Rocket League is now available for cross-platform play on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PS4. Psyonix made the announcement yesterday in a post on the Rocket League blog. Sony allowed Rocket League to play with other platforms via the Playstation Cross-Play Beta program. Here are the instructions as noted in the blog post:

“Players on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Steam can now randomly matchmake with or against each other in all Online match types (i.e. Casual, Competitive, and Extra Modes). To make sure that Cross-Platform play is enabled (it is by default), head to the “Main Menu,” select “Options” and then make sure the “Cross-Platform Play” box is checked in the “Gameplay” tab. And that’s all there is to it. You are now ready to play against gamers on other platforms across the world!”

Coming soon, Psyonix will release an update to Rocket League, introducing their cross-play platform party system to allow players to team up with their friends on any supported platform. For now, you can still play with your friends by creating or joining a private match in Rocket League. Psyonix hopes to give Rocket League players full cross-platform support by adding more platforms in the future.

Microsoft continues to bolster its retail partnerships as the company headed to the National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show to showcase its intelligent cloud services at the largest retail conference anywhere.

With an arsenal of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, IoT support, and hybrid server solutions, Microsoft CVP of Retail and Consumer Goods Industries Shelly Bransten have never been better equipped to deliver the company’s promise of ‘Intelligent Retail,” to businesses and customers.

“From using AI to create transformative customer and employee experiences, to embracing IoT to leverage their supply chains for maximum customer impact, to using cloud-based business applications to manage everything from the customer journey to operations. In an industry experiencing accelerating change, Microsoft and its partners are creating the solutions to help our customers keep up.”

Announced just ahead of the conference were some new capabilities of Microsoft’s holistic intelligent retail package that included a newly customizable mobile Teams experience, Teams API connects supporting workforce management systems, and a new Praise Tool to help encourage a positive work culture and teamwork. Microsoft held a significant presence with its 20 solution demos, as well as Bransten’s Big Ideas session and company colleagues Alysa Taylor, CVP for Business Applications and Industry Marketing and CMO Chris Capossela leading other sessions.

The new Teams additions along with the Praise Tool should be rolling out to the general public over the next few weeks with big-name retail partners such as Kroger, Starbucks, craft store chain Michaels, Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona (GCNA), Stefano Ricci, BevMo!, and Polarn O Pyret undoubtedly testing some if not all of the features now.

The Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), Walgreen’s global “pharmacy led health and well-being enterprise,” has partnered with Microsoft to provide the pharmaceutical company access to the tech giant’s Azure cloud computing software, which will help them “develop new health care delivery models, technology and retail innovations to advance and improve the future of health care,” according to Microsoft. Additionally, the deal will give the pharmacy company’s 380,000 employees access to Microsoft 365’s suite which includes Windows 10, Office 365, and the Enterprise Mobility + Security software.

The companies will also commit to a multiyear investment to research and build health care solutions and help reduce costs for the services. The investment includes funding, tools, and healthcare experts, although no financial details have been shared. Additionally, Walgreens will open its “digital health corners” in 12 stores, which will focus on selling merchandise and health care related equipment and devices. In a statement, WBA’s CEO and executive vice chairman, Stefano Pessina, stated that:

“Our strategic partnership with Microsoft demonstrates our strong commitment to creating integrated, next-generation, digitally enabled health care delivery solutions for our customers, transforming our stores into modern neighborhood health destinations and expanding customer offerings. WBA will work with Microsoft to harness the information that exists between payors and health care providers to leverage, in the interest of patients and with their consent, our extraordinary network of accessible and convenient locations to deliver new innovations, greater value and better health outcomes in health care systems across the world.”

The deal marks the second major deal Microsoft had made with a retailer in the first month of the new year. The company also made a deal with Kroger, giving the supermarket access to Azure services and build tools to improve customer experience.

A fan concept for Microsoft’s upcoming follow-up to the Xbox One console was uploaded to Reddit earlier today (see above image) and it didn’t exactly get the positive response the poster was likely expecting.

Designed by Darpan Bajaj, this design for the new console, named here the Xbox 2, features a base that’s dramatically slimmer than all previous Xbox consoles and a controller that abandons physical buttons for, what looks like, a programmable touchscreen.

