Super Dungeon Bros now available for Xbox One, Xbox Live Gold members can get it for free

Super Dungeon Bros from React Games is now available for Xbox One. Also, it is available for free for Xbox Live Gold members this month as part of the Games With Games with Gold program.

Game Description:

Embark on a quest from the gods of rock with heavy metal heroes Axl, Lars, Freddie and Ozzie in Super Dungeon Bros, a fast paced, action focused, rock themed dungeon brawler! Play on your own or with up to 4 friends in couch or online co-op as you raid the deepest dungeons of Rökheim in search of epic loot, hordes of evil undead and the legends of long lost fabled rock stars! Wield wicked weapons with devastating destruction or exploit the punishing puzzles and terrifying traps that will slice and dice foes and bros alike.

You can get it here from Xbox Store.

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Xbox One outsells PS4 for 2nd month in a row in the UK

Tracking firm GfK has revealed that Xbox One outsold the PS4 by 25,000 units for the month of October in the UK. This is larger than than the lead that it had in September, which was only by a margin of 1500 units. The Xbox One sold a total of 99,496 units for the month, capturing 56% of the market in the process. Meanwhile the PS4 sold only 74,630 units, capturing 42% of the market, and the Wii U came in last place with only 3550 units, or 2% of the market.

Thanks to our fans, Xbox One was the best-selling console in October, the second month in a row in the UK, according to GfK Entertainment.

It's great to see such enthusiasm for the new Xbox One S range of consoles including FIFA 17, Gears of War 4, Battlefield 1 and now – for the first time – Minecraft. All of which are available to purchase now. Xbox UK Marketing Director Harvey Eagle said.

Right now Microsoft has the advantage of having the new Xbox One S available, with deal after deal helping to get the console in homes. But with the release of both the PS4 Pro and the Nintendo Switch this holiday season, it may be difficult for Xbox to have a three peat in the market. However if you are in the market for a new Xbox One console in the UK, the Microsoft store has a great deal that nets you the gaming console with select purchases of the Surface Pro 4 or the Surface Book.

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This Week’s Deals With Gold: Madden NFL 17, Borderlands The Handsome Collection and more

This week's Deals with Gold games and add-on deals are now on the Xbox Games Store. It includes popular titles like Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, EA SPORTS NHL 17, Evolve and more. These discounts are valid now through 07 November 2016. Find the full list of titles available on this deal below,

Xbox One:

Content Title	Content Type	Discount	Notes
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection	Xbox One Game	60%	DWG
EA SPORTS FIFA 17 Deluxe Edition	Xbox One Game	30 – 35%	DWG
EA SPORTS FIFA 17 Standard Edition	Xbox One Game	30 – 35%	DWG
EA SPORTS FIFA 17 Super Deluxe Edition	Xbox One Game	25%	DWG
EA SPORTS NHL 17	Xbox One Game	35%	DWG
EA SPORTS NHL 17 Deluxe Edition	Xbox One Game	35%	DWG
EA SPORTS NHL 17 Super Deluxe Edition	Xbox One Game	25%	DWG
Evolve	Xbox One Game	60%	DWG
Evolve Digital Deluxe	Xbox One Game	60%	DWG
Evolve Ultimate Edition	Xbox One Game	60%	DWG
Grim Legends: The Forsaken Bride	Xbox One Game	30%	DWG
Madden NFL 17	Xbox One Game	35%	DWG
Madden NFL 17 Deluxe Edition	Xbox One Game	35%	DWG
Madden NFL 17 Super Deluxe Edition	Xbox One Game	25%	DWG
Maldita Castilla EX – Cursed Castile	Xbox One Game	33%	DWG
Pumped BMX +	Xbox One Game	75%	DWG

Xbox 360:

Content Title	Content Type	Discount	Notes
Bellator: MMA Onslaught	Arcade	75%	DWG
Conan	Games On Demand	80%	DWG
de Blob 2	Games On Demand	85%	DWG
Deadliest Warrior	Arcade	75%	DWG
Deadliest Warrior Legends	Arcade	75%	DWG
EA SPORTS FIFA 17 Standard Edition	Games On Demand	35%	DWG
Madden NFL 17	Games On Demand	35%	DWG
Red Faction: Guerilla	Games On Demand	85%	DWG
Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon	Games On Demand	50%	DWG

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Skype Preview app gets a minor update for Insiders

Microsoft has released a new update for the Skype Preview on Windows 10 for Insiders on the Fast Ring.

The update is minor, featuring settings changes and said to bring improved reliability and less dropped calls.

The main change is improved Setup page in settings, with video now off by default, with a  test video now being included. The Back button in Settings now also takes you home rather than exits the app.

Probably more important, there are now less "connecting screens" which end in dropped calls.

If you are a Windows Insider in the Fast Ring, you can get the latest update for Skype Preview from the link below:

WP-Appbox: Skype Preview (Free, Windows Store) →

Switch to next tab

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Microsoft second most loved brand in the US says Fjord and Accenture study

The Drum reports that after Apple Microsoft is the second most loved brand in USA, according to the proprietary Love Index, developed by analysts Accenture Interactive, and leading design consultancy Fjord.

The score is based on the performance of the brand in 5 key metrics Fun, Relevance, Engaging, Social and Helpful, with companies in US, UK and Brazil being scored by 27,000 consumers.

Accenture found digital giants like Google, Amazon and Netflix outperformed solely analog brands, with the top 10 brands looking like this:

1. Apple
2. Microsoft
3. Netflix
4. Samsung
5. Sony
6. Google
7. Amazon
8. Fitbit
9. Facebook
10. Walmart

Interestingly the list in UK looked very different, reading:

 Netflix, Google, Apple, Samsung, Sony, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Sky, eBay, and Virgin.

