Following the action at Microsoft Ignite in September, Microsoft is set to take a few additional moments of your time with a special event in New York City on October 2. Timed perfectly for the Fall and holiday shopping season, many are expecting the Redmond giant to use the event to take the wraps off refreshed, new Surface products, and maybe even some new software. We’ll be attending and blogging live on the ground at the event in New York City come October 2nd, so here’s a look at what we expect (and don’t expect) from Microsoft.

What to expect (Hardware)

Surface Refresh

Like everyone else, we’re highly expecting Microsoft to show off some refreshes (with the latest 8th Gen Intel chips) for the Surface Pro, Laptop, and Book devices. The timing is just right, especially since the current generation devices were heavily discounted for Labor Day weekend. We also think these refreshed Surface devices will come with USB C ports, given that Microsoft is now selling its own Surface-branded USB C adapters for the Surface Go.

Maybe Surface Hub 2, Surface Studio 2, and HoloLens 2.0?

This is a bit wild, but these devices are still worth mentioning as a reminder of the state of the Surface family. First off, we think this event could finally reveal more on Surface Hub 2, which Microsoft has said is already in use by customers, but planned for 2019 release.

Though it doesn’t seem like the venue, there is also the possibility of hearing more about HoloLens 2.0. Several patents for that headset have leaked, but HoloLens 2.0 too was rumored for 2019.

Finally, something much more possible is Surface Studio 2, since the original Studio is now close to 2 years old. That hardware is now aging, and it would be nice to see the All-in-one PC pick up USB C, newer Intel Chips and even SSDs.

A New Surface and Surface Headset?

The past two Microsoft events in New York City have seen the reveal of new Surface devices— the Surface Studio and Surface Laptop. Though there are rumors indicating Surface Pro 6 (codenamed Carmel) won’t come until 2019, we might again see new Surface devices at this October 2 event. Surface chief Panos Panay has been quiet on any new hardware but last hinted at an “evolution of communication.” So, all things considered, it wouldn’t make sense for Microsoft to hype up and spend money on a media event in NYC and NOT showcase new Surface hardware.

Take it as a fine grain of salt, but a reply in this Reddit thread says Microsoft has banned entry into its Surface hardware building. Per that comment, the last time that happened was for the Surface Studio. There definitely could be something a new Surface cooking over at Redmond.

Finally, a story from Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley also shows that Microsoft could be working on a Surface-branded headset. She reports it could be like a Jabra Evolve. We’ve seen Microsoft reveal Surface-branded accessories (Surface mouse, keyboard, etc) alongside main new Surface devices before, so this too makes sense.

Surface Go with LTE?

When Surface Go launched in August, Microsoft promised that an LTE model would be coming later this year. Now that initial reviews of the device have phased through the media, it makes sense for Microsoft to now take the wraps off the LTE version at the October 2 event. As we saw with Surface Pro LTE, the company has also been big on pushing its devices for “a new culture of work”, and the LTE Surface Go would fit right in with that plans.

What to expect (Software)

Windows 10 October 2018 Update

The next version of Windows 10 is appropriately named for the month in which this event is occurring, so we expect for Microsoft to highlight this latest version of Windows 10. Similar to what they did with the 2016 Creators Update Surface Studio hardware event, any new hardware from this years event will likely pair up with new Windows 10 October 2018 Update features, and Windows 10 adoption rates and momentum. We could even hear about the next Windows 10 19H1 update, set for release in the Spring.

Office, Cortana/Alexa, other productivity software

After Microsoft’s internal shakeup, Corporate Vice President Yusuf Mehdi started using the term “modern life services,” talking about helping consumers achieve more and making their lives easier. The “moment in your time” theme for this event can be a nod to that, and even productivity. That said, we think this event could reveal more about Office 2019, recent updates to Office 365, and even that Cortana and Alexa integration. The last May 2017 Surface Laptop Microsoft event did feature a similar software side of things, so we expect it to come up again.

Xbox, Game Pass, Minecraft

New Xbox hardware is usually reserved for E3 2018 or Gamescom, but this event could again see a recap of what’s been new with Xbox software/games for the past few months. We could get a peek at the Xbox version of the Windows 10 October 2018 update, and also new or upcoming Minecraft features. Again, Microsoft’s October 2016 Surface Studio event did feature both Xbox and Minecraft, so it won’t surprise us to hear more about those on this October 2nd either.

What NOT to expect

Project Andromeda or Surface Phone

Windows Phone fans might be hoping this event could shed more light on Project Andromeda or Surface Phone, but we don’t see that as possible. Rumors have shown that Surface Andromeda is definitely not coming in 2018, so don’t expect for it to get any mentions at this event. Last we noted, the reason for the delay happens to be related to the software not being ready, so don’t get your hopes up just yet and wait for 2019 instead.

