Windows 10 S is a gamble on the future of desktop apps

So what is Windows 10 S? Is it the perfect OS for school kids and teachers, or is it the OS that will make Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop shine? Can it be both?

If you don’t have 105 minutes to watch the presentation, Windows 10 S is a skew of Microsoft’s OS that only runs Windows Store apps. Because of this, it’s purportedly faster and, thanks to app sandboxes, more secure than Windows 10 Home or Pro. Before its unveil, it was widely assumed that 10 S was all about competing with Chrome OS at the low end. But despite introducing the OS at an education-focused event, Microsoft and its hardware partners will sell Windows 10 S machines to the masses, with prices ranging from $189 to more than $2,000 for the most expensive Surface Laptop.

10 S will probably get a lot of love from schools and maybe even businesses. Microsoft has added tools that make setting up and managing hundreds of machines far easier, and these are environments where administrators already dictate what users can and can’t do with their computers.

But that Windows Store restriction could pose problems: Some powerful programs don’t have full-fat UWP (Universal Windows Platform, the Windows Store app format) versions, and many older pieces of software simply don’t have UWP equivalents. Microsoft does have a fairly simple method for users to repackage older apps to UWP, which administrators could feasibly run through before distributing via the specialized Microsoft Store for Education or Business.

If 10 S becomes an OS of choice for schools, it should encourage more developers to convert their apps to UWP. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Adobe or Autodesk will start offering their apps through the general Windows Store: There are business reasons why they won’t, not least of which is Microsoft’s cut of Windows Store revenues. But it takes little effort to package a UWP app, and for many developers the draw will be strong.

10 S for the masses

As a pitch for education, Windows 10 S makes a lot of sense. The app ecosystem, replete with full versions of Office, makes it markedly more flexible than Chrome OS, and its locked-down nature should make it easy to manage. But Microsoft, and its hardware partners, will sell anyone a Windows 10 S laptop, and with the Surface Laptop attracting attention and general prices starting at $189, chances are that a lot of people are going to be tempted. How will it work for them?

Without an administrator smoothing over the cracks, 10 S is less flexible. Those app work-arounds are off the table, and you’re essentially going back to the Store-only vision Microsoft offered with Windows RT, its ill-fated attempt to sell ARM-powered Windows machines to compete with tablets.

The vast majority of users don’t want or need pro-grade applications though. The Windows Store selection is far wider than it was five years ago, when RT was released, and most of our time is spent in the browser anyway. Windows 10 S is also based on a better OS in Windows 10: one that performs well and, more importantly, that users are already accustomed to. With that in mind, the comparison between the two OSes fades away.

Arguably Microsoft’s biggest problem with RT was that it solved nothing. It was a slower version of Windows with barely any applications, and consumers neither understood nor cared about processor architecture. So what problem does 10 S solve? It offers a streamlined OS, improved performance and longer battery life at the cost of flexibility. That’s roughly the same pitch companies use to sell Chromebooks, and 10 S presents a more familiar and less rigid environment for most users than Google’s OS.

Microsoft is at a slight disadvantage compared to Google though. The Chromebook is easily understandable because people know what Chrome is. The expectation is for you to open your new laptop and have the software be a browser. Practically everyone knows what Windows is, and it’s not exactly what Microsoft is offering here.

It all comes down to how people install software on Windows: You go to a website, you download an app and you use it. A Windows 10 S laptop does not work like that. And sure, people will use the Windows Store, but the first thing they’ll do when they can’t find an app is head to the web to download it. When they do that, they’ll be asked to pay $49 to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro. Although that asking price isn’t crazy, a pop-up informing you of it isn’t a great user experience, and Microsoft has a giant task ahead of it in explaining why these new machines don’t work like Windows laptops. Clear marketing and in-store messaging will be key to making 10 S a success.

Clear marketing and in-store messaging will be key to making 10 S a success.

Microsoft, for its part, is doing a decent job with that, and overall its marketing materials are clear on what 10 S is and isn’t. “Windows 10 S is streamlined for security and performance, and works exclusively with apps from the Windows Store,” says the description on the OS comparison section of the company’s site, which couldn’t be clearer. But it’s easy to fall short.

