Microsoft has quietly released a new system update for Xbox One consoles today. The Xbox One 1902 update, which has been in testings with Xbox Insiders for quite some time is now generally available, though Microsoft has yet to officially announce the public rollout.

The build that is rolling out today to all Xbox One users is the same one that was pushed to Omega Xbox Insiders earlier this month. Unlike the November 2018 Xbox Update, which brought mouse/keyboard support and enhanced Cortana and Alexa skills, the 1902 update for the Xbox One is a pretty minor one, with various improvements and fixes but no new features. You can check out the full release notes below:

Audio

• Added reliability fixes to Cortana.
• Unplugging a headset during video playback no longer results in audio loss before video playback freezes.
• Made audio system upgrades when switching from Home to a game or app.

Cortana

• Improved Cortana responsiveness to commands.

Console

• Fixed an issue that caused some consoles to crash unexpectedly.

Home

• Improved performance on the Home Dashboard.

Mouse

• Improved mouse responsiveness to reduce lag.

My games and apps

• Improved the installation experience for various FastStart titles.
• Fixed a problem in some games (e.g. Resident Evil 0) in which cutscenes would fail and the game would lock.
• Fixes an issue to ensure certain apps like the Avatar Editor and Microsoft Rewards work on first launch.

System

• Fixed an issue in which some people received the E203 error when taking a system update.
• Improved performance on the network port.
• Improved performance and reliability on the save game feature when games are suspended.
• Improved speed and performance of My games & apps.
• Improved idle screen performance.
• Improved 4K visual performance in games.
• Improved the performance of the guide on Home.

Video

• Made improvements to the 4K video pipeline so that apps like Netflix display 4K content correctly.

Now that Microsoft is done with the 1902 system update for the Xbox One, the Xbox team can fully focus on the upcoming 1904 update that should be released in April. So far, Microsoft has been testing two new features with select Xbox Insiders, a new floating mini keyboard and the ability to reprogram the OneGuide button on the Xbox Media Remote. We hope that more exciting additions are in the pipeline for the next system update, but as usual new features will ship first to Xbox Insiders on the Preview Alpha and Skip Ahead rings.

While Raspberry Pis are bare essential computers designed primarily for building robots and connected devices, some people take more pleasure in building desktop computers with them. It’s easy to understand why—at just $35, a Raspberry Pi can serve as a very cost efficient way to build a desktop computer for someone who only needs to check emails, browse social media, or type a quick document.

Linux has been the best way to achieve this given that a Raspberry Pi uses an ARM-based processor that traditional Windows doesn’t support. However, it’s now easier than ever to install the full-fledged Windows 10 desktop operating system on the tiny computer thanks to the developer of the WoA Installer for Raspberry Pi (via Appuals). All one needs are the Raspberry Pi 3 (either the model B or the newer B+), and microSD card, and a copy of the Windows 10 ARM64 disk image.

The process should be relatively simple, although we haven’t tested the installation process ourselves. Just download the WoA Installer and the Core Package, then run the Installer. Once you’re done, import the Core Package from the advanced section in the program, after which you will be able to run the Windows 10 installer and install it relatively easily.

While this might not be the primary use case of the mini computer, it’s still interesting nonetheless, and could make for a nice cost-effective home computer. However, given the low-powered nature if the Raspberry Pi, the tiny computer will likely not perform well when emulating win32 applications, which weren’t designed for ARM chips. Or you could still build a robot running an overpowered full version of Windows 10 as opposed to the IoT version, if you prefer. Either way, its nice to see there are more options out there than the limited number of Linux distributions that support the device.

Microsoft, along with navigation app developer TomTom and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) provider Moovit announced an interesting new partnership at the Move mobility conference in London today (via VentureBeat). The three companies announced the “world’s first truly comprehensive multi-modal Trip Planner,” which will allow consumers to find all driving, parking and public transit options all in one place.

The new solution will combine Microsoft’s Azure Maps platform, Moovit’s Transit APIs and TomTom’s data about driving and parking information to optimize urban mobility and hopefully reduce congestion in big cities. Today’s news follows the integration of Moovit’s transit APIs to Azure Maps back in November, which brought rich public transit info to the platform. Last week, Microsoft also announced that TomTom would become the main provider of location data for Microsoft Azure and Bing Maps.