Microsoft Band 3 or Microsoft Watch

Despite the “moment of your time” theme for this October 2 event, we don’t think Microsoft will be showing off a wearable device. The company killed off its previous wearable, the Microsoft Band, and has shown little interest in it since then. Still, patents have shown that a new wearable could be in development, so you never know.

As you can tell, there is a lot of rumors, and hype around Microsoft’s fall devices lineup. All of that is likely to culminate come October 2nd, so be sure to keep it tuned right here to OnMSFT. The event is set to kick off at 4 PM ET, and it is not clear if Microsoft will be streaming it live, so we’ll have you covered with our own live blog.

Portable SSDs aren’t too common, but if you value speed and reliability, you should definitely go for one. They’re expensive, yes, and therefore mostly appeal to the geeks and early adopters at the moment.

I had a look a Western Digital’s My Passport SSD, a compact and uniquely designed portable SSD that fits into the palm of your hand, and here’s the complete review of the same.

Design

The WD My Passport SSD has an interesting design approach. It has a dual-tone finish with a plain black plastic half and a gunmetal looking ribbed half. The eclectic design apart, the build quality is pretty good and it feels solid. However, the metal portion picks up smudges all the time and it’s hard to clean them.

At about 3.5 inches long and less than 2 inches wide, the My Passport SSD easily slides into your pocket or any small pocket of your bag. It’s only about 40 grams, you won’t even feel its weight. If you’re used to carrying pen drives around, this one is just a little wider and that’s all.

According to the company, My Passport SSD can survive the shock of a drop from of up to 6.5 feet, but there’s no water or dust resistance, so keep it safe from the elements. That said, there’s a generous three-year limited worldwide warranty.

The drive comes with a USB Type-C (USB 3.1) connector, along with a USB Type C-to-A adapter bundled in eliminating the need to carry any extra cable. The only problem is that the adapter breaks the Type-C standard laid down by the USB Implementers Forum, the industry body that promotes and supports the standard. While the My Passport SSD works perfectly with this arrangement, you’d not be able to use this adapter with other cables for any other USB Type-C devices you have.

Since the SSD is bus-powered, it doesn’t need any power supply and is simply plug-and-play. In an odd omission, the My Passport SSD does not have any LED activity indicator so you’re always guessing whether or not a read/write operation has finished before you can unplug it.

Software

The WD MyPassport SSD comes with pre-loaded software on the drive that you can choose to install or ignore.

WD Drive Utilities lets you check the SSD for errors and format it. WD Security lets you set a password to take advantage of the 256-bit encryption on board. If the My Passport SSD is locked, it will show up on other PCs as a read-only virtual CD with a tiny utility called WD Unlocker where you need to type in your password to unlock the drive.

While these two are available for both Windows and macOS, WD Backup and WD Discovery are only available for Windows.

WD Backup lets you select specific folders on the drive and back them up to your Dropbox account at your preferred syncing schedule. Unfortunately, no other cloud storage services are supported. The WD Discovery app is a dashboard that lets you launch other utilities and check for updates. This one is mostly unnecessary, and its only purpose is to allow WD to push ads for third-party apps and services.

Performance

Out of the box, My Passport SSD is set to exFAT file system which ensures compatibility across any latest Windows PC or a Mac. There’s also 256-bit AES hardware encryption on board. I reviewed the 256GB variant, and the formatted capacity was 238GB.

My Passport SSD is described as ‘USB 3.1 Gen 2 ready’ but don’t expect speeds anywhere close to the theoretical 10Gbps. The rated speed is 540MBps anyway, and CrystalDiskMark test achieves up to about 450MBps sequential read and write speeds.

Copying about 30GB of videos from my latest Surface Pro to the SSD took under five minutes and only two minutes from the SSD to the Surface. Moving a cluster of about 10GB data with over 4200 files took five minutes. I’ve seen better speeds with some other SSDs but this is not bad.

The SSD works just fine as an OTG USB drive with an Android smartphone (I tried with a Google Pixel 2 XL and a OnePlus 6). Of course, you’d need to format it from exFAT to NTFC on the PC beforehand.

Summary

The WD My Passport SSD has a lot of things going for it, especially its striking chassis, but the real-world usage is only middling. The preloaded software though adds some value.

A portable SSD is a luxurious indulgence at this point of time, but once you get used to the speed of one or if carrying large amounts of data all the time with you is a need, it’s hard to go back.

Available in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB variants, the My Passport SSD is priced starting at $99.99 in the US or ₹8,999 in India for the 256GB variant.

Revealed at E3 in 2014, Crackdown 3 is an exclusive Microsoft title that has had its release date pushed back numerous times. Every time a new release date is announced, it should be looked at with scepticism.

