Microsoft has been bringing several new AI-powered features to its Office apps in recent months, such as the new Ideas feature that can now provide intelligent suggestions to users working on Excel documents. Word also comes with Editor, an AI-powered writing assistant that can be a very helpful resource during the writing process.

AI can be great for providing intelligent suggestions, but it can also help to reduce distractions. As an example, when you’re working on a Word document, there are probably times where you have to interrupt your flow to look for additional information. “When this happens, you likely do what research tells us many Word users do: leave a placeholder in your document and come back to it later to stay in your flow,” explained Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365.

Well, Microsoft wants to make it easier for users who regularly create these kind placeholders in Word documents to keep track of all of them. The company will add a built-in To-do feature to Word, and the app will be able to create placeholders automatically when users type “TODO: finish this section” or “<<insert closing here>>” in Word documents.

Once Word automatically creates these placeholders in a document, the app will keep track of all of them and also display them on a dedicated panel when users come back to the document. Even better, Word users will be able to @mention coworkers within placeholders to ask them for help.

“Over time, Office will use AI to help fill in many of these placeholders. In the next few months, Word will use Microsoft Search to suggest content for a to-do like <<insert chart of quarterly sales figures>>. You will be able to pick from the results and insert content from another document with a single click,” explained Spataro.

This AI-powered To-Do feature is available today in the latest Insider build of Office for Mac, and it’s coming soon to Word for Windows and the web. To try it on a Mac today, you’ll need to be an Office 365 subscriber and join the Office Insider Fast Ring in the Microsoft Auto Update app.

Panasonic has announced their new ultra-rugged laptop, the Toughbook 31, with an extremely durable build and running the Windows 10 operating system.

Interestingly, the new model will come with optional 4G LTE-Advanced and GPS connectivity, and will also some with 32 GB of DDR4 RAM and a 256 GB solid state drive. It also comes with in either Core i5 or Core i7 variants, and can be configured with  more than a day of battery life with an optional second battery that can be inserted into the media bay.

The Toughbook 31 is primarily targeted towards multiple industries including police, military, construction, and manufacturing industries where a laptop could easily be destroyed in their kinds of work. The new machine is expected to be released for $3,699 in December.

Could you use an extremely durable laptop for your hobbies or work? Your thoughts are welcome in the comment section below this post.

The upcoming “19H1” update for Windows 10 will apparently bring support for WPA3, the latest Wi-Fi security standard that will replace WPA2 in the near future. Traces of the upcoming support were found in the freshly released Windows 10 SDK Preview Build 18272, the first SDK for Windows 10 version 19H1.

As spotted by MSPoweruser, the API updates detailed in the release notes for this new SDK include something about Windows Networking Connectivity and WPA3. To our knowledge, Microsoft hasn’t discussed WPA3 on Windows 10 yet, but this new API is a pretty good hint that the new protocol will be supported in the next major update for Windows 10

The Wi-Fi Alliance initially announced the new WPA3 protocol back in June, and the new standard will bring enhanced security protections while retaining interoperability with WPA2 devices. The new protocol is currently an optional certification for Wi-Fi certified devices, but the Wi-Fi Alliance says that support will become mandatory once market adoption reaches a certain point.

As part of today’s N7 celebration for the series, Mass Effect: Andromeda is being updated to support the full 4K ultra HD capabilities on the Xbox One X console. The patch, at almost 1.7 GB in size, is available right now for the consoles, and officially makes the game an Xbox One X Enhanced title.

Mass Effect is BioWare’s sci-fi third person shooter game, and Andromeda is the fourth installment of the series and the story takes place in the galaxy of the same name. While earlier reviews of the older series were very positive, the Andromeda iteration received more negative feed back from critics. Of course, that’s for you to decide if you haven’t tried it, so if you’re interested, check out the video below.

BioWare’s update for the game suggests the company hasn’t forgotten about the series altogether, although November 7 is the official date the gaming company celebrates the franchise. Either way, fans of the series should be pleased with the new patch, especially those running Microsoft’s top-of-the-line 4K console.

Do you enjoy playing Mass Effect: Andromeda? Does the update significantly improve your experience? Let us know in the comments below.