On the Surface Laptop page, you get “Applications are delivered via the Windows Store, ensuring that they’re Microsoft verified.” Without the “exclusive” disclaimer, this sounds a bit like a bonus security feature, something optional like Apple’s Gatekeeper.

In the case of the Surface Laptop, Microsoft is actually offering a free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro, so that’s not such a big deal. But it highlights the problem here: Microsoft’s Windows team can get its messaging right, but the temptation for laptop makers — even inside Microsoft — to gloss over their devices’ shortcomings is going to to be strong. It’s going to need to work hard to make sure its hardware partners don’t do irreparable damage to its new OS’ reputation.

Browsers, Bing and Choice

While the broad strokes of 10 S seem solid, some of the details fall short. Regardless of its OS, the first thing I do with a new laptop is install Google Chrome, and I’m not alone in that preference. Despite being shipped as the default browser on Windows 10 (and the OS constantly nagging you to give it a shot), data from last year suggests that only one in five Windows 10 users are using Edge. The vast majority are using Google Chrome, which isn’t currently available on the Windows Store.

Even if Google brings Chrome to the store tomorrow, it won’t make things much better. While it wasn’t mentioned at yesterday’s event, Microsoft has since said that the default browser cannot be changed in Windows 10 S. That means every time you click a link in an app or message, it’ll open Edge.

Microsoft can and probably will point to improved battery life, RAM usage and security as a reason for this decision. By restricting user choice, it can ensure everyone is using a safe, modern browser that won’t make cheaper machines run like garbage. But if that were true, why is it also locking in Bing as the default search engine? That’s right: Unless you manually navigate to google.com and get searching, all of your search results are going to come from Bing.

The soul of Windows is choice, not Edge or Bing.

Take these two restrictions together and it’s clear that this has nothing to do with security or performance. It’s Microsoft desperately trying to prop up its browser and search efforts by restricting choice. Yesterday Windows chief Terry Myerson described 10 S as “the soul of Windows,” but to me and millions of Windows users around the world, the soul of Windows is choice, not Edge or Bing. It’s an inherently hackable, customizable platform.

This is clearly user hostile, but maybe Microsoft has data that suggests this tactic could work. For a while now, Cortana and Start Menu searches in Windows 10 have gone through Bing and opened in Edge, ignoring browser-preference settings. Given the vast amount of analytical data Microsoft collects from its users, it’s possible it has seen a pattern of usage there that it thinks will yield results. Perhaps the majority of users continued browsing in Edge for the rest of their session, suggesting they don’t care and are using other browsers out of habit.

Either way, the fact remains that there are some users, myself included, who aren’t happy with this behavior, and locking 10 S down in this way will only empower those warning about UWP to create a walled garden within Windows to complain louder. To me, restricting both the apps that you can install and the default search engine is pushing users a little too hard. These are small details though, and if there’s adequate uproar, Microsoft can easily flip a switch and change them without compromising the basic sales pitch for the OS.

A Windows Store future

With 10 S, Microsoft is laying out its vision for the future of Windows. For a long time now, it’s been working hard to move developers to UWP, creating simple workflows to package legacy apps in a UWP container, and this is yet another push in that direction. It’s hoping its users will appreciate the increased speed and battery life and that developers will move to where their customers are, and fast.

Like Windows 8 and RT, 10 S represents a gamble for Microsoft. It’s gambling that developers will follow if it can persuade schools to get on board; it’s gambling that a $189 laptop will provide adequate performance to not burn consumers; and it’s gambling that if developers don’t move fast enough for users, it can essentially sell a $49 “add-on” to them when, at that precise moment in time, they will have just been frustrated by a lack of functionality in its OS.

In the long run, Microsoft wants to own Windows as an ecosystem rather than a platform. For that to happen, it needs to spin the wheel. It’s been trying and failing to sell its developers and users on the Windows Store for some time now, after all. If Microsoft wants to offer a 10 S experience as standard and put legacy apps and services behind a Pro paywall, it needs to start somewhere.

The education market is large enough that it should provide the audience to bring more developers on board to its vision. Enticing regular users with both cheap computers and gorgeous hardware like the Surface Laptop will only bolster its chances of the gamble paying off. But if Microsoft can’t get the vast majority of apps on the Windows Store, its plan won’t work.

