Today, Microsoft Germany announced (English version) that Office 365 is available for their country as “Office 365 Germany”, with all  data is stored only within its borders.

This isn’t too surprising for business customers in Germany. According to the announcement, research shows that 76% of companies across all industries prefer to keep their data within the borders. Likewise, 65% of migrations to the public cloud want to use datacenters in Germany.

So the data storage in the Microsoft Cloud Germany will be restricted solely to their country’s data centers. More specifically, the Office 365 Productivity Management suite is now available through Frankfurt/Main and Magdeburg. This information will be protected and controlled by the German Data Retractor T-Systems International GmbH and will be available to business customers in German, EU, and in the European Free Trade Area (EFTA).

Because there is such a tight grip on the data, even Microsoft doesn’t have rights to retrieve data without the consent of the data receiver or the customers unless given strict limited-time permission. The security measures are necessary since much of the Office 365 Germany cloud is intended to be used for data sensitive areas such as the public sector, education, and the financial industry.

Last November, the Xbox team announced that the Xbox Preview Program would become the Xbox Insider Program, offering additional opportunities to provide feedback along the way. More importantly, we learned that the Xbox Insider Program would be open to all Xbox One users, unlike the Xbox Preview Program which has always been invite-only.

While we didn’t heard much about the Xbox Insider Program since then, it seems that Microsoft quietly made it official yesterday along the release of the the first wave of Xbox One features for the upcoming Creators Update (via Neowin). According to a recent post on the Xbox Insider Forums (you may not be able to see it if you’re not already a member of the Xbox Insider Program), the Xbox team has chosen to make the Xbox Insider Program consistent with the more popular Windows Insider program by dividing it into four different preview rings. Here are the details below:

• Xbox One Update Preview Alpha – The first Preview ring, this group typically receives 2-3 new system updates per week during a Preview Update wave. Preview Alpha is the cutting edge, and users in this group receive access to new features and fixes as soon as possible at the expense of potential bugs.
• Xbox One Update Preview Beta – The second Preview ring, this group typically receives 1-2 new system updates per week during a Preview Update wave. Preview Beta users receive frequent system updates and early access to new features and fixes, with somewhat less risk of encountering bugs.
• Xbox One Update Preview Ring 3 – The third Preview ring, this group typically receives 2-3 new system updates per month during a Preview Update wave. Preview Ring 3 users receive infrequent system updates, and is suited for users who want early access to new features and fixes with less risk of encountering bugs.
• Xbox One Update Preview Ring 4 – The fourth and final Preview ring, this group typically receives new system updates about once per month. Preview Ring 4 users receive system updates which are almost ready for public release, and thus receive the fewest system updates and are least likely to encounter bugs. In some cases, Preview Ring 4 users may also receive updated versions of the current publicly released build incorporating new fixes.

For now, the latest Xbox One preview build is only rolling out to select members of the Xbox Insider Program, but all Xbox insiders will also be moved to one of these four different rings in the coming weeks, according to the level of feedback they’ve provided so far. That’s right, unlike the Windows 10 Insider program, the Xbox Insider Program will be based on meritocracy, and that may not please those of you who like to live on the bleeding edge but don’t want (or don’t have the time) to provide feedback on the new features. However, the Xbox team explained that Insiders will have many ways to participate and earn the right to move to a higher ring, including:

• Complete Quests, Surveys, Quick Polls, and Ratings in the Xbox Insider Hub.
• Participate in any game and app betas available to you via the Xbox Insider Hub.
• Provide feedback on the official Xbox One Preview forums.
• Report bugs via Report a problem.
• Use your Xbox One console regularly.

If you have yet to join the Xbox insider Program, you can do so by downloading the Xbox Insider Hub from the Xbox Store and then follow the steps to enroll your console. Similarly, you will be able to use the Insider Hub to stop stop participating in the Xbox Insider Program whenever you want. We invite you to check the support pages on xbox.com if you need help to get started with the Xbox insider Hub.

