Microsoft Garage is has released a new app for the company’s Xbox One games console. Called Your News, it is aimed to deliver a curated feed of news, allowing the passive viewing of news headlines, as well as to watch the news right from their console (via Windows Central).

The app is powered by Microsoft’s MSN platform, which allows the app to deliver video content by MSN. The idea of the app is to allow users to discover news that matches their tastes and preferences while doing other activities, not necessarily sat infront of the console.

The team behind the Your News app gave the following description:

We helped to serve this by ensuring our users had the choice of which news they wanted to watch. They are provided with a list of news topics and sources personalized to their tastes, each of which provides a variety of news stories. If they’d like to watch passively, they can put the controller down and watch a continuous stream of stories. This is Your News, where users can watch news they are interested in, whenever they want.

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Your News, a Microsoft Garage project

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

Microsoft is beginning to release the first build of version 1706 for Xbox One. Intiially releasing to those on the Preview Alpha ring, this build brings a few new features, as well as a number of fixes.

To begin with, here is what’s new in the first build of 1706:

• Profile
  When a signed in user is selected in the Guide, the e-mail address associated with their account will now display under their profile, as well as on Home. This feature is enabled by default for adult accounts, and disabled for child accounts (child accounts will never see the e-mail address associated with their account displayed).

Adult accounts can disable this feature by navigating to Settings > Account > Sign-in, security & passkey.

• Mixer Co-streaming
  You can now invite a friend to combine their game broadcast with yours! Sign in with an account that has an Xbox Live Gold subscription and invite a friend to your party. Once you’ve begun broadcasting your game from the Guide, you’ll be able to select “Invite party to co-stream” from the Party tab. Co-streaming is currently available only to Alpha Insiders, so we’d suggest using the Insider forums to sync up with other Alpha Insiders to test out this feature.
• Controller Linking
  Signing into your Xbox account can now be done with a click of the Xbox button thanks to the new controller linking feature! You can now link an account to a specific controller by opening the Guide, navigating to Settings > Account > Sign-in, security & passkey and selecting the “This controller signs in…” option followed by “Link controller.” From there, test the feature out for yourself by signing out of your account and then turning your controller off and then back on.Find more detailed steps and provide your thoughts on this feature by accepting the “Link Your Controller” Quest in the Xbox Insiders Hub!

For fixes, there’s a few, but one that a fair few will enjoy – distorted audio with Windows Sonic should now be fixed:

• Windows Sonic
  Fixed an issue which could cause distorted sounds and audio glitches when Windows Sonic is enabled.
• Skype UWP
  Fixed issues which could sometimes cause the Skype UWP to crash during use.
• Mixer
  Fixed an issue which sometimes caused the virtual keyboard to lose focus (preventing text from being entered).

The only known issues are with the Mixer integration:

Mixer

• After dismissing the virtual keyboard, attempting to relaunch the virtual keyboard may fail.
• When switching games while broadcasting with Mixer, the stream freezes and doesn’t allow the user to close or restart the broadcast.Workaround: Restart the console.

The build is rolling out to Preview Alpha Insiders now, with those on the Beta ring expected to receive it later in the week, based on feedback.

Microsoft India today hosted its first-ever Accessibility Summit in the country in Hyderabad with an aim to enhance technology access for people with disabilities.

The summit brought together government leaders, non-profit organizations, filmmakers, entrepreneurs, and young technologists to present their views and best practices around accessibility and demonstrate the business value of accessible technology for organizations.

“Our vision is to ensure that persons with diverse abilities have equal access to the physical environment, transportation, information and communication technologies, and to other facilities and services. The Microsoft Accessibility Summit provides an ideal platform to bring together policymakers and influencers to understand the policy environment and chart a direction for making life, experiences and opportunities accessible to all.”

– Jayesh Ranjan, IT Secretary, Department of IT – Electronics & Communication, Govt of Telangana

The event featured a series of sessions focused on the role of technology in creating accessible businesses as well as scalable and sustainable models for skilling youth with disability. There was a special focus on the need for regulatory policies for innovation on accessible technologies and inclusive hiring practices. The summit featured several technology-based projects that empower people with disabilities and included innovations from non-profit organizations, assistive technologies developed by Microsoft partners, as well as some of Microsoft solutions.

The Microsoft Accessibility summit provided insights into regulations, specifications, and standards so that accessible and adaptive technologies can act as a support system to promote inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities.

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.

Non-Insider versions of Windows 10 Calculator, Alarm & Clock updated with Fluent Design looks

Those who aren’t on Insider builds of Windows 10 are beginning to see some Fluent Design elements appear in the default apps of Windows 10. Some of the apps include Calculator and Alarm & Clock.

