Microsoft expands Windows Store app promotions to MSN.com, Outlook.com, and Skype

Microsoft yesterday announced that they are expanding the "Promote Your App" ad campaigns for Windows app developers to Microsoft premium surfaces such as MSN.com, Outlook.com, and Skype, as well as games like the Microsoft solitaire collection. Previously, "Promote Your App" ad campaigns were limited to other apps in the Windows Store.

MSN, Outlook, Skype and Solitaire collection are used by millions of users daily, and this move by Microsoft will allow developers to promote their apps to wider audience. Microsoft is using machine-learning algorithms for allocation of budget among the Microsoft surfaces. These algorithms start with finding the right set of users who should be exposed to your ad campaign, and then measure the effectiveness of each surface to adjust the target user profiles and budget allocations.

How to get started?

1. All campaigns that use auto-targeting will be universal campaigns bydefault. To use auto-targeting, make sure Automatic is selected for the Audience section of your campaign settings in the Dev Center dashboard.
2. If you wish to create a manually targeted campaign, make sure you choose Universal for the Surface setting in the Audience section of your campaign.

Read more about it here.

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Minecraft Villains Skin pack now available for console editions

Mojang yesterday announced the availability of new Villains Skin Pack for Minecraft console editions. Pocket Edition and Windows 10 players already have access to this pack since last year. Each of these skins is inspired by one of the most evil things in Minecraft – cakes, silverfish, trapdoors to name just a few.

Grab it and join forces with Minecraft's most dastardly denizens: slink from the shadows as the sinister Stronghold Seer, unleash the fury as the ferocious Lava Fiend, or, er, sell silverfish as the monstrous Silverfish Monger. The evilest of all mongers!

Then there's the grotesque Patchkin, the enigmatic Endergaunt, the chilling Eyece, the Terror Spawner, Dungeon Spectre, Slymime and Cake Maniac. There's evil of every flavour: 17 skins in total – the evilest of all numbers!

The pack features 17 skins and costs $1.99.

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The Arrival movie now available in the Windows Store, 2 weeks before the Blu-ray

Last summer's hit sci-fi movie, The Arrival, is now available to purchase from the Windows Store.

When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team – led by expert translator Louise Banks (Academy Award® nominee Amy Adams) – races against time to decipher their intent. As tensions mount between fearful governments, Banks discovers the aliens' true purpose and, to avert global war, takes a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.

Oscar® nominee Jeremy Renner and Academy Award® winner Forest Whitaker co-star in this mesmerizing masterpiece with a mind-blowing ending.

See the trailer below:

Find the movie in the Windows Store here.

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Desktop App Converter tool updated in Windows Store with auto-signing support and more

Desktop App Converter tool was updated recently in Windows Store with new improvements like support for auto-signing and more. The Desktop App Converter (DAC) tool enables developers to bring their existing desktop apps written for .NET 4.6.1 or Win32 to the Universal Windows Platform (UWP). Developers can run their desktop installers through the converter in an unattended (silent) mode and obtain an AppX package that they can install by using the Add-AppxPackage PowerShell cmdlet on their development machine.

Find the full change log below.

What's New in v1.0.6.0:

• Icon Extraction – DAC now automatically uses icons in your app installer to generate visual assets used when your converted app is deployed.
• With the store app you can now use the new entry point 'DesktopAppConverter.exe<arguments>' to run the converter from anywhere in an admin cmd or PowerShell window
• Support for auto-signing the converted apps produced by the Desktop App Converter.
• Support for auto-detecting app dependencies on VC++ libraries and then converting them into AppX manifest dependencies.

Update it here from Windows Store.

WP-Appbox: Desktop App Converter (Free, Windows Store) →

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TVPlayer brings a new UWP TV streaming app to UK Windows 10 users

TVPlayer is a live TV service which allows television licence holders in the United Kingdom to stream 75 free live television channels, including BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Heart TV, Capital TV and The Box.