“I couldn’t be more pleased that our relationship with Microsoft has evolved to the point where we’re adding more of our transit APIs, combined with TomTom’s Routing API and Traffic API, to create full multi-modal mapping capabilities for developers on Azure Maps with precise ETA,” said Moovit Co-founder and CEO Nir Erez. “This will lead to commuters having the best option to plan a trip combining legs on public transit, ride-sharing, bike or scooter, and other legs by car, including finding available parking lot spaces in real-time.”

There’s no word yet about when this new multi-modal trip planner solution will be available for consumers, but the three partners plan to allow developers to integrate the platform to their apps, IoT, and mobility solutions.

With its latest update, the popular Smite video game has gained full cross-play and cross-save functionality between its Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC versions.

This means that not only will Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC Smite players be able to play against and with each other, they’ll also be able to carry over progress between devices.

Here’s the official details on the update from the latest patch notes:

Cross-play

• Players on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC can now play with and against each other!

Normal Modes

Crossplay will be on by default

• A new option has been added to the settings menu where console players can restrict their crossplay

Ranked game modes

• Will continue to be for their platform only, except the combination of Xbox One and Nintendo Switch
• Players may now add friends from other platforms to their friends list, invite them to parties, invite them to clans

Cross-progression

• Players will now be able to enjoy all of their content and progress on PC, Xbox One, & Nintendo Switch!
• Link your SMITE accounts on multiple platforms to a single Hi-Rez account to merge progression
• All unlocked gods and skins that any merged account has unlocked will be available
• All earned currency from all merged accounts will be added together, as well as worshippers
• We will release more updates on how exactly to link and merge accounts as we approach the cross-progression launch day!
• More info can be found on our FAQ

In addition to the added cross-platform support, this latest update to Smite also adds Merlin, several new god skins, some new additions to the Awesome Chest, a variety of bug fixes, and a new Battle Pass system for the game’s Season 6 that should feel similar to anyone who has played Fortnite.

More and more video games are gaining cross-play functionality between Microsoft and Nintendo’s consoles with Fortnite, Rocket League, Minecraft, and Next Up Hero being some of the more-recent examples.

Is cross-play important to you when buying a new Xbox One video game? Share your thoughts with the community in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Xbox gaming content.

After the massively-successful launch of Apex Legends last week, it seems as if interest in the Titanfall franchise has been renewed quite a bit.

Players have begun to notice a lot more activity in the online multiplayer in the Xbox One version of the Titanfall 2 video game for example with some seeing over 10,000 players online at the same time. Apparently Titanfall 2’s online servers averaged around two to three thousand players before Apex Legends was announced.

Some speculated that the shift to the free-to-play model used in Apex Legends could spell doom for the main Titanfall video game series but it seems, at least for now, that offering a free game set within the Titanfall world may have actually been a good thing for the franchise.

Something else that’s likely helping grow the Titanfall 2 playerbase is its frequent discounts on Xbox One and its inclusion in the EA Access subscription service which lets subscribers play it for free. With lots of new players discovering Titanfall through the free Apex Legends, EA has made it very easy for them to jump into Titanfall 2.

Have you started playing Titanfall 2 since getting into Apex Legends? Share your thoughts with the community in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Xbox gaming content.

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Microsoft has just wrapped up its Crackdown 3 Wrecking Zone technical test this weekend, gathering useful data ahead of the game’s worldwide launch on February 15. For those unfamiliar, Wrecking Zone is Crackdown 3’s multiplayer mode offering 5 vs 5 matches with cloud-powered destruction.

Crackdown 3 is the first big Xbox One/Windows 10 exclusive game to launch this year, but for some reason its Wrecking Zone multiplayer mode won’t support lobbying with friends at launch, forcing all players to go through randomized matchmaking. This is what explained the community manager for the official Crackdown 3 server on Discord yesterday, a comment initially spotted by Reddit user Branflakes222 (via Windows Central).

Crackdown 3 also has a Campaign mode you can play in coop with a friend, and this mode will apparently support lobbies. It worth noting that the game’s Campaign and Wrecking Zones are actually two separate downloads on the Microsoft Store, which is quite unusual for a Microsoft game.