Just two weeks after EA and developer Bioware announced that Mass Effect: Andromeda would be coming early to EA/Origin Access subscribers ahead of the game’s release in March, we now have more details about how the free trial will work (via Gamerant). Indeed, the official Mass Effect Twitter account revealed yesterday that suscribers will be able to download the game on March 16 and enjoy the Play First trial for 10 hours right away. Moreover, multiplayer gameplay will be available during the free trial and players will also be able to carry their progress over to the full game.

However, if you are an Origin Access or EA Access member, then you can start downloading and playing on the 16th for up to 10 hours.

— Mass Effect (@masseffect) January 23, 2017

The multiplayer will be accessible within the 10 hour Play First trial.

— Mass Effect (@masseffect) January 23, 2017

Exactly, no need to download the game a second time and you get to keep the progress you make in the 10 hours.

— Mass Effect (@masseffect) January 23, 2017

For those unfamiliar, Mass Effect: Andromeda is a futuristic action RPG set in an open world universe, and this 10 hours trial should be more than enough to become familiar with the gameplay. The game will be released on March 21 in North America and then on March 23 in the rest of the world, and you can already pre-order it on both the Xbox Store and Origin.

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Mass Effect™: Andromeda Pre-order

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The first wave of Xbox Insider Program members are seeing the next changes for the Windows 10 Creators Update. For a long time, players have been requesting major improvements to the Xbox Hub. Now they’ll not only see a redesign and boost in performance but the select few will notice a list of additional features available moving forward.

According to the announcement, the Creators Update will have “hundreds of improvements” to Xbox One and Windows 10 gaming. Here are the highlights of this Xbox Insider release:

• Updated Home – The redesigned Home hub has a new UI that is simplified and optimized for speed. This is mainly to highlight many of the other new features such as support for Clubs, LFG, and deeper Game Hub interactions.
• Better performing Guide w/ Start Page – While playing games, players will notice that a Start Page has been added to the Guide to select top Pins, control your background media, and more.
• Multitasking Features on the Guide – Quick access to screenshots, media controls, achievement tracker,  and a GameDVR to record clips from your video game.
• Cortana Updates for Gaming – Players will be able to use Cortana to set alarms for gaming sessions via Xbox One.
• Improved System Updates – Video game and app updates will be available no matter what power mode as well as a clearer display of when there is a console update and the process.
• Better Xbox One Accessibility – The Copilot feature is just one example of how Xbox One is becoming more accessible, letting a player use two controllers to act as one. Furthermore, basic tools such as Magnifier and Narrator were improved for gaming experiences.
• Spatial Audio Output for Developers – Dolby Atmos for Home Theater, Dolby Atmos for Headphones, and Windows HRTF are now supported for app and game developers.
• Blu-ray Bitstream Passthrough – All bitstream formats are now supported through the Blu-ray disc player so that you can experience the audio natively.

But why just tell you about these changes? Major Nelson a.k.a. Larry Hryb and Xbox Engineer Scott Henson have released a video to walk the unlucky majority through the new features.

Eventually, Xbox fans will see even more to come with features such as Beam, Windows Game Mode, and the Arena. These are almost guaranteed to make an appearance before the Windows 10 Creators Update starts its expected April production release.

It’s not a secret that President Trump has butted heads with a few of the news organizations. The issue has been one that the recently inaugurated has been quite vocal about. Now, he and his administration are intending to change the “fake news” with more diverse exposure (via The Verge.)

Today, Press Secretary Sean Spicer stood up in front of the usual group of journalists during the press briefing and announced that the White House would be expanding its invitations. With the power of Microsoft’s conference calling software, Skype, President Trump’s administration hopes to reach out to journalists that aren’t directly in the Washington, DC area.

“This will open up the briefing to journalists who live beyond 50 miles of the Washington, DC area and to organizations that don’t currently have a day pass,” Spicer said. “As always, any organization is welcome to apply for a day pass. But we’re excited to open up into the field and fold here a diverse group of journalists from around the country who may not have the convenience or funding to travel to Washington. I think this can benefit us all by giving a platform to voices that are not necessarily based here in the beltway.”

In changing how the press accesses news, it seems Spicer feels that it will change the overall perception of President Trump and White House, instead of always being “negative” and “demoralizing”.