A new racing video game, GRIP, has just launched on the Xbox One and is now available to play either as a full purchase or as part of the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

In addition to being available on Xbox Game Pass, GRIP is also Xbox One X Enhanced and supports 4K graphics when played on the Xbox One X. GRIP allows for four player local multiplayer matches or games with up to 10 racers when played online.

As an extra bonus, the Pariah Garage Kit DLC, which allows for more customization options, is currently completely free for all Xbox One gamers (link below).

Here’s the official store description:

Scale walls, ceilings and anything else you can get your tyres on to… as you master tantalising tracks, tricks and perform mind-blowing stunts to race your way across the cosmos. Customise your vehicle, utilise devastating weapons and exploit a destructible environment to ensure not only victory, but the complete annihilation of your opponents. Harnessing gravity defying physics alongside a bristling arsenal of outlandish weapons, GRIP delivers the fastest, most competitive racing experience ever. Featuring a killer soundtrack, furious speeds and intense action, GRIP is guaranteed to generate unforgettable gaming moments – online or offline – with nail-biting split screen racing and tournaments.

Are you going to buy GRIP outright or will you give it a go on Xbox Game Pass? Let us know which method you’ve decided in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Xbox gaming content.

Download
QR-Code

GRIP

Developer:
Wired Productions

Price:
$39.99

Download
QR-Code

Pariah Garage Kit

Developer:
Wired Productions

Price:
Free

After announcing its plans to send Office 365 users emails with product training and tips on how to use the service, Microsoft has been forced to change its mind following user backlash (via ZDNet). As it turns out, enabling this feature for all Office 365 commercial users probably wasn’t such a good idea, even though Office 365 admins could still disable this service in the Microsoft 365 Admin center.

“Based on your feedback, we’re making some updates to the plan for users to receive helpful product training and tips via email,” Microsoft said in a message to Office 365 admins. “We want to take time to review your suggestions, so we are pausing the release of this feature.”

On Reddit, many Office 365 were worried that these “tips” could appear as phishing attempts by uneducated users. “You know every time one of those emails go out you’re going to get 25 emails about it that are asking if it’s a phishing attempt or spam though,” wrote one user. Others in the same thread complained about not having any control over the kind of product training that these emails would include. “I dont want my users reading tips and suddenly feeling empowered to use the system in ways we havent instructed them to,” wrote another Reddit user.

Microsoft’s note to admins suggests that the company hasn’t entirely given up on the idea of sending tips to Office 365 users. It would certainly be a good thing to make this feature entirely opt-in, while also giving Office 365 admins some control over the content that gets pushed to end users. Microsoft says that it’s currently reviewing suggestions and will share details about its updated plans in a future post for Office 365 admins.

Microsoft has announced it is working to port tools from its Sysinternals utility suite to Linux. The suite of applications has gained an almost legendary status amongst Windows system administrators.

Yesterday, Microsoft employee David Fowler announced the release of the first Sysinternals tool for Linux, process dump creation utility ProcDump. Microsoft executive Mario Hewardt, Principal Program Manager for Azure diagnostics also confirmed that other apps are in the works, including Sysinternals’ famed ProcMon process monitoring utility.

Sysinternals was originally developed by an independent company, Winternals. It began life in 1996 and has grown into an extensive catalogue of free Windows management tools, allowing admins to monitor Windows’ internal file, networking and processing operations. The suite also assists developers in debugging Windows applications and aids security researchers in tracking the activities of malware.

Microsoft acquired Winternals in 2006, bringing the Sysinternals suite in-house. Winternals cofounder Mark Russinovich is now the chief technical officer (CTO) of Microsoft’s Azure cloud division.

The move to bring Sysinternals to Linux is significant for Microsoft in its ongoing pivot to the cloud. Under CEO Satya Nadella, the company has moved to embrace the wider cloud ecosystem beyond its own Windows infrastructure. That’s meant increased investment in supporting Linux systems across Windows and Azure, giving developers more options when choosing their technology stacks.

These efforts have paid off. In September, Scott Guthrie, Microsoft executive vice president of cloud and enterprise, told ZDNet that half of all Azure virtual machines now run Linux. That figure has increased from just 20 percent in 2015. Without the increased support for Linux on Azure, many of those VMs may have been created on competing clouds instead.

