Last month, we reported that Microsoft plans to add support for apps in external meetings and chats in Teams. The Redmond giant has recently updated its Microsoft 365 roadmap to indicate that this feature has started rolling out and will be available soon for all Microsoft 365 subscribers.

The launch of apps in external meetings and chats will let users add apps while hosting meetings/chats with people from another organization. Specifically, users from the host organization will be able to manage (install, delete or update) these shared apps. However, external users who have been invited to the group chat or meeting will only be allowed to interact with the apps installed by host users. You can find more details about managing external access in meetings on this support page.

To install an app during a meeting, click the “Chat with participants” icon and select the ( … ) menu. Now use the search box to find the app (e.g., Microsoft Forms) you want to add to the meeting and finally click the “Send” button to create a poll. The meeting participants will instantly get a poll notification that appears in the middle of their meeting screen.

Similarly, Microsoft Teams users will be able to add apps to group chats by clicking the ( … ) menu available at the bottom of the screen. The rollout of apps in external scenarios will honor the data policies of the host organization and it will not change any previous organizational settings.

Overall, the new apps experience could be beneficial for business customers to gather feedback and seek approvals from partners. Microsoft Teams has recently introduced support for adding external users to group chats, and this new feature should eliminate the need to jump back and forth between windows during meetings.

Is Windows 11 upon us? Two days ago, Microsoft announced a June 24th event to unveil “what’s next for Windows.” So far, we don’t know much more than that, but of course there’s rampant speculation. Let’s take a look at what we know so far and what we might hear on the 24th. First, some quick history:

News of a “new version” of Windows first started filtering out with leaks about something called Windows 10X: a lightweight, refreshed version of Windows first slated for the Surface Duo and the unreleased Surface Neo. Windows 10X was at first going to be limited to dual screens only. Continuing problems getting Windows to run reliably (meaning with full Win32 app support) on ARM chips, something necessary for a smartphone like the Duo, changed those plans, and Microsoft announced that Windows 10X would first come out for single screens only, that Duo would run Android instead (?!), and the Neo just faded away.

Windows 10X, even on single screens was never meant to be a “replacement” for Windows 10: it was going to come out on new hardware only, and be positioned to compete with Chromebooks in Edu (just a note here: Chromebooks are doing *very* well in Edu, and while it’s not a huge market, losing those young hearts and minds to Google has been and continues to be a concern for Microsoft).

But as it turns out, Windows 10X was not to be. Microsoft apparently reversed course, announcing that there would be no 10X launch, and that instead many of the mostly UI and UX features would be instead incorporated into Windows itself.

Windows 10 “Sun Valley,” the code name for UX changes, would serve as the revisioning of Windows 10X, with new icons, a new Start menu, and a more consistent UI.

So that leaves us with the announcement yesterday. As usual, there are a lot more questions than answers. Let’s dive in:

1. What’s in a name?

Much has been made of the “Windows 11” shadow in yesterday’s teaser GIF, and it’s obvious to call “the next version of Windows” Windows 11. Others are leaning toward just calling it “Windows.” And of course, even with all the speculation, we still could end up with some variant of “Windows 10.” It was supposed to be the last version of Windows, right? (Still, it was only one guy at a session at Ignite 2015 who said “last version”).

Looking forward to June 24th, hope you’ll join us! #MicrosoftEvent https://t.co/bDONj8sPL4 pic.twitter.com/551P6wLY9z

— Panos Panay (@panos_panay) June 2, 2021

2. Something completely different?

The hints are coming hot and heavy that we’re in for “a new generation of Windows,” but how much change should we expect? A job listing spotted last week promises “a multi-year journey to revolutionize the Windows UX platform,” and while Microsoft is making a big deal about this June 24th announcement, it seems far fetched to think we’ll have a completely new and different Windows in the 21H2 timeframe (read: this Fall). Everything we’ve heard so far about Sun Valley is that while it carries a new, refreshed look, it’s still very much Windows 10 under the hood.

Sun Valley should hit the high points, with a fresh clean look born out of Windows 10X, but can we really expect a fully cohesive UI/UX makeover? This has the earmarks of a “multi-year journey,” indeed.

3. What about the enterprise?

Microsoft has long held to a mantra of staying true to legacy Windows, and there’s good reason for that. Enterprise generally hates change, because there’s real financial pain involved in having to rework training materials, help desks, and IT management to accommodate changes in Windows.

