A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft demoed at Ignite its new Surface Hub 2 running Windows Core OS. This new operating system will replace what is currently called “Windows 10 Team” on the first-generation Surface Hub, and it’s also expected to power the HoloLens 2 as well as Microsoft’s rumored “Surface Phone.” From what we’ve learned, Windows Core OS will be a modular version of Windows that has been created for new form factors, and it will get rid of all the legacy stuff that is unecessary on non-PC devices.

imagine if your tablet display just rotated like the Surface Hub 2. This is Windows Core OS in action pic.twitter.com/d4ZDwIg0Gf

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) September 24, 2018

We still don’t know many details about Windows Core OS except from what we’ve seen from that this Surface Hub 2 demo. However, Italian blog Aggiornamenti Lumia reported yesterday that the Microsoft Store is getting ready to accept apps targeting the new OS (via Neowin). According to the report, the first applications exclusively compiled for Windows Core OS already exist: The file in the screenshot below mentions an app named “DogfoodAppWCore1” which targets “Windows.Core.”

The Italian blog also claims that Microsoft has already updated its Windows Dev Center to allow select developers to distribute Windows Core OS apps through the Microsoft Store. The Redmond giant has yet to discuss the new OS in details, and explain what this new platform means for existing UWP apps and legacy desktop apps. We’ll likely hear more next year as Microsoft gets ready to release its Surface Hub 2 (and maybe HoloLens 2) in the market.

Microsoft has partnered with Spektacom to help the Indian startup launch Power Bat, a new technology to help players improve their game and offer commentators, fans, and viewers with a new and unique way to engage with the sport.

Spektacom Technologies is founded by Anil Kumble, former captain of the Indian cricket team and one of the greatest bowlers the game has ever seen. The startup was incubated by Microsoft as part of its ScaleUp program in India.

The partnership is geared towards bringing a revolutionary broadcast experience to Star India, the leading cricket broadcaster in India. Star Sports used the technology successfully in local cricket leagues in India recently to provide real-time statistics and insights straight off the oval. For the first time ever, a broadcaster was able to provide data behind any shot played in a game for experts to comment and analyze.

Anil’s vision is to bring sports closer to fans through interesting ways of engagement using real-time sports analytics without disrupting the game or obstructing the players.

Power Bat is an IoT-based sensor sticker the size of a credit card that weighs just 5 grams – all powered by the Microsoft Azure cloud platform using AI and Internet of Things (IoT) services. The unique sticker sticks to the rear blade of the bat under a regular sponsor sticker, achieving the aim of being non-intrusive.

It captures details such as the bat speed, the twist of the bat at the time of the impact with the ball, quality of the shot, and the power of the shot. All this information is analyzed to get the power of the shot, which the team calls the ‘Power Spek’ score.

Using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), the sensor connects with an edge device called Stump Box that is buried behind the wicket. The data from the stump box is transferred and analyzed in Azure and shot characteristics are provided to broadcasters in real-time. During practice or coaching, the same data can be viewed through a mobile app, to do away with guesswork and a selector’s ‘gut feeling’ to spot new talent.

Given that cricket stadiums have wireless access restrictions, to ensure secure communication between the bat, edge device, and Azure, the Stump Box has been powered by Microsoft Azure Sphere-based hardware platform.

Technologies like AI and IoT have the potential to usher in a new era for sports, unlocking data-driven insights for players and coaches and creating more immersive fan experiences. Together with Spektacom and Star Sports, we are bringing the power of Azure and Azure Sphere to one of the world’s most celebrated games – cricket – transforming how it’s played, coached and watched.

– Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft, who’s also a big cricket fan

At the launch, Peggy Johnson, Executive Vice President at Microsoft, said that while we are already seeing the impact of connected devices in other industries, the company believes that with the advancements in its AI and cloud services, this is just the beginning of what’s possible for not only cricket but all sports.

Microsoft is looking to leverage its intelligent cloud and productivity solutions to help sports organizations worldwide to connect with fans, optimize team and player performance, and manage their operations in new, innovative ways.

The PTS test server for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) returns to the Xbox One playerbase today. Anyone who owns PUBG on Xbox One can download the Test Server files from the Microsoft Store and participate in the testing of new weapons, vehicles, and other new gameplay features.