The porting of Sysinternals to Linux is another way for Microsoft to increase its hospitality towards Linux developers and workloads. Developers will be able to use familiar Sysinternals tools on both Windows and Linux systems, removing the need to learn two applications.

ProcDump is just the first application to become available. Its functionality revolves around creating program dumps when certain conditions are met. Developers can set up criteria to automatically create a process dump, such as when CPU usage exceeds 50%. The resulting data can be invaluable in determining why the application is consuming so much processor time.

The Linux version of the ProcDump application is open-source and available for download now. Installation instructions can be found in the GitHub repository. There are currently a few limitations when compared to the Windows version but the core of ProcDump is already functioning.

After some fast and furious quarterly earnings announcements, industry analysts are now drawing clearer lines between Amazon and Microsoft’s cloud services competition.

Both Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon’s AWS cloud services had slow growth to report for their FY19 Q1 and third-quarter earnings, respectively. However, Microsoft continues to gain market share and seemingly at the cost of potential AWS growth.

As big-name companies such as Walmart partner with Microsoft to make use of Azure’s cloud services, the trend may become more evident over time.

Back in July, Microsoft and Walmart announced a new ‘cloud factory that is being co-engineered by developers from both companies and planted in Austin, Texas.

During the time of the announcement, there were few details about how the partnership would work or the specific technologies that would be put into place.

Fortunately, Microsoft author Vanessa Ho just posted a blog about the expansion efforts of Microsoft and Walmart’s ‘cloud factory’.

The Walmart-Microsoft team – known internally as “4.co” for its location at Fourth and Colorado streets – will initially focus on migrating Walmart’s thousands of internal business applications to Microsoft Azure. The team will also build new, cloud-native applications. The collaboration will be part of a multi-year journey to modernize Walmart’s enterprise application portfolio, create more efficient business processes and decrease operational costs associated with legacy architecture.

Roughly, 30 technologists with varying specialties are coming together to upgrade Walmart’s business platforms using Microsoft AI, an internal natural language processor to handle 40 terabytes of unstructured text and machine learning to modernize its customers shopping experiences.

During an interview, executive vice president and enterprise chief information officer at Walmart, Clay Johnson, offered some further details about the company’s decision to use Microsoft Azure solutions.

With this partnership with Microsoft, we started talking, ‘‘Hey, what’s the best way to accelerate all the stuff we’re doing here? We need help and expertise. We want to move fast. How do we partner our smart people with Microsoft’s smart people?”

Then it was obvious: ”Why don’t we just co-locate the teams together.” We haven’t done something like this before with co-location, but I think the outcomes are going to be huge and strengthen our partnership even more. You’re going to see a lot more co-innovation around IoT, computer vision, big data and real-time analytics.

Aside from the obvious benefits of upgrading its various platforms with Azure infused services, Microsoft and Walmart also share a common competitor in Amazon that may also be propelling this new partnership.

Microsoft benefits from the 4.co (the name of the Walmart/Microsoft partnership) by experiencing scale they may not have previously done when deploying Azure services. According to Johnson, Walmart has 11,200 global stores and 2.2 million associates that will be affected by the platform upgrade in one way or another.

Walmart has a vested interest in leveraging its Microsoft partnership in a bid  to direct the next phase of consumer shopping, one in which Johnson believes will be a blended physical and online instance rather than the mainly online one Amazon offers today.

I think you’re going to see an omnichannel-type world that is a blend of e-commerce and brick and mortar, where consumers can have access to things at any point, any time. They can order online and pick up in the store or have it delivered same-day. You can see we’re starting to do that with our online grocery right now.

Amazon has seemingly acknowledged that future with its recent purchase of Whole Foods retail locations as well as the company testing a small brick and mortar presence as of late. It’ll be interesting to see if Walmart can port its foot traffic into the digital world with this new investment as well see what new lessons Microsoft learns with deploying Azure to a Walmart level scale.

Parallels Toolbox 3, the latest version of Parallels’ suite of easy-to-use tools is launching today on Windows and Mac. Compared to the version 1.5 (for Windows) and 2.5 (for Mac) we tested last year, this 3.0 update brings a couple of useful new utilities on both platforms, as well as some welcome UI improvements.

