Halo: Infinite, which Microsoft announced back at E3 2018 was supposed to be a launch title for the company’s new Xbox Series X console. This would have been a great homage to the release of the original Xbox console back in 2001, which launched with the critically-acclaimed Halo: Combat Evolved. Unfortunately, the game has now been delayed to 2021, with the Xbox team citing unexpected development challenges during this ongoing worldwide pandemic.

Halo: CE and Halo 2 were true system sellers for the original Xbox, and Halo cemented its place as one of the most popular Xbox franchises during the Xbox 360 era. Things started to go sour after Microsoft gave the Halo franchise to a new internal studio named 343 Industries. In 2014, Halo: The Master Chief Collection had a disastrous launch on Xbox One with matchmaking issues that persisted for years. A year later, Halo 5: Guardians also failed to woo nostalgics of the old Bungie Halo games, and Bungie’s new Destiny franchise has now become a bigger phenomenon than Halo.

Halo: Infinite was supposed to be a return to form, and a technical showcase for the Xbox Series X’s power advantage over the PlayStation 5. Unfortunately, the gameplay demo Microsoft showed at its Xbox Games Showcase last month was disappointing in many aspects. In addition to a divisive art style, we learned after the show that Microsoft actually showed us an old PC build, and that the Xbox Series X version wouldn’t support ray tracing at launch.

Microsoft could not afford to have its next-gen console launching with flagship game that doesn’t meet fans’ expectations, so the company made the right choice by delaying the game to 2021. Unfortunately, that leaves the Xbox Series X with no exclusive games at launch, and that could really hurt sales this holiday season. Microsoft will still be able to count on third-party blockbuster games such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Cyberpunk 2077, but these are cross-gen games that will also ship on current-gen consoles.

Xbox marketing exec Aaron Greenberg tried to do some damage control on Xbox Wire yesterday, emphasizing ”over 100 optimized for Xbox Series X titles” planned for this year, though the list will include more than 40 old games such as Gears 5 and Destiny 2. Again, Microsoft’s big problem is that the Xbox Series X will launch with no real exclusive games, and we still don’t know when the new Forza Motorsport game, State of Decay 2, Hellblade 2, and Fable will be ready for the next-gen Xbox. Even the new Flight Simulator game, which will be released on PC next week on August 18 still has no release date on the Xbox Series X, and this one could have been a potential system seller.

We all remember the troubled launch of the Xbox One back in 2013, and we hope the Xbox Series X won’t follow a similar trajectory. Things actually started pretty well for Microsoft this time around, and the company surprised everyone by announcing the Xbox Series X back in December at The Game Awards. The move likely caught Sony by surprise, and interest for the Xbox Series X definitely continued to increase in the beginning of 2020.

Phil Spencer on The Game Awards 2019 (Colorized) pic.twitter.com/ed43bhTmUS

— Fakes Forge (@FakesForge) December 13, 2019

After the Xbox One X beat the PlayStation 4 Pro on raw power, the Xbox Series X also managed to keep its power advantage over the PlayStation 5, with Microsoft hyping new features such as ray tracing over and over in the past few months. However, we have yet to really see the Xbox Series X’s 12 teraflops of computing power in action, and the flagship game Halo: Infinite really failed to do that last month.

To be fair, Sony also didn’t really impress with next-gen PlayStation 5 games so far, but the company doesn’t really need to. The PlayStation 4 outsold its Xbox One rival by a factor of 2:1 during this console generation, and Sony has also managed to increase brand loyalty by releasing critically-acclaimed games year after year. Spiderman: Miles Morales, one of the few exclusives that will ship on PS5 later this is almost guaranteed to be a system seller.

As of this writing, Sony is giving gamers more reasons to buy a PlayStation 5 this holiday season, thanks to its exclusive games. Horizon: Forbidden West, the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn is also coming next year, and this one is also guaranteed to be a system seller. On the other hand, Microsoft’s Xbox Series X will have a couple of cross-platform and cross-gen games optimized for Xbox Series X at launch, but Xbox One owners won’t miss much by playing these games on their existing consoles.