In an attempt to turn the negativity of the release date being pushed back, Microsoft’s Xbox executive, Aaron Greenberg, has said that the company doesn’t need to release Crackdown 3 this year as it has more than enough AAA content for Xbox. Greenberg said he “can’t think of a holiday that had more AAA games in such a tight time period” (via gamesindustry.biz).

We’re going to get it (Forza Horizon 4) out early (October 2nd) and before the blast radius. Then we didn’t need Crackdown or any of our titles in this holiday window. We’re planning to launch that in February, and then after that we will launch Ori and the Will of the Wisps. We like to have a steady cadence of content throughout the year. But there is more than enough content this holiday. That’s why we’re working with so many third-party partners to showcase their games and help drive our platform during that window. I can’t think of a holiday that had more AAA games in such a tight time period.

Microsoft’s stance does make sense. With so many big releases this holiday season, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 with a new Blackout mode, Battlefield 5 with a battle royale-style mode, Forza Horizon 4, Red Dead Redemption 2, and so many more, it is understandable that the company wouldn’t want Crackdown 3’s sales to be hindered by the already large lineup for gamers to choose from.

Not to be outdone by Apple and Google this Fall, Microsoft has announced it is hosting an event on October 2, 2018. The invite itself leaves plenty to the imagination with the words “A moment of your time.” cryptically displayed.

Historically, October has been the month Microsoft has introduced or refreshed Surface devices as well as unveil new or upcoming features to its Windows 10 operating system. There was even a point in time where a portion of the smartphone using population would eagerly await the next Windows Phone offering.

Here at OnMSFT, we share the same investigative hunch as the folks over at Windows Central do, that Microsoft is preparing to show off a possible Surface Studio 2 refresh as well as a possible update to the Surface Laptop with a much-needed USB-C upgrade.

As for a smartphone returning to the October event line up, we’re not holding our breaths. As far as leaks or industry gossip is concerned, project Andromeda seems to be in stasis at the moment. Whatever is announced at Microsoft’s October 2, 2018 event in New York, you can rest assured we’ll have all the details here.

Sea of Thieves, the much promoted pirate game for Xbox and Windows 10 PC, is set for a new major update, dubbed “Forsaken Shores,” due on September 19th. The free update opens up a new region in the game, “The Devil’s Roar”:

Navigating this treacherous land brings with it new threats, new challenges and new adventures. Superheated water, burning rocks raining down from volcanoes and exploding geysers are just some of the new environmental elements that will change the way pirates traverse land and sea.

In anticipation of the update, Rare has released a new video, which you can check out below:

The trailer was due to be released yesterday, but was held back because of “emergency maintenance” after an update caused gamers to lose, or appear to lose, their progression in the game:

The team are aware of an issue in which players have lost the ability to see how far they have progressed within a given level, we are aiming to have this fixed in the next game update.
Rest assured your progress within each Company, including Athena, is not lost, players can continue to play and your level will increase once you have fulfilled the XP level requirement for the given Company rank as normal.

Note: You will be able to see your updated progress briefly each time you hand in a treasure item.

The trailer was briefly posted before being pulled yesterday, not before some gamers were able to grab the video and distribute it, but this is the now officially released trailer.

You can get Sea of Thieves from the Microsoft Store below, or if you have the game you’ll be getting the Forgotten Shores update for free on September 19th.

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Sea of Thieves: 2024 Edition

Developer:
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Are you the ultimate Halo Fan? If you are, you might want to complete all of September’s Xbox Game Pass Quests for the chance to win a custom Halo Xbox One X console.

Master Chief-approved.
Complete this month’s quest for a chance to win a custom Halo-themed Xbox One X: https://t.co/u71UJEixto pic.twitter.com/2vnXE8kepw

— Xbox (@Xbox) September 6, 2018

To get started, head to the Xbox Game Pass tab on your Xbox One, and click on the Game Pass Quest tile. You must then play 120 minutes of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, complete five new achievements in that game and also increase your Gamerscore by 50 points. Microsoft will be tracking these quest activities and will message the winner on Xbox Live appropriately once the month ends.

As for the custom console, it looks to be a pretty cool representation of the Halo legacy. It has four helmets on the top to represent the design evolution of the Master Chief’s helmet through the Halo games, and a circuit boards pattern to represent Cortana.

This is not the first time that Microsoft has given gamers a chance to win a custom Xbox Console for completing Game Pass challenges. As you may recall, the company previously gave away a 24-karat gold plated Xbox One X to a lucky gamer who unlocked at least one Xbox Achievement in March while playing a game via Xbox Game Pass.

