A couple of days ago, Microsoft backed off adding Cortana integration to Dynamics 365 There was no definitive reason as to why this was occurring, and the company even noted: “we welcome your feedback and ideas.” Today the saga has developed a bit more, and Microsoft is now hinting at a more open integration in the future (via Neowin.)

The same blog post about Cortana integration with Dynamics 365 now headlines: “Work continues on Dynamics 365 digital assistant experiences.” Though not mentioned specifically, this does hints that Microsoft may be working to bring Alexa and Cortana together in Dynamics 365. See the statement for yourself below.

We are working to deliver a robust and scalable digital assistant experience across all of our Dynamics 365 offerings. This includes natural language integration for customers and partners across multiple channels including Cortana. To that end, we are discontinuing the current Cortana integration preview feature that was made available for Dynamics 365 and we are focusing on building a new long term intelligent solution experience, which will include Cortana digital assistant integration.

As you may recall, Microsoft previously detailed they would be working with Amazon to integrate Cortana with Alexa. The two companies missed the deadline, but Microsoft recently insisted that the two are still working on the integration. With this so, Dynamics 365 somehow could now be involved in the Cortana and Alexa partnership, especially because of the “long-term intelligent solution experience.” and “partners” phrasing.

Again, just speculating, as Microsoft has not said anything beyond the new statement seen in the blog post. It also could be the way of the company being more open to the competition, and allowing digital assistant integration to all, but there’s no telling, especially with the news that Amazon Alexa would be coming to some Windows 10 PCs.

According to a report from Bleeping Computer, Microsoft is temporarily no longer accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment. The reason is due to the “unstable state” of the cryptocurrency and worldwide payment system.

UPDATE: Microsoft has since restored the ability to pay with Bitcoin online.

Although there was some confusion and temporary hault, Microsoft has long allowed users to use Bitcoin in order to add $10, $15, $25, $50, $,75, or $100 amounts to their Microsoft account balance. The company also previously adopted Bitcoin as a payment method in 2014.

This move from Microsoft makes sense, as Bitcoin values tend to fluctuate higher and then ower every day. The fluctuation also means that Microsoft could be taking up loses if they accept the payment.

This, along with high fees, is also why Steam recently stopped accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment. Anyway, the company is urging those who previously used Bitcoin as payment to consider using credit or debit cards, a PayPal account, or a direct bank account.

When word got out on an exploit in AMD and Intel Processors, Microsoft and other tech giants were quick to respond and patch their systems or devices. Although Microsoft issued an emergency Windows Update to address the issue, it is apparently causing more harm than good for those with AMD PCs (via Neowin.)

Some users are reporting that their older AMD based PCs with Athlon processors will no longer boot into Windows after installing the latest KB4056892 security patch. Their devices instead give a roll-back error, 0x800f0845, with no way to go back and restore. It’s an issue that is well noted on the Microsoft Support forum, where over 457 people have marked that they have the same question/problem.

Top comments in the forum state that the best fix for those experiencing the problem is to clean install Windows 10 and then disable or pause Windows Updates to prevent KB4056892 from being installed. Microsoft has yet to acknowledge the issues or reply the support forum, but that is likely to change soon. Be sure to keep tuned for more updates.

Welcome to our weekly Xbox news recap series, where we go over the top stories of the past week in the world of Xbox. Let’s get started.

Kinect sensors cease production

After years of being brushed under the rug and being more or less forgotten by gamers at large, the Kinect has finally been shut down. It was announced by Microsoft this week that the little-peripheral-that-could would completely cease production. The sensor has been mostly irrelevant to the majority of Xbox gamers, but a significant community has broken out that uses it to develop all sorts of applications for other platforms.

Kinect is fully, totally dead: Microsoft is no longer manufacturing the adapter needed to hook it up to a PC, Xbox One S or Xbox One X. https://t.co/9zmR04hkW1 pic.twitter.com/7QssUcRRXQ

— Polygon (@Polygon) January 3, 2018

PUBG to be Xbox exclusive for some time

PUBG has been one of the biggest things to happen to the gaming industry in the past few years – it’s a massive deal. The battle royale game became a massive success for both gamers and streamers, becoming one of the most successful titans of gaming culture right beside Overwatch and League of Legends. The game launched on Xbox in mid-December, and according to an interview with the CEO in charge of PUBG, the game will stay there for a while. Although it’s certain to come to other platforms at some point in time, the game will likely remain a console exclusive for a comfortable period of time.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) to be Xbox One exclusive for a while https://t.co/X9LbuBVCXb

— OnMSFT.com (@onmsft) January 6, 2018

Microsoft accused of dishonest advertising with Xbox One X and Kinect

With the Kinect being shut down, attention has been brought to some potentially dishonest advertising behaviors from Microsoft in regards to the Xbox One X. The console isn’t compatible with the Kinect sensor – and while that isn’t a massive problem in and of itself, it seems like most of the console’s advertising suggests otherwise. In several pieces of marketing, it’s suggested that “Xbox One accessories work with Xbox One X.” All of them. With the Kinect undoubtedly being an Xbox One accessory, it’s easy to see why some people are calling foul play on Microsoft’s advertising.

Sea Of Thieves custom controller available for pre-order

Looking for a new controller to fawn over? Sea Of Thieves is well on its way, and the custom controller that’s coming out to promote the game is one of the most gorgeous controllers I’ve seen so far. The controller is purple with spatterings of seafoam green, and compass markings surrounding the left stick. The controller also glows in the dark, for night owls who wanted to have some novelty with their gaming experience. The peripheral is pretty snazzy, and is available for pre-order for about $75.

LOOK AT IT. How amazing is the @Xbox @SeaOfThieves controller?!
Props and thanks to @SweetMicga for the sublime work on these. pic.twitter.com/1DMTiHM3fM

— Catarina Macedo (@CatamyKX) January 4, 2018

Thanks for joining us. To keep up to date with all the latest Xbox news, keep a close eye on our Xbox One tag.

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

Microsoft backs off adding Cortana integration to Dynamics 365

Despite having Cortana integration for Dynamics 365 in preview, the company has decided against adding its own virtual assistant, Cortana, to its CRM platform.

