers reported a word error rate (WER) of 5.9 percent, down from the 6.3 percent WER the team reported just last month. The 5.9 percent error rate is about equal to that of people who were asked to transcribe the same conversation, and it’s the lowest ever recorded against the industry standard Switchboard speech recognition task. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/fec2f6ca182feed88459a69078247863.jpg A reprogrammable computer chip called a field programmable gate array, or FPGA A team of Microsoft engineers and researchers, working together, have created a system that uses a reprogrammable computer chip called a field programmable gate array, or FPGA, to accelerate Bing and Azure. Utilizing the FPGA chips, they can write their algorithms directly onto the hardware they are using, instead of using potentially less efficient software as the middle man. What’s more, an FPGA can be reprogrammed at a moment’s notice to respond to new advances in artificial intelligence or meet another type of unexpected need in a datacenter. Head over to Next at Microsoft to read the full story. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/dbc10669f372e9ea57ea69d9381c51a0.jpg Governments across the United States – from the biggest federal agencies to the smallest towns – are turning to the cloud to be more productive and collaborative, and to better harness exponentially growing amounts of data that helps them better support the citizens they serve. Posts on several Microsoft blogs show that no major cloud provider is as committed to supporting the needs of government agencies as Microsoft, which has announced significant advancements for its Government Cloud. These include: Department of Defense-specific versions of Office 365 and Azure, which are built from the ground up to meet DoD Impact Level 5 controls, as well as additional Azure Government regions in the southwest and south central U.S. Head over to the Microsoft in Government blog, the Microsoft Azure blog and Office Blogs to find out more. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/b8b6b1b6cd661abfeac85aeaa0995635.jpg Matt Flynn © 2015 Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. From digital pens that let visitors virtually take collections home with them to artificial intelligence that links modern photographs with historic paintings, the world’s cultural institutions are democratizing technology to help them stay relevant in a connected world. Traditionally, museums have had a conservative mission, charged with preserving humanity’s greatest treasures in order to pass them on to the next generation. The digital age is altering that focus, as institutions look for new ways to appeal to modern lifestyles. To read the full story about how museums are evolving with technology, visit the Transform blog. And in the games and apps space, we got a peek at “Halo Wars 2,” which takes place 30 years after the crew of the UNSC Spirit of Fire settled in for a long cryosleep in “Halo Wars.” You can also pre-order “Dead Rising 4: Deluxe Edition,” check out an update to Viber, return to Underland with “Alice Through the Looking Glass” in the Windows Store and pre-register to get on the list for “Asphalt Xtreme,” a new spinoff to “Asphalt 8.” https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/8ada2329d1a7b082a0cbe869d50faf3d.png This week on the Microsoft Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, we highlighted Alberto Cairo, a pioneer in graphic data. He’s dedicated his career to visual journalism and travels the world bringing stories to life through interactive visualizations. By relying on tools such as Microsoft’s Power BI, he is able to transform vast amounts of data into rich, meaningful visuals for companies, brands and publishers to utilize. That’s it for our round-up. See you next Friday for another Weekend Reading! Posted by Athima Chansanchai Microsoft News Center Staff The post Flash to the future: Major breakthrough in speech recognition, Bing and Azure use an AI supercomputer in the cloud — Weekend Reading: Oct. 21 edition appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders! Today we are excited to be releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14951 for Mobile and PC to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. What’s new in Build 14951 Refining the customization experience for precision touchpad (PC): Since last week, we’ve continued working in this space, and have another set of improvements headed your way. To start with, we’ve hooked up our keyboard shortcut picker, so now if you choose that option on the Advanced gestures page, you’ll be presented a recorder so you can capture your favorite key combo – perhaps WIN + Alt + D or WIN + F to start with? Secondly, we’ve added a Change audio and volume option to the set of basic swipe gestures you can pick from. Finally, we’ve updated the reset button to now has a progress circle and display a check mark when it is finished. We’ve also heard your feedback from the last flight, and fixed a few issues including that the reset button wasn’t clearing the settings listed on the advanced gestures page, that the 4-fingure gesture graphic was visible on devices that only supported 3-contact points, and that some of the advanced gestures options weren’t working as expected. If you have any more feedback for us, please let us know! Windows Ink Improvements (PC): Starting with this build, pen dropdowns in Windows Ink Workspace will let you change both color and width without having to open it twice. After you make all the adjustments to your favorite pen, start drawing right away and we will dismiss the dropdown for you. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/0c2597abca5ee96db142f9dfb58cc8db.png We are also introducing Stencils. Windows Ink protractor tool combines functions of both protractor and compass into one – now you can draw an arc or a complete circle of an arbitrary size with little effort. A familiar two-finger pinch gesture resizes the protractor to the desired size and a degree readout follows your pen, mouse, or finger as you draw along the side of the protractor displaying arc degrees. In this preview build, ruler also got a small update – its degree readout shows a numerical value of the angle, making drawing angles even easier. Simplified, more familiar camera interface (PC & Mobile): The Camera app received a big update this week for Insiders. We’ve redesigned the Camera interface for ease and accessibility. Check out some of our new features: Enjoy taking photos, videos, and panoramas with our higher-contrast capture buttons. Set a photo timer right from the camera dashboard with our new toggle control. Get to Settings faster! Now, launch into Settings directly from the camera UI. Access your camera roll with one hand from its new spot on the screen. Zoom more easily with the new zoom slider. Make sure you nailed the shot, with a more noticeable capture animation. Change between front- and rear-facing cameras with a more prominent button control. On PC, use the spacebar as a shortcut to take pictures. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/8de15f266491b60b6aed29ff1b69dc4f.png You can now experience the magic of living images on your Surface, now enabled on Surface Book, Surface Pro 4, Surface Pro 3, and Surface 3! With living images, extend your still captures with a snippet of video. These are created automatically whenever your shots feature motion—just navigate to Settings and turn on Capture living images. And this release features a variety of performance improvements to enhance your experience. We’ve added faster shot-to-shot support, improved feedback for saving large videos to SD cards, and improved camera startup time, among other improvements. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/404174c70621a1d9286b2361fc1b418f.png Simplifying your developer experience (PC): We’ve done some underlying work, and now you’ll no longer have to reboot your PC after turning on Developer Mode! This means that you can start using Device Portal and Device Discovery as soon as the Windows Developer Mode package has finished installing, rather than having to reboot first. Narrator improvements: This build includes a number of improvements to Narrator including multiple fixes to continuous reading when used in tables and on web pages, a fix for the Caps Lock + W reading experience so dialogs and other elements are read correctly again, and a fix so that reading hint text does not interrupt the reading of information by Narrator but comes after the main information is read. And Narrator now properly indicates when it is exiting. Windows Subsystem for Linux: Today we are happy to announce two large updates to WSL! Official Ubuntu 16.04 support. Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial) is installed for all new Bash on Ubuntu on Windows instances starting in build 14951. This replaces Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty). Existing user instances will not be upgraded automatically. Users on the Windows Insider program can upgrade manually from 14.04 to 16.04 using the do-release-upgrade command. Windows / WSL interoperability. Users can now launch Windows binaries directly from a WSL command prompt. This is the number one request from our users on the WSL User Voice page. Some examples include: $ export PATH=$PATH:/mnt/c/Windows/System32 $ notepad.exe $ ipconfig.exe | grep IPv4 | cut -d: -f2 $ ls -la | findstr.exe foo.txt $ cmd.exe /c dir More information can be found on the WSL Blog and the WSL MSDN page. Other changes and more information can be found on the WSL Release Notes page. Other improvements and fixes for Mobile Following feedback discussing French punctuation rules, we’ve updated our French keyboards (with the exception of French (Canada), for which these rules don’t apply) to now add a space both before and after when using two-part punctuation marks, such as the semi-colon, the colon, the question mark and the exclamation mark. We fixed an issue resulting in the Camera shutter sounds entry missing from the Sounds Settings page via Settings > Personalization > Sounds. Other improvements and fixes for PC We fixed the issue causing PCs that are capable of Connected Standby such as the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 to sometimes bugcheck (bluescreen) while in Connected Standby. We fixed an issue resulting in Forza Horizon 3, Gears of War (and some 3rd party games) failing to install from the Store with the error code 0x80073cf9 when the system’s app install location was set to drive with native 4k Sectors (or 4k sector sized drive). We fixed an issue resulting in larger Store games such as ReCore, Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3, Killer Instinct and Rise of the Tomb Raider possibly failing to launch. We fixed an issue where the console window (which hosts Command Prompt, PowerShell, and other command-line utilities) might not snap correctly to the inside edges between two monitors with different DPI scaling. We fixed an issue where all agenda items in the taskbar’s Clock and Calendar flyout were using the primary calendar’s color, rather than matching their respective calendar’s colors as selected in the Outlook Calendar app. We fixed issue where the Add PIN button in Settings > Accounts > Sign-in Options was sometimes unexpectedly greyed out for domain-joined devices. We fixed an issue resulting in Groove crashing if you tried to reorder the songs in a very large playlist. We’ve updated our migration logic to now include custom scan code mappings. That means that going forward from this build, if you’ve used Registry Editor to remap certain keys (for example, Caps Lock key to null), that change will persist across upgrades. We fixed an issue Insiders may have experienced resulting in Adobe Photoshop Express crashing after clicking on the ‘correct’ button when trying to edit a cropped image. We fixed an issue resulting in .csv or .xlsx files downloaded from Microsoft Edge sometimes unexpectedly appearing to be locked for editing by “another user” when SmartScreen was enabled. We fixed an issue where enabling the RemoteFX adaptor for a Virtual Machine would result in it failing to power on with the error ‘Unspecified error’ (0x80004005). Known issues for Mobile Signing into apps such as Feedback Hub, Groove, MSN News, etc. with your Microsoft Account if you sign out or get signed out of these apps will not work. If this happens to you and you cannot sign in to Feedback Hub, you can send us feedback via the forums. When rebooting a phone on this build and Build 14946 from last week, the device appears to get “stuck” on the blue Windows logo screen during the boot cycle. We have identified 2 bugs causing this issue and working to check in fixes soon. However, being “stuck” is only temporary. Depending on which device you have, your phone may be in this stuck state for 20-30 minutes, but it will eventually progress to the Lock screen. There is no permanent impact from these 2 bugs, just an unexpectedly long boot time. Please don’t reset your device! It’ll take longer to reset the device than it will to wait for the boot cycle to complete. Excel Mobile will freeze after adding sheets and eventually crashes. Insiders who have configured a data limit on their phone may get into a state where they receive frequent notifications about having exceeded this limit. To resolve the issue, please go into Settings > Device & Network > Data Usage and remove and recreate your data limit settings. Known issues for PC Signing into apps such as Feedback Hub, Groove, MSN News, etc. with your Microsoft Account if you sign out or get signed out of these apps will not work. If this happens to you and you cannot sign in to Feedback Hub, you can send us feedback via the forums. You may experience a crash while using the protractor in Sketchpad – we’re working on a fix. If you have a 3rd party antivirus product installed on your PC – your PC might not be able to complete the update to this build and roll-back to the previous build. Upcoming Bugbash Just a heads-up that we are planning to kick off our next bugbash starting on Tuesday, November 8th and finishing at the end of the day on Sunday, November 13th. I’ll have more details in the coming weeks. Looking forward to seeing a lot of participation from Insiders! Team Updates Last week was tremendously exciting for the #WINsiders4Good work that Windows Insiders are doing. We kicked off a series of Create-A-Thons at Microsoft Retail Stores in Oregon, Puerto Rico, New York, Boston among others. Some of our Insiders who did not have a retail store near them organized their own events in London and Germany! The top thing we learned was that the simplest solution is often the best. Some simple solutions we created were new logos for Red Barn, a resource center for homeless looking to rebrand themselves. a formula and model by which St. Francis House in Boston, a homeless shelter could decided if someone needed new clothing and a free resources list of software and learning tools for after-school care for underprivileged children at Educational Alliance…all using and running on Windows 10! The NGOs were so pleased at having such incredibly passionate people like the Windows Insiders participating in their events. It was amazing to watch Insiders travel across state lines to come attend these events (2 of our Insiders drove from Delaware to NYC for the event!). Again, if you’d like to participate in an event, START ONE! Many of our Insiders are starting to do this. Just let us know what you are doing and we will do our best to help get the word out and support you remotely. For those who might have missed it, I wrote up an article about our #WINsiders4Good Nigeria fellowship for the Windows team and senior leadership, but decided that the Windows Insiders would like to see it as well. All of this leads to our Windows Insiders mission of using technology to learn, create and make a lasting impact on the world. I feel so fortunate to be a part of your community. I leave for New Zealand soon to keynote Ignite NZ and gave a little preview on Channel 9 earlier. I hope to meet many Windows Insiders there. I will be “legitly loitering” at the Microsoft Stand/Windows Insider section for much of the week so please do come say hi and help me press the button to ship a build. Thank you everyone and keep hustling, Dona <3 Continue reading...

