Microsoft is currently testing a new UI for Cortana’s Notebook section on Windows 10 PCs. The new design has been discovered by Reddit user Noam_ha (via Thurrott.com), and it’s currently rolling to some Windows Insiders running the latest Redstone 4 build.

As you can see in the screenshots below, Cortana’s Notebook has now two sections: the “Organizer” page lets you create To-Do lists and Reminders, while the “Manage Skills” lists all the different Skills that were previously available in the old UI, but they have now been regouped under different categories such as Connection settings, Productivity, Stay up-to-date and Lifestyle.

It’s still not clear if this redesigned Notebook UI could roll out soon to all Windows 10 users, but we find it slightly more usable and organized than what’s currently available on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. We already know that Microsoft is planning a lot more changes for Cortana on the desktop, and the digital assistant could look and work more like macOS Spotlight in Redstone 4.

Did you also notice this new Notebook UI on your Windows 10 PC? If so, let us know your thoughts about it in the comments below.

This week’s Deals with Gold are officially out, along with a big bundle sale on ID@Xbox titles. On the Xbox One, Xbox Live Gold members can save up to 75% off Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition, Dungeon Defenders II, the Metro Redux Bundle, Unravel and The Technomancer. Additionally, everyone can save up to 75% off the INSIDE & LIMBO Bundle, the Jackbox Party Bundle, The Kinect Triple Bundle: Beats & Booms & Squids and many more indie titles.

On the Xbox 360, this week’s highlights include Battlefield 3, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2, Dead Space 3, NBA JAM and Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition. You can find the full list of discounted titles on Major Nelson’s blog, but as usual we’ve added more details about our favorite deals below.

Xbox One Deals

Divinity: Original Sin – Enhanced Edition ($10)

Easing a new generation into the world of cRPGs, Original Sin: Enhanced Edition features isometric, party-based gameplay, turn based combat, and hours of fully voiced and remastered dialogue in a story that will have you embroiled in a fantasy world of free exploration thanks to a new split-screen friendly UI. Sneak, stab, explode, poison or talk your way through Rivellon in this extended and enhanced version of 2014’s hottest RPG title.

Dungeon Defenders II – Deluxe Edition Bundle ($25)

Give yourself a bigger kickstart into Dungeon Defenders II with the Deluxe Edition.  This edition contains: – 3,000 Gems to purchase Heroes, Tower Skins, Costumes and more – 1,000,000 Gold for a quick boost in leveling your loot – 2 Hero Cards to create and keep more heroes – Five Campaign Shard Packs to gear up your heroes faster – Five Chaos I Shard Packs to gear up faster in the Trials – Legendary Autumeow Pet to make your enemies fall before you

Metro Redux Bundle ($7.50)

Including the epic single-player campaigns of both Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light, Metro Redux takes you on a journey from the forgotten catacombs beneath the subway to the desolate wastelands above, where your actions will determine the fate of mankind.

Xbox 360 Deals

Battlefield 3 ($4.99)

In Battlefield 3, players step into the role of the elite U.S. Marines where they will experience heart-pounding single player missions and competitive multiplayer actions ranging across diverse locations from around the globe including Paris, Tehran and New York.

Dead Space 3 ($4.99)

Dead Space 3 brings Isaac Clarke and merciless soldier John Carver on a journey across space to discover the source of the Necromorph outbreak. Crash-landed on the frozen planet of Tau Volantis, Isaac must comb the harsh environment for raw materials and scavenged parts. He will then put his engineering skills to the ultimate test to create and customize weapons and survival tools. The ice planet holds the key to ending the Necromorph plague, but first Isaac must overcome avalanches, treacherous ice-climbs, and the violent wilderness.

Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition ($11.99)

Street Fighter IV took the world by storm and now it’s back, and more Super than ever with Super Street Fighter IV! Ten new fighters, nostalgic Bonus Stages, new spectator features and the awesome Replay Channel will draw you in for one more brutal fight!

All discounts will be valid through Monday, December 11, let us know in the comments if you found any interesting games to pick up in the list.

When you have multiple devices enrolled in the various rings of the Windows Insider program, keeping track of all the builds flighted by Microsoft can sometimes be tricky. Well, Senior Program Manager on the Windows Insider Program, Brandon Leblanc, has created a little tool from scratch to help Insiders sort things out. He learned coding to make the tool, and the results of his labor are pretty nifty.

Ok here is that little project @donasarkar mentioned I was working on. I call it "Flight Hub": https://t.co/SgGEOxlrHF

— Brandon LeBlanc (@brandonleblanc) December 4, 2017

This tool is actually a website, which Leblanc is appropriately calling “Flight Hub.” The goal of the website is to give Insiders one central dashboard for all things related to previewing builds. For now, it’s just in a preview state and lists the latest Insider Preview releases for PC, Server, IoT, and SDKs and  ISO images. There are also dates for when builds were released, and links to the appropriate blog posts.