“We’ve been getting very positive feedback from both PC and Mac users of Parallels Toolbox who consider it their “go-to” solution to quickly complete dozens of everyday computing tasks with a single click,” said Jack Zubarev, Parallels president. “Today’s customer-inspired new and enhanced tools added to Parallels Toolbox 3 make it an even more useful one-stop time-saving resource.”

First of all, Parallels Toolbox 3.0 comes with a new search bar on Windows and Mac, allowing users to easily find the tool they’re looking for. Moreover, it’s also possible to choose which utilities appear in the pop up window, as seen in the above image.

For Windows users, this version 3.0 introduces two new tools for easily finding duplicates and batch converting images. A new “Sleep Timer” has also been added, letting users configure a countdown before their PC will go to sleep or shut down.

Parallels Toolbox 3.0 for Windows also improves existing tools like Download Video, which now supports downloading 4K videos from the web. Additionally, the Record Audio tool is now capable of recording from an external mic, as well as saving recordings in MP3 format.

For Mac users, Parallels Toolbox 3.0 brings three new utilities for easily uninstalling apps, reveal hidden files in macOS and see local times around the world. This latest release also brings improvements to some features like Annotate Screenshots and Record Audio, and the Parallels Toolbox app also supports the new dark mode in macOS Mojave.

Parallels Toolbox 3.0 for Windows and Mac is still available as a $19.99 yearly subscription, which includes free updates several times during the year. There are really a lot of time-saving utilities included in Parallels Toolbox, and you download a free trial of the latest version on the company’s website.

After a combination of leaks, private testing, and random public testing, Microsoft has finally made an official announcement about the new shopping cart and wish list features that are coming to the Microsoft Store on Windows 10 PCs, web, and Xbox One consoles.

Both features (see above image) work the same as most other shopping cart and wish lists online, i.e. product pages will now feature options to add an item to a shopping cart or wish list.

Xbox Insiders will gain access to the shopping cart today for testing on Xbox One consoles while Windows Insiders are expected to begin their testing in the very near future. Public users, i.e. the average user, will gain the shopping cart experience in a few weeks.

The wish list feature is expected to launch in the immediate future to everyone on Windows 10 and web while Xbox Insiders will also be able to begin their console testing at the same time. Public Xbox One users will gain access to the wish list in a few weeks.

Shopping list and wish list functionality has been a long time coming for Windows and Xbox as both are available on almost every other online shopping experience.

Are you excited for these new features or do they not really interest you? Let us know in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Microsoft content.

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.

Outings, the mobile travel app from Microsoft Garage, is now compatible with Windows Mixed Reality headsets

The Microsoft Garage project, Outings, that acts as a personal travel guide, has now added support for Windows Mixed Reality, allowing you to discover places in Mixed Reality.

Legacy volume mixer may be getting muted in the future, replaced with a modern alternative in Windows 10 19H1

Microsoft looks to be getting rid of the classic Volume Mixer from Windows, as the latest Windows 10 Insider build brings a new, modern replacement to allow you to individually control the volume for different apps.

Windows 10 UWP bug allowed full file system access without asking permission

A bug in Windows 10 allowed UWP apps to access the full file system, except without the need for them to ask for permission. The bug is reported to have been fixed in the Windows 10 October 2018 update.

Two brothers steal 180 brand new Surface devices from Microsoft Building 88, get caught

You could say their crime was brought to the Surface. 2 brothers attempted to steal 180 brand new Surface devices, directly from Microsoft Building 88 in a bold move that got them caught. One of the brothers was a full-time Microsoft employee and used his keycard to gain access.

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

The Volume Mixer in Windows has been an easy method of adjusting the volume for individual programs and applications, all without needing to adjust the master volume. For example, you could turn the volume down on Google Chrome and turn the volume up on Spotify, but keep the volume for other applications the same.

As Microsoft continues to consolidate legacy settings panels into its Settings app on Windows 10, the company now looks set to be muting the Volume Mixer dialog, instead adding a new “App volume and device preferences” screen to the Settings app.

The new panel retains the ability of individually setting the volume for different apps, but also lets you choose the audio output device for different apps.

It is curently in testing with Windows Insiders. As of Windows 10 19H1, build 18272, right-clicking on the Sound icon in the taskbar and clicking “Open volume mixer” opens up the above new Settings panel.