At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We care deeply about how we achieve that mission and our lasting impact on the world. Across the company, we are working to apply the power of technology to ensure corporate responsibility, safeguard human rights and protect our planet. This commitment is central to why many of our employees come to work every day, and it impacts the type of products and services we develop. In our 2016 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report, which we published today, you will find information about our policies and business practices which reflect our commitment to making the planet a better place. During fiscal year 2016, Microsoft made progress on a number of fronts: · Expanding our commitment to sustainability by establishing new energy goals, including having our data centers rely on a larger percentage of wind, solar and hydro power electricity over time. · Prioritizing inclusive design and accessibility in the development of our products and services to empower everyone, while deepening our inclusive culture at Microsoft. · Enhancing our companywide privacy principles and the Microsoft Privacy Statement to protect our customers’ personal data and their right to privacy. · Holding our suppliers accountable to human rights, labor, health and safety, environmental, and business ethics practices prescribed in our Supplier Code of Conduct. · Expanding economic opportunity to every corner of the planet through Microsoft Philanthropies’ three-year commitment to donate $1 billion in public cloud computing for nonprofits around the world. · Contributing to public policy discussions with a new book, “A Cloud for Global Good,” which lays out a roadmap of 78 specific policy recommendations to help ensure cloud computing is trusted, responsible and inclusive. As part of our commitment to transparency, this report builds on Microsoft’s prior annual citizenship reporting, but is now designed to be a living reporting website where we can offer both the year-over-year data we traditionally provide as well as ongoing updates throughout the year on important developments on our efforts. We take seriously our responsibilities to help the world achieve more and are committed to meeting our responsibility to address economic, social and environmental issues. We also recognize the importance of partnerships and value the opportunity to work with nonprofits, advocates, governments, academics, customers and employees to advance progress. Together, we can strengthen communities and ensure greater outcomes for all. We will continue to dedicate ourselves to the challenges humankind faces, the role technology can play and the unique contributions Microsoft can make in cooperation with others around the world. The post Microsoft releases 2016 Corporate Social Responsibility report appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

Microsoft has made a major breakthrough in speech recognition, creating a technology that understands a conversation as well as a person does. In a paper published Monday, a team of researchers and engineers in Microsoft Artificial Intelligence and Research reported a speech recognition system that makes the same or fewer errors than professional transcriptionists. The researchers reported a word error rate (WER) of 5.9 percent, down from the 6.3 percent WER the team reported just last month. The 5.9 percent error rate is about equal to that of people who were asked to transcribe the same conversation, and it’s the lowest ever recorded against the industry standard Switchboard speech recognition task. Get all the details on Next at Microsoft. Athima Chansanchai Microsoft News Center Staff The post Historic milestone: Microsoft researchers achieve human parity in conversational speech recognition appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

From the election of Pope Francis to the passing of Nelson Mandela to Miley Cyrus’ MTV #twerk heard ’round the world, 2013 was full of big headlines and viral hits. Yet The New York Times’ top story of the year was the humble result of a vocabulary survey of 350,000 randomly selected Americans conducted by a then-intern at the paper. Instead of presenting these findings in a written article, “How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk” achieved breakout success as an interactive data visualization. It asked readers 25 questions such as “How would you address a group of two or more people?” or “How do you pronounce ‘aunt’?” and then heat-mapped their responses to the most similar regional dialect in the U.S. The interactivity and colorful visuals transmuted survey data into a fun, insightful tour through the contours of contemporary American English. Visualization no longer just complements a written story. It is the story. In our increasingly data-driven world, visualization is becoming an essential tool for journalists from national papers to blogs with a staff of one. I recently spent two days discussing the state of data journalism with Alberto Cairo, the Knight Chair of Visual Journalism at the School of Communication at the University of Miami. While he stressed the importance of data visualization for efficient communication and audience engagement, Cairo argued that “Above all else, visualizations — when done right — are a vehicle of clarification and truth.” Read more from Microsoft Story Labs. The post Alberto Cairo, Power BI & the rise of data journalism appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

We’ve showed you how to get started with extensions and how to enable the dark theme in Microsoft Edge – today, we’re talking about how you can get the most out of Microsoft Edge in four easy ways. Pin tabs for quick access https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/65babc4010a2f016c415668d0f02e13d.gif See your favorite websites in the same place every time you open Microsoft Edge. Just right-click on an open tab and select Pin. Web notifications https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/8824b87221aff66fea8b868b5386f377.gif Web Notifications in Microsoft Edge allows sites to display notifications relevant to you even when you are away from the site. This helps to keep you informed of new messages or alerts. Web notifications will also show in the Action Center with easy controls over permissions and Quiet Hours. Navigate tabs easily https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/83e47dbcd073ce398baae3f40c7db98e.gif With Microsoft Edge, it’s effortless to manage tabs. Simply hover over your open tabs to see what’s inside before you click. You can also choose to duplicate an existing tab or reopen a closed tab if you closed one accidentally. Swipe navigation https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/8b3197097e6a041b0ed06edea832c60e.gif Microsoft Edge supports the swipe gesture to navigate backward and forward when browsing on your touch friendly device. You can use your finger to swipe from anywhere on the web page to navigate to a previous page or to move forward. Have a great week! Continue reading...

We hope you enjoyed this week’s episode of This Week on Windows! Read more about the HP Elite x3, now available in Microsoft Stores and this week’s milestone for Microsoft HoloLens, or head over here to learn how to get started with the Windows Ink Workspace. Here’s what’s new in the Windows Store this week: Gears of War 4 now available on Xbox One and Windows 10 PC https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/7d50506e8fd4d687f414342b0b0499e4.jpg We’re thrilled to announce the official release of Gears of War 4 ($59.99 Standard Edition, $99 Ultimate Edition) with fans around the world. Available exclusively on Xbox One and Windows 10 PC, Gears of War 4 marks the beginning of a new saga for one of the most acclaimed videogame franchises in history. And, until Oct. 20, you can earn 10,000 bonus Microsoft Rewards points when you buy the Ultimate Edition. Instagram now available for Windows 10 PCs and Tablets https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/9f7892fc575eac4d821ccaa208bf97e6.jpg Windows 10 PCs and tablets get the entire Instagram experience — including Instagram Stories. The Instagram app for Windows 10, already available for mobile, is now available for Windows 10 tablets and PCs. Get the free app from the Windows Store and read more about the news! DC’s Legends of Tomorrow – Buy from $24.99 https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/3786e7442ce8f8eb0ee995e0aad9474f.jpeg After their defeat of the immortal villain Vandal Savage, the Legends will clash with foes both past and present to save the world from a mysterious new threat. Watch the season 2 premiere of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, available now in the Movies & TV section of the Windows Store. Microsoft Mahjong – Free https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/9ee701f8317a83d25c22cc0f0ba1c636.jpg Microsoft Mahjong, the classic tile-matching game, is now updated for Windows 10 with Daily Challenges, a new look and feel, and 20 new puzzles exclusively for Windows 10. You can now enjoy a total of more than 40 puzzles for hours of tile-matching fun! Microsoft Mahjong is now a Universal Windows App, which means new experiences can be created and added to the game faster than ever on both Windows 10 PCs and Windows 10 mobile devices. Have a great weekend! Continue reading...