The change is expected to begin ‘later this week ‘according to the briefing, adding in four Skype systems to enable the conferences. No further information is known about how it will be implemented and who will be invited to attend through Skype at this time.

This summer couldn’t come fast enough for fighting game fans. The long anticipated Tekken 7 looks like it’s in the home stretch, moving forward to the expected June 2 launch date later this year (via VentureBeat.)

Today, Bandai Namco released a new trailer tugging at the heartstrings of long-term fans of the franchise. The dramatic battle of Kazuya and Heihachi could very well be reaching an epic conclusion as one of the most well-known father and son conflicts.

The game will also be available on PC which has brought up the question if the likely smaller audience will be able to cross-play between that and consoles. Unfortunately, fans on PC will likely be disappointed that the cross-play isn’t likely. According to a tweet from Game Director Katsuhiro Harada last year, there are security risks and company policies to consider. Since last September, there still isn’t a public decision on the topic.

Pre-orders for Tekken 7 are now open along with the Day 1 Edition. While all pro-orders will have access to the vampire character Eliza, Xbox One exclusive pre-orders will also receive a free backward compatible copy of Tekken 6.

If you’re really invested, you can also choose to purchase the coveted Tekken 7 Collectors Edition complete with Collectors Box, Day 1 Edition game, Steelbook, Soundtrack, and a Collectible Figurine.

Pre-order and make the fight personal on June 2 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

Despite their often bitter financial and market share competitions, companies such as Amazon, Google, Huawei, Intel, and Microsoft are consumer focused enough to recognize when an industry investment is worth contributing to.

Five years ago, the University of California, Berkeley wrapped up a multi-year project called APMLab centered on computer science research. AMPLab ultimately resulted in the Apache Mesos cluster management software as well as the processing engine, Apache Spark. The two projects essentially help provide efficient power and resource management across distribution applications such as Twitter, HomeAway, Airbnb, and Apple.

For Berkeley’s next multi-year research endeavor, Amazon Web services (AWS), Ant Financial, Capital One, Ericsson, GE Digital, Google, Huawei, Intel, VMware. IBM and Microsoft would like to be involved, even if only financially.

According to a report from VentureBeat, “AMPLab figures Ken Goldberg, Michael Jordan, Randy Katz, Michael Mahoney, David Patterson, and Ion Stoica are sticking around for the new program, alongside new participants like Databricks co-founder and chief executive Ali Ghodsi and Trifacta co-founder and chief strategy officer Joe Hellerstein. But the new organization has a new focus.”

RISELab is the new project being headed by former AMPLand figures and is targeting real-time decision data analysis in software and applications.

Following the launch of the new Xbox One S back in August, Microsoft’s gaming console enjoyed a lot of momentum in the US, with the company claiming last week that December was “our biggest month ever.” If you have yet to make the jump to the slimmer and sleeker console, the Xbox team has announced today the launch of two new Xbox One S bundles fearuring the critically-acclaimed open world racing game Forza Horizon 3 as well as the upcoming RTS title Halo Wars 2.

The Xbox One S Forza Horizon 3 1TB bundle is available to purchase today for $349.99 at microsoftstore.com and select U.S. retailers, but a $299 500GB bundle is also available to pre-order today with shipping to start on February 7. On this same date, the 500GB will also become available worldwide with pricing to vary by region. All bundles include a digital download code for Forza Horizon 3 plus a 14-day trial membership of Xbox Live Gold.

Unlike the Forza Horizon 3 bundle, the Xbox One S Halo Wars 2 Ultimate Edition Bundle will only be available with 1TB of storage. For $349, the bundle seems a bit more generous though as it includes Halo Wars 2 Ultimate Edition ($79.99 USD value), the game’s Season Pass, a digital download code for Halo Wars: Definitive Edition and a 14-day trial membership of Xbox Live Gold. This bundle is available to pre-order today on the US Microsoft for $349 and will start shipping on February 17, just five days before the worldwide release of the Xbox Play Anywhere title. Last but not least, those of you who pre-order the bundle will get early access to Halo Wars 2 on February 17 as well as a Professor Anders Pack of Blitz cards for use in the game’s Blitz mode.

