About an hour after revealing there would be no new Windows 10 PC Insider builds this week, Dona Sarkar followed up to share some information about the future of the Windows Insider Program. It was revealed that Microsoft is looking to find out how Insiders want to be notified when their reported bugs have been fixed.

1/2 Last night @JBGlennon shared with our execs some of the ways we're letting Individual #WindowsInsiders know their bugs are fixed.

— Dona Sarkar (@donasarkar) August 17, 2017

According to Dona, a few of the notification options on the table include emails, a notification in the feedback hub, and “SUIFS.” We were not certain what was meant by a “SUIF” so we followed up to ask the chief ninja cat what she meant. On Twitter, Dona joked about the need for a Windows Insider glossary and told our Kip Kniskern that a SUIF is a pop-up which asks for feedback on your experience or features.

2/2 custom SUIFs + email + FBH notifications seemed to be the winner. Any other ideas #WindowsInsiders

— Dona Sarkar (@donasarkar) August 17, 2017

Regardless of which method is chosen by Microsoft, notifying Windows Insiders individually about bug fixes would be a welcome change. It would make things much more personal compared to the current upvote and comment system, encourage more bug reporting altogether, and aid Microsoft in making Windows 10 great again.

The individual notifications bug fixes appear to be a part of a wider push by Microsoft to connect with the Windows Insider community. Dona has previously tweeted about the iteration of new ideas, and forums for Windows Insider communications. She previously revealed that the company is looking to better use Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Mixer, LinkedIn, and Blog Posts to make connections with Windows Insiders.

Microsoft is now rolling out the August 2017 update for the OneNote UWP app on Windows 10. The update adds in several new features, including a Text to Math feature, and the ability to insert online pictures.

As is usual, the update is rolling out slowly to everyone, so you might not notice the new features right away. Here is what you need to know about the version 17.8471.5772 update:

• Text to Math: Use your keyboard to type an equation as text in OneNote, and use Math to solve it or draw a graph. Simply type your equation, and on the Draw tab, click the Lasso Select button. Drag a circle around the text you want to convert, then click Math.
• Smart Lookup: Get definitions, wiki articles, and top related searches from the web without leaving OneNote. Right-click a word or phrase and choose Smart Lookup.
• Insert online pictures: Use Bing’s Image Search to safely insert photos and images without ever having to leave OneNote. On the Insert tab, choose Pictures > Online. In the Online Pictures pane, use a keyword to search for the perfect picture for your notes.
• Tables of all shapes and sizes: One cell or many? Choose the number of rows and columns you need to organize your content. Once you’ve got a table, you can add or delete rows or columns, add table shading, or sort your content.
• More highlight colors: Yellow isn’t the only color in the rainbow. Now you can highlight with blue, green, red, and more.
• Zoom in, zoom out: Use the new Page Width option on the View tab to zoom out to see all the notes on your page, or zoom in to focus on just what you need.

Back in July, Microsoft updated OneNote for Windows 10 with muti-window support, custom pens, and more. The OneNote for Windows 10 app comes with several advantages over the desktop application, and you can learn more about the differences by clicking here. You can also download OneNote from Windows 10 via the link below.

Download
QR-Code

OneNote for Windows 10 (Legacy)

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

Coming in the Fall 2017, Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier is a new game headed to Xbox One and Windows 10. Here’s a look at the reveal trailer for Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier.

Besides the reveal trailer, there is not much known about the Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier gameplay at the moment. The Planet of the Apes game is “a brand new interactive narrative” that takes place within the fictional world of the “Planet of the Apes.” Other than that the game’s website offers links to the game’s Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube channel, but there is not much other game information available.

IGN has a 6 minute gameplay clip available showing the gameplay as an ape and one playing as a human. Stay tuned, as we may see more information revealed at gamescom 2017 next week.

Since the ascension of Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s advertising budget has seemed to have shrunk compared to the good ol’ Ballmer days. Instead, the company has become a bit more focus on adhering to its more profitable endeavors in commercial software rather than chasing the latest hardware trends.

However, it does seem that Microsoft does want its Surface line of hardware to strike a chord with consumers.

With that, we just got a peek at how much Microsoft spent trying to put its Surface hardware in front of the eyeballs of prime time viewers.

In a report by ADWEEK, we find out that Microsoft reached into its coffers to shell out $10.4 million nationally for broadcast placement last week.

After devoting the entirety of its $9.9 million national broadcast placement budget the week prior, Microsoft spent $4.8 million of the over $10.4 million it spent on national broadcast placement overall on new creative last week. Of that, Microsoft devoted $606,000 to placement during America’s Got Talent, more than any other programming.

This information comes from Kantar Media as it reports advertisers spent upwards of $135 million on national broadcast placements for new ads last week.