https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/18e4098315490b6040887e2481bb6fb7.jpg Today, the Microsoft Casual Games team is proud to announce that Microsoft Mahjong, the classic tile-matching game, is now updated for Windows 10 with Daily Challenges, a new look and feel, and 20 new puzzles exclusively for Windows 10. You can now enjoy a total of more than 40 puzzles for hours of tile-matching fun! Microsoft Mahjong is now a Universal Windows App, which means new experiences can be created and added to the game faster than ever on both Windows 10 PCs and Windows 10 mobile devices. Head over to Xbox Wire to read about all the new features in the game available on Windows 10 today! Microsoft Mahjong is available for free in the Windows Store. Continue reading...

Weather woes, election exhaustion, darkening days – there’s lots of justification this weekend for curling up on the couch with nibbles and beverages. Or for leaping off it and screaming at your television. Either way, the NFL is sure to oblige with some distracting entertainment. And Microsoft Surface tablets will come in handy on both sides of the TV screen. Surface Pro tablets are going into their fourth season helping the NFL’s pro football teams plan their plays. Coaches and players huddle on the sidelines, tuning out the deafening roar of the crowd, to analyze full-color images from previous offensive or defensive series and decide on their next drive. The updated Surface Pro 4 devices are lighter and come with improved daylight readability and better battery performance, with a thinner case that’s rugged enough to handle any weather. “We live and die by those things on the sidelines,” says Brandon Fisher, defensive backs coach for the Los Angeles Rams. “When we’re not on the field we are adjusting, and everybody is surrounding the one Surface. That’s our livelihood on Sundays, those things.” https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/8c9aebe70179c0756dd9a27500612fad.png Fans can count on Surface tablets and various apps to enhance their football experience. They can watch Thursday night games through Twitter live streaming on the Microsoft NFL app on Windows 10 devices and Xbox One. That app has been updated with new features such as sharing video highlights and saving favorite clips. Improvements to apps, including updated Next Gen Stats on players, will help fantasy football fans win within their leagues. And they can feel even more connected to their favorite team while they’re tapping away on their device, with a Microsoft Surface Special Edition NFL Type Cover around it. And this season, fans will even get to find out who the best ‘Madden’ player in the NFL is. Xbox is putting eight players to the test to determine the top gamer in the Xbox NFL Player Charity Challenge, starting Oct. 18. Fans can fill out brackets before the tournament and submit weekly picks, with prizes for the winners. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/2858548f719e10dd61cd076f36161cf3.jpg Microsoft welcomed six new countries to the world of mixed reality this week. Developers and commercial enterprises from Australia, Ireland, France, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom are now able to pre-order HoloLens devices. Those countries will join the United States and Canada in enjoying the world’s first (and still only) self-contained holographic computer. Microsoft has invested billions into cutting-edge research on artificial intelligence, with the results evident in Office 365, Bing Predicts and Skype Translator, among other examples. Now you can add the new Dynamics 365 cloud service to the list. Dynamics 365’s purpose-built apps address specific business needs. It’s designed to help improve manufacturing and supply chain execution, make field service operations more efficient, sell more effectively and ultimately deliver exceptional customer experiences, through built-in intelligence capabilities. And thanks to the cloud, you can start small and scale on-demand to deal with even the biggest business challenges. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/0272c95bd15e45bb2c17e47af57bf69e.jpg If you’re too addicted to the twists and turns of the U.S. presidential election to only watch football this weekend, check in with David Rothschild. He’s an economist with Microsoft’s research organization in New York who’s providing continuously updated odds for the major party candidates. And he runs his own website, PredictWise, that hosts his probability forecasts for not only elections, but major sporting events, too. Rothschild bases his predictions on his academic research into digital betting markets as well as an evolving and growing trove of online polling, web search and social media data. His research helps inform several other efforts across Microsoft product groups, too, including Bing Predicts’ election experience, which uses anonymized, aggregated web search data and other information for its forecasts. “How people act on the web correlates to how they vote,” says Walter Sun, team lead for Bing Predicts. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/c8dd139087d2f1184d34ef905b992de9.jpg David Rothschild Economist at Microsoft Research in New York City. Photo by Robert Caplin ©Robert Caplin You could also spend your weekend on the couch editing your photos to create new works of art. The newly redesigned PicsArt app has a new look and feel, along with three editing tools most requested by Windows users. Change the focus of your images, add light and shape effects with ease, and play around with hundreds of text and image overlays, brush filters and more. Sketchable has been updated, too, improving the app that combines a physical notebook with the power and flexibility of the digital world, with a streamlined interface and improved color picker, among other features. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/b54169ec46d2f1c08f40fcdd78380f26.jpg This week on the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, we highlighted Rian Buckley, a former model turned fashion technology startup founder. By combining both business-building Microsoft tools and her years of fashion industry knowledge, Rian is decoding the denim industry to help women find their perfect fit. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/1a225c0f9f7f658d052ce992108ccd7f.jpg Whether you hibernate with your Xbox or grab your Surface tablet and head to the stadium, we hope you have a great weekend, and be sure to check back next Friday for another edition of Weekend Reading. Susanna Ray Microsoft News Center Staff The post Football tech, election predictions and perfectly fitting jeans – Weekend Reading: Oct. 14 edition appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. Continue reading...