Fans of the Darksiders series, as well as those who have not played Darksiders I & II but are interested, could be about to be pleased, as THQ Nordic confirms that the 2 previous titles in the Darksiders franchise are to receive updates to enhance the experience on Xbox One X, according to THQ Nordic in a report with Wccftech.

Both games will run at native 4K, while diving you into smooth action with 60FPS.

Those wanting to pick up the Darksiders games can do so for just $90. THQ Nordic is offering a bundle of Darksiders III: Blades & Whip Edition that includes Darksiders Warmastered Edition and Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition.

Xbox One X enhancements will be available for all the games by the end of the month.

As Microsoft slowly ditches its all-in-one media ethos for Xbox One, instead refocusing the console to be the centrepiece of gaming, the console is losing some features that it once had.

It all started with the removal of the “snap” function, allowing you to snap content to the side of another app or game. This could allow you to watch a video or engage in a video call while playing a game.

The next feature to be dropped will be USB TV Streaming to the Xbox app on iOS or Android. Microsoft is sending messages to users of USB TV Streaming to warn them that the feature will be removed in just 30 days’ time.

Strangely, it appears the Xbox app on Windows 10 will be retaining the feature, enabling you to continue USB TV Streaming to your Windows 10 devices, just not iOS or Android.

With the removal of this feature, some Xbox users are raising concerns about the number of features being removed, while others are worried about the HDMI-IN feature’s future for the next Xbox console, which allows another HDMI-enabled device to pass video through to the Xbox.

Did you ever use the USB TV Streaming functionality? What are your thoughts on its upcoming removal? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

While Microsoft may be publically touting Progressive Web Apps as a viable alternative to the more traditional app development, the company is still heading its bets with UWP and .NET developers.

Senior Program Manager for the Windows Developer team, Nikola Metulev just announced that developers can now make use of Windows Community Toolkit v5.0 as soon as this week.

I’m excited to announce the next major update of the Windows Community Toolkit, version 5.0. This update introduces the new WindowsXamlHost control built on top of the new XAML Islands APIs to simplify adding built-in or custom UWP control to a WPF or Windows Forms desktop application. Alongside, this version introduces new WinForms and WPF controls that leverage the WindowsXamlHost interfaces to wrap UWP platform controls such as the InkCanvas and the MapControl.

Some of the standout features of today’s announcement also include an update to WindowsXamlHost, wrapped UWP controls for the WindowsXamlHost interface, a new TabView control,  support for Weibo publishing and Twitter and LinkedIn .NET framework support.

For anyone new to Windows Community Toolkit usage, Microsoft has built a sample app that will help walk developers through the new features and typical workflow of the service. To try out the Windows Community Toolkit Sample App or just read over the details of this weeks update, head here for more info.

Microsoft Whiteboard, the company’s creative collaboration app available on Surface Hub, Windows 10, iOS and the web will soon get a dark theme option. Ian Mikutel, Senior Product Manager, Microsoft Whiteboard, Microsoft OneNote) announced the news on the dedicated UserVoice website today, saying that “more background options, including a dark ‘blackboard’ option” would be coming “soon.”

Happy #friyay from the Microsoft Whiteboard team! https://t.co/u5Yo6IyvZa

— Ian Mikutel (@IanMikutel) November 2, 2018

Adding a dark theme option to all Microsoft apps seems to be a real trend these days. File Explorer, Microsoft To-Do and Sticky Notes are three noteworthy examples on Windows 10, and we also learned earlier this week that Office for Mac was getting a dark theme option as well.

As the original piece of feedback highlighted on the Whiteboard’s suggestion portal, a “blackboard” mode really makes sense on the Surface Hub, a device sized like an authentic blackboard. However, more background options will definitely be welcome on all platforms where Microsoft Whiteboard is currently available.

Download
QR-Code

Microsoft Whiteboard

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

Download
QR-Code

‎Microsoft Whiteboard

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

Microsoft’s Edge browser has been derided for not having all of the functionally Google’s Chrome browser has built up over the past 10 years, despite being developed by the company who arguably won the browser wars back in the day.

