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– via The Verge
New changes rolling out to preview members now
Microsoft promised deeper Twitter integration for Xbox One back in June, and the company is now planning to deliver it next month. Microsoft’s November Xbox One update adds TV features that highlight what’s popular or trending nearby alongside live tweets from Twitter users discussing individual shows. It’s one of the more unique uses of Twitter for TVs, and tweets will even show up on a new MiniGuide feature on the console.
Twitter integration on Xbox One doesn’t stop at just TV features, though. Microsoft is also adding the ability to link an Xbox Live account with Twitter to share game DVR clips directly to followers. It’s not an automatic process that will spam followers, but another share option for game clips after they’ve been recorded. Other TV improvements include recent and favorite channels in the MiniGuide, and a new “what’s on” section on the home screen of the dashboard. What’s on includes YouTube staff picks, trending TV, and Twitch broadcasts. Microsoft describes it as a section designed for when you stop gaming and want to switch to entertainment.
THE NUMBER ONE FAN-REQUESTED FEATURE IS CUSTOM BACKGROUNDS
Aside from the entertainment and Twitter features, Microsoft is also adding the number one fan-requested feature: custom backgrounds. Xbox chief Phil Spencer confirmed this functionality was coming soon in a recent podcast and it’s now due to debut in the November update. Achievements can be set as backgrounds and an upcoming update to the Media Player app will allow Xbox One owners to set any image as the background in future. This is a feature that the Xbox 360 supported for years, and Microsoft is also bringing back bio and location settings to Xbox Live profiles with the upcoming update. Gamer profiles will also include a new showcase section where Xbox One owners can highlight achievements or game clips they’re particularly proud of.
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Continuing the trend of making Xbox One easier to navigate and use without Kinect, Microsoft is also altering Internet Explorer so you can snap the browser from the address bar with a controller.
Store pages have also been updated to make it easier to browse with a controller and find content, and the SmartGlass Store now has its own separate apps section to improve navigation. Microsoft’s November Xbox One update is rolling out to preview members today, and should be available to all Xbox One owners in the coming weeks.
– via The Verge
You’ll need to purchase a subscription to stream songs
Microsoft is closing its free Xbox Music streaming service effective December 1st. The company will continue to offer music streaming through its Xbox Music service, but users will need to purchase an Xbox Music Pass to do so, at a monthly price of $9.99.
The company doesn’t specify why it’s removing the free, ad-supported streaming option, but says it’s “focusing Xbox Music to deliver the ultimate music purchase and subscription service experience for our customers.” Microsoft has updated Xbox Music a number of times since launch, producing versions for its newest Xbox One console and latest Windows Phone operating systems, but it still lags behind competitors such as Spotify in terms of social features.
YOU’LL NOW NEED TO PAY $9.99 A MONTH TO STREAM FROM XBOX MUSIC
Xbox Music originally launched alongside Windows 8 in October 2012, and came pre-installed on all devices running the operating system. It allowed users three ways to use the service: by paying $10 a month for an Xbox Music Pass, by downloading individual songs at set prices, or for free on PC, with ad support. Microsoft says this latter option is being shuttered, but users who purchased and downloaded songs will still be able to find them on their Windows PCs, tablets, and phones.
For Xbox Music FAQ: XBOX MUSIC SUPPORT
– via The Verge
Microsoft is currently soliciting feedback for Windows 10 as part of a Technical Preview program to improve the features of the company’s next version of Windows. While testers are voting on a variety of changes that Paul Thurrott has documented well, Microsoft has also opened its own Windows feature suggestion page at the Uservoice feedback site. The software maker has previously used Uservoice for Windows Phone, and strong Uservoice support for the Cortana name actually swayed the company to keep the name following several leaks. So it’s clear the company looks at Uservoice closely. Here are the top 10 requests for Windows 10 features.
This suggestion is self explanatory. A tabbed interface for File Explorer would allow Windows 10 users to simply tab through different folders instead of having multiple folders open that clutter the desktop. A number of third-party solutions currently exist, and the suggestion includes the ability to view two tabbed folders side-by-side in a single Explorer window.