We’re excited to share that the Instagram app for Windows 10 is expanding beyond its current mobile availability and is optimized for tablets and PCs today. The app is free to download from the Windows Store. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/37f34f18ff299c4235ce02ccf205b39f.png We welcomed the Instagram app for Windows 10 mobile back in April, and you can now use the app right from your Windows 10 tablet or PC with Windows-only experiences such as Live Tiles, which let you see new photos and notifications right from your home screen. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/099d1c5be74378a9b20bdeb01cf4a13e.png Here are some of the features you can use in Instagram for Windows 10: Post and edit photos* – Instagram makes sharing moments with everyone in your world easy, speedy, and fun. Stories – Stories from people you follow will appear in a row at the top of Feed. Instagram Live Tile – Find out what your friends and family are up to at a glance. Rich, native notifications – We’ll send you the notifications you want to see so that you don’t miss important updates. Instagram Direct – Instagram Direct lets you exchange threaded messages with one or more people, and share posts you see in Feed as a message. Full featured Search, Explore, Profile, and Feed. Download the Instagram app for Windows 10 for free today. Head over to the Instagram Blog to learn more about today’s exciting news! *Posting and editing photos only available for tablets and PCs with touch screens and backward facing cameras. Continue reading...

Hello Windows Insiders! Today we are excited to be releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14946 for PC and Mobile to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring. What’s new in Build 14946 Customizing your precision touchpad experience (PC): Last week, we announced that we’d been working on refining your touchpad experience. This week, we’re taking that one step further. When you go into Settings > Devices > Touchpad, you will now find a section called “Other gestures”. In this section, you now have basic customization options for your three and four finger gestures. For taps, you can select between Cortana, Action Center, play/pause or middle mouse button, and for left/right swipes, you can select between switching apps or switching virtual desktops. Try it out and let us know what you think! https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/43835878e05a7f5d91b8676c0ebba899.png However, we know that some of our Insiders prefer even more control over their experience, so for those Insiders (and power users) we have added a new Advanced Gestures Configuration page. The page can be accessed via a link at the bottom of Touchpad settings page. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/44ab34103761f24eb796c7600c22f30a.png The Advanced Gestures Configuration page has more configuration options, including hooking gestures up for next/previous song, creating/deleting virtual desktops, or snapping windows. In addition to these new options, we’ve also updated the Touchpad settings to include reference diagrams to remind you of what to expect when you swipe with three or four fingers in a particular direction. Known issues to look out for with your touchpad: since the last flight, we’ve fixed the issue resulting in touchpad scrolling being too sensitive in Windows 10 apps – appreciate everyone who shared their feedback on the subject. There’s one other known issue we’re looking into right now that click and drag with your precision touchpad might get misrecognized as right-click in this build. You’ll also notice that there’s a “custom keyboard shortcut” option in settings – that hasn’t lit up yet, but we’ll let you know when it does. Keep the feedback coming! Separate screen time-out settings when using Continuum for Phone (Mobile): Today, we are happy to announce the availability of a top user request for Continuum for Phone. With this update, you will now be able to turn off whichever screen you are not using with Continuum – saving battery and preventing screen burn-in. If you are working on a Word document, your phone screen will sleep without any impact on your Continuum session. If you make a call, hang-up, or press the phone power button, you can keep right on working in Word with Continuum. And, if you prefer longer or shorter timeout values, you can change them independently for the phone and connected screen, using the settings found under Settings > Personalization > Lock screen. Have fun, and keep sending us great feedback on Continuum! Updated Wi-Fi Settings page (PC and Mobile): We continue to make Settings more similar across Windows devices. We have added a new setting to the Wi-Fi settings page. When you go to Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi on your PC, then turn Wi-Fi off, you can now select a time under “Turn Wi-Fi back on” to have it turn on automatically after the amount of time you choose. It’s set to Manually by default in this build. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/94a2878fd7b41d7f05507a4bfdc8fcda.png We are also continuing to move functionality from the Wi-Fi (legacy) screen to the new Wi-Fi settings screen on Mobile. After you turn off Wi-Fi, choose a time under Turn Wi-Fi back on to have it turn on automatically after the amount of time you choose. Based on what we heard from customers in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, we changed the default setting from “In 1 hour” to Manually in this build. Option to prevent autocorrection (Mobile): On your phone, if you see that an autocorrection is going to happen (i.e. the first candidate is bolded) and it’s not what you intended, you will now see what you originally typed as the second candidate. Tapping on that candidate will prevent the autocorrection, and the system will learn your vocabulary and get smarter over time. Option to remove a word from user dictionary (Mobile): We learn from your typing on the phone and build up a local user dictionary that adapts the keyboard prediction, autocorrection and shape writing experiences to your language style. Sometimes you may type a misspelled word and send it as is, sometimes you may tap on a red squiggled word and then tap the “+” sign by accident. Both save the unwanted word into your user dictionary, and it may appear when you type something similar in the future. Now you have a way to manually remove bad entries: tap on the word you don’t like in the text box, and you will see a candidate that is the word with a “-“ sign before it. Tapping on that candidate will remove the word completely from your user dictionary and no longer suggest it. Important note about a change to automatic backups of your phone (Mobile): We have changed the frequency of scheduled backups for Mobile to once a week. Initiating a backup manually by clicking the “Back up now” button remains unchanged and works as expected. You can do this via Settings > Update & security > Backup and clicking the “More options” link at the bottom. As always, it’s good to do a backup of your device before updating to a new build. Other improvements and fixes for PC Optional components such as Hyper-V and Bash should remain installed after updating to this build. We have fixed the issue where signing into games that use Xbox Live would not work. You should be able to sign-in to Xbox Live in games in this build. We fixed the issue causing Microsoft Edge to sometimes crash on launch, or when you type in address bar or try to open a new tab. You no longer need to run the PowerShell script. We fixed the issue causing touch scrolling to be too sensitive in Windows 10 apps, such as Microsoft Edge. We fixed an issue where Explorer.exe would hang when attempting to open considerably large .MOV files. We fixed an issue that could result in the network icon occasionally getting into a state where a red X would display in the taskbar despite an active internet connection, until the device had been restarted. We fixed an issue where if the device’s brightness was automatically adjusted after being woken from sleep, the brightness level shown in the Action