Through the Surface Management Portal, admins self-manage and monitor Surface devices across a team or organization. Through actionable insights, users see the health of all devices and can also keep up with warranty and support requirements from a central hub. Microsoft says the portal is designed to help managers handle the specific demands of hybrid workplaces for device management: “With one quick view, you can now access essential insights such as low device storage, non-compliant devices, inactive devices, unencrypted devices, and information of all Surface devices that needs immediate action....

Patch Tuesday is part of Microsoft now running Windows as a service. The company issues two major feature updates per year, and patches the platform monthly. This month, as always, there are plenty of things to get through. As is expected, there are no front-end features here. Instead, these are fixes for known issues and security bumps. Starting with Windows 10 version 1709, known as the Fall Creators Update, is receiving KB4054517 (build 16299....

With the Windows 10 ISO images, Insiders on Skip Ahead/Fast Ring can install Windows 10 build 18950. This was the Windows 10 20H1 preview release that Microsoft sent to the Insider Program on July 31. Yes, build 18950 is also the build that leaked midway through last month showing a new Start menu experience. As with all 20H1 updates, this will remain in preview until Microsoft goes live with the update for all users, which will likely happen next May....

If you’re unfamiliar with differential sync, it manages how OneDrive handles file edits. When a user makes a change to a file, OneDrive will only need to sync back those changes and not the whole file. This means the service is more efficient and has improved performance. Differential sync is a powerful tool for users handling large files. Instead of needing to upload the entire file again, OneDrive will only sync the changes, which may be minor....

According to Microsoft, the new ability can also give tools for organizations to allow complex workflows to meet requirements for auditing and certification. Tools include being able to call reviewers to assess workflows in sequence, or to create clearer review parameters. With the multi-stage review tools in Azure AD access reviews, auditors and resource managers will be able to work more efficiently without being responsible for all decisions. In a blog post announcing the feature, Microsoft says the following: “Previously you may have artificially created multiple disjointed reviews to achieve the same purpose, but now with multi-stage reviews this all takes place in the context of just one review....

Last year, the app got AI-powered document photography, widening its functionality. The integrations likely came thanks to Microsoft’s work on Office Lens, and makes it much more of a catch-all for photos. Unfortunately, that extended fully to business cards. With version 1.7, Microsoft has made several updates in that regard, making reading business cards faster and easier. It also supports landscape view when adding contacts directly from business cards, fixing a major annoyance....

With PowerPoint for Data, Microsoft has added a new lasso visual and shadow effects. The lasso has launched immediately, which the shadow effects will arrive later in May. During the Business Applications Summit, Microsoft pointed to major customers who are standardizing their data through Power BI. Among them are T-Mobile and Humana. Microsoft says more customers are exploring the platform during the COVID-19 outbreak. Power BI is also receiving improved artificial intelligence features....

Pai credited the FCC’s own strategies for increasing broadband availability. He says the regulatory body has helped bridge the country in terms of increased Wi-Fi capabilities. Pai believes “removing barriers to infrastructure investment” and the Connect America Fund initiative has brought more broadband access to rural communities. Microsoft disagrees and says the vast improvements Pai highlights may have come from bad data. Pai referenced the Draft of the 2019 Broadband Deployment Report to reach his conclusions....

Set in the same year as the release of Windows 1, the Netflix Original Series has been available for streaming since July 4. Microsoft has now confirmed the teasers were tied to the show. What’s more, the company has released Windows 1.11 to the masses. Available from the Microsoft Store, the platform is available to everyone. Interestingly, Windows 1 is now an application that takes up 775MB of storage. Back in the year of it release, users needed several floppy disks to install it....

In addition, the latest update brings two new welcome messages to the app. Microsoft is hoping it these messages will hasten the onboarding and acclimation progress for new users. You can download the View 3D app from the Microsoft Store. Just make sure your device is running the Windows 10 Creators Update since Paint 3D and View 3D only run on the latest Windows 10 feature update. Here is the full changelog:...