Brands did not score universally well in all dimensions, but tended to have strengths in certain sectors. Apple topped the list by being engaging, while Netflix scored for being fun. Amazon hit two dimensions by being helpful and relevant, while Facebook marked itself as engaging. Unfortunately Accenture did not list the strengths of Microsoft, but given their productivity and Xbox brands we suspect Microsoft may have scored well in both the fun and helpful dimensions.

Do our readers feel Microsoft is loved more than Netflix and Google in US or has this survey lost the plot? Let us know below.

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Microsoft announces New Azure Government Documentation

Microsoft today announced the availability of Azure Government documentation which provides guidance that is tailored to Azure Government customers. In this document, Microsoft is highlighting common solutions and guidance on building government specific implementations, as well as information that governments need to know about using services, Marketplace, Portal and PowerShell in Azure Government. In the coming months, Microsoft will be adding additional content on how to build solutions and onboard successfully.

The content can be accessed via three easy ways:

1. Navigate to the new Azure Government Landing Page through the secondary navigation bar.
2. Access the page directly at Azure Government documentation.
3. Select "Azure Government" from the Microsoft Documentation Articles cloud filter drop down menu.

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Mouse Gestures for Edge updated with new gestures

Microsoft has updated their Mouse Gestures extension for the Edge browser to version 0.6.16274.0.

The update adds a number of new gestures as noted in the changelog:

• Now you can use Mouse Gestures to reopen a closed tab, go to your home page, close all tabs to the left or right, or duplicate the current tab.
• New rocking gestures were added: Hold the right-click button as you left-click, or hold the left-click button as you right-click to perform a quick action.
• When you use Mouse Gestures to scroll up or down, scrolling is now smoother, and covers the same distance as your mouse.
• Various bug fixes.

The plugin in a must have if you want to use the browser efficiently. Find it in the store below.

WP-Appbox: Mouse Gestures (Free, Windows Store) →

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Google discloses unpatched 0-day vulnerability in Windows

Google disclosing an unpatched 0-day vulnerability in Windows is not really a new thing, they have been doing it since last year. Microsoft even criticized their behavior for putting millions of Windows users at risk. Google today published a new 0-day vulnerability in Windows which is still unpatched. Google reported it to Microsoft on Friday, October 21st, and as per their 7 day policy, they have disclosed it today. I think their policy for actively exploited critical vulnerabilities is not good for both the software makers and end users. Even after knowing that this vulnerability is particularly serious and it is being actively exploited, they want to publicize it. I don't understand how a software company can fix a security bug in a software which has millions of lines of code and runs on hundreds of millions of machines of different configurations within 7 days.

The Windows vulnerability is a local privilege escalation in the Windows kernel that can be used as a security sandbox escape. It can be triggered via the win32k.sys system call NtSetWindowLongPtr() for the index GWLP_ID on a window handle with GWL_STYLE set to WS_CHILD. Chrome's sandbox blocks win32k.sys system calls using the Win32k lockdown mitigation on Windows 10, which prevents exploitation of this sandbox escape vulnerability.

Hopefully, Microsoft will release a fix for this vulnerability via Windows Update soon.

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Fitbit app now available on the Xbox One

You can now use the Fitbit app for Windows 10 on your Xbox to get updates on your Fitbit stats and see progress toward your daily and weekly goals. You can also change account settings that don't require you to sync your tracker, such as profile information or goals.

You can see all of your stats in the Fitbit app, including steps taken, distance covered, active minutes, hours slept, and your exercise history. You can't set up, sync, or do a firmware update on your tracker. Any functionality that requires interaction with your computer or mobile device, such as notifications, GPS activities, or changing tracker settings and alarms is not available.

The update to version 2.15.747 update brings the following changes:

Change log:

• The Fitbit app is now available to download on Xbox
• Optional new sync mode for use with the Fitbit Dongle; Fitbit Connect "Classic Mode"
• General bug fixes and design improvements

You can get the updated Fitbit app for Windows 10 from the Store link below and on the Xbox from your Xbox Home, navigate to the Store tab. From there you can search for the Fitbit app.

WP-Appbox: Fitbit (Free, Windows Store) →

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Google makes Chrome up to 15% faster on Windows

Google is finally working on making Chrome faster and more reliable on Windows. The search giant today announced in a blog post that Chrome is now up to 15% faster on Windows. This is made possible by Microsoft's Profile Guided Optimization (PGO) technology on Windows which compiles a special version of Chrome that tracks which feature on the browser are used the most. After analyzing this data, PGO optimizes the most used functions for speed, while the lesser used functions are optimized to have smaller (but slower) code. As a result, Chrome's overall performance is much better, which also results in a smaller code footprint.

Thanks to Microsoft's PGO, Google Chrome's startup time increased by 16.8%, new tab page load times increased by 14.8% and the page load time increased by 5.9%. This is quite a substantial increase for Google Chrome on Windows, and the update should make your browsing experience much better.

Google, of course, is not the only company focusing on making your browsing experience smoother and more reliable. Microsoft has been focusing on performance and reliability for its Edge browser on Windows 10 for more than a year now, which is why Microsoft Edge is undoubtedly one of the fastest web browsers out there. Google has also been focusing on performance improvements for Chrome lately — for instance, the company significantly improved battery life in Chrome recently, and it also plans to introduce improvements for memory usage with a future update.

Google stated that Chrome users running the 64-bit version of the browser can enjoy the PGO experience with Chrome 53 — however, if you are using the 32-bit version of Chrome, you can try out the PGO experience with Chrome 54.

