Office 365 First Release customers get the newly-minted Planner preview today. Planner allows teams to collaborate better by helping people visualize projects and delegate tasks easier. Planner enables you to create plans, assign jobs, share documents and files, chat in real time and get updates on team member progress.
Planner utilizes the use of “Boards” and “Cards,” to organize work. For each project, there is a Board, and within each Board, a work item or task is listed as a Card. Within the Card, there can be attachments, due dates, conversations, or labels associated with it. Any team member can receive email notifications about Cards if they are assigned or added to a conversation by using Outlook 2016.
When Planner was first announced in September, it wasn’t known what Office 365 plan participants would be eligible to use Planner. Now, Microsoft revealed which Office 365 members would be able to use Planner preview: Office 365 Enterprise E1, Office 365 Enterprise E3, Office 365 Enterprise E4, Office 365 Education, Office 365 Education E3, Office 365 Education E4, Office 365 Business Essentials and Office 365 Business Premium.
While the Office 365 Planner is just a preview release at the moment and is not available for all Office 365 plans, it may become more widely available at a later date.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is the newest big name news source to have a Universal Windows App (UWA). While not technically a new appearance in the Windows Store, the new upgrade to UWA brings several improvements in user interface, performance and usability. Let’s have a look.

First impression

My first experience with the new app was not a smooth one, as the first setup ended at the edition choice (WSJ app now offers 5 editions of the paper from US, Europe, Asia, Korea, and Japan), before the app crashed. Subsequent uses, however, have been great, albeit with a little chugging here and there in loading articles. Beware that while the app is free, you can only read a few articles before being forced to subscribe at a fee.

Design

The app follows the Windows 10 design guideline tightly, down to the bottom actions menu to compliment the main hamburger up on the top right. The user interface is clean and minimal, almost spartan. With the liberal amount of white empty space being used, a dark theme would be much more appreciated by the eyes, however. Picture slideshow and videos work as advertised (the video player’s UI, especially, is a carbon copy of Microsoft’s stock Movies app, down to icons; no options to change video resolution, however).

Article view

The reading experience itself, while quite good, leaves things to be desired. Texts are crisp and well-formatted, but are confined to one column of about one third of the app window itself; there is no option to use the almost criminally wasted two sides to view anything. Zooming options are offered via buttons in the bottom action menu (no pinch-to-zoom), however, they do little to alleviate the claustrophobic feeling of reading only the middle of the screen. Also, as previously mentioned, a dark theme, or reading mode would be greatly appreciated here. There is an option to download articles for offline reading; however, the location of downloaded articles is a bit too well-hidden, near the bottom of the hamburger menu.

Conclusion

Overall, the upgrade is a good effort from the WSJ developer at improving the experience of the app, which allegedly has been quite unsatisfactory from user reviews; some improvements in the reading experience would be greatly welcomed, however. WSJ readers should definitely give it a try (or another try). We are looking forward to how the app will evolve in the future.

Download
QR-Code

The Wall Street Journal.

Developer:
Dow Jones and Company Inc.

Price:
Free

Over the past week Microsoft, along with its partners with YouthSpark and Code.org, helped celebrate Computer Science Education Week. In September, I introduced you to Genesis, a young girl whose passion for programming was made possible though Microsoft’s YouthSpark initiative. Though programs such as this, Microsoft is encouraging young people from around the world to learn how to code and shape our digital future. Additionally, Microsoft’s partnership with the creator of Hour of Code, Code.org, has given them the ability to reach anyone with a computer, providing hands-on tutorials and sessions for coding.
During Computer Science Education week, Microsoft and Code.org used Minecraft as their primary platform to introduce coding. Over the course of the week, the Redmond based company hosted coding sessions in over 50 different countries in addition to conducting Hour of Code camps through out the US by means of its Microsoft Store channels. Microsoft’s blog, The Fire Hose, reported:

It was exciting to see millions of young people in every corner of the world spark a passion for coding – from learning basic coding skills with British Prime Minister David Cameron in the U.K., to learning coding for the very first time at the Thika School for the Visually Impaired in Kenya, to being inspired by teachers, tech leaders and innovators from around the world.

It is clear that quite a few individuals working behind the scenes at Microsoft see the importance of teaching young people how to program. What is even more impressive is how Microsoft has been able to utilize Minecraft as a vehicle for teaching code. As a result, we will likely witness many such efforts in the years to come. Let us know if you had a chance to participate in Computer Science Education week or the opportunity to learn to code with Minecraft in the comments below.

It’s no secret by now that Microsoft has their own apps on rival platforms like iOS and Android. Google has actually named Microsoft’s Office Lens as one of their Best of 2015 apps, along with Microsoft Word. Glad to see at least two of Microsoft’s apps receiving praise from Google.
Office Lens, for those that did not know, is an app that allows you to trim, enhance, and make pictures of whiteboards and documents into a readable format and saves them to OneNote. Office Lens can convert images to PDF, Word, and even PowerPoint.
At the time of this story, Office Lens has had over 70,000 reviews and has an average rating of 4.5. There are over a million installs of Office Lens on Android devices.
Microsoft Word, on the other hand, offers a familiar look and feel on the go. Microsoft Word has over 269 thousand reviews, with an average rating of 4.4. There are more than 10,000,000 installs of this app! Skype has also made the list, having an average rating of 4.1 and close to 8 thousand reviews.

#OfficeLens is now one of @GooglePlay's Best of 2015 apps! Get it today: https://t.co/mXcQ8Yh2er pic.twitter.com/9Zikvigen5

— Microsoft Office (@Office) December 13, 2015

It’s not the first time one of Microsoft’s apps have made it to a top-ten list. Time Magazine recently named Microsoft Translator as one of the top-ten apps of 2015.
We’re glad to see Microsoft’s app development efforts prove to be appealing to consumers, no matter what platform they are on. You can check out Google’s list of best apps here.