Brandon has said that the preview of Flight Hub is just the start, and will be expanding into apps (maybe even a UWP app?) soon. There’s also plans to integrate it into the Windows Insider website and the Windows 10 Feedback Hub, and even bring the list back all the way to the beginning of the Windows Insider Program. This is a really good initiative, and we’re looking forward to see how this project evolves over the coming months.

Windows Update is supposed to help keep your system up to date and safe, but according to a report from ZDNet, the feature is not working at all for some Windows 7 users. Even worse, there’s still no word from Microsoft about the issue as of yet, and it appears as though a simple expiration date hidden in the system registry may be the problem.

Again, the issue appears to be affecting a broad set of Windows 7 users, as noted on the Microsoft Answers forum. Some users are seeing an 80248015 error code when trying to update (with no other info), and some are getting a follow-up message telling them that the Update Service cannot currently check for updates because it is not running, or no updates are available (when in fact there are updates available).

This is all rather strange, primarily because Microsoft is supporting Windows 7 until January 2020. Anyway, it is being recommended by some users to change the system date back in time to March 12, 2017 as a temporary workaround to the issue. We’ll be updating this article is Microsoft issues an official fix or statement.

Update: Microsoft has apparently corrected the problem. Though no details were provided, a spokesperson said: “We resolved the issue causing a delay in the update delivery service.”

With Tom Clancy’s The Division set to receive a free content update tomorrow, December 5, the Xbox team has just announced that the game will be free to play with Xbox Live Gold starting December 6 at 11:01 p.m. PST. The free weekend will end on Sunday, December 10 at 10:59 p.m. PST, and the game’s three expansions will also be free to play for everyone during this period.

For those unfamiliar with it, the online action-RPG title was released back in March 2016 on the Xbox One, and it’s set in a post-apocalyptic version of Manhattan, which has been hit by a deadly virus. Xbox Wire shared the following details about the upcoming free update to be released tomorrow:

With update 1.8 arriving on December 5, a whole new area of the city will be opened up for exploration. The West Side Pier is an industrial port in the northwest corner of the map dominated by a massive aircraft carrier, and it will play host to two new game modes. Resistance will pit Division agents against an unprecedented alliance of enemy factions, challenging players to fight off waves of powerful foes and formidable bosses. In Skirmish, two teams of four will fight to subdue each other in a trio of new arenas. New rules for going rogue in the Dark Zone, new exotic weapons, and the spread of sinister Hunter enemies will ensure that returning players have their hands full.

Starting December 6, the game and all of its three expansions will also be discounted up to 70% off on the Microsoft Store. Keep an eye on the Gold section of your Xbox One dashboard if you don’t want to miss the upcoming free weekend.

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!

Wall St Journal gets pounded after suggesting finance pros drop Excel

the Wall Street Journal recently published a story accusing Microsoft Excel of not keeping up with the needs of the financial sector, and subtly advising people to drop the software as a result. That, however, didn’t go down too well with some people in the financial sector.

Inbox ads spotted in Outlook.com, are you seeing them?

For free users of Microsoft’s hosted email service, Outlook.com, it appears that the company is beginning to show inbox ads, where ads will appear in the inbox similar to how an email message would look. Those on an ad-free premium subscription do not see these.

Samsung clears up the mystery behind the Microsoft Edition S8 and S8 Plus

Despite rumours of a Microsoft Edition Samsung S8, Samsung has come out and debunked the myth, stating that there is no ‘Microsoft Edition’ of any of its devices, but does confirm that Microsoft is aiming to offer a unique edition from within its own retail stores.

Microsoft Teams Guest access for Microsoft Accounts is delayed again, apparently

Microsoft Teams’ Guest Access feature is still being worked on, with yet another delay, although Private Channels are well underway. Guest access is needed for those who aren’t necessarily part of an organisation, but are doing work for them, such as a freelancer.

Hiya #MicrosoftTeams folks. I owe you some updates. Guest Access MSA should be here in a few months. Private channels is well under way. We'll be releasing a bunch of little + fun features i.e. hide chat, likes in chat, this coming month. I'll be updating UserVoice furiously!

— Suphatra Rufo (@skprufo) November 29, 2017

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

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.

PUBG will run at 30FPS, despite previous claim

PUBG is going to be running at 30FPS at launch on both the Xbox One X and the Xbox One, according to new claims. Earlier in the week we had a “confirmation” that Bluehole’s popular battle royale game will launch at 60FPS on Xbox One X, but the company has backtracked. The latest tweet from the official PUBG Twitter account says that “this early in dev, we’re unable to confirm” anything about future framerate. PUBG will be launching at 30FPS on both consoles, and there’s a chance that they could increase that in the future.