As consumers, we all want the latest, freshest look, but that’s exactly what enterprise *doesn’t* want.

4. A new path, or a fork in the road?

On their regular Windows Weekly podcast this week, Mary Jo Foley and Paul Thurrott had lots to say about the just released news of an upcoming June 24th announcement. In particular, though, one thing Mary Jo said stood out: After saying that “this is going to be a lot of smoke and mirrors, plus a new store,” she also said (while noting that she was just guessing, with no insider knowledge) that she’s expecting to see 21H2 *plus* a new Windows “11” this fall. Her reasoning is that enterprise doesn’t care about any of this UI stuff (see above), and will want to stick with Windows 10.

A French blog, Frandroid, posted a screenshot of what it says is the Windows 11 System menu, and also postulates that Windows 11 should be a free update while Windows 10 continues to be supported in the future. Since we know Insiders will get to test this new version (see #8 below), one possibility is that it ships with new devices (see #6), but that it’s also available to “seekers,” as an opt in, with everyone else remaining on Windows 10.

5. Is a Feature Experience Pack the answer?

Of course Daniel Rubino and Zac Bowden were also talking Windows “11,” and on their new “Ask Windows Central” feature, Zac Bowden noted that while technically the current Windows Insider Dev Channel is gearing up toward Sun Valley, Microsoft is trying hard to keep the new UX features a “secret.” These features, Bowden says, could come as part of a Windows Feature Experience Pack, allowing the company to keep the new stuff under wraps for as long as possible.

What this also might mean, however, is that the Sun Valley / Windows 10X / Windows 11 features that Insiders and consumers are clamoring for, but that enterprise is almost sure to hate, could come as part of a modular Windows. Want the latest and greatest? Install this Feature Experience Pack and here you go. Need to go stuffed shirt to keep your enterprise IT department happy? Just don’t install the Pack (or indeed, install an Enterprise Features Pack perhaps, making the core of Windows less bloated).

pic.twitter.com/k3Xamd15MC

— Aggiornamenti Lumia (@ALumia_Italia) June 1, 2021

6. Can Windows “11” sell?

One thing almost everyone agrees on: a new naming scheme for Windows is going to be a boon for OEMs trying to sell new devices. OEMs are going to love being able to put “New: Windows 11!!!” (or whatever) on their marketing and packaging, and with PC sales enjoying a pandemic fueled resurgence, having something new and shiny to sell is going to make OEMs *very* happy.

7. Will Sun Valley turn Teams integration up to 11?

Mary Jo Foley mentioned that Microsoft had told Bloomberg a bit more about what to expect on June 24th. Here’s the quote: “The new software will include changes to the design, added opportunities for creators and developers via the Windows app store, and ways to more easily build connections between users and communities they care about, the company said.” (Italics ours). This sounded to Mary Jo, Thurrott and Leo Laporte like Teams built into Windows, and we have to agree, although like everything else, we’ll have to wait until the 24th to find out.

8. Will Windows Insiders get to test the new Windows? And when?

Again, Microsoft provided Bloomberg with some hints, saying “The software will be rolled out to so-called Windows Insiders who sign up to test new products after the event, and is likely to be released widely this fall.” Whether this means that Insiders will be able to test a potential new “Windows 11” channel, or just that some new features will start showing up in Dev channel builds, we’re not sure. Anyway, be prepared to mash some refresh buttons if Microsoft does open up “Windows 11” to new testing. Fair warning.

9. (Just like Windows, we skipped 9 ? )

10. Oh and one more thing, what’s this about a new Store?

What Satya Nadella really said in his one minute mention of “the next generation of Windows” at Build was this: “And soon, we will share one of the most significant updates to Windows of the past decade to unlock greater economic opportunity for developers and creators.”

Sure, you can read this as “one of the most significant updates to Windows of the past decade,” but it sure sounds like Nadella was talking specifically about changes coming to the Microsoft Store. Back in April, Microsoft announced that it was dropping its cut on game sales in the Store from 30% to just 12%, and more information has surfaced about changes coming to the Store, far more than just a Sun Valley UI refresh. According to Zac Bowden, the new store will:

• Allow developers to submit unpackaged Win32 apps to the Store
• Allow developers to host apps and updates on their own content delivery network (CDN)
• Allow developers to use third-party commerce platforms in apps

Now Microsoft has tried to reinvent the Store model before, most notably with Windows Phone, and we know how that went. It has also tried recently to push, without much success, PWAs as a way to break through the walled gardens of the Apple and Google Play stores. Even without a new selling model, however, the Microsoft Store is in desperate need of a revamp, so this can only come as good news.

