Highsnobiety is a website dedicated to its namesake, and as a tech fan, you’d be forgiven not knowing much about the lifestyle focused blog. For the most part, Highsnobiety and the world of tech remained seemingly in suspended states with one another until the iPhone X debut and brought the two into a very public collision course, with former Apple insiders finding themselves on the outs in favor of writers of the fashion and lifestyle publication.

Continuing its courtship with mainstream technology, Highsnobiety will now find itself hosting a livestream show called Pushing Buttons with some help from Xbox community.

Gaming fans rejoice because we’ve teamed up with Highsnobiety, the online publication covering forthcoming trends and news in fashion, art, music, and culture, to bring you a brand-new interactive livestream show on Mixer. Starting this Friday, December 1 at 2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET, “Pushing Buttons,” will feature a range of celebrities and influencers as special guests.

To celebrate the new livestream the Xbox team will be offering gear from partner Raised by Wolves which will include totes, jackets, jerseys, and hats in limited quantities on top of an Xbox One S 1TB Minecraft Limited Edition Bundle giveaway each week.

For those interested, the guest for the livestream includes:

• • December 1: Joey Bada$$ & Mack Wilds
  • December 8: Flatbush Zombies
  • December 15: Just Blaze & DJ Shiftee
  • December 22: Jillionaire & Fat Boy SSE
  • December 27: Ayo & Teo
  • December 29: CJ Fly & Kirk Knight

Feel free to visit Highsnobiety’s social media pages for details on the schedule, giveaways, and additional contest throughout the rest of the year.

Microsoft today added two new games to the Xbox One Backward Compatibility Catalog. Gamers with an Xbox One, Xbox One S, or Xbox One X can now enjoy Peggle 2, and Marlow Briggs on their systems (via Neowin.) As usual, we’ve included the trailers, download links, and details for both these titles below.

Marlow Briggs and the Mask of the Death: $14.99

A new breed of WARRIOR returns, committed to destroying the enemies of FREEDOM! No-nonsense hero Marlow never shied away from danger or trouble. But now he faces his ULTIMATE challenge. Blasting into Central America, he has an industrial evil to defeat whilst bound to an ancient Mayan Death Mask who’s had no-one to talk to for 2000 years. With cliffhanger over the top action and cinematic gameplay, Marlow Briggs takes inspiration from the best of blockbuster films, comic book heroes, and action games with its focus on relentless high-octane combat, exotic and danger filled environments and epic set pieces.

Peggle 2: $11.99

Everything is better with Peggle! Catch the fever now on Xbox 360 with Peggle 2, where you’ll master over 120 new levels and trials in the sequel to one of the most engaging puzzle-action games of all time. Unleash amazing magic powers as you learn from Peggle Master Bjorn, and 4 all-new masters like the dark and mysterious Luna, while you shoot balls at colorful, challenging boards of pegs to reach Extreme Fever. But there’s more! Unlocked costumes allow you to dress up the various masters for laughs and for multiplayer fun. And try four-player Peg Party mode or two-player Duel mode, which let you deploy your Peggle skills to the utmost against friends and family. Peggle 2 is a game for our age, and, indeed, all ages!

The last titles to be added to the catalog were Cars: Mater-National, Persona 4 Arena, Tecmo Bowl Throwback, and Jewel Quest. As always, if you own a disc version of these games, you can insert it into your console, and your Xbox will begin downloading the game to your hard drive, though you will still need the disc to play. If you own digital copies, they will show up in the Ready to Install” section on your Xbox One console.

Along with the Surface Book 2, Windows Mixed Reality headsets might as well be the next big thing for Microsoft this shopping season. So, if you’re in the market for both a new Surface Book 2, and a Mixed Reality headset, you’re in luck, as you can now bundle the two together and save up to $400.

The bundle offer includes any flavor of the 13.5 inch Intel Core i7 Surface Book, your choice of Windows Mixed Reality headset, and a free 3-month trial of Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan plus 1TB of cloud storage. Keep in mind, though, that Surface Book 2 requires a USB-C to HDMI adapter for use with Windows Mixed Reality headset.