While I previously stated PUBG would run at higher FPS at XGP launch on 12/12, I want to clarify that PUBG will run at 30 FPS across all @Xbox One devices. We’re constantly refining the game & exploring options to increase FPS, but this early in dev, we’re unable to confirm more.

— PLAYERUNKNOWN (@PLAYERUNKNOWN) December 1, 2017

Destiny 2 gets free trial on Xbox

Destiny 2 now has a free trial on Xbox One, similar to the trial that the original Destiny got after the release of its third expansion, The Taken King. The trial is designed, like most trials, with the intention of getting users to try out the game for a bit before they decide they’re interested in purchasing the whole thing. With Destiny 2 being an MMO-like experience, this format is fairly successful as a way to hook players into the game’s core gameplay, while still promising a bounty of content going forward. This also comes just before the release of the first expansion – Curse of Osiris – which is due on December 5th.

Destiny 2 Free Trial is now live.
– Opening missions of Cinematic Campaign
– Quickplay Competitive Multiplayer
– Explore Two Full Destinations
– Carry progress to full gamehttps://t.co/FiZfcUCFc5 pic.twitter.com/ggWkKjeNRs

— Destiny 2 (@DestinyTheGame) November 28, 2017

Bethesda games are now Xbox One X enhanced

Fallout 4 and Skyrim, as well as a suite of other Bethesda titles, have received updates on Xbox One X to get them looking shiny and new. The games on Xbox One X are now equipped with 4K texture packs, improved draw distances, some changes to framerate limits, and more. You can check out our full article for specifics on the changes, but you can rest assured that most recent Bethesda games are affected in some way, shape, or form. If you have an Xbox One X and have been waiting to dive into a Bethesda game recently, now’s the time.

Fallout 4 on Xbox One X delivers a detail-rich 4K experience https://t.co/61cgTxaSCz

— Fallout (@Fallout) December 1, 2017

Marvel Heroes Omega shuts down, Marvel forced to offer refunds

Marvel Heroes Omega has been shut down, and with it, Gazillion entertainment has been shuttered. This comes as part of some internal licensing issues at Disney, and it’s brought a very abrupt end to a game that was relatively well liked. The set date for the game to shut down its servers was December 31st, but to add insult to injury, the company then decided to shut the game down effective immediately, blowing off the grace period for fans to say goodbye. Fans who reach out to Microsoft will be refunded any in-game purchases, so you should make a point to get that money back as soon as possible if you’ve sunk anything into the game.

pic.twitter.com/Q12AUQ61c3

— Marvel Heroes Omega (@MarvelHeroes) November 27, 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.

Since Microsoft announced earlier this week that Timeline would finally be available for testing with the next Redstone 4 build, we’ve been really looking forward to try this new feature. Unfortunately, Head of the Windows Insider Program Dona Sarkar has just tweeted that a bug with UWP apps is preventing the team from releasing a new build today:

#WindowsInsiders we’ve hit a bug that prevents UWPs from opening so we will not be flighting a new build today. Have a great weekend! ❤️

— Dona Sarkar (@donasarkar) December 1, 2017

It’s certainly not the first time that a blocking bug forces the team to delay the release of a new build, but make no mistake, there are definitely some fun times ahead. In addition to Timeline, tabs for UWP apps (aka “Windows Sets”) will also be tested with select Fast Ring Insiders over the coming weeks, and this is really one of the most exciting features to be added to Windows 10 since launch. It’s really exciting to be a Windows Insider these days, and we hope we won’t have to wait too long to get a new Redstone 4 build.

As slow as Microsoft often moves to assert itself with new trends, most of its business customers are even slower and less willing to change to accommodate new communications, workflows, or integrate ‘modern’ software. The glacial pace of Microsoft’s software pivots have been undeniably tied to its most profitable contributors in the enterprise sector and for good cause as a financial executive recently found out as he attempted to extract Microsoft’s Excel software from CPA’s on the floor.

The Wall Street Journal published a brief article last week where it posited that Microsoft’s Excel software has not kept up with contemporary needs the finance sector requires and subsequently resulted in financial chiefs asking their staffers to part ways with the aging piece of software. Predictably, that did not go over well with people who have embedded Excel in their most vital workflows.

One CPA went as far as to respond to the article via Twitter with a declaration that, “You can have my Excel after you ripped it from my cold, dead hands.” Another management consultant summed up his fellow co-workers affair with Excel as being similar to an addiction, “asking finance professionals if they’ve given up Excel is “like asking whether we’ve given up drinking.”