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QR-Code

Microsoft Lens – PDF Scanner

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

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QR-Code

Microsoft Word: Edit Documents

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

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QR-Code

Skype

Developer:
Skype

Price:
Free

In mid-November of this year, Facebook Beta for Windows 10 appeared in the Windows Store. Microsoft had stated that a universal Facebook app would be launching soon and we already have a taste of that with the Windows 10 Mobile Facebook app. Currently, the desktop app is being tested and will likely be rolled out early next year.
It was originally rumored that the Facebook Beta app for Windows 10 was a Project Islandwood port, meaning the code was ported from iOS to Windows 10. You can head over here to read about Project Islandwood. In a nutshell, Project Islandwood is the codename for “Windows Bridge for iOS” allowing developers to build a Universal Windows Platform app using Visual Studio 2015 while using existing code from an iOS app. Project Astoria (Windows Bridge for Android), for those wondering, was put on hold indefinitely.

Facebook for Windows 10 is a 'bridged app', but not using Islandwood, they use instead 'Osmeta', a start-up acquired by facebook 2 years ago

— Rudy Huyn (@RudyHuyn) December 3, 2015

According to a tweet from Rudy Huyn, the Facebook app for Windows 10 is not a Project Islandwood app, rather it was ported using “Osmeta.”Osmeta was a Mountain View-based mobile software startup that was acquired by Facebook about two years ago. Osmeta had the tools necessary to theoretically have one core functionality run across multiple platforms.
This doesn’t change the fact that the app is a “bridged” app or port from iOS, but it’s cool to know what technology was used to make it happen. Now if only we can see all these different Facebook apps bridged together into just one app, so people aren’t confused on which app belongs to who (I kid, I kid!)
For all you app developers out there, have you experimented with Project Islandwood? Should there be more tools available for app developers to create bridged apps? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Thanks BiggishTuba558 for the tip!

Welcome back to another weekly Windows 10 news recap. It’s been a busy week for Microsoft, especially with the company’s Windows 10 platform. Let’s take a look back at some of the hot stories relating to Windows 10 in a special feature we call “Windows 10 news recap.”
Microsoft begins a more aggressive push to get users upgraded to Windows 10
According to PCworld.com, Mayfield believes Microsoft is using their Windows Updates to manipulate PC’s into automatically downloading Windows 10 in an effort to get the new OS running on as many devices as possible. The article even goes as far as saying that today’s Windows Update can possibly bring about a change that would make the Windows 10 upgrade an optional Windows Update instead.
Mayfield states that the Windows Update client is working together with Microsoft’s Windows 10 upgrade app to accomplish this. The change will  effectively align the Windows 10 upgrade as a part of the normal Windows Updates users receive regularly. Although it will show as optional, that will only be for a finite amount of time. Next year, however, this status will change from optional to recommended. Recommended updates through the Windows Update client automatically download, this will then include the Windows 10 upgrade. Although users can still opt to cancel installation of the new OS, many users may see the OS change as just another update.
Here’s Microsoft’s response to all this. The company announced back in October that this would occur.
“We will soon be publishing Windows 10 as an “Optional Update” in Windows Update for all Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 customers. Windows Update is the trusted, logical location for our most important updates, and adding Windows 10 here is another way we will make it easy for you to find your upgrade. Early next year, we expect to be re-categorizing Windows 10 as a “Recommended Update”. Depending upon your Windows Update settings, this may cause the upgrade process to automatically initiate on your device. Before the upgrade changes the OS of your device, you will be clearly prompted to choose whether or not to continue. And of course, if you choose to upgrade (our recommendation!), then you will have 31 days to roll back to your previous Windows version if you don’t love it.”
New cumulative update for Windows 10 Version 1511 rolls out (KB3116900)
Microsoft has just rolled out KB3116900, a new cumulative update for Windows 10 Version 1511 (November 2015 Update). Unfortunately, at the time of this post, Microsoft has not revealed a changelog, so we’re left fending on our own to see what’s new or fixed. Head over to Windows Update to snag this new update now! Let us know in the comments below if you notice any new improvements or problems.
Microsoft rolled out a cumulative update for Windows 10 just last week (KB3116908) and the change log only mentions improvements to enhance the functionality of the operating system. Windows 10 Version 1511 updates are cumulative, so these updates will contain all previously-released fixes.
Windows 10 used by nearly 30% of all Steam gamers 
Windows 10 continues its slow and steady takeover among the tech-savvy population of Steam users, rising to just shy of 29% usage among all operating systems, and more than 30% within the Windows family, according to the newest Steam November report.
This measured increase is pretty much in line with the adoption rate for Windows 10 in general, which has been on a steady rise, passing 120 millions a month ago, likely due to Microsoft’s staggered strategy regarding pushing out the update (which, from recent events, seems to be prepared for a quickening soon.) Windows 7, while it still sits at the top of the Windows food chain in Steam adoption, continues to decline.
Mail and Calendar, Photos, and Xbox apps for Windows 10 updated
Microsoft was on a roll today with app updates. Not only did we see a huge update to the Groove Music app, as well as the Movies & TV app, Microsoft has rolled out updates to various other Windows 10 core apps too.
Mail and Calendar snagged a new update today, along with the Photos app and the Xbox app, unfortunately, Microsoft did not provide a change log for these particular updates. One thing to note in the Photos app, you now have an “Add to favorites” option in the menu. Windows Alarms & Clocks app and the Get Office app also received an update today with no change log.
Dedicated Microsoft Edge extensions page revealed early as new Redstone build nears 
A user by the name of H0x0d on Twitter appears to have found a dedicated webpage from Microsoft asking Windows Insiders to begin testing Extensions for Microsoft Edge. The web page looks to not be ready for the public just yet as the header of the web page still includes a placeholder build number and other placeholder bits, but this does mean Microsoft is getting closer to releasing a new build!
The web page actually has links to two extensions for Edge that you can download right now, Pinterest and Reddit Enhancement Suite. Edge on build 10586 doesn’t support extensions unfortunately, so it looks like these won’t yet run. Still, I’ve been hearing whispers for a while now that Microsoft is planning to get a Redstone build out before the years end, and I hear Microsoft already has a few Redstone build candidates in the running for an Insider release.
So there you have it. What was your favorite news story from this week? Let us know below.