There are many Windows Mixed Reality headsets to choose from, including the Lenovo Explorer headset which we recently unboxed and reviewed. It’s the perfect pairing, really, as the Surface Book 2 is powerful enough for a premium Mixed Reality experience, with high-speed Intel processors and up to 1060 NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics.

Feel free to check out the deal via the links above. If you so happened to take advantage of the offer, let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Today marks #GivingTuesday, a global movement to help others through the gift of your time, donations, goods or your voice, fueled by the power of social media and collaboration. To celebrate the occasion, Microsoft is matching youth-serving nonprofit MS Rewards points donations through December 31.

Word on Microsoft’s matching of donations was spread on the Giving Tuesday blog in a post penned by Microsoft Vice President, Laura Clayton McDonnell. She explains that Microsoft has stood with the movement since 2012, and will be matching MS rewards points donations for youth-serving nonprofits to help the generosity go even further.

If you are in the U.S., simply select Boys & Girls Clubs of America, City Year, Code.org, FIRST or Teach for America, and we’ll double your impact through December 31 – details. Not a Microsoft Rewards member? We’ll give you a free $1 to donate. If you are in the U.K., we’ll double your impact through November 30 when you donate your points to Special Olympics, UK Youth, and AbilityNet.

The Microsoft Store will also be recognizing the commitment by 92Y, Boys and Girls Clubs of America and City Year by contributing grants and Microsoft products to these organizations. The company also invites people to visit the Microsoft Wish Machine at any Microsoft Store and share inspiring wishes through December 31 for the chance for a selection of wishes to come true.

Microsoft Philanthropies donated more than $1.2 billion in software and services to nonprofits last year, and every bit counts. Consider doing your part, too, as your gift and donation only helps build a better future for everyone.

As quickly as they come, some leave even quicker. The studio behind Marvel Heroes Omega is dolling out a bit of bad news for fans and customers as it’s closing up shop and no longer supporting the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 platforms.

According to Rock Paper Shotgun, Gazillion Entertainment and the makers of Marvel Heroes has closed its doors for good which is unfortunate for those of us who were getting used to the character-heavy free-to-play action RPG. Marvel Heroes most closely resembled the old Marvel Alliance games with its top-down view and environment destruction gameplay.

Seems as though Disney is undergoing some internal property licensing as it breaks partnerships with previous software companies (Microsoft) and now gaming studios (Gazillion).

“It is with great sadness that we announce the closing of Gazillion Entertainment. As a result, we are no longer able to operate Marvel heroes Omega until December 31 as originally planned. Instead, Marvel Heroes Omega will be sunset immediately on all platforms and will no longer be available as this process is completed. The company would like to sincerely thank its fans and employees for all the support over years of development and live service.”

Perhaps, even sadder is the notion that Gazillion relied almost solely on the licensed Marvel property as its main source of revenue. Without Marvel or Disney’s partnership, the entire studio shut down.

Seems, the only silver lining here is that a Reddit thread popped up discussing the Xbox teams efforts to refund customers who spent money on in-game purchases.

On November 27, 2017, the Xbox One subreddit page claims that “Marvel Heroes Omega has officially shut down. Microsoft support has stated all purchased content will be automatically refunded.”

Reading through the thread it doesn’t appear that the refund is automatic and customers looking for one will have to reach out to Microsoft support. Another nugget of information found in the thread is the level of difficulty some PlayStation 4 gamers are having with trying to obtain a refund for the game.

Windows Insiders have had many leaks to examine over the past few weeks, including both the new Cortana and some hints of Windows Timeline features. Today, though, Microsoft made things more official, revealing that the next Windows 10 Insider builds will include both Windows Timeline and a new feature called Sets.

Microsoft’s Microsoft’s Terry Myerson penned an email on the subject, explaining both of the features to Windows Insiders. Importantly, he detailed that the eagerly awaited Windows Timeline will be coming to the next Windows Insider Fast Ring build.

Earlier this year at Build, we showed you Timeline, which allows you to jump back in time, making it easier to find the files you’re looking for. A visual timeline is integrated directly into Task View so you can easily move back into files, apps, and sites as if you never left. We’ve heard strong interest in this feature, and we’re pleased you’ll see it in the next WIP build going out to the Fast Ring.