While, probably, a bit of hyperbole, the sentiment seemingly was unanimously felt across employees in the financial services industry that felt Excel was needed to maintain consistency and familiarity with tasks with responses and anecdotes to the article came pouring in over the Thanksgiving break in both the comment section and on Twitter.

Daniel Blumen, a treasury management consultant in Naperville, Ill., said he was astonished to find that one of his clients in the solar industry had bought a treasury management system that likely cost more than $250,000 but had never properly implemented it. The company was using an Excel spreadsheet to track several hundred million dollars in letters of credit.

Understandably, executives and IT managers are finding themselves at ends with employees as they attempt to introduce newer and more mission-tailored technology, according to a follow-up article by the Wall Street Journal on the same topic.

Mr. Schiller, the Virginia software engineer hired by a boutique insurer, said he wasn’t shocked that the actuarial staff was still working in Excel. What he couldn’t fathom, he said, was that sometimes they crunched numbers on a calculator, too.
In his 17-year career, Mr. Schiller said he’s never encountered so much resistance to change. At meetings, he said, “everybody was pleasant to each other.” Afterward, however, they would buttonhole their bosses to lobby against the technology project.
When the company finally adopted a new platform, he said, 4½ years had passed.

Slowly, Excel’s grip on the enterprise market is loosening as businesses opt to use custom software for more task-specific operations, but that doesn’t mean Microsoft is idly sitting by allowing its software to stale. With more than 90% of the Fortune 500 financial companies being powered by Office 365 in the cloud, Brian Jones head of Excel is closely monitoring the UserVoice suggestion boxes from those users to keep the software as competitive as possible.

A few months ago, Microsoft started pushing premium Outlook.com features to Office 365 subscribers including a new option for an ad-free Outlook experience and other enhancements. Noted by Paul Thurrott, Microsoft may now be using inbox ads with standard Outlook.com users who do not have the premium features bundled with Office 365.

From a reader: New kind of advertising, in https://t.co/wq7LmZiMmH. pic.twitter.com/a91zYZAgHV

— Paul Thurrott (@thurrott) December 1, 2017

This is a first for Outlook.com, which generally does not punish users with this very intrusive type of inbox advertising. It’s also very similar to the kind of ads which may occasionally appear in Gmail, Yahoo, and other free email services. With that so, it will be interesting to see how the Outlook.com community reacts this type of change, or if it will be pushing more Outlook users into buying an Office 356 subscription for premium features and a cleaner and more secure inbox.

Do you find the inbox ads troublesome or intrusive to the traditionally clean Outlook.com experience? Let us know your thoughts below.

Buying new tech gadgets for that special someone on your list this holiday season can be tricky, but Microsoft is here to help. The tech giant recently launched their 2017 holiday gift guide website, which features a series of videos explaining the top tech products and accessories from Microsoft and it’s partners this holiday season.

The videos and guides to gifts are aimed at mothers, fathers, the traveling gifter, fashionistas, trendsetting techies, mobile professionals, music lovers, and gaming gurus. Microsoft Store employees and scenery from the company’s retail stores even make appearances in the videos, which is especially thoughtful.

Anyway, store employees discuss the top tech products this holiday season, be it from Microsoft or it’s partners. We noticed the Fitbit Alta HR, Surface Pro, Surface Laptop, Windows Mixed Reality headsets, and much more in some these holiday gift guide videos.

Nice to see Microsoft helping those who aren’t always up to date on tech find the best gifts this holiday season. We invite you to check out the guide for yourself and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below.

Yesterday, we learned that PUBG developer Bluehole was working hard to make the game run at 60 FPS on both the Xbox One X and the standard Xbox One. In an interview with gamesTM magazine, Director Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene shared that the game would “definitely” hit 60FPS on the freshly released Xbox One X, but he was still “not sure if we’ll get there” on the older console.

Earlier today though, Greene backtracked on his comments and shared on Twitter that the game will run at 30FPS on both consoles at launch:

While I previously stated PUBG would run at higher FPS at XGP launch on 12/12, I want to clarify that PUBG will run at 30 FPS across all @Xbox One devices. We’re constantly refining the game & exploring options to increase FPS, but this early in dev, we’re unable to confirm more.

— PLAYERUNKNOWN (@PLAYERUNKNOWN) December 1, 2017

This turnaround is really disappointing, especially when popular online FPS such as Call of Duty: WW2, Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 all run at 60FPS on next-gen consoles (Destiny 2 is the notable exception). PUBG is probably the biggest Xbox exclusive title of 2017, and it’s sad to see that the PC version of the game will continue to provide the best gameplay experience for the time being.