How to a take a screenshot on a PC with Windows 7, 8, or 10

We could spend all day arguing the merits of a good screen-capture utility. They’re quick and efficient, often providing a simple way to take a JPG snapshot of an application window or your entire display in a matter of seconds, without the need to download any external software. Perhaps you need to send a screenshot to tech support, email an image to a friend, or, if you’re like us, capture a screenshot for an awesome how-to guide about how to take a screenshot on a PC!

No matter the reason, Windows features several built-in utilities for capturing and saving screenshots, and they’re only a few keyboard clicks away. All four methods covered in this guide are free, straightforward, and work fantastically on most PCs, no matter what you want to capture.

Using the default keyboard shortcuts

Taking a screenshot is simple, regardless of which version of Windows you’re running. There are only a few steps — assuming you haven’t fiddled with the default keyboard controls — and you should already have access to all the image-editing software you need.

Step 1: Capture the image — Assuming the area you want to capture is displayed on your screen, press the Print Screen (often shortened to “PrtScn”) key, typically located in the upper-right corner of your keyboard, to capture a screenshot of your entire display. Alternatively, press Alt + Print Screen to capture a screenshot of the active window. If you’re on a laptop, you may need to press Fn + Print Screen if your laptop has another feature assigned to that particular key.

There will be no noise or any other indication the screenshot was taken, but the resulting image will be saved as a PNG file to your clipboard. If using Windows 8 or 10, click the Windows Key + Print Screen to automatically save a full-screen screenshot within the Screenshots folder of your picture directory.

Alternatively, if you have Dropbox installed, the screenshot will be automatically deposited in your Dropbox directory, under Screenshots.

Step 2: Open Paint — Click the Start menu, navigate to the Windows Accessories folder — or the Accessories folder, if using Windows 7 — and click Paint. The icon depicts a painting palette with a brush on the right side, but it will vary slightly depending on your operating system.

In Windows 8, press the Windows key to open the start screen. Afterward, click the down arrow in the bottom left, press Ctrl + Tab, or swipe downward from the center of the display to access the Apps View. From there, select Paint.

In Windows 10, you can open the Start menu, go to All Apps, and scroll through the alphabetical list until you find Paint.

All three versions also include Windows Search, which can be used to find Paint by searching for — you guessed it — Paint!

Step 3: Paste the screenshot — Once open, click the Paste button in the upper-left corner of the program, choose Edit then Paste, or press Ctrl + V on the keyboard to paste your screenshot. Again, the exact navigation and wordage will vary slightly from OS to OS, but the keyboard shortcut will remain the same.

Step 4: Save the screenshot — Perform any edits you want, such as cropping the image to a specified area, and click the main File option in the top-left corner. Afterward, select Save as, title the new file, choose a save location, and select your desired file format from the drop-down menu. For most purposes, JPG will do fine, but a variety of other formats are available to choose from such as PNG, BMP, GIF, and others. Click the gray Save button in the bottom right-hand corner when finished.

Brother’s Entire Lineup of Mobile Printers Now Certified by Apple’s Made for iPhone Program

Brother today announced that every series in its mobile printer lineup now features at least one model certified by Apple’s MFi Program.

MFi-certified printers are fully compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, enabling users to print instantly from an iOS device via Bluetooth, without the need to download special drivers. That’s in addition to existing AirPrint support on select Brother printers for wireless printing from an iOS device over a Wi-Fi network.

Brother’s MFi-certified models include the RuggedJet RJ-2050, RJ-2150, RJ-3050Ai, RJ-3150Ai, RJ-4030Ai, PocketJet 763MFi, and M-Print MW145MFi and MW260MFi. Look for the “Made for iPhone, iPad, and iPod” logo on the box.

Brother has a wide variety of mobile printers available to purchase on its website, with some models costing upwards of $1,000.

Tags: MFi Program, Brother
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SCOBY yourself: How to make kombucha from scratch

So you’ve ditched your home-brewed beer, are too impatient for homemade wine, and are justifiably wary of making bathtub gin. But you’re also tired of paying thirty bucks a case for kombucha, a drink that has been made by people from virtually nothing for centuries. Making kombucha from scratch has to be easier than some of these farm-to-table recipes, right? Not only is it a breeze, but it’s also a labor you’ll love.