Redesigned calendar is coming soon to Outlook.com beta

Beta users of Outlook.com are to receive a redesigned calendar. A teaser image of the new calendar shows more consistency between Calendar and Mail.

https://twitter.com/OfficeNews/status/949295293488599041

Microsoft to publish fiscal year 2018 second-quarter earnings on Jan. 31

At the end of the month, we’ll be seeing how Microsoft’s different divisions are performing, as the company publishes its second-quarter earnings for 2018 on 31st January.

Azure customers should not see a “noticeable performance impact” due to Intel, AMD CPU vulnerability patches

As news of 2 vulnerabilities in CPUs from Intel, ARM and AMD broke out, reports have suggested that the patches to resolve the flaws would deliver a performance hit of between 5% and 30%. Despite this, Microsoft is saying that its Azure customers should not see a “noticeable performance impact”.

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

Welcome back to our Windows 10 news recap. We are continuing the trend of our weekly “Windows 10 news recap” series where we go over the top stories of the past week in the world of Microsoft’s flagship operating system.

Windows 10 Mobile receives a new security update, potentially patches for Meltdown and Spectre flaws

In light of the CPU vulnerabilities affecting Intel, ARM and AMD, Microsoft has released a new security update to all versions of Windows 10 Mobile that are suspected to include patches for the flaws.

New Surface firmware updates are rolling out with fixes for Intel CPU vulnerabilities

Alongside Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft’s Surface line of products have received firmware updates that also fix the known processor vulnerabilities. The firmware update is rolling out to the following devices:

• Surface Pro 3
• Surface Pro 4
• Surface Book
• Surface Studio
• Surface Pro Model 1796
• Surface Laptop
• Surface Pro with LTE Advanced
• Surface Book 2

You still have a few days to upgrade to Windows 10 for free

For those who still haven’t taken Microsoft up on its offer of a free upgrade to Windows 10, the accessibility upgrade is still available for a few more days.

The new MEGA extension for Microsoft Edge is now live

MEGA has released its own extension for Microsoft Edge, available now in the Microsoft Store, making it easier for users to access their MEGA cloud storage.

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

Microsoft is offering a free Black Panther suit fr your Xbox Avatar in the Xbox Store. As noted via a Reddit post, all you need to do to don this Black Panther suit is TO head over to the Xbox Marketplace. It’s free, so you have nothing to lose by picking up this Xbox Avatar item.

There are separate Marvel Black Panther suits for your female and male Avatars, so obviously you can’t purchase both Black Panther suits from the Xbox Store.

Unfortunately, this free Marvel Black Panther suit is available for Xbox Avatars in the US only. So if you are in other regions, you are SOL. Possibly, Marvel may add Black Panther to its highly successful line of console games, so don’t be surprised if you see Black Panther on Xbox One sometime soon. You can go see Marvel’s Black Panther movie in theaters starting on February 16, 2018.

The Xbox One X launched last November in select markets across the world, but India was not included in the launch party. Noted by Digit, it turns out that Microsoft may have recently caused some false excitement and confusion in India, as the company briefly listed the Xbox One X launch on January 15th and then took the page down.

This page briefly had the Xbox One X at the price of Rs 44,990 (about $710 US), but it’s since gone offline. Microsoft also tells Digit that there is “nothing to share” at the moment in regards to the Xbox One X coming to India. The company instead recently put up the Xbox One S for sale in India at, which originally launched in the US back in 2016.

It’s still not certain if Microsoft will ever bring the Xbox One X to India, but some Indian gamers seemed angry at the high price noted on the since removed page. This, though, is not the first time that an Xbox related page has been pulled in a foreign country. As you may recall, Xbox Poland revealed keyboard, mouse support is coming for Xbox One consoles soon, but then pulled the page.

(via MSPU)

The recent discovery of serious security flaws in Intel, AMD and ARM CPUs hit the tech industry pretty hard this week. We recently learned that the Meltdown vulnerability affects nearly all Intel processors released since 1995, while the more serious Spectre vulnerability affects all modern Intel, AMD and ARM processors.

As you may know, Microsoft’s Xbox One family of consoles are powered by a custom AMD Jaguar CPU, and they run a customized version of Windows 10. In some reassuring news for Xbox gamers, Xbox head of engineering Mike Ybarra shared today that all Xbox One consoles are protected against these recently discovered CPU flaws:

FYI: The security architecture of Xbox already mitigates against the recent chip-related security vulnerabilities. #Xbox

— Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) January 5, 2018

While the tech industry is still figuring out how these two serious vulnerabilities will affect PCs, servers, smartphones, tablets and more, it’s good to know that our Xbox One consoles are safe to use. Overall, Microsoft has been pretty good at dealing with this concerning news so far, releasing an emergency Windows 10 patch earlier this week which was followed by new firmware updates for Surface devices. If you haven’t done it yet, we invite you to make sure that your Windows 10 PC or Surface device is up to date.

According to a report from Windows Latest, Microsoft has updated the Feedback Hub UWP app with support for multiple Microsoft accounts. The update applies to all devices and brings the Feedback Hub app to version 1.1711.3412.0. Have a look at what’s new below:

• Read and comment on both mobile and PC feedback, whether you’re using your PC or mobile device
• Easily switch between your Microsoft accounts while in Feedback Hub
• Translate inline sticky comments with Bing Translate.

These are definitely some welcome changes, helping make the Feedback Hub a better place for interacting with both Microsoft and fellow Windows Insiders. It also comes right after Microsoft added a comment reply feature and new notification improvements in past updates.

With the events of 2017 way behind us, it’s time to look forward to 2018. As usual, Microsoft will be holding several pre-announced conferences this year in 2018: Build 2018, Inspire 2018, Ignite 2018, and more. There are also the usual non-Microsoft sanctioned events, and the “surprise” Windows 10 and Spring and Fall hardware events. Here is a look at the biggest events you can expect from Microsoft in 2018.

CES 2018: January 9-12 in Las Vegas

The Consumer Electronics Show, otherwise known as CES, is the world’s gathering place for all those who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. Microsoft normally does not have a direct presence at CES, but the company works with many of the OEMs and device manufacturers who have booths at the event. You can expect to hear more about upcoming Windows 10 PCs and devices, including Always Connected PCs. This year CES runs from January 9-12 in Las Vegas.

Redstone 4 or 2018 Surface Event (???):

Microsoft usually holds an event in New York City during the Spring or Fall to unveil upcoming Surface devices and show the world more about the next featured update to Windows 10. In 2017, the company held a Spring “Learn What’s Next” event on May 2 in New York. Last year this event was a bit of a surprise and was education focused, all about Windows 10 S, and the Surface Laptop.