TVPlayer also offers a "TVPlayer Plus" branded 'no contract, cancel anytime' monthly-basis subscription service for £5.99 which allows consumers access to an additional 30 live streaming television channels, including Gold, Cartoon Network, Discovery Channel, Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2. TVPlayer Plus also allows users to catch up on programmes from the Plus channel line-up.

The company,  which has been around since 2013, has already launched apps for iOS, Android and Apple TV, and has just released a UWP app for Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile, offering desktop and phone users access to the streaming TV service.

In a statement Rob Hodgkinson, Chief Operating Officer of TVPlayer, said:

"We believe that you should be able to watch your favourite TV shows on any device whenever you want, at home or on the go. We are pleased to announce that our audience will now be able to view both our free and premium content across all Windows 10 devices."

The app features:

• Free to use
• Now and Next to see what's on
• 60+ Live channels and access to 30 premium channels.
• Browse channels within the player whilst watching another channel
• Fully optimised adaptive streaming
• Watch on 2 devices at the same time. Maximum 5 devices.
• Support for Continuum for Phones
• All channels are available on Wi-Fi: some channels are also available on 3G and 4G

See screen shots of the app below:

Gallery

Find the app in the Windows Store here.

WP-Appbox: TVPlayer - watch live and catchup TV (Free, Windows Store) →

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Sector 5’s Chrome Books will come with free Office 365 app suite

Chromebooks have been a roaring success in education in USA, due to the curriculum being largely web based. There is however a limit which can be done on the web, and as Roger McKeague, CEO of Sector 5, provider of Chromebooks for education noted,  their "one concern was whether the app ecosystem was robust enough."

Google has addressed this issue by allowing Chromebooks to host Android apps, opening up the devices to millions of applications, including Microsoft's Office 365 suite of productivity apps.

Sector 5 has announced that their new Sector 5 E1 and E2 Chromebooks will run Android Apps, play games like Minecraft, Hearthstone or Clash of Clans.

Sector 5's Chromebooks will now also come with the full suite of Office 365 for free.

They noted that Google's decision to allow Android apps on Chromebooks "brilliantly answers" the app gap issue, and  that the company has now extended their Google Chrome OS Brand Features and Support Agreement for another 2 years.

You can read more about Sector 5's new E1 Chromebooks, now with Office 365, here.

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HP Elite x3 gets another new firmware update

HP has started rolling out a new firmware update for the Elite x3. The latest firmware update takes the software to 0002.0000.0023.0113. This update does not seem to include any new features, but it likely brings some minor performance improvements and bug fixes.

The official changelog for the update isn't available yet, but we'll update this article once it's available.

If you happen to own the Elite x3, you can get the firmware update by heading over to Settings > Update & Security. Keep in mind that the update's availability might vary depending on your region, carrier, and the Windows Insider program you're rolled into.

If you want to get an Elite x3, you can get it Microsoft Store (US) here, and Microsoft Store (UK) here.

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WhatsApp testing new message recall feature

WhatsApp is now testing a new feature in some beta builds of their app for iOS, introducing a new recall feature.

The new message recall feature allows senders to recall messages which have already been sent and delete them remotely. This means that messages sent in error can be safely removed from the receiver's phone to prevent embarrassment, or keep privacy (assuming they have not already been read).

There's no word on when this feature will be rolling out to the public, but we hazard it'll be a few weeks at the least.

Aside from that, WhatsApp is also testing a new moving location feature for groups. This new feature allows users to share their location to group chats for time periods of up to 5 minutes, allowing friends to track each other more easily (yes there are potential privacy issues here, this is what the 5 minute limit covers).

WhatsApp is also testing new status options to take on Snapchat stories. Much like Instagram's implementation of Stories, users will be able to share photos of their day as their status and they presumably wull be visible for a 24 hour period.

While WhatsApp has yet to make a universal Windows 10 app and probably never will, their support for users of al platforms – including Microsoft's is certainty commendable.

You can get WhatsApp for Windows desktop here, and Windows phones from the store link below.

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

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Outlook on Windows is getting ‘real-time’ collaboration for attachments

Microsoft is adding a pretty interesting feature to Outlook on Windows. The company today rolled out a new update for Outlook 2016 to Office Insiders on the Slow ring with a new collaboration feature. The new collaboration feature allows users to work on email attachments in real-time which is a pretty neat feature.