The test server is kind of like an open beta and allows the game’s developers to test specific additions before bringing them over to the main game servers for everyone to experience.

Those who choose to play on the test server will get to try out the new Beryl M762 and MK47 Mutant guns and ride the Sanhok-exclusive scooter and tukshai vehicles. Gamers will also be able to try the new MP system (which now rewards by time played and rank) and see the Xbox Controller loading screen.

Here’s the official list of smaller gameplay changes:

• Added ‘TPP Aim Camera Position’ to options
• Reset to Right Shoulder (default setting)
• Camera will always be positioned above the character’s right shoulder
• Reset to Left Shoulder
• Camera will always be positioned above the character’s left shoulder
• Latest Peek Shoulder
• Camera position automatically moves to the direction you last leaned
• Latest Aim Shoulder
• Camera remains in the last ADS direction
• In this setting, the camera position won’t be changed by leaning while not in ADS or scoping
• Added a new attachment: the Laser Sight
• Bullet spread is reduced when hip firing and soft-aiming
• The Laser Sight fits on weapons with a lower rail slot available, taking up the grip slot.
• Added the improved Marker/Ping System first introduced for testing on the 8/1 test server update
• Using (R) button, you can create a marker where you are aiming on the compass at the top of the screen (not visible in the world)
• All team members can see this marker on the compass
• After setting the marker, there is a 2 second cooldown before you can mark again
• The marker on the compass will automatically disappear after 5 seconds
• When the ping markers overlap, the closest located marker will be shown on top.
• Increased maximum sensitivity (10 → 20)

Will give the PUBG test server a go or do you prefer to only play on games that are perfected for public gameplay? 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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PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS

Developer:
KRAFTON, Inc.

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Free

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PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS – Public Test Server

Developer:
KRAFTON, Inc.

Price:
Free

Bethesda, the developers of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games, will officially release the stress test for their new Fallout 76 game for lucky Xbox Insiders who pre-ordered the game before its November 14th release date.

The game developer stated that the beta will run for only a few hours each day starting Saturday and ending a few days before release, which is expected to bring a large volume of players to the server at a given time. The team will examine the server’s performance in its limited resources each day and deploy optimizations where necessary before finally releasing the game to the general public. The developers even encourage players to go wild, find bugs and break things. This way, potential problems can be addressed before the game is released.

Gamers who are on the waitlist of the game’s official release can potentially try it early by joining the Xbox Insider Program through the Xbox Insider Hub app. Gamers who digitally pre-ordered the game can sign in the app with the same Microsoft account that was used to pre-order the game, and then search for the “Fallout 76 Stress Test” to see if they are able to participate in the beta test.

On the other hand, people who pre-ordered a physical copy can log into their Bethesda.net account (or create one if they don’t yet have it) and see if a digital token is available under their Transaction History account section. If a token is available, the player will be able to use the code to redeem a temporary copy of the game from the Xbox Store.

Those not-so-lucky Xbox gamers who pre-ordered the game will still be able to get early access to the B.E.T.A. (Break-It Early Test Application) before its full release on Windows 10 and PS4. And to top the icing on the cake, Microsoft is also offering an Xbox One X Robot White Special Edition Fallout 76 Bundle for consumers for just $499.

Also, it might be worth pointing out that an Xbox Live Gold account is required to enter the stress test program, should the player be lucky enough to try the game early. Also worth mentioning is that since this is just a stress test, all progress will be wiped prior to the game’s full release.

If you can’t wait to play with the redesigned Xbox Live Avatars, you can now do so with the new Xbox Avatar Editor on Windows 10. Previously, this app was only available for Xbox Insiders through the Xbox Insider Hub app, but the new Avatar Editor now appears to be generally available on the Microsoft Store (thanks, Richard Hay!).

The new Xbox Live Avatars have been designed to be more inclusive, and they’re much modern than the ones from the Xbox 360 era. They’re still in beta as of this writing, but they will ship on the Xbox One 1810 system update later this month. Microsoft has also created a built-in Xbox Avatar Store where you can purchase additional customization items for your avatar.