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Microsoft announces October Power BI Desktop update

Microsoft today announced the release of the October Power BI Desktop update. This new update comes with several exciting new features including new reporting features, date slicer and snap to grid. They have also included several new analytical features including grouping and a top N filter.

Here's the complete list of October updates:

Report View:

• Date slicer
• Report gridlines and snap to grid (Preview)
• Data label improvements
• Map formatting options
• Improved date axis range formatting

Analytics:

• Grouping
• Binning
• Top N filter
• Include/Exclude data points
• R-powered custom visuals

Data Connectors:

• Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Financials
• OLEDB
• Mixpanel

Query Editing Improvements:

• Support for table parameters in "Invoke Function" dialog

Other Improvements:

• Diagnostic information in the "About" dialog

Read more about these features in detail here.

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Microsoft’s latest Surface Book updates may make it compatible with the new Surface Dial

Late last week Microsoft announced the Surface Studio and it's puck shaped accessory, the Surface Dial. The firm promised users that – much like it's newer Surface Pens and type covers last year – it would be backward compatible with the older Surface Book and Pro 4 devices.

With a new firmware update to the Surface Book which was delivered last week, the firm seems to be taking its first step in that direction.

While the changelog doesn't explicitly mention Microsoft's newest Surfce accessory by name, 5 of the updates to the system components that would enable the Surface Dial to work with the Surface Book are updated with the changelog reading "adds support for upcoming product release." It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

Here's the full changelog:

• Surface Embedded Controller Firmware: v90.1277.256.0 adds support for upcoming product release
• Surface System Aggregator Firmware v90.1335.257.0 adds support for upcoming product release.
• Surface UEFI v90.1327.770.0 adds support for upcoming product release.
• Marvel AVASTAR Bluetooth Radio Adapter v15.68.9046.79 adds support for upcoming product release.
• Marvell AVASTAR Wireless-AC Network ControlleR v15.68.9046.79 adds support for upcoming product release.
• NVIDIA GeForce GPU v21.21.13.6936 improves pen performance in some applications.
• Surface Base Firmware Update v2.0.97.0 improves keyboard reliability when the device resumes operation from sleep.
• Surface DTX v1.3.542.0 improves clipboard and keyboard interoperability.

To download firmware updates for your Surface, follow the following steps.

1. Open the Windows Setting app
2. Navigate to Update and Security
3. Open the "Windows Update" pane and tap "check for updates"

You may need to reboot to apply some updates, but it is a fairly straight forward process.

You can pre-order Microsoft's Surface Dial here from Microsoft's online store.

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Microsoft now offers enhanced control over third-party apps in Office 365

Microsoft today announced a new feature in Office 365 Advanced Security Management that will allow IT to have control over the apps which users can connect to Office 365. With the new  App Permissions feature, IT will know which applications in their network have access to Office 365 data, what permissions they have and which users granted these apps access to their Office 365 accounts.

This is how it works,

1. When someone attempts to connect an application with Office 365, they are prompted to approve the permissions the application needs.
2. But people don't always read the permissions closely, or they may not realize when an app is not in compliance with their organization's policies.
3. App Permissions provides information to IT about which applications in their network have access to Office 365 data, what permissions they have and which users granted these apps access to their Office 365 accounts.
4. Based on this information, IT admins can choose to approve the app or revoke its access to Office 365. If they choose to revoke permissions to the app, it will no longer be able to access the information for any of the users in the Office 365 tenant.

It also allows IT Admins to notify users who have installed the application that is going to be banned.

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‘Blue Dragon’ and ‘Limbo’ are coming to Xbox One via backward compatibility today according to Xbox Spain

Every week we've been enjoying new Xbox 360 titles available for play on our current gen consoles via Xbox One's backward compatibility program, and this week is no different. According to Xbox Spain's twitter account, we'll be enjoying two new titles today on our Xbox One's courtesy of the program, RPG title 'Blue Dragon' and puzzle-platform video game 'Limbo'. Earlier this summer Xbox Head Phil Spencer pretty much confirmed that Final Fantasy inspired 'Blue Dragon' would be coming to the program, but didn't give an exact time frame.

Los retrocompatibles para #XboxOne, cada día mejores. Hoy, 2 joyas. Blue Dragon https://t.co/nhPD6XlFEm y Limbo https://t.co/UqwR5Ymxsv

— Lidia Pitzalis (@LidiaPitzalis) October 31, 2016

or translated:

The retrocompatibles for #XboxOne, better every day. Today, 2 jewelry. Blue Dragon http://ift.tt/2eNdCOm; and http://ift.tt/2f5Eis4 Limbo…

Neither of these titles have been verified for the program as of yet, but we will update our readers as more information becomes available. In the meantime however, you can check out trailers for when both of the titles were released on the Xbox 360.

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Alcatel to launch the Idol 4S with Windows 10 on November 10 for $469 (unlocked)

Back in February of this year, we exclusively reported about Alcatel's upcoming superphone powered by Windows 10 Mobile. One month later, we revealed the Alcatel superphone's name: Idol 4S with Windows 10. And today, a new report claims that Alcatel will finally launch the Idol 4S with Windows 10 next month — on November 10, to be exact.

The Idol 4S with Windows 10 includes a 5.5-incch Full HD AMOLED display made of Dragontrail Glass, a 21MP rear camera, an 8MP front camera, and 4GB of RAM. Under the hoods, there is a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 clocked at 2.15GHz, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage (with microSD support), and a 3000mAh battery. The device also supports Continuum for phones, which is fantastic.

Now, the most important thing about the Alcatel Idol 4S with Windows 10 is the virtual reality headset. The device comes with a virtual reality headset which will allow users to experience virtual reality on their Alcatel Idol 4S with Windows 10 very easily.