With over $135 million spent on new national ad campaigns last week, Microsoft tallied up to become the second largest spender behind Lions Gate Pictures which was busy promoting its latest movies, The Hitman’s Bodyguard and The Glass Castle.

While Microsoft’s main audience tends to lean toward governments and corporations, the company still finds space in its budget to advertise its more consumer friendly items to the average joe. Even in spite of the company’s  sometimes ham-fisted and tone deaf marketing approaches,  Microsoft continues to reach into its pockets to shell out money to be in front of a potential audience and now we have a peek at how much they care.

Did Microsoft showcase too many Windows 10 features that were not fully baked during its latest annual developer conference? After Joe Belfiore recently confirmed that the new Timeline feature won’t ship with the Fall Creators Update, many were wondering if the amazing Story Remix demo that Microsoft gave us at Build 2017 would be ready for the next major Windows 10 update.

Story Remix is already available in preview for Windows Insiders, though its most interesting features are still missing in action. If you watched the Build keynote in April, you may remember Microsoft showcasing how to anchor written notes to people in a video, and even better, the ability to import 3D objects. In a quite impressive demo, we saw how it was possible to anchor a fireball to a soccer ball for pretty epic results.

Unfortunately though, these exciting 3D features have reportedly been delayed and won’t be ready for the Fall Creators Update. The news comes from Windows Central reporter Zac Bowden, who explained today that the much-anticipated Story Remix features will be tested first with Windows Insiders after the launch of the Fall Creators Update:

My contacts say that Story Remix itself will be ready with the Fall Creators Update, but being able to insert 3D objects and effects into your video; arguably Story Remix’s blockbuster feature, still needs work and as such will not be showing up alongside the launch of the Fall Creators Update. I’m told Insiders can expect to see that functionality show up in the months after the Fall Creators Update launches, likely during the Redstone 4 development cycle.

Microsoft has yet to officially confirm that Story Remix won’t be feature complete with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, and we’ll let you know if we hear anything new. With two major Windows 10 updates every year, a delay wouldn’t be really dramatic, but we still hope Microsoft will be more careful to not over promise and under deliver going forward.

Path of Exile First Blood is now available to digitally pre-order on the Xbox One before its August 25th release date. To encourage gamers to pre-order, those that purchase the title before its release date are being rewarded with a special starter pack that automatically unlocks 200 points, the First Blood Weapon Effect and an Extra Stash Tab. Here’s the (very short) official game description and shopping link:

Earn devastating skills and valuable items as you fight your way through the dark continent of Wraeclast. With unrivaled character customization, Path of Exile is an award-winning online Action RPG created by hardcore gamers, for hardcore gamers.

Pre-order Path of Exile First Blood on Xbox One

Are you hyped to play Path of Exile First Blood and will you pre-order? Let us know in the comments.

Microsoft recently put its money where its mouth is when it came to encouraging children to seek out and explore careers involving STEM focused curriculum.

As part of a school project that asked students to reach out to their favorite businesses and express their appreciation, a Silverland Middle School student by the name of Sky Yi wrote to President and Cheif Legal Officer at Microsoft, Brad Smith.

While the chances of a letter from a middle school youth reaching such a high-level executive at Microsoft seemed relatively low, Yi completed his assignment by penning an honest and relatively self-aware letter to Smith expressing his appreciation of the software company.

“I know this letter won’t be opened by you on the spot, as I’m sure you guys get millions of letters,” Sky wrote. “I bet whoever is getting this letter, whether it be your secretary or whatnot, is probably just throwing this away or something like that.” Still, he added, “Keep up the good work running that company.”

Wouldn’t you know it, not only did the letter get past a communications bot and executive assistant, but it made its way to Smith’s desk which prompted the executive to visit the middle school in Fernley, Nevada.

Not only did Yi’s letter bring Smith to the middle school to stress the importance of emboldening teachers and students who engage in STEM curriculum but Yi was also gifted with one of Microsoft’s latest Surface Laptops for his efforts.

Before his visit to Yi’s middle school, Smith responded in kind with this letter,

“At Microsoft, we’ve been working with middle schools for a long time, especially on subjects like middle-school math,” Smith said at the end of his visit. “Because what we’ve learned, what the country knows, is that middle-school math is a game changer. If kids make it through seventh-  and eighth-grade math, and they succeed, they’re almost certain to keep succeeding, they’re almost certain to graduate from high school. And one of the things that makes this story exciting, is that this is a middle school that clearly has some great math teachers doing really creative work, drawing kids in, helping them not just learn to count and focus on things like algebra, but showing how math has a real-world impact, and as schools are finding out across the country, that makes all the difference.”

Beyond Microsoft’s work in creating tools, services, and programs to help aid teachers in reaching out to students interested in STEM as well as encouraging students to seek out science, technology, engineering, and math, it is nice to see the company humanizing its efforts with cases such as Yi’s.

