Needless to say, the color of your gamepad does not really matter. However, customers are drawn to new designs and Microsoft has a solid business of gamers upgrading controllers. We have seen the company jump on this bandwagon with pads like the Sea of Thieves Glow in the Dark, New “The Duke”, and of course the excellent Elite controllers. The company also has the Xbox Design Lab, where gamers can create their own individual and fully customizable controllers....

The company is pushing artificial intelligence across many of its core products, bringing AI solutions to even casual users. In Excel, Microsoft has sent out a preview of its Insights feature. The company says the tool can “automatically highlights patterns it detects, which makes it easier for everyone to explore and analyze their data.” As a preview release, Insights will be coming to the Office Insider Program. However, users will have to wait until later this month for the feature to make its debut....

In fact, a dozen new features have been put on the roadmap for the coming months. Microsoft says the array of new feature will arrive in preview through the Canary channel during September and October. For September, Chromium Edge will receive a setting that allows users to stop auto-playing media on websites. Microsoft says it will also improve how the browser scrolls through sites. Furthermore, expect to see a new favorites button added to the toolbar....

At Computex yesterday, Microsoft discussed how it is moving Windows forward with a focus on expansion to new devices. Speaking at the event Nick Parker, corporate vice president of consumer and device sales, discussed how Windows 10 will spread to other form factors. This could be important for Windows 10 Lite because the SKU is believed to be designed for dual-screen devices to compete with Chromebooks. While Parker did not mention Lite specifically, he did say Microsoft is creating a modern OS with seamless updates....

Launched today, the Microsoft Digital Marketing Center is a Microsoft Garage project that allows businesses and customers to manage their online marketing presence. It taps into major ad platforms and social networks to provide an overview and a central hub for boosting visibility. Users can set up advertising campaigns quickly, matching output to their budget. It is also possible to automate ads with the Digital Marketing Center learning from previous ads you create....

With the latest update, Dynamics 365 Guides is moving to version 104.1908.24001. Included in the release are improvements to hologram manipulation, increased language support, and more accessibility options. Guides is an application that works with Microsoft’s HoloLens and HoloLens 2 augmented reality hardware. It is currently a preview app that gives users guidance when working with holograms. Guides provides instructions for technical process when building holographic content for applications. Looking at the changes, Microsoft has improved accessibility by offering better color contrast and high-contrast modes....

The company has announced the formal opening of a Microsoft Garage facility location the Microsoft Development Center in Hyderabad. Situated over an 8,000 square foot space, the facility was opened by Sri. K. Taraka Rama Rao, Honorable Minister for IT, Government of Telangana. Microsoft says the division will empower experimentation in India, including a Reality Room to host augmented and mixed reality creations. The rooms give employees access to Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality solutions and hardware....

The promotion appears to be exclusive to the US, but according to users on Reddit, the offer is now over. Users are being directed to a webpage that reads: “More surprises are on the way…You found the hidden holiday surprise in your email. However, this limited offer is no longer available. Keep checking your email for more fun holiday surprises throughout the season.” Though it’s a shame the offer was available for such a short time, it does seem more are coming....

During the conference, the company said the interface will be available for web, Finder on Macs, and Files Explorer on Windows. OneDrive sharing experience will be rolled out this summer. Jeff Teper, corporate vice president for OneDrive, SharePoint, and Office, says that users will be able to share files directly with others. This can be achieved by a right-click on the file, without entering the OneDrive app. The new “Share” option will also enable the modification of permissions within a file....

For example, the product feed can reduce processing times for changing attributes. This means customers will only send updates when product offers that change. However, users will also continue to use the product feed for submitting data offers every 30 days (minimum). Microsoft says an ability to submit online productivity update feeds via FTP through the Bing Merchant Center will arrive at the end of this month. With scheduled feed allows automatic feed downloads that allows users to easily send product data to Bing Merchant Center....