This feature isn't exactly real-time, though. When you upload a file from OneDrive via Outlook 2016 and send the email, the recipient will be able to see the latest version of that file. As a result, if you make changes to that file after sending the email, they will see the updated version. Similarly, if they update the file, you will be able to see the updated version from Outlook 2016.

In addition to the new collaboration feature for Outlook, Microsoft is adding the ability to edit objects in Word with the Surface Pen. If you happen to own a Surface device and have a Surface Pen, you will now be able to use ti to resize, rotate and move any objects on Word. At the moment, this feature seems to be available on Word only but it'll likely arrive on PowerPoint in the near-future.

Here's the full changelog for the update:

• Collaborate on attachments in real time: Uploading email attachments to OneDrive lets everyone work on the latest version of the file. Use the drop-down menu on the attachment to either upload a revised version or save a new version. For more information, see Attach a file to an email in Outlook for Windows.
• Use your pen to manipulate objects: In Word, grab object handles with the Surface pen to resize, rotate, move, and more. Find out how.
• Visio add-in for Database Modeling: Now available for download, the Visio Add-In for Database Modeling add-in helps while planning the creation of a new database or understanding an existing one. Download the add-in now or learn to reverse engineer an existing database into a database model.
• New education templates and diagrams: Students and teachers can use new templates and sample diagrams that cover many subjects, including algebra, chemistry, physics, and more.

Once again, these new features are only available to Office Insiders in the Slow Ring, and you can sign-up for the Office Insider program here. 

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Slack can now be used by large organisations thanks to its new Enterprise Grid

Slack today introduced a major new feature for its platform: the new Enterprise Grid. Slack's new Enterprise Grid is made for big organizations with thousands of employees who simply can't use the "normal" Slack as it would be too messy due to the huge number of employees within the company. Slack's Enterprise Grid hopes to solve that using its new workspaces.

When a large organization creates a new Enterprise Grid, they will be able to create a workspace on Slack. These workspaces are essentially teams within the organization — for instance, there could be a workspace for the accounting team or one for the engineering team. Admins will also be able to create new shared channels which will allow organizations to share the same channel between two or more workspaces. Slack's Enterprise Grid can be used by organizations with up to 500,000 employees.

Slack is also providing security and management features on the Enterprise Grid — as a result, organizations would be able to set policies for workspaces throughout the whole organization. Moreover, companies will also be able to set specific settings for each workspace within their grid, which is going to be really useful. The company is also offering universal search for the whole grid, and the unified search feature will also respect the security policies.

Slack's new Enterprise Grid is quite a big threat to Office 365's Microsoft Teams service which is a direct Slack competitor. Microsoft Teams already tackles this issue as the service lets you create channels under different groups, but Slack's Enterprise Grid seems to offer much better security features for large organizations, along with a better experience as all the different workspaces are separate from each other. Microsoft Teams is still a beta product, so it will get loads of new features in the coming months for sure.

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The Ocean Shadow and Winter Forces Xbox One S controllers come out Feb. 7th

There seems to be one constant with all modern consoles: there's going to be some really fun and varied controller designs out there, often resulting in there being something for just about everyone. That's still true for the Xbox One, which has gotten some great controller variants over the years – and that's not counting all of the things you can create with the Xbox Design Lab. From simpler designs to complex creations for serious gamers, there's a lot – and Microsoft's adding even more.

The new Ocean Shadow Special Edition (on the left) and the Winter Forces Special Edition (on the right)

The two latest additions to the Xbox One S controller lineup (both pictured above) are the Ocean Shadow Special Edition and the Winter Forces Special Edition. They're both continuations of older series of designs, and both have all of the improvements the Xbox One S controller brought to the table all the way back in August, like a textured grip. While the Dawn Shadow brought these enhancements to the Shadow line, this is the first Forces release after the launch of the Xbox One S, making it the first of its line with the improvements.