We can’t wait until June 24th (or whenever the leaks start showing up before then) to find out what all the commotion is about. What do you think will happen? Is the next generation of Windows “Windows 11,” or something else entirely? Let us know what you’re expecting in the comments below.

Microsoft Yammer is getting a new feature that will allow approved users to post on behalf of someone else in their organization. The feature is currently in development, and it is expected to start rolling out globally later this month.

This update will enable any Yammer user to assign other people in their network as their delegate or delegate manager. These delegates will be able to start a new conversation or respond to an existing one on behalf of the delegator in the Yammer integrated experience in Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and Outlook. However, the delegate will not be allowed to send private messages.

The new delegation experience can be helpful for team leaders who can’t post regularly to engage with their followers or communities. The feature will be enabled by default, and Office 365 admins will not be able to turn it off in their network.

Microsoft’s Yammer has seen a number of new features and integrations added over the past few months, including new Yammer experiences in Teams and the ability to share SharePoint pages with Yammer communities. Additionally, the enterprise social networking service now provides real-time insights to organizers during Live Events.

The Power BI Windows 10 has been updated this week with a new home page design that’s currently in beta. During the preview period, the new design can be turned on and off by clicking on the “New look” toggle at the top right corner of the app.

According to the team, the new home page serves as a centralized hub for all Power BI content, with frequently accessed items sitting at the top of the home page. By clicking on the ellipsis menu available on every item in the Frequent strip, users can access quick actions such as open, pin, or favorite.

A Quick access table is also available at the bottom of the home page, giving users access to recent, favorite, shared, and other items. A shortcut to this new homepage has also been added to the left navigation pane, making it easy for users to access it from anywhere within the app.

This new update should also bring some performance improvements to the Power BI app for Windows 10. “As part of building the new look we also built some of the app’s infrastructure for caching, background processing and more,” the team explained. You can download the app on your PC with the link below.

Download
QR-Code

Power BI

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

The XPS 13 has always been one of the best Windows 10 laptops you can buy for your money. With its signature Infinity Edge display and a woven glass and carbon fiber interior, it has been hard for other laptop makers to beat. But how can Dell make it even better? By introducing an OLED model, that is.

With a new OLED model, the perfect laptop is now even more perfect. Dell was kind enough to send us the new OLED model of the XPS 13 9310 for review, and it is quite the laptop to drool over. Here’s a look at why this new XPS model with a bright and lively display has us so excited.

Specs, pricing, and ports

Our review unit is one of the higher-end models. It comes configured with the 11th generation Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB solid-state drive. The 3.5K (3456 x 2160 resolution) display is also touch-enabled, though it doesn’t work with a pen. If you want that pen functionality, you’ll have to go for the XPS 13 2-in-1, which we previously reviewed.

Anyway, this specific configuration is available for $1,950 over at Dell.com. If you’re hoping to buy the OLED model you’ll have to pay $400 extra (included in that listed price above.) The OLED also only comes in the 3.5K resolution option, so you’re getting extra pixels for the $400, helping make multitasking on the screen a bit easier.

The ports on the OLED model as the same as all other versions of the XPS 13 9310. The only big difference is the display. This means that you’ll still find two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a microSD card slot, and a headphone jack. Those Thunderbolt 4 ports will be handy if you’re planning to use an external GPU, for a boost beyond the integrated Iris Xe graphics on the XPS.

For such a thin and light laptop, this has actually become the new standard. Other publications point out the lack of USB-A or HDMI as a bummer for the XPS 13 lineup, but with a laptop so thin, it’s hard to include full-size ports as it is. Dell gets that and includes a USB-C to USB-A dongle in the box for you.

As is routine in most laptop reviews in 2021, we’ll also touch on the webcam, microphone, and audio setup here, too. This laptop comes with a widescreen HD 720p 2.25mm webcam. It also sports a dual-microphone array powered by Waves, as well as stereo speakers professionally tuned with Waves MaxxAudio Pro.

