How to install the Windows 10 October 2018 Update right now

After months of testing with Windows Insiders, Microsoft has finally pushed out the Windows 10 October 2018 Update to the general public. This update comes packed with plenty of cool new features, and you might not want to miss out.

There are more than a few ways to download the update today. Be it Windows Update, the Update Assistant, or the Windows Insider Program, here’s how you can grab latest and greatest version of Windows.

Windows Update

The best way to grab the Windows 10 October 2018 Update right now is to wait for it to automatically appear in Windows Update. Microsoft pushes out these large featured Windows 10 update out in phases, so not everyone will be seeing it right away. This method ensures maximum compatibility with millions of Windows PCs and ensures you won’t lose files or have hard drive or program trouble when you’re installing.

Step 1: First in this process is to first head to your Start menu, click on the settings cog and then click Update and Security. That should load up Windows Update.

Step 2: Click on “Check for Updates” to see if the Windows 10 October 2018 Update is ready for you.

Step 3: If ready, the download will automatically initiate, but take a while since the file is large.

Step 4: Once downloaded, you’ll get a pop-up prompt to restart your PC. Once you agree, your PC will then reboot several times as part of the update process. This can take anywhere between 10-15 minutes, depending on the age of your PC and processor, so please be patient!

Update Assistant

If you’re not seeing the Windows 10 October 2018 Update in Windows Update, another way to proceed is to use Microsoft’s Update Assistant tool. It might take a while for the Microsoft website to show the new version of the tool, but once live, you can grab it by checking here. From that website, click on the “Update Now” button, and then save the downloaded file.

Next, find the location of the file, double click to run, and then press Update Now. Your device will do some checks, and then download the update, verify and install it. This takes a while, and your PC will restart several times, so grab a cup of coffee and relax. Keep in mind you have an automatic 30-minute buffer period to install the update, and you always can choose “Restart now” to install right away. Also, bear in mind you won’t lose any files as part of the update process.

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Windows Insider Program

Worst comes to worst, you might not be able to download the Windows 10 October 2018 Update at all with the methods above. If that’s the case, you can opt your PC into the safest “slow ring” of the Windows Insider Program to proceed. Please be aware this method involves installing beta versions of Windows 10, so you might want to be careful.

To do this, head to Windows 10 Settings, and click on “Update and Security.” You can then “opt” into the Insider Program by clicking on the Windows Insider Program icon. After that, you can click the “Get Started” button and choose your Microsoft Account. Be sure to select “Just fixes, apps, and drivers” to ensure you’re in the Slow ring.

Your computer will then restart, and you can then revisit Windows Update and Press “Check for Updates” to have the Insider build to install on your PC. Again, keep in mind that these builds are very unstable and are beta, so you might not want to take the risk.

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Windows 10 October 2018 Update brings DirectX ray tracing to gaming PCs

Use of ray tracing in the upcoming video game, Battlefield V.

Today, October 2, marks a milestone for gamers everywhere thanks to Microsoft’s release of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update. Along with a collection of other new features, the update brings the first public support for Microsoft’s DirectX ray tracing technology. Now, computers can take advantage of graphics hardware that supports ray tracing, such as Nvidia’s lineup of GeForce RTX cards, to render stunning in-game lighting scenarios in real time.

Ray tracing is a technology that has been used to render animations in movies and other computer graphics where the accuracy of light is critical. However, the computation needed for ray tracing has made it nearly impossible to bring the technology to games in real time. As a result, game developers and designers have estimated how light reacts in an environment, pre-shading scenes when possible.

Now, Windows 10’s latest update brings hybrid ray tracing to PCs which are equipped to handle the task. While ray tracing an entire game environment on a consumer machine in real time is still not possible, adapting the old world of rasterized graphics with aspects of ray tracing allows us to see many of the benefits that the technology offers.

Rasterized graphics use basic geometric shapes to render scenes, such as the ones we see in our favorite video games. Ray tracing takes on a more physics-based approach, crafting what is seen by determining how different rays of light fall on objects. By still using rasterized graphics, while employing select ray tracing for enhanced light, a hybrid experience is created.

Games have already started taking advantage of the new technology coming out of companies such as Nvidia, with three blockbuster titles that will have future support: Battlefield V, Metro Exodus, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Those who don’t want to jump into games to test out their PC setup can benefit from 3DMarks’ upcoming benchmark for ray tracing.