Both of these controllers will become available at select retailers worldwide on February 7th for $69.99 USD, but you can pre-order them from the Microsoft Store right now by following the links below.

• Ocean Shadow Special Edition
• Winter Forces Special Edition

Do you like these designs? Will you be buying either one? If so, which? Let us know in the comments below!

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Adobe XD gets the ability to import SVGs, and UI Kits on Windows

Adobe brought its Experience Design (aka Adobe XD) software to Windows back in December. During the initial launch of Adobe XD, the app was quite simple and missed a lot of important features. Today, the company released the first update for Adobe XD on Windows with a couple of new features — but don't get too excited yet.

With the January update, Adobe is adding the ability to import SVGs to Adobe XD on Windows. This new feature will allow you to drag and drop SVG images right into Adobe XD, and you will also be able to edit the SVG right from Adobe XD which is pretty neat. In addition to the support for SVGs, Adobe is also bringing the much-needed UI kits to the app which will let you easily access the UI components for Windows, Android, or iOS very easily.

And lastly, the company is also bringing the ability to add grids to artboards which will make aligning objects and text much easier. When you enable the grid on an artboard, new objects will automatically align to the grid.

Even after today's update, Adobe XD on Windows isn't powerful at all. The app is still missing support for layers, which is really the most important feature. There are a couple of other features missing in the app right now, but Adobe says it will add new features over the coming months — so hopefully the Windows app will have feature parity with the macOS app in the coming months.

If you are an Adobe Creative Cloud customer, you can get the Adobe XD app on Windows 10 from the Creative Cloud.

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Stuntman: Ignition, Mad Tracks, and JUJU head to Backward Compatibility

Backward Compatibility lets gamers on the Xbox One play select older titles from the Xbox 360, and the list of available games is growing regularly, with the current number of games participating in the program sitting at over 330. That's an impressive amount, especially when you consider that it's about a third of the Xbox 360's library.

Today's update to the program brings in three more games: Stuntman: Ignition, Mad Tracks, and JUJU. While both Stuntman: Ignition and Mad Tracks are fairly old games – both landed on the Xbox 360 back in 2007 – JUJU is an interestingly recent release. It came out in December 2014, making it an incredibly late title for the system – for a little more context, the Xbox One had released over a year earlier at that point.

JUJU is also interesting in just how much of a departure it is from the other works of its developers at Flying Wild Hog. They're the same studio behind the (rather excellent) Shadow Warrior reboot, and it's proof that they're good at making far more than in-your-face throwback shooters. JUJU's quite the polar opposite of what they're known for, too- it's a family-friendly platformer designed to be enjoyed by people of all ages and skill levels.

Stuntman: Ignition is the sequel to 2002's Stuntman, and (unsurprisingly) puts you in the shoes of a stuntman. Your goal is to perform tricks while driving through courses for movie shoots. It might not be the most advanced game of its age, but it's simple fun despite often being brought down by the trial and error involved.

Finally, Mad Tracks is a racing game inspired by Micro Machines. It's an Xbox Live Arcade title which launched before the original strict file size limit for XBLA titles was lifted, so the final size comes in at a whopping 45MB. Combine that with its age in general and you get a pretty basic downloadable title, but it might help hold you over until the new Micro Machines comes out in April.

You can find each game in the Xbox Marketplace by following the links below.

• Stuntman: Ignition
• Mad Tracks
• JUJU

Do you already own any of these games for the Xbox 360? Are you excited to play them on your Xbox One? Let us know in the comments below!

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Microsoft provides a closer look at the upcoming Microsoft Edge features in Windows 10

With the upcoming Creators Update for Windows 10, Microsoft is introducing a bunch of new features for Microsoft Edge. The company has been testing some of the new Microsoft Edge features with Windows Insiders for a while now, but it's detailing some of the main new upcoming features for Microsoft Edge in a new blog post.

Microsoft Edge is getting two new tab management features to help users with web browsing. The company stated that Windows users are spending more than 50% of their time on the web, but they have trouble managing all the different tabs, which is why the company is introducing a new Set Tabs Aside feature. This feature will essentially allow users to save a group of tabs aside which they can get back to at a later date. Microsoft Edge is also getting a new tab expand feature that allows users to view thumbnails of all their open tabs with a single click.