Outlook Mail for Windows 10 has received a few handy updates in the past few days. Earlier this week, Microsoft updated the mail app with a few useful features such as portrait week view for mobile devices as well as full screen reading support for phablets as well as a bunch of bug fixes and improvements.
The company has pushed out yet another update for the Outlook Mail and Calendar app. The app page doesn’t list the changes introduced so it seems the update focuses more bug fixes and enhancements. However, Windows Insiders head Gabriel Aul shed some light on the update and mentioned that it brings linked inboxes back for everyone.

An update to the Outlook Mail app for Windows 10 just went live. Linked inboxes are back!

— Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) December 12, 2015

Previously, the feature was introduced for Windows Insiders, but with this update, all Windows 10 users will be able to make use of this.
Head over to the Windows Store using the link below and grab the updated Outlook Mail and Calendar app for your device.

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QR-Code

Mail and Calendar

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

Earlier this week, Windows software engineer on the Groove Music team, Ellen Kilbourne, alerted her Twitter followers to a rather significant update to the app headed to mobile devices. The new update brought many requested features as well as a handful of neat new additions to the app, unfortunately, for Ellen, her tweet got snagged on bewildered former Zune and Xbox Music users.

During a recent discussion with a colleague, I realized that the long-held perception of Xbox Music and subsequently, Groove Music, may have led to the current criticism Ellen’s update tweet may have received. Looking back on what the update brings and what Groove Music has evolved into as of today, it seems Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile users have a more than comparable music service to use, albeit lacking some features still.

The most recent update to the Groove Music app for mobile brought some handy features such as press and hold to reorder tracks within a playlist, new listings for recent plays, additional Cortana support, and OneDrive/Groove song duplication alerts.

Access

Beginning with new users, a 30-day free trial is provided access to 40 million song library ad-free. Specifically, users will gain access to a trove of over 18 million tracks from the US as well as over 38 million tracks found globally. For new or existing users, they can access their music content from a web page, PC, Xbox, iPhone, Android devices, and Windows Phones. Similar to Spotify, Groove Music can be accessed practically from any device.

For paying customers, a Groove Music Pass includes a monthly or annual subscription pricing tier. For a month to month subscription, customers are looking at $9.99 US plus tax or many can opt for a yearly price of $99.00 US plus tax. Microsoft also offers discounts to the both monthly, quarterly and annual pricing structures in the form of Work & Play bundles, or Bing Rewards, throughout the year. As for international availability, customers are encouraged to visit the Groove Support page for more details.

Playing in the Cloud

Similar to Spotify, Groove Music can be accessed practically from any device. With clients on the web, PCs, Xbox, iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone, Windows users on any platform are poised to get the most out of their subscriptions. Utilizing the cloud, Microsoft has also given the Groove Music Pass activation for up to five devices at a time in addition to using the web, changes to a music collection span across device and platform. Recently, Groove Music added the ability incorporate songs and albums stored in Microsoft’s cloud offering, OneDrive. Before some recent business policies, OneDrive users could practically stream their entire music collection in OneDrive and use the Groove Music interface as their personal music player, equipped with full art, and varying degrees of meta-data included. Groove’s integration of personal music also included music collected through iTunes as well.

[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Groove Music has been a bit of a hit and miss with hardcore Windows users[/pullquote]

The new Groove Music ‘locker’ is a feature that is becoming an industry standard as other music services such as Google Play Music, Amazon Music, and iTunes Match are now offering them respectively. Unfortunately, services such as Spotify, Rdio, and Songza do not provide the same cloud-locker integration.

Usage

Even with matching other streaming services with on and off device services, Groove Music has been a bit of a hit and miss with hardcore Windows users, specifically, zealot-like Zune holdouts when it comes to the apps fluidity between mobile, Xbox and PC. Preceding the long and troubled past of the Groove Music app ‘rebuild’, the new app has undergone a visual and functional redesign for better or for worse, to say the least. The new app, as of today, brings the controversial hamburger menu, that can now be accessed with or without a swipe to help improve one-handed usability. Identical to the previous Xbox Music app on Windows Phone, users have access to volume, track navigation and one-tap access to the app from anywhere within the OS by tapping the hardware volume buttons.