The Xbox team has been testing Xbox One 1810 builds with select Xbox Insiders for quite some time now, but those on the Preview Alpha Skip Ahead ring can now test the first “19H1” build for the Xbox One. This new build doesn’t bring any new features to the table, but we should learn more details about this major Xbox One update over the coming months.

Xbox One Insiders – Preview Alpha Skip Ahead users we will be releasing your first 19H1 build today at 6.00pm PDT 9/6/18. This build has the same features as 1810 plus more to be announced over the coming months! Please note the build is 3.6G, it does not perform a console reset.

— Brad Rossetti (@WorkWombatman) September 6, 2018

The “19H1” naming, which was first used by the Windows Insider team to describe the next major update for Windows 10 after Redstone 5, is now being used by the Xbox team, which is quite interesting. To our knowledge, the team never used the “Redstone” moniker for previous major releases, and the latest Xbox One update (1806) was officially named “July update.” However, the Xbox team adopting the “19H1” naming doesn’t necessarily means that Windows 10 and Xbox One updates will be aligned going forward: this Spring alone, we’ve seen the Xbox One receive three minor system updates (1804, 1805 and 1806) in three months, which was pretty much unprecedented.

As a reminder, the upcoming 1810 update for the Xbox One will bring several new features including the redesigned Xbox Live Avatars, Dolby Vision support for video content (only Netflix for now) and UX improvements for the My Games & Apps section. Yesterday, Microsoft also started testing a new Xbox Skill for Cortana and Alexa with select Xbox Insiders in the US, and we wonder if an integration with the Google Assistant could also be in the works.

After introducing a completely revamped Xbox One dashboard earlier this year, it will be interesting to see what’s coming for the Xbox One OS next year. Fortunately, the Xbox team is being quite transparent and recently launched a new “Xbox Ideas” website where Xbox users can submit and vote for new features suggestions.

In a rather surprising move, Square Enix has just launched Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition on Xbox One and it’s now available to download and play for all console owners.

Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition was released on mobile devices and Windows 10 computers for fans of the franchise who didn’t have hardware powerful enough to run the proper Final Fantasy XV video game. This Pocket Edition features a lot of the main story from the full game but uses streamlined graphics to make it more playable on a wider range of devices.

The Xbox One version of Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition is currently selling with a 40% discount for the next six days, making it just $14.99 instead of its regular $29.99 price.

Are you thinking of playing Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition or will you stick to the regular version? Share your thoughts with the community in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more video game content.

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FINAL FANTASY XV POCKET EDITION HD

Developer:
SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.

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With over 35 listed fixes, changes and improvements with today’s Windows Insider preview build 18234 for the Skip Ahead release, its easy to go cross-eyed trying to find the ones that will have the most impact on your Insider experience.

Here’s a list of the most important changes, as well as highlighting what still needs to be addressed by the Windows team in the next preview.

Fewer GSOD’s

Nothing is more annoying the a Green Screen of Death (GSOD) using a Windows 10 PC. It often just reaffirms that, despite all the improvements, Windows 10 is still susceptible to crashes. Fortunately, they are becoming far and in between with recent Windows 10 updates.

• We fixed the issue where logging out of your user profile or shutting down your PC would cause the PC to bugcheck (GSOD).

Snip & Sketch working like it was supposed to

The Windows team’s newest publicized change wasn’t working. The Snip & Sketch app (previously Snipping Tool) would launch but users would need to close and reopen the app to conduct multiple screen grabs.

• We fixed an issue resulting in New button in Snip & Sketch not working

Edge & UWP apps copy/pasting again

While Microsoft hasn’t completely abandoned its UWP platform for the greener pastures of PWA, it has seemingly put development and publicity of the app development on the backburner.

Perhaps, this led to a missed check box on a seemingly obvious omission. Fortunately, the Windows team has addressed it and Windows 10 users who rely on UWP apps can go back to seamlessly transferring data between Edge and apps.

• We fixed an issue where text copied from certain websites in Microsoft Edge couldn’t be pasted into other UWP apps.

Office in S Mode works

For those adventurous types still living the Windows 10 S Mode life, aside from battery life, the other benefit is being sold is the ‘near’ Windows 10 like experience for the OS and when an error in the Windows Store spits out a .dll explanation, you’re in for a bad time.

Perhaps, some experiencing this issue have just gone to the web to workaround not being able to download Office from the one place it’s available on S Mode, others may have just stopped using S Mode and upgraded to Windows 10 avoid the headache. Well, the Windows team would like you to try again.

• We fixed the issue causing Office in the Store to fail to launch with an error about a .dll not being designed to run on Windows on PCs running in S Mode.
• We fixed an issue for Insiders using Windows 10 in S Mode recently resulting opening Word from a Word Online document not working.

There we have it, a lot crashes, hangs and closures have been addressed with this preview and for the full list read here.