Do you think these new bundles are a great way for the Xbox team to kick off 2017? Let us know in the comments if you’ll consider purchasing one of them and why.

Microsoft today has announced that it is making the managing of online classrooms easier thanks to the power of School Data Sync for Office 365. The announcement was made in a post to the Office Blog by Tim Richardson, lead program manager for School Data Sync.

In the post, Tim Richardson addresses that  School Data Sync (SDS), the online classroom automation solution, moved out of preview and is now generally available. To access the feature, and receive help from Microsoft in deployment, educators and IT admins are urged to fill out a request form. The feature can be used in nearly every country where Office 365 Education is available. It is described:

SDS helps schools automatically create online classrooms in Office 365 from their Student Information System (SIS or MIS). SDS supports virtually every SIS on the market, and hundreds of customers in over 20 countries have already used it to sync over 100,000 teachers and 2 million students.
SDS imports user profiles and rosters from a SIS into Office 365 and automatically keeps them up to date. Schools often find it can be costly and time-consuming to maintain the online classrooms because rosters naturally change throughout the year. With SDS, IT admins can save time creating online classrooms, and teachers can enjoy online classrooms that are up and running with students on the first day of the term.

Microsoft notes that SDS was designed to make life easier for the entire Office 365 ecosystem since SDS saves time for IT admins and teachers, who get more time back for classroom instruction. According to a case study, SDS also keeps students safe since Students with Office 365 Education can use Microsoft Classroom Preview and email to communicate with each other.

IT admins can sign up for SDS here, install the SDS toolkit, watch an SDS demo, or download SDS sample data scripts. Teachers, meanwhile, can visit the Microsoft Classroom Preview website to learn more about SDS, and watch deep dive videos to learn how the Microsoft Classroom works.

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.

Take a look at build 15014 for the Windows 10 Creators Update

Microsoft released build 15014 to Windows Insiders this week, as part of the Windows 10 Creators Update. Watch our hands-on video to see what’s changed:

Windows 10 people experience delayed until after Creators Update

Back in October 2016, Microsofdt announced a feature it was working on to bring people you’re connected with to the front and center of the computing experience on Windows 10. In its latest update, the company has announced that the “My People” feature will not be arriving in the Windows 10 Creators Update.

Fujitsu is launching a 6-inch Windows 10 tablet in Japan

Fujitsu has announced that it will be launching a new Windows 10 tablet. The tablet will be 6-inch. The first tablet, known as ARROWS Tab V567/P, will launch this month, with 3 more models launching at a later date.

Chrome users on Windows 10 offered Personal Shopping Assistant extension “ad”

Using Chrome on Windows 10? Microsoft has begun showing an ad to users of Chrome, promoting one of its own extensions for the Chrome browser, Personal Shopping Assistant.

Microsoft’s Windows 10 ebook store is now live for some users

Microsoft is bringing an ebook store to Windows 10 through the Windows Store and some users in the Windows Insider program already have access to it. The books will be read via Microsoft Edge, rather than a dedicated reading or ebook app.

That’s the top Windows 10 news this week – we’ll be back next week with more!

A video game with probably one of the strangest titles in recent history, I Am Bread, is now available to download and play on Microsoft’s Xbox One. The game is about a slice of bread who wishes to become toast and the whole thing is pretty surreal and is also getting quite a bit of buzz online due to its uniqueness. Here’s the official game description:

Embark on an epic journey to become toast! Take on all hazards to deliciousness as you embark on your adventure throughout the home of Bob. the unsuspecting owner: from the kitchen, through the house, to the lounge, and then venture outside into the garden and beyond. Is Bob going mad, or has a slice of bread really come to life? You may even have met Bob before, he’s the passive patient from Surgeon Simulator and this explores the story of his downfall that leads him to the operating table . . .In addition to the deepest story ever seen in a videogame, about a slice of bread, there are a wealth of baked options to sink your teeth into. Additional game modes and other types of bread will cater for all tastes! Set speed records racing across the levels as a bagel; realise your destiny as crispbread in cheese hunt mode; relieve your stress as the baguette and smash everything in sight in rampage mode. Oh, and did we mention bread goes into space too?