Center’s Brightness Quick Action might not reflect the current brightness of the device. We fixed an issue leading to Narrator not tracking focus on the Start Menu All apps list or tiles. We fixed an issue potentially resulting in the “Open with…” dialog displaying with two entries for Calculator after tapping the Calculator key on a keyboard or running the Calculator app. Other improvements and fixes for Mobile We fixed the issue causing you to get into a state where text messages will fail to send. When your phone is connected to your PC, long lists of captured photos will now load significantly faster in File Explorer. We’ve updated Narrator’s reading order for Windows 10 apps which display an app bar on the bottom of the app, for example OneDrive, so now the contents of the page will be read before the contents of the app bar We fixed an issue resulting in video thumbnails sometimes not being shown in WhatsApp – videos received from this build onwards will display a thumbnail. We fixed an issue resulting in Camera app video recordings having a slight crackle to their audio in recent builds. Known issues for PC If you have 3rd party antivirus products such as Bitdefender, Kaspersky Antivirus, F-Secure Antivirus and Malwarebytes installed on your PC – your PC might not be able to complete the update to this build and roll-back to the previous build. Larger Windows Store games such as ReCore, Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3, Killer Instinct and Rise of the Tomb Raider may fail to launch. Known issues for Mobile If your phone has additional speech packs installed – this build will fail to install on your phone with an 0x80188319 error. This is why we polled Insiders about language pack usage this week. Based on the response, we decided to push forward and send the latest bits. This issue will be fixed in the next build we release. NOTE: Removing speech packs will not correct the issue. Your device will continue to try and download and install the update and fail. It is recommended you move to the Slow ring until this issue is fixed. Getting misconfigured PCs up to date Some Windows Insiders who have pre-release builds on their PCs are not targeted correctly for receiving updates because they have not opted into receiving Insider Preview builds by having selected a valid ring or are in some other misconfigured state. To re-target these PCs, we are making a server-side change that will put these PCs in the Slow ring so that they can receive updates. Specifically: Going forward, any build from our Development Branch installed on a PC will be put into the Slow ring. This includes if you installed a Development Branch build from an ISO or later reset the device. For PCs on the Windows 10 Anniversary Update that were previously opted in to receiving builds but see a “Fix me” button on the Windows Insider Program settings page because they no longer have a registered Microsoft account attached will be put in the Release Preview ring. If you would like to adjust these settings or suspend getting Development branch build updates temporarily (7 days), you can do so by going to Settings > Update & security > Windows Insider Program. To move to the Fast ring, a Windows Insider registered Microsoft Account must be attached to the PC. For enterprises running Insider Preview builds, you can manage this via these Group Policies documented here. Team updates Whew! On top of all the build and update system news, we also made a ton of progress on our #WINsiders4Good work for GIVE month. We had a fantastic launch of GIVE Month at the NYC Flagship Microsoft store last weekend where the Windows Insiders partnered with Educational Alliance to create solutions for after-school care for students from underrepresented backgrounds. https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/b695a31853fed82d5ebe972b1c112fcd.jpg The team came up with a variety of solutions, including some that are being completed with the help of the Windows Insiders globally. We are creating the world’s biggest open source list of free software tools that NGO and everyone else can use to teach and to learn concepts such as visual design, coding, problems solving and more so that EVERY person can have access and knowledge to these great tools. . This webpage will live on our Windows Insiders website. I’ll share more as it goes live before Friday. We are excited to be present at the Boston Microsoft store event this weekend as well as the global rollouts of the Create-A-Thon kits. Thank you everyone and keep hustling, Dona <3 Continue reading...

Today, HP Inc. unveiled an awesome updated lineup of Windows 10 PCs for the holiday season, including new Windows 10 laptops, an all-in-one and a 4K display. With these new devices, you can draw and markup webpages in Microsoft Edge, talk to your own personal digital assistant in Cortana and enjoy their overall design excellence, quality and performance, whether you’re at home or on-the-go. Let’s take a look at HP’s new devices: HP Spectre x360 with Windows 10 delivers powerful performance in sleek package HP has taken its most successful premium laptop PC and made it even better. By optimizing the PC for the latest 7th Generation Intel Core processors, and adding a larger 57.8W battery in the thinner design, the Spectre x360 now achieves 25 percent more hours of battery life with up to 15 hours. The touchscreen is perfect for drawing with Windows Ink or drawing on and marking up webpages in Microsoft Edge. The new micro-edge display bezel design reduces the overall footprint by eliminating almost 10mm from each side of the screen. With a new hinge design, it is 13.8 mm thin, more than 2 mm thinner than the previous generation and is lighter at 2.85lbs compared to 3.2lbs. The PC now includes quad speakers instead of two to deliver crisp audio thanks to tuning by Bang & Olufsen plus HP Audio Boost for superior sound in every mode. Click to view slideshow. The new Spectre x360 features great connectivity with two USB-Type C ports with Thunderbolt support and a USB-Type A 3.0 port allowing users to connect the latest peripherals both today and tomorrow. The bright display boasts a 13.3-inch diagonal FHD IPS panel delivers great viewing experiences. Other features include: Powered by Windows 10 The new dual fan design optimizes thermals to ensure the device runs cool. 7th Generation Intel Core i5 or i7 processors Options with up to a 1TB PCIe SSD for fast performance and plenty of space to store high resolution videos and photos Windows Hello facial login is supported by HP TrueVision FHD IR Camera for added security. Improved Wi-Fi connectivity with optimized placement at the top of the PC for faster downloads of movies, pictures and videos HP Fast Charge to power the device up to 90 percent in just 90 minutes Pricing and Availability: The HP Spectre x360 is expected to be available October 12, 2016. HP.com starting price is $1,049.99 and BestBuy.com starting price is $1159. HP ENVY Laptop with Windows 10 is powerful in a thin and light design For people who want a premium laptop at an affordable price, the HP ENVY combines beauty and power with refined metal materials and slim lines offered in Natural Silver. The new 13.3” diagonal HP ENVY laptop packs four more hours of battery life – up to 14 hours – compared to last year’s model. Click to view slideshow. An elevated hinge design provides a more comfortable typing experience coupled with a backlit keyboard for working in low light and an extra-wide glass touchpad for less resistance. The optional edge-to-edge flush glass display offers vivid visuals for movies and games with a QHD+ and UHD panels. Customers can also choose a FHD panel or add touch with the QHD+ display option. Dual firing speakers, with audio expertly tuned by Bang & Olufsen plus HP Audio Boost Technology, offer amazing sound to amplify movies and music. Other features include: Powered by Windows 10 Two USB 3.0 ports, including one dedicated to sleep and charge, and one USB Type-C port 7th Generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors Up to a 1TB SSD PCIe provides fast response times when opening or moving large