Also as expected, the Surface Pro 8 represents a major shift in the Surface Pro range. It is the biggest overall of the product since the Surface Pro 3 that launched 7 years ago. Aside from some significant new specs, the first major change is the design. Microsoft has borrowed heavily from the design of the Surface Pro X. That means a significantly larger screen to size ratio. Thanks to think bezels, the screen feels larger and design looks more elegant....

“The Modern Life team defines the consumer vision, product management, business plans and go-to-market strategy for Microsoft Consumer products,” explains a September job posting. “As one of the company’s largest multi-billion-dollar revenue businesses, we are looking for experienced product marketing managers who know how to build products that consumers love.” It was looking for a senior product marketing manager to develop best-in-class subscription programs for consumers by tying in Windows, Office, One Drive, Outlook, Bing, Skype, Edge, and more....

Clarity allows webmasters to better understand engagement, retention, and conversions and provides a playback feature to see how websites have been used. Microsoft says the reasons for the service is to promote a user-friendly environment for webmasters. The platform provides tools to gain a deeper understanding of how users interact with their website. “Traditionally, web developers utilize user research and A/B experimentation to update web experiences. While these have proven to be great techniques – each has its own limitations....

The information comes from Sams’ latest book, Beneath a Surface, which details the rocky history of the brand and is well worth a read. The short of it is that Microsoft is rumored to be strongly considering AMD after Intel’s slow progress on 10nm, with talks ongoing about the red team’s upcoming Picasso line. The change could potentially allow Microsoft to mitigate the throttling devices like the Surface Book see under load....

First up is the ability to record voice messages and get transcription of your notes in real-time. Recording voice notes in Office Mobile is an increasingly important tool and users on iOS now get a real-time transcription automatically: “Recording your thoughts and jotting down notes using your voice on your mobile device is becoming increasingly important to stay productive. You can now record voice notes in Office Mobile and transcribe them in real time, right from your iOS device....

Among the new features in OneNote Class Notebook is new Learning Management System (LMS) assignment and grade integration for Blackbaud onCampus and eSchoolData. Microsoft points out these additional integrations come after customer requests for more LMS and SIS (Student Information System) services to be supported. After this update, Class Notebook now integrates with over 40 LMSes and SISes around the world. With this release, Microsoft is bumping Class Notebook to version 1....

While most of Microsoft’s Surface products are excellent, well made, and very expensive. From the Surface Pro, to the Surface Book and Surface Laptop, Microsoft charges a premium for its hardware. That makes the range inaccessible for some customers. Microsoft wants to change that, so has introduced Surface Plus and Surface Plus for Business. These are both flexible financing options that will help customers and businesses get Surface hardware. Microsoft says the plans are easy to understand and maintain, starting with Surface Plus:...

According to Microsoft, the tech combined NVIDIA DeepStream with Azure IoT Edge to provide all kinds of insight. By analyzing multiple channels of 1080p video streams, it can, for example, understand when packages are damaged or missing. The solution learns and grows as it gets more data, better suiting itself to the environment. “Within the four walls of the distribution center, picking and packing tasks account for more than 50 percent of the total labor cost of warehousing operations,” said Bert Van Hoof, partner group program manager, Azure IoT....

Indeed, the company says it is updating all unsupported (and indeed supported) Windows versions, including little-used Vista to stem the spread of the malware. The company says there is an “elevated risk” of attack and Windows needs be secure across all versions. “In reviewing the updates for this month, some vulnerabilities were identified that pose elevated risk of cyberattacks by government organizations, sometimes referred to as nation-state actors, or other copycat organizations,” says Adrienne Hall, general manager of crisis management at Microsoft....

One of the key points of the Chromebook movement has been web based applications. This improves safety by locking users down to applications and not desktop apps. Windows Cloud will also allow this. When it comes to this capability, Microsoft has a big advantage with native Office apps. Another Chromebook capability Microsoft will use for Windows Cloud is the ability to use apps and files across devices. In terms of Chrome, this works across Android and the Chrome OS....