For students looking for new hardware going into high school or college, perhaps, sharpen those pencils and write to your favorite Microsoft employee soon.

Microsoft’s Edge browser has a bit of a chicken and egg conundrum going for it as it’s relatively new presence on a relatively new OS hinders it from being a trusted name among internet browsers. Coupled with the fact that it’s predecessor in Internet Explorer has become the butt of many internet meme jokes (for mostly justified reasons) and its largest competitor continues to build enticing lock-in features, Edge has its work cut out for itself.

Fortunately, the developers of Nimble appear to be forward thinking developers who are placing some large bets on the future of Edge and how businesses will want to use internet browsers.

Nimble is the first Social Sales and Marketing CRM that works for you by building your CRM from your existing Office 365 data and then works with you, everywhere you engage. We’ve optimized Nimble to work seamlessly inside Office 365, Outlook, Skype and even Dynamics CRM. We help you easily deploy your CRM by syncing your team’s Office 365 contacts, emails, and calendars into a unified relationship manager enriched with the business insights you need to engage.

Nimble is a fairly comprehensive addition to Edge that pulls and displays a complete communication trail which includes shared emails, notes, and social media messages right from within the -browser. Gone are the days of whack-a-mole-like professional communication tracking, thanks to Nimble’s ability to aggregate company CRM listings.

Furthermore, Nimble works outside of the confines of Outlook, Skype or Dynamics as it provides contact insights when surfing social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, AngelList, Twitter, CrunchBase and of course LinkedIn, to name a few. With Nimble, users can pull up relevant contact info while engaging with people on their favorite sites.

Nimble also works for people on the go as it integrates with Outlook mobile to provide a similar communications flow as its desktop counterpart.

To try out Nimble and all of its version 4.0 features, Edge users can head over to www.nimble.com for a 14-day free trial, after which, the price becomes $25 per license, per month. Understandably, it’s the business CRM listings that help make Nimble the successful communications tool it is now, but hopefully, developers will see the benefits in a more consumer oriented version of the service in the future.

PDF Assistant Pro is a universal app for Windows 10 PC and Mobile for working with PDF files. It’s not just a PDF reader but also allows you to annotate and mark-up as well as edit PDF files.

PDF Assistant Pro has an intuitive UI and you can just dive in right off the bat. You can open PDF files stored locally or on your OneDrive, including the password-protected ones.

There’s a hamburger menu button on the top-left corner, although it doesn’t open as a usual left panel, but a top bar that have options for file management and editing. There’s option to add or select text as well as draw or markup over the document.

The options are quite simple and easy to use. There are sub options, but they only touch the basic and don’t go too deep. There’s also an undo and redo button to go back or forward during an edit. While the PC version has buttons to zoom in or out and to hide or view thumbnails of all the pages, the Mobile version relies on touch to zoom in or out of the document.

Once you’re done, the document can be saved locally, on your OneDrive, or shared directly via the universal sharing framework of Windows 10.

All in all, PDF Assistant Pro is a pretty good – almost a Swiss army knife – for working with PDF files, and the universal Windows 10 app works great for your PCs, tablets, and phones.

While the usual price of the app is $7.99, you can grab it at half the price – only $3.99 – for the next few days as part of an ongoing promotion. Else, there’s also an ad-supported free edition, that packs in only a subset of features. Give either a whirl, and let us know how you like it.

Download
QR-Code

PDF Assistant PRO

Developer:
Roxy

Price:
$2.99

Will mixed reality become the next big platform for developers? Microsoft certainly seems to believe it, as the Creators Update was the first version of Windows 10 to ship with the Windows Mixed Reality portal. And today, the company is launching Making Mixed Reality, a new series featuring developers, designers and artists experimenting with the new platform.

The first episode features Lucas Rizzotto, an award-winning mixed reality developer and designer who already launched two HoloLens app in the Windows Store. The interview is quite interesting as Rizzotto actually had no coding skills before starting developing apps for Microsoft’s mixed reality headset. Still, the young developer is already convinced that mixed reality is “the future.” He added:

It’s the future! Having the opportunity to work with such an influential industry on its early days is a delightful process – not only is it incredibly creatively challenging, you can really have a say on what digital experiences and computers will look like in 10, 20 years from now – so it’s packed with excitement, but also responsibility. We are designing the primary way most people will experience the world in the future, and the HoloLens is the closest thing we’ve got to that today.

After launching the HoloLens game Cyber Snake and a chemistry education called MyLab, Rizzotto will launch its own mixed reality agency in September to “continue developing MR projects that are both wondrous and useful at a larger scale.” The full interview is well worth a read if you’re a developer, and we also invite you to check Rizzotto’s other projects on his personal website.