Secondly, Myerson revealed “Sets,” a new feature for Windows 10, similar to the UWP tabbed experience which leaked last week. The EVP of Windows and Devices dubs the feature as an “easier way to organize your stuff and get back to what you were doing.” The naming of the feature is not yet final, and according to Dona Sarkar, it will be A/B tested in “controlled studies” with Windows Insiders, meaning not everyone will see the feature right away.

With Sets, what belongs together stays together — making it easier and faster to create and be productive. The concept behind this experience is to make sure that everything related to your task: relevant webpages, research documents, necessary files and applications, is connected and available to you in one click.

Definitely some fun times ahead, as both of these features will bring new experiences to Windows 10 for Windows Insiders now, and all Windows 10 users come the Spring. Be sure to check the email linked to your Windows Insider account for the full details on Sets and Windows Timeline, and be sure to keep it locked right here to OnMSFT for all your Windows 10 news and information.

Microsoft just added another bell and whistle to its Azure offering for enterprises looking to take advantage of a fully integrated cloud solution upgrade.

Recently announced, Microsoft and leading application management software company SAP have partnered to give enterprise customers a cloud solution that is both expansive in flexibility as well as robust in product support. SAP is the market leader in application software management that enables businesses to find efficiencies in their everyday workloads that include back office, warehouse, storefront, internal and external program optimizations to list a few.

Perhaps, as a show of good faith or a bit of dogfooding, both SAP and Microsoft Azure will internally fuse their respective solutions, the result should be the better guidance of reps when presenting architecture integration and deployment options for both SAP and Azure solutions. Starting soon, Microsoft will be using the new SAP S/4HANA platform in a secure and managed cloud, in part, to transform the company’s internal financing systems, AI analytics and a few other business-critical applications. 

“As technology transforms every business and every industry, organizations are looking for the right platforms and trusted partners to help accelerate their digital transformation,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. “Building on our longtime partnership, Microsoft and SAP are harnessing each other’s products to not only power our own organizations, but to empower our enterprise customers to run their most mission-critical applications and workloads with SAP S/4HANA on Azure.”

To their credit, SAP has over 365,000 businesses and public sector customers it’s bringing to the table to accompany Microsoft Azure’s ballooning portfolio. The combined efforts of Microsoft and SAP already have big names such as Costco Wholesale, The Coca-Cola Company, and Columbia Sportswear Company excited at the new level of cloud integration proposed by the partnership.

Delve, the Office 365 data visualization and discovery tool that incorporates elements of social networking and machine learning, recently was removed from the Windows 10 Store. Noted by ZDNet, it turns out that Microsoft is planning on replacing the app by integrating Delve into the Windows 10 taskbar search.

A statement on the Delve support page does not explain why and when the Delve app was removed from Windows 10, instead urging those who are looking for the app to use the Web version instead. A Microsoft spokesperson also did not explain when the Delve app was removed but gave a more interesting explanation of what may be the replacement for it.

“As we announced at Ignite, we continue to enhance the search and discovery experiences across Microsoft 365. As part of this, we’re focusing our efforts on the Windows taskbar search experience which includes content and people inside your organization, as well as content on your local device, and on the rich web search experience including Delve and other search bars within Office 365.”

Combined with Microsoft looking to make Cortana more like Apple’s macOS Spotlight feature, and Cortana soon supporting searching contacts and emails, it’s apparent that Microsoft is looking to revamp the way searches work in Windows and Office 365. Definitely interesting, so best to keep tuned for more in the months ahead.

If you’re one of the Xbox One X early adopters out there, you may well get a freebie from Microsoft as a thank you for purchasing the company’s new console. Indeed, it seems that Microsoft is currently offering the Lego Batman movie to select Xbox One X customers, as recently reported by Reddit user ster1ing:

Just got a free movie for buying a One X. Anyone else get one? from xboxone

According to comments on the Reddit thread, Microsoft may be sending the codes in waves as some people who pre-ordered the Xbox One X Project Scorpio Edition have yet to receive one. Additionally, it seems that you don’t need to have purchased your console from the Microsoft Store to get the chance to get the free movie.