However, it seems slowly but surely, Microsoft’s Edge browser is gaining support from third-party browser extension developers to help circumvent some of its latest criticisms.

The sought-after Privacy Badger web extension is making its way to the Edge browser soon, according to the developer’s GitHub announcement. (via MSPU)

Hi everyone, I have good news.
After further internal discussion, we’ve decided we can go ahead and publish in Microsoft Store. The next step should be putting together a pull request with fixes for Edge.
Thanks a lot for your support!

Perhaps, those “further internal discussions” had to do with Microsoft recently becoming the arbiter of one of the most trafficked open source communities to date, where much of Privacy Badger’s code resides.

However, the more likely story is that even with Edge’s modest user numbers, the audience was still attractive enough for Privacy Badger developers.

Adding Privacy Badger to the Microsoft Store gives its Edge browser another parity win with other popular modern browsers such as Google Chrome and Firefox.

As of now, Privacy Badger developers have not announced a release date, but I’m sure Microsoft marketing will be giving this popular, open source cookie blocker some love when the time comes.

After Microsoft dropped support for its Skype Classic app on the desktop yesterday, the company has started pushing more users to its new cross-platform client today. Peter Skillman, Director of Design for Skype and Outlook announced the expanded rollout this morning, highlighting some of the new Skype v8 features along the way. Fans of the old Windows app may need some time to adjust to the new desktop version, but it does come with several useful new features such as built-in Call Recording, access to third-party apps (Skype Add-ins) within conversations and more.

Ok, maybe we will hear a lot of growsing but we are on it…we are also working on “more compact mode” plus MUCH MUCH more!

— peter skillman (@peterskillman) November 2, 2018

If you miss the more compact design of the Skype Classic app, Skillman also emphasized today that the Skype team is currently working on a “more compact mode” for Skype v8. Unfortunately, the new desktop app also doesn’t support Split View mode as of today, though Microsoft has recently brought it back in preview form in Skype for Windows 10. This separate client is just like Skype v8, but it ships with the Windows 10 October 2018 update and integrates with Windows 10 features like MyPeople or the native Share menu.

Microsoft is now almost done rolling out Skype v8 on all platforms, and the modern experience is also launched in preview on the web earlier this week. The company is still have some work to do to achieve complete feature parity with the Skype Classic app, but the Skype team is now iterating fast with the help of Skype Insiders.

Microsoft has released another round of updates for their new Skype v8 app for desktop devices including Windows and Mac systems. The company says it has made the new changes to improve the app’s accessibility features. Here’s the full list.

• Focus assist, which announces when you receive an incoming call for keyboard only and screen reader users.
• Screen reader announcements from users in the active call list.
• Navigational focus announcements within the contact list and settings to improve flow.
• Announcing the name, content, and actions of a pop up dialog.
• New message announcements when users are in another chat.
• Smoother navigation that takes a more natural left-to-right and top-to-bottom path.
• Displaying additional information when sending and receiving messages. For example, Skype now announces when messages are sent and when messages you attempt to send have failed.

Microsoft has also created an accessibility guide to help people move from the classic Skype over to the new version. The company officially ends support for the classic app as of today, and legacy mobile version will be discontinued shortly after.

Are you enjoying the new Skype experience, and do you think these improvements will make Skype better? Let us know in the comment section below.

Sunset Overdrive, the open-world third-person shooter that launched exclusively on the Xbox One back in 2014 could soon make its way to Windows PCs. A Windows version of the game has recently been rated by the ESRB, and Windows Central is reporting today that the PC release is “near.”

While Microsoft or developer Insomniac Games have yet to confirm the PC port, an official announcement could be coming at Microsoft’s XO18 event on November 10. With its post-apocalyptic setting, unique art style and fun gunplay, Sunset Overdrive received some quite praise at the time of its Xbox One debut, and the Xbox One exclusivity almost seemed like a missed opportunity. It would be pretty great to see the game support Xbox Play Anywhere and cross-platform play between Xbox One and Windows 10, but a release on Steam would be even better.

Sunset Overdrive is currently free-to-play on Xbox One with Xbox Game Pass, and Microsoft previously gave it away with its Games with Gold program back in April 2016. This is really game that deserves to come back to the spotlight, especially after we’ve seen several Microsoft Studios games including ReCore and Super Lucky’s Tale being re-released on Steam.