OnMSFT.com is not a gaming site, but we end up covering a lot of news about games and gaming anyway, as Microsoft continues to blur the lines between PC and console. Gaming is important to Windows 10 in a way is far more ingrained than ever before, and Microsoft clearly sees the importance of gaming to Windows, and to the Microsoft ecosystem.

Gaming is only going to continue to get more important for the company and its followers, with the Xbox One X due out this holiday season, continued work on Windows 10 to bridge the gap between console and PC, and a heated rivalry between Sony’s PlayStation and the Xbox, a battle that’s not going away anytime soon.

So are you a gamer? Do you play on Xbox, on PC, or both? Do you take your games mobile? Take our poll below and let us know where you stand:

We’d love to hear more about your gaming experience. Does Microsoft’s inclusion of the Xbox App and Play Anywhere gaming have you playing more games than you did before? Are you excited for the Xbox One X? Tell us about your gaming experiences in the comments below.

Microsoft today announced that they’re bringing more text analytics to the Power BI Bing News Solution Template. This means that brand managers can now sort through the news their own way, and find the articles which are most relevant to them by filtering based on sentiment, trending topics, locations, organizations, and people.

The enhanced text analytics in the Bing New Solution Template also brings a commonly requested feature, the ability to define lists of words to help slice data. Set up is easy, and you just need to navigate to the Installer and select “Yes” when prompted to bring your own entities. You will then see the entities definition page, where you can customize things, and then start exploring your reports.

An interactive sample report and a video demo are available on this Microsoft Website. Fell free to check it out, submit your feedback to Microsoft, and let us know if you’re liking the new features by dropping us a comment below.

Danger Zone, the 3D vehicular destruction game previously released on Steam and Playstation 4, is coming to Xbox One later this Fall. Indie developer Three Fields Entertainment announced yesterday that the Xbox One version will feature additionnal levels and carts, and it will run in true 4K on the Xbox One X.

Danger Zone explodes on to @Xbox this Fall. 12 new levels. 3 new cars. Enhanced for Xbox One X including native 4k. Follow us for news/vids pic.twitter.com/JofVArQIqa

— Official TFE (@3FieldsEnt) August 15, 2017

Danger Zone has often been compared to the popular Burnout series of games, with a much bigger emphasis on car crashes. Actually, the game sets you in the shoes of a dangerous driver trying to cause the biggest car crashes ever seen in a video game.

The developer has yet to share a release date for the Xbox One version of the game, but we expect it to be really affordable (the Steam and Playstation 4 versions are currently $12.99). Let us know in the comments if you’re looking forward to play this game on your Xbox One later this Fall.

Xbox Live Gold subscribers can download two new games for free starting today, Ubisoft’s platform racing game Trials Fusion and the Xbox 360 shooter Red Faction: Armageddon (also backward compatible on the Xbox One). These latest Games with Gold titles succeed to the cult-classic hack and slash video game Bayonetta and the brand new life simulation title Slime Rancher, which is still available to download through August 31.

You can find below the official descriptions, trailers and download links for the new free games

Trials Fusion ($19.99 value)

Built upon the Trials franchise’s proven gameplay foundations, Trials Fusion challenges players endlessly in both classic and all-new ways. It melds the classic, proven Trials formula of simple yet addictive competition with the social and visual breakthroughs of the next generation of gaming. With unique platform-racing gameplay, ubiquitous competition and an ever-expanding destination for new content and features, the Trials Fusion experience is never over.

Red Faction: Armageddon ($29.99 value)

Mankind finds itself poised on the brink of extinction deep underground.  Darius Mason is humanity’s last hope for survival.

August has been a pretty good month for Xbox Live Gold subscribers, and Trials Fusion is a really fun game to play with your friends in both online and local multiplayer. If you haven’t done it yet, don’t forget to also check out this week’s Deals with Gold and Ultimate add-on sale, which will expire next Monday.

Earlier this week, Head of the Windows Program Dona Sarkar teased that Fast Ring Insiders could get new builds to play with today, but this is unfortunately not going to happen: Sarkar tweeted a few hours ago that the team has just discovered a rollback bug with their build candidate, so the Windows team needs a bit more time to analyze data. The exec added in a second tweet that they should decide what to do tomorrow at 10AM PDT.

#WindowsInsiders we've hit a rollback bug with our build candidate. Keeping en eye on more data so no Fast Ring build release today

— Dona Sarkar (@donasarkar) August 16, 2017

Last week, the Windows Insider team did not release a new PC build due to a bug causing a “big impact,” but Mobile users did get the preview build 15240, which was unexpected. Sarkar didn’t say anything about mobile in her tweets today, so it’s probably better not to expect a repetition of last week’s scenario.

EB Games in Australia have come up with a rather creative way for incentivising gamers to purchase pre-owned Xbox One consoles. In addition to testing the used consoles for full functionality, the video game store chain also pimps the Hell out of some of them, turning them into their own unique lighting feature.