On Windows 10, you can still run the new Xbox Avatar Editor and the old Xbox Original Avatars apps side by side. The new Xbox avatars do show up on the Xbox Windows 10 app, but they’re still static images like the old Xbox 360 avatars. You can download the new Xbox Avatar Editor from the link below, let us know in the comments if you managed to create something that better reflects your gamer identity.

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Xbox Avatar Editor

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A report by Gartner (via The Verge) reveals that Microsoft, for the first time, is now one of the top five manufacturers of PCs in the US market.

According to the report, Microsoft accounted for 4.1 percent of the US PC market in 2018’s third quarter, below Apple (at 13.7 percent), Lenovo (15.4), Dell (25.9), and HP (30.7). These numbers include Surface devices such as the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop but exclude Chromebooks and tablets such as Apple’s iPad. With the blurring of the lines between computers and tablets, these numbers are likely to be controversial for some in the industry as well as consumers.

Worldwide, Microsoft is currently being outperformed by all of the previously mentioned companies in addition to Acer and Asus. Overall there was just a 0.1 percent increase in worldwide PC sales year-over-year.

Gartner’s principal analyst, Mikako Kitagawa, said of the findings, “The PC market continued to be driven by steady corporate PC demand, which was driven by Windows 10 PC hardware upgrades. We expect the Windows 10 upgrade cycle to continue through 2020 at which point the upgrade demand will diminish. Despite the third quarter typically showing strong consumer PC sales due to the back-to-school season, weakness in consumer PC demand continued, offsetting the strong sales in the business market.”

Do these findings surprise you and do you consider Surface devices to be PCs? Share your thoughts with the community in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Microsoft content.

50 classic Atari video games have just been added to the Xbox One thanks to the launch of Atari Flashback Classics Volume 3.

Atari Flashback Classics Volume 3 retails for $19.99 which makes each video game in the bundle valued at just $0.40. Titles included in this pack support both local and online multiplayer and a variety of retro graphics to frame the gameplay on today’s modern widescreen TVs.

Here’s the official game description:

Atari Flashback Classics Volume 3 brings more classic arcade, Atari 2600 and 5200 games to the latest generation of consoles and, for the first time, vintage hits from M Network. Kick, fight, dunk, race and blast your way through 50 timeless games from Atari’s vast library of hits. Gain fame by landing your initials on the top of the leaderboards or challenge others online and show your mettle against classic gamers from around the world.

Are you a fan of classic video games and will you be giving this a go? Let us know in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more gaming content.

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Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 3

Developer:
Atari

Price:
$9.99

Microsoft’s HoloLens may not be receiving the same sort of attention its more consumer focused competitors are such as NVIDIA’s 3d Vision glasses, the Epson Moverio BT, Garmin’s Varia Vision or Magic Leap’s ML1, but it seems to have fans in at least one really cool industry.

MIT Technology Review is reporting that NASA has chosen to use Microsoft’s HoloLens headset to help build a new spacecraft.

According to the report, Lockheed Martin engineers are wearing HoloLens headsets to assemble portions of the new Orion crew capsule.

In the headset, the workers can see holograms displaying models that are created through engineering design software from Scope AR. Models of parts and labels are overlaid on already assembled pieces of spacecraft. Information like torquing instructions—how to twist things—can be displayed right on top of the holes to which they are relevant, and workers can see what the finished product will look like.

The virtual models around the workers are even color-coded to the role of the person using the headset. For Jory’s team, which is currently constructing the heat shield skeleton of Orion, the new technology takes the place of a 1,500-page binder full of written work instructions.

There are some limitations to the use of HoloLens as noted by spacecraft technician Decker Jory, that involve the weight and comfort of the headset. Jory claims that he can wear the headset up to three hours at time but chooses to rather use the HoloLens in 15-minute increments to learn task, check directions and confirm assembly construction.

Thanks in part to the successful use of HoloLens, Lockheed plans to expand its use of AR for its technicians to save time in task oriented projects. Eventually, Lockheed would like to use the HoloLens technology in space, according to the company’s head of emerging technologies, Shelley Preston.

“What we want astronauts to be able to do is have maintenance capability that’s much more intuitive than going through text or drawing content.”

While manufacturing vice president of Lockheed Martin, Brian O’Conner does rightly point out the need for Microsoft to make some wearability and platform development adjustments to HoloLens, he also believes that in five years time, “I don’t think you will find an efficient manufacturing operation that doesn’t have this type of augmented reality to assist the operators.”