Microsoft is offering the 4K HDR version of the Lego Batman movie ($29.99 value), which is great if you already have a TV that supports both technologies. If you recently purchased an Xbox One X, let us know in the comments if you also received this message in your Xbox Live inbox.

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.

Xbox users warned against using power strips

If you’re like most people, you’re probably using your Xbox One plugged into a power strip. It’s a super common thing to do in a world where you need several power outlets for your entertainment center. Surprisingly, according to the Xbox team, this is not something you’re supposed to do. Apparently, the Xbox One (and this is everything in the Xbox One family, up to and including the X) is meant to be plugged into a wall, since there’s a surge protector built in. If you’re using a surge-protected power strip, you run the risk of hurting your console.

To be clear the console already has a built in surge protector. So just like having two surge protector's plugged into each-other, that would not be recommended. ^IS

— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) November 18, 2017

Gears of War 4 heading to Xbox Game Pass

Simple but big news here – Gears of War 4 will be among the games arriving to the Xbox Game Pass this December. The game is relatively recent and a pretty great time, so it’s a pleasant surprise to see it coming for free to people who are Game Pass members. Joining Gears of War 4 is Mass Effect (the original) and a plethora of other titles that you’ll be able to enjoy at no additional cost so long as you’re subscribed to the Game Pass.

Improving social sharing is a top priority for the Xbox team

Apparently, sharing gameplay on social media is a big priority for the Xbox Team. Jason Beaumont, the experience lead for Xbox, has recently tweeted about upcoming improvements to sharing when grilled about it by some fans. He says that details have come when “we’ve planned it out and talked to our partners.” Specifically, this addresses a request to add in a “quick share” feature, and give users a way to share clips and screenshots to Facebook and Twitter without too much thought.

One of the first things I asked the team to look at. Details will come once we’ve planned it out and talked to our partners. Thanks for the feedback everyone!

— Jason Beaumont (@jbeaumont) November 23, 2017

Man uses Xbox One X on a CRT TV

When’s the last time you saw a CRT TV? Whether it was 5 years ago or earlier this week when you visited your older family members for Thanksgiving, I can guarantee you didn’t see it running an Xbox One X. One person on YouTube actually managed to make the Xbox One X run on one of these ancient TV sets using a series of adapters, and it looks… Relatively okay. It’s definitely not something that you’re going to want to do for any reason other than “because you can,” but it’s fun to watch nonetheless.

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 looks to be focusing some attention to Windows 10’s Game Bar feature in Redstone 4. Game Bar is a feature built for those who play games on PC, with it supporting features such as game recording.

In Redstone 4 build 17046, some code has been found (via Thurrott) that shows some of the changes that Microsoft is making to the Game Bar. Changes include removing the Xbox Live avatar and replacing it with the players’ Gamertag, as well as the addition of shortcuts to areas such as the Xbox app, Mixer and settings, support for light and dark themes, improved animations, and more.

The new and improved Game Bar aims to take advantage of Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform (UWP).

Are these the changes you’ve been wanting? Let us know in the comments!

Private web browsing has become a routine feature these past few years in web browsers from all kind of companies, but Microsoft may be looking to shake things up a bit. Noted by MSPoweruser, in a new patent, Microsoft is looking to help a user automatically switch a web browser to private mode when navigating certain websites.

The full patent can be seen here, though it does not specifically mention Microsoft Edge by name. Importantly, though, the patent is titled “Automation of Browsing Mode Switching.” As the name suggests this might help make it easier for those times when a user would like to hide their web history, or if they’ve forgotten to enter InPrivate mode when doing questionable activities on the web.  Explained in the patent:

Techniques for automation of browsing mode switching are described. According to various implementations, a web browser is operable in multiple different browsing modes, including a normal browsing mode and a private browsing mode. Techniques described herein enable automatic switching between browsing modes based on different mode triggers, and enable user configuration of various mode change behaviors.

Seen above, there is a diagram which attempts to explain how the system works, including the detection of a website which is associated with a mode change trigger. It is, however, not clear how exactly the web browser will be able to save websites which will be associated with the change trigger, be it a list saved on the computer, or on Microsoft’s cloud services.