These special Xbox One RGB LED consoles are made from the original Xbox One models but are refitted with a new case which allows for viewing of the interior while the insides are packed with LED lights which can be activated and changed via a separate remote. Here’s a video of one in action.

The special Xbox One consoles can be purchase on the EB Games website and from within their eBay store. This is definitely a clever way to make back some money by selling old hardware. Would you ever buy one of these? Let us know in the comments.

Sonic Mania is now available to play on Microsoft’s Xbox One console. The game is a throwback to the old-school Sonic games and features a blend of retro 2D sidescrolling gameplay and a variety of multiplayer modes. Here’s the official description, link, and trailer.

Experience the ultimate celebration of past and future in Sonic Mania, an all-new 2D Sonic adventure running at a crisp 60FPS with stunning HD retro-style graphics. Multiple playable characters give you the ability to go explosively fast as Sonic, soar as Tails, or power through tough obstacles with Knuckles’ brute strength. You can re-live the Sonic of the past with an exciting new twist on classic zones while fighting against new bosses and Dr. Eggman’s evil robot army. Go head to-head with players in Competition Mode or play in Co-Op Mode with a friend. Sonic Mania was developed by Christian Whitehead, Headcannon, and PagodaWest Games in collaboration with Sonic Team. Welcome to Sonic Mania!

Buy Sonic Mania on Xbox One

Have you played Sonic Mania yet? Let us know if you’d recommend it to a friend in the comments below.

The ID@Xbox Pre-PAX Open House is going on Microsoft’’s Redmond Campus on August 31 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m, opening up the Xbox PAX experience to anybody who’s interested in hanging out. Visitors will be able to play and learn about some of the newest ID@Xbox indie projects, as well as enter in raffles to win prizes like free games, and tickets to the PAX convention proper.

Here’s Microsoft’s partial list of the games that are going to be showing up at the open house.

• PlayerUnknowns Battle Ground (PUBG) – Bluehole, Inc.
• Black Desert – PearlAbyss
• Cuphead – StudioMDHR
• Ooblets – Double Fine/Glumberland
• Aftercharge – Chainsawesome Games
• Ark: Survival Evolved
• Figment – Bedtime Digital Games
• Hello Neighbor – tinyBuild
• I, Hope – Arconyx Games
• Little Triangle – Dreamoji
• Moonlighter – 11bit Studios
• Mulaka – Lienzo
• Mutant Football League – Digital Dreams Entertainment
• Nine Parchments – Frozenbyte
• OK K.O.! Let’s Play Heroes – Cartoon Network Games
• Path of Exile – Grinding Gear Games
• Raiders of the Broken Planet – Mercury Steam
• Road Redemption – Dark Seas Interactive
• Robocraft Infinity – Freejam
• Steven Universe: Save the Light – Cartoon Network Games
• Strange Brigade – Rebellion
• Streets of Rogue – tinyBuild
• theHunter: Call of the Wild – Avalanche Studios
• Unruly Heroes – Magic Design Studios
• Yoku’s Island Express – Team17 Digital Ltd.

Complimentary buses will be able to give people rides to and from the convention center, and free parking will be available to event-goers who need it. Those who have the opportunity should definitely try to make it out for the event, as there’s over 50 games that will be on the floor ready for people to try.

Microsoft has quietly issued another set of updates to its Surface Pro over the weekend making it the fourth set of firmware fixes released for the tablet hybrid over the last month and a week.

While a flurry of updates are becoming more of an everyday occurrence as developers constantly tweak apps and services to better meet the demands of their users, the excessive amount of Surface Pro updates at this moment only serves to highlight the recent issues pointed out by Consumer Reports latest review.

The latest set of updates have a brief descriptor associated with them that implies Microsoft is fixing or updating Intel drivers for Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework Processors. Without a full changelog or detailed listing of what’s being tweaked and why that is all, we have to go on as of today.

Microsoft’s history of hardware related firmware releases has been a bit scattershot especially when it comes to the Surface Pro line with the company sometimes offering 400 to 500 word dedicated blog post to address issues and other times just a brief title in the update release on a device.

Perhaps, in light of Consumer Reports review and questioning of Microsoft’s ability to sell reliable hardware, the company was hoping to slip this release under the radar.

Whatever the case, Surface Pro owners should expect a handful of updates to hit their devices in the next couple of days. To expedite the process, users can head to the Update settings menu to initiate a search for the fixes.

Please be aware that one of Microsoft’s recent fixes actually caused more harm than good when applied. An update on July 21, 2017, broke the Windows Hello experience for some users and forced Microsoft to issue a follow-up batch of fixes on August 2 to repair it.

So, update at your own discretion.