Again, another simple request. Microsoft has added a variety of OEM drivers to its Windows Update service, but more often than not you still have to dig around the web to find the latest drivers. It shouldn’t be this way, especially for consumers. A lot of PC makers now have their own separate update tools, and the suggestion calls for Microsoft to own the process entirely to make Windows Update the one stop for all PC drivers.
This might not seem like the most obvious addition for Microsoft, but it’s clearly one that some Windows users want. With 983 votes at Uservoice, it’s as simple as adding a Persian calendar to Windows 10.
With Apple bringing some transparent effects to OS X Yosemite, some Windows users are calling for the return of Aero Glass. Microsoft first introduced this feature in Windows Vista, but Microsoft cut most of the window transparency in Windows 8 to focus on improved battery life. The feedback request notes that millions of PCs are desktops and are equipped with capable graphics cards and memory to handle Aero Glass. Microsoft has added some drop shadow effects to the Windows 10 Technical Preview, so there are signs the UI could change a lot before the operating system ships.
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Windows users have been calling on Microsoft to redesign its ancient iconography for years. Although some recent versions of Windows have improved upon this, there are still a number of areas you can stumble across where you’ll see an icon from 20 years ago. Long Zheng, a user experience designer from Australia, created a Windows UI Taskforce ahead of the Windows 7 release to encourage Microsoft to fix its many user interface quirks. Unfortunately, many still exist in Windows 8 today. There are signs in the Windows 10 Technical Preview that Microsoft is overhauling its iconography, as the File Explorer icon has a flat look to it now.
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The basic Notepad.exe application in Windows hasn’t really changed over the years. While Paint has been improved with a Ribbon and interface tweaks, Notepad is as simple as ever. While there is a Wordpad alternative built-in, some on Uservoice feel the default notepad application should be better. No support for Unix line endings, double click to select words is inconsistent, and undo doesn’t work well according to the feature request. Those are reasonable observations, and it’s probably about time Microsoft offered something as good as Notepad++ as the default in Windows 10.
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Anything free makes it into any good list, and some Windows users just don’t want to pay for the next version of Windows. “Simple as that,” notes the feedback, but it’s far from it. Microsoft still generates a huge amount of revenue from Windows, and although the company has made Windows Phone and Windows free for tablets under 9 inches, it’s highly unlikely the company will extend that to everything else anytime soon. Microsoft may, however, make Windows 10 free for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users. That would be a wise move to avoid Windows 7 becoming the next Windows XP.
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– via The Verge
Microsoft has released a Surface Hub app this weekend to improve the functionality of the stylus on the Surface Pro 3.
After updating the pen firmware earlier this week, Microsoft’s Surface Hub brings two customization options that Surface Pro 3 owners have been asking for: custom pressure sensitivity and button control.
A LITTLE TOO BASIC FOR ALL CUSTOMIZATION NEEDS
The pen pressure sensitivity control is rather basic in the app, but the uniform line will satisfy those who feel the pen requires too much register. However, Surface Pro 3 owners who want lower pressure sensitivity may feel disappointed with the basic settings, as Surface Pro Artist notes that the resulting curve isn’t shallow enough. For most Surface Pro 3 users these basic settings should be enough to give you a little extra flexibility for inking apps like Fresh Paint.
Unfortunately, button customization is rather basic in the Surface Hub too. You can only set the pen top button to open OneNote desktop or OneNote Windows 8-style apps, and there’s no option to customize the side buttons. Microsoft is planning to add that in future, but for now you’re stuck with the basic customization of the top button. If you’re a regular OneNote user then it’s probably worth keeping the default Windows 8-style setting, as the double tap (top of pen) to screen grab doesn’t appear to work well with the desktop version of OneNote.
Downloading Windows 10 Technical preview.
Future Posts:
— Feel the No Difference : Windows 10 & OS X
— Windows 10 & Windows 8.1 : What’s new from The OLD
– via Briefly dot Today
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) said in a patent lawsuit against Samsung Electronics Co. that the South Korean smartphone maker paid it as much as $1 billion in royalties last year under a now-disputed 2011 licensing agreement. The seven-year accord requires Samsung to pay Microsoft royalties for phones and tablets that use the software maker’s patented technology, according to the filing yesterday in Manhattan federal court. The payment was disclosed for the first time in a court filing in Microsoft’s complaint alleging Samsung breached an agreement to share patents.