Buy I Am Bread on Xbox One

Have you played I Am Bread yet on your Xbox One? Share your impressions with the community in the comments below.

Volvo announced their partnership with Microsoft that would bring Skype for Business to future Volvo cars a few weeks ago but the company has now released a very cool video showcasing not only Skype but Microsoft’s virtual assistant, Cortana, and their payment solution, Microsoft Wallet, as well.

This new video, first spotted by MSPoweruser, showcases Microsoft’s tech in a near-future scenario where driverless cars are the norm. Beyond the Skype for Business interactivity within the car, there are also some rather interesting uses of Cortana, which is shown being used via a small earpiece, and, what looks like Microsoft Wallet being incorporated into a small cufflink device for a contactless payment at a café.

Microsoft Wallet is a fairly new project of Microsoft’s and works in the same way Apple’s Apple Pay and Google’s Google Wallet do. The Microsoft Wallet app is available in all regions on most Windows phones but the actual contactless payment functionality is currently limited to users in the United States. The project appears to be picking up steam though with several new banks having added support in just the last few months alone.

What do you think about this video? Would you like to see Microsoft Wallet made accessible through a cufflink? Would you wear a Cortana earpiece? Let us know in the comments below.

A new Xbox One car racing game called, WRC 6, has just been given the general release date of “March 2017” in a new teaser trailer. The game is an officially licenced title based on the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship and places a heavy emphasis on realism and representation of official WRC drivers and teams.

A product page has already appeared in the Xbox Store with an official description and Xbox One pre-order details however orders don’t appear to have been activated as of this writing. According to the description, digital pre-orders of WRC 6 will get exclusive access to the YARIS WRC Test car.

Pre-order WRC 6 now and get exclusive free access to the YARIS WRC Test car!On a race track, the car makes all the difference. In a rally, it’s the driver.WRC 6 puts you to the test: fog, mud, punctures, night racing, engine breakdowns… you have to deal with it all. WRC 6 also includes: all of the official 2016 content, 11 Super Special Stages on a 1:1 scale, local split-screen multiplayer, worldwide leaderboards and new online challenges every week, all the cars and courses in very high definition, two brand new modes, even more spectacular game cameras and free access to the entire 2017 eSports WRC!

The listing also confirms eight-player local multiplayer (which is highly unusual and could possibly be a listing error) and eight-player online multiplayer.

Are you excited for WRC 6 on Xbox One and doing you like racing games in general? Share your favorites with the community in the comments below.

The upcoming Xbox One video game, Cities Skylines, is reportedly going to be shown working the Xbox One at GDC 2017 late next month.

The game had been announced for Microsoft’s video game console almost a year and a half ago during a Gamescom teaser trailer. While no release date has been set yet for the Xbox One version, the fact that it’s ready to be shown to the public is promising and suggests that it isn’t being cancelled like the recently pulled Scalebound title.

Cities Skylines is an incredibly popular city-building video game that’s not too dissimilar from the famous Sim City series. It’s currently available on Windows via Steam, Mac, and Linux machines.

Have you been waiting for Cities Skylines on Xbox One? Let us know in the comments below.

A Reddit user by the name of MoltenPanthar has discovered a rather amusing glitch on Microsoft’s Xbox One video game console that reveals the hidden descriptions of secret Xbox Achievements.

Secret Xbox Achievements are the same as regular Achievements except that their text description remains hidden from users until unlocked by playing the related video game. This is implemented mostly to stop the listings from spoiling video game plot points but can also be used to make an Achievement harder to get and to encourage gamers to play through a game more naturally without the aim of only meeting certain Achievement criteria.

The glitch that reveals the content of these hidden descriptions involves the use of the Xbox One’s voice narrator, which is usually used to assist disabled players in navigating the console’s menu system. The narrator can be turned on by holding down the Xbox button on a controller until a menu pops up. Then simply press the Menu button (the small one with the three horizontal lines) to activate the narrator.

