Live from Microsoft’s Build 2017 product keynote

We’re on the ground in Seattle and waiting for Microsoft’s second Build 2017 keynote to kick off. It’s a return to home turf for the company (or at least, very close to its Redmond headquarters), after hosting its developer keynote in San Francisco for the past few years. We got a solid overview of the company’s broader vision at yesterday’s keynote, which includes a deeper push into AI and intelligent cloud computing. But today, we’re looking forward to presentations from Microsoft’s Windows and devices head, Terry Myerson, as well as Alex Kipman, the brains behind HoloLens. We’ll likely hear about upcoming Windows 10 features, more about its plans for Windows 10 S notebooks and more about its VR/AR pursuit.

The keynote kicks off today at 8:30AM PT/ 11:30AM ET. Grab some coffee and strap in for our live blog right here.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from Microsoft’s Build 2017.

Windows 10 is getting another Creators Update this fall

Now that the Windows 10 Creators Update is rolling out to PCs across the world, Microsoft is ready to start talking about its next big OS upgrade. Don’t expect any catchy new names though: It’s called the Fall Creators Update. Microsoft says it stuck with that moniker because it sees this upgrade as a continuation of the themes it developed with the first Creators Update. That’s to say, the company is still focused on helping consumers be creative.

Details are still light, but the company revealed at its Build developer conference today that the upgrade will show off how Windows ties into the Microsoft Graph, the underlying set of APIs connecting all of its products. That includes the ability to pick up where you left off working on a Windows, iOS or Android device; a universal clipboard that you can access across multiple devices; and Timeline, a feature that will let you jump back in time to a previous work session using, you guessed it, a visual timeline. While we’ve seen similar solutions, like Apple’s handoff feature between Macs and iOS devices, Microsoft’s attempt sounds useful for consumers who work across Windows and other platforms.

Additionally, the Fall Creators Update will be the official debut of Microsoft’s Fluent Design System (previously known as Project Neon). It’s a new interface paradigm for building apps that can work across a variety of devices and input types. While Microsoft is stressing that Fluent Design won’t be a huge visual upgrade from the current version of Windows 10, leaks suggest that it could add some new flourishes. We’re still waiting on more information about how, exactly, Fluent Design will change things for developers, but it sounds like a smart shift for Microsoft, as it expects Windows 10 to reach new types of hardware.

In related news, Microsoft revealed that Autodesk and SAP will be bringing apps to the Windows Store later this year. They’re not meant for everyday consumers, but their addition could be useful for 3D designers and enterprise users. It’s tough to say much about them at this point, but having more-notable companies join the Windows Store could convince other developers to port their apps as well.

Microsoft doesn’t have a specific release date in mind for the Fall Creators Update yet, but we’ll give you a guess as to the general time frame you can expect it.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from Microsoft Build 2017.

Microsoft’s Fluent Design optimizes Windows 10 for even more devices

Microsoft is still keeping mum about the future of its mobile OS, but in the meantime the company is pressing forward with a plan to expand to various other devices. At its Build developer conference today, Microsoft unveiled its Fluent Design System, a framework the company says will “deliver intuitive, harmonious, responsive and inclusive cross-device experiences and interactions.”

Fluent Design will let developers create apps that work across “a wide range of device and input diversity.” This means programmers can detect what types of input are available, such as touchscreens, mice, keyboards, microphones and cameras and integrate them into the app’s functions. The system also lets developers tailor apps for devices with large screens or no screens.

The Fluent Design System is based on five key elements: Light, Depth, Motion, Material and Scale. Through those principles, Microsoft is exploring the potential for input methods that go beyond a mouse, keyboard, touchscreen or pen. We’re talking about things like using your voice or your gaze to interact with apps, especially in mixed reality scenarios. When all of these elements combine, the end result will be software and experiences that extend far beyond your computer screen, as Microsoft explains it.