Two Xbox 360 games have been added to the Xbox One Backward Compatibility catalog today, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and ScreamRide. For those unfamiliar, the first one is a spin-off from the critically-acclaimed Metal Gear series, and developed by Planitum Games in collaboration with Kojima Productions. The second one is a construction simulator which was released on both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One in 2015 (it’s also currently playable for free for Xbox Game Pass subscribers).

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and ScreamRide are coming to Xbox One Backward Compatibility today https://t.co/qPMRNrLoTQ pic.twitter.com/rpYl6Im90r

— Larry Hryb ????????☁ (@majornelson) August 15, 2017

You can find the official descriptions, trailers and download links for both games below

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ($19.99)

METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE takes the renowned METAL GEAR franchise into exciting new territory by focusing on delivering an all-new action experience unlike anything that has come before. Combining world-class development teams at Kojima Productions and PlatinumGames, MGR REVENGEANCE brings two of the world’s most respected teams together with a common goal of providing players with a fresh synergetic experience that combines the best elements of pure action and epic storytelling, all within the expansive MG universe The game introduces Raiden as the central character; a child soldier transformed into a half-man, half-machine cyborg ninja, equipped with a high-frequency katana blade and a soul fueled by revenge.

ScreamRide ($19.99)

This game features stunning high definition graphics, hundreds of customizable building components, physics-based destruction, cinematic collisions, unlockable levels, in-game leaderboards, global rankings and more. ScreamRide is the home of limitless innovation. Push the boundaries of thrill seekers everywhere. Take on your perfect role to complete each level in multiple ways. Scream seekers can prove their precise piloting skills, engineers can solve cunning construction puzzles and demolition experts can ignite the most explosive carnage possible. The path you choose is up to you!

Metal Gear Rising is the first game from the critically-acclaimed franchise to become backward compatible on the Xbox One, and we hope other titles including the Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 HD bundle are coming soon. Sound off in the comments if you’re excited by these latest additions to the Backward Compatibility catalog.

Microsoft today announced that they have acquired Cycle Computing, a known leader in the cloud computing orchestration industry. The move will help make it easier for customers to use High-Performance Computing and other capabilities in the cloud.

According to Microsoft, the combination of Azure and Cycle Computing will “open up many new possibilities” for partners and other companies using Azure. The Redmond giant also notes that Cycle Computing will help customers “accelerate their movement” to the cloud. Here is what Jason Zander, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Azure, had to say about today’s announcement:

As customers continue to look for faster, more efficient ways to run their workloads, Cycle Computing’s depth and expertise around massively scalable applications make them a great fit to join our Microsoft team. Their technology will further enhance our support of Linux HPC workloads and make it easier to extend on-premise workloads to the cloud.

Cycle Computing’s technologies have already helped fight cancer and other diseases. Jason Stowe, founder and CEO of Cycle Computing, offered his thoughts on the acquisition in a separate blog post:

We’ve had an amazing experience bootstrapping Cycle Computing without VC funding, building products that will manage 1 Billion core-hours this year, growing at 2.7x every 12 months, with a customer base that spends $50-100 million annually on cloud infrastructure. Today we couldn’t be happier to announce that we’re joining Microsoft to accelerate HPC cloud adoption.

Big Computing power has normally been reserved for large companies with money, and today’s acquisition will make it easier for every company to harness the true power of the cloud. You can learn more about Cycle Computing by visiting their website.

Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth released yesterday on the Microsoft Store as the newest title for Xbox Live. The title, based on the book, is an interactive episodic adventure based on story telling and decision making.

Welsh author Kenneth Martin Follett’s classic The Pillars of the Earth stunned readers in 1989, making it to the New York Times best-seller list for 18 weeks. It has sold 18 million copies so far. The game retells the story of the village of Kingsbridge and its inhabitants.

12th century, England: In a time of great poverty and war, a small town begins the construction of a cathedral to claim wealth and security for its people. In their struggle to survive, lives and destinies intertwine. Philip the monk becomes prior of the small abbey of Kingsbridge. At the same time, a boy called Jack is raised in the woods by his outlawed mother. His apprenticeship as a stonemason paves his way to become a gifted master builder. Together with the disgraced noblewoman Aliena, Jack and Philip begin the construction of one of the greatest cathedrals England will ever see.

Following in that tradition, the novel’s video game adaptation is being released as three books, each with seven chapters within. Purchasing the game’s season pass includes all three books as they are released.

• Book 1: From the Ashes (available August 2017)
• Book 2: Sowing the Wind (available soon)
• Book 3: The Eye of the Storm (available soon)

Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth is available to purchase now on Xbox Live for $39.99 USD. You can check it out in the store page by following the link below.