Along with these two new tab management features, Microsoft is introducing some other pretty big features on Edge with the Creators Update. Firstly, the company is bringing support for WebVR to Edge, which will allow users to view virtual reality content from the web right on their Windows 10 device. This feature will be mostly useful if you buy a Windows Holographic headset once those are available for purchase as you should be able to view VR content from the web on your Windows Holographic headset without having to install any extra software.

Another new feature in Edge that's coming with the Creators Update is support for the new Payment Request API. The new Payment API aims to simplify payments on Microsoft Edge as it connects with your Microsoft Account and lets you use the payment methods which you have already set-up on your Microsoft Account. To put it simply, the new Payment Request API will allow you to buy something online with less than 5 clicks — but it'll take a while until a lot of major websites and online retailers start supporting this new API.

Microsoft also featured other new features in Microsoft Edge such as the new Book Store and support for EPUB in Edge which gives you the ability to read digital books on any of your Windows 10 devices. The company has also made Edge more powerful for extension developer, as it now lets developers use more than 30% APIs on their extensions with the Creators Update than they were able to do with the Anniversary Update.

More importantly, Microsoft is continuing to improve Edge's performance and safety — the company claims Edge is going to be even faster, more efficient and more secure with the Creators Update. At the moment, Microsoft is yet to provide details on the exact performance improvements for Edge, but it'll share more details regarding the improvements sometime soon.

Once again, all of these new features will be available on Microsoft Edge with the upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update, which is expected to be released this April as a free upgrade to all existing Windows 10 users.

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Microsoft sells $17 billion of bonds, its second bond deal in six months

Last year, Microsoft launched the fifth largest corporate bond offering of all time to finance its LinkedIn acquisition. According to IFR data, Microsoft launched a seven-part $19.75 billion deal. Today, Microsoft is selling $17 billion in corporate bonds to refinance its short-term debt. As per SEC filings, Microsoft had about $59 billion of long-term debt at the end of last year. Moody's Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings gave AAA grade to Microsoft's bonds.

As per Bloomberg, Microsoft received at least twice as many orders as it had bonds to sell. Due to the demand, Microsoft also cut its borrowing rates.

The longest portion of the offering, which generally refinanced debt maturing soon, was a $2 billion, 40-year bond with a 4.5 percent coupon that yields 1.4 percentage points above Treasuries, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That's down from initial discussions of about 1.55 percentage points.

You can check out the SEC filings here for more details.

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke about Trump’s executive order on immigration in employee Q&A

Following the executive order by Donald Trump for temporarily halting the admission of refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, Microsoft last week said that they will be providing legal assistance to its employees affected by the issue.

"We believe that immigration laws can and should protect the public without sacrificing people's freedom of expression or religion. And we believe in the importance of protecting legitimate and law-abiding refugees whose very lives may be at stake in immigration proceedings," said Brad Smith, Microsoft President and chief legal officer in a blog post published last week.

Following the criticism from some group of people, Microsoft issued a more strongly-worded statement in response to the Jan. 27 executive order on immigration:

"We believe the executive order is misguided and a fundamental step backwards. There are more effective ways to protect public safety without creating so much collateral damage to the country's reputation and values."

Yesterday, Microsoft joined Amazon and Expedia in Washington State's legal suit against the executive order launched in Seattle federal court. Today, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella hosted an employee Q&A where he offered more personal remarks on this issue. Read it below.

"I always come back to two things. One is the enduring principles and values that drive us as a company, that have made us and this country what it is, and my own personal story.

There is no place for bias or bigotry in any society, in any context. That's where we start from. We will always as a company stand for that diversity and inclusion. And we'll keep pushing at it, pushing at it, and making progress. That's core to who we are. That I believe is core to what America is.