Unlike in 2016 (when Microsoft held an event for RS2/ Creators Update) we didn’t really see a big dedicated 2017 NYC event for Surface or the Fall Creators Update/RS3. We instead saw the Fall Creators Update naming/RS3 reveal at Build 2017. The Surface Pro was also instead unveiled at a separate event in Shanghai, the Surface Pro LTE at Future Decoded in London, and the Surface Book 2 revealed online ahead of the Fall Creators Update release.

Since the Spring of 2018 may be too early for any Surface Hardware, there might NOT be a dedicated Surface hardware event in NYC for the Spring of this year. Instead, maybe Microsoft could hold an event for Redstone 4 software, and save the hardware event for the Fall, but that’s just me speculating.

E3 2018: June 12-14 in Los Angeles

E3 is always a big spot on the calendar for Microsoft, as it is the stage for the company to show off the latest and greatest games in Xbox technology. Last year the company unveiled the Xbox One X at the event, and we’re still not certain what the company has planned this year. Anyway, it runs from June 12-14 in Los Angeles and is the must-attend and watch event for experiencing the future of Xbox.

Microsoft Inspire: July 15-19 in Las Vegas, Nevada

At Microsoft Inspire (previously known as the Worldwide Partner Conference, WPC) Microsoft is focused on their global partner community. It’s Microsoft’s biggest partner and enterprise event, and partners learn more about Microsoft’s plans for the upcoming year. Microsoft specifically calls this “the event where the world meets to transform business.” Thousands of partners have the chance to connect with Microsoft personnel for a week of networking, innovation, and ingenuity. The 2018 event is co-located with Microsoft Ready, the company’s largest internal readiness event. Registration is now open. 

Gamescom 2018:  August 22-25 in Cologne, Germany

Around 335,000 gaming fans from all over the globe attended Gamescom in 2017. This event is one of the world’s largest video gaming conventions. We usually see a lot of the same stuff unveiled at E3 during Gamescom, but it’s still exciting since it gives Europeans a chance to get hands-on with the latest video games and Xbox hardware.

Microsoft Envision/Ignite: September 24-28 in Orlando, Florida

Microsoft Envision and Ignite used to be separate events, but they were combined together under Ignite in 2017. At this event, Microsoft usually talks about cloud infrastructure, productivity, and how upcoming and current tech can be used by business leader and decision makers in the future. It ran from September 23-29 in Orlando, Florida in 2017. It’s confirmed that Microsoft Ignite will be returning to Orlando for 2018, and registration is now open.

Build 2018: TBA

Build is one of Microsoft’s biggest events. This annual conference is aimed at towards software engineers and web developers using Windows, Microsoft Azure and other Microsoft technologies. As 2017 showed, there’s also a consumer and Windows 10 side to things, where the company goes over features in the upcoming Windows 10 release. It first started in 2011 and has gone on every year since then. Build 2017 was held on May 10 – 12 in Seattle, and the company has not yet announced a date or venue for Build 2018, but we’re expecting to hear more soon.

Future Decoded: TBA

Microsoft’s Future Decoded event is all about current and emerging trends at the cross over of business and technology. The event was held in London last year from October 31-November 1st. No official dates have been announced for 2018 yet.

Microsoft Connect(): Online, TBA

Microsoft Connect() is the online event where Microsoft discusses how they are empowering developers to lead the new digital revolution with apps. We learned a lot about Visual Studio in this event in 2017 from November 15-17 , and you can expect more of the same in 2018 when it’s announced

Tech Summit: Multiple Cities, Dates

Microsoft tech summit is a free technical learning event for IT decision makers, professionals, and developers. Those attending the events can connect with experts from Microsoft and ask questions, choose from a variety of learning opportunities, customize learning, and find the latest trends in tech. There are multiple cities and dates for Tech Summit, and most run in the Summer, though Irvine, Dallas, Burlington, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburg, and more.

As usual, we’ll be here to cover all of these Microsoft events. There are definitely exciting times ahead this year, and we hope you keep tuned to us for all your Microsoft, Windows 10 news and information. Let us know in the comments below if you’re looking forward to any of these events!

Demand for the Kinect Adapter had been pretty intense over the past few months due to its rarity but yesterday’s confirmation that Microsoft has now ceased production of it altogether has pushed interest in it into overdrive.

As a result of this demand, the most-popular trending suggestion over on Microsoft’s Xbox UserVoice website is now one about Xbox One X buyers and how they should be provided with a free Kinect Adapter as Microsoft likely stopped making them before the Xbox One X even came out. This means that any Xbox One console owner who is upgrading to an Xbox One X is essentially being forced to dump their Kinect sensor due to the newer console not featuring a Kinect port. A few lucky Xbox One X buyers have been fortunate enough to track down an elusive Kinect Adapter but most haven’t been either due to them all being sold out in stores being resold at prices as high as $399 on auction sites like eBay.

There also seems to be a few loyal Xbox gamers who had been planning to upgrade to an Xbox One X console but are having second thoughts due to its lack of Kinect support.

It should be noted that while a lot of people are voting on this idea for a free adapter, many of those commenting are saying that they would be happy to buy a Kinect Adapter if Microsoft made them available again so this is more than just a bunch of people asking for something for free. With quite a few new Xbox One S and X buyers making their purchases after being told by official Microsoft marketing that their new consoles would support the Kinect though, perhaps a free Kinect Adapter is the least Microsoft could do to compensate them.

Microsoft choosing to discontinue the Kinect Adapter is definitely an odd decision given how in-demand the accessory is. One possible explanation could be that the company completely misread how many of its users actually use the Kinect sensors or factor its functionality into a new Xbox console purchase decision. Another could be that Microsoft is well-aware of the number of Kinect users but decided to deliberately force gamers off it in an attempt to push the market more towards traditional gaming titles and their new focus on 4K HDR and Windows 10 crossplay.

Let us know what you think the reason was for the dumping of Kinect and the Kinect Adapter in the comments below and head on over to the UserVoice idea and vote for it if you’d like to see more Kinect Adapters be made.

The PUBG Development and Community Team released some information on the next update for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) Game Preview on Xbox One which is expected to be submitted to Microsoft for approval sometime during the next 24 hours and should go live for gamers to download soon after.