What is kombucha, anyway?

If you’re still reading, you’re probably either a fan of kombucha, or have at least sampled a commercially produced version. For the newbies, kombucha is a zesty, fermented, lightly effervescent drink made by adding bacteria and yeast to sugar and tea (black or green), and then letting the process of fermentation do its work. Science, yeah!

Make no mistake: Kombucha is a funky drink, and it’s often an acquired taste. It’s sometimes referred to as “mushroom tea,” because it has an earthy, savory aroma with hints of alcohol and vinegar. That’s why aficionados often add juice to the base brew to make the tea taste better.

The drink is fermented in three stages, which we’ll discuss below. Kombucha is high in acid and contains sugar, vinegar, B vitamins, antioxidants, trace amounts of alcohol due to the fermentation process, and a few other trace chemical compounds. An eight-ounce mug of kombucha contains about 60 calories. By comparison, an eight-ounce café latte from Starbucks contains about 100 calories.

Kombucha is produced by fermenting tea using a SCOBY (this one’s important, so remember it for the test, kids). The acronym stands for “symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast,” and while it sounds like some kind of scary mutant, this chemical cocktail is a crucial tool in creating a truly unique drink.

Home-brewers either buy a “kombucha mother” starter, or use a starter sample from an existing culture to grow a new starter that ferments in a jar for a couple of weeks.

A Brief History of Kombucha

No one really knows where kombucha originated, but here’s what we think we know.

The common wisdom is that kombucha originated in what is now Manchuria around 220 BCE and was largely limited to that region for over a century. It is apocryphally reported that the drink and its recipe was imported to Japan in 404 CE by Kombu, a Korean physician called upon to treat the Japanese Emperor Ingyo using a special tea. The Chinese referred to kombucha as the Tea of Immortality and the Elixir of Life, so the drink’s unproven health benefits have a long history.

The first recorded mention of kombucha comes from Russia and the Ukraine late in the 19th century. Spread via Russian and German POWs after World War I, kombucha began to reach new countries quickly, according to The Atlantic. By the 1920s, the drink was brewed throughout Germany as a home and folk remedy. It was also sold in pharmacies under a variety of names.

The word itself has a murky history as well. Dictionaries suggest it probably originates with the Japanese word kombucha, meaning tea made from kombu, the Japanese word for kelp. Kombucha was sometimes confused with a kelp-based infusion due to the thick, gelatinous nature of the drink’s base culture.

SoundCloud Introduces Daily Personalized Music Curation With ‘The Upload’

SoundCloud today launched a new feature called “The Upload,” which will act similarly to Apple Music’s My New Music Mix and Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlists by curating a list of new songs specifically personalized to each user’s listening habits.

The company said that The Upload will make it much easier to filter through SoundCloud’s ever-expanding library of music, which sees new tracks and artists added to the service every day. To find The Upload, users can navigate to the Search tab on iOS and Android, and the Discover tab on the web.

Once SoundCloud has an indication of what a user likes, The Upload will begin curating songs daily.

The Upload is all about surfacing more of what you’re into, or what you might be, and is the go-to destination for a regularly updated, bespoke playlist of new music relevant to you.

With the largest and most diverse music catalog around, we want to make discovery on SoundCloud even easier and we’re utilizing machine learning to offer new ways for you to find more music. This new feature is another opportunity for creators on SoundCloud to get their music heard by our global community and a great way for listeners to be on the pulse of what’s next, now.

The new feature gathers and recommends music that has been uploaded to SoundCloud “within the last few days,” and takes into account what each user has listened to as well as what they have liked. As the comparable features work on Apple Music and Spotify, the more users listen on SoundCloud, the better The Upload’s recommendations become.

In February, SoundCloud introduced a streaming music plan with a cheaper price tag, called SoundCloud Go, which users can subscribe to for $5.99/month. A top-tier SoundCloud Go+ option is also available for $12.99/month, including access to an expanded catalogue of music. SoundCloud has around 175 million users, but the company has never detailed specific numbers in relation to how many people subscribe to its paid streaming service.