The experience of all that is the same as the XPS 13 2-in-1, down to the Windows Hello support in both the webcam (for face logins,) as well as the fingerprint reader in the power button. 1080p webcams are rare in laptops, and with the webcam living in the tiny bezel up the top of the laptop, it probably would have been tricky for Dell to upgrade the sensor as it is.

We wished the quality was better, but it still is good. We had no complaints about the webcam or audio quality in our workflow of Teams calls, and video chats with family on Skype. If anything, the OLED screen only makes everything feel more realistic, but more on that later.

Design

The minute you take the XPS 13 out of its box, you’ll be wowed by its design. There’s nothing new here over the other models, but first-time XPS 13 buyers who opt for the OLED option should be prepared to be amazed.

While other laptops sport magnesium, aluminum, or even titanium, Dell goes for a hybrid of materials that make the XPS 13 stand out at a coffee shop or anywhere you go. It also makes the laptop worth the pretty penny you’re paying for it.

The XPS 13 is cut from a block of aluminum in two pieces, so it’s more durable than a laptop that’s pieced together with one. On the outside of our review unit, you’ll find a frost-colored aluminum lid. Then, on the inside, the stunning “Arctic White” finish with a luxurious-feeling glass-coated carbon fiber material on the palm rests.

This XPS definitely looks different from the silver-on-silver, and the black-on-black laptops that we’re used to here at OnMSFT. The diamond-cut sidewalls only top it off, shining bright as we slid our fingers through it after our initial unboxing. Plus, since these are premium materials, there is no flexing, bending, or creaking to deal with. This is a premium laptop that is the real deal.

Much like we found with the XPS 13 2-in-1, Dell’s design choices keep this XPS model quite thin and light. It weighs in at 2.8 pounds and is 0.58 inches thick. That’s pretty much standard across what most laptop makers offer these days.

You’ll probably barely feel any difference over a MacBook Pro, an HP Spectre, or a Surface Laptop 13-inch. It’s light enough to carry around with one hand, and the lid is even easy to open with one hand.

Touchpad and keyboard

We had some complaints about the keyboard when we reviewed the XPS 13 2-in-1, but thankfully, the standard XPS 13 is much better on this front. It features a regular traditional keyboard and not the Macbook-like Maglev keyboard found on the 2-in-1 version.

The keyboard is soft, and our fingers easily skated between keys without harsh clicking feedback as we sped our way through Bing’s typing test. We got to around 80 words per minute. Basically, this is super comfortable to type on. Dell says you’ll get 1.0mm of travel, which is pretty good for a laptop this small.

We just have one complaint, and it is about the backlighting. Since the keycaps are white, and the keyboard letters black, the letters might be a bit hard to see when the backlighting is turned on. It will wash out the black with the white LED lighting in some conditions.

The Trackpad, though, is great. We can’t complain about that. It is large, smooth, and supports Microsoft’s precision drivers for gestures and more. It is also slightly offset from the center, leaving our palms more place to rest when typing.

Display

As we hinted at the top of our review, the OLED screen is what makes this XPS laptop different. Sure, you can find other laptops with OLED displays (we reviewed an HP Envy with one last year,) but most aren’t as immersive as Dell’s.

Other laptops are flanked by an ugly bottom bezel, or thick side and top bezels. The displays also are in the boxy 16:9 aspect ratio, which isn’t good for multitasking. The rare exception is the HP Spectre x360, which has a 3:2 aspect ratio OLED option. But again, that’s a convertible and not a traditional clamshell laptop like the XPS.

On the XPS, things are different. Dell managed to squeeze a 13.4-inch  “Infinity Edge” display in an 11-inch size, for a 91.5% screen-to-body ratio. It’s also formatted in the 16:10 aspect ratio, which is taller and allows more room to stack windows side by side.

As we’ve explained before, that makes multitasking, watching movies, and consuming media quite immersive. The OLED panel only improves on that and makes for a really breathtaking experience that you need to see to believe.

Compared to the standard LCD panel you’ll get on the regular XPS models, there are a lot of benefits. The panel has a 100,000:1 contrast ratio and covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. It even is VESA Display HDR 400 certified, and brightness can get to around 380 nits in our testing.