I mean, think about it, I am a product of the fundamental greatness of the United States. It is the ingenuity of the American technology that reached me where I was growing up that even made it possible for me to dream of being able to be part of this journey. It is the enlightened immigration policy of this country that even made it possible for me to come here in the first place, and gave me all this opportunity.

And so I always think about that. I will always advocate for that America that I know and that I've experienced.

And we will do that consistently. We're not going to overreact because of any one incident, but we will always stand for what we believe are these enduring principles that really are going to be about us as a company, but also recognizing that we're a multinational company that is an American company."

Microsoft also mentioned that they will continue to work directly with employees and their families affected by the executive order, including providing them with legal and other assistance. And Microsoft will continue to advocate strongly on these issues with the Administration and with Congress.

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SQL Database Query Editor now available in Azure Portal

Microsoft yesterday announced the availability of an in-browser query tool for Azure SQL Databases and SQL Data Warehouses in the Azure Portal. With the new SQL Database Query Editor, you can access and query your database without needing to connect from a client tool or configure firewall rules.

Query Editor Features:

• If you are the AAD admin for this SQL server, you will be automatically logged in when you first open the Query Editor using AAD single sign-on.
• Many common queries can be run in this editor, such as create new table, display table data, edit table data, create a stored procedure, or drop table. You have the flexibility to execute partial queries or batch queries in this editor.
• You can also load an existing query file into the Query Editor or save your current script in this editor to your local machine.
• Another similarity between this Query Editor and SSMS is the ability to resize the Results pane to get the desired ratio between the Editor and Results sections. You can also filter results by keyword rather than having to scroll through all the output.

Learn about how to access this new Query Editor experience here.

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Madden NFL 17 Super Bowl Edition now available for Xbox One, buy now and save 67%

Madden NFL 17 Super Bowl Edition is now available for download on Xbox Store. As part of the limited-time offer, you can now buy this game now and save 67%.

Driven by the most balanced gameplay yet, the deepest commentary in Madden NFL franchise history, along with fun and fresh ways to play modes such as Ultimate Team and Draft Champions, Madden NFL 17 is the best Madden ever.

Game Description: 

Get the season you always wanted in Madden NFL 17 Super Bowl Edition. Start your championship run with five All-Pro Packs in Madden Ultimate Team, the complete NFL team-building mode featuring your favorite NFL players from the past and present. Take your team all the way in Franchise mode, with all-new ways to play and more decisions to make. Arm your team for gridiron glory on both sides of the ball with innovative ball carrier feedback cues, defender fake out mechanics and a new, authentic defensive AI system providing the most balanced gameplay to date.

Download it here from Xbox Store.

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Napster app updated with a new design in Windows Store

Napster has recently updated their music app for Windows 10 devices. This new update comes with all new design following Windows 10 app design guidelines to some extent.

With a Napster music subscription, you can think of a song and play it instantly. Napster is your new music collection complete with entire albums and artist hits spanning the decades.

App features:

• Dive into a catalogue of millions of songs
• Play full-length albums and top tracks
• Create playlists for any occasion
• Save all your favorites to your library to play whenever, wherever
• Discover new music with Napster radio – listen by Artist or Genre
• Hear it first with new releases every Friday
• Download unlimited songs and playlists to play offline
• Find new music you love with our global Listener Network technology

Download the updated app from Windows Store using the below link.

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

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Microsoft releases new January firmware update for the Surface Pro 3

Microsoft has released a new firmware update for Surface Pro 3 devices, its first for 2017. There are no details on what's new in this update (System Firmware Update – 30 -01 -2017) as Microsoft has yet to update its history page, so we can assume this is most likely just a bug fixing update aimed at smoothing over usability issues and the like.

Nonetheless, you can grab the update from Settings > Update and Security > Windows Update.

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Deal: Fallout 4 now available for just $19.99

Amazon is now offering Bethesda's 'Fallout 4' for just $19.99. This is a great deal as the digital version of the title is still $59.99.

Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, welcome you to the world of Fallout 4 – their most ambitious game ever, and the next generation of open-world gaming.