Microsoft has once again recapped  new features for the applications that come with their Office 365 subscription service, this time for October. The new updates mostly focus on improving productivity for tablets with styluses as well improving migration of data from Personal/Home to Business subscribers.

Perhaps the most interesting of changes is that Microsoft is allowing inked text and diagrams to be converted to printed text and boxes in Word and PowerPoint, which the company says leverages AI and language processing in the cloud. This is potentially a great way to improve productivity on tablets like the new Surface Pro 6, as typing and managing shapes and tables can be rather tedious on a touchscreen. Additionally, users can also make grammatical corrections and proofreading revisions with just their stylus by drawing the indicators on the document, which will be automatically corrected by the application.

Microsoft is also adding many other features to its Office apps. For example, users will be able to insert 3D animations into Word and PowerPoint documents to help create a better understanding when ideas seem to complex for static images. Additionally, those Word documents will also be easily converted into temporary web pages should the user wish to share the information in that way. While announced in October, animations will become available in November.

The company is also making it easier for users to transition their data into the cloud with their new SharePoint Migration Tool, which will allow customers to migrate their personal SharePoint and OneDrive data over to SharePoint Online, OneDrive for business, and Microsoft Teams. And should the task prove more difficult than it sounds, Microsoft has a new help and support pane in the Office.com portal which can be accessed though a web browser.

Microsoft is allowing subscribers to try own the stylus proofreading and the drawings-to-diagrams features today, while most of the rest of the new features will roll out over the next few months.

Do you think these new features will improve productivity, especially on tablets like the Surface Pro 6? Please let us know what you think in the comment section below.

One of Microsoft’s most beloved additions to Windows 10, well at least it gets a lot of developer love, is WSL, or Windows Subsystem for Linux. With it, developers and administrators can get to a Linux command line directly from Windows without having to run a VM or a dedicated Windows box, and with half of all VMs on Azure running Linux, it’s a useful and necessary tool. However, with this week’s latest Windows 10 Insider build, 18272, WSL is broken:

PSA – WSL wont work in Insiders Fast Ring Build 18272. The issue is now fixed and flighted for next weeks Fast Build. We recommend waiting until then to install. Sorry for the inconvenience ☹️ https://t.co/OhSHjzNbgq

— Tara Raj (@tara_amzn) October 31, 2018

A developer for WSL, Ben Hillis, and a program manager, Tara Raj, both confirmed on Twitter that the feature is broken in this build. At least we have a pretty good indication that there will be a new build next week, as according to the two it will contain a fix for the problem, so the issue, while annoying for some, will not (hopefully) be long lived.

If you have installed 18272 and are missing WSL, you can either roll back or wait a week for the next build, and if you haven’t yet installed 18272, you might want to wait.

We’ll have more on all the latest Insider build news as it happens, including the re-appearance of the Windows 10 October November 2018 Update, so be sure to keep coming back to OnMSFT.com!

Microsoft’s Surface headphones are the latest addition to the growing family of Surface accessories, and I got the chance to go hands-on with them today at the company’s Future Decoded event in London. The Surface headphones were announced by Surface chief Panos Panay during last month’s Surface event in New York, and they feature the same premium design and attention to detail that you can find on other Surface devices.

During my quick hands-on, I found that the Surface headphones felt really comfortable, with their soft ear cups adjusting perfectly around my ears. The headphones also felt lighter than what I excepted (they weigh 0.64 lbs), and I could totally imagine wearing them for a long period of time without any discomfort.

The Surface headphones come with touch controls on the right cup: you can play, pause and change tracks by tapping the on-ear sensor, and it worked fine during my testing. To change volume, you just turn the dial on the right ear, and I found that the music sounded crisp even when turning volume up to the max. The headphones feature 40 mm Free Edge drivers and deliver what Microsoft calls “Omnisonic audio.” I’m not really a headphones expert, but I think the Surface headphones should please most music fans with their balanced, not too bass-heavy sound.

I tried the Surface headphones in a very noisy environment, which was perfect for testing the Microsoft’s noise-cancelling technology. There are 13 different levels of noise cancellation on the headphones, and you can adjust them by using the dial on the left ear. This was actually my very first time trying noise-cancelling headphones, and I was quite impressed by the technology. I could still hear some background noise even after turning noise cancellation up to the max, but this is really something nice to have in a noisy environment like the one I was in.