This next PUBG update is said to focus mainly on fixing the numerous crash issues that have been plaguing players and will also have some “quality of life improvements and gameplay adjustments.” Details on the latter weren’t specified though.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was one of the biggest PC games of 2017. It came to Xbox One in Game Preview (aka open beta for testing) before the end of the year which made it the first home console to get the game. A physical disk version for the Xbox One has also been released in stores. The game itself is an online survival shooter and has already become one of the most-played titles on the Xbox One over the past few weeks since its launch.

Are you playing PUBG on your Xbox One? Let us know if you’re enjoying the experience in the comments below.

A few short hours ago, we noted that Microsoft was planning on releasing an emergency Windows Update to address the ongoing security concerns with Intel and AMD processors. According to multiple media outlets, including Windows Central, said KB4056892 update (OS build 16299.192) is now rolling out to Windows 10 users (though we’re not seeing it just yet on any of our machines here at OnMSFT.)

As we previously noted, the security update is set to automatically roll out to all Windows 10 desktops today starting at 5 PM ET, and later to other Windows 7 and Windows 8 on January 16th via a Patch Tuesday update. We’re not finding this update on any of our machines just yet, but Microsoft has released a changelog for it and also made it available via the Microsoft Update Catalog as a manual download.

Here’s a look at the changelog:

• This update includes quality improvements. No new operating system features are being introduced in this update. Key changes include:
• Addresses issue where event logs stop receiving events when a maximum file size policy is applied to the channel.
• Addresses issue where printing an Office Online document in Microsoft Edge fails.
• Addresses issue where the touch keyboard doesn’t support the standard layout for 109 keyboards.
• Addresses video playback issues in applications such as Microsoft Edge that affect some devices when playing back video on a monitor and a secondary, duplicated display.
• Addresses issue where Microsoft Edge stops responding for up to 3 seconds while displaying content from a software rendering path.
• Addresses issue where only 4 TB of memory is shown as available in Task Manager in Windows Server version 1709 when more memory is actually installed, configured, and available.
• Security updates to Windows SMB Server, the Windows Subsystem for Linux, Windows Kernel, Windows
• Datacenter Networking, Windows Graphics, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, and the Microsoft Scripting Engine.
• If you installed earlier updates, only the new fixes contained in this package will be downloaded and installed on your device.

Importantly, this update carries a set of known issues and workarounds, relating to installation, and Antivirus software. Please see the known issues below. We invite you to check out Microsoft’s official changelog for more step by step details on how to resolve these issues, especially because the workarounds are rather technical.

• Update installation may stop at 99% and may show elevated CPU or disk utilization if a device was reset using the Reset this PC functionality after installing KB4054022.
• Windows Update History reports that KB4054517 failed to install because of Error 0x80070643.
• When calling CoInitializeSecurity, the call will fail if passing RPC_C_IMP_LEVEL_NONE under certain conditions.
• Due to an issue with some versions of Anti-Virus software, this fix is only being made applicable to the machines where the Anti virus ISV has updated the ALLOW REGKEY.

Noted by The Verge, Microsoft also issued a statement about the processor exploits. The company addressed how it is an industry-wide issue, and how it has worked with chip manufacturers to test mitigations:

We’re aware of this industry-wide issue and have been working closely with chip manufacturers to develop and test mitigations to protect our customers. We are in the process of deploying mitigations to cloud services and have also released security updates to protect Windows customers against vulnerabilities affecting supported hardware chips from Intel, ARM, and AMD. We have not received any information to indicate that these vulnerabilities had been used to attack our customers.

It’s really great to see Microsoft stepping up here and supporting their consumers and customers. This processor exploit is rather worrying for the average consumer, and true or not, it’s nice that Microsoft is here to assure customers that they’re not being attacked as a result of the vulnerabilities.

Earlier today we reported on a memory leak flaw in Intel Processors which puts the systems of certain Windows users at risk. Though Intel was quick to dismiss the reports, saying the bug is not exclusive to Intel chips but also impacted AMD, things have since escalated very quickly. Indeed, The Verge has learned Microsoft is set to issue an emergency Windows Update to address the latest Intel processor security concerns. Google has also disclosed the full details on these processor flaws today, confirming that AMD and ARM processors are also affected.

According to the report, the update is a “rare out of brand” security update and will be issued for all supported versions of Windows. The security update is set to automatically roll out to all Windows 10 desktops today at 5 PM ET, though we’re not seeing it on any of our systems just yet. It’s also set to become available on other Windows 7 and Windows 8 systems, though it will not appear automatically on these systems until Tuesday, January 16.

UPDATE: The emergency Windows Update is now rolling out. Check out our dedicated post here.

This update mainly relies on kernel fixes, and it may be required for anti-virus programs to be updated in order to work properly once this update is installed. In its previously released statement, Intel dismissed claims that fixes would slow down computers using impacted chipsets, adding that slowdowns from any security updates may be “workload-dependent.” Their full statement on this issue can be seen below:

Intel and other technology companies have been made aware of new security research describing software analysis methods that, when used for malicious purposes, have the potential to improperly gather sensitive data from computing devices that are operating as designed. Intel believes these exploits do not have the potential to corrupt, modify or delete data.

Recent reports that these exploits are caused by a “bug” or a “flaw” and are unique to Intel products are incorrect. Based on the analysis to date, many types of computing devices — with many different vendors’ processors and operating systems — are susceptible to these exploits.

Intel is committed to product and customer security and is working closely with many other technology companies, including AMD, ARM Holdings and several operating system vendors, to develop an industry-wide approach to resolve this issue promptly and constructively. Intel has begun providing software and firmware updates to mitigate these exploits. Contrary to some reports, any performance impacts are workload-dependent, and, for the average computer user, should not be significant and will be mitigated over time.

Intel is committed to the industry best practice of responsible disclosure of potential security issues, which is why Intel and other vendors had planned to disclose this issue next week when more software and firmware updates will be available. However, Intel is making this statement today because of the current inaccurate media reports.

Check with your operating system vendor or system manufacturer and apply any available updates as soon as they are available. Following good security practices that protect against malware in general will also help protect against possible exploitation until updates can be applied.

Intel believes its products are the most secure in the world and that, with the support of its partners, the current solutions to this issue provide the best possible security for its customers.

With basically all modern Intel processors being impacted by this flaw, this is definitely a PR nightmare for Intel, and it’s still unclear how the emergency Windows updates will affect performance on PCs with Intel chips. Even if the founder said today that these patches won’t slow down systems, this is likely to impact consumer’s trust in the company’s premium chips moving into the rest of 2018.