Serious shooters fans know that you should always carefully wash your hands before starting practicing your aim, but in our increasing fast-paced environment, hands hygiene can often be an afterthought. Well, for all the dirty-handed gamers out there, the smart folks over at Xbox Australia are here to help.

Indeed, Xbox Australia has a new competition on its Facebook page where you can win one of five limited edition PUBG Greaseproof Xbox controllers (via Eurogamer). The limited edition controllers are part of a clever marketing campaign to promote the release of PUBG 1.0 in the country, and according to the video description, that greaseproof technology is totally not a joke:

Created to celebrate the graduation of the game from Xbox Game Preview to full release (out now) and as a nod to the fan favourite “WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!” phrase, the controller features a patented coating that is resistant to chicken grease – assisting players in their fight for elusive, yet tasty, chicken dinner victories.

If you want to participate to the competition, head over to the official Facebook page for Xbox Australia and tell everyone about your best “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner” story to the After offering limited edition Xbox Onesies and inflatable white Xbox One controllers, it seems that Xbox Australia is just getting started with fun goodies and we can’t wait to see what they will come up with next.

After announcing important changes to the Office 365 Pro Plus and Windows lifecycle for businesses back in February, Microsoft again today revisited the topic. The firm has now backtracked on their original promises and will be extending the support cycle for businesses running Office, Windows 7, and Windows 10 to help them “shift to a modern desktop.” Please keep in mind these changes are only for businesses, and the standard 18-month support period of Microsoft’s consumer-facing products are not otherwise impacted.

First off are the longer Windows 10 support periods for Windows 10 Education and Enterprise. Customers running these flavors of Windows will now find 30 months of support for Windows 10 version 1607, 1703, 1709, and 1803. Additionally, starting with Windows 10 Version 1809, any Windows 10 Enterprise and Education editions with a release month of September will get support for 30 months. And finally, starting with Windows 10 Education and Enterprise version 1903 (with a March release date,) will see support for 18 months from release. The graphic below summarizes the September 2018 changes quite nicely for you non-technical folks.

Secondly, Microsoft will continue to support Office 365 Pro Plus on Windows 8.1 through January 2023. The company will also continue to support Office 365 Pro Plus on Windows Server 2016 through October 2025. There are even changes for Office 2016, with the connectivity support to Office 365 now getting support through October 2023 instead of October 2020.

Microsoft is also announcing changes to Windows 7, now offering paid Extended Security Updates (ESU) through January of 2023, beyond 2020. The ESUs continue to be available for Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise customers in Volume Licensing, and there will be a discount for those with Windows software assurance. This also means that Office 365 ProPlus will be supported on those devices with active Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU) through January 2023.

As part of helping businesses upgrade to Windows 10, Microsoft announced cloud-based analytics tools. The first one is called Desktop Analytics and it is integrated into ConfigMgr, Microsoft says this tool will create an inventory of apps running in any organization and access app compatibility with the latest versions of Windows 10 and Office 365 Pro Plus. Also announced was Desktop App Asure, which scans a system after a Windows 10 Upgrade and helps address issues with program compatibility.

All of these changes come as Microsoft wants to help businesses ease their transition over to Windows 10. The company realizes that the process is much more complicated than it seems, and came to this decision based on feedback. As Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Office and Windows Marketing explained: “We recognize that it takes time to both upgrade devices and operationalize new update processes. We know that there is still a lot of work to do. But we’re committed to working with you and systematically resolving any issues.”

Back in 2004, when Paint for Windows wasn’t 3D or even very good, a Washington State University student created Paint.net, a free .Net based image and photo editor that became a bit of a sensation. The program, which boasts both traditional Windows and Windows Store versions, has just been updated to version 4.1, bringing with it a number of new features and enhancements.

At the top of the list is the conversion of some effects in Paint.net to use the GPU, resulting in “phenomenal” performance gains:

Gaussian Blur is actually fast now and no longer takes ages to complete for large images or radii, and the same goes for both Motion Blur and Radial Blur (although Radial Blur does currently need a pretty powerful GPU). A few other effects were converted for the sake of completeness and for my own learning, and there are two new ones (Morphology and Turbulence). This is where most of my time (the aforementioned “last 7 months”) and sweat was spent: getting a GPU-based effect rendering system up and running end-to-end was no small feat! Expect to see more effects converted over to the GPU in subsequent updates as this tech matures. I am also planning to make the GPU available for plugins to use in a future update.

The update also includes copy/paste for selections, bicubic sampling for the Move Selected Pixels tool, and +/- controls for Tolerance and Hardness. If you’re looking for a Windows based, full featured image and photo editor, check out Paint.net!