SoundCloud is available to download on the iOS App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: SoundCloud
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Renovate with caution: These add-ons might not be worth the investment

Smart-home products and renovations tend to vary widely in terms of cost. A smart bulb can cost about $20, while more expensive renovations — namely those which require a company to install tech throughout a home — check in at several thousand dollars.

Before long, a growing number of homeowners may opt for investments in smart features, especially those capable of reducing monthly expenses. If you want an idea of how mainstream smart-home products are becoming, just look at Ikea’s lineup.

But is it worth it to install smart-home renovations throughout your house? It might depend on whether you’re hoping to make your life easier or get a return on that investment. Transforming your home to suit your needs, tastes, and hobbies is fine, but you probably don’t want to look at these changes as investments. While some features may help increase the resale potential of a home by reducing expenses or adding a “wow” factor, others probably don’t justify the money. To help, we’ve compiled a few home renovations that might not pay off.

Overly smart kitchen

Remodeling a kitchen can consist of refinishing cabinets, adding backsplash, painting walls, and buying a few bar stools for the countertop. Or it can be a major endeavor when you decide to replace everything down to the studs.

As of 2017, a major kitchen remodel costs roughly $62,158 to complete (on average) and at resale time, the average recuperation of such costs is around $40,560. This means homeowners typically get about 65 percent of their money back, according to Remodeling Magazine’s 2017 Cost vs. Value Report. A minor remodel costs an average of $20,830 to complete, with homeowners recouping roughly $16,700 of those costs, meaning a minor remodel recuperates more of its cost — about 80 percent — at resale.

If you fill a kitchen with the latest tech during a remodel, you might end up over-remodeling to the point where it’s impossible to recuperate the initial investment. If you purchase all the latest smart appliances, for instance, you’re looking at a cost of around $4,000 for a refrigerator, $4,000 for an oven, and another $1,000 for a dishwasher. You’ll still need a range hood, a wine cooler, and small appliances, before even adding the cost of the essentials — cabinets, flooring, labor, etc.

At the moment, you probably don’t need a dishwasher that reorders its own detergent. In some ways, buying connected appliances makes sense when it comes to future-proofing. Manufacturers can deliver updates that add helpful or fun new features. Just keep in mind that your Samsung oven isn’t going to make small talk with your Whirlpool dishwasher. That might not be a big deal right now, but imagine how cool it would be if your oven knew it had a heavily soiled lasagna pan after tonight’s dinner, and the dishwasher could adjust its settings accordingly.

How to password protect a Microsoft Excel document

If you use a computer, you probably have some Microsoft Excel documents on your Mac or PC that you wouldn’t want other people to find and read. After all, Excel is used by both regular consumers, businesses, government institutions, and millions of other folks all over the world.

Thankfully, it’s easy to secure an Excel 2016 document with a password. In this guide, we’ll show you how to do just that. In future updates, we’ll add instructions on how to secure Word and Word-compatible documents in other Word-like programs, like OpenOffice, and others.

How to password protect an Excel document

First, open the Excel document that you want to secure with a password. Then, click File, Info, and hit Protect Workbook underneath Info.

From there, click Encrypt with Password.

Excel will then prompt you to type in a password. Pick one out, but keep in mind that if you forget what it is, you’ll lose access to that document.

Remember, this only protects the single target document. Each Excel document you want to protect with a password must be done so on an individual basis, and you can check on whether or not a document is protected in the Info tab.

Microsoft Excel will prompt you to type it in each time you want to open a protected doc.

And…that’s it! Were you hoping for more steps? Well, sorry to disappoint — but it really is that easy to password protect an Excel document.

However, if you want to password protect an entire folder, things can get trickier. The easiest way to protect a large number of files is to encrypt them. Luckily, encryption programs are not hard to find. Several freeware options exist, and Windows 10 Professional users have a built-in encryption utility called Bitlocker. Check out our introduction to encryption if you want to learn more.

Apple CEO Tim Cook to Speak With Jim Cramer on CNBC’s Mad Money Tonight

Apple CEO Tim Cook will appear on CNBC’s Mad Money this evening, where he will speak with host Jim Cramer. According to a tweet from the Mad Money Twitter account, Cook will talk about the future of Apple while on the show.