Microsoft has acquired several new game studios over the past couple of years, but none of them will be able to create iconic franchises like Halo anytime soon. As a new console generation is about to begin, the “Xbox has no games” stigma is still persisting. Xbox Game Pass remains a great reason to invest in the Xbox ecosystem, but you don’t need an Xbox Series X to take advantage of it. It’s a good thing that Microsoft is no longer interested in selling more consoles than its competitors, because that’s a game Microsoft can’t win.

Do you think the Xbox Series X will have a better launch that the Xbox One seven years ago, or do you think the lack of real exclusives at launch will could hurt sales in a big way? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

After about a year of anticipation, Microsoft has finally announced a launch date for the Surface Duo. It will be coming on September 10 for $1,400, and pre-orders are now live. So, if you’re looking to buy a Duo for yourself, here’s how you can secure one for yourself today, or save if you buy one later.

Microsoft Store

The easiest way to guarantee yourself a Surface Duo on September 10 is to pre-order it directly through Microsoft. You can find the Duo through the Microsoft Store online here. Please be aware, though, that since retail Microsoft Stores are now officially closed, the only way to buy and pick up the Duo will be through the online Microsoft Store.

Once you’re on that page, you can choose your storage. The Surface Duo comes in either 128GB or 256GB. Both configurations have 6GB of RAM. However, 128GB of storage will run you $1,399 and 256GB will run you $1,499. Choose one, and press Continue. 

Also, keep in mind that Surface Duo will work on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon networks. It’s best to check with your carrier if the device will work with your cell phone plan before you buy one. As part of the checkout process, you’ll be asked if you want a nano-SIM card. Microsoft will provide you with an AT&T one if you so want, but this is optional if you’re going with Verizon or T-Mobile.

In another part of the checkout, you’ll see some optional purchases. These include a Microsoft Complete Plan and Microsoft 365 subscription. You can also pick up the new Surface Slim Pen, or the Surface Earbuds, or a USB-C to 3.5mm Audio Adapter. These are priced at $111, $200, and $12, respectively.

When ready to secure your Duo, you can click Add to Cart, and enter your payment info and then click Checkout. You’ll then be good to go! Microsoft will email you a confirmation, but funds will only leave your account once the Duo becomes available.

How to save on the Surface Duo when it releases 

If $1,400 is too much for you to buy the Surface Duo, Microsoft has you covered. The company has a trade-in program where you can get up to $700 cashback (via PayPal or a bank transfer) towards the Duo. To get started, you’ll have to visit Cexchange, a partner of the Microsoft Store Trade-in Program. Keep in mind, though, that the trade-ins will only apply AFTER the Duo releases. From our tests, you can’t trade-in right now to save.

Anyway, from here, you can choose your device, be it a tablet, a phone, or a laptop. We suggest you use the search bar on the top of the page for looking for the device you want to trade-in towards the Duo. Here are some of the most common phones and suggested trade-in prices.

• Google Pixel 3 64GB (Unlocked and Trade in with charger) $350
• Google Pixel 4 64GB (Unlocked and Trade in with charger): $400
• iPhone 11 64GB (Unlocked and Trade in with charger): $550
• iPhone XS 64GB (Unlocked and Trade in with charger): $550
• Samsung Galaxy S8 64GB (Unlocked and Trade in with Charger): $250
• Samsung Galaxy S9 128GB (Unlocked and Trade in with Charger): $400

Once you find your device, click Continue. Since the Duo will be scheduled for release on September 10, trade-ins can only be processed once the device is released. You can enter your email address to save the quote, and process your cash-back trade-in at a later date.

The trade-in process is otherwise quite simple, though. Once the Duo becomes available, you can upload your proof of purchase for your Microsoft Stoe order. You can then ship your traded device in using the shipping label, and then get your cashback in up to 14 days.