Once activated, begin viewing Xbox Achievements for a game and select a secret one. The narrator will actually read aloud the hidden text! Not bad!

While clearly a glitch that many will find useful, it’s unclear how long it will remain functional now that it’s become more widely known. Would you use this glitch or do you prefer to find out what the secret Achievements are on your own? Let us know in the comments below.

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.

New Guide coming in UI update

A new UI update is coming to make Xbox look a little better, and it’s going to slightly change the way you do things on your Xbox One. While there could easily be more updates to the UI, an enterprising Twitter user snagged a screenshot from a stream of what the new Guide is going to look like. It’s been streamlined to offer a more elegant way to switch between tasks, but still stays true to the usual Xbox One style.

Beam website totally revamped

Beam, a game streaming service recently bought by Microsoft, just had its whole website redone. The frontend of Beam has been made to look much cleaner and easier to navigate, creating a more welcoming experience for new and old users alike. With Microsoft pushing Beam further with the impending Creators Update, now is an excellent time for a redesign like this to happen.

Phil Spencer teases new IP

Without its big franchises making their return in 2017, Xbox needs to rely on the undervalued lifeblood of the games industry: new intellectual properties (IP). In a tweet from Xbox boss Phil Spencer, it was noted that a ton of new IP’s are going to be lining the yellow brick road to Project Scorpio later this year. In a time where many companies are terrified to take risks and let new franchises breath, this should be extremely exciting news for Xbox fans.

Microsoft outspends Sony for holiday gaming ads

For those who are still battling it out in the console wars, you’ll be happy to know that Xbox is enjoying a period of victory. The holiday season was excellent for Xbox, and it turns out that a big part of the reason why is because of their advertising budget. Microsoft’s spending on Xbox advertising made up 36.5% of game advertising – a number that dwarfs Sony’s 21.8%. If that advertising keeps up, 2017 might be an even better year for Xbox One. Especially with Scorpio on the way.

Playdead teases new game on Twitter

Remember INSIDE? That haunting game with the kid running from horrible dangers in a physics-based platformer? What about LIMBO – that other haunting game with a kid running from horrible danger in a physics-based platformer? Well, those classics were made by Playdead  – a well respected indie company that’s baffled us with truly memorable experiences. On Twitter, the developers made a very unexpected tease about some “new adventures” that will be dazzling us in the future – complete with a screenshot (or, potentially, piece of concept art) to give us a taste. If I had my guess, I’d say this one looks to be taking place in space, on some sort of desert planet. You should try and interpret it yourself.

Console modder Ben Heck puts an Xbox One into a laptop

It’s not likely that Microsoft will release an Xbox tablet any time soon, but Ben Heck can get you the next best thing. The popular console modder managed to rip apart an Xbox One and put it back together in the form of a laptop, giving it a truly portable form and a pretty sleek look. While the device doesn’t function as a laptop, clearly, it’s a pretty neat way to carry around your Xbox One. Heck put up a 25 minute video detailing the process, and it’s definitely an interesting watch if you’re an Xbox fan with a mind for tinkering.

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

Welcome back to our weekly Windows 10 Mobile news recap series, where we go over the top stories of the past week in the world of Microsoft’s mobile operating system. Let’s get started.

PC, Mobile, Xbox to join “One Windows” shell

The “One Windows” promise is something that everyone familiar with Microsoft has been seeing them working towards. With Windows 10 becoming the centerpiece for all of Microsoft’s products, the focus on uniting the company’s ecosystem of products has been extremely important. According to some recent news, we’ll soon be seeing Microsoft rolling Windows 10 on PC, Mobile, and Desktop into one big shell – something familiar across all devices. This will start happening over the course of the next few major updates, after the Creators Update.

Unlocked Alcatel IDOL 4s on sale in Microsoft Stores

The Lumia brand is on the way out, with some phones being unlisted in Microsoft Stores already. 2017 is going to be the year of the third party manufacturers, and we’re kicking it off with the sale of the unlocked Alcatel Idol 4s. The phone goes for about $470, making it significantly more affordable that its $800 competitor in the HP Elite X3.