Reddit commenters were quick to mention that casual and pro gamers both prefer physical buttons when playing games and that very few people enjoy using virtual touchscreen controls which are frequently used on smartphone and tablet games.

The console itself also has its faults as most early Xbox loyalists would likely prefer a smaller size for the next Xbox console that takes up less real estate around the TV while this one looks as wide as the original Xbox One despite its thinness. Other issues raised were its breakability, the number of lights, and complete lack of USB slots.

“None of it is practical,” Reddit user, Congragumumlations, wrote, summing up his thoughts on the design. “The creator should have taken into consideration making it practical first and foremost. There is no good ideas coming out of this thing to be honest. I’m sorry but this is a no-go.”

What do you think about this concept for the next Xbox console? Would you buy it? Share your thoughts with the community in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Xbox content.

DiRT Rally 2.0 is now available to digitally pre-order on Xbox One ahead of its February 26th release date.

DiRT Rally 2.0 is the sequel to the original DiRT Rally racing video game and supports online matches with up to eight players and features HDR10 and 4K Ultra HD when played on Microsoft’s Xbox One X console.

The game is available in two version; a regular version and a Digital Deluxe Edition that comes with the base game, early access (from February 22nd), and a variety of in-game downloadable content such as cars, upgrades, and tracks.

Here’s the official game description and trailer:

DiRT Rally 2.0 dares you to carve your way through a selection of iconic rally locations from Argentina to new Zealand, in some of the most iconic off-road vehicles ever made, knowing that the smallest mistake could end your stage. You will need to rely on your instincts with the most immersive and truly focused off-road experience yet, including a new authentic handling model, tyre choice and surface degragation. Power your rally car through real-life off-road environments in New Zealand, Argentina, Spain, Poland, Australia and the USA, with only your co-driver and instincts to guide you.

Race on eight official circuits from the FIA World Rallycross championship, complete with licensed Supercars and support series. Develop your team and cars around race strategies, and progress through a varied selection of Events and Championships in both a single player Career Campaign and a competitive online environment. The Porsche 911 RGT Rally Spec can be used at all rally locations.

Are you a fan of DiRT Rally or do you prefer other Xbox One racing games such as WRC 6? 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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DiRT Rally 2.0 Digital Pre-Order Edition

Developer:
Codemasters

Price:
Free

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DiRT Rally 2.0 Digital Deluxe Edition

Developer:
Codemasters

Price:
Free

The video games, Far Cry 2 and WRC 6 FIA World Rally Championship, are now both free to download and play on Microsoft’s Xbox One consoles as part of January’s Games With Gold promotion for Xbox Live Gold subscribers.

Far Cry 2 originally came out on the Xbox 360 back in 2010 and is now playable on both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One due to its new backwards compatibility. The game takes, what has since become, the popular video game franchise to Africa and boasts the large open-world play area that fans have come to expect.

WRC 6 FIA World Rally launched on the Xbox One in 2017 and is a racing game that supports local and online matches for up to eight players.

New games are made available to Xbox Live Gold subscribers to claim at the beginning and around the middle of each month. The 2D platformer, Celeste, is also currently available to grab until January 31st. Both Far Cry 2 and WRC 6 FIA World Rally Championship will remain listed until mid-February.

Are you excited to play Far Cry 2 and WRC 6 FIA World Rally Championship? Let us know which one you’ll be playing this month in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Xbox gaming content.

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Far Cry® 2

Developer:
UbiSoft

Price:
$19.99

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WRC 6 FIA World Rally Championship

Developer:
Bigben Interactive

Price:
$14.99

In a post on LinkedIn, Microsoft President Brad Smith takes stock of the issues that faced the tech industry in 2018 and looks ahead listing the top 10 issues that the tech industry will need to address for 2019. Here’s a look at the top 10 tech issues and developments to look out for in 2019, as referenced by Microsoft’s Smith:

1. PRIVACY

2. DISINFORMATION

3. PROTECTIONISM IN THE PACIFIC

4. DIGITAL DIPLOMACY

5. ETHICS CHALLENGES FOR AI

6. AI AND THE ECONOMY

7. THE PEOPLE SIDE OF TECHNOLOGY

8. RURAL BROADBAND

9. SOVEREIGNTY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE CLOUD

10. TECH GROWTH AND COMMUNITIES

While Smith’s top 10 list is far from the only important issues tech faces, it doesn’t offer solutions. This list could easily be a list of required courses for a degree in Digital Business Management. It seems as if there is a new privacy leak or issue on an almost daily basis. Recently, Amazon and Ring doorbells are once such alarming privacy example.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are just beginning to show what they can do to reap benefits for the technology world. With and without proper governance by the tech industry of these technologies, AI, machine learning, and other emerging technologies can bring big positives as well as unforeseen negatives on people and the world as a whole.

BuildFeed is a popular 3rd party Twitter account and website that does one thing, scours the internet (we think, or who-knows-where) for the latest Microsoft build numbers. These largely unreleased build numbers don’t have much if any other information about them, but it can be an interesting source of conjecture as to the next Windows Insider or Xbox Insider build number, for example, and can sometimes shed some new light as to what’s going on behind closed doors at Microsoft.

Over the weekend, BuildFeed has posted a number of new numbers with some interesting new information. For the first time to our knowledge, has included some builds marked with OneCore and WCOS, the Windows Core Operating System naming that Microsoft is reportedly working on to power “Andromeda,” or what at one time was known as Surface Phone, the Surface Hub 2, possibly HoloLens v2, and perhaps a lot more.

BuildFeed has also recently posted some other interesting info, along with what appear to be old build numbers, perhaps newly captured, including a build referring to “shell devices foldable,” a 19H1 version, and even something called “rs_fun_pkg”

10.0.18317.1001 (rs_fun_pkg.190113-1600) https://t.co/tENgqIUM0b pic.twitter.com/KhWqJ3IiT9

— BuildFeed (@buildfeed) January 14, 2019

Having these builds show up on BuildFeed is interesting, but it may not be much more than that. For one thing, we don’t have any reliable information as to the source of these posted build numbers, it could be that BuildFeed has just gained new access to what internally is an ongoing series of OneCore and other builds (and we suspect this is the case). Still, having the builds in the 19H1 numbering sequence is noteworthy, and expectations are to hear a lot more about OneCore in the coming year. Whether this is just a peek through a keyhole or an important new development is unclear at this point, but we’ll be keeping a close watch on BuildFeed and beyond, so stay tuned to OnMSFT.com.

Microsoft is coming back to the Bett 2019 education conference in London next week, where the company will showcase its latest tools for empowering students and educators. Before the first sessions kick off on Wednesday, January 23, the Redmond giant will publish a special Bett episode of its “What’s New in EDU” video series on January 22.

“Microsoft, as a worldwide partner of Bett, will be hosting a wide array of sessions and hands-on demonstrations on the show floor, along with inspirational talks to support educators looking for new ways to engage and empower their students,” the Microsoft Education team explained today. You’ll be able to watch the different livestream events using the links below:

• Day 1: Wednesday at 17:00 UTC
• Day 2: Thursday at 17:00 UTC
• Day 3: Friday at 17:00 UTC

Last year, Microsoft used the annual Bett conference to announce new Windows 10 devices for the education market, Office 365 features, as well as the Chemistry update for Minecraft: Education Edition. It’s safe to expect that the company plans to make many new education-related announcements next week, so stay tuned to OnMSFT if you don’t want to miss the news.

Windows 7 was introduced to the world in January of 2009, the successor to a fairly disastrous Windows Vista release, and over time became a favorite of enterprise and consumers alike for its fresh new look and no-nonsense approach. Vista had unleashed a number of problems to the Windows ecosystem, including an overbearing User Account Control (UAC) that had users needing to elevate security privileges for just about everything, a focus on new hardware that left a lot of legacy hardware without working device drivers, and mainly because of those two issues, a bad reputation among Windows users and the tech press.