Unfortunately, it’s also some kind of bad PR for the Xbox One X, which Microsoft is marketing as the most powerful console ever released. PUBG will be enhanced for the Xbox One X with 4K graphics, but we assume that most players would much prefer smoother framerates over sharper textures. But as Greene previously said to gamesTM, it’s the standard Xbox One that seems to be causing issues. “The last time I saw it, it was running at about 30 to 40,” the Game Director explained.

Still, Greene said in his tweet that the team was “constantly refining the game & exploring options to increase FPS,” so it may well get better in the future. In the meantime, are you still interested in playing PUBG on your Xbox One even if it’s locked at 30FPS? Sound off in the comments below.

Today is the December 1st, which means that Xbox Live Gold subscribers now have two new games to add to their game library for free. This month, the first Games with Gold titles are the online FPS Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide and the Kinect-enabled game Child of Eden. The first one is already enhanced for the Xbox One X with support for 4K graphics. You can find more details about both games below.

Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide ($39.99 value):

The world is ending… though few believe it. The once proud city of Ubersreik now stands in ruin at the hands of the dreaded Skaven army. Few have survived their ruthless invasion. Team up with 3 friends and work together to thin out the ratmen’s forces and drive them out of the city. Assume the role of one of five heroes, and hack, slash, smash, burn and pierce the vile Skaven using a multitude of weapons. Fight your way through the city of Ubersreik, from the top of the Magnus Tower to the bowels of the Under Empire. This is our last stand and only you can stem the Vermintide.

Child of Eden ($29.99 value):

One of the most anticipated games of 2011 for Kinect. Winner of 9 awards at E3 for innovative graphics, music, and gameplay. Child of Eden is the “multi-sensory shooter” that will send players diving into a visual matrix of synchronized music and mind-blowing visuals. It will usher forth yet another landmark game experience from the mind of renowned game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi.

As a reminder, the two other Games with Gold titles to be available starting December 16 are Back to the Future: The Game and Marlow Briggs and the Mask of the Death. Anf If you haven’t done it yet, you can still download the excellent Tales from the Borderlands Complete Season for free through December 15.

Windows Insiders on the Fast Ring can now test a redesigned version of the Windows 10 People app, which now looks slightly more consistent with the native Mail and Calendar apps (via Aggiornamenti Lumia). The big headers for “Contacts,” “What’s new” and “Groups” are gone, replaced with a hamburger menu with Acrylic transparency effects.

Clicking on a contact will open a card on the right where you can see contact details, recent conversations and upcoming events with this contact. There is also a pin button to add contacts to your taskbar (next to the My People shortcut) or your Start Menu.

We’re not seeing the update on Windows 10 Mobile yet, but the new desktop app is quite an improvement over the previous version. If you’re on the Fast Ring, the version 10.3.3241.0 of the People app is what you’re looking at, let us know in the comments if you like this new design.

When Spotify launched in the Microsoft Store earlier this year, it was ported using Microsoft’s Desktop Bridge tool. Though still a solid option for fans of the service who also own a Windows 10 PC, the app did not include support for some of Windows 10’s unique features such as Live Tiles or notifications.

Well, Spotify has finally delivered, and a recent update to the app finally introduces support for Live Tiles (via Windows Central.) The Live Tile support is still a minor addition, but it’s appreciated nonetheless. Turned on by default, it is available in three tile sizes (medium, wide, large) but will only show suggested playlists and songs, and not what is currently playing. As usual, the user can also turn the Live Tile off by right-clicking and choosing “Turn live tile off.” from the “more” sub-menu.

This is still a very far way from the native Groove Music app, but also a small step forward, opening up hope for additional features in later updates to come. You should be seeing this update now in the Microsoft Store. If you’re not seeing it, you can manually trigger the update by clicking the link below and opening the Microsoft Store on your PC.

Download
QR-Code

Spotify Music

Developer:
Spotify AB

Price:
Free⁺

Looking for a new strategy game? Something a little different than the usual run-n-gun, hack-n-slash action? The Escapists 2: Special Edition is now available on Xbox One, giving you all access to a pretty solid strategy sandbox game on your favorite console. The special edition includes the base game, the season pass, and the “Wicked Ward” add-on. In other words, it gives you about as complete of an experience as you can get.

The Escapists 2 Special Edition (@Escapists_Game) from @Team17Ltd is now available for Xbox One, includes The Escapists 2, Season Pass and Wicked Ward add-on https://t.co/mij0Lm895P pic.twitter.com/p9x0XnLLew

— Larry Hryb ????????☁ (@majornelson) November 28, 2017

The Escapists is a pretty storied franchise of games at this point, having built up a dedicated following after the first game’s release. Now, after being a relatively successful series on consoles, the creators at Team 17 are enjoying a thriving franchise across all platforms. If you’re interested in picking up the special edition, it’ll run you about 30 dollars.