Download
QR-Code

Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth

Developer:
Daedalic Entertainment

Price:
$29.99

As we’re getting closer to the release of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Microsoft unveiled yesterday several new tools to be added to the Windows Device Portal. First of all, the diagnostic platform will soon support Location Based Testing for UWP apps, with a new Location tool allowing developers to change the location that Windows reports to apps. Even better, this new Location tool won’t change the locale of your PC, and it will also work for web pages in Microsoft Edge.

For those of you using Device Portal to configure devices over a USB connection, the new USB Devices tool will now give you a complete view of your systems USB hubs, controllers and peripherals.

Developers leveraging the UWP Streaming App Installation feature will also be able to use a new Streaming Install Debugger tool in Device Portal. “In it you’ll be able to edit the states of the content groups so you can test your apps behavior as streaming install is being simulated and ensure it behaves correctly when content groups are missing,” explained Microsoft.

Last but not least, Device Portal is gaining new 3D View and Framerate counter tools for developers of mixed reality apps, as well as an Installed Apps tool to easily launch apps in a mixed reality headset attached to a PC. “While fully immersive apps will always run in Mixed Reality, this new button is particularly useful for 2D UWP apps (or apps that switch between 2D and immersive) when you want to test them in Mixed Reality,” explained Microsoft.

The updated Device Portal will ship with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, but developers can already suggest new features and suggestions on the dedicated UserVoice website.

The Xbox Game Pass is a recently launched subscription based library with over a hundred titles for gamers to browse through. One of the reasons the Xbox Game Pass is so popular is that it has a little something for everyone with a grab bag of classic, backward compatibility, and newer titles. Now users are reporting that some games are vanishing from the library without warning from Microsoft.

Specifically, Dungeons & Dragons Chronicles of Mystara has vanished from the Xbox Game Pass library. Users are reporting that the game originally available on the program’s release is now unavailable and it has some more than upset that there wasn’t a statement on it.

Dennis Ceccarelli from Xbox Daily did say during E3 that games would be removed eventually but that it wouldn’t start until November.

“While there’s not one set amount of time that a game will be in the catalogue, and some titles will leave the catalogue eventually, I want to put some fears at rest because our first games won’t be leaving the catalogue until late November”

The idea is for the games to rotate with fresh titles, encouraging purchases of the games that users enjoy and providing new experiences for the price, similar to the EA Access vault. With this title disappearing without a trace, consumers are left wondering when the titles they are currently playing might get pulled abruptly by Microsoft.

There are other reasons that could have resulted in the game disappearing from Xbox Game Pass such as licensing issues. We’ve reached out to a Microsoft spokesperson for more information. Let us know your opinions in the comments below or tweet us @OnMSFT.

Download
QR-Code

Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara

Developer:
Capcom

Price:
$14.99

Microsoft’s official Xbox app has updated on Windows 10 with some improved volume controls for chat and the new Light Theme that had been tested in the Xbox Beta app. Like with the Xbox Beta app, the main Xbox app has now removed the animated Xbox Avatars, likely preparing for the rollout of the revamped Avatars which are due sometime before the end of 2017. Here’s the official release notes:

• New for party chat: Control your party’s chat volume, and choose a specific audio device.
• Get the bird’s-eye view: Brackets have been added for Killer Instinct tournaments.
• We now take you live! Watch game broadcasts in clubs.
• Co-stream with friends: Once you get an invite, just accept to go to Mixer.com and co-stream.

Have you noticed any other changes with this app update? Let us know in the comments below.

Download
QR-Code

Xbox Console Companion

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

Developers are now able to create Unity projects and new games for Xbox One X. Announced today, Unity now has support for Xbox One X with 4K HDR output and increased power for the next Microsoft console.

The Xbox One X revealed at E3 2017, formerly and fondly named Project Scorpio, is the next console in the video game industry. Microsoft has decided to continue the Xbox line with higher benchmarks compared to the Xbox One S. Games developed for the Xbox One X will also be compatible with the original Xbox One and Xbox One S.

The Xbox One X support was added to the existing Xbox One family development kit. Independent developers will need to register for the ID@Xbox publishing program to access the Xbox One forum for Unity. This is where you can access resources and the download for the Xbox One Unity editor add-on, as well as a bustling community to interact with.

Read more about Xbox One X development with Unity from its official site.

Microsoft announced today that it is expanding its Azure cloud computing service to two new regions in Australia, to be available in the first half of 2018. With these latest additions, Microsoft Azure will soon have 42 regions worldwide, which is more than any other cloud provider.

The two new Azure regions will be located within data centres in Canberra, and Microsoft says that it will be the only major cloud provider in the country to be able to handle unclassified and protected government data. This a result of a partnership with Canberra Data Centres (CDC), a local specialist datacenter provider for secure government data.