There’s no telling if this is a feature coming to Microsoft Edge or not, but it might as well become a reality, especially since the patent is filed by Microsoft. As usual, best to keep tuned for more in the months ahead, as patents usually hold up to become real products and features, as we saw with Paint 3D well ahead of it’s reveal.

The new Microsoft Launcher is slowly but surely becoming a must-have app for Microsoft fans moving to Android, and the latest beta release introduces some of the most-requested features from users. Indeed, the freshly released version 4.3 brings a 12×12 grid view, better sub-grid positioning, support for more than 5 apps in the dock and plenty more improvements.

Here are the full release notes:

• Support more apps grid layout: now you can get maximum 12X12 grid view for apps page;
• Sub grid support: now you can move apps/widget half grid;
• First time user experience enhancement: Support migration from other launcher and backup / restore or manual setup home screen during welcome page;
• Apps font fine tune: avoid text wrap and improve truncation logic;
• Now drag/drop apps will not enter edit mode;
• Support long press apps icon popup menu when you in app drawer;
• Support folder icon/shape edit;
• Dock: support more than 5 apps in the dock;
• Search bar: by default show search bar on the bottom for new users;
• Theme: support theme on settings page;
• Weather / time widget UI improvements;
• Settings page restructure;
• Crash fix, bug fix & performance tuning;

If you want to try this latest beta release, you’ll have to open this Google Play link and then select “Become a tester.” The Microsoft Launcher recently passed one million active users on Android, which is not bad for app that officially launched a month ago. We really like this fast release cycle and we hope to see many more features and improvements to be added in the coming weeks.

Download
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Microsoft Launcher

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

To celebrate Thanksgiving, Microsoft is giving away 100 free points to Microsoft Rewards members. As usual, these points are a great way to cash in and spend on Microsoft Store gift cards, Amazon gift cards and more.

Microsoft Rewards members should be finding the free 100 points now on their Rewards dashboard, right alongside the day’s quizzes and other points-paying quests. Microsoft also sent out an email to Rewards members about the free gift, and we included a copy below. We must say the email is pretty thoughtful and is themed perfectly for the Thanksgiving holiday.

This is not the first time Microsoft has given away free Rewards points. Previously the company refunded points for those who spent towards Groove Music passes, and for telling Microsoft-related stories. There even was a time when the company offered up double points in the month of August.

If you’re new to Microsoft Rewards, feel free to check out our guide on how to pile up those points. Enjoy the free points and Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at OnMSFT!

The Microsoft Store is increasingly becoming the one stop shop for everything you need to customize Windows 10. Following the addition of Edge extensions and Windows themes, Italian blog Aggiornamenti Lumia recently discovered new fonts and language packs from Microsoft on the digital distribution platform.

For now, you need to run the Windows 10 preview build 17040 or higher to install new fonts from Microsoft like Arial Nova, and we couldn’t test it at the time of our writing. However, we had no trouble installing a Valencian language pack, which did show up in the Region & Language section of the Windows 10 Settings app after proceeding.

Fonts and additional language packs are an interesting addition to the Windows Store, even though they’re not easily discoverable as of today. Perhaps Microsoft should create a new sub-category including everything you need to customize your Windows 10 PC, including Windows Themes, Fonts, Language packs and Edge extensions. For Microsoft, this is probably the way to go to push more users to visit the Microsoft Store.

A tweet from the official Xbox Support Twitter account caused a bit of a ruckus earlier this week when it reminded all of its followers that Xbox One consoles should be plugged directly into a wall socket and not into an adapter with surge protection.

Did you know that your Xbox One is designed to be plugged directly into a wall outlet? Check out our console power guide here: https://t.co/lGymrPOQEV

— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) November 17, 2017

This recommendation has been public since the launch of the first Xbox One console back in 2013 but it seems many weren’t aware of this and so this news went viral and was reported on via several major tech sites. The reasoning for this recommendation is that all Xbox One consoles have a built-in surge protector and, according to Microsoft, plugging it into an additional surge protector can potentially restrict its power availability and prevent it from running as smoothly as possible.