Alcatel's Idol 4S with Windows 10 will be available exclusively at T-Mobile in the United States. It isn't known if the company plans on bringing the device outside of the United States, but it'll certainly be quite nice for Windows Phone fans outside of the United States if Alcatel brings the phone to other countries. T-Mobile will be selling the device for $649 (off-contract).

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Carrier billing comes to the Xbox One

Microsoft today announced that the company is bringing carrier billing to the Xbox One. A number of mobile operators around the world are adding support for carrier billing on the Xbox, including O2 and Telenor. If you are an Xbox One or Xbox One S owner, you will now be able to buy games, apps, movies, and more from the Windows Store using your phone. For instance, if you buy Forza Horizon 3 from the Windows Store using your phone number, you will have to pay for the game via your carrier.

Carrier Billing on the Xbox isn't available on all mobile operators, however — if you live in Germany or the United Kingdom and you are an O2 customer, you will be able to use carrier billing to make payments on your Xbox. Additionally, Telenor is adding carrier billing in Sweden, Norway, and Hungry. Other carriers adding support for carrier billing include Beeline (Russia), DNA (Finland), Elisa (Finland), and Swisscom (Switzerland).

To get started with carrier billing, all you have to do is add a new payment method to your account. When you buy a game, you will be able to add a new payment method and use your mobile phone to pay for the product. Once you do that, you will get a verification code on your phone which you will need to enter on your Xbox to authorize the transaction.

Microsoft says the company is working with more partners to bring support for carrier billing to the Xbox One, so don't fret if your carrier doesn't support carrier billing just yet.

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Seagate announces new 512GB SSD Game Drive for Xbox

Seagate today announced the new Game Drive for Xbox SSD, offering gamers fast boot and game loading performance. It comes with 512GB of capacity, the Seagate Game Drive lets gamers store approximately 15 of their favorite game titles and downloadable content.

The Seagate Game Drive for Xbox SSD uses flash storage to improve the gaming experience. Helping gamers get into the action quicker, the Seagate Game Drive reduces waiting at welcome screens and enables quicker transitions between levels in top titles like Forza Horizon 3 and Gears of War 4.

Seagate Game Drive is very easy to setup and installs in seconds. The sleek and stylish aluminum enclosure also complements the Xbox ecosystem. Also, no power cable is required to operate. The Seagate Game Drive for Xbox SSD will be available for $199.99 USD and it will be available in November at Amazon, GameStop and other retailers.

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Microsoft talks about the next generation Dynamics 365 app for Outlook

Microsoft first announced Dynamics CRM App for Outlook with Dynamics CRM 2016. Recently, Microsoft has announced the Dynamics 365 App for Outlook, which will be available in the fall release of Microsoft Dynamics 365.

With this new app, you can view Dynamics 365 information about all your email recipients, link an email message to a Dynamics 365 record with one click, and quickly view your most recently used Dynamics 365 records. You can also take advantage of Dynamics 365 email templates so you don't have to enter the same information over and over. When you're composing an email message, you can also attach knowledge articles or sales literature from Dynamics 365.

This upcoming app will also include integration with calendar. You can track Outlook meetings and appointments, and create Dynamics 365 activities, such as phone calls and tasks—all without leaving your inbox. Finally, you can track your Outlook contacts, link them to Dynamics 365 accounts, and keep these contacts completely in sync.

This brand new Dynamics 365 App for Outlook will work with Dynamics 365 online, as well as on-premises, whether you use Exchange online or Exchange on premises. It will be supported on Outlook for the desktop, Outlook for Mac, Outlook Web Application, and soon on the Outlook app for iPhone.

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Microsoft Edge to get WebAssembly Browser Preview soon

With the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft plans on adding a bunch of new features to Microsoft Edge. There'll be a lot of new features for the browser itself, but Microsoft will be adding a handful of new features to the browser engine with the update. Today, Microsoft announced that the company is actively working on bringing WebAssembly Browser Preview to Microsoft Edge. WemAssembly, for those unfamiliar, it "is a new, portable, size- and load-time-efficient binary compiler target". WebAssembly essentially provides a much better experience on the web — according to Microsoft, it provides a "near-native" experience on Edge. Here's a video showing off WebAssembly in action on Microsoft Edge:

Microsoft says it is close to shipping the browser preview of WebAssembly on Microsoft Edge and ChakraCore (Microsoft's open sourced, cross-platform JavaScript engine for Edge). Limin Zhu, the program manager of Chakra stated:

We've been hard at work developing support for WebAssembly in Microsoft Edge at the open-source ChakraCore project repo. Microsoft Edge and ChakraCore are close to shipping the browser preview, which we expect to come when the full JavaScript APIs are implemented. Over the next couple of months, our team will be focused on bringing the browser preview to Microsoft Edge.

It is worth noting that the software giant is working with Google, Mozilla, as well as Apple on WebAssembly.

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Microsoft explains that investment in Windows Mobile is strategic, not for growth

With Windows 10 Mobile's share of smartphone sales dropping to a fraction of a percent these days many have asked why Microsoft continues to invest in a phone OS  instead of turning all their efforts to other mobile ecosystems or even releasing an x86 smartphone.

In an interview with Mary Jo Foley from ZDNet Microsoft Executive Vice President of Windows and Devices Terry Myerson revealed that the investment was strategic, and a way for Microsoft to keep a toe in the ARM and telephony development ecosystem, rather than taking years again to reboot if they need the technology again in the future.

Myerson said "Technically, there are really two things that are unique about Windows Mobile. One is cellular connectivity and the other one is the ARM processors that are there. And I think both cellular connectivity and ARM processors have a role in the technical landscape of the future."