Other features that have been added, addressed or worked on over the course of the Groove Music app development include:

• Artist based radio stations. (perhaps the closest thing users will get to curated playlist for some time)
• Detailed artist info.
• Improved exploration, shopping and downloading experiences.
• Landscape viewing and navigation.
• Songs and albums in your collection, sort by the date you’ve added them by default. You can still switch to sorting alphabetically. (or by artist in the case of albums)
• You can now swipe from the left to bring up the hamburger menu. It makes it easier to use the app with a single hand.
• Press-hold to re-order tracks within a playlist.
• Previously, only plays from your collection would appear in Recent Plays – now it also includes things you’ve played directly from Explore.[Groove Music Pass Required]
• Shows download progress in the title bar, and also, provide an entry point to the download manager from within the left nav menu. This aligns with what the Movies & TV app includes.
• Tell Cortana to ‘Play Electronic’ and she will shuffle all your electronic music for you. [where Cortana is supported]
• In the event that, during an upgrade, a data base needs to be rebuilt (this should be very infrequent), it’ll show a little explanatory dialog explaining what’s happening.
• Detection of songs which are duplicated between OneDrive and Music Pass pop a notification asking if you’d like us to automatically remove them.
• Reverted the recent change to the font size of the song title in Now Playing. It’s smaller now.
• Updated the layout of the artist gallery to have proper spacing, alignment and remove the color-matched square backgrounds.
• Added the Explore modules to the Artist Details page at larger resolutions. [Groove Music Pass Required]
• Updated the layout of Explore at higher resolutions to look correct, and also respond better to scroll wheel. The modules also have a flipper control to allow scrolling within the page. [Groove Music Pass Required]
• Updates to the Search results page layouts to look good at higher resolutions.
• Updates to the layout of the Add-to menu at higher resolutions.
• Updates to the layout of the Recent Plays gallery at higher resolutions.
• You can share a link to music by tapping Share in the context menu. Tell your friends what you’ve been listening to!
• Automatically show more albums for artists you’re exploring if you aren’t on a metered data connection to reduce data usage.
• The theme setting in the app is now tied to the related system setting.
• Improvements in the way the app searches for music on your mobile device.
• Popular settings from the desktop version of the app are now in the mobile version – look for settings related to Downloads, Media Info, and OneDrive in the mobile app.
• Read album reviews.
• Update to Playlist header.
• Remove things from Recent Plays.
• Improved Live Tile UX Showing the Groove logo when artwork is displayed
• Showing album art.
• Removing the black half gradient.
• Shuffling the metadata around to be more useful.
• iHeart Radio integration.

Comparison

While most of the above list have been features set in place to address holes left by the transition from Xbox Music app written in Silverlight to the new Groove app written with an entirely different code, it is proof that the Groove Music app offers much of the same experiences as the competition. Furthermore, on Windows devices, particularly Windows 10 Mobile where competitive offerings are lacking, the Groove Music app offers a stellar listening experience.

[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]the app has been met with criticism on its design and discoverability[/pullquote]

Apple Music was recently updated with the purchase and integration of Beats Music to add curated playlist and Online Radio offerings and in doing so, the app has been met with criticism on its design and discoverability. During its initial launch, reviews complained of too many menus, hidden tools and mismanagement of music libraries on both devices and in the cloud. While Spotify remains the poster child for social sharing of music, curated playlist, cross-platform availability, its Windows offerings tend to trail behind in features, settings and updates compared to iOS and Android platforms. Google Play Music offers a very comprehensive music experience and has recently bolstered its efforts adding bits of YouTube to its customers, yet, once again, Windows users are forced into a web-only experience. Regardless of how the pie is sliced, a Windows user will have a void in their music experience across devices and platforms using any of the leading services.

Due to Windows relevancy in the market, it seems that for folks tied to Windows devices, Groove Music by default is an excellent solution. Perhaps that is not saying much, but for a many, Groove offers a lot. Furthermore, the app is making strides as it gains Sonos support, iHeartRadio integration, and is making more of its APIs accessible for other possible future alliances.

Yes, Groove lacks a Family Plan offering comparative to the rest of the industry as well as an adequate curation solution beyond Artist Radio, but as a cross-platform, cloud-connected music service, it has been remarkably rebuilt. With almost bi-monthly updates (some, mainly bug fixes) the Groove Music app for both Windows 10 PCs and Mobile devices has retained much of what it lost during its rebuilding stage and seems better prepared to incorporate new industry standards as they arise.

[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]For many Zune and Xbox Music refugees, years of complaining may have colored reality with perception[/pullquote]

As each new Groove update hits the Windows Store, it’s evident that user feedback is being addressed, albeit not in any particular order or with any regard to user requested timeframes, but addressed nonetheless. For many Zune and Xbox Music refugees, years of complaining may have colored reality with perception, but the Microsoft music experience of today is much better than it has been in years.

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QR-Code

Windows Media Player

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

Some Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 owners have been frustrated at their new devices due to several issues involving the display, standby mode, and more. Microsoft has taken it to the official Surface support forum to basically apologize and reiterate that they are hearing you loud and clear. The usual “your feedback is valuable” phrase is also mentioned as well as a note that they are working to issue additional fixes as soon as possible. Here’s what Microsoft had to say in the official support forum:

First, a big thanks to all of our customers for your open and candid feedback on Surface Book and Surface Pro 4. For those of you who’ve had a less-than-perfect experience, we’re sorry for any frustration this has caused. Please know that we’re reading your comments and hearing you loud and clear. Your input is incredibly valuable in helping us address your questions with timely updates and fixes. Since launch, we have aggressively pursued the most pressing feedback. We have already issued a number of updates via Windows Update and are working to issue additional updates and fixes as soon as possible to further improve the overall Surface experience. To ensure that you have received the most recent updates, we recommend you check out our support page with instructions on how to download and install the latest Surface and Windows updates. Surface Book update history can be found here and Surface Pro 4 update history can be found here.

Microsoft has already promised that a fix for the sleep issue will arrive in January. While not everyone with a Surface Book or Surface Pro 4 are affected by these problems, consumers that are affected are obviously frustrated that their expensive piece of hardware isn’t working as advertised. Is your Surface Book or Surface Pro 4 facing any issues? How do you feel about Microsoft’s apology?

One of the most controversial decisions that Microsoft has made in recent memory was its decision to cut down on the free storage that’s offered to those using free OneDrive accounts. The reaction was decidedly negative, as one would expect from a decision that is unarguably something that’s negative for the users. While Microsoft stays confident that it needs to limit the free storage that it hands out from now on, it realizes that it can’t afford to make so many of its users so upset.