Microsoft moved Steven Sinofsky from Office to “get the trains running on time,” which he largely did, fixing most of the problems of Vista, re-focusing the marketing on Windows 7 as something new and different, as opposed to Windows Vista R2, which is what it really was.

But time moves on, and after Sinofsky created a debacle of his own with Windows 8, and another reset, Microsoft has settled on Windows 10. In one year from today, Microsoft will end free support for Windows 7, with any enterprise stragglers needing to pay to continue to get security updates. Mary Jo Foley has all the details on what that support will look like after January 14, 2020, but for most consumer users, and a large swath of business users, the option to continue support by finally moving to Windows 10 may make the most sense.

We put up a poll on Twitter this morning, asking for your favorite operating system, and early results in this decidedly Windows Insider-centric crowd has Windows 10 leading by a large margin, but with Windows 7 at a solid #2:

Poll: What's your favorite Windows? Not so much what you're using now, but which one did/do you enjoy the most?

— OnMSFT.com (@onmsft) January 14, 2019

Were you a Windows 7 fan? Are you hanging on still, like some 11% of our readers using Windows are? Is it time to say goodbye to Windows 7 and look toward the next big thing? Let us know in the comments below.

Welcome back to our Windows 10 news recap, where we go over the top stories of the past week in the world of Microsoft’s flagship operating system.

Windows 10 version 1903 to reserve 7GB of disk space for updates

From version 1903, Windows 10 will begin reserving 7GB of disk space to use for future updates. The aim behind the disk space reservation is to reduce the number of issues during the update process and helps alleviate some users having to free up disk space themselves before updating.

Samsung announced two new Windows 10 laptops at CES 2019

At CES 2019, Samsung has unveiled its 2019 lineup of devices, which includes two new Windows 10 laptops, the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro and the Samsung Notebook Flash, an Always Connected PC.

Firefox nightly builds are now available for Windows 10 on ARM

Mozilla is working on bringing Firefox to Windows 10 on ARM, with its ARM64 version being available as a nightly release, though users should expect bugs as these versions have not gone through automated testing like regular releases.

CES 2019: Asus unveils Surface Pro-like ROG Mothership gaming PC

Alongside Samsung, Asus has also unveiled its latest devices at CES 2019. Asus came in with its new Surface Pro-like gaming PC, the ROG Mothership. It offers a 17.3-inch display, a kickstand, and a detachable keyboard with wireless operation.

That’s it for this week. We’ll be back next week with more Windows 10 news!

Red Dead Redemption 2 released its own version of battle royale yesterday on Xbox One. As noted in a post on the Rockstar Games’ blog, a new Red Dead Redemption 2 Online Beta update introduced “Gun Rush,” its own version of battle royale, along with a few other bug fixes and performance updates.

Gun Rush puts “your survival instincts to the test, gathering weapons and ammunition while the play area shrinks in this new mode for up to 32 players. Available to play now in Free-for-all and Team variations, where the last one standing wins.”

Rockstar promises more updates are on the way, including new Races and Showdown Modes, as well as new weapons, clothing, emotes, and new missions available to build on your character’s story. Rockstar used player feedback to come up with other Red Dead Redemption 2 Online Beta gameplay refinements:

• Daily Challenges: Tackle new challenges each day covering every aspect of the game, from sharpshooting to evading the law.
• Law and Bounty Upgrades: Some changes are coming to the way the Law and Bounty systems work in Red Dead Online to reduce the enticements for griefing. Soon, players will get a bounty for committing crimes and will be incentivized to pay them off within an allotted time. Wait too long and bounty hunters from each of the states will track the player forcing them to either pay up or escape.
• Parley Changes: We’re making the Parley system easier to trigger so that you can avoid aggressive players more quickly. In addition, it will be easier to trigger Feuds, Posse Feuds and Leader Feuds to take on attacking players in structured competition.
• Proximity-Based Player Blips: Player location blips will soon appear only over short distances, reducing the range at which you are visible to others, decreasing the likelihood of being targeted by another player across large areas.