– via Mashable
So just how similar are Windows 10 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite?
My immediate takeaway from Tuesday’s Windows 10 Preview event was “Wow, this looks a lot like OS X.” I say that not with any judgment — just as an observation.
On Wednesday, the Windows 10 Preview became available to advanced users and developers and I rushed to install it on a spare machine. I also happen to have a test machine running the latest OS X Yosemite GM. You know what that means? Operating system with ten in the title face-off!
Up until Windows 8, the OS X and Windows desktop worlds were running on similar — if still unique — paths. Sure, one had a dock and the other a Start menu, but the overall trajectory had similarly aligned goals.
All of that changed with Windows 8. Where Apple has long had the philosophy of keeping iOS and OS X separate — shared design language and some window dressing aside — Microsoft decided to go in a different, unified direction. It didn’t really work out.
Now, with Windows 10, Microsoft is righting the Windows ship and going back to a desktop-first experience. Don’t worry touch customers — Microsoft isn’t abandoning you — but the focus, especially for the enterprise-targeted Windows 10 Preview, is clearly on winning over the hearts and minds of desktop consumers.
So what does Microsoft’s new vision for the desktop look like? Well, it looks an awful like what Apple has envisioned for OS X.
Now, to be clear, although there are some aspects in Windows 10 Preview that seem inspired by longtime OS X features, I’m not implying that Microsoft “stole” anything from Apple. (And if it did steal, it’s the type of stealing I fully endorse: Taking the idea and making it stand on its own as opposed to pure mimicry.)
Plus, it’s important to note that the latest version of OS X — and indeed, OS X Mavericks — have taken a number of cues from the traditional Windows desktop too.
Let’s look at some of the visual and behavioral similarities between the two platforms.
One of my favorite features in OS X is Mission Control (known as Expose until OS X Lion). Mission Control allows users to see every running program window in an organized, heads-up fashion. It also allows the user to view multiple desktops and to add additional desktops with a quick click of a button.
In Windows 10 Preview, a virtually identical feature is coming called Task View.
Tapping on the Task View button on the Start menu brings up each app window in heads-up mode in a grid. You can also view other virtual desktops or create your own. Yes, Virginia, virtual desktops are back.
Even better, for an OS X user like me, the gesture shortcut for bringing up Task View is identical to that on OS X. Swipe three fingers up on a trackpad and the mode is exposed. I would love to see a keyboard shortcut similar to F3 on Mac, but for a preview, I like the interface.
This is a very blatant OS X-ism for Windows 10, but it’s also a very good decision.
I remember when I switched to full-time Mac usage, one of the biggest adjustment problems I had was that clicking on the green button on a window didn’t maximize the window to fill the whole screen, it simply expanded it to the size the application thought you might want it to be. That made it necessary to drag the window manually to fill the size of the screen.
This, of course, is the opposite of how it works in Windows, where clicking on the maximize button makes the window fill the entire screen.
For Mac users, this change could be infuriating, especially if trying to get more screen real estate for an application such as Safari. Back in the old days, I think I even had a special bookmarklet or hack to make the window size as large as I wanted it to be, just as a way to cope.
Well, finally, with OS X Yosemite, the green button is going to act the way it has always needed to act and will fill the entire screen (invoking full-screen mode if that’s part of the app).
See, Mac can steal from Windows, too.
As we noted in our original OS X Yosemite preview, the added translucency to the operating system is similar to what we saw with Windows Vista and Aero Glass back in 2007.
Pair that with the flatter style that both Windows Modern and OS X Yosemite share, and the the UI “look” for both systems is closer than ever.
It’s true that Windows 10 Preview still has more shadowed candy-coated icons, but both Microsoft and Apple seem to be trying to streamline design trends to better match what we’re seeing on the web and with design in general.