.@jimcramer speaks with @Apple CEO @tim_cook about the future of this iconic company tonight! pic.twitter.com/j5N9lNpOpG

— Mad Money On CNBC (@MadMoneyOnCNBC) May 3, 2017

Cook has made an interview with Jim Cramer an annual affair, having appeared on the show in March of 2015 and May of 2016. Last year, Cook spoke about Apple’s revenue decline, acquisitions, the company’s future plans, and China.

Mad Money will air at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time or 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

Tags: Tim Cook, CNBC
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Brookfield Residential Announces Plans to Offer HomeKit Standard in New Homes

Homebuilding company Brookfield Residential today announced plans to offer Apple HomeKit as standard in new communities where it builds homes.

The Delano neighborhood in the Eastwood Village of Irvine, California will be the first to feature all connected homes that are able to interface with HomeKit and will be equipped with HomeKit-compatible accessories like lights, thermostats, locks, and more.

“In our new neighborhoods, the future comes standard: As with other consumer innovations such as keyless autos, what is novel today will soon be pervasive,” said Foley. “And Apple Home is the most innovative yet easy-to-use system for smart homes, giving homebuyers connected living at their fingertips – or at the command of their voices, using Siri. This makes their appliances work for them, providing joy, ease, security and privacy.”

Specific HomeKit accessories that will come standard in all homes include Lutron Caseta lighting, the Honeywell Lyric T6 Smart WiFi Thermostat, Schlage Sense Smart Deadbolts, and Ubiquiti Wireless Access Points for “peak WiFi performance throughout the home.”

Along with new homes in Irvine, Brookfield also has plans to build HomeKit-compatible homes in many other areas of Southern California including Playa Vista, Chula Vista, San Marcos, Azusa, and Ontario Ranch.

There are multiple homebuilding companies that have announced plans to support Apple’s HomeKit platform, including KB Home, Lennar, Weberhaus in Germany, and R&F properties in China.

Tag: HomeKit
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Professional home stager Taylor Spellman picks her favorite interior design apps

Why it matters to you

It’s easier than ever to virtually

If you’ve been using a slew of apps to help with your home remodel, fear not: The pros use them, too. Taylor Spellman, star of Bravo’s Yours, Mine, or Ours and owner of an eponymous interior design and staging firm, likes being able to show her clients what she’s envisioning before the shopping, painting, and arranging starts. Some of her favorite apps are below.

Home Design 3D Gold ($10)

There’s both a free and paid version of Home Design 3D (iOS, Android), both of which let you see 2D and 3D renderings of floor plans. You can add and subtract walls, put in a new door, and make other structural changes. If you’re not looking to tear down anything, you can play with new furnishings, flooring, and paint. “I love this app, as it really gives the user the opportunity to create the visual of their wildest design dreams,” Spellman told Digital Trends. “Oftentimes it can be hard to envision what removing a wall or adding an island looks like, and this is a one stop shop to designing creative spaces.”

Curate (Free, Android and iOS)

“I must confess that I often get lost for hours on Curate searching the for perfect piece of art,” said Spellman. The app lets you upload pictures of your walls, then scroll through galleries of artwork to see what they’d look like in your home. You can also snap a picture you see hanging elsewhere and virtually test it out on your wall. “It is a great way to determine the depth and scope of the art you want for a space without creating so many holes in the wall,” she added. “Plus, the search engine to explore so many artists is a great for inspiration.”

MyPantone ($5 month/$30 year,  iOS)

Even if colors look fairly similar on their own, they will take on different hues and casts depending on what else is in the room with them. Pantone put its color collection into an app that can also identify colors in pictures and create palettes around them. “I make a living on choosing the perfect color palette and MyPantone never disappoints,” said Spellman. With the app, she says it’s much easier for her to explain the difference between sage and moss to her clients.

Houzz (Free, iOS, Android, Windows)

Spellman calls Houzz the “Library of Congress of design apps.” Its database has millions of photos that you can filter in countless ways to find inspiration. From there, you can save pictures, hire professionals, or buy furniture. If you’re having a “Design Dilemma,” you can submit to the community for feedback and advice. “The options are endless and you can explore to your heart’s, or phone battery’s, content,” said Spellman.