These numbers are all common for OLED panels found in other laptops. For you, it will mean that colors are more vivid and lively especially when it comes to black colors.

But enough of the numbers. To test this OLED panel, we went to YouTube and searched up for nature videos. The results had us surprised when we put the XPS 13 2-in-1 right alongside the OLED XPS 13.

In scenes with a forest and water, the greens and blues looked more life-like and colorful on the OLED XPS. In a scene with a sunset in a forest, the oranges popped right out against the black of the leaves on a forest floor. We asked our readers if they could tell the difference between the OLED XPS and the regular XPS 2-in-1 based on just a single photo, and indeed they were. OLED is really noticeable when the two are side by side.

What better way for me to catch up on all those episode I missed of NBC'S Debris than to watch on the OLED XPS 13? Pictures don't do this justice. Once you use an OLED screen it's hard to go back. You can see the smallest of details. Everthing just looks SO REAL. pic.twitter.com/fp81DBDpNN

— Arif Bacchus (@abacjourn) May 31, 2021

We also enabled HDR (off by default in Windows 10 to save battery) and watched episodes of NBC’s Science Fiction Drama Debris and the results were stunning. In such a dark-themed show, the faces of the characters were true to real life. We could make out the fine details in the makeup and fake scar on one character’s face.

Outside of multimedia, the OLED panel makes typing in our CMS and browsing the web quite pleasing. Text looks more clear, and images on web pages are more vibrant. Going back to the LCD on the XPS 13 2-in-1 was hard, and we instantly noticed the lack of colors and contrast on the regular XPS.

Performance

Configured with the 11th generation Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB solid-state drive, this XPS OLED model is no joke. We like to talk about this in real-world use. There is one word when it comes to performance on this laptop — amazing.

Intel’s 11th generation Core i7 processor makes a lot of gains in terms of graphics and productivity. The XPS was able to handle our daily flow of 20+ media tabs in Edge just fine. It also outputted a 47-minute long (3 GB worth of data) and 1080p podcast video in Filmora in just 22 minutes. That’s double the time on our dedicated gaming laptop and video editing machine, but considering there is no GPU inside the XPS, that’s quite the feat.

There’s also no fan noise here either, and the XPS stayed cool and quiet throughout day-to-day use, and only got hot when encoding videos. Dell is using dual fans to spread heat over a larger area and a single heat pipe with a single evaporator and dual condenser. Hidden exhaust vents in the hinge also help with airflow and a slight ramp aids in lifting more heat out. This all definitely does the job and keeps the laptop at a manageable temperature.

Intel Core i7 11th Gen and Iris Plus is no joke. This XPS 13 was able to punch out a 45 min 1080p podcast (3GB worth of data and video files and B-roll and audio) in about 22 mins. My dedicated video editing machine with a NVIDIA graphics does it in half that time. Not too bad. pic.twitter.com/uMV00U8Hk3

— Arif Bacchus (@abacjourn) May 29, 2021

As for gaming, in Fortnite, the XPS punched out around 25-32 frames per second, which is perfectly playable on medium settings. If you’re looking for more dedicated benchmarking tests, we point you to notebookcheck.org, which runs the full suite of paid benchmarking software, out of our typical range. But trust us, this is a beast of a machine for something that doesn’t have a dedicated GPU inside.

Battery Life

With an OLED panel and 3.5K resolution touch screen, you can expect the XPS 13 to take some big hits to battery life. This XPS has to spend a lot of power to fulfill the needs of all those pixels. Generally speaking, for productivity, which includes web browsing, working on Word, and other apps, we got to around 7.5 hours of battery life. It’s a big difference from our XPS 13 2-in-1, which pushed past 10 hours in our previous review.

We got to these numbers with our settings put the way Dell-recommended us (dark mode turned on in Windows 10 along with a dark wallpaper, HDR disabled when not needed.) We also had the brightness turned down, to a still viewable percentage of around 20 during these tests.

These settings are also chosen because of how OLEDs handle blacks by shutting power off to pixels to save energy. Switching things to light mode only worsened battery life a bit, kicking things down a couple of minutes to nearly 6.5 hours in our tests.

For multimedia, meanwhile, the XPS 13 OLED managed to push us through a binge-watching session of NBC’s Debris. We got through three and a half one-hour episodes of the show before the XPS 13 died on us.