Despite a handful of publicly announced partnerships, it seems Samsung would like its customer to know it’s still fully committed to the big G and that rumored Galaxy S8 Microsoft Edition phone is nothing more than a rumor.

According to Windows Central, the often whispered Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus Microsoft Edition phones were never an actual product. In hindsight, it seems a bit obvious that Samsung would not go out of its way to produce a phone with specific Microsoft software onboard, but for many, the idea of a Microsoft Edition phone conjured up those exact expectations.

As we, along with Windows Central reported back in the day, the concept of a Microsoft Edition phone was a fairly straightforward affair where employees at the company’s retail outlets would sell a purchased Samsung Galaxy S8 or S8 Plus running Android and then walk customers through the process of Microsoftizing it by downloading items such as Arrow Launcher, Microsoft Apps, and Bing Search.

Samsung was in enough agreement with the idea that when issuing its clarification about the non-existent S8 and S8 Plus Microsoft Edition phones, they detailed experiences as such.

Samsung Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, and Galaxy Note8 devices are available in the Microsoft online and retail stores with a unique Microsoft experience which ensures their customers, particularly small-to-midsize business owners and entrepreneurs, a best-in-class productivity experience. There is not a ‘Microsoft Edition’ brand of any Samsung Galaxy products.

So, long story short, there is not and perhaps never will be a Microsoft Edition branded phone coming from Samsung and as far as we know, was never officially announced to have been. What Microsoft fans and Windows Phone converts can look forward to, is turning every Android phone into a Microsoft Edition phone thanks to a handful of applications and tweaks.

As if customizing your very own Xbox controller with your whatever wacky color combination your hearts desires isn’t enough, Microsoft is now offering free engravings to make sure your friend’s Cheetos-laden fingers never mistake your controller for theirs.

What used to cost an additional $9.99 for anyone visiting the Xbox Design Lab website looking to brand their controller with whatever quip or signature they could come up with is now free for what we believe is a limited time.

Further sweetening the pot, Microsoft is also claiming early takers of this deal should get their custom controllers in time for Christmas.

PSA: Get free engraving when you buy any #XboxDesignLab controller. Design yours now to get delivery by Christmas: https://t.co/v9cwdg73ot pic.twitter.com/Sg2gzICPMO

— Xbox (@Xbox) November 28, 2017

For those interested, head over to the Xbox Design Labs website to try out a few customizations and engraving options before dolling out the $79.99 for that personalized piece of hardware. Anecdotally, I tried out several options to actually match the decor in my living room straight from the website and the results were awesome.

Share with us below in the comments your ideal customized controller.

Earth Defense Force 2017 and Sonic Adventure 2 are the latest Xbox 360 games you can play on your Xbox One console. These two titles follow the addition of Peggle 2 and Marlow Briggs and the Mask of the Death to the Backward Compatibility list two days ago.

Earth Defense Force 2017 and Sonic Adventure 2 are coming to Xbox One Backward Compatibility today https://t.co/qPMRNrLoTQ pic.twitter.com/Ytk8hsyCts

— Larry Hryb ???????? (@majornelson) November 30, 2017

For those unfamiliar, Earth Defense Force 2017 is a futuristic third-person shooter developed by Japanese developer Sandlot, and the first game in the series to be released in North America. As for Sonic Adventure 2, it’s a remastered version of the platform game originally released on the Sega Dreamcast back in 2001. You can find more details about both games below.

Earth Defense Force 2017 ($14.99)

Earth Defense Force is a shooting action game and follow-up to “The Earth Defense Force” and “The Earth Defense Force 2”, released in Japan. In this game, the player becomes a soldier of an international army, the EDF, trying to defeat an alien army that suddenly arrives on Earth. The PS2 predecessors have sold over 350,000 copies in Japan, and now the popular series has made its way to the XBOX 360. To take advantage of the console’s high definition capability, the graphics and gameplay have been improved, while the design and game world have been completely revamped.

Sonic Adventure 2 ($9.99)

In the fight between heroes and villains, will you choose to save the world or conquer it? The hunt for the Chaos Emeralds is on and battle lines have been drawn between Hero and Dark. Experience two unique adventures featuring both long-time heroes and new and returning villains as they battle for the fate of the world! Sonic Adventure™ 2 makes its return on Xbox LIVE Arcade with a full cast of playable heroes and villains, exciting two-player competitive modes, Chao Gardens, and more than 30 action-packed stages, all remastered in HD!

Overall, nine new Xbox 360 games have been added to the Xbox One Backward compatibility list this month, and we’re looking forward to see what’s in the pipeline for December.

There’s another Xbox backward compatibility game title available for EA Access subscribers. This time it’s Dead Space 3, an Xbox 360 exclusive, released in 2013.