Buy through other retailers: Best Buy & AT&T

The Microsoft Store isn’t the only place where you can buy and pre-order the Surface Duo. Microsoft also mentioned that it will be available through Best Buy and AT&T. AT&T has said that pre-orders will begin going live for the Surface Duo at 9PM PT, or midnight ET, August 12. Whenever AT&T’s pre-orders go live, you can find it here. The Best Buy listing for the Duo, meanwhile, can be found here,

Did you pre-order a Surface Duo? Or do you think $1,400 is too much for you to spend? Let us know in the comments below.

SlideShare, which was acquired by LinkedIn in 2012 which itself was purchased by Microsoft in 2016, has now been bought by Scribd.

The exact amount spent on the purchase hasn’t been made public but all aspects of the SlideShare business are expected to transition to Scribd on September 24th. An announcement is now live on the SlideShare website informing users of the change and offering two months of free access to Scribe to help put minds at ease.

Interestingly, Scribd CEO, Trip Adler, has told TechCrunch that SlideShare will continue to operate as its own business and will remain integrated with LinkedIn for the near future.

“Nothing will change in the initial months,” Adler told TechCrunch. “We have a lot of experience with a product like this, both the technology stack and with users uploading content. We’re in a good position make SlideShare really successful.”

SlideShare used to be one of the most-talked about digital services in conversations about online education and marketing but it’s since decreased in relevance quite dramatically due to the rise of rival online training platforms such as Udemy and the ever-increasing number of free tutorial videos available on YouTube. SlideShare has also been abandoned for the most part on the Microsoft-owned LinkedIn which now offers its own online training courses under the LinkedIn Learning brand and has only made minor bug fix updates to the SlideShare smartphone apps once or twice a year since 2015.

The SlideShare website does claim that it gets over 80 million users a month but it’s unclear how accurate this stat is as most content on the SlideShare website hasn’t been updated in several years. Even the majority of its featured slides on the site tend to be between two to four years old.

If Scribd does indeed plan to revive SlideShare for a modern audience, it could be rather exciting to watch. While the service is clearly no longer used as much as it was during its peak, its brand still does hold quite a bit of cachet and could attract a lot of attention if it was revamped properly.

What do you think? Do you predict a SlideShare comeback or do you see it being put out of its misery? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest and Twitter for more tech content and news.

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‎SlideShare

Developer:
Scribd

Price:
Free

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SlideShare

Developer:
Scribd, Inc.

Price:
Free

Microsoft has just announced the release of the Windows 10 20H2 build 19042.450 for Insiders in the Beta channel. This is a minor update that only includes security fixes, and you can find more details about what’s new below:

• We have fixed an issue in Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps that allows single sign-on authentication when an app does not have the Enterprise Authentication capability. With the release of CVE-2020-1509, UWP applications might begin prompting the user for credentials.
• Security updates to the Microsoft Scripting Engine, Internet Explorer, Windows Graphics, Microsoft Graphics Component, Windows Kernel, Windows Input and Composition, Windows Media, Windows Shell, the Windows Wallet Service, Microsoft Edge Legacy, Windows Cloud Infrastructure, Windows Authentication, the Windows AI Platform, Windows Fundamentals, Windows Storage and Filesystems, Windows Update Stack, Windows File Server and Clustering, Windows Hybrid Storage Services, Windows App Platform and Frameworks, the Microsoft JET Database Engine, and Windows SQL components.

Windows 10 20H2 is the next system update coming later this year, and previous 20H2 builds introduced several improvements for the Start Menu, the Settings app, toast notifications, and more. We invite you to check out our previous post about the build 19042.421 for more details.

After announcing a new Dataflex brand for Microsoft Teams and Power Platforms products last month, it seems that the Redmond giant has now been forced to look for an alternative. As reported by ZDNet today, Microsoft has now edited its previous blog post to remove any mentions of the Dataflex brand, which had already been registered by a company named Data Access Corporation.