IMAGE: MICROSOFT
The Start menu is back on Windows 10 Preview, but that doesn’t mean that Live Tiles are dead. Instead, they are now able to be attached to the Start menu and show updates in real-time. This is basically the modern version of Windows desktop widgets.
This is not dissimilar to what OS X Yosemite is doing with its Notification Center. Just like in iOS 8, OS X Yosemite offers customizable widgets on the Today screen.
IMAGE: SCREENSHOT MASHABLE, APPLE
The implementation is unique to both operating systems, but the idea is incredibly similar.
This is another area where Microsoft can take credit for leading the way. In both OS X Yosemite and Windows 10 Preview, user login accounts can be tied to a OneDrive or iCloud account. When this happens, iCloud and OneDrive integrate seamlessly with the desktop experience, making it easy to access files and folders from the cloud or to save files that are then synced with the cloud.
Apple users have been clamoring for a more Dropbox or OneDrive-like approach to cloud services so it’s great to see Apple take a page from Microsoft’s playbook.
It’s a GOOD thing that both Microsoft and Apple are taking cues from one another. The fact is, as someone who primarily uses a Mac but also checks in on Windows in a virtual machine or test machine, I’m more excited by Windows 10 Preview than I have been for any non-Mac desktop in years.
That’s not just because I can use Microsoft’s Yosemite Scenes wallpaper pack to look like Yosemite National Park either; it’s because having desktops act similarly to one another is a good thing.
This isn’t to say that being unique doesn’t have its benefits, but in the real world, where more and more work takes place in a browser and becomes operating system agnostic, having systems feel similar to one another is a good thing. It lowers the learning curve and makes muscle-memory less of an issue.
– via The Verge
Microsoft is in London this week sponsoring the third-annual Star Trek conference. Instead of just splashing its corporate logo all over the conference, Microsoft has gone a step further by changing its Cortana digital assistant to speak Klingon, the language spoken by Klingons in Star Trek. It’s activated simply by asking cortana to “speak Klingon,” and the software maker has added a number of other Star Trek themed responses. Beam me up, set phasers to stun, and do you know commander data all work, along with simply saying “engage” to trigger Star Trek responses.
Microsoft’s chief envisioning officer, Dave Coplin revealed today that Cortana’s Star Trek responses were mainly made possible because engineers working on Cortana are fans of Star Trek. It’s the latest in a series of improvements to Cortana that add functionality and features instead of just gimmicky responses. Cortana will now tell you when your favorite musician is playing nearby, and Microsoft is working to bring delivery tracking to Cortana in future. Windows 10 will also include deep Cortana integration when it ships next year.
– via The Verge
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates ‘substantially’ increased his time at Microsoft earlier this year to assist new CEO Satya Nadella, but since then it’s not been clear exactly what the former chairman has been working on. While Gates has been busy creating an elaborate Ice Bucket Challenge video recently, it appears he’s also working closely on improving Microsoft Office. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Gates notes that Microsoft’s priority should be making Office “dramatically better,” and that this is high on the list of things Microsoft needs to do. “That’s the kind of thing that I’m trying to make sure they move fast on,” explains Gates.
Gates doesn’t reveal exactly how Office can change, but likely improvements include a touch optimized version of the productivity suite for Windows. Microsoft has teased Office touch for Windows, but the company is still testing it before its expected debut next year. Microsoft is also developing a new version of Office for Mac, and the company has been investing heavily in OneNote and its new Sway app.
GATES PRAISES APPLE PAY
Elsewhere in the interview, Gates discusses Apple Pay, noting that Microsoft should do as well or better at a similar implementation. Although Apple Pay is built on NFC industry standards, Gates feels “Apple will help make sure it gets to critical mass for all of the devices.” Gates isn’t working on a rival Apple Pay system at Microsoft though, as he admits his “time on this area is all foundation focused” despite Microsoft having a “really good vision in this.” Gates is also questioned about whether he might appear courtside at former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s Clippers team, but Gates doesn’t commit either way. “I’m not a guy who spends a ton of time watching sports games, but my friends own teams, and I enjoy spending time with them, so at some point, probably.”
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