Right now, Xbox One players can use the Red Chestnut Arabian Horse, Alligator Skin Ranch Cutter Saddle, and the High Roller Double-Action Revolver in the Red Dead Online Beta. Give Rockstar feedback on any in-game bugs, issues or features you would like to see in a future Red Dead Redemption 2 Online Beta content update.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is available starting at $59.99 on Xbox One and PS4 via Amazon or the Microsoft Store. Buy it today!

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Red Dead Redemption 2

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Rockstar Games

Price:
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Ever since Microsoft discontinued its efforts on its Windows 10 Mobile platform, many former users have moved to other platforms, namely iPhone and Android. Because of this, Microsoft has refocused its efforts to these systems, building new apps to bring their ecosystem to those platforms.

Over time, Microsoft pushed out what used to be Windows 10 Mobile exclusives, including Edge and Cortana, over to the iOS and Android platforms. While the company isn’t leaving the many proud iPhone users out of the equation given its releases of Edge and Cortana for that platform, it’s clear Android users will be able to make themselves feel even more at home to Microsoft’s services. This is because the company can virtually bake its services into those phones by installing a simple app: Microsoft Launcher.

Originally known as Arrow Launcher, the home screen app started as a Microsoft Garage project and has since been rebranded to become the central hub for users to use Bing, Cortana, and Microsoft News. Microsoft has taken features in Windows 10, such as Cortana, Timeline, more recently Sticky Notes, and brought them to Android thanks to this one app. Below are some of likely the most useful features you get with Microsoft Launcher over the stock version that likely comes with your phone.

Timeline—syncing activities between devices

Timeline first came to Windows 10 in the April 2018 Update as a way for users to easily jump from one PC to the next by syncing recently viewed activities. These include webpages in Edge as well as documents in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, which are synced between devices in a single view. However, the feature became available to those on Android devices thanks to Microsoft Launcher’s 5.0 update, giving users a chronological list of activities browsed on Edge for Android as well as Office documents.

In Microsoft Launcher, activities are listed in a chronological list order, with the most recent being on top. Assuming your privacy settings allow this, the activities include Edge history from both your phone as well as what where you’ve been to on your PC.

I find this to be very useful, because often, I close tabs unintentionally, and Timeline is a very easy way to re-access the webpages I was on before. As a writer, I also find it handy that I can access a source article on my phone as well, and then quickly access the same link on my PC when I begin writing.

While certainly an interesting feature, many users are likely skeptical about it given its nature on user privacy. For this to work, Microsoft must sync all of the user’s activity of those supported apps and store them in the cloud, then redistribute the data onto other devices. It’s not a big issue for me as I am not big on privacy myself, but I can understand where the concerned people come from.

Cortana—your virtual assistant from Microsoft

Cortana is the assistant that comes on Windows 10 PCs and Xbox One consoles, although it was first released for the Windows Phone 8.1 platform to compete with the likes of Siri on iPhones. Microsoft Launcher includes integration with that same assistant, which can be accessed from the microphone icon either on the search bar or the Cortana card.

The Cortana card can display quick info, which she gathers from the system, including unread text messages, upcoming reminders, tracking info. She is especially useful because of her integration with Microsoft’s services, including Outlook, To-Dos, Bing, and Translator. She’s very basic if you use her though the Microsoft Launcher, however there is a dedicated app on the Google Play Store, which can additionally play music, and manage devices such as the Xbox or the Surface Headphones we recently reviewed.

While I don’t use Cortana very often, I do find it to be useful when I ask her to add an entry to my to-do list, so that I can access the list later from the Tasks card. And speaking of cards…

­Glance screen­—a customizable list of pinned cards and widgets

Most Android phones come with a left home screen with Google search and news. Apple devices show a customizable list of widgets, and even the OnePlus 6T lets you choose between a Google Search screen or a widgets list. Microsoft takes all this a step further by putting it all on a single glance screen, complete with info cards, widgets, news, and the Timeline history.

Cards are Launcher’s built-in information widgets, useful for displaying many different things, such as sticky notes, recent messages and emails, calendar, tasks, screen time, contacts, and recently opened documents and apps, just to name a few. And of course, if the cards aren’t enough, you can also add any Android widget to the list, which are fully customizable in height to suit the user’s preference.