Windows Ink will also see a big upgrade with Fluent Design. Microsoft seemingly wants you to be able to navigate all of Windows with just a stylus. In the demos on stage today, examples like striking through a word to delete it in a Bing search box or using the Surface Pen to scroll a page show the potential for Ink in upcoming apps and Windows 10 as a whole.

One of the most obvious benefits of Fluent Design is its potential to make existing apps compatible with new platforms and devices like HoloLens, or one of the many Windows mixed reality headsets we’re expecting later this year. Cosmetic changes to the way Windows 10 currently looks are minimal, and the update will happen in stages over time instead of all at once. Microsoft says the rollout will be delivered to its Insider program users first, and will arrive with the Fall Creators Update.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from Microsoft Build 2017.

Microsoft Graph bridges the gap between Windows and your phone

Microsoft’s push into being the connective glue between all your devices is encompassed in Graph. That is what the company is calling a handful of features it says will “connect dots between people, conversations, projects and content.” Announced during the second day of Build 2017, the aim is to make all things Microsoft work seamlessly, whether you’re on an iPhone, an Android device or a Windows PC. (And without mentioning Continuum.) It goes beyond that, tapping into Microsoft’s cloud storage services in a bid to make you more efficient switching across different hardware, and keeping track of (almost) everything you do on your PC. Let’s take a look.

Timeline is possibly the most intriguing feature, offering a (literal) timeline of what you were working on / doing on your PC months or even years ago. This will encompass files, apps and even websites: Microsoft says it’ll be as if you never left them. Will it offer older unedited files? Will this visual timeline only begin from the day you start using the latest version of Windows? We expect to hear more from Microsoft on this.

Cortana is, predictably, a prime part of that whole seamless digital experience. Microsoft explains you’ll soon be able to log off your PC, and have the document you were previously poring over pop up on your smartphone — who needs a coffee break, right? Cortana will ask if you want to pick up where you left off, whether it’s a document, website or app. It brings the promises of Continuum to phones that aren’t running mobile iterations of Windows. This is a good thing.

Clipboard is also picking up a cloud-powered upgrade, with the option to copy from and paste to any of your connected devices. At the moment, they have to be Windows machines or popular smartphones, and we know that for mobile devices, you’ll need to have Swiftkey installed as a keyboard to offer up the pasting shortcuts. It’ll be able to beam photos, links, entire paragraphs and even GIFs (less important) across your various devices.

The final part of the Graph pitch is Microsoft’s cloud storage service, OneDrive. Now with “Files on Demand”, users will be able to access and use all their cloud files without having them take up precious storage space on whatever device you’re using. They’ll be displayed in File Explorer, and you’ll still be able to lock them to work offline when you need to work without an internet connection. All these features will roll out with the Fall Creators Update later this year. Naturally, too, they will also arrive decked in the company’s new Fluent Design, ready for mixed-reality headsets in 2020.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from Microsoft’s Build 2017.

Microsoft’s Story Remix puts a Hollywood studio in your PC

For the Fall Creators Update, Microsoft has unveiled a new app that can transform your photos and videos into a cinematic spectacle, complete with CG effects, titles and a soundtrack. Called Story Remix, it’s a Universal Windows App that uses deep learning and Microsoft’s Graph, letting you pull media in from colleagues and friends. It’s a powerful yet simple app that uses image analysis and AI to do clip discovery, effects integration and the entire edit, complete with music.

It’s like a fancier, smarter version of Apple Clips, Google’s Photo Assistant or the Magisto app (remember that?), but geared toward Windows 10 content. As a nod to the latest Creators Update, it can also pull in 3D objects from Paint 3D and other programs or let you draw on your videos and photos using Window Ink.

The interface features an asset pane on the right; “explore,” “create” and “folders” tabs up top; and a playback window below — like a simplified version of Final Cut Pro X or Adobe Premiere. However, rather than using frames, video clips and photos are shown as thumbnails with the length in seconds and frames superimposed.