Microsoft announces Windows 10 China Government Edition

A new edition of Windows 10 is being made available, but only to the Chinese government. Known as Windows 10 China Government Edition, it is based on Windows 10 Enterprise Edition and will allow China to manage all telemetry and what users can access on the OS.

Citrix Receiver brings Win32 apps to Windows 10 S, now available in the Windows Store

For those who thought Windows 10 S would be very limited due to its ability to only install apps via the Windows Store, lacking Win32 program support. A new app in the Windows Store, Citrix Receiver, has been updated to support the Universal Windows Platform, and now allows those on Windows 10 S to run traditional Win32 programs in a virtualised state.

Windows 10 is used on more than 50 million business PCs

A video released on Microsoft’s Windows YouTube channel shows that Windows 10 is being used on more than 50 million business PCs.

Microsoft exec says Windows 10 and Windows 10 S options will be available for Surface Laptop and Surface Pro

In addition to the Surface Laptop that runs Windows 10 S by default, a Microsoft exec has said that both the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro will be available with either Windows 10 or Windows 10 S options. In a statement, the exec said:

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

With built-in apps on Windows 10, such as Groove Music, receiving touches of Microsoft’s new Fluent Design language, one Redditor has decided to show a concept of what the Win32 Resource Monitor could look like if it got Microsoft’s makeover treatment.

As you can see, the concept streamlines the Resource Monitor, such as making the CPU, Disk, Network and Memory graphs more visually appealing and noticeable without having to do any additional clicks, as well as turning the entire interface into a one-page system, where clicking the tabs opens the accordion that contains additional information of the selected item.

Those on Reddit appeared to like the concept, but cast doubt on the probability of Microsoft putting in the effort into making the Win32 programs pretty:

Would you like to see Resource Monitor receive the Fluent Design treatment in Windows 10?

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.

Beam becomes Mixer, mostly for legal reasons

Beam, Microsoft’s streaming service with a small but loyal base of users, has been rebranded as Mixer. The rebrand has gotten a mixed reception so far, with many loyal Beam users upset that the service has been so dramatically changed overnight. Unfortunately, the renaming occurred because Microsoft “had to change the name because we couldn’t use the Beam name globally,” according to a Tweet from Mixer’s Matt Salsamendi. Only time will tell how dramatic of an effect the new brand has.

Far Cry 5 revealed, showing new direction for the franchise

Far Cry 5 was revealed this week by Ubisoft, showing us an entirely new direction for the Far Cry series. The franchise has mostly been defined up until this point by its themes of wilderness and throwing people into a wild, untamed land – but the new series takes place in a contemporary American setting. This time around, it looks like the game takes place in a Montana town called Hope County, and features a villain in the way of a religious cult. Several trailers were released, and they’re all worth watching.

Mixer getting huge changes in the near future

Mixer’s new brand means that the service is really doubling own on making its own identity in the world of streaming services, and that comes with new features. Mixer has been very transparent about what they plan to be adding in, and it’s actually pretty promising. The list includes Dynamic Stream Recaps, Sub Anniversary Announcements, Channel Editors, Scheduled Live Streams, Team Based Interactive Games, Voice Chat Commands, Co-Streaming, and so much more. No word on when this stuff comes out, but it’s all looking great.

Here’s the list of features:

• Dynamic Stream Recaps
• Sub Anniversary Announcements
• Channel Editors
• Scheduled Live Streams
• Team Based Interactive Games
• Voice Chat Commands
• Co-Streaming
• AV1 Stream Encoding
• Private Messaging
• Group Messages
• Moderator Permission Editor
• Channel Moderation Logs
• Built-in Donations
• Theater Mode
• VOD Chat Replay
• Console Apps

Mixer may be coming to Playstation, and maybe Switch

Mixer’s mostly aimed at people who are Xbox/Windows 10 diehards, but as a service it needs to be available for everybody. A Twitter user recently reached out to Microsoft’s Phil Spencer about the plans for Mixer, noting that he’d heard that there were plans to bring Beam to “other platforms,” including Playstation. Phil Spencer answered the question about as simply as possible, by just saying “Yep.” I’d say that’s as close to confirming Mixer on PS4 as he can get, without saying it in plain English.

Yep.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) May 25, 2017

Mixrosoft’s E3 event will be broadcast in 4k – only on Mixer

Microsoft is going to be broadcasting their briefing at E3 on Mixer, giving Xbox fans who have the ability to watch 4K content the broadcast necessary to do so. While it doesn’t really strike most people as a big deal, this means several big things. First of all, you’ll be able to see new trailers released at E3 in their clearest quality (minus any compression.) Second – and possibly the most important – this will be the first real showing of streaming in 4K. This feature is missing from Twitch, and seeing it in action might get some people to consider trying out Microsoft’s service instead.