To be clear the console already has a built in surge protector. So just like having two surge protector's plugged into each-other, that would not be recommended. ^IS

— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) November 18, 2017

This might seem like strange logic but it is something that a lot of original Xbox One owners may have been told if they ever had issues with the Kinect sensor. A common problem with the Kinect can be it randomly shutting down and this is often caused by a console that’s plugged into an adapter and not directly into the wall. The hard-to-find Kinect Adapter for the Xbox One S and X actually fixes this problem by using a separate power cable for the Kinect itself.

Many Xbox One X owners also had similar problems this month and found that their consoles wouldn’t turn on properly. This issue was apparently caused by the adapter issue which is likely why the Xbox Support account decided to tweet about the power recommendation again.

https://twitter.com/BlackThunderX4/status/931650803361660928

Despite the apparent truth behind this advice, a Reddit user noticed earlier today that the following text had been removed from the Xbox Support webpage, likely due to all of the attention it was getting.

Note: Because the console has a built-in surge protector, you should not connect it to an external surge protector. If you connect the console to another surge protector, the console cannot reach the full power that is needed for optimal performance.

It’s definitely a strange move but it’s also understandable given that the controversy had begun to paint the Xbox One family of consoles as one that had a serious (kind of) design flaw. It’s also questionable how many users actually follow this advice. Even though I’m personally aware of this problem, I still keep my Xbox One plugged into a surge protector and most people I know do the same as well. It’s simply just an extra layer of precaution.

Who does that? Seriously? In an age when everyone has at least 4-5 devices on the entertainment center who plugs their xbone directly into the wall? 2nd question; who designs a modern game system that doesn’t play well w a power strip? pic.twitter.com/5IAqRtFtMf

— Matt Baum's momma didn't raise no dummy. (@mattbaumstein) November 17, 2017

How is your Xbox One console set up? Let us know in the comments below.

After being playable on other VR marketplaces for a while now, Pinball FX2 VR, has finally come to Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality experience in the Windows Store.

Pinball FX2 VR is a virtual reality version of Pinball FX2, a popular pinball video game available on Windows 10, Xbox One, and other consoles. In addition to being able to play many of the Pinball FX2 pinball tables, this special VR version of the game also lets players explore a virtual space fitted with visual themes based on each table. Here’s the official game description:

Experience digital pinball as never before in Pinball FX2 VR, a groundbreaking new pinball game from the digital pinball pioneers Zen Studios! Pinball FX2 VR features advanced physics, detailed 3D graphics, and original tables from the pinball wizards at Zen. Pinball FX2 VR replicates the atmosphere of real-life pinball machines in a virtual play space, while presenting gameplay features and effects that you simply cannot recreate on a physical machine. Additionally, the game’s rich scoreboards will track your Pro Score, Team Score, table stats and more to let you compete against players from all over the world!

Creating a brand new way to play pinball that deftly combines the look and feel of digital pinball with the sensation of a real-world experience, Pinball FX2 VR is the premiere place for pinball action on Windows MR! Pinball FX2 VR comes with three tables: Secrets of the Deep, Mars and Epic Quest. Additional tables may be purchased as add-on content.

Pinball FX2 VR supports online leaderboards powered by Microsoft’s Xbox Live gaming network however other Xbox connectivity appears to be limited. Do you have a Windows Mixed Reality headset? Let us know what your favorite games are in the comments below.

Download
QR-Code

Pinball FX2 VR

Developer:
Zen Studios

Price:
$14.99

According to a report from Thurrott.com, Microsoft could be adding a Bluetooth Quick Pair feature to Windows 10 in the upcoming Redstone 4 update. Touches of the feature are supposedly already showing up in Insider preview builds, and it could dramatically cut down on the time a user has to spend on pairing Bluetooth devices with a Windows 10 PC.

As the name of the feature implies, a user will simply need to hold a Quick Pair compatible accessory near a Windows 10 PC to initiate a pairing process. A notification will then pop up and the user can click on it and take the set up process automatically from there. This eliminates the need to press buttons on the Bluetooth device, or even navigate through menus in Windows 10.

