All the important Microsoft news stories for June 25, 2016

News
By Seth Brodeur
last updated

What did Microsoft do this week? If you missed a story or want to catch up on all the Insider releases, new app announcements, and movement in the Windows 10 world we have you covered with this week's In Case You Missed It!

Windows

Windows

Fast Ring Insiders were upgraded to preview build 14371 this week, which brought improvements to the product activation process, amongst other things. The same users then got bumped up a single digit to build 14372 the next day adding some additional bug fixes.

Microsoft released a video comparing the battery usage of the four top browsers to show that Edge was superior to Chrome and the others in that respect. Opera, one of the four featured in the test, took exception to the claim and released their own video showing Opera out-performing Edge by 22%.

Four familiar Microsoft desktop apps have been reborn as Windows 10 apps for Insiders. WordPad, XPS Viewer, Character Map, and Windows Fax and Scan, are now in the Store for those who want them.

And two big names in media also released Windows 10 apps. SiriusXM and Roku both launched this week, allowing subscribers to access their services on their devices. The former is currently only available for computers and tablets, while the latter can be downloaded for both PCs and smartphones (as an 8.1 app).

Other notable items:

Microsoft

Microsoft

Reports have surfaced that newer batches of Microsoft Band 2 wearables have been manufactured with thicker skins to prevent tears in the wristband. Many users have experienced rips in the Band 2, exposing internal electronic components. Although several outlets are hearing about the fortified skins, Microsoft has yet to confirm or deny them.

The latest Xbox One preview rolled out this week with language independence and improvements to game pre-orders. Unfortunately, some Xbox Preview members are experiencing issues with backward compatible games since the update.

The June firmware for the Surface Book, Surface Pro 4, and Surface 3 LTE was also released. The patch delivers battery optimizations for the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4, broadband stability to the Surface 3, and more.

Microsoft confirmed that they will stop manufacturing the Surface 3 by the end of 2016. That being said, there have been no announcements regarding a successor to the 10-inch tablet.

Microsoft's acquisition of professional networking site LinkedIn may face some challenges in China in they decide to make any changes to the social network. LinkedIn had signed an agreement to cooperate with China's censorship laws, and there is concern that the new ownership might go against that agreement.

However, according to The Wall Street Journal:

A Microsoft spokesman reiterated what the company said in its statement. "LinkedIn will retain its distinct brand, culture and independence," in all geographies, including China.

Other notable items:

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

Our Windows 10 Gems series kept rolling with the Staples printing add-in for Microsoft Office, the incredible handwriting-based math app FluidMath, the rocking new SiriusXM app for Windows 10.

A team over at UC Davis have built the first 1,000-core processor, aptly named KiloCore. It is obviously powerful, capable of handling 115 billion instructions per second, but because unused cores get powered down, it is also immensely energy efficient.

Fitbit introduced a new Sleep Schedule feature for its fitness trackers to help users regulate their internal clocks. Use your Fitbit app to set goals for when you go to bed and how long you sleep, and if the tracker finds you straying from that schedule, it will notify you.

Twitter extended their limit for user video posts from 30 seconds to 140 seconds, mimicking their 140-character post limits.

Instagram not only hit the 500 million user mark, but also announced that they will be implementing a built-in text translation tool in the next month or so.

Word has it that Netflix could introduce an offline viewing feature by the end of this year, allowing customers to download videos so they can watch them without an internet connection.

And now you can express yourself in six dozen new ways, thanks to Unicode 9.0. The update includes over 7500 additional characters, and the addition of 72 emojis like pancakes, a gorilla, a clown face, and a facepalm.

Other notable items:

Share your thoughts on this past week of news! And we'll be back again next week to do it all over again.

Seth Brodeur
Seth Brodeur