In the News

Microsoft has released an early 64-bit version of Office 2016 for the Mac, giving adventurous users a chance to finally make the move off 32-bit, as their Windows colleagues have long done. “The Mac Office team has been working on the transition and we’re currently preparing to release the Office apps in full 64-bit,” the Office for Mac team announced in an undated post to a company blog.

Microsoft launched another alternative to IFTTT (If This Then That) named Conditional Action Programmer. Only this time, it is not as business-oriented as Flow, and users can even use their voice to tell CAP what they want it to do. For those who are unaware of the term, IFTTT or If This Then That is a tool that connects several Web services and apps, and allows users to create workflows that perform a function if a certain condition is met.

The Xbox One Scorpio and the PS4 NEO both look to be treading new ground, at least for the console market. The idea of iterative hardware upgrades has been a mainstay in PC gaming, mobile gaming, and handheld gaming, but consoles have steadfastly avoided the model for years now. Xbox Services Manager Dave McCarthy told, “We want to make that transition as smooth as possible. Some of our retail partners today do trade-in programs and that’s definitely going to be partnerships we continue to move going forward. We’ll try partnerships with our retail partners to smooth it even more with trade-in programs and things like that.”

Microsoft has released inside preview Build 14383 for both Windows 10 PCs and mobiles that will fix a lot of bugs. The company is checking the final code in preparation for the Windows 10 Anniversary Update release slated for August 2. The company will still release other builds from now till the release day for users of the Windows Insiders program.

In March, Microsoft revealed that it was using the open-world game Minecraft to train AI agents to learn how to do things like climbing a hill. The company also promised to make it available to the public so they could work on their own artificial intelligence projects and research, and it’s finally available. Project Malmo (formerly known as Project AIX) is a Minecraft mod that works on Windows, Mac and Linux, and supports just about any programming language you might want to use.

Microsoft is renaming Windows 10 Enterprise to Windows 10 Enterprise E3 and has announced certain changes to its Windows 10 offerings for enterprises. Later this summer, the company will be coming out with a new version of Windows 10 called Windows 10 Enterprise E5. The new editions of Windows 10 will bring the major operating system from Microsoft in line with Office 365, which has E3 and E5 versions, along with ProPlus and E1 versions.

Microsoft seems to have allowed Chrome OS and Linux users to make audio calls by using Skype for Web. However, the company has not made any official statement regarding the update. A simple sign-in procedure now allows users to make voice calls through Skype for Web. Earlier, only instant messaging support was provided to Chrome OS users through Skype for Web. Even though the audio calls can now be made via Chromebooks, video call support has not been provided to Skype for Web on Chrome OS for now.

CNN has decided to part ways as it will withdraw its app from the Windows platform from July 18. The popular news app has now recommended Windows Phone users to refer to their website if they wish to follow their news. In a farewell message, CNN said: “This application will be retired on Monday, July 18. Thank you for being a loyal CNN user. Please visit our mobile web site to continue to get the latest domestic and international news: www.cnn.com.”

Microsoft has rolled out new features for developers of its Skype Bot platform making the bots better suited to group conversations. “Make Skype Bots that are more productive or just entertaining for groups of users. Bots can now be a part of and respond to group conversations,” the company said in a blog post. In addition, the update allows developers to create visual cards for users to facilitate bot-aided interactions with image cards, carousels and receipts.

Microsoft’s Xbox Anywhere initiative, which would bring all their Xbox games going forward to the PC, was certainly ambitious and staggering in its scope. Yusuf Mehdi, CVP of Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, explained: “Every new title published from Microsoft Studios will support Xbox Play Anywhere and will be easily accessible in the Windows Store.” The revised statement, however, states: “Every new title published from Microsoft Studios that we showed onstage at E3 this year will support Xbox Play Anywhere and will be easily accessible in the Windows Store.”