In this case, we had HDR turned on, and the brightness was pushed up past 30% for the best viewing pleasure. Turning HDR off pushed us through another 4 episodes on a single charge.

All in all, there are some expected sacrifices with the OLED display. It’s not a Dell problem either, as we had a similar hit in battery life when we reviewed the OLED HP Envy 15.

Buy if you’re into color accuracy and details

If you’re into either light photo or video editing, or just really love watching movies and streaming content on your laptop, then this XPS 13 with OLED is a must-buy for you. There will be some sacrifices when it comes to battery life, but it will be overall worth it for you.

This laptop punches out some incredible-looking images and videos that will feel quite immersive thanks to the near bezel-less design. The $400 upcost also means that you’ll get more pixels, too, which not everyone might need, but this is one beautiful laptop to look at.

Microsoft today announced a few new improvements coming to the font rendering system in the Edge browser, including contrast enhancement, gamma correction of text, and more. These updates are currently available for Edge Insiders in the latest Edge Canary builds.

“Today we are excited to announce improved font rendering in the latest Canary builds of Microsoft Edge on Windows. We have improved the contrast enhancement and gamma correction to match the quality and clarity of other native Windows applications. Font rendering will also now respect user ClearType Tuner settings when applying text contrast enhancement and gamma correction,” the Edge Insider team explained.

This update is currently hidden behind an experimental flag and can be enabled by searching for “Enhance text contrast” in edge://flags. Once found, users will need to enable the feature and relaunch the web browser. Finally, head to the Start menu and then search for “Adjust ClearType text” in order to experiment with different contrast and gamma settings to choose the one that works best for their monitor.

The improved font rendering experience is now rolling out in preview in Microsoft Edge Canary version 93, though users need to manually opt-in. Microsoft noted that it will soon be enabled by default in Edge 92, which is expected to hit the stable channel in July 2021. The firm is planning to bring these changes to all Chromium-based browsers to provide a “consistent font rendering experience “ on Windows. Let us know in the comments below if this update has improved the reading experience in Microsoft Edge.

It’s official, Microsoft will talk about the future of Windows at a dedicated event on June 24 featuring CEO Satya Nadella and Chief Product Officer Panos Panay. The Microsoft CEO previously teased “the next generation of Windows” at the company’s annual Build developer conference last week, and we won’t have to wait much longer to see what’s in the pipeline for Windows 10.

In the past couple of months, we’ve written quite extensively about the big “Sun Valley” design update expected to ship later this year with Windows 10 version 21H2. We’ve seen some traces of Sun Valley in recent Windows 10 preview builds, but the company has yet to officially discuss its new design choices for the desktop OS.

Looking forward to June 24th, hope you’ll join us! #MicrosoftEvent https://t.co/bDONj8sPL4 pic.twitter.com/551P6wLY9z

— Panos Panay (@panos_panay) June 2, 2021

With Surface inventor Panos Panay now overseeing Windows development at Microsoft, it’s probably time for the designer to leave its mark on the OS, just like what Jony Ive did at Apple in the past decade for iOS and macOS. Even though Windows 10 is nearly six years old, there are still many design inconsistencies across the OS as well as some legacy components that have yet to be fully replaced by modern apps.

Microsoft’s big Windows 10 event will kick off at 11 AM ET on June 24 and it will be live-streamed, but you can already add it to your agenda. This is probably going to be a big moment for the history of Windows, especially after Microsoft recently announced that it had shelved Windows 10X to integrate its various innovations into the regular Windows 10 OS.

Microsoft announced this morning that it has acquired ReFirm Labs, a US-based provider of IoT security solutions, for an undisclosed amount. The company is known for developing new methods for detecting security flaws in IoT devices, and its Binwalk (formerly Centrifuge) platform has become a popular tool for extracting firmware.

Microsoft plans to use ReFirm Labs’ expertise to bolster its Azure Defender for IoT platform, which helps secure customers from the chip to the cloud at a time where attacks against cloud-connected devices are on the rise. In a recent survey of 1,000 security decision-makers commissioned by Microsoft, 83% of them had experienced some level of firmware security incident, but only 29% were allocating resources to address firmware security issues.