“Data Access Corporation has multiple, registered U.S. trademarks for our “DATAFLEX” brand software based on the first use in commerce in 1981. Accordingly, we were totally surprised by Microsoft’s use of our trademark for their new platform to easily build and deploy apps that they call “Microsoft Dataflex,” wrote Data Access Worldwide CEO Chip Casanave on July 21, adding that his company was “consulting legal experts for advice.”

With the new platform, Microsoft wanted to provide Teams developers an easy way to create apps and chatbots using an easy-to-use low code platform. “Users have the power of a built-in flexible database with a range of data types at their fingertips including relational, image, and file, so users can create business apps and processes within Teams without having to deal with back-end tech logistics,” the company explained on its Dynamics 365 blog last month.

Yesterday, Microsoft quietly updated that same blog post previously mentioning Dataflex to note that “A name will be selected which we will share in the coming weeks.” This isn’t the first time that Microsoft ends up in trouble for its choice of brand names. Back in 2014, for example, Microsoft renamed its “SkyDrive” cloud storage service as “OneDrive” after being sued by British television broadcaster Sky UK a year before.

Ubisoft’s new free-to-play battle royale game, Hyper Scape launches on Xbox One today for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. Hyper Scape’s Season 1, “The First Principle,” also arrives today, adding some background into the Hyper Scape universe as well as adding new game modes and features for Hyper Scape’s interactive Twitch extension, dubbed Crowncast. Check out the Hyper Scape launch trailer below.

Hyper Scape drops you into the virtual city of Neo Arcadia to compete in Crown Rush. Crown Rush pits you in teams of three or solo to compete in Crown Rush, a competition to see who can hold the crown for at least 45 seconds or be the last team left standing. Be careful though, once you grab the crown, everyone will be able to see your location and will get a special bonus if they take you out.

As noted in a post on Xbox Wire, Hyper Scape Season 1 adds a new gun, “the Dragonfly, as well as a new hack, Magnet, for a total of 11 weapons and 11 hacks.” Hyper Scape’s Crowncast extension for Twitch is adding features like “Kudos,” to allow viewers to react to game moments using “Bits” to generate visual effects that appear in a streamer’s game. In addition, Season 1 is adding free and premium Battle Passes with 100 tiers of items to unlock, either through playing or watching streamers using the Crowncast Twitch extension.

Start playing Hyper Scape on Xbox One today!

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HYPER SCAPE

Developer:
UBISOFT

Price:
Free

The Hyper Scape battle royale video game will be launching on Microsoft’s family of Xbox One consoles today and details on exactly when it will be going live have been revealed.

The game will activate at the same time the Season 1 content will go live on the PC version at 6 AM PT, 9 AM ET, 3 PM CEST, or 11 PM AEST. A map showing a general visualization of the time has been released which you can see below.

The Xbox One version of Hyper Scape has been confirmed to come in at 8.5GB in size. The game isn’t available to download yet so it’s likely that many gamers will still be downloading Hyper Scape around the time the servers activate.

Hyper Scape is a free-to-play battle royale game set within a virtual world not dissimilar to that seen in the Ready Player One movie and novel. It’s the latest in the growing battle royale genre and will be competing with the likes of Apex Legends and Fortnite.

Are you going to give Hyper Scape a go on Xbox One? Share your thoughts with the community in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest and Twitter for more Xbox gaming news.

Star Wars and The Walking Dead screenwriter, Gary Whitta, has been conducting his own virtual talk show within the Nintendo Switch Animal Crossing: New Horizons video game for a while now and his latest guest is set to be Microsoft’s head of Xbox, Phil Spencer.

While the interview will be conducted within the New Horizons virtual world, a copy of the game and a Nintendo Switch console aren’t needed as the entire interview, as with Whitta’s previous ones, will be streamed live via his Twitch channel.

There isn’t a set time for the interview so interested gamers should either enable notifications for when the channel goes live or just watch it on demand here after it’s finished.