I am a big fan of the vertical list of widgets. It’s how information should be sorted. Windows Phone and iOS got this right, with both platforms sorting tiles and widgets (respectively) in this order. On an Android phone, someone with a lot of widgets would have to use multiple home pages to sort all of this info, and resorting can also take extra time. Putting all of it in a vertical list makes it easier to access the info on one scrollable screen and saves me a lot of time rearranging the widgets if I want to remove one or add another.

Microsoft Launcher still has its fair share of issues

I really do enjoy using Microsoft Launcher. But there are a few issues that cause me to scratch the back of my head. For one, the expandable dock at the bottom is buggy. Rearranging icons can cause icons to mistakenly duplicate and track over each other, adding to frustration when the intention is to swap one app for another.

I would also like to see Microsoft expand the gesture settings a little bit. Right now, I’m using my phone’s home button to access the app drawer, reserving the upwards swipe for accessing the expanded dock. But I think it might be slightly more intuitive if I could set a slight swipe up to expand the dock, with a longer swipe opening the app drawer. Something similar is already incorporated into the Google Pixel’s new navigation introduced in Android Pie, where a slight swipe up brings up the recent apps and the dock, while moving the finger all the way up opens the app drawer.

Other than that, Microsoft has done an excellent job at bringing its ecosystem to Android devices, giving users quick access to Cortana and the company’s other services with just the one app. Adding the additional apps like the Edge browser, Outlook, OneNote, To-Do and the countless others makes for a terrific Windows Phone alternative. Why not try it for yourself?

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Microsoft Launcher

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

Since Microsoft’s has discontinued its Kinect 2.0 for the Xbox One, the company has been trying to replace the intuitive Kinect voice commands by launching Xbox skills for Cortana and Alexa. Unfortunately, voice commands through these digital assistants has never been as good and intuitive as the original Kinect voice commands, but Microsoft is apparently working on a fix.

As reported by Windows Central today, it seems that Microsoft has quietly upgraded the Xbox voice commands on the Cortana-powered Harman Kardon Invoke speaker, as well as Amazon’s Echo speakers with Alexa. If you own one of these devices, you can now use more natural voice commands like “Hey Cortana, launch Netflix” or “Hey Cortana, go Home” to interact wit your Xbox One. Previously, you need to formulate your voice commands like “Hey Cortana, tell Xbox to…” for the console to respond, which was a bit cumbersome.

Invoke + Xbox integration got an update today. It's so much faster now, and doesn't require you to say "on Xbox" for it to function. Now works like if you were using Kinect natively for voice commands. It's AWESOME pic.twitter.com/i31dpeUR8F

— Zac Bowden (@zacbowden) January 11, 2019

For now, these more intuitive voice commands seem to be restricted to connect speakers, and they’re not working yet on the Cortana and Alexa mobile apps. Microsoft is still selling the Harman Kardon Invoke on its online store for $49.95, though the device is still exclusive to the US. Amazon Echo products are available in many more markets, though be aware that the Xbox skill for Alexa is currently only available in the US and in beta in the UK.

Halo 5: Guardians is now free to play on Xbox One consoles for gamers with an active Xbox Live Gold membership. The full game can be downloaded and played from the Microsoft Store and all progress and Achievements will save to the cloud and carry over to a purchased version of the game should players choose to buy it at a later date.

This free period for Halo 5: Guardians will remain active until the end of this weekend, on Sunday night. It should be noted that Halo 5: Guardians is also currently free to play for Xbox Game Pass subscribers and that those who use Microsoft’s game subscription service will continue to be able to play it for free after this weekend is finished.

Halo 5: Guardians is the most-recent entry in the main Halo video game series. Its sequel, Halo Infinite is currently in development. Not much is known about Halo Infinite beyond the new visual style glimpsed in its initial teaser video, the fact that it will include microtransactions, and that it will be made with esports in mind. It’s officially been announced to launch on Windows 10 and Xbox One though a release on Microsoft’s next Xbox console could be a possibility depending on how long development takes.

Are you a Halo fan and are you going to play Halo 5 this weekend? Let us know in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Xbox content.