The Surface headphones also integrate Cortana, but the digital assistant wasn’t enabled on the pre-production unit I tested. Microsoft says that Cortana will allow you to launch any music you want, start calls, set reminders, or even search the web. I’m not sure if this could be the headphones’ killer feature, but this sounds definitely nice to have.

According to Microsoft, the Surface headphones should deliver up to 15 hours of battery life when connected via Bluetooth with active noise cancellation on, and they can be fully charged in less than 2 hours. The headphones use a USB-C port for charging, but they also come with a 3.5 mm audio connector if you want to continue using them after the battery drains. In addition to an USB cable for charging and audio cable, the headphones also come with their own carrying case, which looks pretty good.

The Surface headphones will be priced at $349.99 in the US, and they will start shipping on November 19 (pre-orders start on Nov 15). They should also be available in the UK before the end of the year, but there’s still no ETA or pricing details. Because of Cortana is still only available in select markets around the world, it’s still not clear if we can expect an expansion to other markets next year. That’s too bad, because they definitely seem to be the perfect audio accessory for Surface and Microsoft fans.

Back in 2013 when Microsoft unveiled its Xbox One and the promise of an always connected and primarily digital gaming experience, the company was roundly mocked and panned for its seemingly overreaching ambitions.

At the time Microsoft proposed its online gaming distribution platform, companies such as Gamestop and other ambitious 3rd party studios looking to make a similar play denounced the company’s pitch.

Fast forward a few years, a couple of fundamental user-focused business strategies and advancements in the company’s cloud infrastructure and Microsoft seems to be revisiting a reality in which the Xbox platform evolves into a more digital gaming experience to a much more receptive audience.

While Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass isn’t quite the cloud-based initiative proposed during the Xbox One unveiling, or like Sony’s actual cloud-based solution with PS Now, its implementation does offer Microsoft a platform expansion that should worry competitors.

The launch of Xbox Game Pass has been a relative success for the company as Microsoft chalked up a 44% growth in its gaming revenues annually. The growth of the Xbox division helped add an additional 9% or $2.74 billion to the company’s bottom line, making it the third fastest growing sector in Microsoft’s portfolio.

Microsoft’s Xbox One hardware hasn’t been flying off the shelves in any noticeable way as of late thus isolating the gains in Xbox revenue to software related initiatives such as an increase in Xbox Live and Game Pass subscribers.

What this means is, that Microsoft isn’t going to be walking away from Xbox Game Pass anytime soon, and in fact, is already strategizing ways to expand the ecosystem.

Over the past year, Microsoft has continued to blur the line between where it wants its gamers to enjoy their gaming experiences as it pitches both Windows PCs and Xbox’s as destinations. Microsoft’s gaming obfuscation can be viewed as a shrewd business strategy that’s leveraging its presence in both PC and console ecosystems, but the reality is that on-demand entertainment services are a trend that is crossing over into the casual gaming experience.

According to a report from the Motley Fool that uses a Newzoo survey to canvass the number of subscription gamers that exist today the data shows an increase in EA Access and Xbox Game Pass subscribers. EA Access garners 15% of family gamers subscriptions while Game Pass is a close second with 14%.

While Microsoft undoubtedly plans to use its upcoming Project xCloud platform to further entrench itself in digital and cloud gaming platforms, EA is looking to launch stave off the competition with its recently reported cloud service for Origin Acess.

Electronic Arts is also reportedly developing a new cloud service for Origin Access. That integration would allow subscribers to choose between downloading or streaming games, allow EA to expand the Origin Access ecosystem to tablets and smartphones, and possibly merge the two Access platforms on the Xbox One.

As both Microsoft and EA continue their strategic business tango with one another, companies such as Valve are left in the middle to fret about Microsoft or EA pulling their games from Steam to prioritize their very similar distribution platforms.

Whatever the outcome, investors are finally beginning to perk up at the potential of Microsoft’s digital gaming ecosystem as well as competitors taking notice of pervasive expansion happening within the confines of Microsoft’s Xbox platform.