The upcoming Windows Server 2019 Essentials may well be the last edition of the server OS for small businesses, the Windows Server team announced yesterday. This new version will succeed to Windows Server 2016 Essentials later this year, but Microsoft warned IT admins that there is a “strong possibility that this could be the last edition of Windows Server Essentials.”

The Windows Server team explained that it has been seeing more and more small businesses embrace cloud services in recent years. However, Microsoft also acknowledges that “on-premises servers are still valuable and desired in the short term for reasons such as price and ability to run traditional applications that may not yet have corresponding cloud-based functionality.“

Compared to its predecessor, Windows Server 2019 Essentials will bring support for new hardware and features like Storage Migration Services, System Insights and more. However, companies with more than 25 users may consider switching to Windows Server 2019 Standard, which will provide even more deployment options.

There’s still no official release date for Windows Server 2019 Essentials and other editions of the server OS, though it’s worth nothing that Windows Server 2016 Essentials will still be supported through November 2027. That should leave IT admins enough time to decide between keeping on-premises servers or moving to a complete cloud solution like Microsoft 365.

Microsoft’s latest Xbox One exclusive is the game that keeps on giving for early adopters. State of Decay 2, has just released its Update 4.0 to the general masses and brings another helping of new gameplay tweaks and fixes for players.

Patch 4.0 Highlights

General Issues

• Fixed an exploit involving buying and selling stackable items with traders to earn massive amounts of Influence.
• Removed an apparent soft-lock caused by the death of a leader.
• Removed some locks and crashes associated with pop-up boxes.
• Fixed a handful of buildings that were inaccessible due to collision.
• Fixed a number of localization issues.

Characters and Communities

• Random “resource loss” events are now dependent on morale and traits. If you recruit carefully and keep everyone happy, then random resource losses should be a thing of the past.
• Characters who incur “resource loss” events because of low morale will now receive a temporary morale benefit for doing so. IE, they binged on a bunch of food, but at least it made them feel better.
• Skilled characters will now sometimes provide the community with new free items in place of the “resource loss” events.
• Exiles should now always count towards exile-related achievements.
• Characters from other enclaves will no longer receive the large-scale death-banner treatment when they die.

Bases and Facilities

• Fixed an issue where facilities would sometimes stop building when the main menu was opened.
• Fixed an issue where weapons would be repaired for free.
• Fixed collision on the Sniper Tower to allow it to be scaled.
• Fixed a case where the old Rally Point bases could still be claimed.
• Extended the new resource-counting prompt for depositing rucksacks in the generic Storage facility to apply to specialized Storage facilities as well.

Missions

• Fixed an issue where some missions would provide deceptively large piles of resources.
• Fixed many cases where critical NPCs would not show up for missions (or in one case, would attack you for no reason).
• Fixed an issue with the Warlord: The Informantmission, which was not counting vehicle kills.
• Fixed an issue with the Builder: The Call Is Answeredmission, in which some enclaves would flee the player’s home site.

Gameplay

• Armored zombies are no longer killed by flames. Instead, they catch fire and become scarier, like a juggernaut;)
• Zombie kills with vehicles should now count towards zombie-killing achievements.
• Fixed some issues where zombies would spawn trapped in geometry.
• Fixed an exploit that allowed some clients to easily blow up the host’s vehicles.
• Fixed an issue with indefinitely persistent C4 charges left by dead characters.

In addition to receiving Update 4.0 this month, SoD2 players should also be on the look out for a new game mode dropping September 12, 2018 called Daybreak. According to the developers, “Daybreak is a session-based co-op game mode for State of Decay 2. It also includes a wealth of new weapons and equipment useful both in Daybreak and in your home community.” The new game mode will be available for purchase next week.

For more information or to stay up to date on the latest SoD2 news, players can sign up for a newsletter here.

Microsoft India has announced the availability of Microsoft Indian language Speech Corpus to help researchers and academia build Indian language speech recognition for all applications where speech is used.

Available for Telugu, Tamil, and Gujarati, this is the largest publicly available Indian language speech dataset and includes audio and corresponding transcripts.

The Speech Corpus content is provided as part of Microsoft Research Open Data initiative, a collection of free datasets from Microsoft Research to advance state-of-the-art research in areas such as natural language processing, computer vision, and domain-specific sciences.

Microsoft Indian Language Speech Corpus was launched to address the scarcity of adequate digital data for text, speech, and linguistic resources – which are imperative in building large machine learning models for many vernacular languages across the world. The development of accurate digital tools in Indian languages has been slow owing to subtle differences in enunciation, accent, diction, and slang across various regions in India.

Microsoft’s Indian Language Speech Corpus was tested at Interspeech 2018, the world’s largest and most comprehensive conference on the science and technology of spoken language processing, and was used to create high-quality speech recognition models, thus validating the efficacy of the Corpus.