files Up to 16GB RAM HP Fast Charge up to 12 hours in 90 minutes Pricing and Availability: The HP ENVY Laptop is expected to be available on HP.com and select retailers on October 26, 2016 starting at $849.99. HP ENVY All-in-One 27 with Windows 10 looks great in any room, delivers cinematic experiences The HP ENVY All-in-One 27 offers a simple yet sophisticated design that makes it look great in any room in the house. By moving the computing power into the base, the two-volume design reduces the display thickness by 44 percent for a thin, beautiful 27-inch diagonal QHD display. The base includes an innovative sound bar with four speakers expertly tuned by Bang & Olufsen to provide theatre-like sound quality and an audio dial allows for easy touch control. To safeguard privacy, the ENVY AIO 27 offers a HP Privacy Camera with IR support — which you can use to login securely and conveniently with Windows Hello — and a microphone that pops up only when in use. Click to view slideshow. The 3.6 million pixel screen resolution with Technicolor Color Certification ensures high accuracy colors when watching videos or creating and editing content. This is HP’s first all-in-one display to feature low blue light mode for improved eye comfort and a better night’s sleep. Other features include: Powered by Windows 10 USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt 3 support HDMI-out to connect to a second monitor or to project to a TV HDMI-in port for connecting a laptop to take advantage of the ENYV AIO 27’s beautiful display Powerful processing options available, including 6th Generation Intel Core i5 and i7 quad-core desktop processors Optional discrete NVIDIA GTX 950M graphics card with 2GB GDDR5 video for blazing fast 3D gaming performance Hybrid storage options include up to a 256GB SSD and 2TB HDD to give customers faster performance and plenty of storage for digital media collections Pricing and Availability: The HP ENVY All-In-One 27 is expected to be available on HP.com and select retailers in October 2016, starting at $1,299.99. HP ENVY Display offers vibrant, 4K images Click to view slideshow. The HP ENVY 27 Display leverages a contemporary design featuring a thin aluminum stand that enhances the floating display experience of the 27-inch diagonal 4K IPS panel with a micro-edge bezel. AMD FreeSyncTM support reduces the image tears and stutters that can appear on lesser displays. Its sRGB color accuracy exceeds 99 percent, making sure today’s 4K content look breathtaking. The versatile connectivity includes Display Port, HDMI and USB-C, which can also charge your PC or mobile device with up to 60 watts of power. Pricing and Availability: The HP ENVY 27 Display is expected to be available on HP.com and select retailers on Dec. 4, 2016, starting at $499.99. Head over to HP.com to learn more about these new devices, and look for them on shelves as soon as this month! *Cortana available in select markets. **Windows Hello requires specialized hardware, including fingerprint reader, illuminated IR sensor or other biometric sensors and capable devices. ***Touch-capable tablet or PC required. Pen accessory may be sold separately. Continue reading...

Today, we’re thrilled to celebrate the official release of Gears of War 4 with fans around the world. Play Video Restricted Content Confirm your age to continue month JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember day 12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031 year 201620152014201320122011201020092008200720062005200420032002200120001999199819971996199519941993199219911990198919881987198619851984198319821981198019791978197719761975197419731972197119701969196819671966196519641963196219611960195919581957195619551954195319521951195019491948194719461945194419431942194119401939193819371936193519341933193219311930192919281927192619251924192319221921192019191918191719161915191419131912191119101909190819071906190519041903190219011900 Available exclusively on Xbox One and Windows 10 PC, Gears of War 4 marks the beginning of a new saga for one of the most acclaimed video game franchises in history. Gears of War 4 encourages you to “Never Fight Alone” with cross-play on Xbox One and Windows 10 PC across all modes (campaign, Horde and Co-op versus) and versus multiplayer cross-play in private matches. As an Xbox Play Anywhere title, you’ll get both versions with one digital purchase and be able to switch seamlessly between them, as all game progress, Gamerscore and Achievements are saved on and accessible through Xbox Live. Whether you enjoy battling the Swarm in co-op, fending for survival in the new Horde 3.0 mode or testing your skills in frenetic Versus multiplayer matches running in 60 FPS on dedicated servers, Gears of War 4 is the ultimate game to play with friends. That’s just the beginning – after today’s launch, we’ll continue adding new content and maps into the playlist rotation every month (for a total of 24 DLC maps), so you’ll be able to enjoy a steady stream of fresh and engaging content. If you haven’t already purchased Gears of War 4, grab it now from your local retailer, including Microsoft Stores and microsoftstore.com, and check out the full suite of Gears of War 4 hardware available this holiday: the Xbox One S Gears of War 4 Limited Edition Bundle, Xbox Elite Wireless Controller – Gears of War 4 Limited Edition, Xbox Wireless Controller – Gears of War 4 Crimson Omen Limited Edition and Xbox Wireless Controller – Gears of War 4 JD Fenix Limited Edition. Head over to Xbox Wire to read more about today’s news! Continue reading...

In July we unveiled a new approach to business apps, and today I’m excited to share more about the capabilities coming to customers in Dynamics 365 – our new cloud service with purpose-built apps that enable you to address specific business needs (like sales automation, operations or customer service) and start small with the assurance that the solution can grow as your needs do. Powered by advanced analytics and machine learning – what we call Intelligence – Dynamics 365 will usher in a new era of business agility for you, our customers. Intelligence for your entire business – backed by deep experience Across Microsoft we’ve invested billions, over multiple decades, into cutting-edge AI research to help every person and organization achieve more. Office 365, Bing Predicts and Skype Translator are just a few examples of how we have put these investments to work for our customers. We are also bringing those investments to you through Dynamics 365. Designed to help improve manufacturing and supply chain execution, make field service operations more efficient, sell more effectively and ultimately deliver exceptional customer experiences, built-in intelligence capabilities are infused throughout Dynamics 365 apps including: sentiment and intent analysis, preemptive service, relationship insights, lead and opportunity scoring, product recommendations and up-sell/cross-sell, and many more. You can extend these built-in intelligence capabilities with independent apps that provide targeted and domain-specific intelligence. One example of this is Dynamics 365 for Customer Insights, a new analytics app from Microsoft we announced today. Customer Insights connects and analyzes data from Microsoft – and other widely used CRM, ERP, web, social and IoT sources – and applies intelligence to it to give you a 360-degree customer view with automatic suggestions to improve engagement. Marston’s, a leading hospitality brand with pubs, breweries and inns across the U.K., is an exciting example of a customer already using this application to better understand their customers by bringing together Wi-Fi registration data, point-of-sale transactions, table bookings, survey results and social media – a data problem way outside of the scope of traditional CRM systems. Using Customer Insights, Marston’s anticipates they will be able to sell one extra meal, and drink, per pub per day, which they expect will result in about a £7.7 million increase to their bottom line. Built to take full advantage of the capabilities in Power BI, Office 365, Microsoft Azure and Cortana Intelligence, with