Windows 10 news recap: Amazon to bring Alexa to select Windows PC’s, Microsoft launches, then pauses, patches for Spectre and Meltdown

Welcome back to our Windows 10 news recap, where we go over the top stories of the past week in the world of Microsoft’s flagship operating system.

Amazon to bring Alexa to select Windows PC’s

Alexa is now quite possibly the most famous digital assistant, eclipsing even Apple’s Siri as the go-to mascot for electronic helpers. At CES 2018, Amazon announced that they would be tying Alexa in with Windows 10 PC’s, starting with some select Acer, Asus, HP, and Lenovo machines later this year. Amazon’s move is some direct competition for Windows 10’s Cortana, which is already doing some integration with Alexa to give it a presence on Windows 10 PC’s.

https://twitter.com/amazonecho/status/950472430933422080

Microsoft launches, then pauses, patches for Spectre and Meltdown

Microsoft put out some patches earlier in the week to try and deal with the malicious Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, but there’s one issue: Machines that were running AMD processors were not taking the update very well. Several reports came in after the patch was pushed out saying that computers were becoming un-bootable if they downloaded the patch on an AMD processor. Needless to say this was a huge issue, and Microsoft had to pause the update for anyone that could be affected.

Developers can now add paid subscriptions to apps

Subscriptions have long been a successful way to monetize applications, and Microsoft is helping developers take advantage of that payment method in their Windows 10 apps. Developers will receive 85% of the subscription price, minus applicable taxes for apps. For games, developers get 70% of the subscription price, minus any taxes. This should go a long way towards helping developers appropriately price their products, and make a living off of their work.

Windows 10 Fall Creators Update now fully available

After nearly 3 months since its initial roll-out, the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is now fully available. Microsoft has finished giving every Windows 10 PC the new features and tweaks that the Update brought along – and it should probably be installed for you as we speak. If you still have the Anniversary Update on your computer, you should soon be getting a notification telling you that “Important Updates are pending,” which will prompt you to get the new build.

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