Play as much as you want. Dead Space 3 is now available on EA Access. https://t.co/4em0SJitdq pic.twitter.com/KNNtc8hQBk

— EA Play (@EAPlay) November 29, 2017

EA Access subscribers can now play Dead Space 3 on the original Xbox One, Xbox One S, Xbox One X. Dead Space 3 on EA Access has all of the Season Pass content, including Dead Space 3: Awakening.

If you don’t already have one, I suggest getting an EA Access subscription. It’s a cheaper option if you want to play some of the best EA game titles without buying each one individually. EA Access is just $30 for the year, a 50% savings over the $5 monthly plan.

Right now, EA Access subscribers can play games like Mass Effect: Andromeda, Titanfall 2, NHL 17, and more. EA Access also allows players to play new Xbox One games (on a trial basis) before you buy and you get an additional 10% off any EA games you decide to buy. Join EA Access today.

Dead Space 3 is currently available to buy for $19.99 from the Microsoft Store.

Download
QR-Code

Dead Space™ 3

Developer:
Electronic Arts

Price:
Free

Microsoft yesterday held its annual shareholders meeting, where CEO Satya Nadella discussed the future direction of the company and how Microsoft is helping customers and partners thrive. Four new Board of Directors members were voted on and added during the meeting, and the company also announced its quarterly dividend.

The Microsoft Board of Directors now sees the addition of Reid Hoffman, Hugh Johnston, Penny S. Pritzker, and Arne Sorenson. Hoffman is a partner at Greylock Partners and was a co-founder of LinkedIn, Johnston is the CFO of PepsiCo Inc, Pritzker was a former US Secretary of Commerce, and Sorenson is president and chief executive officer of Marriott International.  Other proposals were acted on by the company’s shareholders can be seen below.

• Approved, on a nonbinding advisory basis, the fiscal year 2017 compensation of the company’s named executive officers. The advisory measure received more than 95 percent of votes cast.
• Approved a yearly advisory vote on executive compensation. The advisory measure received more than 90 percent of votes cast.
  Ratified the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the company’s independent auditor for fiscal year 2018, with over 98 percent of votes cast.
• Approved material terms of the performance goals under the Microsoft Corporation Executive Incentive Plan, with a vote of more than 98 percent of votes cast.
• Approved the Microsoft Corporation 2017 Stock Plan, with a vote of 96 percent of votes cast.

In addition, the Microsoft Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, payable on March 8, 2018 to shareholders of record on Feb. 15, 2018, with an ex-dividend date on Feb. 14, 2018.  Appearing front of the same board members, Satya Nadella also discussed Microsoft’s pursuit of a $100 billion gaming industry and Windows 10 reaching 600 million monthly active devices.

Microsoft has just updated its Skype UWP app for Fast Ring Insiders, delivering subtle touches of Fluent design to the messaging app. Though a bit small of a feature, the update brings it visually up to speed with some of the other stock apps in Windows 10.

Seen in the featured image above, the 12.10.534.0 update introduces Fluent Design’s reveal effects to the sidebar of the Skype app, where conversations are listed. Again, still a minor change, but it’s an indication that Microsoft has not forgotten about the UWP Skype app, and might be adding more Fluent Design UI enhancements soon. However, we’ve not seen any traces of Fluent Design on Windows 10 Mobile so far.

This update also introduces some changes to the profile page. The toggles for ” Do Not Disturb” and  “Do Not share my presence” are replaced with a simple “Status” field, which is more consistent with how status management now works on other platforms. There also is a change in the green status dots, which are now slightly larger.

You can expect this update to roll out to a wider audience soon. For now, though, Windows Insiders can bask in all the Fluent Design glory by heading to the Microsoft Store and updating the Skype app.

Earlier today, Bethesda Studios updated a number of titles in its game collection, including Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4, to use all the power of the Xbox One X. Skyrim and Fallout 4 now support 4K resolution, dynamic range, and a number of other updates. Fallout 4 contains an extensive list of updates across all platforms, that’s available on Bethesda’s website.

Besides Skyrim and Fallout 4, Bethesda updated their other game titles too. Here’s a list of the other games and their updates:

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

• Supports 4K Resolution
• Dynamic Resolution

Dishonored 2 & Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

• Supports 4K Resolution
• Dynamic Resolution
• Improved framerate stability
• 4K textures
• Improved geometry/draw distances
• Improved anti-aliasing
• Improved shadows quality

The Evil Within 2

• Upgraded resolution
• Higher framerate
• 30 fps lock removal

The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO)

• Supports Native 4K Resolution and HDR
• Increased view distance
• Upgraded shadows with Screen Space Ambient Occlusion
• Upgraded water reflections

All these updates are live today, with the exception of ESO (details here), which will get its update for Xbox One X tomorrow, November 29. Bethesda also added that “Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion are also joining the Xbox One X Enhanced catalog.” Bethesda gave no update as to when we will see the updates, so stay tuned.