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Halo 5: Guardians

Developer:
Microsoft Studios

Price:
Free

Mojang, the studio that develops Minecraft and is owned by Microsoft, wants to celebrate 2019 by seeing what builders create in 2019. This also celebrates the recent release of version 1.9, the second of the Village and Pillage updates, the latest of which adds bamboo, scaffolding, pandas, and new cats.

To make things even sweeter (not that they could be when you have pandas), the company is going to put its favorite creations to be featured on its website at Minecraft.net. The site has been needing a makeover now that the year is new, especially seeing as how the screenshots used are, well, from last year. So now’s your chance as a Minecraft fan to show the world what you really know how to build something great!

To help you and others get familiar with the new items, the developers are also giving players a few tips to get started.

• Bamboo, the panda’s favorite food and hiding place, can be a great plant for your garden. That is, if you can handle its incredibly fast growth rate. In addition to its usefulness in foodmaking, it can also look really nice as decoration if you combine them with flowers here and there.
• The new scaffolding blocks are, in a sense, like elevators, except more natural and better for the environment. That’s because it allows the user to move up and down tall structures without the risk of fall damage. And what’s more, if you don’t need them anymore, just break the block at the bottom and all of the ones at the top will come falling down.

The developers are also encouraging use of blocks from previous version as well, such as the coral blocks and dried kelp from the Update Aquatic version. What do you plan on building? Feel free to share below.

Windows’ default app settings decide which apps launch automatically when you open a file or perform certain tasks. Out of the box, Windows will use its built-in apps, so you’ll get Microsoft Edge for web browsing, the Mail app for email and Photos for image viewing. These options can be changed though, letting you ensure tasks are always completed using your favourite apps.

Once you’ve installed your desired apps, head to the Settings app to start changing your default applications. Click the “Apps” category from the homepage and then navigate to the “Default apps” page within the section that opens.

At the top of the page, you can select your default app for each of six common tasks – email, maps, music, photos, videos and web browsing. The currently configured app is shown by default. To make a change, click the app’s name.

A menu will appear showing all the installed apps associated with the task category – media players will be offered for the “music player” category, while email clients will be shown for “Email.” Click the app you want to use as your default to configure it.

The impact of the change will vary depending on the app category. In general, default apps will be used when an app needs to be opened by the system or another program. For example, the default web browser will open links you click in your email app, while the default email client is the one that will draft new messages when you click an email address on a webpage.

You can get more fine-grained control over your default apps using the three links at the bottom of the page. The first two, “Choose default applications by file type” and “Choose default applications by protocol,” give you granular control over the circumstances in which an app should be considered the default.

If you want Microsoft Photos to be your default photos app, but need JPEG files to always open in Adobe Photoshop, you can configure this with a file type association. Find the “.jpeg” file extension in the “Choose default applications by file type” list and click the displayed app name to change the default.

Finally, the bottom-most link, “Set defaults by app,” displays a list of all your installed apps. Clicking an app and then pressing the “Manage” button will reveal a list of all the file types and protocols that it can act as the default for. This gives you a simple way to make an app the default for all the file types it supports.

It’s worth noting that you’ll generally only need the main “Default apps” page in settings, unless you’re an advanced user looking for more precise control. Many program installers let you register new apps as defaults for their category or file types during setup, so look carefully for these options when you add new software. If you want to change these defaults later, or reverse an unintended change made by a program installer, just head back to the “Default apps” page in Settings.

The developer of the popular third-party YouTube app, yTube, has released a statement which has been shared on Reddit. In it, he goes over what has been improved in the latest app update, which went live today, and also shares his plans for yTube going into 2019 on Xbox One, Windows 10, and Windows 10 Mobile.

Of particular note is mention of Version 4.0 which is currently expect to launch in at least beta by March this year. Here’s the complete statement:

All Platforms

Seeking forward in long videos is now significantly faster! When you jump to the 30 minute mark in a video, playback will resume in less than 10 seconds on the average connection. This has been a problem in myTube for a very long time, and the solution was fairly complicated to implement, but I’m happy I’ve finally been able to work this out for you guys!