It's happening! Had a fascinating chat with Head of Xbox @XboxP3 during our pre-interview on the Animal Talking set today! You are going to want to tune in to Wednesday night's show ? #AnimalCrossingNewHorizons #ACNH pic.twitter.com/fdOC9yqQIo

— Gary Whitta (@garywhitta) August 10, 2020

It’s unclear exactly what kind of topics will be discussed during this interview though it’s likely Spencer will be using this opportunity to remind viewers of the upcoming launches of the Xbox Series X (and S) console and Xbox game streaming service and the various Xbox-enabled video games on the Nintendo Switch such as Minecraft.

Let us know what you think of interviews like this in the comments below and then follow us on Twitter and Pinterest for more video game news.

Microsoft’s highly anticipated Xbox cloud gaming service isn’t set to officially launch until next month on September 15^th but gamers with an active Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription will soon be able to trial a selection of titles before then to help the tech giant roll out any kinks before the influx of players and the addition of around 100 video games.

“As we approach the launch of cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on September 15,” Microsoft says, “We’re entering a limited beta period to ensure a smooth transition of the cloud gaming experience to the Xbox Game Pass app on Android. Existing Xbox Game Pass (Beta) app users will get the opportunity to test a subset of the available titles as we ready the experience for broader availability next month. This limited beta is critical to providing the best possible experience for members at launch and should not be considered indicative of the final experience or library.”

Around 30 video games will be available to play during this limited beta. The beta, like the cloud streaming service itself, will also only be limited to those with the officially supported regions.

Xbox cloud gaming (aka Project xCloud) allows gamers to play major Xbox and Windows video games on their Android smartphone or tablet without the need for expensive powerful hardware. All titles are basically run on Microsoft’s servers in real-time and are fully playable just as if they were being played on a console or PC.

The service was originally planned to also launch on Apple’s iOS devices but those plans have since been shelved due to strict Apple Store policies that have also prevented the launch of Google Stadia and Facebook Gaming game streaming on the platform.

A variety of accessories designed for the Xbox cloud gaming experience (see top image) have been announced and are currently available for pre-order.

Are you excited for Xbox cloud gaming on Android phones and tablets? Let us know why or why not in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest and Twitter for more Xbox gaming news.

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Xbox Game Pass (Beta)

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

Parallels Desktop 16, the latest version of the popular virtualization software for macOS is available today with several new features. Parallels Desktop remains our favorite way to use Windows apps on a Mac without having to reboot it, and recent improvements such as Coherence mode also allows users to run Mac and Windows apps side by side while running a Windows virtual machine in the background.

This new major release of Parallels Desktop is ready for macOS Big Sur, the upcoming update for macOS coming later this fall. On Big Sur, Parallels Desktop 16 will use native macOS system extensions instead of the deprecated kernel extensions that will not load by default on Big Sur. “Parallels invested more than 25-man-years of engineer programming to take full advantage of the new macOS Big Sur architecture and revamped kernel extensions to deliver our best Windows-on- Mac performance ever for our Parallels Desktop 16 customers,” said Nick Dobrovolskiy, Parallels Senior Vice President of Engineering and Support.

New Parallels Desktop for Mac updates bring performance improvements every year, and Parallels Desktop 16 is no exception. The company says that the app now launches twice as fast, and it’s also 20% faster to resume Windows virtual machines from a suspended state. This major release should bring up to 10 percent longer battery life when Windows runs in Travel Mode, and Parallels Desktop 16 also introduces the ability to reclaim disk space automatically at shutdown, an option that should help users save a lot of space.

Thanks to improved Open GL 3 graphics in Windows, Parallels Desktop 16 can also run even more professional Windows apps that wouldn’t install at all in previous versions. The list includes the lighting design software DIALux evo 9, as well as the live presentation app ProPresenter 6. Compared to Parallels Desktop 15, DirectX performance is also up to 20% faster, and that should benefit Mac gamers interested in running Windows games. Last year, Parallels Desktop 15 introduced support for DirectX9, DirectX 10, and DirectX 11 via Apple’s Metal API, and Metal and DirectX currently work best on macOS Catalina or later.