@Xbox will be broadcasting the #E32017 briefing in 4K Ultra HD, with a special edition #Mixer 4K broadcast pic.twitter.com/5E6W8euoVf

— Yusuf Mehdi (@yusuf_i_mehdi) May 25, 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.

In a video uploaded to the Windows YouTube channel recently, Microsoft was explaining how businesses can find out if software they use is supported on Windows 10, and how developers can provide a statement of support, thus gaining the Windows 10 Compatible logo. During this video, however, Microsoft displayed a key statistic that shows how Windows 10 is performing in the business area up to now.

A slide states that there are over 400 million devices running Windows 10, along with more than 50 million being in business. While this would seem like a relatively low number for business adoption, a recent Gartner report has said that it expects 85% of enterprises to begin deploying Windows 10 by the end of the year, particularly as more support for software is declared.

If you loved previous Far Cry games, you’re probably very much looking forward to play Far Cry 5, the next installment in the popular action adventure franchise to be released in February. Today, Ubisoft revealed some new details about the game as well as an exciting debut trailer that you can watch below:

Far Cry 5 will be the first episode set in America, more precisely in Hope County, Montana. Just like previous titles though, the game will feature a charismatic villain which happens to be the leader of local religious cult called “Eden’s Gate.” On the Ubisoft blog, Executive Producer and Creative Director Dan Hay explained that the team worked hard to create an atmosphere filled with oppressive uncertainty:

We want to make sure that the game builds a believable pressure. So we built a beautiful world, and we want you to visit it. We want you to be able to experience all the gameplay, the anecdote factory, everything you know from Far Cry. But we want to put a believable pressure on that.

You can watch Hay give more details about the setting, the allies and enemies you’ll meet in Far Cry 5 in this other video published today:

Far Cry 5 will launch on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and Windows on February 27, and you can expect the game to get some stage time during Ubisoft’s E3 press conference on June 12.

If you’re still running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 on your PC, your machine is currently vulnerable to a strange bug that can cause it to significantly slow down or even crash. The issue will only surface when browsing a website using a special filename for something like an image source, but Windows 10 PCs are not affected by this bug.

As Ars Technica explains, the special filename in this case is $MFT, which is used by the NTFS filesystem for a specific metadata file. As it turns out, webpages that use $MFT as a directory name will cause Windows 7 and 8.1 PC to slow down or worse, as the web browser will try to access the bad file which is handled in special ways in these version of Windows. The report notes:

If the filename is used as if it were a directory name—for example, trying to open the file c:\$MFT\123—then the NTFS driver takes out a lock on the file and never releases it. Every subsequent operation sits around waiting for the lock to be released.Forever. This blocks any and all other attempts to access the file system, and so every program will start to hang, rendering the machine unusable until it is rebooted.

The unusual bug has already been reported to Microsoft but the company has yet to say when a fix will be available. As it’s not well known yet, you probably have very few chances to encounter malicious websites exploiting it to force you to reboot your PC.

Something rather curious that was revealed (possibly unintentionally) during the Beam/Mixer announcement last night was Microsoft’s apparent plans to either remove the OneGuide section from the Xbox One dashboard or rename it.

The first hint of an evolution or cancellation of OneGuide came in the Mixer announcement YouTube video which offers a brief look at a new Xbox One dashboard, one that’s noticeably missing the OneGuide tab (see above image) and instead has a new section named Entertainment. The second clue is a screenshot of another dashboard (see image below) used in the official Mixer announcement blog post on Xbox Wire which shows neither an OneGuide nor Entertainment tab. In this possible build of the Xbox One operating system, it appears they’ve discarded the feature completely.

It’s worth noting that at the time of this writing, OneGuide is still present on both public and Xbox Insider builds of the operating system. The feature was recently removed from the official Xbox apps though in an update.

OneGuide is a section of the Xbox One dashboard that brings together movies and TV shows from a variety of sources. It’s not used by all Xbox One owners but plenty do and would likely miss it if it was taken away.

Do you use OneGuide and would you miss it if it were gone? Would you be okay with a rename? Let us know in the comments below.

After the official announcement of Beam’s rebranding as Mixer last night, all of the official Beam apps on Xbox One, iOS, and Android have updated to reflect the change. All of the apps have been rebranded as Mixer and boast a new icon however the interior of the apps hint at a rather rushed update attempt by Microsoft with the Beam labelling still being prominent within the Xbox One app and the old name being referenced within the menus on iOS.

Mixer is Microsoft’s attempt to cash in on the increasingly popular live streaming craze which has exploded in the past couple of years. Mixer’s userbase is quite small when compared to the numbers held by YouTube and Twitch (both direct rivals for Mixer) but it is growing and is expected to get even bigger once Microsoft implements it directly into the Xbox One dashboard in the coming months.