The same community manager also couldn’t confirm if Microsoft was planning some additional content for Crackdown 3. This may all depend on the game’s success, but unfortunately, Crackdown 3 will be released alongside several blockbusters games this month including Metro: Exodus, Far Cry: New Dawn, and Anthem.

Crackdown 3 will be released on Friday on Xbox One and Windows 10, and Xbox Game Pass will be able to play it for free on launch day. The game also supports Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox Live crossplay across Xbox One and Windows 10.

Update: The official Crackdown Twitter account shared today that Xbox Live party functionality would be coming in a future update, along with some post-launch content.

Agents, we know you’re eager to play #WreckingZone with friends and we’ll be adding Xbox Live party functionality in an upcoming title update along with other post-launch content. Thank you for your patience and please stay tuned here for more info soon!

— Crackdown (@crackdown) February 11, 2019

Microsoft news recap is a weekly feature highlighting the top Microsoft news stories of the past week. Sit back, grab some coffee, and enjoy the read!

Skype desktop app gets background blurring in video calls

Ever been in a Skype video call but in the background was your messy room? Microsoft is looking to solve that problem. When performing a video call on Skype’s desktop app, you can now blur the background, keeping the focus on you and not your surroundings. The feature uses the same AI-powered tech that is used in Microsoft Teams.

Tesco is now available on Microsoft Rewards, now you can use your rewards towards grocery shopping

Microsoft Rewards has become that little bit more rewarding for UK users. Points can now be redeemed for a Tesco gift card, allowing you to use your points towards grocery shopping. You know what they say, “every little helps.”

Bing hopes to change the way search engines index the web: wants publishers to submit new and updated content

Bing is hoping to change the way that search engines find new and updated content on the web. It wants publishers to tell it when there’s new content that needs looking it, rather than relying on search engines to crawl the web, which is a resource-intensive task.

Microsoft’s Surface headphones to launch in eight new markets in March including Canada and Australia

If you’re in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Ireland, Austria or Switzerland and have been waiting to get your hands on Microsoft’s Surface headphones, your chance is nearly here. The Surface headphones will be available in the above markets in March.

That’s it for this week. We’ll be back next week with more Microsoft news.

If you’re in the UK and are part of Microsoft’s loyalty scheme, Microsoft Rewards, those points you have been racking up can go to more than just Microsoft’s own suite of products and services.

For a while now, users have been able to redeem their points for Pizza Express vouchers, Starbucks gift cards, and more.

Joining the fold is the UKs largest supermarket, Tesco. With this, you can now use your Microsoft Rewards points towards your grocery shopping.

With 7,600 points, you can net yourself £5 worth of groceries at Tesco, redeemable online or in-store.

Adding Tesco to the line up of reward options continues to increase the reasons to make use of Microsoft Rewards, through searching on Bing, cashback on purchases, and more.

The Windows team appears to be suring up its latest Windows 10 Update release candidate as the newest Insider build is mainly a list of fixes, improvements and remaining outstanding issues.

Hello #WindowsInsiders we have released 19H1 Build 18334 to the Fast ring! https://t.co/y0i4x3Bb7i

— Dona Sarkar at #MBAS #a11y (@donasarkar) February 8, 2019

Here is a list of everything that’s been fixed or addressed in Windows 10 Insider preview build 18334 for Fast Ring testing.

REMINDER: The new tamper protection setting in the Windows Security app protects your device by helping to prevent bad actors from tampering with the most important security settings. The setting is designed to be on by default, however the default state is not currently in effect for current Insider Preview builds. You may see a new recommendation in the Windows Security app suggesting you turn this setting on.