Turok is a big deal, for the history of shooters. It’s one of the classic games that helped the FPS genre find its legs in a new and evolving market. Thanks to Night Dive studios – a team that’s dedicated to remaking and/or remastering all sorts of different titles – we should be seeing a much-improved version of Turok in the near future (via Windows Central.)

#Xbox One: "Turok" released with age rating 16! https://t.co/ke9fy95nGm

— PEGI Rating System (@PEGI_RATING) January 2, 2018

Night Dive’s remade versions of Turok 1 and 2 have been available on PC for quite some time now, so they’re technically nothing new. That being said, this tweet from the PEGI Rating System suggests that an Xbox One version of Turok is well on its way to releasing. While no official statement has been made by Night Dive studios, you can probably expect to hear something fairly soon. Rating is something that happens in the very late stages of development and should mean that they’ll have something to announce soon.

After profiling Dona Sarkar last year, Microsoft published today a profile of KC Lemson, senior director of program managers in Surface, and creator of the Ninja Cat meme. The 19-year Microsoft veteran, which describes herself as “totally socially awkward” and “a bull in a china shop” is indeed a very interesting personality.

Lemson already revealed the origin of the Microsoft Ninja cat last year: when she was working on a Powerpoint presentation about what would soon become Windows 10, she included a graphic that showed the cat standing on a unicorn and holding a flag with the Microsoft logo.

The whole thing was actually inspired by the popular Welcome to the Internet meme by Jason Heuser, and it really resonated with Microsoft employees. As Lemson sums it, Ninja Cat quickly became “a visual that spoke to a sort of zeitgeist about where we were headed.”

A very creative person, Lemson has also created Bedlam, a humourous Microsoft version of the Cards Against Humanity game. “Making fun of ourselves, it’s just literally fun,” she said of the game based on inside jokes and the company’s culture. The game is currently being sold at the internal Microsoft company store, and Lemson has been using sales to raise money for charity.

After having close to 10 different roles at Microsoft, Lemson is now a very passionate member of the Surface team. “Technology has the potential to be so cool, but if I don’t want to use it, if it’s not going to change my habits, then I don’t care,” she said. “Technology has to benefit human beings, and this company has the will and the DNA to do that.” You can follow KC Lemson on Twitter here.

We’ve seen some interesting creations from game console modder Eddie Zarick before. He’s the mind behind the Xbox One S and PS4 slim combo dubbed the Xstation and even the Xbox One S Laptop. Given Microsoft’s recent release of the Xbox One X, Zarick took it on to create a portable version of the console, appropriately named the Xbook One X (via Digital Trends.)

In a short YouTube video, Zarick shows off the 21-inch 1080p screen, built-in keyboard/speakers, and the original Xbox One X power and eject buttons on his Xbook One X. A post on his blog reveals the entire system is built into a custom housing, and the keyboard can be used for the navigation of the UI without having the controller on. The Xbook One X also keeps the original Xbox One X cooling system, perfect for “extreme gaming.”

Interestingly, the Xbook One X only works with a power cable, since it’s impossible for a modern gaming console to run on just batteries. Other features on the custom console include 5 buttons for controlling all of the functions of the LCD, one USB port on the front of the system. The back of the system sees an HDMI out for 4K output, Ethernet and optical audio out, and 2 USB ports.

If you so happen to have $1,000 to deposit on this system, you can purchase one directly from Eddie Zarick by contacting him on his website. This $1,000 is nonrefundable, but it gets your name on the list for the Xbook One X. Zarick lists that the console takes 2-3 weeks to complete, and you can contact him with any questions along the way.

It’s been nearly two months now since SteamVR games launched in early preview on Windows Mixed Reality headsets, and the Windows VR headsets are already gaining traction on Steam. As noted by Road to VR this week (via MSPoweruser), the latest Steam hardware survey revealed that Windows Mixed Reality headsets more than doubled their usage share from 2% to 4.35% last month.

While the HTC Vive (47.26%) and the Oculus Rift (46.14%) remain far ahead in the chart, Windows Mixed Reality headsets should gain more usage share on Steam once the SteamVR bridge officially drops its beta tag.

As Microsoft and its hardware partners have yet to reveal sales data, it’s still hard to know if Windows Mixed Reality headsets are selling well. But thanks to their inside-out tracking technology, Windows VR headsets are much easier to set up compared to the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, which both require external tracking hardware. Moreover, Windows Mixed Reality are really affordable, and most of them were on sale during the holidays.

Like most VR headsets these days, Windows Mixed Reality headsets should remain focused on PC gaming scenarios for the time being, and SteamVR is a great platform for that. Unfortunately for Xbox One owners, Microsoft believes that console VR should be wireless, so we could wait quite some time before seeing Windows Mixed Reality support on the Xbox One.

We’re just three days into 2018 and Microsoft has already announced its first acquisition of the year, which is cloud-related. Avere Systems, a Pittsburgh-based company specialized in providing fast data access for hybrid cloud infrastructures, will help Microsoft improve its Azure offering.

“Avere uses an innovative combination of file system and caching technologies to support the performance requirements for customers who run large-scale compute workloads,” explained Jason Zander, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Azure. The company already has many high-profile customers in the media industry including Sony Pictures Imageworks, as well as several US government agencies such as NASA and Library of Congress.

In a separate blog post, President and CEO of Avere Systems Ronald Bianchini Jr. said that Microsoft completely shares Avere’s focus on large enterprise applications. “Our shared vision is to continue our focus on all of Avere’s use cases – in the datacenter, in the cloud and in hybrid cloud storage and cloud bursting environments,” he explained. “Tighter integration with Azure will result in a much more seamless experience for our customers.”

Microsoft has long been pushing for the use of TV White Space tech in rural America to help more folks get online, but the company recently took things to a new level. As noted by Venture Beat, Microsoft formed the “Connect Americans Now” advocacy group, helping advocate the FCC to remove regulations that are in the way of rural broadband initiatives.

The news comes right after Microsoft President Brad Smith pushed out a note on the top 10 tech issues for 2018, with technology for rural communities making the list. Anyway, The App Association, a software trade organization, and the National Rural Education Association join Microsoft as members of the Connect Americans Now advocacy group.

According to a website for Connect Americans Now, the group plans to “engage policymakers in a meaningful dialogue on the most effective ways to ensure that all American communities can benefit from high-speed broadband coverage.” The website also cites that roughly 34 million Americans lack a broadband connection and 23.4 million live in rural areas.