Perhaps, Microsoft’s seemingly boring ambition to favor HoloLens in the commercial sector and not the more consumer-entertainment arena, is already paying off.

Microsoft has officially joined the Open Innovation Network (OIN) and will share their massive portfolio of patents with the 2,650 members of the community. Microsoft’s corporate vice president and chief intellectual property (IP) counsel, Erich Andersen, stated that the company will bring their “valuable and deep portfolio of over 60,000 issued patents to OIN for the benefit of Linux and other open source technologies”

For those unfamiliar, the Open Innovation Network is the world’s largest patent consortium where members share their patents with other members loyalty-free, with each member agreeing not to sue Linux developers for their use of the shared patents in their applications. Members of the organization include Google, Sony, IBM, and Red Hat.

Microsoft says that it understands that companies and developers don’t want just a “binary choice between Windows vs Linux, or .NET vs Java,” stating that access to all technologies for their platforms.

In a press release, ION’s CEO Keith Bergelt stated,

“Microsoft’s participation in OIN adds to our strong community, which through its breadth and depth has reduced patent risk in core technologies, and unequivocally signals for all companies who are using OSS but have yet to join OIN that the litmus test for authentic behavior in the OSS community includes OIN participation.”

Microsoft’s commitment to the open source world didn’t start there. Previously, the company acquired GitHub for $7.5 billion in stock. It has since open-sourced some of its older projects including MS-DOS earlier this month.

What are your thoughts about Microsoft’s decision to join the OIN? Let us know in the comment box below.

Not so long ago, Skype used to be a popular option among PC gamers looking for a simple app for voice chat and light messaging. But unfortunately for Microsoft, quality problems, questionable UI changes and the rise of more focused competitors led many gamers to leave Skype for better alternatives.

One of these alternatives is Discord, a chat and VoIP app that has seen a meteoric growth since its launch three years ago. Back in May, Discord claimed to have crossed 130 million registered users, up from 45 million users in May 2017. The ambitious company, which boldly claims on its website that “It’s time to ditch Skype and TeamSpeak” seems poised to become an unstoppable force in the gaming world.

Despite its obvious gaming focus, especially after the company recently opened its own digital store with “First on Discord” games, Discord isn’t used exclusively by gamers. The app is actually quite similar to Slack or Microsoft Teams, and it lets you create servers with multiple channels for discussing different topics of your choice. Discord also supports bots, roles with custom permissions, and integrates with many third-party services like Twitch, Spotify, and even Xbox Live. None of this wouldn’t matter if Discord wasn’t a well-designed and fast app, and in our own experience the app is consistenly fast on all platforms (including mobile), and it won’t slow down even if you join multiple servers with thousands of users.

For PC gamers, Discord lets you display what game you’re currently playing or streaming, and there’s an Overlay mode that lets you access chat and VoIP features while you’re in your game. Discord also has a “Streamer mode” that can automatically disable Windows sounds and notifications, and as a matter of fact, the most popular streamers out there are all using Discord to build their communities. For those who don’t stream, Discord can be the ultimate friends list that follows you across all platforms, and the app recently added a Game tab where you can see at a glance what games you’re friends are playing.

The interesting thing I’ve personally observed is that Microsoft and many other video game companies have become a big Discord supporter. There are official servers for the biggest video games out there such as Fortnite, PUBG, Rocket League, or Minecraft, but Microsoft has also created official servers for Xbox, Mixer, the Xbox Ambassadors program, Halo, Gears of War, and Sea of Thieves. There’s even an official “Microsoft community” server, where you can chat with some Microsoft employees in real time.

Recently, I’ve seen that members of the Windows Insider team have often been teasing new Windows 10 Insider builds on this server, and you should definitely check it out if you’re a Windows 10 fan. The cool thing about this server is that certain roles like “Patch Tuesday” or “Windows Insiders” are self-assignable, and those who have them will get a bot notification every time a new Windows 10 build is released.