• We fixed an issue resulting in a recent increase in taskbar icons becoming blank.
• We fixed an issue where your cursor color and size settings wouldn’t persist upgrade.
• We fixed an issue where hardware keyboard text prediction settings wouldn’t persist upgrade.
• We fixed an issue resulting in Settings crashing when going to Color Filters.
• We fixed an issue resulting in Sign-in Settings crashing recently under certain conditions.
• We fixed an issue where changing the state of the Hey Cortana toggle in Settings wouldn’t stick.
• We fixed an issue where the Cortana section of Settings was visible in regions where Cortana wasn’t supported.
• We fixed an issue where the icons and text in the new Settings header were misaligned an certain window sizes.
• We fixed an issue resulting in an unexpected blank space in the navigation pane in Privacy Settings.
• We fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft David speaking when previewing voices under Settings > Time & Language > Speech, regardless of which actual voice was selected.
• We fixed an issue resulting in unexpected double spaces when listing the active hours under Windows Update Settings.
• When you set focus to search the search box will now have an accent colored border.
• We fixed an issue where the Search box in the taskbar was no longer dark when dark mode was enabled.
• We fixed an issue where recent activities in Search would use a white icon in light theme even if a dark icon was available.
• We fixed an issue that could result in the Start menu resetting back to default on reboot for some users.
• We fixed an issue resulting in Shutdown and Restart options in Start’s power menu not showing up in a remote desktop session.
• We fixed an issue where having Cortana open would result in an invisible File Explorer window being shown as open in the taskbar.
• We fixed an issue resulting in unexpected “The item you selected is unavailable” errors when interacting with jump list list items.
• We fixed an issue where explorer.exe would crash if you shared a file via Nearby Sharing and then turned off Nearby Sharing.
• We fixed an issue where the File Explorer title bar would blend into black backgrounds when dark theme was enabled.
• We fixed an issue resulting in an error when extracting files on the last 2 flights.
• We fixed an issue where attempting to set default file association for a filetype that was not explicitly declared as supported by a Win32 app would fail.
• We fixed an issue resulting in mouse lag when certain XAML dropdowns were open.
• We fixed an issue where unzipping files would throw an error.
• We fixed an issue where when files were grouped by date, files that were actually downloaded last month would say “A long time ago” if it was January and the files were downloaded in December.
• We fixed an issue resulting in some apps not going full screen properly if the app started from being snapped to the side of the screen. This issue also resulted in the taskbar appearing on top of full screen videos in this scenario, and could result in apps slowly shifting offscreen if repeatedly toggle between snapped and fullscreen.
• We fixed an issue resulting in some languages not being able to type in UWP apps recently – Buginese, Friulian, and Gothic were among those impacted.
• We fixed an issue impacting the Japanese IME in certain apps, like Microsoft Teams, where if you tried to finalize a converted string by typing, the converted string would disappear.
• We fixed two issues impacting the ability to adjust brightness in recent flights.
• We fixed an issue that could result in notifications unexpectedly being drawn at the wrong scale fact (too large, or too small).
• We fixed an issue where the value in Narrator Settings “Change the level of detail Narrator provides about text and control” might be empty.
• We fixed an issue where Windows Sandbox may launch to a black screen for some users.
• Narrator now announces headings at all verbosity levels.
• Improved reading of pull-down menus in the Skype desktop client with Narrator.
• Improve pitch change detection by increasing the pitch deltas for capitalization reading option “Change how capitalized text is read” to “Increase pitch”.
• Improved reading while using Narrator’s text movement commands.
• Ensured that Narrator’s dialog reading behavior was more reliable.
• Ensured that focus is set on the Start menu when minimizing Narrator Home.
• Narrator now announces the value of the Calendar Date picker control as a user navigates with the Tab or Shift + Tab key.
• Narrator no longer announces blank tooltips.
• Removed the “not selected” phrase from speaking with Narrator unless multiple selection is possible.
• Continued to refine reading experiences for Chrome as well as some interaction with controls such as combo boxes and expandable buttons.
• Made moving by heading more reliable with Narrator and Chrome.
• Resolved an issue when changing the navigation mode on the Baum VarioUltra when used with Narrator.
• Small app update news for those in Skip Ahead: We’re rolling out Weather app version 4.28.10351.0 to you, which addresses an issue in which the Weather live tile either wouldn’t work at all, or worked but highlighted the wrong location (depending on your configuration). Thanks everyone who reached out about this, we appreciate your patience while we investigated the issue – the app update will be rolling out to other rings soon.

As is customary this far into development, the list of known issues has become disproportioantely smaller than the list of fixes. He is what remains on the docket for the Windows team to address.