As the sole survivor of Vault 111, you enter a world destroyed by nuclear war. Every second is a fight for survival, and every choice is yours. Only you can rebuild and determine the fate of the Wasteland. Welcome home

Game Features

• Next generation of open-world gaming
• Developed by Bethesda Game Studios under the direction of Todd Howard
• Fallout 4 is the follow up to the 2008 'Game of the Year' Fallout 3
• First title from the world-renowned studio since the release of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Find the deal here. on Amazon.

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PGA TOUR releases desktop app exclusive to Windows 10

The PGA TOUR yesterday released a new app exclusive to Windows 10. This new app features a real-time leaderboard, quick access to player scorecards and biographical information, along with video highlights and the latest news from PGATOUR.COM. The full course view provides easy entry to a display of each hole, which includes illustrated graphics for each player, along with statistical data relevant to that hole.

App Features:

• Rotating 3D hole and shot visuals
• Data visuals for stats, scores and player performances, including a graphical display of strokes gained.
• Reimagined player scorecards.
• Cortana powered voice commands.
• Windows Ink for on-screen telestration with sharing via Twitter, Facebook, mail, messaging, etc.
• Live Tiles that deliver leaderboards and FedExCup standings to the Windows 10 Start Menu.

"We are excited to work with Microsoft on this desktop app for Windows 10," said Scott Gutterman, PGA TOUR Vice President, Digital Operations. "The new features in this app, such as Cortana, 3D shot trails and the statistics presentation, will provide a heightened means to bring PGA TOUR action to your desktop out of web browser while showcasing the PGA TOUR, our players and our tournaments in an entirely new way."

You can download the app here from Windows Store.

WP-Appbox: PGA TOUR (Free, Windows Store) →

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Offline Maps updated with improved transit coverage and more

Having latest Offline Maps on your device will allow you to enjoy latest and updated map data even when you don't have access to the internet. A new update is available for offline maps on Windows 10 devices. Besides fresh map data, which updates the map with latest road changes, directions of travel, addresses, speed limits, points of interest, etc. there are some specific interesting things to mention about this update:

• Algeria has navigable map coverage now
• Belarus: the Minsk area has been upgraded from a content point of view, providing more detailed coverage now compared to last map version
• Cocos (Keeling) Island, Christmas Island, and Norfolk Island are now available as navigable maps

From a Transit point of view, besides regular updates of the already existing content, the following additions have been made:

• Full new national transit coverage in Netherlands, Denmark and Norway
• Renfe trains connecting all major Spanish cities
• New transit coverage in the following cities:
  •  Vancouver (Canada)
  •  Lisbon (Portugal)
  • Paphos (Cyprus)
  • Pecs (Hungary)
  • Miskolc (Hungary)

How to download Offline Maps on Windows 10?

1. On your Windows 10 PC or phone, select Settings > System, and then choose Offline maps.
2. Select Download maps and follow the instructions.
3. On Start, select All apps > Maps to search for places and get directions on the downloaded maps.

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Razer buys smartphone manufacturer Nextbit

Razer, a leading brand for gamers, today announced that it has acquired Nextbit, the maker of the quirky Robin smartphone. Razer has mentioned that Nextbit will operate as a standalone business unit under its own management and apart from the ongoing business of its parent company. Since Razer mainly makes Windows-based gaming devices, there is a chance of Razer making Windows-based smartphone in the future.

"Nextbit is one of the most exciting companies in the mobile space," says Razer Co-Founder and CEO Min-Liang Tan. "Razer has a track record of disrupting industries where our technology and ability to design and innovate have allowed us to dominate categories with longstanding incumbents, such as the peripherals and laptop categories. With the talent that Nextbit brings to Razer, we look forward to unleashing more disruption and growing our business in new areas."

"In order to reach a wider audience and continue our mission, we decided to join with a larger brand," says Tom Moss, Nextbit Systems Inc. Co-Founder and CEO. "We're lucky to have found a company in Razer that shares our value of pushing the boundaries of what our devices can do."

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Microsoft, Amazon, and Expedia join lawsuit against President Trump’s temporary travel ban

Microsoft has promised to support their 76 employees affected by President Donald Trump's executive order which blocked nationals from a selection of predominantly Muslim countries from entering USA, even if they had proper legal standing to be there.