It is imperative that India’s increasing digital literacy is supported by a multi-lingual digital world and initiatives like these for researchers and academia will help accelerate innovation in voice-based computing for India.

LEGO Harry Potter Collection was announced today for Microsoft’s Xbox One consoles and the game is already available for digital pre-order.

This latest LEGO video game is a bundling of the two Xbox 360 titles; LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7. All of the content has been remastered and will play in 4K resolution on the Xbox One X console. It’s unclear how much other reworking of the visuals has been done but the teaser trailer for LEGO Harry Potter Collection gives the impression that the remastering has more to do with resolution than actual improving of the Xbox 360 graphics.

Here’s the official game description and teaser for LEGO Harry Potter Collection:

The LEGO Harry Potter Collection brings LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 remastered! This compilation unites the creative prowess of LEGO and the expansive world of Harry Potter, with an exciting journey full of spell-casting, potion-making, puzzle-solving, lessons, dueling and much more for players of all ages to enjoy.

LEGO Harry Potter Collection is due for release on the Xbox One on October 30th, just over two years since its release on Sony’s PlayStation 4 console.

Are you going to pre-order LEGO Harry Potter Collection? Let us know in the comments below and then follow us on Twitter for more video game news.

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LEGO® Harry Potter™ Collection

Developer:
Warner Bros. Games

Price:
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The Xbox One video game, Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved, has been removed from the digital storefront on Microsoft’s Xbox One consoles.

Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved was a music creation video game that let players compose their own mixes of modern and classical music by using their hands via the Kinect sensor. With Microsoft’s recent decision to move away from the Kinect and the newer Xbox One S and Xbox One X consoles not supporting native Kinect functionality, sales of this Kinect-only video game likely slowed and this could explain why Harmonix, the studio behind it, decided to take it down.

Digital versions of video games are occasionally removed from online storefronts, often due to the expiration of rights. This could also be a potential reason for Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved being removed. No official announcement has been made.

Those who already have Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved installed on their Xbox One consoles will still be able to play it however it will now be impossible to re-download it if it’s ever uninstalled.

Are you a fan of Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved and have you been affected by this delisting? Share your thoughts with the community in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Xbox One content.

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Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved

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Disney Interactive

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The PC market showed new sign of growth in Q2 2018, and this is apparently all thanks to increased demand in both the business and education markets. According to Futuresource’s new quarterly report, PC shipments in the EDU market showed a 4.6% YoY growth in 2Q18, and this benefited both Chromebooks and Windows PCs.

If the US market remains the largest K-12 Education market worldwide by a large margin, you may be aware that it has been a Chromebook territory for some time now. In the first half of 2018, Chromebooks accounted for 58% of mobile PC shipments in the country, compared to 20.4% for Windows devices. However, Futuresource noted that Windows PCs have been recently gaining share in the sub $300 market segment:

Microsoft, especially, has been working hard to close the price gap between Windows and Chromebook by promoting partner devices on the Windows platform, priced as low as $189. Globally, Windows share in sub $300 category grew by 11% year-on-year in Q2 2018, with shipments of Windows devices in the category growing 75%.

It’s a much different story outside of the US, with Windows PCs accounting for 62.2% of all mobile PC shipments in the first half of 2018 (+0.5% points YoY). Despite Chrome OS having a tiny 9.2% share in the rest of the world during the same period, Futuresource said that Chromebooks have been consistently gaining share in Europe and Latin America:

Whilst 89% of Chromebook global sales remain in the US, Chromebook international sales are steadily increasing in certain territories. In Northern Europe particularly, Chromebooks have been consistently gaining share. Shipments of Chromebooks servicing schools in the European market grew more than 50% year-on-year during Q2 2018. In addition, Chrome OS is gaining traction in the Latin American market, with Mexico and Brazil as early adopters

Microsoft is definitely taking the Chromebook threat seriously, which is why the company launched InTune for Education and the streamlined Windows 10 S last year. The Redmond giant has also been leveraging other assets such as Minecraft for Education, Microsoft Teams for Education and Learning Tools for OneNote, but Chromebooks remain very competitive as they’re very affordable, easy to manage and support. And after Google recently brought support for Android apps on Chrome OS, Chromebooks are no longer cheap laptops focused on web apps and with limited offline capabilities.

Xbox One owners can take advantage of four different sales on the Microsoft Store this week. In addition to the usual Deals with Gold, there is also a Bandai Namco Publisher Sale featuring Dragon Ball FighterZ and Dark Souls III, a Spotlight Sale featuring Conan Exiles and The Sims 4 plus a massive sale on Xbox One Backward Compatible titles.