From there, you just drag clips around to reorder them or grab the head and tail to change the length. Various tools let you add text, filters, soundtracks and more. Microsoft Graph comes into play by letting you pull in content from friends or colleagues, contribute clips or marry your own videos with others. Thanks to the deep learning, it can remember your preferences and prebuild videos that are creatively in tune with your past projects.

While relatively simple, Story Remix goes beyond other editing systems in many ways. Thanks to machine learning, it can analyze your photos and videos, then figure out when and where your media was shot and who’s in it, and it can even pick out the ground plane and other objects. That makes it much easier to find specific shots containing dogs, trains or people, saving you a whole bunch of searching and scrolling through clips.

From there, it can automatically edit media, add a soundtrack, lay in transitions and give you a final cut with hardly any effort on your part. If you don’t like it the first time, you simply hit the “remix” button and it will completely change the style and tone of your piece.

You can add titles from Microsoft’s Pen and Ink or insert 3D models, explosions and other mixed-reality content from Microsoft’s recently launched 3D Remix asset site. Thanks to its AI, Story Remix can do advanced 3D motion tracking and figure out the 3D perspective and camera position of a photo or video.

In one example (image at top), a boy with a magic wand shot on an iPhone conjures up a CG dragon from 3D Remix, with lightning bolts from the boy’s wand (again from 3D Remix) used to complete the effect. All the user has to do is drop in the model and everything will automatically line up in perspective.

Story Remix will add royalty-free theme music from Groove that readjusts for each video by changing the tempo and lining up beats with the video. Hitting the “remix” button will select different music, or you can adjust it yourself using a slider that varies from “chill” to “energetic.”

Story Remix is a pretty canny app: It takes the drudgery out of editing, helping inexperienced users create full videos. At the same time, it enables some pretty advanced effects, again without a lot of complex knowledge required. That makes it ideal as an educational tool, letting kids collaborate to build fun videos while learning the art of cinema.

The full Story Remix app, with automatic editing, 3D Remix support and more, will arrive in September with the final release of the Fall Creators Update. However, a basic version called Photos will arrive on Thursday with the first Windows Insider build.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from Microsoft Build 2017.

Microsoft blurs the line between OneDrive and local files

This fall, all of your Windows files will be viewable and accessible from File Explorer regardless of whether they’re stored in OneDrive or locally. It’s something Joe Belfiore talked about onstage from the Build keynote, explicitly saying that all the fancy tools we’ve seen so far this morning for collaboration will benefit from it.

“With Files On-Demand, you can access all your files in the cloud without having to download them and use storage space on your device,” a blog post reads. Microsoft says that this has been the No. 1 user request. Think of it like a cloud-based folder on your device that syncs basically everything across users and across all of their gadgets.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from Microsoft Build 2017.

Twitch will stream every episode of ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’

May 15th is a beautiful day for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fans. Starting at 3PM on the 15th, Twitch will begin streaming all 886 episodes of the beloved kids’ show. The broadcast will last for 17 days on the Mister Rogers channel, ending sometime on June 2nd. Since the show ran from 1968 to 2001 on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), expect to see lots of episodes you’ve never seen before, including those that were only ever aired once. Twitch will kick off the event with something other than its first episode, though: it will start by broadcasting Fred Rogers’ famous Senate testimony to celebrate its 48th anniversary earlier this month.

Fred Rogers appeared before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications in 1969 to support funding for the PBS, which airs shows by educational institutions and non-profit groups, in the midst of President’s Nixon’s proposed budget cuts. He won the Senate over by talking about how programs like Neighborhood can help with children’s education, and how it can make them realize that they’re unique and fine just the way they are.

If you think you’ll enjoy marathoning some Mister Rogers like you did Bob Ross’ The Joy of Painting and Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, check out its official streaming channel. Take note that Twitch and PBS will show a donation panel with the stream to support new programming that follow Fred Rogers’ legacy. The platform will also stream mini-marathons in the weeks after the main one ends.