Now Microsoft has joined Amazon and Expedia in Washington State's legal suit against the order launched in Seattle federal court yesterday.

The suit claims the executive order  "undermining the state's sovereign interests" and discriminates against individuals by religion, a violation of equal protection laws under the Fifth Amendment.

State of Washington v. Trump, 17-cv-00141, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington (Seattle) claims Microsoft's 76 employees as some of those harmed by the move and Microsoft said it was providing information about the order's impact "in order to be supportive. And we'd be happy to testify further if needed," spokesman Pete Wootton said in a statement.

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This Week’s Deals With Gold: Forza Horizon 2, Just Dance 2016 and more

This week's games and add-on deals are now live on the Xbox Games Store. It includes popular game titles like Forza Horizon 2, Assassin's Creed Unity, Just Dance 2016 and more. These discounts are valid now through 06 February 2017.

Find the full list of games and add-ons available on this sale below.

Xbox One:

Content Title	Content Type	Discount	Notes
ARK: Scorched Earth (Game Preview)	Add-On	25%	DWG
ARK: Survival Evolved (Game Preview)	Xbox One Game	50%	DWG
Assassin's Creed Unity	Xbox One Game	60%	DWG
Baila Latino	Xbox One Game	50%	DWG
Color Symphony 2	Xbox One Game	33%	DWG
Forza Horizon 2 Deluxe – 10th Anniversary Edition	Xbox One Game	50%	DWG
Forza Horizon 2 Standard – 10th Anniversary Edition	Xbox One Game	50%	DWG
Forza Horizon 2 Ultimate – 10th Anniversary Edition	Xbox One Game	50%	DWG
Forza Horizon 2: Storm Island	Add-On	75%	DWG
HoPiKo	Xbox One Game	30%	DWG
Just Dance 2016	Xbox One Game	50%	DWG
Lords of the Fallen	Xbox One Game	75%	DWG
Lords of the Fallen Digital Complete Edition	Xbox One Game	67%	DWG
Mega Coin Squad	Xbox One Game	50%	DWG
Reus	Xbox One Game	40%	DWG

Xbox 360:

Content Title	Content Type	Discount	Notes
Anna – Extended Edition	Arcade	75%	DWG
DARK	Games On Demand	80%	DWG
DARK – Cult of the Dead	Add-On	50%	DWG
Dollar Dash	Arcade	75%	DWG
Dollar Dash – Robbers Tool Kit	Add-On	50%	DWG
Dollar Dash – Winter Pack	Add-On	50%	DWG

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Developer Submission – ChromaNote stores your notes in a searchable database

ChromaNote is a note taking app with a searchable database.

• Find and list the notes you want.
• Choose textbox colors, font family and size.
• Dictate your notes and hear them read out.

Use dictation with your phone's installed speech languages to create notes in labeled folders. Two independent notes lists are accessible from the main pivot page. Filter the notes list by folder, date or other search criteria, then page through to view each note.

Additional features include note sorting options, password protected notes, OneDrive encrypted backup, custom date formats with language localization, OneNote export, pin to start, voice read out and more.

Unique to ChromaNote is the use of an 'Editbox' control for editing text. Move the caret and select text using buttons; select speech-to-text language in WP 8.x as well as read out speaker voice for each note. Also exclusive to ChromaNote is the Delta List Expansion (TM) feature to control how many entries appear on a list, such as just the last four modified notes.

With an in-app purchase, notes can be designated private and optionally shown in the notes lists. Private notes are encrypted and can be emailed in encoded format and decoded using ChromaNote on WP 8+.

ChromaNote v5.1 is available in a free ad-supported version. Three years in the making, FileTrak Software's latest app runs on WP8.x or Windows Mobile 10. Some options require an in-app purchase, but are free to try out upon installation.

Gallery

Find ChromaNote in the Windows Store here.

WP-Appbox: ChromaNote (Free⁺, Windows Store) →

© 2016 FileTrak Software

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