Earlier this year, Microsoft also teamed up with Discord to integrate its Xbox Live service with it. By connecting your Xbox Live account to Discord, you can display your gamertag on your Discord profile, and also show your Discord contacts which Xbox games you’re playing in real-time. Mixer, Microsoft’s Twitch competitor, also lets you link your Discord account and add a Mixer bot to your Discord server: By doing so, you’ll be able to automatically send announcements when you go live on Mixer, invite Mixer users to your channel, and sync chat between Mixer and your Discord server.

In some ways, Microsoft seems to be using Discord more than its own social tools like Skype or Xbox Live Clubs. Two years ago, Microsoft experimented with using Skype to let e-sports fans interact with professional gamers like Ninja, who has since become the biggest video games streamer on Twitch and created a massive community on Discord. I was part of this little Skype experiment back in the day, and came away very disappointed.

Add GamingWithSkype on Skype & come chat with @Ninja_TB after his #HCS Pro League game on Friday #SkypeTogether pic.twitter.com/IuNNauZB4j

— Skype (@Skype) July 13, 2016

The truth is, Skype group chats are simply not designed for these kind of live interactions, and creating a Skype group chat with more than 50 users will quickly become unmanageable. That’s really too bad, and I wish Skype had a special “community” mode with a new UI that combined the best of Discord and Microsoft Teams.

Skype may have lost gamers to Discord in recent years, but the same can be said about Microsoft’s Xbox Live platform. Xbox Live Clubs are really slow and use a clunky UI on all platforms, and the few official clubs that I joined aren’t really active at all. Worse, Xbox Live will regularly show you “popular” content you probably don’t care about, and recommend you to follow complete strangers. Just like Google and Apple, Microsoft doesn’t seem to “get” social, as we’ve recently seen with the company’s desperate attempt to copy Snapchat Stories in Skype.

Back at E3, Xbox head Phil Spencer said that the company was well aware that its Xbox app on Windows 10 doesn’t really appeal to PC gamers. “We’re reworking how we’re thinking about the PC audience to try to be more reflective of the PC community that’s out there instead of trying to pull people into the things that come from the console space,” the exec said at the time.

According to Windows Central, Microsoft is planning to revamp its Xbox Live Clubs so that they work more like Discord servers, with different channels replacing the single group chat panel that exists today. While that seems to be a step in the right direction, I’m not sure if this will be enough for PC gamers to finally care about the Windows 10 Xbox app. Discord remain light years ahead thanks to its better design, cross-platform availability and integrations with third-party services, and a true desktop app like Discord can probably do things that the UWP Xbox app will never be able to do.

In the end, it seems that Discord could be a great acquisition for Microsoft. Discord is growing very fast, it’s already making money with its $4.99 “Nitro” premium subscription, and the company launching a new digital games store is probably something that Amazon, Valve and Microsoft are all watching very closely. Discord has become a force to be reckoned with in just three years, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon, Google or Facebook wanted to acquire it.

The Redmond giant previously let Amazon purchase Twitch back in 2014, and it’s now playing catchup with its own Mixer service. Microsoft still owns one of the biggest gaming platforms out there with Windows, so Discord would definitely be a great fit at Microsoft. The app could coexist with Skype and Microsoft Teams, with all three apps keeping their own purpose. However, Phil Spencer’s recent E3 comments suggests that Microsoft is still more interested in improving its own Xbox Live platform, for better or worse.

It would be perfectly fine if Discord remains independent, and so far the company is doing all the right things to sustain its impressive growth. If you already tried Slack or Microsoft Teams, we really encourage you to check out Discord. The official Microsoft Discord server is a great place to start, and you’ll find here a very active community of 11K+ members where you can discuss everything Microsoft. And now that Google+ will be soon closing its doors, we wonder if all the Microsoft-owned Google+ communities dedicated to the company’s Android apps may soon make the move to Discord.

Microsoft’s latest Xbox Wireless Controller launches today and is available to buy from the Microsoft Store and Amazon.

This new Xbox Wireless Controller sports a gray and blue color theme and, like other Xbox Wireless Controllers, can be used to play video games on an Xbox One console or a Windows 10 laptop or tablet. The controller also features a 3.5mm stereo headset jack for traditional wired headphones or earphones and has a texture grip on each side.

Microsoft also launched the Phantom Black Special Edition Controller last month which has the same features in addition to a translucent case that showcases some of the interior tech.