• The Windows Security app may show an unknown status for the Virus & threat protection area, or not refresh properly. This may occur after upgrade, restart, or settings changes.
• Launching games that use anti-cheat software may trigger a bugcheck (GSOD).
• Creative X-Fi sound cards are not functioning properly. We are partnering with Creative to resolve this issue.
• While night light functionality is back up and running, we’re continuing to investigate issues in this space.
• When performing Reset this PC and selecting Keep my files on a device that has Reserved Storage enabled the user will need to initiate an extra reboot to ensure Reserved Storage is working again properly.
• Some Realtek SD card readers are not functioning properly. We are investigating the issue.
• After upgrade, there might be two Narrator voices talking at the same time. Reboot the machine once, this issue will go away.
• Some of the Real-Time Protection options for Malwarebytes Premium are not able to be turned on.
• MSA user after password change may not be able to login at next attempt. Reboot fixes the problem.
• If Magnifier is enabled and set to docked mode, machine will crash and reboot on sign-in creating a boot loop. We recommend anyone who uses Magnifier to disable docked mode for this flight. A fix for this will be in an upcoming build. For users who upgraded and encountered this reboot condition, you can try turning off Magnifier by pressing Win + Esc at sign-in, then change the Magnifier View to Lens or Full screen in the Magnifier settings.

Known issues for Developers

• If you install any of the recent builds from the Fast ring and switch to the Slow ring – optional content such as enabling developer mode will fail. You will have to remain in the Fast ring to add/install/enable optional content. This is because optional content will only install on builds approved for specific rings.

And wait, there is more…

Head of the Windows Insiderprogram additionally announced a Skip Ahead build that should be rolling out to that channel sometime later today.

FYI: Folks in Skip Ahead should recieve Build 18334 later today. https://t.co/vSqimAeUzM

— Dona Sarkar at #MBAS #a11y (@donasarkar) February 8, 2019

Update: build 18334 is now available for both Fast and Skip Ahead rings:

And Skip Ahead is live now #WindowsInsiders

— Dona Sarkar at #MBAS #a11y (@donasarkar) February 8, 2019

With this new build, it will undoubtedly come an additonal list of known issues for testers to address that we’ll be happy to point out.

Microsoft has just released the Windows 10 19H1 build 18334 for Fast Ring Insiders today, and this is quite an unusual release for the team. Indeed, the only new feature in this build is “technology tailor-made for gaming to Windows,” but the team didn’t share further details today.

Instead, Fast Ring Insiders are asked to play Microsoft’s zombie survival game State of Decay for free for a limited time and share their feedback with the team. Microsoft is apparently looking to get feedback about DirectX bug, and that’s almost all that we know. It’s worth noting that State of Decay launched first on Xbox 360 and Steam back in 2013, but it hasn’t been released on the Windows 10 Microsoft Store, unlike its sequel State of Decay 2 (an Xbox Play Anywhere game released last year on Xbox One and Windows 10).

If you recently joined the Skip Ahead ring, Windows Insider Chief Dona Sarkar said that you should receive the build 18334 later today.

FYI: Folks in Skip Ahead should recieve Build 18334 later today. https://t.co/vSqimAeUzM

— Dona Sarkar at #MBAS #a11y (@donasarkar) February 8, 2019

Update: Skip Ahead Insiders can join in the fun too:

And Skip Ahead is live now #WindowsInsiders

— Dona Sarkar at #MBAS #a11y (@donasarkar) February 8, 2019

You can learn more about to install the State of Decay test game below:

What’s new in Build 18334

Gaming Improvements

We’re excited to bring technology tailor-made for gaming to Windows. Help us validate these systems work as expected, and play State of Decay for free (limited time only!). Just tell us about any problems you encounter with installing and launching the game.
Note: we only have a small number of available slots currently, so don’t wait too long to sign up. But if you don’t get in this time, don’t worry, we’ll be expanding over the next few weeks so you’ll have more chances. Thanks for making Windows gaming better!

Instructions:

• If you have an Xbox Live Gamertag, go to step 2 below. If you don’t have a Gamertag, use your Microsoft Account (MSA) to log into https://account.xbox.com and create an Xbox account. Once completed, you will see your Gamertag in the top right of the page.
• Install the Xbox Insider Hub app on the PC you’ll be flighting on (link opens in Store app).
• Sign in to the Xbox Insider Hub with your Gamertag.
• Select Insider Content in the upper left.
• Select State of Decay.
• Click Join.
• If not redirected, click the Show in store button to launch the Store app.
• Install the State of Decay test game to your machine from the Store app
• Launch State of Decay and try it out! NOTE: State of Decay is rated M for Mature.
  • As part of the game launch, you’ll be prompted to install DirectX. This is for testing purposes, so go ahead and do the install, and the game will launch afterwards.
• If you find any issues with the install, or if the game fails to launch, please file a Feedback Hub bug under the Microsoft Store category (pick Download or Install depending on your issue), and include WindowsGamingFeedback in the title.