We've heard the feedback from our fans. You'll be able to keep your free storage when the changes happen in 2016. https://t.co/WLxKcCRrQe

— OneDrive (@onedrive) December 11, 2015

Microsoft has decided to give OneDrive users the option to keep their 15 GB of free storage, as long as they just opt in with a website that marks their accounts to be unchanged when the update rolls out. Anyone who cares about keeping the extra 10 GB of storage space (and, let’s be honest, you do) can opt in any time before January 31st and their accounts will be unaffected by the change.
A post on the UserVoice, with some 70,000 votes, was marked as closed, with the following response from Microsoft Group Program Manager Douglas Pierce:

In November we made a business decision to reduce storage limits for OneDrive. Since then, we’ve heard clearly from our Windows and OneDrive fans about the frustration and disappointment we have caused. We realize the announcement came across as blaming customers for using our product. For this, we are truly sorry and would like to apologize to the community.
While we are not changing our overall plans, we’d like to clarify what we are doing for customers impacted by the changes and share a new offer which we hope will go a long way in making the situation better for our biggest fans.
Office 365 Home, Personal, and University subscriptions will continue to include 1 TB of storage. Any subscriber who received additional storage as part of our unlimited offer will keep it for at least 12 months. For anyone unhappy with the decision to not offer unlimited storage, we will offer a full refund.
For customers of our free service who have over 5 GB of content and who are directly impacted by the storage change, we will offer one free year of Office 365 Personal, which includes 1 TB of storage.  These customers will receive an email with redemption information early next year.
In addition, for our biggest fans who have been loyal advocates for OneDrive, we are adding a new offer that lets you keep your existing 15 GB of free storage when the changes happen next year. If you also have the 15 GB camera roll bonus, you’ll be able to keep that as well. From now until the end of January, you can sign up to keep your storage at the link below.
https://aka.ms/onedrivestorage
We are all genuinely sorry for the frustration this decision has caused and for the way it was communicated. Thank you for sticking with us.

It’s not perfect, as it still ends up leaving those who aren’t plugged into the news in the dust. That said, those people will, more often than not, not be using the cloud with the same fervor that all of us do. It’s nice to see Microsoft at least offering us a consolation prize in light of the decision they had to make.
Thanks for the tip, Brendon!

Microsoft has had its head in the Cloud for some time now, and as that push gets harder every year, it only makes sense that Microsoft need to invest in more data centers. As was predicted around a year ago, Microsoft has decided to take the plunge in San Antonio and purchase nearly 160 acres of land from the Texas Research & Technology Foundation.
This purchase will reportedly house what Microsoft intends to be one of the largest data centers in the United States, and seems to have been a relatively good deal for both sides. Microsoft now has a massive plot of land to start work on its data center, and the TRTF are going to use the money that they made to help fund some of Alamo City’s new biotech companies.
Microsoft plans to begin the first phases of construction this coming January, and will be putting together 8 different buildings for the data center. Construction should span over the course of 5 years, and will be creating around 900 jobs.

Last year, Microsoft offered “Music Deals” throughout the holidays, allowing users with the Music Deals app to download albums and songs at some steep discounts. We haven’t seen Music Deals return this year, but today Microsoft is offering something just as good or even better: 10 top albums from 2015, all available free for Windows 10 users.
Getting the albums is easy, if you’re in the United States and you are running Windows 10, just click on the albums, choose “Free”, and then download the albums or add them to your collection.

Here’s the list of albums with their download links:
James Bay – Chaos and the Calm
Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
Tame Impala – Currents
Selena Gomez – Revival
Ellie Goulding – Delerium
Alessia Cara – Know It All
Breaking Benjamin – Dark Before Dawn
Jeezy – Church In These Streets
Logic – The Incredible True Story
Big Sean – Dark Sky Paradise
All in all a nice mix of free music just in time for the holidays. You can learn more about the albums on the Windows Experience blog post, or just get to downloading.  Have fun!
 

Earlier this month there had been signs that Microsoft was expanding its Insiders program, which is used to test early versions of operating systems and programs, to include testing of physical hardware devices.
Select Windows Insiders were sent a series of special invites hinting that the program was due for some sort of expansion and that those Insiders that had provided Microsoft with exceptionally detailed and quality feedback on Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview in particular would somehow be involved. Along with this letter was a survey to complete and instructions for participants to inform Microsoft of their mailing address and what sort of device they were currently using.
Very little had been heard regarding these surveys until today when a Windows Insider posted on Reddit about a letter he got from Microsoft informing him that they wanted to send him a new Lumia 950 or 950 XL, a display dock, and an Actiontec wireless adapter. It appears that Microsoft is interested in having active Windows Insiders continue to partake in the program using the latest devices to get the best real-case usage data of their software that they can. It’s unlikely they’re giving Lumia 950s to every Windows Insider for example, only those that are active in the program and appear to not already own one. The Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL are the two main Windows 10 Mobile flagship phones so it makes sense that Microsoft would want more testing done on these.
Windows Insiders are currently used to test early versions of Windows 10 for Desktop and Windows 10 Mobile for Windows phones. Microsoft also runs a similar program for Xbox One owners called the Xbox One Preview Program (or, Xbox One Preview Programme, depending on the region) which tests early versions of the console’s operating system as well as several apps.
Have you ever participated in one of these programs? Are they worthwhile? Let us know about your experiences in the comments below.