Here are this week’s Deals With Gold and Spotlight Sale offers plus a sale on a number of games published by @BandaiNamcoUS and a big sale on Xbox One Backward Compatibility titles https://t.co/B7mpjHjvDy pic.twitter.com/cQoNVPjm4T

— Larry Hryb ????????☁ (@majornelson) September 4, 2018

If you’re willing to scratch that old-school games itch, there are quite a lot of old gems in the list: We’re talking about Rockstar Games classics GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption, Street Fighter IV, Mirror’s Edge, Mass Effect 2 and 3, Borderlands 1 and 2, the Dead Space and BioShock trilogies, and much more. Overall, you can save up to 75% off over 100 backward compatible games, and it’s also worth mentioning that the recently-added Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is also 25% off.

This big Backward Compatibility Sale doesn’t require you have an Xbox Live Gold subscription, and all discounts will be available through Monday, September 10. Let us know in the comments if found some interesting games to purchase in the list.

The Forsaken expansion is now live for Destiny 2 gamers on Xbox One. This new expansion for the popular Destiny 2 video game adds new story content, new regions to play in, and new weapons to use.

Existing Destiny 2 players are encouraged to purchase the Forsaken upgrade from within the Destiny 2 in-game menu while new players can purchase either the new Destiny 2: Forsaken: Complete Collection or Destiny 2: Forsaken: Legendary Collection both of which come with the full Destiny 2 game and the new Forsaken content.

Here’s the full details on each version:

• Destiny 2: Forsaken: Complete Collection: Destiny 2, Expansion I: Curse of Osiris, Expansion II: Warmind, Destiny 2: Forsaken, Forsaken Annual Pass, The Awoken Legend Set, Wrath Majestic Legendary Bow Ornament, Dirge Paladin Emblem, Vestian Ghost Shell, and Includes 1000 Bonus Destiny 2 Silver.
• Destiny 2: Forsaken: Legendary Collection: Destiny 2, Expansion I: Curse of Osiris, Expansion II: Warmind, and Destiny 2: Forsaken.

Do you play Destiny 2 on your Xbox One console? Share your thoughts on the new Forsaken content with the community in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest for more Xbox One video game content.

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Destiny 2: Forsaken Pack

Developer:
Bungie

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Destiny 2: Forsaken – Complete Collection

Developer:
Bungie

Price:
Free

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Destiny 2: Forsaken – Legendary Collection

Developer:
Bungie

Price:
Free

Microsoft announced today new user experience updates for Outlook on the web and Outlook for Windows that are now rolling out to select users. First of all, Outlook on the web is getting the same facelift that Outlook.com received earlier this year, with some tweaks for Office 365 users.

In addition to intelligent search, suggested replies and simplified event creation, the new web app also makes it easier to use Office 365 Group right in your inbox. “We received a lot of valuable feedback on groups in the past and based on that we are excited to announce we have improved existing features such as faster and simpler group creation, richer group card, more efficient group email triage, and we are also introducing new features such as group Files view that focuses on the latest file activity and group management in the People module,” the company explained

Just like Microsoft did in Outlook.com, select Office 365 users will see a new “Try the new Outlook” toggle on the top right corner of Outlook on the web, making it easy to turn the new experience on and off. For now, though, only organizations in Targeted Release will be able to enable the opt-in toggle for their users.

As for Outlook for Windows, the desktop app is getting a similar “Coming Soon” toggle that will allow users to try new features and provide feedback. Microsoft is currently testing a simplified ribbon, a modern calendar view and other improvements to get things done faster.

These improvements for Outlook on Windows will be coming coming first to customers in the Monthly Channel (Targeted) and Targeted Release program in the next few weeks. You can learn more about to join the latter on this page.

Noted by Thurrott.com, Microsoft To-Do on Windows 10 is picking up support for inking, now letting users write-out their lists by hand with a pen or stylus on touchscreen devices. The inking support is currently being tested with Windows Insiders and will likely roll out to everyone soon.

As you can expect, the inking support is just as natural and intuitive as it is elsewhere in Windows 10. Simply grab your pen or stylus and ink right inside of the Microsoft-To-Do app in whatever line you’d like to write out a task.

Ink support is now available to #WindowsInsiders! Become an Insider to try it out and let us know what you think! https://t.co/Jvkj6hXIeW pic.twitter.com/8DERbhDJdN

— Microsoft To Do (@MicrosoftToDo) September 4, 2018

This addition of this feature makes much sense, as Microsoft really has been pushing Windows Ink into more stock Windows 10 Apps. We previously saw the addition of the ability to write emails with ink in the Mail and Calendar App, and even several new inking inspired user interface features and changes for Sticky Notes on Windows 10.

Update: We’ve clarified from an earlier version of this article, adding in a tweet from the Microsoft To-Do team.