“ReFirm’s firmware analysis technology will advance Microsoft’s existing capabilities to help secure IoT and OT devices via Azure Defender for IoT which was recently enhanced with technology from our acquisition of CyberX. Together, we will provide device builders and customers the ability to both discover, protect, and assess device risk both at the firmware and network level and then patch devices with an easy-to-use cloud-based solution, explained David Weston, Director of Enterprise and OS Security at Microsoft.

Yesterday, a now-deleted post on the official French Xbox Wire website claimed that Microsoft had a two years console exclusivity for Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision for Gaming. Even though the post was quickly deleted, the information has been picked up by several websites but Microsoft has since confirmed to us that it was inaccurate.

“A blog post was mistakenly published by a local Xbox team that included inaccurate information regarding exclusivity of Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision on Xbox Series X|S. There is no exclusivity agreement of either tech on Xbox. We are proud to partner with Dolby to offer Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision to gamers on Xbox and will have more to share about the general availability of Dolby Vision on Xbox Series X|S soon,” a Microsoft spokesperson told us.

Dolby Atmos has been supported on Xbox consoles for many years now, and Dolby Vision for Gaming is currently being tested with Xbox Insiders. The exclusivity deal that was mistakenly announced in the French Xbox Wire blog post would have meant that Sony’s PlayStation 5 consoles wouldn’t be able to immediately integrate these technologies, but that’s apparently not the case. Sony’s PlayStation 5 does not currently support either Dolby Atmos or Dolby Vision for Gaming.

Dolby Atmos is a great spatial audio technology that can really elevate your gaming experience, though not all Xbox games come with a Dolby Atmos mix. As for Dolby Vision, Xbox One consoles have been supporting the superior HDR format for media content for a couple of years now, but Dolby Vision for Gaming will require an Xbox Series X or Series S console.

Microsoft may have mistakenly shared a screenshot of a redesigned version of its Outlook for Windows email client. The image currently appears In the release notes for the latest Beta channel update for Office for Windows (via Windows Latest) where the company detailed the new Org Explorer Outlook feature that was announced at Build last week.

However, after installing this latest beta version of Outlook for Windows on one of our PCs, this redesigned Outlook app and new Org Explorer feature are nowhere to be found. It’s possible that the Office team announced the feature too early and published the screenshot by mistake, but this redesigned Outlook app looks like nothing we’ve seen before. The image could also well be a mockup as the Outlook app doesn’t even appear in the taskbar at the bottom of the screenshot.

Overall, this new client looks like a mix of the current Outlook app with its familiar ribbon and the new PWA-based “One Outlook” app that Microsoft is currently working on. The left panel with the hamburger menu, app shortcuts, and email folders look to be coming straight from the Outlook web app, and you can also notice icons for settings, notifications, and more in the top right corner of the app bar.

If you pay attention, you can also see that the redesign Outlook app in the background has slightly rounded corners, while the Org Explorer window on top of it still has the regular square corners. Microsoft is rumored to be experimenting with rounded corners for the upcoming “Sun Valley” design update planned for Windows 10 version 21H2 later this year, though we hope that more visible changes are in the card.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella himself teased “the next generation of Windows” at the company’s annual Build developer conference last week, and the company is expected to share more details during a dedicated digital event that could be announced later this month. In the meantime, a new Windows 10 Floating Taskbar menu has been spotted in recent Windows Insider builds.

In March, Microsoft announced its plans to bring Immersive Reader support to SharePoint and OneDrive for Business. The Microsoft 365 roadmap listing suggests that the feature is now rolling out globally to all Office 365 subscribers.

The new Immersive Reader integration will let users access the tool in Word documents and other text files stored in the OneDrive storage service. It’s been a top request from customers, and the feature should help improve the reading experience for people with Dyslexia.

To use this feature in OneDrive, simply select the Word document you want to open and then click Open from the horizontal toolbar. Finally, select choose the “Open in Immersive Reader” option from the dropdown menu. This feature is only available for Microsoft Word documents, and it doesn’t support PDF documents.

As for SharePoint, Immersive Reader is now available as a toolbar-based option for reading SharePoint pages. This means that users will need to click on the Immersive Reader option available in the menu bar to open the page in the tool.

It is important to note that the Immersive Reader integration is rolling out gradually to all OneDrive for Business and SharePoint users, and it may not be available for everyone just yet. The deployment of this update is expected to complete by the end of this month. Let us know in the comments down below if you have already spotted this functionality on your PCs.