Parallels Desktop 16 also brings support for Zoom and Rotate gestures for Windows apps that have zoom/rotation functionality, such as Microsoft’s Maps app for Windows 10. This major release also provides full access to all features of Mac printers, including duplex printing and the ability to use more paper sizes. Overall, there’s a lot to like in this release, and Parallels is planning more features for macOS Big Sur later this year including a refreshed design and native macOS virtualization.

Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac is available today at $99.99 for a perpetual license, and owners of a previous edition can upgrade for just $49.99. The upgrade is also free with a Parallels Desktop subscription ($99.99 per year, or $79.99 for new subscribers), which also includes free subscriptions to Parallels Toolbox for Mac and Windows and Parallels Access. If you’ve never tried Parallels Desktop before, Parallels offers 14-day trials for Mac users, and you can use that to install a Windows 10 virtual machine on your Mac in a couple of easy steps.

Microsoft is no longer sticking to the monthly “Xbox 20/20 updates” formula it announced back in May. Indeed, the company has quietly updated its original blog post last week to say that the initial announcement suggested that there would be a monthly Xbox show every month, and there was indeed no big event in June between the May Inside Xbox livestream and the Xbox Games Showcase in July.

Little tidbit: Microsoft has quietly dropped the Xbox 20/20 phrasing last Friday and wants to be more flexible about releasing new information https://t.co/yK4SZBidFg pic.twitter.com/yf8DBmo3B8

— Nibel (@Nibellion) August 10, 2020

“After reassessing our programming for the rest of the year, we’ve decided to stop using the “Xbox 20/20” phrasing as it implied that we would be releasing information in one way only, through a dedicated monthly show,” the Xbox team explained. The first Xbox 20/20 update in May was focused on third-party games coming to Xbox Series X, and that show didn’t really meet the expectations of Xbox fans looking to see real gameplay on Xbox Series X. June passed without an Xbox 20/20 update, and the Xbox Games Showcase in July was also a disappointment for Halo fans after Halo: Infinite failed to blow everyone away.

“We’ve got so much more to share with news about Xbox Series X, new games like Halo: Infinite, and cloud gaming via Xbox Game Pass. We’re going to share that news in a variety of ways. It may sometimes be a dedicated show, YouTube videos, partnering with others, or sharing the latest via Xbox Wire. We want to stay flexible with how we connect with you,” the Xbox team said in the update published last week. The company is expected to finally unveil its Lockhart/Xbox Series S console this month, which is now the worst kept secret in the video games industry, but it remains to be seen how the Xbox team will do it.

After Sony aired a new “State of Play” livestream last week, it would be a bit disappointing to see the Xbox team not using a similar format this month. However, Microsoft announced its Surface Laptop 3, Surface Go 2 and Surface Headphones via a simple press release earlier this year, so it wouldn’t be completely surprising if the Xbox Series S getting the same treatment this month.

It’s been rumored for some time that elements of the now-delayed Windows 10X operating system could come to regular Windows 10, and we’re now perhaps finally seeing some of that come true. As noted by Windows Central, the latest Windows Insider build hides away the Windows 10X touch keyboard inside the operating system.

Coming as a change from the Windows 8 style touch keyboard that has been in Windows 10 for the last 5 years, this should be quite refreshing. As Microsoft showcased when it revealed Windows 10X, this keyboard comes with transparent effects, touches of Fluent Design, as well as new sounds. There’s even a GIF picker, emoji panel (now above the keyboard,) and fresher animations. Other new elements include a shortcut above the keyboard to see the clipboard.

If you’re eager and don’t want to wait for this feature to officially roll out, you can try this keyboard today at your own risk today. First, install the ViveTool, extract it, open it in PowerShell, and run the following code (without the quote marks) “vivetool addconfig 20438551 2” You should then restart your PC for it to work. Again, we don’t recommend installing such programs to your PC and urge you to wait for Microsoft to roll it out. But, since the code for the keyboard is in the operating system, it might well be coming soon.