New Fitbit notifications go into private testing

Those Fitbit users who happen to have a Windows 10 Mobile device can rejoice knowing that a big improvement is coming – eventually, anyways. Private testing has begun for the technology that will open up things like SMS and calendar notifications on Fitbit devices through Windows 10 Mobile. While the testing isn’t available for the public to sign up to yet, this phase of testing means that it can’t be too far off.

Scientists sequence DNA with a Windows Phone

It took a bit of modification, but some scientists over in Sweden used a Lumia 1020 to sequence DNA. The Lumia wasn’t the only phone used in the study, and it wouldn’t have been possible without some custom modification in order to improve the 1020’s capabilities, but the fact remains that our humble operating system helped to make leaps and bounds in science this week.

The new NexDock will turn your phone into a desktop – sort of

The NexDock – a docking unit that’s compatible with a great number of desktop and mobile devices – is going to be working with Intel’s new Compute Card. The Computer Card, which is a fully functional computer that’s roughly the size of a credit card, will be combining with the NexDock to turn any device – including your Windows 10 Mobile handset – into a fully functional desktop. While it’s not clear if many people will adopt this “all-in-one” approach with their tech lives, it’ll be interesting to see how this makes waves.

Thanks for joining us. If you want all of the news as it happens, keep an eye on our Windows 10 Mobile tag.

Disqus has released an update to its beta app for Windows 10 devices. The app uses the Universal Windows Platform to work across multiple devices.

This update brings the app to version 4.0.12, with the following changelog:

• You may now log in with Facebook or Twitter accounts
• You will now see AdDuplex app promotion ads in feeds
• Fixed some issues where mentions were inserting in the wrong place
• Fixed a crash that occurred sometimes in a discussion
• Fixed an error that occurred when an unregistered user replied to your comment
• Other small, likely unnoticeable, bug fixes

Overall, a smoother, more stable experience is to be enjoyed, with the added bonus of being able to login with 2 of the top social networks – Facebook and Twitter. Unfortunately, though, you’ll begin to see advertisements in the feeds.

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Disqus Beta

Developer:
Disqus

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A couple of weeks ago, we told you about the launch of Slack’s new app on the Windows Store. The app was made with Microsoft’s executable-to-app bridge known as “Project Centennial,” or “Desktop Bridge.” As a result of using the desktop bridge, Slack’s transition to the Windows Store was painless – both for the developers and the end users. As a result of using this conversion program, Slack’s new version on the Windows Store is effectively the same as its Win32 version.

It promotes Microsoft’s desktop bridge as being a good tool for getting Win32 programs into the Windows Store, as well as providing centralized updates.

For most people, this is where that story begins and ends. If you happen to be interested in doing a deeper dive into what makes Slack tick, the developers have put together a blog post for you to dig through for all of those details.  The post talks about WinRT, NodeRT, the Electron framework and more – complete with snippets of code to read if you need a few examples to follow along with.

The Slack engineers ended the blog post by expressing their excitement about the future of Slack on the UWP, and the promise of doing more work with Electron. For any savvy engineers out there, they even extended an offer to come work with them as an Electron engineer.

Until 30th January, 2017, Halo Wars 2 is hosting its Blitz beta. The beta is available to play on both Xbox and Windows 10 PC.

Halo Wars 2 Blitz Multiplayer provides a new way to play real-time-strategy (RTS) by replacing some of the core functionality with something a little different. Many people will be used to RTS as involving resource collection, base building and tech tree planning. With Blitz, these aspects change, offering a new way to build an army. Players now select their army and Leader Powers before a match even begins.

Players will select a Leader and build a deck of 12 cards, with each card representing a type of unit or Leader Power. All units and Powers have an energy cost associated; finding the right balance of cheap and weak vs. expensive and high-tech units is all part of the deeper strategy.

All Windows 10 PC users with compatible hardware are able to take part in the beta. For Xbox One players, you’ll need to have an active Xbox Live Gold subscription in order to partake.

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Halo Wars 2 Blitz Beta

Developer:
Microsoft Studios

Price:
Free

The puzzle game, KYUB, has finally launched on Windows 10 after enjoying several months of release on Microsoft’s Xbox One console. The Windows 10 version also features Xbox Live connectivity and a host of Xbox Achievements to unlock despite the strange absence of the recognizable green Xbox stripe on its promotional artwork in the store listing.

