Dark Mode came to Outlook in August 2019 as part of Microsoft’s wider overhaul of the app. Later, the company brought it to iOS. With DarkModeKit, developers have an open source access to the method for implementing Dark Mode on iOS apps. In other words, the kit allows developers to introduce Dark Mode on their own apps. Microsoft says DarkModeKit was “designed and developed before Apple‘s official dark mode release”....
The idea lies in the huge and growing amount of water used for the production and delivery of goods. “Much of the world’s water is hard at work in the production and delivery of nearly all goods and services, from apples to zippers,” says Josh Henretig, Microsoft’s senior director of environmental sustainability. “And the amount of water needed to make products is only going to increase, with manufacturing expected to use 400 percent more water from 2000 to 2050....
“You think you know Chinese, but if you meet a Chinese person and you want to speak Chinese, there is no way you can do it if you have not practiced,” explained Yan Xia, senior develop lead at Microsoft Research Asia in Beijing. “Our application addresses this issue by leveraging our speech and natural language processing technology.” Microsoft is likening the app to a teacher’s assistant, stressing that it’s no replacement for a human teacher, but has the advantage of being available 24/7....
Launched in May, Windows Template Studio is a new service specifically for developers of Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. Dev’s can create new applications more easily thanks to a wizard that guides them. The open source tool highlights pages, frameworks, and features through a four-step process. UWP apps can be created more quickly and efficiently. Microsoft developed the Template Studio as an evolution of Windows App Studio. With version 1....
Who’s In gives users an easier way to plan events with friends. Users can search the app for things to do, for example movies or places to eat. It is also possible to create custom events and send them to contacts on a device. Users on iPhone can share these events with a “Who’s In” and the response back will be “What is this and why are you sending it to me”....
The Windows Insider Program for Business is also known as WIP4Biz. Launched at Ignite Australia, the platform is a broad extension of Microsoft current Windows Insider Program for consumers. The community or ‘Insiders’ will be able to access blogs, forums, and events dedicated to them. Furthermore, the program will also connect with IT Pros and businesses to help them deploy Insider builds throughout an organization. As with other Microsoft Insider programs, WIP4Biz will rely heavily on user feedback....
While the offering of cloud-apps there is being considered top-notch, there were growing complaints about its usability. With an increasing number of categories, app types and providers, searching for specific solutions had become more and more time-consuming. To improve the user experience, Microsoft has developed a whole new Azure Marketplace interface which should make things much easier. The search form now provides instant search suggestions for typed in words, sorted by relevance and popularity....
Microsoft will be open sourcing a new version of the tool for Windows 10 this summer, letting power users “squeeze more efficiency out of the Windows 10 shell and customize it for individual workflows”. The first two utilities will be the Maximize to new desktop widget. This will appear when hovering over maximize and will create a new desktop with the app in full screen. For those with a multi-desktop workflow, this will speed things up significantly....
Despite being in limited preview since May, Microsoft has not offered much information on Project Moca since its debut on the Office Insider Program. That is changing this week as the company has begun official promotion for the service. Interestingly, Microsoft never officially confirmed Project Moca despite its being available to some in preview. Now the company is using the Outlook Blog to detail some of the aspects of the tool....
This promotion places Booty high on the Microsoft gaming hierarchy. He will report directly to Phil Spencer, executive vice president for games. Indeed, Matt Booty will fill a hole left by Spencer since he was drafted by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella promoted him to become overseer of all gaming. Booty will now specifically take charge of game development and publishing. Speaking to GamesBeat, Spencer said Booty will now spearhead Microsoft’s in-development titles and oversee publishing....
‘Sprinkles’ is an iOS exclusive app that intelligently applies captions and stickers depending on the context of a photo. It builds on Pix’s face detecting technology to discern age, emotion, and more. Sprinkles Features The app uses machine learning to provide a variety of features, building in smaller Microsoft projects from the past few years. Microsoft’s chat bots, for example, have been developing age-detecting technology for a while. That said, Sprinkles ties in a few features you might not expect:...
In the meantime, Microsoft has been busy with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (FCU). The latest feature update was released this week after moving through the finalization process recently. Interestingly, when Windows 10 build 16299 reached the Slow Rin early this month, I speculated it could be the FCU RTM build. Of course, that did prove to be the case, but Microsoft has still released ISO images for the build....
By far the most notable change the Preview Build 15042 for PCs brings is the removal of the Insider Preview watermark and expiration date. This could mean that the Windows 10 Creators Update might be nearing completion. Microsoft Edge Back in January, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Edge would disable Flash content by default, and added a click-to-run feature for users who wish to use Flash. Preview Build 15042 brings further improvement to this feature and adds a new dialog in the URL bar....
1 Windows 10 Build 15063 Changelog2 Windows 10 Creators Update for Mobile This build included a single fix for Fast ring Insiders, which enabled the ability to update to Build 15063 from the Windows 10 Anniversary Update (Build 14393) on Windows Phones. However, up until now, Windows Insiders in the Slow ring were running the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 15051. Now, Microsoft has released the Preview Build 15063.2 to the Slow ring as well, which brings lots of fixes....
Chat Bubbles is a feature only available to the Xbox mobile app for Android and it improves the experience of the user. Director of Programming for Xbox Live, Larry Hryb, explains in a blog post how Chat Bubbles work. From now on, users of the Xbox mobile app for Android will be able to use their mobile games and apps, while keeping their Xbox conversations within reach. When a user gets a new message, a chat bubble will open for that conversation....
It is worth noting the upcoming features have been running in preview during October and will reach general users this month. Microsoft Word and PowerPoint for Office 365 will receive embedded 3D animations. Users will be able to use the feature to easily add 3D models into content. Microsoft says the goal is for users to “easily illustrate more complex ideas” in documents. New inking tools have also been added to the Office 365 experience....
In a statement to Business Insider, the company’s president hinted spreading the tech is an moral obligation. Indeed, Brad Smith says not giving facial recognition software to governments would be “cruel”. Smith says that is not the case and there is evidence of facial recognition technology being used in positive government programs. For example, he cites it use in the discovery of 5,000 missing children in India: “I do not understand an argument that companies should avoid all licensing to any government agency for any purpose whatsoever....
“In most cases, existing extensions built for Chromium will work without any modifications in the new Microsoft Edge,” explained the company in a blog post. Those who haven’t submitted their extension for the Edge Addons Store will want to do so before January 15, its official release date. This will ensure users can grab all their necessary tools in one place, but it’s worth noting that you can also install anything from the Chrome Store....
Microsoft has announced Collections are now available on Chromium Edge through the Canary channel. The feature is bundled into build 78.0.250.1 and can be tested by users on the early adopting branch now. Collections can help users organize and share to help keep track easier. Microsoft many customers say they find the internet and overwhelming place and are often cluttered. With this vast information, Collections helps to organize into actionable tools....
“To help you get ahead of the ever-evolving compliance landscape, we’re excited to announce several new assessments available in the public preview of Microsoft Compliance Score,” said senior director of Microsoft 365 Alym Rayani in a blog post. “Leveraging a team of data protection experts using a common control framework of more than 1,000 controls, we built unique insights into Microsoft Compliance Score.” The company previously announced that it would extend CCPA’s conditions to all of its customers, and it’s helping its customers do the same....