Lesli Rotenberg, PBS’ Senior Vice President and General Manager, said:

“Fred Rogers believed in the boundless potential of all children, and his landmark educational philosophy continues to guide our work today at PBS KIDS. We are excited to bring Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood to the Twitch community in this special event, honoring Fred’s legacy, and encouraging fans to support the important work that local PBS stations do to help all children learn and succeed.”

Source: Twitch

Windows 10 Timeline remembers everything you did on your PC

One of the more intriguing features Microsoft will include in this fall’s Windows 10 Creators Update is Timeline. As the name suggests, it’s a way for you to move backwards in time and see things you were working on in the past and resume what you were doing. Microsoft described it as a visual timeline of everything you were doing on your computer, and you can jump back into files, applications and websites where you left off.

Introducing Timeline. Easily jump back in time to continue where you left off. #Windows10 #MSBuild pic.twitter.com/e3gxhXnp6W

— Windows (@Windows) May 11, 2017

Timeline lives in the Windows app switcher. When you click it, you’ll see your active apps, but below that you’ll see what you were running earlier in the day. Clicking down on one of those things that you were using earlier will pop it open just as you were using it before. This works across multiple devices, as well — when you open up another Windows device where you’re signed in, you can resume the tasks you were using before. This will even work across other devices like an iPhone using the Cortana app. If you’re somewhere where you have Cortana, it’ll prompt you to continue working on whatever you were doing before. If you don’t have the specific app installed on your phone, it’ll help point you to the right app as well.

At first glance, it sounds a little bit like the Time Machine backup feature that Apple has included in macOS for years now. But Time Machine is more of a file backup system that lets you go back and see earlier versions of files that you might want to restore. Microsoft’s Timeline covers applications and websites as well as just files, and it doesn’t require an external hard drive, as it’s not really a true backup system in the way Time Machine is. Indeed, Timeline appears more like Microsoft’s answer to Continuity, a feature Apple build into macOS and iOS that lets you pick up and resume work across whatever Apple device you’re using.

Timeline is just one feature in the forthcoming Creators Update, which features a host of tools for using Microsoft’s software and services across devices. The “Microsoft Graph” set of APIs will let you pick up and continue work across multiple devices and will iOS and Android as well as Windows. It’ll also let you have a “universal clipboard” across your devices.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from Microsoft Build 2017.

Microsoft unveils Windows Mixed Reality Controllers

What good is a modern VR headset without decent motion controllers? Well, not much. So it’s no surprise that Microsoft has announced its first Windows Mixed Reality Controllers, which will support the MR/VR headsets from the likes of Acer and other PC makers. Like HoloLens and the Windows powered headsets, the controllers will rely on inside-out tracking technology, so you won’t need to set up any special sensors to use them.

We only got a brief glimpse of the controllers at the Build developer conference, but they’re certainly intriguing. It also looks like they won’t break the bank. Acer will offer them bundled together with its Windows VR headset for $399 during the holidays. Microsoft says it’ll be up to each manufacturer to price the headset, but a $100 premium on top of Acer’s $299 headset isn’t a bad start.

And speaking of Windows MR/VR headsets, Microsoft announced that developers can pre-order Acer’s and HP’s models starting today, with delivery later this summer. Acer’s will still go for $300 while HP’s is priced at $329.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from Microsoft Build 2017.

Apple is bringing iTunes to the Windows Store

Now here’s something you probably weren’t expecting: Apple is bringing iTunes to the Windows Store. You’ll no longer have to download a conventional desktop app just to play Apple Music or sync your iPhone. It’s not certain how the Store version will differ from the regular Windows app (if at all), but it’s more the presence itself that matters — you won’t have to forego Apple’s ecosystem if you’re using Windows 10 S. If nothing else, this puts iTunes in front of users who otherwise wouldn’t see it. There’s no mention of a release date, so it may be a while before you can check this out first-hand.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from Microsoft’s Build 2017.