TV White Space technology depends on the use of open unused broadcast spectrums (mainly from TV stations) to bring internet to rural areas. These airwaves also can travel greater distances and can better penetrate through walls and other obstacles. Microsoft plans to provide small investments in capital expenditure to build the TV White Space broadband networks, but like any commercial environment does not take a return on investment into consideration. The tech was in use in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands following hurricanes.

It’s no secret that Microsoft has pretty much abandoned the Xbox One’s Kinect sensor. Native support for it wasn’t added to the newer Xbox One S and Xbox One X consoles and the adapter which was needed to make it work on either of them has now ceased production. While this is terrible news for the many Xbox One owners who enjoy using their Kinect (or even bought an Xbox One because of it), discontinuation of hardware is something that often happens with technology so this isn’t too controversial in and of itself. What is an issue though is Microsoft continuing to falsely advertise the Xbox One X as being fully compatible with the Kinect.

When the Xbox One X was officially unveiled during 2017’s E3, Microsoft made a point to mention that it would work with all current Xbox One accessories, which includes the Kinect. Take a look in the video below.

Along with the E3 presentation, Microsoft also released some marketing material which confirmed that their upcoming console would indeed support all Xbox One-branded accessories. Not only that, the material even stated that no adaptors would be necessary.

Now, sure, plans change and products evolve between their announcements and launch so this can be forgiven but the problem is that all of the current promotional material for the Xbox One X continues to state that it will work with all Xbox One accessories and no effort is being made to correct the messaging already put out. Take a look at this section from the official Xbox One X website.

Admittedly that graphic doesn’t feature the Kinect but most consumers will simply read that and assume it does. Very few will read the linked-to fine print at the bottom of the page specifying that a Kinect Adapter is needed for the Kinect to work with an Xbox One X. Since that product is no longer being made though, that should absolutely be mentioned on the site.

The worst offender is the official Xbox One X product listing on Amazon which not only proudly proclaims that the new console supports all Xbox One accessories but even includes a detailed chart that breaks down all of what the Xbox One X and Xbox One S can do. Both are said to support all accessories.

This ambiguous communication is confusing new and existing Xbox One owners. I’ve personally had to explain the Kinect situation to several people in person over the holidays who were planning on getting an Xbox One console for their family for Christmas. All pretty much assumed that the Kinect would work with the Xbox One S or X as that’s what the marketing has been telling them. There are many more confused consumers online.

“I’m sorry but this really is a slap in the face I’m pretty sure its also false advertising since it was claimed the X supported all your Xbox One accessories which clearly isn’t the case. Really soured my whole experience to the point where I’m really considering returning my Scorpio Edition,” says one entry on Microsoft’s UserVoice website. “I bought your hype and fell in love with Kinect, then you killed it,” says another. “Please give us access to our Kinect again! You may want to pretend like it doesn’t exist, but it is something me and my kids used often before my Original Xbox One failed earlier this year.”

Predictably, social media users are voicing their frustration and sense of betrayal too.

@XboxSupport I bought the Xbox One on day one in 2013… I love the Kinect have grown attached to it. I just upgraded to a Xbox One X but can’t buy the adapter anywhere or if I could they’re selling for 4 times the original price. What is Microsoft doing to remedy this situation?

— Devin Demby (@ddemby5) December 26, 2017

@Xbox paid a fortune for xbox one x and bought what i was told was compatible kinect for my children. Now i can only find an adaptor for £100 + bad times . Greedy microsoft

— Mand I (@homanad) January 1, 2018

@Microsoft @MicrosoftStore just upgraded to a xbox one x from a xbox 360 and also bought an kinect and a bunch of games for it not knowing it needed an adapter..my question is where can I get an adapter without having to pay $400 on ebay or amazon?

— Paulo Almeida (@palmeidanwk) December 31, 2017

@XboxSupport i bought a xbox one day one edition with his kinect, actually i have bought xbox one x scorpio. You said that all accesories are compatible, but i cant use Kinect with my new xbox. I must buy an adapter to use this but there isnt stock in your store. You lied to us.

— PlayMikeler (@yurik_g) November 20, 2017

Just adding my voice; disappointed in @Xbox discontinuing Kinect adapter leaving #XboxOneX owners in the woods despite @XboxP3 assuring us all our games and accessories would work. Day one owner and am tired by the lack of unified platform vision. DIY-ed my own adapter instead.

— Timothy Boan (@timothy_boan) January 3, 2018

There’s really no way to heal the burn many Xbox One and Kinect early adopters are feeling after the Kinect abandonment (myself included) but a lot of the confusion with recent console purchases could easily be solved if Microsoft chose to clearly state on Xbox One X and S product listings and packaging that they aren’t compatible with the Kinect. Especially now that there’s little chance of a new buyer getting their hands on a Kinect Adapter.

I started this article by saying that it’s no secret that Microsoft has killed support for the Kinect but it really does seem like it is. On one hand, it’s understandable, as choosing to promote the cancellation of something so heavily associated with the Xbox brand to the casual consumer could create doubt in the marketplace. On the other though, it does look like Microsoft is deliberately misrepresenting their latest consoles to make more sales. It could only be a matter of time before some angry consumers take out their Kinectless rage on Microsoft in the courts. After all, this wouldn’t be the first time (or second) that gamers have sued a company that let them down.

Where do you stand on this issue? Do you think Microsoft should do a better job at communicating with consumers? Let us know in the comments below.

Microsoft has finally confirmed that they have ceased production of their Kinect Adapter and that none will be made available in the future.

“After careful consideration, we decided to stop manufacturing the Xbox Kinect Adapter to focus attention on launching new, higher fan-requested gaming accessories across Xbox One and Windows 10,” the company’s statement given to Polygon earlier today reads.

The Kinect Adapter is an accessory needed to connect the Xbox One’s Kinect sensor to the newer Xbox One S and Xbox One X video game consoles. Some were given away for free to a select group of early Xbox One S buyers but most latter customers, and all who bought the new Xbox One X, were forced to order their own online or find one in store. During the 2017 holiday season with the uptick in Xbox One S sales and the launch of the Xbox One X, stock completely ran out pretty much everywhere in all regions and the Kinect Adapter is now being resold on Amazon and eBay for up to US$399.