Myerson noted that "it's super hard, super, super hard to restart," a lesson Microsoft learned from hard experience, presumably when the rebooted Windows Mobile 6.5 to Windows Phone 7 in 2009, an effort which took two years. Creating and certifying telephone stacks which work with 4G and in the future 5G for example would take very long when starting from scratch.

Myerson explained that it was easy to justify investments in growth, but that investment for strategic reasons such as maintaining a capability are much more difficult to defend. "Sometimes, when you're investing into growth. it's easier, but when you're investing for technical strategy or things like that, sometimes people can question it," he noted, but continued "I don't think there's much debate that ARM processors have a role in the future. And cellular connectivity does as well."

Unfortunately it is not clear if Microsoft wanted to maintain their capability simply as a fall back, in case they ever needed to move Windows 10 to ARM rapidly, or if there was a bigger plan for a major come back a few years from now in the smartphone segment. Myerson is of course perfectly right however that closing up Windows 10 Mobile development completely would make both of these scenarios much more difficult.

The question however, for consumers and even enterprise users, is if they want to adopt an OS which Microsoft is merely dabbling in and which, for now, is not the main focus of their efforts.

Read the full interview at ZDNet here.

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Microsoft announces Project Olympus, next generation hyperscale open source cloud hardware design

Microsoft today announced Project Olympus in collaboration with the Open Compute Project (OCP). Project Olympus is Microsoft's next generation hyperscale open source cloud hardware design With this new project, Microsoft is introducing a new hardware development model for community based open collaboration. It is based on the model of open source collaboration that has been embraced for software. Microsoft will be open sourcing their next generation cloud hardware designs when they are approx. 50% complete – much earlier in the cycle than any previous OCP project. By sharing designs that are actively in development, Project Olympus will allow the community to contribute to the ecosystem by downloading, modifying, and forking the hardware design just like open source software.

"Microsoft is opening the door to a new era of open source hardware development. Project Olympus, the re-imagined collaboration model and the way they're bringing it to market, is unprecedented in the history of OCP and open source datacenter hardware," said Bill Carter, Chief Technology Officer, Open Compute Project Foundation.

Not only the community can play a significant role in expanding the Project Olympus ecosystem, OCP Solution Providers will benefit by being able to rapidly assemble hardware solutions specific to product offerings, and the broader community benefits from proven base hardware designs on which they can build value added services.

The building blocks that Project Olympus will contribute consist of a new universal motherboard, high-availability power supply with included batteries, 1U/2U server chassis, high-density storage expansion, a new universal rack power distribution unit (PDU) for global datacenter interoperability, and a standards compliant rack management card. To enable customer choice and flexibility, these modular building blocks can be used independently to meet specific customer datacenter configurations.

"We believe Project Olympus is the most modular and flexible cloud hardware design in the datacenter industry. We intend for it to become the foundation for a broad ecosystem of compliant hardware products developed by the OCP community," said Kushagra Vaid, GM, Azure Hardware Infrastructure.

Read more about this announcement here.

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Microsoft announces new scheduling assistant on Outlook for iOS

Microsoft today announced a new scheduling assistant on Outlook for iOS. This new feature works similar to the scheduling assistant which is already available in Outlook on the desktop. Before scheduling a meeting, you can now easily see your coworkers' availability and find a time that works for everyone. Also, Outlook team has made this process so simple to use on Outlook Mobile.

After you create an event from your calendar, add your coworkers to the People field, tap the date picker. Times that work for everyone show in white, yellow indicates availability for one or more people in the group, and red indicates times with no availability. Next, tap the time picker and just drag and drop until it turns green—indicating everyone is available at that time. Once the time and date are finalized, you can complete the other fields and tap the checkmark at the top to save and send your event.

The feature is currently available on Outlook for iOS when connected to Office 365 or the latest versions of Exchange. This feature will be coming soon to Android and Windows 10 mobile as well.

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Microsoft will be making its cloud services available to non-profit organizations in Bahrain for free

Through Microsoft Philanthropies, Microsoft is making its cloud services (Azure, Office 365, Dynamics CRM, Enterprise Mobility, Power BI) broadly available to eligible nonprofit organizations by offering Azure credits, free access to its services, etc. Microsoft Azure's cloud services help organizations accelerate innovation with integrated intelligence that powers insights and decision-making, supports a broad selection of operating systems, and provides industry-leading security. Microsoft now has now announced that non-profit organizations and non-governmental organizations in Bahrain can take advantage of this offer.

Cloud computing is a vital resource for addressing the world's problems, but for many non-profits, it is an expensive and missing link." said Hamad Al Saie, Public Sector Business Development Manager, Microsoft Bahrain & Oman. "Our Participation in the Charity Technology Innovation Conference 2016 serves to complement Microsoft's philanthropic initiatives which are geared towards creating opportunities for non-profits to help fuel the breakthroughs and discoveries that can change lives. "We are committed to helping non-profit groups to use cloud computing to solve basic human challenges. One of our ambitions for Microsoft Philanthropies is to partner with these groups and ensure that cloud computing is accessible to a greater number of people and meets the widest range of societal needs"

"Technology is directly linked to the development of society, and our vision is to modernize the way NGOs and non-profits work today – thus solve some of the world's biggest societal challenges." said Musab Alshaikh, Official Spokesman of the Charity Technology Innovation Conference 2016. "Microsoft's participation in the Charity Technology Innovation conference is envisioned as a long-term partnership that helps us reaffirm our commitment to the society, paving a way for non-profits to learn, adopt and leverage the technology solutions they need, in order to make a difference today; for a better tomorrow."