Known issues:

• BattleEye software (used by Fortnite, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and other popular games) does not work correctly with builds flighted to the Windows Insider Fast ring since December. If you have a PC that is not already enrolled in Windows Insider Fast, and you play games that use BattleEye software, we recommend you don’t join Windows Insider Fast on that PC.
• If you don’t have access to the State of Decay test game, be sure to use the same Microsoft Account (MSA) and Gamertag for the Xbox Insider hub and the Microsoft Store app.
• If you experience an error related to DirectX, please first file a Feedback Hub bug following the instructions above, and then try the following:
  • Launch the game again. This should trigger the DirectX installer to run which should fix any issues caused by previous install failures.
  • If the above doesn’t work, uninstall State of Decay by right-clicking Start, selecting Apps and Features, and then selecting Uninstall for the State of Decay entry. Then try the download and install again.
  • If you continue to see the same error even after the steps above, you can also try downloading and installing DirectX manually: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109
• If the Install button in the Store doesn’t work, please first file a Feedback Hub bug following the instructions above, and then try the following:
  • Restart your PC and try the install again.
  • If the above, doesn’t work, click Start, search for ‘wsreset’ and run that command, then try the install again.
• There is an intro video that plays at the start of the State of Decay test game which is squeezed into a thin line on left side of screen. Please ignore this issue; the game works fine once the title screen appears.
• If you have a Microsoft Account on your machine which is a Child account and have Parental Controls turned on for that account, the State of Decay test game won’t install. We are investigating a fix for this in a forthcoming Windows flight.
• You can install and run the State of Decay test game in a Virtual Machine (VM) if you aren’t able to test on real hardware; the download and install will work fine, but you will experience slow performance when running the game itself. Note: downloading and installing is still very helpful to find issues!

Besides these mysterious gaming improvements that Microsoft will be testing with Fast Ring Insiders, the build 18334 also brings a long list of bug fixes and known issues which you can check on our separate post. As usual, please let us know in the comments if you encounter any issues after installing this build.

Despite Microsoft playing second fiddle to Amazon in the cloud computing wars, the company’s scrappy cultural mindset has argubly led to more consumer-friendly developments in recent months.

Corporate vice president of Microsoft Azure Julia White is dropping the news bomb on the business’ latest optimization efforts that are leading to greater cost/benefit metrics for customers.

In the most recent study by GigaOm, they found that Azure SQL Data Warehouse is now outperforming the competition up to a whopping 14x times. No one else has produced independent, industry-accepted benchmarks like these. Not AWS Redshift or Google BigQuery. And the best part? Azure is up to 94 percent cheaper.

Azure’s new price-performance improvements are also being applied across  Azure Data Lake Storage and Azure Databricks in addition to updates to cloud security and industry analytics.

White claims that Azure has the most comprehensice set of compliance offerings around and is subsequently the most trusted cloud service in the market thanks in part to its advance idenitiy governance and access management with Active Directory support.

On the insights side of the wall, combing data gathered in Azure with Microsoft’s robust visualization tool PowerBI, customers recieve unparalleled insights and analysis, according to White.

Leveraging Microsoft’s Common Data Model, Power BI users can easily access and analyze enterprise data using a common data schema without needing complex data transformation. Customers looking for petabyte-scale analytics can leverage Power BI Aggregations with Azure SQL Data Warehouse for rapid query. Better yet, Power BI users can easily apply sophisticated AI models built with Azure. Powerful insights easily accessible to all.