Do you enjoying buying new Xbox Wireless Controllers or do you prefer to stick with your current accessories? Let us know in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Xbox content.

Microsoft has just announced that it has fixed a rare issue that caused some personal files to be erased when installing the Windows 10 October 2018 update. The company is testing the fix with Windows Insiders on the Slow and Release Preview rings today, whom can both download the Windows 10 October 2018 Update Build 17763.17.

John Cable, Director of Program Management, Windows Servicing and Delivery penned a long blog post to explain what went wrong during testing. “While the reports of actual data loss are few (one one-hundredth of one percent of version 1809 installs), any data loss is serious,” the exec wrote.

According to Cable, the root of the issue was new code that Microsoft implemented to remove duplicated known folders when Known Folder Redirection (KFR) is enabled. You can find Cable’s detailed explanation below:

Prior to re-releasing the October 2018 Update our engineering investigation determined that a very small number of users lost files during the October 2018 Update.  This occurred if Known Folder Redirection (KFR) had been previously enabled, but files remain in the original “old” folder location vs being moved to the new, redirected location.  KFR is the process of redirecting the known folders of Windows including Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Screenshots, Videos, Camera Roll, etc. from the default folder location, c:\users\username\, to a new folder location. In previous feedback from the Windows 10 April 2018 Update, users with KFR reported an extra, empty copy of Known Folders on their device.  Based on feedback from users, we introduced code in the October 2018 Update to remove these empty, duplicate known folders.  That change, combined with another change to the update construction sequence, resulted in the deletion of the original “old” folder locations and their content, leaving only the new “active” folder intact.

The good news is that Microsoft has seemingly fixed the issue in Windows 10 Build 17763.17, and now the original old folder location and all the personal documents it contained should remain intact when you install the October 2018 update. “We will carefully study the results, feedback, and diagnostic data from our Insiders before taking additional steps towards re-releasing more broadly,” Cable said.

As the October 2018 update was only made available for customers who actively checked for updates in Windows Update, the company says that “the number of customers taking the October 2018 update was limited.” Still, if you lost any personal data after proceeding, be aware that Microsoft will offer free customer support online and at its retail stores.

“We are committed to learning from this experience and improving our processes and notification systems to help ensure our customers have a positive experience with our update process,” Cable said today. The company will also revamp its Feedback Hub to let users indicate the severity of a bug when filing user feedback, which should hopefully help to avoid serious bug being ignored in the future.

After announcing the acquisition of four game studios including Forza Horizon 4 developer Playground Games this year, Microsoft could add a fifth one to its belt, according to Kotaku. Obsidian Entertainment, the American company behind Fallout: New Vegas or Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is apparently Microsoft’s latest target, with one of Kotaku’s sources saying that the deal was “90%” done.

The indie developer has released several critically-acclaimed RPGs over the years, but it also went through some financial problems this decade which were caused in part by cancelled projects. The company is currently working on a new RPG that still has no release date.

“Unfortunately, we don’t comment on rumors or speculation other than to say that the Rumors album by Fleetwood Mac still holds up,” said an Obsidian spokesperson. A much more serious statement came from a Microsoft spokesperson, saying that “We do not comment on rumors or speculation.”

Microsoft having an “exclusive problem” has probably been one of the most common things we’ve heard during this console generation, and bringing another talented developer on board seems to be a good opportunity to fix that. The acquisition could also give Obsidian Entertainment much more resources for its future games. We’ll see what happens, but Microsoft’s upcoming XO event in November may well be much more interesting than expected.

Microsoft will no longer bundle printer drivers with Windows 10 by default starting with the October Update 2018. The company stated that its reason is due to the OS’s ever-growing size, and that users who wish to get them can download them from Windows Update.

While new installations won’t include the drivers by default, users who upgraded to Windows 10 October Update 2018 from an older version will still be able to use the drivers that are still installed. For users who started with the new update, Windows 10 will install the appropriate printer drivers automatically upon hitting print on a document or web page, or fall back to the Mopria printer service if the printer is Mopria-compatible.

For those unfamiliar, Mopria is a wireless printing service that that allows computers and mobile devices to communicate with printers using a single universally-compatible service. Microsoft says that the majority of modern Wi-Fi printers are compatible with the Mopria standard.