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Microsoft announces general availability of Microsoft Flow

Microsoft announced public preview of Flow in April and since then over 117,000 people in 61,000 organizations across 139 countries have used the service to automate their business processes. Microsoft Flow is a cloud-based service that makes it simple to automate common tasks and business processes across applications and services, such as Office 365, Slack, Dropbox, SalesForce.com, Dynamics 365 and many more. Today, Microsoft is announcing the General Availability of Microsoft Flow and it is now available in 42 languages and six regions with 99.9% SLA you would expect from Microsoft.

New features included in this release,

• Use environments to store your flows by geography or team. When you create an environment, you can pick its geographic location. Today, we offer the United States, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Australia, India, and Japan as regions, with more coming soon.
• Microsoft Flow for Android is out of preview.
• Microsoft Flow Admin Center- This centralized management console will make it easy for IT administrators to control the environments inside of their organization.
• In addition to standalone scenarios that make it possible for power users to automate repetitive tasks, Microsoft Flow enriches both Office 365 and Dynamics 365 with new workflow capabilities.

Microsoft Flow is now available in both free and paid service plans. Using premium services like Salesforce and the Common Data Service is exclusive to Microsoft Flow Plans 1 and 2, and each plan has a different limit on the number and frequency of runs. Microsoft also announced that the existing preview customers will receive a six-month free trial of their highest tier plan, Microsoft Flow Plan 2. If you are an Office 365 or Dynamics 365 customer, a Microsoft Flow plan is included with your license.

Read more about this release here.

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Microsoft announces general availability of PowerApps

Microsoft first announced the public preview of PowerApps back in April this year. Since the launch, over 124,000 users from 46,000 organizations in 143 countries have created web and mobile apps using PowerApps. Microsoft today announced the general availability of PowerApps and it is available across 6 regions and in 42 languages, with the 99.9% SLA. Along with the general availability announcement, Microsoft is announcing the following new features,

• You can create an app right from the command bar of a SharePoint Online custom list. That app then appears as a custom view of your SharePoint Online list, and users can access it both from the web as well as from the SharePoint Mobile app.
• Common Data Service is also now ready for global production use. Common Data Service is included as part of PowerApps plans and is the unifying backbone for your business data across PowerApps, Microsoft Flow, and pro-development tools.
• Users will find and run the apps you publish with PowerApps at home.dynamics.com. When you share apps with a user or a security group, they won't automatically be added to the user's app list anymore.
• The PowerApps Admin Center enables admins to create and manage environments, manage permissions that determine who can create apps and flows, manage user roles and permissions for data access, and set up data policies to help prevent loss of business data.
• On-premises data gateway is now generally available for use in PowerApps and Microsoft Flow.
• PowerApps preview app for Windows 10 Mobile coming soon. PowerApps for Windows 10 Mobile will be available in the Store as a preview later this week.

Read more about PowerApps GA announcement here.

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Microsoft now taking pre-orders for new Surface Book model with 512GB SSD and Intel Core i5 processor

Microsoft last week announced the latest generation of Surface Book, designed from the inside out to deliver more than twice the graphics performance of the original Surface Book and up to 16 hours of battery life. Now, Microsoft Store has quietly introduced a new model of original Surface Book device. This new model comes with Intel Core i5 and 512GB SSD. Earlier, 512GB SSD option was only available along with Intel Core i7 CPU. This new model costs $1,999 and you can now pre-order it from Microsoft Store here.

Surface Book is built to run all the professional-grade software you need for engineering, design, and everything in-between. Intel Core processors have twice the power of a MacBook Pro 13" with an optional NVIDIA GeForce dGPU for unmatched graphics performance. And up to 12 hours of battery life for video playback³ keeps you going all day, every day, so you can bring your work anywhere.

Microsoft Store is now offering a discount of $150 for the entry level Surface Pro 4 device in the United States. You can now get Surface Pro 4 with 6th Gen Intel Core m3, 128GB SSD and 4GB RAM for $749. It comes with Surface Pen as well. Students and educators can get extra 10% discount on the price. Check it out here at the Microsoft Store.

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Surface Dial will be supported by these Windows apps

Last week, Microsoft announced Surface Dial, a new peripheral designed for the creative process. It integrates with Windows 10 to work with Surface for a faster and more intuitive way to scroll, zoom and navigate. You can manipulate images, adjust volume, change color hues and much more, all with simple gestures. According to Microsoft, the following apps will support Surface Dial accessory on launch.

Bluebeam (Revu)
Drawboard (Drawboard PDF)
Mental Canvas (Mental Canvas Player)
Silicon Benders (Sketchable)
Smith Micro (Moho 12)
Spotify (Spotify)
Staffpad (StaffPad)
Windows (All)
Word, PPT, Excel (Office Win32)
OneNote (UWP version)
Windows Maps
Plumbago
Sketchpad
Groove Music
PewPew Shooter
Microsoft Photos
Paint

Surface Dial features:

• Press and hold: For menu
• Rotate: Freely/continuously (both directions); 0.30 N-cm resistance torque
• Click: Activates a momentary switch with 300g force; Rotate detection functional in up and down button positions
• Dynamic feedback: Provides tactile feedback in software adjustable increments
• On-screen detection: Touch digitizer reports the onscreen location through a capacitive pattern (Studio only)

Surface Dial is now available for pre-order today in the U.S. through Microsoft Stores, MicrosoftStore.com, select Best Buy locations and at BestBuy.com, and will be available for $99 ERP USD starting Nov. 10.

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Lenovo to release the Miix 720 Surface 5 killer soon

While Microsoft has decided to postpone the update to their Surface tablet line till next year, it appears Lenovo is getting ready to deliver a new iteration of their Surface clone in time for the Holiday season.