Last but not least is the intangible metric of future-proofing Microsoft’s Azure optimizations offer. In order to achieve the marker of future-proofed technological development, White offered the addidional annoucemments of:

• General availability of Azure Data Lake Storage: The first cloud storage that combines the best of hierarchical files system and blob storage.
• General availability of Azure Data Explorer: A fast, fully managed service that simplifies ad hoc and interactive analysis over telemetry, time-series, and log data. This service, powering other Azure services like Log Analytics, App Insights, Time Series Insights, is useful to query streaming data to identify trends, detect anomalies, and diagnose problems.
• Preview of new Mapping Data Flow capability in Azure Data Factory: Visual Flow provides a visual, zero-code experience to help data engineers to easily build data transformations. This complements the Azure Data Factory’s code-first experience to enable data engineers of all skill levels to collaborate and build powerful hybrid data transformation pipelines.

Being in the number 2 spot in the battle for cloud marketshare is argubly serving Microsoft as it is forced to compete on multiple vectors effectively for mindshare and user satisfaction.

As spotted by TA, #WarGames, Ghostbusters, and Tetris Ultimate have been removed from the Xbox One storefront. This means that the digital versions will no longer be purchasable on Xbox One consoles but will still work if they are already installed or a physical disk version is present. Those who had previously purchased them should still be able to download them as well.

Unfortunately, #WarGames and Tetris Ultimate are only available digitally on Xbox One so it looks as if this could be the end of both titles for the majority of players who haven’t bought them.

The Xbox 360 games, Le Tour de France 2009, Le Tour de France 2011, Le Tour de France 2012, Le Tour de France 2013 – 100th Edition, and The Testament of Sherlock Holmes have also had their digital versions removed. Fortunately, disk versions of Le Tour de France 2011 through 2013 are available.

The removal of digital video games from online storefronts isn’t a new phenomenon and is often the result of expiring brand licences. One recent example of this was the removal of several Lord of the Rings-related video games in early-2019.

This remains one of the biggest issues many have with the transition to digital content. If rights aren’t extended, whole video games can be lost forever.

Are you disappointed by the removal of these games? Let us know which ones you’ll miss the most in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Xbox gaming content.

The BBC iPlayer app will cease to work on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 consoles from March 27th. The app launched on the console back in 2012 and is the official Xbox 360 app for viewing BBC licenced television programs and movies.

This discontinuing of support for the Xbox 360 app isn’t too surprising given that a BBC app is now also available on the Xbox One, the family of consoles that succeeded the Xbox 360 generation and has been on the market now for over 5 years. There are many reasons to upgrade to an Xbox One console from and Xbox 360 and now it having a BBC app that works is just one more.

Of course, BBC apps are also available on a variety of smart devices as well so the death of the Xbox 360 BBC iPlayer app shouldn’t be that much of an inconvenience for most households.

Will you miss using the Xbox 360 BBC iPlayer app? Let us know why or why not in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Xbox content.

While US and China relations remain tenuous for the time being, US-based software company Microsoft is forgoing political formalities and opened the Nanchang City AI+VR Innovation Center last month according to China’s Xinhua news agency.

Based on a report from Venture Beat, we’re getting details of Microsoft new AI+VR Innovation Center initiatives which appear to be “a cloud and mobile technology incubator geared towards startups and established manufacturing companies.”

The Nanchang City AI+VR Innovation Center was launched mid-January, and is expected to bustle in top talent in both artificial intelligence and virtual reality pools all coalescing in the Nanchang City Honggutan New District and ideally providing a boon to the local economy in the process.

Interestingly enough, while Microsoft is head over heels in love with AI development, its outward stance on virtual reality has, at times, seemed less enthused, to the point that the company actively pivots from using the term in its own efforts, opting instead for the phrase “Mixed Reality” to the befuddlement of many observers.

Microsoft planting an AI and VR incubator in China is no random occurrence as China has become a hotbed of VR activity and enthusiasm over the past few years. The Chinese government believes that while casual interest in virtual reality may have bottomed out in 2017, they expect it to recover, to the tune of becoming a $13 billion dollar industry by next year, 2020 based on gains in 2018.

From growth in the standalone headset market to local streaming options offering VR movie using their own 4K headsets, the market for virtual reality in China is burgeoning much faster than it is in the US or parts of western Europe. Microsoft spotting an opportunity in China and placing its incubator there can be seen as a two-prong strategy to bolster its anemic VR efforts while also reestablishing the Microsoft brand in China outside of pirated Windows image.