Do you use Mixer? Let us know why or why not in the comments below.

The app was not found in the store. ?

Go to store
Google websearch

The app was not found in the store. ?

Go to store
Google websearch

Yesterday the Office team took the wraps off its updated portal and new languages for its Microsoft Forms software.

Rolling out to customers is a new look and feel that brings a snapshot view of each form as well visible titles, background images, and responses within the highlighted forms. To ease navigation, the Office team also include a universal search field in the top-right corner of Microsoft Forms where customers can grab forms by just tying in the owner’s name or title.

Perhaps, most importantly, Microsoft Forms is being boosted with additional support for 26 new languages as well a new option of right-to-left reading for languages in Hebrew, Arabic, etc.

To learn more about the new updates rolling out to Microsoft Forms, a customer can visit the Office blogs for information about the new features as well create their first form with the provided instructions.

Let us know your thoughts about the new updates.

Looking to lay your eyes on some nice looking new content? Those who invested in an Xbox One S will finally be getting a peak at the 4K HDR content that they were promised, as the Movies & TV app has begun selling The Lego Batman Movie. Strangely enough, this is the first major film to be sold on Xbox One that’s available in 4K UHD – and the first film period in the marketplace to offer High Dynamic Range (HDR.) The standard definition of the film costs $15, the high def version costs $20, and the fancy 4K HDR version will cost you $30.

Now you can watch #LEGOBatmanMovie in 4k UHD on your @Xbox One S through #MicrosoftMoviesTV https://t.co/cpsjXqlgoz pic.twitter.com/d5a0XEEyUX

— LEGO Batman (@LEGOBatmanMovie) May 24, 2017

Of course, you’re not going to be able to get the full experience of the 4K HDR version of The Lego Batman Movie unless you have a 4K TV that supports High Dynamic Range – so don’t spend the money unless your hardware is up to date. You’ll also need to keep in mind that you’ll need an Internet bandwidth of 20 Mbps on your Xbox One. If that’s all in order, you can go and buy the movie right now in the Movies & TV app on your console.

NVIDIA is creating some of the best GPUs you can buy these days, and you can usually find them in many gaming PCs from Alienware, ASUS and many other manufacturers. However, it seems that the GPU designer is now interested in competing with more established PC gaming brands, though the company is choosing an interesting way to do it.

“If you’re someone who prefers to buy a ready-built machine there are now new options to consider with the launch of GeForce GTX Ultimate and Essential Battlebox PCs, hand-crafted by our partners to deliver top-level performance in every game, straight out of the box,” the company announced today. A GeForce GTX Battlebox is a “ready-built machine” that comes with Intel Core i5 or i7 CPUs, up to 16GB of RAM, SSDs, GeForce GTX 1080 Ti or GeForce GTX 1060 GPUs and an optional NVIDIA G-SYNC monitor. You can find more hardware details below:

According to the company, Battlebox Ultimate PCs will “handle everything you throw at them,” and they are also VR-ready. As for the slightly less powerful Battlebox Essential PCs will still deliver 60 FPS at 1920×1080 in many popular games such as Overwatch, Tekken 7 or League of Legends. “Whichever Battlebox you choose you’ll receive best in class performance, industry-leading stability, and access to the latest bleeding-edge PC and GeForce GTX technologies that enhance visual fidelity and your experience,” added the company.

For now, the company is partnering with eight Battlebox system builders in the US including Digital Storm, Maingear and Cyber Power PC, and some systems are already available for purchase with prices starting at $895. You can check which Battlebox PCs are available in your country on NVIDIA’s website.

Memorial Day weekend is coming up here in the United States, and Microsoft is honoring those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. The Redmond giant has released a new Windows Store collection which commemorates the annual holiday, and those who have given their lives and fallen in the line of duty.

Overall, the collection covers a few films, such as Glory, Hacksaw Ridge, The Patriot, and Saving Private Ryan. We’ve included the trailers and links to a few of these films below, and invite you to check out the complete collection by clicking here.

American Sniper:

U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle is sent to Iraq with only one mission to protect his brothers-in-arms. His pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield

Black Hawk Down:

It began as a mission of mercy to feed the starving, but within a year American military forces would be killing and being killed by those they came to save. This film exposes the reality behind America’s troubled intervention in Somalia.

Saving Private Ryan (Plus Bonus Content):

Get an immersive look into how director, Steven Spielberg, brought Saving Private Ryan to life. Experience an incredible mix of interviews from the all-star cast of the film, to the true American heroes who risked their own lives on D-Day.

You can find these movies, and tons more by heading now to the Movies & TV section on the Windows Store. Which of these movies are your favorite? Sound off and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.