Many Xbox One users who had reached out to Xbox Support had been receiving mixed messages about Kinect ranging from plans for new stock of the Kinect Adapter to be made and even a possible alternative to the accessory being planned for the future so some clarification from Microsoft was definitely needed. This just isn’t the confirmation that most were expecting.

The Kinect sensor allows gamers to play motion games like Just Dance, Dance Central, and Fruit Ninja, and can also be used for video calls via Skype and for webcam footage when streaming on Twitch or Mixer. The most-used Kinect function though is likely its voice commands which can be used to turn the console (and/or the TV) on and off, change the volume, pause and play video, record in-game footage or take a screenshot, and more. Right now, anyone looking to upgrade to an Xbox One S or Xbox One X will have to sacrifice all of this added functionality and for many angry consumers on Twitter, Reddit, and Microsoft’s own UserVoice, this is something that they just don’t want to do.

Are you a Kinect user that’s been affected by this decision? Let us know about your experience in the comments below and then head on over to this UserVoice Kinect suggestion to make your voice heard.

Welcome to our weekly Xbox news recap series, where we go over the top stories of the past week in the world of Xbox. Let’s get started.

Kodi app launches for Xbox One

The popular media center app, Kodi, has recently gotten an app for Xbox One. The app lets you explore media content across your network, peeking into the hard drives of connected devices. The app should be useful for people with several devices who intend for the Xbox One to become the center of their entertainment suite, and is available on the Xbox store for free. Unfortunately, the app currently doesn’t support the Xbox One Media Remote, so you’ll have to just use your controller for now.

Kodi for Xbox One is available worldwide through Windows and Xbox Store.https://t.co/8LpsaWCWOw pic.twitter.com/Rwxc7lOluD

— Kodi (@KodiTV) December 29, 2017

Tomb Raider and Van Helsing: 2018 come to Gold members early

Every month, Xbox Live Gold users get a handful of free games. This time around, January’s games came early – dropping at the very end of December for people who want something to do on New Year’s, and don’t have a party lined up. The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing and Tomb Raider: Underworld are on the menu this time, in addition to Zombi and Army of Two. The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing comes at a great time, especially, since the third game in its franchise launches today. Feel free to try out the first game, and decide if you want to buy into the third.

January's #GamesWithGold starts the month off with The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III and Tomb Raider Underworld https://t.co/d5CI0GXXJJ pic.twitter.com/T0Maac7AxG

— Larry Hryb ???????? (@majornelson) December 22, 2017

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds frequently updated after Xbox launch

PUBG has been getting a star treatment for its launch on the Xbox platform, practically having a red carpet rolled out for it in light of its massive popularity. In that same interest, the game has been getting frequent updates to clean up bugs and make sure it’s pristine as soon as possible. The latest update released just a few days before Christmas, and offered a ton of bug fixes,  optimization tweaks, and UI shifts.

Xbox Players, we will be deploying a patch today at 1AM PST / 10AM CET / 6PM KST. It includes optimizations and crash fixes among other changes. You can read the patch notes here: https://t.co/2M49PF7GuK

— PUBG (@PUBG) December 22, 2017

Deals with Gold release on top of the Xbox Countdown Sale

While the Xbox Countdown Sale has been a big focus for anyone shopping for games during the holidays, there’s still more to come. Microsoft has also brought us their monthly “Deals with Gold,” giving out some new deals for you to peruse before the holiday comes to a close. Highlights of this month’s Deals with Gold include Worms Battlegrounds and Lords of the Fallen, which are both going for about $6. Not too shabby!

ICYMI: Here are this week’s Deals With Gold and Spotlight Sale offers https://t.co/1xP9stNHtl pic.twitter.com/XXSqt9HPUG

— Larry Hryb ???????? (@majornelson) December 26, 2017

Thanks for joining us. To keep up to date with all the latest Xbox news, keep a close eye on our Xbox One tag.

2017 has been in many ways a banner year for Microsoft. Not one but two major updates to Windows 10, the release of Windows Mixed Reality devices, the release of the Xbox One X, and the continued long slow agonizing death of Windows 10 Mobile all made headlines this year.

Perhaps the biggest story of the year was the company’s both cultural and financial resurgence under CEO Satya Nadella. 2017 was Nadella’s third year at the helm, and he’s managed to begin to change the perception of Microsoft and Windows in the marketplace. Thanks in part to a Surface Laptop and the Surface Book 2, and the company’s continued successes with Azure and Office 365 have captured all the attention of Wall Street, with Microsoft stock trading at record highs and continuing to climb.

So it was a good year for Microsoft. There were blunders, of course, and Redmond’s continued across the board failures in mobile, with Windows 10 Mobile now in “maintenance mode,” puts the company in a difficult position, with no entry into the most lucrative and forward-looking sector of the market.

There’s lots of hoopla about Xbox, but it still lags behind Sony’s PlayStation in market share and mindshare amongst gamers. The same holds true for Azure, and even though the cloud is a big money-maker, it still trails AWS significantly. Sure, Microsoft is making money at being number two in both gaming and cloud, but where’s the fun in that?

On to 2018, and indeed it’s shaping up to be another big year for Microsoft. How big a year we’re about to find out. Will Microsoft find a solution to its lack of presence in mobile? Will Azure and Office and Surface and Xbox all continue to push boundaries? How will the company do in its quest to change the culture? Let’s take a quick look at what may be in store for 2018.

Windows

2017 gave us the Spring and Fall Creators Updates, and we’re expecting another two major revisions to Windows 10 in 2018. The first update, expected again in the Spring, will lay the groundwork for a couple of major enhancements to Windows, Timeline and Sets. The features may not make it into production until the fall with RS5, but Windows Insiders should have plenty of time to test and react to probably the most fundamental change to Windows since Windows 10 itself.

Xbox

Microsoft pulled out all the stops in 2017 by releasing the Xbox One X in November, leapfrogging Sony and introducing a next generation console early in the cycle. What Microsoft or its gaming partners didn’t do, however, was release significant new games for the new platform, and in 2018, they’ll have to start to do just that.

Sea of Thieves will be arriving in March, but Microsoft will be under the gun to wow once again at E3 in June. Will we hear about Halo 6? Will Microsoft Studios break out a new franchise, or at least announce one? How will Microsoft’s push to bring Xbox into Windows evolve? By releasing the Xbox One X, Microsoft has set itself some pretty high expectations. We’ll see if they meet them in 2018.