Winfuture.de has managed to obtain pictures and specs for their new PC tablet, the Lenovo Miix 720, which includes updated specs and new features which should make it competitive with Microsoft's still announced new Surface Pro successor.

The Mixx 720 features Intel's latest "Kaby Lake" processor available in i3, i5 or i7 versions (2.4 to 3.5 GHz with turboboost), 4-16 GB RAM, 128 to 1024 GB storage, a 12 inch high-resolution 3:2 2880×1920 pixel display with Gorilla Glass 4, multiple USB ports, a stylus with 2048 pressure levels and Windows Hello via an iris scanning infra-red camera. A keyboard cover is also available which now comes with a backlight.

The tablet also has a 1 megapixel front and 5 megapixel rear camera.

See all the specs below:

The tablet is differentiated by having a full suite of ports, including a USB 3.0 and 2.0 in full-size, and also USB type C with Thunderbolt 3 support.

The 41-watt battery with 5319mAh should support up to 8 hours run time and the whole package is only 8.9 mm thick (14.6 mm with the type cover).

See images of the tablet below:

Gallery

The package should be at least 1000 Euro, but still cheaper than Microsoft's own Surface line.

I've in general had good experiences with my Lenovo Yoga PCs, and am seriously considering this device. Are any of our readers also tempted?

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Microsoft planning a cross-platform bot directory

Speaking to Venturebeat, Lili Cheng, general manager of FUSE Labs at Microsoft Research explained one of the major problems Microsoft wanted to solve for developers was the discoverability for their new chat bots.

Microsoft's Bot Framework  is being used by 45,000 developers but Cheng noted that surveys found one of the top issues for developers was "Hey I made this bot, how am I going to get it promoted?"

Microsoft therefore wanted to work on an open cross-platform bot directory which did not just include bots made with their own technology but was more a kind of bot search engine.

Cheng noted: "We're still trying to figure out how that would actually work in practice. I think there's some startups doing, not authenticated directories but here's a list of bots that you can use that can have been trusted in these disparate networks. Anyway my hope is that we can do something more like search does with web pages than like a very closed directory that just Microsoft owns, and we kind of lean that way anyway because we support all these channels."

He also wanted platforms to work together to make it easier for developers to create one bot which can work on a variety of different services with Cheng noting "Things will be different just because systems are different, but you know there are way more chat apps than there are like web browsers or mobile platforms, so you know should you be writing a bot for Kik or Telegram or Slack or Facebook or Skype or Skype for Business or web chat or your mobile app, like there's so many channels. You want the innovation to be in the bot you're creating, not in figuring out how to make it work across all these different systems, so my dream would be that we could work with a lot of the other people and say let's standardize on the way we do cards or the way we're understanding buttons or the way we're thinking about authentication mechanisms or identification, just so people don't have to worry so much about that."

Microsoft was still developing their bot directory idea with Cheng noting "We don't have a date, I think we need to probably focus a little more on that topic and I think we would definitely want to do it with other companies, we just need to get together and push that topic I think."

Read more at Venturebeat here.

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Surface Studio envy? This HP All-in-One is $250 off

Today there no device quite like the Surface Studio, but it does have it roots in some way in the traditional All-in-One PC, and if you talents will never stretch to creating pieces of art having a PC that converts into a drafting table may a bit more than required.

If however the Surface Studio made you look with new eyes at the All-in-One category HP has a good deal for you.

They have discounted their HP Pavilion All-in-One Desktop – 27-a040se by $250.

The HP 27 features a Core i7 Skylake processor, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB Hybrid HDD and a 27 inch 1080P screen. See the full specs below.

• Windows 10 Home
• Core i7-6700T 2.8GHz Skylake 35W; 4 Cores; HT enabled; 8MB Shared Cache; 14nm; Max Memory Speed: DDR4-2133/DDR3L-1600
• RAM 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 2133
• 27 FHD ZBD WLED Anti-Glare (1920×1080) IPS, 300nit, 14ms, 72%, LVDS
• 1TB 5400 RPM 2.5 SATA 6G w/ 8GB cache Solid State Hybrid Drive

It does not do any fancy tricks with its hinge, but the device still looks pretty nice, and HP is currently selling the desktop for only $1,099 with further discounts with the offer code 200NBOCT .

The deal runs till the 12th November. Grab it at HP here.

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Gameloft’s Asphalt Xtreme private beta shows up in the Windows Store

Gameloft's latest racer, Asphalt Extreme, is nearing its Windows Phone and Windows 10 release, with the private beta of the app showing up in the Windows Store.

Asphalt Xtreme is the second spinoff in the Asphalt series. It will feature a lineup of rally cars, monster trucks and a vast amount of snowy tracks and dirt. You can pre-register for this game to unlock the Predator X-18 Buggy, the ultimate reward of Asphalt Xtreme.

The game description reads:

NO ROAD. NO RULES!
Break through to uncharted territory with Asphalt Xtreme! Rip around dunes, charge through canyons, drift across the mud and fly past your opponents to reach the finish line!