If you own a small business, then generating reports, presentations, training materials, and newsletters are key to your day to day operations. With these types of materials, you not only can keep your employees engaged, but also your audience and customers. You might have already heard about using PowerPoint or other programs like Photoshop and Adobe InDesign for creating these things, but did you know that your Microsoft 365 subscription has a service that also can help out?

That’s right, with your Microsoft 365 Subscription you have access to Sway. This is an app from Microsoft Office that makes it easy to create and share interactive reports, personal stories, presentations, and more. In our latest Microsoft 365 guide, we’ll be going hands-on with the experience for you.

What is Sway?

Before getting into anything, we’ll recap what exactly Sway does for you. Sway lets you compile text, images, videos, and other content into an interactive online format. You’ll be able to use it to apply designer-created layouts and color schemes or let Sway suggest design elements that match your content. You also can search and import relevant content from sources, and then share your Sways on the web.

Sway is available online from the web or from the Microsoft Store in Windows 10. It’s free to use for anyone with a Microsoft Account. However, you can create some more advanced Sways when used with a Microsoft 365 Subscription. You can learn more about that here.

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QR-Code

Sway

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

Creating a Sway from a topic or template

Once you head into Sway on the web, you’ll be able to create a new one from scratch, from an existing file, or a topic. You can click the Create New button to get started with a new Sway from blank. For most novices, though, we recommend starting from a template. For other things like a report, you can start from a topic by clicking Start from a topic. With this option, Sway provides base content for you, powered by Wikipedia.

You can also choose from a variety of common templates such as internal newsletter, external newsletter, How-to, vision document, status update, resume, and more. Scroll through the list with the arrow key. Once you find the one you want, you can edit the template by clicking Start editing this Sway.

If you create from a topic or template you’ll see various pre-populated sections, similar to a Word document or a PowerPoint. You can edit these by clicking on each card or image to put in your own content. When you finish, you can preview the Sway by clicking the Play button at the top. You also can change things around by clicking the Styles tab under Design to change text boxes to different styles for a more unique look. We’ll have more on that later.

Creating a Sway from scratch

Next up, there’s creating a sway from scratch. If you choose to go this route, you need to be aware of a couple of things. These include: the Storyline, the title, and adding content. We’ll get started by explaining the Storyline, first.

In Sway, the Storyline is where you’ll edit, type, and insert content. The Storyline is organized by cards, and each card has different purposes and content types. These cards include text, images, videos, and also Office documents. You can upload your own images, or you can search for sources using the search box directly within Sway. Just click the Insert button at the top right corner of the screen.

The first card in the Storyline will always be the title. Be sure to make this one stand out. You can drag images saved on your device into the Sway title by clicking and dragging them in from the original location.

Next, there’s your content. You also can add new elements and content to the Storyline by clicking the green + button underneath any previous card. The different types of elements you can add to a Sway can be seen below. We suggest playing around with these as you add them, as each type of content changes the way a Sway looks.

• Heading
• Text
• Images
• Stack of Images, Text
• Videos
• Audio
• Embed an item
• Stack of images, slideshow of images, grid of games, and more.

Once you add a card, you can delete it at any time by clicking the trashcan icon in the top right corner of the card. You also can drag storyline cards up and down by clicking and dragging it around, if you need to reorganize things.

Design in Sways

Continuing along, there is another important area to Sway, The Design. This is accessed by clicking the Design tab when editing a Sway. From here, you’ll be able to select designs and layouts. There are various designs to choose from.

Each design will change your backgrounds and text boxes to a different theme. You can cycle through the list to pick one, and then choose the Customize button to change it as you see fit. That customize option will let you adjust a specific part of the currently applied theme, such as color, font choices, and the emphasis of animation.

The Style, meanwhile, can be changed from vertical, horizontal, or slides. These will change how your content scrolls as the user scroll through your content.