There have been lots of tiny design changes throughout the app. For instance, the notification you clicked on to bring this message up has been completely changed. Comments have been redesigned as well, and there are many other subtle changes to make things look a little cleaner.

This update fixes a bug where videos weren’t being added to your watch history, as well a bug where videos couldn’t be removed from watch later. This update also fixes a bug where the video player UI would sometimes go into a false “buffering” state even though the video was playing.

PC & Mobile

It’s now possible to create offline playlists for your saved videos! Just click “Add to” on any of your saved playlists and click “New” to make a new playlist; you’ll have the option to make it an offline playlist. Then you can add any of your saved videos to that playlist ?

A new acceleration curve has been added when seeking using touch. This should make it easier to seek to precise timestamps in long videos using touch.

The system media controls that appear when you press the volume button now linger after a video/audio has ended. So if the song you were listening to in the background ended, you can just bring up the controls and hit play to repeat the song, no need to re-open the app anymore.

On PC specifically, you can now press up and down to select search suggestions while typing into the search box. You can now also seek to specific points in a video by pressing the numbers on your keyboard.

Xbox

The default playback controls have been changed slightly. Seeking has been moved from the right stick to the triggers. Changing playback speed has been asigned to up/down on the right stick.

Don’t like these changes to the playback controls? Now you have the ability to change them to whatever you want! Playback controls can now be mapped to your liking to the two bumpers, two triggers and all 4 directions on right stick! You can assign play/pause toggle, manual seeking, seek by 10 seconds, playback speed, and frame-by-frame to these controls. You can map the controls from the playback section of the app’s settings, or by pressing the Menu button on the controller while playing a video.

That’s it!

That’s the most important stuff from this update, but there were a lot of other small changes that you can see in the changelog using the link below (thank you Arlo, the creator of “myTube! Companion,” for building me a new changelog page).

Enjoy the update!

Cheers, Chris

Hi everyone,

I’ve had a small tradition with myTube’s development process since 2014. When myTube reached version 1.5 nearly 5 years ago, I started working on myTube 2.0. Then when version 2.5 came, I started work on myTube 3.0. Today we hit version 3.5, and the tradition will continue with myTube 4.0 in 2019!

While 2.0 and 3.0 were completely rebuilt from scratch, that won’t be the case for 4.0. Instead, I’ll be taking the current app and overhauling it from the inside out. Hopefully that means development won’t take a whole year this time, but no promises haha. At the very least, you can expect 4.0 to be available in beta by early March!

There’s a lot of stuff I have planned that I want to tell you guys about, but I won’t spoil the surprises until later. As with 3.0, I’ll be keeping you up to date on 4.0’s development progress with occasional messages ?

Cheers, Chris

Do you use yTube? Let us know which devices you use it on in the comments below and then subscribe to us on YouTube here for Microsoft and Windows 10 content to watch in the app.

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myTube!

Developer:
Ryken Studio

Price:
Free

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Just Cause 3 are both now available to play on Xbox One for Xbox Game Pass subscribers. While these video games came out back in 2017 and 2015 respectively, they’re both rather major releases so their addition to Microsoft’s Netflix-like subscription service is a boon for current members.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 isn’t the latest entry in the Marvel vs Capcom fighting series but it is one of the more-popular ones. This particular Ultimate version is a re-release of the 360 game with improved graphics and all of the downloadable content characters included straight out of the box.

It features local multiplayer for two players, online multiplayer for up to eight, and a large number of popular Capcom and Marvel characters to play as such as Wolverine, Iron Fist, Ryu, Phoenix, Thor, and Deadpool.

Just Cause 3 is the third entry in the Just Cause action series which is garnering a lot of buzz right now due to the release of Just Cause 4 on Xbox One last month. The game features a large open world to explore, loads of action and explosions, and numerous vehicles to drive like speedboats, jets, helicopters, and sports cars.

Are you an Xbox Game Pass subscriber and are you hyped to play these two games? Let us know which one you’ll try first in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Xbox gaming content.

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ULTIMATE MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 3

Developer:
CAPCOM CO., LTD.

Price:
$24.99

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Just Cause 3

Developer:
Square Enix

Price:
$19.99