Progressive Web Apps

The death of Windows phone has been a blow to Microsoft in a lot of areas, but strategically, perhaps the biggest blow is to its Universal Windows Platform, the basis for Windows 10’s apps and Windows 10 S. Without a mobile counterpart to drive app development, there’s not much universal about these apps at all.

Microsoft may be trying to solve that with Progressive Web Apps. These web based apps that can run offline in a “native” experience are being embraced by Microsoft, and will be generally supported by Edge beginning with the next Windows 10 update (you can enable support for them now with a flag). Unlike the proprietary Universal Windows Apps, PWAs will run cross browser and cross devices, with support already in place by Google. Microsoft has already announced plans to not only support, but actively push PWAs in the Microsoft Store, and while we think it’s far to early to sound a death knell for the Universal Windows Platform, PWAs seem to be much less of a dead end path to follow.

Taxes

A major new tax cut goes into effect in the United States in January, and one portion of it will have a huge impact on Microsoft and other tech giants. Currently, Microsoft has over $130 billion stashed in low tax offshore holdings, mostly in Ireland and in the Caribbean. The new tax law will allow these companies to repatriate some of that money back to the US, and in effect punish them if they don’t.

What Microsoft does to re-invest some of those earnings, or even if they’ll take advantage of the new laws at all, will be a big deal in 2018. Donald Trump and the Republicans are counting on companies to bring back money and spend it here, but will that really happen? Will Microsoft continue their “good citizen” efforts by helping to improve the US economy? This will be a very interesting space to watch in the coming year.

Surface Phone and Surface

Of course the big question for 2018 will be all about the Surface Phone. While all indications are that the rumored new foldable device won’t even be a “phone,” per se, and there’s probably little chance that this new device will launch anytime soon, we should start hearing about it, if it does indeed exist, sometime mid-year.

Panos Panay and his team may well have a few more tricks up their sleeve in the new year, too, as they try to capitalize on the momentum building with the Surface Pro, the Surface Laptop, and the Surface Book 2. Will they hold all their eggs in a Surface Phone basket, or will there be more Surface devices on the way?

New horizons

While we won’t see a new HoloLens in 2018, we should begin to hear more about a version 2, planned for a 2019 release. We’ll also be hearing lots more about bots, AI, and the Internet of Things, all buzzwords that will only gain volume in the upcoming year. While it’s further out than even a new HoloLens, we’ll hear more about Quantum Computing, too. Microsoft will be looking to get ahead of the curve on new technology, having been left behind in both mobile and more recently digital assistants. We may also be hearing quite a bit more about Cortana in 2018, although Microsoft once again finds itself on the outside looking in as Amazon’s Alexa continues to gain ground and Google Home makes a strong push.

Another good year?

While we won’t see any groundbreaking new technology (we don’t think), 2018 promises to be another big year for Microsoft. Perhaps infused with some new repatriated cash, and building on solid foundations in Xbox, on Azure and Office 365, and with Surface, Microsoft is definitely headed in the right direction. What do you think 2018 will bring? Let us know in the comments below.

Kodi, the popular media center app born as the Xbox Media Center (XBMC) on the OG Xbox One is now available on Xbox One consoles (via Windows Central). The app is launching in preview and will show up as “Kodi 18.0-ALPHA1” once you install it from the Microsoft Store.

On a Windows PC, Kodi lets you easily browse media content from your hard drive, optical disc, local network and other Internet sources. Even better, there are also many third-party add-ons to give you access to live TV and more entertainment sources.

The Xbox One app features the same interface, but there are several limitations for now. The developer explained:

Due to the nature of how UWP works our hands are tied in some areas. Some parts are not even finished yet and our developers are still working on getting it up to the regular standard. As of this writing there’s limited access to only what’s part of your Video and Music folders. Network support is limited to only NFS:// shares. No access to the Blu-ray drive to start the disc or even an attached storage drive. There might still be problems with certain general python modules that are used by add-ons and we are finding and reporting them to the developers as testing progresses. I’m sure there’s more that might not work as intended yet as there are so many features it just will take a while to go over them. We cannot promise to what extend we can get every feature working as it all depends on what is available to us developers.

During our quick hands-on with the app, we also noticed that Kodi doesn’t support the Xbox One Media Remote as of yet, so you’ll have to use your Xbox One controller to navigate the app. This is a minor annoyance, though we hope Microsoft’s official remote will be supported in the near future. You can download Kodi on your Xbox One from the link below, or just search for the app in the Xbox Store.

Download
QR-Code

Kodi

Developer:
XBMC Foundation

Price:
Free

Microsoft’s Xbox Beta app for iOS devices has updated to Version 712.1222.0301. This latest update adds support for the Beta Testing of Xbox Live’s Party Chat, the system that allows for voice chat between gamers on Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows 10. The Android Xbox Beta app also began testing Party Chat recently.

The iOS Xbox Beta isn’t available for the average consumer to download like the Windows 10 Xbox Beta app and instead interested users are required to register and wait for approval from Microsoft. The app is used to test features before pushing them out to the average gamer who has the main Xbox app.

Would you want to use Party Chat on your iPhone or iPad? Let us know in the comments below.

Windows Timeline is definitely a revolutionary feature for Windows 10, currently allowing Windows Insiders to continue content across multiple devices. The feature is obviously in its infancy, and so Microsoft is collecting feedback from Windows Insiders in order to improve it. Indeed, a quick visit to the “Suggestions” section of Feedback Hub shows that many Windows Insiders are looking for Microsoft to improve the ways to remove or filter cards in Windows Timeline.

I myself suggested for Microsoft to add an “X” to remove activity cards from Windows Timeline, and my suggestion has gathered up nearly 280 votes in the Feedback Hub. Microsoft’s Jen Gentleman told me on Twitter that the company is considering my feedback, which is great because many Windows Insiders also have the same thought. It’s especially important to me because the only way to dismiss cards is by right-clicking on it, which is annoying if you want to remove multiple cards at the same time.

For instance, one Windows Insider wants an option to filter or group websites in Timeline, another one wants the search to automatically appear when Timeline invoked. Other suggestions include adding an option to exclude some programs in Timeline, integrating Timeline with Launcher on Android, or even adding a “clear all” button to the experience.

So, if you have something to say about Windows Timeline, voice your opinion on the Feedback Hub. Microsoft is clearly listening to your thoughts, and the more popular it becomes on Feedback Hub, the more likely it will be put into future builds.