Once you’re satisfied with a design, you can preview your way by clicking the Play button on the top menu bar. This will allow you to experience your sway just as the viewer would.

Sharing your Sway and more

Once you design a Sway, the final thing to do is to share it. When shared, your family can view it without signing in or downloading. To share, just click the Share button in the top navigation bar and copy the URL. You can choose three ways to share, with specific people, only within your organization, or anyone with a link. You also can copy an embed code and embed it in a blog, as we have done above. If you’d like you also can add a password to the Sway to protect it. You can learn more about sharing Sways at Microsoft by clicking here.

We hope that you found out guide to Microsoft Sway helpful. If you’re still looking for more information on how to get started with Sway, you can check out Microsoft’s support website, here. Do you like Sway? Get creative, and let us know how Sway works for you by dropping us a comment below.

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it’s bringing new cloud syncing capabilities to Outlook for Windows in June. However, it seems like the Redmond giant has delayed the release of this feature to the end of September (via Dr Windows). Microsoft has posted a new update in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center noting that the decision has been made based on early feedback received from the users, and some additional changes to the code are required to enable cloud roaming option:

Based on learnings from our early rings, we have made the decision to make additional changes to the code before we proceed with the rollout. We expect to roll this out to the Monthly Channel, Production, in late September (previously late June).

The new cloud syncing feature will deliver roaming profiles that should sync a wide variety of settings in the cloud, and the list includes Advanced, Calendar, Ease of Access, General, Groups, Mail, People, Search, as well as Tasks. The whole point of the cloud roaming option is to ensure a consistent user experience when they access Outlook for Windows on any of their PCs.

Microsoft said that the roaming options will be turned on by default, and it will be up to the Office 365 admins to disable this feature for all Microsoft users in their organization. In case you missed it, Microsoft is also planning to bring cloud support for Windows email signatures, and the rollout is expected in the coming weeks.

Microsoft’s second next-gen Xbox console, which is rumored to be officially announced in August, will apparently be named the Xbox Series S. Leaked pictures of a next-gen white Xbox controller have been published by Twitter user Zak S over the weekend, and the side of the packaging shows that it’s compatible with the “Xbox Series X/S.”

This is the second time we’re seeing a white next-gen Xbox controller in pictures after a Reddit user briefly posted pictures of a similar controller last week before deleting them. Anyway, The Verge has now confirmed the authenticity of the pictures from Zak S, who apparently purchased the controller from a resale site.

Xbox series X controller found in the wild!! pic.twitter.com/TEns4z45CB

— Zak S (@zakk_exe) August 9, 2020

The Xbox Series S name makes sense if Microsoft wants to reiterate the two consoles strategy that led to the release of the more powerful Xbox One X one year after the Xbox One S. This time, Microsoft chose to unveil its more powerful Xbox Series X console first, and the Xbox Series S is expected to be the cheaper “Lockhart” SKU that we’ve been hearing about from quite some time now. Traces of Lockhart/Xbox Series S have recently been found in a new Microsoft Game Development Kit from June.

Compared to the Xbox Series X, the Xbox Series S/Lockhart is expected to come with a similar AMD custom-designed Zen 2 GPU, but a less powerful 4 teraflops GPU for 1080p/1440p gaming. The Xbox Series S is also expected to be a discless console with a form factor that could be quite similar to the Xbox One S/X. Actually, the console could be a good next-gen replacement for the Xbox One X that Microsoft recently stopped manufacturing.

It remains to be seen if pictures of the Xbox Series S could leak before Microsoft officially announces it. Sony opted for a slightly different strategy, announcing a discless PlayStation 5 Digital Edition console alongside the regular PlayStation 5 last month. Microsoft has opted instead for 2 consoles with different specs, and this might cause some confusion for consumers. The company has a new “Optimized for Xbox Series X” badge that will appear on game packaging, but it’s not clear yet if these optimized games will benefit from similar optimizations when running on the less powerful Xbox Series S.