The game is a three dimensional puzzler with over 80s levels spread across four worlds. Here’s the official game description:

Move the “Kyub” and use its abilities to solve devious puzzles and escape malicious traps. Switch between action and puzzle phases where you manipulate other cubes to climb walls and destroy obstacles with lasers or activate switches to trigger new paths. Protect yourself and change the Kyub’s status to become immune to the elements. Master the Kyub and discover all its insane possibilities.

Design your journey at slow pace or furiously fast rhythm. But always be wise & creative because memory, reflexes and rapid execution are the keys to completing each challenge. Die a lot, unlock secrets, collect every medal, and be the fastest among your friends on leaderboards. With more than 80 levels the mysterious world of Kyub offers simple mechanics yet a deep gameplay with thousands of combinations!

Have you played KYUB yet? Let us know if you’re enjoying it in the comments below.

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Kyub

Developer:
Ninja Egg

Price:
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The open-ended roleplaying video game Stardew Valley launched on the Xbox One recently and despite it being rather popular with gamers has suffered from a rather serious bug that’s been corrupting save files and preventing players from continuing from where they left off.

The developer behind Stardew Valley, ConcernedApe, announced in a blog post on the official Stardew Valley website earlier today that an update is being worked on that will fix these save issues. It will be pushed out to consoles in early February after more testing is done. Once this update is downloaded, it should fix the corrupted files and players will no longer have problems saving their progress. Several other unspecified problems will also be fixed.

Are you a fan of Stardew Valley and have you encountered any problems since downloading it on your Xbox One? Let us know in the comments below.

Microsoft’s new ebook store is now available as part of Windows 10’s Store app on both Windows 10 PCs and tablets as well as Windows 10 Mobile devices for Windows Insiders in the U.S.A. with build 15014.

The new ebook section of the Store app, labelled ‘Books’, is fully functional for those that can see it and users are being encouraged by Microsoft to purchase some titles and give them feedback on both the shopping and reading experience.

Interestingly, Microsoft doesn’t seem to have plans to release a dedicated ebooks app for Windows 10 and is instead adding the functionality to its Microsoft Edge web browser. This appears to be a similar strategy to how the company has encouraged Windows 10 users to use Edge for viewing PDF files instead of a separate PDF viewer app.

With this update for Windows Insiders, Microsoft Edge has gained a new hub entry, next to the favorites icon in the upper-right corner of the app, which will act as a user’s personal ebook library. The Edge ebook experience also supports Cortana integration for looking up words, font size and spacing customization, theme and navigation control options, and EPUB file support.

Windows Insiders are a select group of Windows 10 users who test early versions of Windows updates and features before they’re rolled out to the general public. The Windows 10 ebook store will likely become available for everyone when the Creators Update launches sometime during the next few months.

Are you excited for ebooks in Windows 10? Is using Edge as the ebook reader a good decision? Let us know in the comments below.

Microsoft is launching a new series of online sessions to help collaborators of all kinds find a new home in technologies like Microsoft Teams. The sessions are going to be limited-space affairs that let a roundtable of participants talk to one another about their individual challenges.

If you sign up for a session, here’s what Microsoft says you’ll learn:

• How Microsoft Teams, the newest collaboration tool

• How to keep information secure while being productive—Make it easier to work securely and maintain compliance without inhibiting your workflow.

• How to quickly visualize and analyze complex data—Zero in on the data and insights you need without having to involve a BI expert.

• How to co-author and share content quickly—Access and edit documents even while others are editing and reviewing them all at the same time.

• How to get immediate productivity gains—Most attendees leave with enough time-saving skills that time invested to attend a Customer Immersion Experience more than pays for itself in a few short days.

There are only 12 slots available per session, so you’re going to have to sign up quickly if this is something that interests you. Slots could be eaten up fairly quickly – we’re not sure how many sessions there are to fill. If you’ve ever been interested in Microsoft Teams, this should definitely be a valuable experience.