Dynamics 365 you can start small and scale on demand to deal with your biggest business challenges. A growing partner ecosystem As we mentioned in July, Dynamics 365 uses a new common data model that allows customers to extend functionality and build custom apps using PowerApps, Microsoft Flow or our professional developer solutions. Solutions from our ISV partners also use this common data model, which means you can easily extend your Dynamics 365 capabilities with the unique industry and function specific apps found in AppSource. Since July we’ve added 100 new apps and made it easier for you to discover, trial and evaluate from within Dynamics 365. We’re also adding Solution Integrator (SI) partners to AppSource so you can easily find a partner to help with implementation and deployment. For more on what’s new with AppSource, please visit the Microsoft Partner Network blog here. General availability and innovative ways to buy Dynamics 365, and many of these new capabilities, will be available to customers in more than 135 markets and over 40 languages, beginning November 1. Available through Enterprise and Business Editions, to meet the needs of large and SMB organizations, Dynamics 365 will offer subscriptions per app/per user and introduce industry-first plans that embrace the cross-functional way organizations and employees need to work today. With the app-based subscription you pay for the app you need, licensed to a particular user. With our new plan-based approach you can create roles that have access to all the apps and functions employees in that role need to perform their jobs. For instance, customer service representatives would be more productive with access to data and capabilities from the field service, customer service and sales apps. With traditional app-based subscriptions this would require three separate subscriptions for each customer service representative; however, using our new plans customers get one holistic subscription to have all the information at their fingertips, and customers could save four to five times the cost of traditional CRM providers. Learn more With so much attention on artificial intelligence and the promise it holds, it can be hard to tell what’s real and what’s not. When it comes to business process – and your business – Dynamics 365 delivers the intelligence you need to transform, now, backed by decades of research and investment. You can see demos of Dynamics 365 in action, streaming live, from Scott Guthrie’s keynote at the Dynamics UG Summit 16 at 11:30 a.m. PT today or learn more at our virtual event site here. The post Helping customers accelerate their digital transformation with intelligent business applications appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog. 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Today, we’re talking about how to get started with Windows Ink* in four easy steps. Windows Ink is part of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update and lets you capture ideas quickly and naturally with a pen or touch-enabled device. Get started with the Windows Ink Workspace https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/dd46b63b1d0639e3017624a8c3214399.gif First, find the Windows Ink Workspace, your canvas for all the ink-powered features and apps on your PC. The Workspace has built-in experiences like sketchpad, screen sketch and Sticky Notes, as well as apps optimized for pen use. Press the Windows Ink Workspace button in your system tray at the bottom right of your screen or click the back of your pen**! If you don’t see the icon, right-click anywhere in the system tray and click on “Show Windows Ink Workspace Button.” Take notes that become smart and active with Sticky Notes https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/1024d3245bc7ce041f253bd2bacda0d4.gif You can find Sticky Notes in the Start menu or at the top of your Windows Ink Workspace. Write an address and Maps readies it for finding a route; jot down a few items and they become an easy-to-manage checklist; scribble down an email address and it tees up in your Mail app.** And, with Cortana, you can simply jot down a time or date with your note and it will be highlighted. You can then tap on it to create a Cortana reminder, available across all the devices you have Cortana installed on. 1 You can even write down a flight number and click on the text when it turns blue to track the flight right in the Sticky Note**. Create in the sketchpad and trace with the digital ruler https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/fa4066a72b0a1776b2cd2f8146355f38.gif The sketchpad in the Windows Ink Workspace is a simple blank canvas where you can quickly and easily draw an idea, doodle, create, and solve problems. You can also use the digital ruler with Windows Ink to measure distance or trace along a straight edge, just like on paper! Head to the sketchpad or screen sketch within the Windows Ink Workspace and click on the ruler icon in the upper right-hand corner of the toolbar. Then, adjust the digital ruler and with your pen (or finger, if you click on the “touch writing” icon) to draw sharp lines along the edge. Draw, crop and markup your desktop with screen sketch https://extremetechsupport.com/data/MetaMirrorCache/63bd9ec006888dc8d5b1d1ce9d30baea.gif Screen sketch lets you draw on a screen capture of your entire desktop – allowing you to collaborate on documents as though you would with pen and paper or add your personal touch to an awesome picture you saw in the Photos app, then easily share this with the rest of your world. Screen sketch is designed to be the most natural way to freely express emotions and personalize content, so you can draw, crop and mark up the entire image. Similar to the sketchpad, it’s easy for you to save and share these creations with your friends and colleagues. If you aren’t running the Windows 10 Anniversary Update yet, learn how to get it here. Have a great week! *Touch-capable tablet or PC required. Pen accessory may be sold separately. **User must enable in settings and have a Bluetooth button on pen. 1Available in select markets; experience may vary by region and device. **US only Continue reading...

Today, the HP Elite x3 goes on sale in Microsoft Stores. We’re taking a closer look and giving you an overview of some of the benefits the HP Elite x3 offers. Announced at Mobile World Congress, the HP Elite x3 is HP’s premium new mobile device powered by Windows 10. It’s lightweight, sports Gorilla Glass 4, is water resistant and is equipped with a battery that packs a major punch. With great built-in features like Cortana*, Continuum** and Microsoft Edge, the HP Elite x3 also features a camera sensor and fingerprint reader that allow you to login securely to the device with Windows Hello***. Features include: Expandable 2TB of storage via SIM card 8 MP front-facing camera for conference video calls IP67 water resistant 5.96″ diagonal edge-to-edge HD display Up to 33 hours of battery life This device, specifically created for business, truly embraces the idea of the mobility of experience. With the power of Continuum and HP’s accessories, the HP Elite x3 Desk Dock and HP Elite x3 Lap Dock, the HP Elite x3 can be used as three separate devices – a phone, a tablet or a PC – bringing a new class of innovation to enterprise customers looking for a powerful device for all of their apps and experiences. A few personal favorite features of the HP Elite x3 include the brilliant screen. It’s super crisp and sharp, perfect for working through email and watching videos. Audio is awesome, thanks to the premium audio built-in with B&O Play and the 16 MP rear-facing camera for capturing photos when I’m out and about. To pick up your own HP Elite x3, visit your local Microsoft Store or microsoftstore.com. You can also purchase the device at HP.com. *Cortana available in select markets. **Feature requires Continuum-compatible accessories, all sold separately. External monitor must support HDMI input. ***Windows Hello requires specialized hardware, including fingerprint reader, illuminated IR sensor or other biometric sensors and capable devices. Continue reading...