Microsoft’s recent October 2018 Update has been pulled from Windows Update amid a number of consumers saying that the update deleted files from their systems. Later, Microsoft said that it was working on a fix.

Hotly contested elections across the globe are creating headlines for both local and national candidates, and to offer voters the most comprehensive data collection going into the 2019 electoral season, POLITICO Europe has partnered with Microsoft for a new Election Hub.

POLITICO Europe and Microsoft have come together to create the Election Hub. which will cover the 2019 European Parliamentary Elections in a pretty impressive and heavily visualized interactive data map.

“Visualizing the election will make it a more meaningful event for our readers, showing them during nine months where the election is headed, and how they compare to their neighbors,” said Ryan Heath, Political Editor at POLITICO, leading this project for the newsroom. “We’re encouraging readers to adopt a new way of thinking about the European Union, one where we all see beyond our borders, and want to match this new way of thinking with new ways of discovering and exploring the latest news and facts at a personal level.”

In what looks like the best piece of marketing material for Power BI, Microsoft and POLITICO Europe have come up with something that should make the most apathetic voter at least curious about nominations and election trends in the country.

The Election Hub contains a “detailed, graphical, interactive view of the projected makeup of the 9th European Parliament,” as well as giving viewers the opportunity to see the makeup of the Parliament in-real time as votes are tallied and confirmations are assigned. Election Hub viewers will also be able to see MEP sears by region or country, for any interested in electorates outside of their area.

Much more than just a data collection the Election Hub will serve as news repository as it incorporates newer discussion formats alongside Power BI reports that include trends, polling results, women MEP’s and voter turnout.

The full extent of POLITICO Europe’s Election Hub will be rolled out in phases prior to the 2019 Parliament elections, but at launch, viewers will have a whole host of data to immerse and educate themselves with.

Microsoft is adding another partner in its ambitious cloud growth trajectory with leading Southeast Asian on-demand transportation, mobile payment, and hybrid services platform, Grab.

According to a post on the Microsoft Stories blog, Microsoft and Grab have agreed to a five-year partnership to use Azure as the services platform cloud solution along with Microsoft’s other productivity options.

Through this partnership, Grab will adopt Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform, tapping into Microsoft’s intelligent cloud and AI capabilities to scale Grab’s platform efficiently and increase its capacity and capabilities. Through this collaboration, the companies will explore a number of innovative deep technology projects that will enhance and transform the Grab experience for Grab’s users, driver-partners, merchants and agents.

The partnership will also provide specific innovations for Grab that include new ways of processing big data, AI and machine learning.

• To help improve passenger and driver safety and security, Grab will work with Microsoft to explore new authentication mechanisms such as mobile facial recognition with built-in AI for drivers and customers who opt in, as a replacement for checking IDs, that help match both driver and passenger identities to the reservation.
• Grab will explore utilizing Microsoft Azure’s data analytics and fraud detection services to better predict and prevent fraudulent transactions on Grab’s platform.
• The companies plan to leverage Microsoft’s natural language processing capabilities to provide customers with contextualized real-time translations and create an AI chatbot so Grab users can engage in interactive experiences.
• Microsoft’s machine learning and AI capabilities will be used to power Grab’s advanced “recommendation engine” that analyzes user data and behavior to provide personalized services and content recommendations through the Grab application.
• Grab also plans to work with Microsoft to explore image recognition and computer vision technologies that will improve the user and driver pickup experience. For example, passengers will be able to take a photo of their current location and have it translated into an actual address for the driver.

To improve map creation and quality, Grab plans to tap into the power of Microsoft’s machine learning capabilities.

In addition to new cloud processes, Grab will also be taking advantage of Microsoft’s wide breadth of productivity software suites. The collaborative Microsoft and Grab partnership will see the use of Outlook integration to book rides directly in the email software, Kaizala that will enable group communication and work management with Grab, and Microsoft Rewards Gift Cards for loyalty programs.

Several big tech companies are currently in a race to win the Pentagon’s $10 billion JEDI cloud contract, and after Google pulled out from the fight yesterday, Microsoft is now touting an upcoming expansion of its Azure Government Secret cloud service (via Reuters). Microsoft first announced Azure Government Secret back in October, and today Julia White, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Azure said that new Azure Regions dedicated to secret US classified data will be available in Q1 2019.