• 35 MONSTER MACHINES: Release your inner beast in a Monster Truck. Feed your passion for speed with a Muscle Car. Or just go wild on the track as you drive a Buggy, Pick-up, Rally Car, SUV or Truck!
• UNLEASH YOUR STYLE: All 7 off-road vehicle types deliver unique flavours of gameplay, allowing you to constantly discover fresh and challenging experiences.
• THE BIGGEST BRANDS: We've unleashed Jeep, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Predator, Dodge, Chevrolet and loads more of off-road racing's best licensed motor machines.
• REAL-TIME MULTIPLAYER: Go head-to-head online in 8-player simultaneous free-for-alls! You'll be facing some tight competition, so stay on top of your game!
• THE WORLD IS YOUR RACETRACK: Race in a variety of exotic locations from all over the globe, including the glaciers of Svalbard, the dunes of the Nile Valley, the lush jungles of Phuket in Thailand, the industrial might of Detroit's steel mills & more.
• CUSTOMISE YOUR RIDE: Want to pump up your motorsport car's power? Feel like decking out its style? There's an impressive collection of custom setups and upgrades for all of that.
• GET THE FULL OFF-ROAD EXPERIENCE: With 5 game modes, 400+ Career events, 500+ Mastery challenges, Limited-Time Events and more on the way, prepare for a truckload of new content!
• AN UNRIVALLED EXPERIENCE: You won't experience graphics more intense, or mind-blowing nitro action this fast, in any other racer. So gas up and take off!

See the trailer below:

You can pre-register here.

The app can be seen, but of course not downloaded, at the link below:

WP-Appbox: BETA-Asphalt Xtreme (Free⁺, Windows Store) →

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Deal: Titanfall 2, Xbox Wireless Controller and Cinch Sac bundle for just $89

If you didn't buy Titanfall 2 game yet, this is a great deal. You can now get Titanfall 2 Xbox One game + Xbox Wireless Controller + Cinch Sac bundle for just $89.

Pilot and Titan unite as never before in Respawn Entertainment's highly anticipated Titanfall 2. Experience a single player campaign that explores the unique bond between man and machine. Dominate the competition in multiplayer action, featuring six all-new Titans, enhanced Pilot abilities, an expanded customization system, new maps, weapons and much more

Experience the enhanced comfort and feel of the new Xbox Wireless Controller, featuring a sleek, streamlined design and textured grip. Enjoy custom button mapping and up to twice the wireless range. Plug in any compatible headset with the 3.5mm stereo headset jack. And with Bluetooth, you can play your favorite games on Windows 10 PCs, tablets, and phones.

Find the deal here from Amazon.

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Deal: Microsoft Surface Pro 4 with Intel Core m3 and 128GB storage for $749

Microsoft Store is now offering a discount of $150 for the entry level Surface Pro 4 device in the United States. You can now get Surface Pro 4 with 6th Gen Intel Core m3, 128GB SSD and 4GB RAM for $749. It comes with Surface Pen as well. Students and educators can get extra 10% discount on the price.

Surface Pro 4 runs all the desktop software you rely on, while being lighter than ever starting at 1.69 pounds. The 12.3-inch PixelSense display has extremely high contrast and low glare. Go from laptop to tablet with the multi-position Kickstand and keyboard. And jot down notes and ideas with Surface Pen and improved Type Cover. When you need to connect to other devices and accessories, Surface Pro 4 has advanced wireless capabilities and all the ports you need.

You can check it out here at the Microsoft Store. This offer is valid from October 30, 2016 to November 12, 2016, while supplies last.

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Microsoft brings Data Loss Prevention Policies to Microsoft Flow

Microsoft today announced that they are bringing Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies that define which services business data can be shared with when using Flow. This will allow organizations to protect sensitive business data, hosted in enterprise services such as SharePoint and Dynamics 365, from leaving the company via consumer services such as Dropbox and Twitter. The new Microsoft Flow Admin Center will enable administrators to create DLP Policies for their end users. Microsoft also noted that a Flow or PowerApps P2 license is required to create these policies and the existing Flow Preview users will automatically receive 6 months of a free trial, while all new users will receive 3 months of a free trial.

Learn more about this new feature here.

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Half the apps removed from the German Windows Store and no-one noticed

We reported earlier than nearly 100,000 apps has been removed from the Italian Windows Store after developers failed to update their apps with age ratings.

Now respected German site Dr Windows reports that the German Windows Store has seen an even crueller cut, losing 174,203 apps since the 5th October, leaving only 164,436 applications from the earlier 5th October total of 328,639 .

Dr Windows however makes the interesting point that most Windows users did not notice this decimation, since very few to no high-profile apps were affected, suggesting once again that it was really orphaned apps with little use and support which were removed.

In general Windows and Windows Phone users are responding positively to the news, with reports that store search now works much better, and are less clogged with spam apps.

It is certainly true however that we still need to see proof that Microsoft's UWP strategy will make the Windows Store a contender with other leading app stores, or if the future of Windows will remain inextricably linked to Win32 x86 apps.

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HoloLens gets more battlefield use by Ukranian military

We have already seen the HoloLens mixed reality headset put to military use by the Israeli Defense Force for advanced battlefield planning.

Now Ukrainian company LimpidArmor has shown off a new application for the augmented reality device on the actual battlefield to improve the field of view of tank commanders without exposing them to additional risk. The technology was shown off at the Arms and Security show, held in Kiev from 11 to 14 October.

LimpidArmor's hardware and software system uses a HoloLens integrated with a helmet and cameras mounted around the tank to give commanders a 360 degree view of their environment in both optical and thermal and makes this available in real-time.

It also overlays telemetry and other information of the battle environment, both internal and from field commanders. The developers say they also plan to include the ability to control armaments and receive information from drones and other aerial vehicles.

Its features would include:

• Review of 360 degrees (optical and thermal imaging modes) at the distance up to 300 metres
• Streaming video without delay
• Highlighting -allies- and identified -enemy- positions
• Look-lock-launch system
• Automatic target tracking
• Opportunity to target designation and video from UAV systems or other sources

The Ukrainian armed forces agreed to trail the technology in their testing centre and it appears to be progressing very rapidly to market implementation, as tends to happen in war time.

The developers are also looking at civilian versions such as for airline pilots, large industrial vehicles and drone operators.

See more pictures from LimpidArmor below:

Gallery

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