Carrier billing has arrived on the scene in North America via telecommunications company, Sprint. Sprint customers will now be able to pay for content in the Windows Store bought on their PCs (such as apps, movies, and music) and charge the expenses directly to their Sprint account instead of through a credit card which is usually done. Customers can, of course, continue to make purchases with their credit cards if they wish.
This is simply another option provided for those that either don’t have a credit card or wish to reduce the number of bills they receive each month. It’s unclear exactly how many users would find this billing method more convenient, especially with most people already having a credit card on file for previous app purchases as well as Xbox content, which is connected to the same Microsoft Store account used for PC apps.
Microsoft’s Terry Myerson first announced carrier billing across Windows 10 devices during Build 2015 back in April of this year. There have been no further details released on other carriers rolling it out but it’s probably safe to assume this is something Microsoft would like to see broadly implemented.
Would you use carrier billing on your PC or other Windows 10 devices? Let us know in the comments below.

The group over at Game Insight have been hard at work on bringing two new games for Windows 10. As of today, the wait is over for those games. Game Insight is happily announcing the launch of Love & Dragons and Maritime Kingdom for Windows 10.
The two new titles add to an already robust stable of games available to Windows 10 users from Game Insight. With 13 titles already in the Windows Store, some users may need to make some space on their devices for the recent additions.
As far as the new games are concerned, Maritime Kingdom is trading and city building experience not too dissimilar from the likes of Sim City. The game adds a new sophisticated trade and barter system that lets gamers manage over 30 resources. Other intricate details such as navigating diplomacy and fleet building should offer gamers days of continuous entertainment.
Gamers may also enjoy:

• Explore the four corners of the globe in over 350 quests
• Create a mighty city with over 40 building types
• Build a mighty fleet & establish trade routes
• Establish diplomatic relations with other powerful rulers

Love and Dragons, on the other hand, is a colorful and spirited hidden object game. Gamers are set on a journey with their companion Miralda to oppose unforgiving prophecy while also helping her find her true love in the process. Love and Dragons is particularly unique in its ability to weave an actual plot through the games basic ‘Where’s Waldo-like’ gameplay. During the gamers journey, they will encounter mighty warriors, sorcerers, and, of course, a dragon or two.
Other key elements include:

• Amazing hidden objects game will take you on an unforgettable journey through the world of magic
• Lots of characters with their own unique background, nature and hobbies
• Hard fight with the criminal bosses and the creatures of the abyss
• Unexpected plot twists, mystery and intrigue
• Convenient friends system allowing you to help each other and play together
• Great graphics and sound – You will be able to make friends with dragons, take part in the liberation of the empire and to make peace between the warring states.

Gamers can grab both titles from the Windows Store today.

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Love and Dragons

Developer:
GAME INSIGHT UAB

Price:
Free

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QR-Code

Maritime Kingdom

Developer:
GAME INSIGHT UAB

Price:
Free

Today, Microsoft released an update to the Dev Center to add some features based on developer feedback this December. The Windows Dev Center adds a number of features to help developers as Microsoft merges its Windows PC and Windows mobile stores in preparation for a Universal App Store. Microsoft aims to periodically update the Dev Center with new updates, features, and to fix performance issues as they arise.
Here is the full list of updates and changed to the Dev Center in December:

• Multi-user access with roles: support multiple users in a single account, with permissions controlled through user roles – this is one of the most voted for features in Uservoice, and is available now in all Dev Center accounts
• Windows Store APIs: validate apps or in-app product acquisitions, useful for cross-platform services, or to add another layer of validation for customer purchases
• In-app purchase discounts: schedule IAP price discounts for apps running on Windows 10
• Access to Office and Azure programs: access the Office and Azure developer programs at no extra cost through the Dev Center registration
• More effective Store lists: The Store is updating the algorithms for the “New and Rising” and “Best Rated” lists to be able to show more apps than before
• Update to the Windows App Certification Kit:  with additional validation tests for UWP app submissions

Microsoft is upping its storage and security offerings for Office 365 with help from a recent partner, Rackspace. According to a press release from a Rackspace Blog, users of both Office 365’s suite of productivity services and members of Rackspace’s community will now be offered cost-saving measures with both tools.

Three of the four new features, Archiving, Azure Rights Management and Extra Storage, can be added on to new and existing Fanatical Support for Office 365 solutions. Office 365 Exchange Online Kiosk is a stand-alone offering.”

The Rackspace Email Archiving feature can now save customers the added time of having to manually move email to archive folders by automating the process for Office 365 data. With access to unlimited retention and storage amounts as well as the new automated sorting tool, Rackspace customers should find an immediate benefit to the time vs. cost savings of Email Archiving.
Moving on to Extra Storage, customers now gain support and access to larger SharePoint sites with the increase to unlimited storage capacity for Office 365 SharePoint. Previously, customers were hamstrung with an arbitrary storage limit of 100GB+500MB per subscriber for Office 365 storage.
Lastly, customers will also have access to a stand-alone, browser-based version of Exchange. The new Office 365 Exchange Online Kiosk gives enables customers to receive and send mail without the need for the entire suite of Office 365 applications, and can be implemented alongside other equally important tools such as Business Essentials, Business Premium or E3. Office 365 Exchange Online Kiosk also comes bearing 2GB of storage, calendar and contact access and ActiveSync features that help port features to mobile devices.
Even though Rackspace and Microsoft seemingly compete and produce tools for a similar clientele base, the managed cloud computing space appears to be benefiting greatly with a partnership of the two, as of late.

Today, Microsoft announced it has made a substantial breakthrough in image recognition with neural network systems achieving five times more levels than any previous system. With this new technology, Microsoft took first place in both the ImageNet and Microsoft Common Objects in Context competitions, beating numerous academic, corporate and research institutions.
In both of these competitions, teams compete to see how well their systems identify objects either in a photograph or video without the aid of humans. Microsoft’s entry was able to beat the competition by achieving a high level of accuracy that would meet and sometimes exceed human capabilities.
In a post detailing the success, Jian Sun, a principal research manager at Microsoft Research, explains they were able to achieve such incredible results because of their new incredibly deep neural nets.