“This announcement builds on recent news that dozens of Microsoft Azure services have received certification by Australian Signals Directorate, including services for machine learning, internet-of-things, cybersecurity, and data management,” explained Tom Keane, Azure’s Head of Global Infrastructure. “Along with Australian certifications for Office 365 and Dynamics 365, Microsoft is recognized as the most complete and trusted cloud platform in Australia,” he added.

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.

View 3D gains ability to superimpose 3D models into the real world in latest update on Windows 10

In an update for those on the Windows 10 Insider program on the Fast Ring, Microsoft has released an update that adds the ability for users to superimpose 3D models into the real world via a camera.

71% of Windows 10 users share all of their diagnostics data with Microsoft

Microsoft has claimed that 71% of users of its Windows 10 operating system have opted to share diagnostic data with the firm, helping to provide information on crashes and issues experienced by users.

New privacy features in Windows 10 Creators Update have been positively received by users, Microsoft says

After reporting that 71% of users have opted to share Windows 10 diagnostic data with Microsoft, the company has also said that new privacy features in its operating system have been received positively by users.

VP of Microsoft devices doubles down on recent Consumer Reports claims, “We stand behind Surface”

After Consumer Reports pulled its recommendation of Microsoft’s Surface product line entirely, the Vice President of Microsoft devices, Panos Panay, has stated that they “stand behind Surface”.

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

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 is giving away 500 Rewards points for free to apologize for the system being slow to grant rewards

In response to Microsoft Rewards being slow at granting rewards upon redemption, the company is offering 500 Rewards points for free, as an act of apology.

Some Microsoft Band owners are still experiencing sync problems, and Microsoft is still working to fix it

For about a week now, Microsoft Band owners have been complaining of problems with synchronisation. The company has said they’re investigating and are working on a fix for the issue.

yes, we know about this and are investigating.

— Dona Sarkar at #MBAS #a11y (@donasarkar) August 10, 2017

Microsoft introduces Coco Framework, makes blockchain networks enterprise ready

As Microsoft pushes further into blockchain, the company has introduced a framework called the Coco Framework. It aims to deliver performance and processing power that enterprises need for blockchain networks, and is open source.

“We have listened to the needs of our customers and the blockchain community and are bringing foundational functionality with the Coco Framework. Through an innovative combination of advanced algorithms and trusted execution environments (TEEs), like Intel’s Software Guard Extensions (SGX) or Windows Virtual Secure Mode (VSM), we believe this takes the next step toward making blockchain ready for business.”

Kaspersky drops its antitrust complaint after Microsofts agrees to cooperate with AV vendors

After a months-long fight, Kaspersky Labs has dropped an antitrust complaint it lodged against Microsoft, after the company has reportedly agreed to cooperate with vendors of anti-virus software in Windows 10, with the following key points:

• We will work more closely with AV vendors to help them with compatibility reviews in advance of each feature update becoming available to customers. This means customers can expect we will have worked through compatibility issues with AV providers before offering the update to customers running that AV.
• We will give AV partners better visibility and certainty around release schedules for feature updates. This includes increasing the amount of time AV partners will have to review final builds before the next Windows 10 feature update is rolled out to customers.
• We will enable AV providers to use their own alerts and notifications to renew antivirus products before and after they have expired.
• We have modified how Windows will inform users when their antivirus application has expired and is no longer protecting them. Instead of providing an initial toast notification that users could ignore, the new notification will persist on the screen until the user either elects to renew the existing solution or chooses to rely on Windows Defender or another solution provider.

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

Throughout the summer, Microsoft has been releasing updates to the Bing Maps Web Control, which is essentially the Bing Maps seen on the web and in apps. In a post on the Bing Blog, the company gave an overview of the new features that have been added.

Known as Bing Maps V8, the eight version of the web control, it’s a competitor to Google Maps, and in comparison to the search market share, Bing also comes second in the maps world. Here’s a rundown of the updates that have been made available:

Custom Map Styles

Customize the look and feel of the road maps inside of your application. Change the colors of the roads and land, hide certain types of labels. Create a style that aligns with your applications UI, company branding or change it just for fun. Not only are these available in the Bing Maps V8 Web Control, but you can also use custom maps styles with the Bing Maps REST Imagery service (static map images) and with the Windows UWP map control.

GeoXml Module

Easily import and export common spatial file formats such as KML, KMZ, GeoRSS, GML (via GeoRSS) and GPX. Load it as a layer on the map or directly access the data with just a few lines of code.

Ground Overlays

Overlay georeferenced images on top of the map so that they move and scale as you pan and zoom the map. This is great for building floor plans, overlaying old maps, or imagery from a drone.

In addition to these updates, Microsoft released an open source project that contained more than 160 code samples for using Bing Maps Web Control. Now, that project hosts over 200 samples; these samples include an SVG Pushpin Maker, a Solar Terminator Module and more.

To see the updates in detail and try out some examples, take a look at the post on the Bing Blog.