Again, this is just based an early report, so there’s no telling on what type of technology this feature will be depending on—but it can be assumed that it may be Bluetooth Classic and Bluetooth LE. There’s also no telling if the tech will be used with Microsoft’s own hardware, or only for other third-party accessories. Best to stay tuned for more, as given recent leaks about a new Cortana UI, and touches of Windows Timeline showing up in build 17040, a new build may be coming soon with the feature in tow.

If we’re seeing more and more quality UWP apps land on the Windows Store these days, it’s safe to assume that most Windows 10 users are still ignoring most of them, except probably for stock apps like Mail and Calendar. Truth is, your web browser is probably the app you use the most on your PC: pretty much every service is accessible from the web, and the ability to quickly switch between browser tabs is more efficient than using dedicated apps.

Moreover, UWP apps are pretty limited compared to legacy desktop apps as of today. You can’t run multiple instances of the same UWP app, as an example, though OneNote is a rare exception. The Windows 10 Maps is another notable exception as it now supports tabs, though the implementation is not as simple as what you can find on any web browser.

Tab support is something that would make UWP apps much more usable, especially for the Office Mobile and other apps like OneDrive, Skype or Twitter. Fortunately, it seems that this is something that Microsoft is currently working working on, though details are pretty scarce for now.

Microsoft leaker WalkingCat recently shared some details about a new feature called “Windows Sets,” which was first discovered in the Windows 10 Preview build 16237. “Sets” is apparently Microsoft’s solution for bringing tab support to UWP apps, and WalkingCat revealed that it would be possible to open new app tabs as well as web tabs powered by Microsoft Edge in any UWP app.

https://twitter.com/h0x0d/status/933116000626622466

https://twitter.com/h0x0d/status/933139407917293568

It’s not clear where these two images do come from, but you can clearly see web tabs being accessible from Word Mobile and the Outlook Mail app, and they look just like any browser tab in Microsoft Edge. Moreover, the usually reliable Microsoft watcher revealed some code related to the new tab feature in the latest Redstone 4 build 17040.

https://twitter.com/h0x0d/status/933207412424577024

It remain to be seen if tab support for UWP apps could be introduced in future Redstone 4 builds, but this would definitely be a great addition for the next major Windows 10 update. Would tab support be something that makes you use UWP apps much more on your Windows 10 PC, or do you think this isn’t the killer feature that Microsoft’s UWP platform desperately needs to appeal to consumers and developers? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Vivaldi, the popular alternate browser for Windows, released version 1.13 today which introduces a new Windows Panel feature that makes managing multiple tabs easier.

The Window Panel offers an easy way to manage multiple tabs at once by opening a ‘tree-style view of tabs’ on the side of the browser window. The panel gives an easy overview of all open tabs as a list. You can drag tabs to change their order, group tabs by topic to save space, and tile Tab Stacks to compare several web pages side by side. You can also pin tabs to ensure they always stay open or hibernate unused tabs or Tab Stacks for better performance.

Vivaldi offers more built-in options for managing tabs than any other modern browser. Users can choose where they want to position the tabs; they can navigate to them via their keyboard; group them and so on. The new Window Panel takes tab management to the next level.

– Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Vivaldi Technologies

The latest release also brings several improvements in downloading files. There’s a warning dialog when closing the browser before a download is complete now, ability to pause and resume downloads, and the download speed is displayed in the download progress bar. The company claims that these features were top requests in the Vivaldi user community.

The new Window Panel feature is quite useful for people like me who work with a number of tabs. There’s also the complete rewrite of the window handling code that provides performance benefits, especially noticeable on older, slower hardware. You can read more about the v1.13 here.

There are some things in this world that happen for no worldly reason, but you can’t help but want to see. One of those things, you may realize, is watching the Xbox One X being played on an old CRT television. This clunker of a display is a relic of years’ gone by, and there’s no reason you should be trying to use such an advanced piece of hardware on it — but the YouTube channel My Mate VINCE did it anyway.

It took a series of adapters to get the console to function with the CRT TV, considering the Xbox One X only outputs in HDMI. Additionally, even if you get it to work, the picture still looks a little bit off. The One X is displaying content at a higher resolution than the poor CRT can handle, so it’s struggling to show you anything good. If you have these adapters and absolutely must try your curiosity of what the Xbox One X would look like on a TV from 15 years ago, this video is your jam.