1 Changing the Platform2 Dual-Screen Devices Still Coming According to Windows Central, Microsoft has decided to remove a technology called VAIL from the latest internal Windows 10X builds. You may be unfamiliar with VAIL, but it used to virtualize Win32 programs on the platform. Win32 programs are legacy apps from older Windows versions. Whereas the normal Windows 10 supports Win32 alongside Progressive Web Apps (PWAS), and Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps, Windows 10X needed virtualization to run Win32....

In 2017, the company signaled its intent to use DNA for storage and later acquired 10 million strands of DNA for testing. Microsoft Research published a blog post detailing the successful experiment where researchers encoded the word “hello” onto a fabricated DNA. The team was also able to retrieve the data and convert it back to digital form. Of course, this is merely a first step as Microsoft eventually plans to use DNA storage for vast data sums....

That feature is part of the Hot Reload component of .NET that Microsoft. Specifically, Microsoft was removing an ability for developers to receive real-time feedback when changing code. It essentially brought the ability to change code when needed. Microsoft said last week that .NET 6 will remove this ability. Hot Reload gives developers on .NET and native C++ apps the ability to boost productivity during the build process of their applications....

Earlier in the month, Microsoft said it was changing the login scenario with a view to merging Azure Active Directory accounts with Microsoft Accounts later in the year. The company says the change would bring improved brand awareness to customers using B2B flows. However, Customers actually found the method to be less efficient. Many of these customers were angered enough by the experience that they complained to Microsoft. As a response, Microsoft is putting a positive spin on its decision to roll back....

Windows Insiders in the Fast Ring are now able to read aloud any web page with word and line highlighting. Additionally, this Preview Build brings the PDF read aloud feature to Microsoft Edge, which allows users to read aloud any PDF document with word and line highlighting. As always, this Preview Build adds improvements based on the feedback sent by users to Microsoft. For example, if you click Share in Microsoft Edge the Share UI will now match the Microsoft Edge theme if it is different from the rest of the system....

Of course, Arrow Hub can be used as a widget on Arrow Launcher. Therefore, users will be able to see their latest files, images, etc. on their home screen right from that widget. Users can also upload files from the widget. However, Microsoft couldn’t really integrate Arrow Hub into Windows 10. To solve this problem, Redmond built a web app for Arrow Hub where users can sync files between their phone and computer....

Gab is a social network which builds itself as a “free speech” platform and a favourite amongst alt-right fans. In its pursuit to defend free speech, Gab has occasionally allowed controversial content to be published. At the start of August, Microsoft threatened Gab saying it would be removed from the Azure platform if it did not take down two anti-Semitic messages. Microsoft gave the company 48 hours to remove the messages....

The company is yet to announce any terms for the preview builds, including if you’ll require the latest Windows version at the time. Theoretically, though, these builds shouldn’t be as tied to the OS now that EdgeHTML is dead. Chromium Edge Features Chromium Edge should have several benefits over its predecessor. Perhaps most critically, Microsoft has confirmed that Edge will gain access to all of Google Chrome’s extensions. While Edge had been catching up in recent years, its range was still below that of the competition....

Forced arbitration agreements let companies keep harassment claims out of court and therefore cloak them from the public eye. Software giant Microsoft is among the first to make a change. The company has eliminated forced arbitration agreements internally, and is supporting a federal law that will ban them in the future. “What this legislation does is ensure that peoples’ voices can always be heard by going to court, if that’s what it takes for those voices to be heard, said Microsoft president and chief legal officer Brad Smith to the New York Times....

The main purpose of the bundled APIs is to aid in the development of apps for dual-screen devices. On Surface Duo, optimizing for its screen is especially important because it doesn’t have a flexible display. Instead, both screens have a bezel between them that could impact applications if not properly accounted for. Microsoft has previously confirmed that all existing apps will work on the Duo, but their functionality will be limited without developer support....