To better explain today’s achievement, the post helps explain the context of its significance. A little background, neural nets are a computer process that mimics the biological processes of the human brain to make new connections between data points and learn continually. The adoption of neural nets has been a significant advancement in machine learning, and powers many of tools you may be familiar with and even use on a daily basis, such as Skype Translator’s real time translations or Project Oxford’s showcase projects How-old.net or TwinsorNot.net.
To put the scale of today’s achievement in context, neural net systems have been able to make huge advancements because computer scientists continue to find ways to add new layers. The challenge, however, is that adding more layers can result in signals disappearing in the system as” they pass through the system”, which stunts machine learning.
As Sun explains, computer scientists celebrated when they were able to have systems with eight layers just three years ago. Then last year, the field was excited by achieving “very deep neural networks” that comprised of 20 to 30 layers. By comparison, the system Microsoft used to win these competitions has 152 layers, five times more than any previous system. To make this complex neural network work, Microsoft researchers developed what they call a “residual learning” principle to “guide the network architecture designs.”
This new 152 layered system was what enabled the team to take first place in each of the three categories it entered for the ImageNet competition. And not just win but win by a large margin. Microsoft also won first place in its namesake MS Common Objects in Context challenge, which was originally funded by Microsoft but is now run by academics outside of the company.
The team was shocked by their own results, with Jian Sun saying “we even didn’t believe this single idea could be so significant” and Peter Lee, corporate vice president of Microsoft Research’s NExT Labs adding “it sort of destroys some of the assumptions I had been making about how the deep neural networks work.”

A video of Skype Translator’s neural network powered real-time translation in action.
The new residual neural networks are already being deployed in other contexts besides just research challenges. It is aiding Microsoft’s machine learning efforts in Project Oxford, which recently gained API’s for developers to tap into. And The Redmond-based technology company is “working tightly with Microsoft’s product groups to include the best image understanding in existing or future Microsoft products and services.” Giving a new sense of immediacy to how these breakthrough technologies make their way from research labs into the devices we use every day.
Today’s announcement concluded with a quote by Lee saying after all of the considerable improvements that came with the advancement of residual neural networks, “we don’t believe we’re anywhere close to the limit of the significant improvement in data classification accuracy for any of these tasks.” It will be interesting to see what Microsoft can do with these new systems to make the tools so many of us use today that much more intelligent and responsive to us and our surrounding world.

Today at Think Next 2015, Microsoft announced three new partnerships for its #CoInnovate program. The program seeks to connect mature startups with corporations to facilitate greater market access for entrepreneurs. And now the program is expanding in India with three new partners, including Citi India, part of the multinational commercial and investment bank Citigroup; Kyron, a launchpad for enterprise startups; and Patni Healthcare, a firm set on transforming specialty healthcare in India through technology.
The three new partners will work with Microsoft and startups in India through #CoInnovate’s three distinct programs. CoInnovate is comprised of:

• Market Access Program (MAP) which connects corporates to startups in the business vertical where their interests lie.
• The High Potential program (Hi-Po) is where corporates nominate startups they want to work with to be accelerated at Microsoft Ventures in order to speed up their business potential.
• The Partner in Acceleration (PIA) program where Microsoft Ventures helps organizations set up their own accelerator / incubator program by sharing knowhow.

The partnerships announced today will span all of #CoInnovates programs to help spur on late stage startups. Citi India will be working through the Hi-Po program to find new technologies and solutions for client’s banking, e-commerce and transaction needs. Microsoft Ventures, the arm of Microsoft that runs #CoInnovate, will also work with select startups that participate in Citi’s own startup acceleration program, the Citi Mobile Challenge 2015.
Kyron will partner with Microsoft Ventures to help power their corporate accelerator and diffuse best practices and grow new connections in the startup ecosystem. This will give Kyron’s pool of startups access to a larger market of corporate partners and resources. Finally, Patni Healthcare will work through #CoInnovate’s MAP program to connect with healthcare startups, which can become part of their new technology based approach to hospitals and healthcare in general.
When speaking at Think Next 2015, Ravi Narayan, Director of Microsoft Ventures in India, highlighted the importance of this collaboration, saying:

Microsoft Ventures has always aimed to be an enabler for the startup ecosystem. During the last few years in India, we identified that market access remains one of the biggest stumbling blocks for startups, while corporates and governments often struggle to identify the right business partner. #CoInnovate is the bridge that can connect the two and we are happy that we have been able to bring such reputed partners on board today.

Along with the recent announcements by Satya Nadella at Future Unleashed, today’s announcement shows Microsoft’s commitment to increasing the breadth of its support for startups in India. Between empowering startups, supporting local development efforts, and expanding their own commercial reach, 2015 has marked some sizeable investments in the second most populous nation on the planet. What are you thoughts on Microsoft’s multipronged attention to India? Let us know in the comments section below.