“We are making major progress in delivering this cloud designed to meet the regulatory and compliance requirements of the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community,” the exec wrote in a blog post today. “In addition, to meet the growing demand and requirements of the U.S. Government, we are confirming our intent to deliver Azure Government services to meet the highest classification requirements, with capabilities for handling Top Secret U.S. classified data.“

With JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure), the Pentagon is planning a major revamp of its IT infrastructure. Microsoft may not be able to win this multi-billion-dollar contract over Amazon, but Microsoft’s Julia White emphasized today that the company’s expanded Azure Government Secret Cloud service would make it “a strong option for the JEDI contract.”

Microsoft has announced that Microsoft Projects will be getting an overhaul to the service with a new Home screen starting today, as well adding new features available soon. The Redmond tech giant says that the new Home screen will allow quick and easy creation of new projects, and that such projects are synchronized over the cloud to allow data to be accessed from anywhere and on any device the software currently supports.

For those unfamiliar, Microsoft Project is a project management service that allows project managers to create plans, assign tasks, and manage budgets and expenses. As one of the first Office products, it’s older than both Excel and PowerPoint, although it’s only available as part of a standalone subscription instead of part of Office 365.

The company is also adding a new project management service, which will support all project types as well as employee roles and skill levels. The new service will sport many capabilities, resource and financial management and expense tracking. Microsoft says the new service will be released early next year, and that all of Project’s desktop features will soon be supported in the new service.

Microsoft is also enabling an overview screen off all work performed by various team members with the new Roadmap service. From there, project managers will be able to create chronological views of multiple projects, each with dates and milestones. This new service will also be supported on Azure DevOps, and a future update of Project will include support for Microsoft Planner and other third-party applications. This new service is slated for closer to the middle of next year.

All three new services will be part of the Project Online Professional and Premium subscriptions, which start out at $30 per month per user.

The EA Access Vault on Xbox One has is going to pick up four new games in October. Susbcribers can now play FIFA 18, Burnout Paradise Remastered and Fight Night Champion for free on Xbox One, and Army of Two will also join the Vault next week on October 17.

FIFA 18 was added much later in the year compared to its predecessor FIFA 17, and EA likely wanted to maximise game sales during this year’s FIFA World cup competition. FIFA 18 came to the Vault after FIFA 19 was released on Xbox One on September 28, but EA Access members can already try the latest entry for free for up to 10 hours. “Play First” trials are also available for EA Sports titles such as NHL 19, NBA LIVE 19 and Madden NFL 19

Battlefield V, which has been delayed to November 20, will also have its Play First Trial starting November 9. The WW2-themed shooter will come to the market after the release of blockbusters Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Red Dead Redemption 2, and this was probably a smart choice from EA. If you have yet to try EA Access, the subscription service is just $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year, and for that price you get unlimited access to a catalog of over 60 Xbox One and Xbox 360 games.

Microsoft has just announced a new Xbox One S console bundle aimed at Minecraft gamers or those who may be interested in playing the hit video game for the first time.

Named the Xbox One S Minecraft Creators Bundle, this pack comes with an Xbox One S console, an Xbox controller, a digital copy of the Minecraft video game, 1,000 Minecoins (the Minecraft in-game currency), the Starter Pack DLC (which contains the Greek Mythology Mash-up, Plastic Texture Pack, Skin Pack 1, and Villains Skin Pack), and the Creators Pack (Adventurer’s Dream Mash-up and Winter Mini-Games Festival by Noxcrew, Relics of the Privateers by Imagiverse, PureBDcraft Texture Pack by BDcraft, Pastel Skin Pack by Eneija, and Wildlife Savanna by PixelHeads).

In addition to the above, the Xbox One S Minecraft Creators Bundle will also come with a 1-month membership for Xbox Game Pass, the Xbox One’s Netflix-style video game subscription service, and two weeks of Xbox Live Gold for online play.

The Xbox One S Minecraft Creators Bundle doesn’t appear to be available for pre-order yet however it will be priced at $299. The bundle is said to be due for release “soon.”

Are you interested in the Xbox One S Minecraft Creators Bundle or do you have your eye on another bundle or maybe the Xbox One X console? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Minecraft content.