Object Theory, the world’s first HoloLens company, and member of Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Partner Program, announced today the release of Prism, a HoloLens collaborative experience. Also a core part of Microsoft’s Alex Kipman’s vision for HoloLens, Prism represents a step forward in collaborative computing since it is an avatar based holographic telepresence application.

At heart, Prism demonstrates the power of the Object Theory Mixed Reality Collaboration Service, helping organizations design and build holographic shared experiences by allowing collaboration in real time from remote locations. With Prism, four participants can participate per session via HoloLens, and a demo experience is included in the HoloLens app now on the Windows Store— designing a modern house and planning a mountain hike on Mount Hood, Oregon’s highest peak.

Other features of the application can be seen below.

• Avatar-based holographic telepresence
• Spatial audio chat
• Shared experience supporting up to four networked users at a time
• Demo experiences – designing a house and planning a mountain hike
• Display of 3D models at tabletop and true-scale sizes
• Annotations in 3D space

Object Theory works with organizations across multiple industries to design and build experiences for Microsoft HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality. They are known for providing end-to-end services, from envisioning through delivery, with a focus on strategy, user experience, and development. The company was founded on the belief that mixed reality will have a transformative impact on the way we work, live, and play.

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Prism by Object Theory

Developer:
Object Theory

Price:
Free

One of the cheapest ways to enter the world of Windows Mixed Reality is by purchasing the Lenovo Explorer, but it’s now even cheaper. From now until November 27, the Lenovo headset is on sale for $299, a nice $100 discount from the regular $399 selling price at the Microsoft Store.

Similar to the other Windows Mixed Reality headsets, the Lenovo Explorer plugs into a compatible PC running the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update via HDMI and USB 3.0 ports. As we highlighted in our unboxing last week, the Lenovo headset is sleek, comfortable, and light, and features 12 feet of cable length allowing you to move around the room and your PC to experience Windows Mixed Reality. As standard, the headset also packs inside out tracking, and two 2.89-inch LCD displays at 1440×1440 resolution, for up to 105 degrees horizontal field of view.

This is just one small part of Microsoft’s upcoming Black Friday sales. There will be other great deals on Surface, Xbox, PCs, and more, so be sure to head over to the Microsoft Store today and check out all the deals before it’s too late.

The Minecraft for Windows 10 app has received an important update today, especially if you own one of the first Windows VR headsets released last month. While the game could already be played as a 2D app in Windows Mixed Reality, today’s update brings the full Minecraft VR experience which was already available on other VR platforms.

“We’ve already dabbled in VR with our support for the Oculus Rift and Gear VR. Now, Windows Mixed Reality brings you even more options to 3D-ify your crafty fun, and requires next to no set-up,” explained developer Mojang. “Just plug the headset into the USB slot and you’re good to go.”

In addition to full VR support, the version 1.2.5 of Minecraft also brings built-in support for Mixer live-streaming on Windows 10, Xbox One and Android today. You can now launch a Mixer broadcast from within Minecraft and easily interact with other players, and the Mixer team has created a dedicated map to try this new feature.

The Jackbox Party Quadpack is now available to download and play on Microsoft’s family of Xbox One consoles. This special bundle contains You Don’t Know Jack 2015 and The Jackbox Party Packs 2 through 3. Here’s the list of the full content.

• YOU DON’T KNOW JACK 2015: Fibbage, Drawful, Lie Swatter, Word Spud
• The Jackbox Party Pack 2: Quiplash XL, Fibbage 2, Earwax, Bidiots, Bomb Corp
• The Jackbox Party Pack 3: Trivia Murder Party, Guesspionage, Tee K.O., Fakin’ It, Quiplash 2
• From The Jackbox Party Pack 4: Fibbage 3 (with new game mode Fibbage: Enough About You), Survive the Internet, Monster Seeking Monster, Bracketeering, Civic Doodle

The Jackbox games are designed for groups of friends and can be played locally or online via smartphones that are connected to unique online rooms generated by the Xbox One game. Are you a Jackbox game fan? Let us know your favorites in the comments below.

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The Jackbox Party Quadpack

Developer:
Jackbox Games, Inc.

Price:
$74.99