Seems as though the developers behind the Destiny franchise are looking to increase their gamer adoption numbers this holiday season by offering a free trial of their latest installment, Destiny 2.

For gamers who are home on school break, working relaxed winter hours or simply have more free time in December, they can now try out Destiny 2 free on both Xbox One, PC and PlayStation 4 starting November 28th.

The trial will consist of both a single player campaign and a player vs player mode and progress gained from during the trial will thankfully be carried over if and when a full purchase of the game is done.

The timing of the trial seems a bit strategic not only in luring more buyers during the holiday gift-giving season but also precedes a highly anticipated expansion pack that might just be the tipping point for fans to convenience their friends and fellow combatants to buy the full version of the game.

Bungie, the studio behind Destiny and Destiny 2 have not publically stated how long players will have with the free trial which makes downloading after November 28th a priority to get as much time with the game before potentially plopping down $59.99.

As with Black Friday, we imagine Destiny 2 will continue to see on-again, off-again discounts from major retail outlets well into next year. So, if you’ve always wanted to try out Destiny but not at the steep asking price of $60, head over to your Xbox One, PlayStation 4, app or webpage and download the game to your console immediately.

Yesterday, Microsoft took an unusual step in pre-announcing two new features that will soon be included in Windows 10 Insider RS4 builds, Timeline and Sets. Timeline will allow users to go back to a previous point in time in their workflow, re-opening files, apps, and webpages. “Sets” is the not-yet-final name for Tabs in UWP apps, and what sounds to be a useful but perhaps not as earth-shaking a change as Timeline.

But what got some Insiders fired up on Twitter yesterday was mention of what we think is a fundamental change to the way the Windows Insider Program works. Dona Sarkar wrote this:

Second – we’re going to start doing controlled studies with some of new features for Windows 10 we’re working on. We’ve been doing this on a smaller scale – like trying out different Hub icons in Microsoft Edge to see which one people like more. Now we’re going to start doing these with entire features. This means that a smaller percentage of you will initially get certain new features in builds and others may not get these new features for a while, as we compare the usage and satisfaction of these features versus people who don’t. Eventually everyone will get these features—but it just could be awhile. With this approach, it also means that we will make these features broadly available when they are ready, not necessarily tied to the next major feature update of Windows 10. (italics ours)

We had fun yesterday debating the significance of the change on Twitter, which boils down to this: are Insiders in the program to be helpful testers for Microsoft, or are they looking to gain early access to builds and features? Of course for many/most of us, it’s probably some of both, but up until yesterday, if you were on the Windows Insider Fast Ring, you were ensured first access to new features. With the changes, this is no longer the case, and a percentage of us may have to wait days or weeks to try out features that we’re only able to read about in the tech press.

Anyway, I contended on Twitter that some/most testers join the Insider for early access more than to test whatever comes their way, is that true? Why did you join the Windows Insider Program, and what are your expectations? Let us know in the poll below:

While we don’t doubt for a minute that doing A/B testing on Insiders will yield results for Microsoft that may well ultimately make Windows better, we can’t help but feel that something significant was taken away yesterday. Do you agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments below

Microsoft announced today a massive extension project for its Redmond-based campus, which has been the company’s home since 1986. The company plans to expand its 500-acre campus with “18 new buildings, 6.7 million square feet of renovated workspace, $150 million in transportation infrastructure improvements, public spaces, sports fields and green space.”

The refresh project will kick off next fall and should take up to seven years, with the goal to create more room for up to 8,000 additional employees. “Our new campus will be more open and less formal, divided into a series of “team neighborhoods” while capturing more natural light and fostering the type of creativity that will lead to ongoing innovation to advance the industry and benefit our customers,” explained Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith.

The construction of the new campus should require 2,500 construction and development jobs, and Smith explained that it should be a boon for the Puget Sound area. “It’s an investment that’s good for our employees, good for the Puget Sound community, and makes good sense for our shareholders,” said Smith. “We are not only creating a world-class work environment to help retain and attract the best and brightest global talent, but also building a campus that our neighbors can enjoy, and that we can build in a fiscally smart way with low environmental impact.”

The extension of Microsoft’s Redmond campus is a reflection of the company’s recent growth, and it also follows other redevelopment projects at Microsoft’s offices in Vancouver BC and London. Following the opening of Apple’s new spaceship campus in Cupertino, it seems that it also was an opportunity for Microsoft that it represents one of the best workplaces in the tech sector. “As Microsoft continues to create the tools and services that are shaping the future of work, we can’t think of a better time to modernize our campus into a model of ingenuity and innovation,” explained Smith.