For a time, beginning shortly after Microsoft acquired Nokia’s phones businesses, it looked like Nokia Maps (later renamed HERE Maps), would overtake and possibly even replace Bing Maps as the mapping solution for Windows and Windows Phone.  Although Nokia refused to make maps and location services a part of the deal with Microsoft, the two companies worked closely together to push Nokia’s solution. No definitive decision was apparently ever made about which way to go, however, and maps on Windows was, to put it bluntly, a mess.
That all changed when new CEO Satya Nadella came on board, and Bing Maps was returned as the preferred mapping product. HERE Maps, which shipped on Windows Phones, remained, but with Windows 10, “Maps”, powered by Bing Maps, was the default. For some, at least, HERE Maps was still the better choice: in some regions, HERE Maps just had better detail than Bing, and HERE Drive, a traffic and directions app, was better suited for use while driving.
But then in an unfortunate series of blunders, HERE Maps basically disappeared from Windows phones. A problem with the Store prevented new users from downloading HERE Maps, which became glaringly real when Windows Insiders upgraded their phones to builds of Windows 10 Mobile, only to find that they couldn’t get HERE Maps back. A HERE Maps update rendered the apps, if you still had them, useless for a time, although that problem was fairly quickly resolved.
Still, HERE Maps has remained unavailable for Windows 10 Mobile users, but thanks to a comment over at WMPU by Social Media lead at HERE Pino Bonetti, that may be about to change:

Hi everyone, this is Pino from the HERE team. Thanks for all your feedback.
Existing HERE apps users on all Windows platforms will continue to have access to the apps. Working closely with Microsoft, we have corrected technical issues that were preventing some users from updating their HERE apps. If you still experience problems updating the HERE apps, please contact customer care at [email protected]. For new users, the HERE apps are temporarily unavailable in the Windows Store due to an issue unrelated to Microsoft. HERE apologizes for any inconvenience and we are working to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

For what it’s worth, we’ve been reaching out to HERE for weeks trying to get some kind of explanation, we’re glad they’re finally going public.
What’s probably more important than getting the maps back is that HERE, now owned by a consortium of European car makers, is treating Windows apps as first class citizens. In a way it’s good to hear that HERE Maps haven’t been pulled due to lack of interest or spite, but rather just an unfortunate series of mishaps.

Microsoft has taken to the company website to announce the creation of the Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) Linux on Azure certification, in collaboration with the nonprofit Linux Foundation.
The certification serves to demonstrate candidates’ ability to work with cloud-based Linux solutions running on the Microsoft Azure platform. In order to get this certification, two tests need to be passed: the Microsoft Exam 70-533 (Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions), and the Linux Foundation Certifed System Administrator (LFCS) exam. To celebrate the creation of this new certification, there is currently a deal running for the LFCS exam which can be found on its main website.
One important part of Microsoft’s image and culture change in recent years has been in the company’s increasing willingness to open up on its software development, most visible through a rekindled relationship with the open-source community. The creation of this certificate marks an important point in the continuing integration of Microsoft’s technology into open-source development and vice versa. It will be interesting to observe just how open Redmond can become in the years ahead.

Yesterday, we reported on Fhotoroom’s frustration with Microsoft, having to do with not getting paid for the last five months. Since then, Fhotoroom has taken once again to Twitter to clear up any thoughts that they were being paid by Microsoft to develop their app, this was purely a problem with getting paid for app revenues:

To clear up so misinformation, we are not MS employees, and we do not get paid to develop fhotoroom for Windows.

— Fhotoroom (@Fhotoroom) December 9, 2015

Since then, we’ve heard back from Microsoft, and while they were reluctant to go into any details on the record, they do report that the issue, which apparently was a single incident with Fhotoroom and not a symptom of a larger problem, has been resolved. Still, Microsoft should take note of Fhotoroom’s frustrations:

There are very good ppl at @Microsoft but the process to deal with is extremely painful.

— Fhotoroom (@Fhotoroom) December 9, 2015

No developer should have to go through a “painful” process to get paid for their work, especially in an ecosystem that’s begging developers to work with them. We’ve reached out once again to Fhotoroom to see if everything is indeed ok on their end.
+++

Looks like all the issues have been resolved with @Microsoft, yay! We can now get busy finishing #W10M again and it will be awesome.

— Fhotoroom (@Fhotoroom) December 10, 2015

Update: Indeed, Fhotoroom seems happy too, according to a response we received:

Yes, there is no question that Microsoft will resolve this and we are working together to resolve this. An Indie dev’s issues can sometimes get lost in the system. Another day in the mobile battle field.

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You can get Fhotoroom for Windows 10 or Windows 10 Mobile from the link below:

Download
QR-Code

Fhotoroom

Developer:
Supporting Computers Inc

Price:
Free

The Association for Computing Machinery, known more simply as ACM is “the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society”, and today Microsoft Research announced that five of its researchers have been bestowed with honors from the association.  Three of them, Cynthia Dwork, Mary Czerwinski, and Sriram Rajamani, have been honored as Fellows, for their “significant contributions to the development and application of computing across multiple disciplines”.
Two more researchers, Ratul Mahajan and Nachiappan Nagappan were named as Distinguished Scientists, and all of them will be formally recognized at the ACMs annual banquet in San Francisco next June.
Another Microsoft researcher, Li Deng, also recently received a prestigious Technical Achievement award, this time from the IEEE.
Microsoft Research, just about to celebrate its 25th anniversary, continues to be one of the most well respected private research institutions in the world, as their growing collection of accolades attests.

After Halo, the next Xbox community to get a Windows app are Forza players, with the arrival of the universal Forza Hub app for Windows 10.
As expected of a product straight from the maker of Windows itself, the new Forza Hub app is probably one of the most polished app experiences on Windows 10 that you can find. The user interface is wonderfully minimalistic and image-centric, evoking the image of the Xbox One dashboard, down to the black background and large tile interface. The app offers player info, news on the game, and cars and racing in general. By visiting the apps, players can receive free credits and cars every month.

There are examples of attention-to-detail everywhere, from the transparent slide-out menu with slight shadows, to the animations as you press on different sections mimicking the Xbox experience. Forza is all about admiring lustrous cars rolling on perfect roads, and the apps almost feels as premium as the cars it shows off, which is a considerable achievement. A great experience for Forza fans, the app can be downloaded for free from the Windows Store on your device.

Download
QR-Code

Forza Hub

Developer:
Microsoft Studios

Price:
Free