The Windows 10 October 2018 Update has officially opened the floodgates for developers to begin creating games and other graphical content in a way we have never previously seen. However, if gaming isn’t your thing, be sure to check out all of the other great features now available in the Windows update.

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Windows’ October 2018 update wants to be best buds with your phone

Microsoft’s Windows 10 October 2018 update is finally here, and while it’s not a massive overhaul, there are a number of exciting new features with it. Instead of focusing on stability and security fixes, this update is all about expanding the potential of the modern Windows operating system.

Here’s everything new in the October 2018 update.

Working with smartphones

A major component of this update is improving the interaction between a desktop Windows and a connected smartphone. The new Your Phone app makes it so that you don’t need to ever physically connect your phone to your PC. Share pictures, videos, emails, documents, messages, and more, directly between the two platforms.

It’s compatible with Android and iPhone. Android users will gain access to new features first, through the Microsoft Launcher app. Microsoft says iOS users will see functionality about a month later, through Microsoft Edge for iOS.

The two-way connection also extends to Windows Timeline, which now makes it possible to scroll back through what you were doing on your phone to see what you were viewing or working on earlier in the day or week. Microsoft says that apps “must be able to describe activities to Microsoft Graph” for that feature to work, however, which means compatibility will be limited at first. Office Apps will lead the charge in hopes that third party apps follow in their footsteps.

Inking in Office

The Windows 10 October 2018 update introduces big changes to Microsoft Office apps too, in the form of enhanced inking. Whether you’re using PowerPoint or Word, you can ink directly onto documents or pages and the applications will use smart-AI to automatically turn your cursive and squiggles into correctly formatted slides. Shapes, doodles, and text can be automatically turned into content that can then be manipulated and edited in the programs as if you had used more traditional on-screen tools to create them. Word users also gain new digital pen gestures. Alongside text highlighting and deletion, you can now add line breaks, insert new words, and split and join words together.

Powerpoint users will enjoy the new Office AI system’s recommendations for slide design. The same goes for typed text. Should you create a block of prose, PowerPoint Designer can understand the context of what’s been written and create a slide design using icons and Smart Art to enhance it. Both Word and PowerPoint now support 3D models and animations too, so you can spice up a presentation with movement.

Most of these features are available now, but some will be rolling out to Office Insiders first, releasing to the wider Office 365 audience in the near future. The Text to Smart Art feature will also be made available to PowerPoint Online and Mac users.

Edging ahead

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Elsewhere in the OS, Microsoft Edge is getting some enhancements. Line Focus is designed to reduce onscreen clutter when reading an article by highlighting a set of lines, while new grammar tools help highlight text and individual syllables. Offline reading has also been improved with a new offline dictionary and new learning tools with a refreshed choice of themes for a more customized reading experience.

If you want to take a screenshot of any of the fun new features in the Windows 10 October 2018 update, Snip and Sketch has been improved to make that easier. It can be pulled up by pressing Alt + Tab and its Windows size can be adjusted too. Any screenshots taken will go straight to your clipboard and if you want to edit them, you’ll get the chance to quickly open that screengrab in the Snip and Sketch app — a little like MacOS does in the latest Mojave update.

The classic Snipping Tool will remain available for now if people continue to use it, but if Microsoft detects a big drop off it will discontinue it in the future.

If you have any trouble downloading the latest Windows update, try these quick fixes.

Ray Tracing support arrives

Nvidia’s new GTX 2080 and 2080 Ti support Ray Tracing, an advanced graphics feature that can greatly improve lighting quality, but they needed Windows support to enable it. That support has now arrived with the Windows 10 Fall Update. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean you can immediately use Ray Tracing in your favorite games, but it does means games can begin to implement that support in future patches and releases.

Availability

The first wave of users can download the Windows 10 October 2018 Update immediately through Windows Update. Additional users will be added in the coming weeks. It will automatically update and install unless you’ve turned off automatic updates.

Having trouble, or lacking patience? Check out our guide to installing the Windows 10 October 2018 Update for tips and tricks that will resolve any lingering update problems.

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The newly-announced Forma is Kobo’s thinnest, most durable e-reader yet

Take your books anywhere… even underwater.

Kobo’s Forma e-reader has arrived. The ergonomically-designed device was created with long-term readers in mind as it offers a form which is lightweight and comfortable enough to hold in either portrait or landscape mode for hours on end.

The Forma was designed with Mobius display technology which incorporates a flexible plastic layer into the screen, keeping the device not just lightweight but extremely durable as well. Its 8-inch HD Carta E Ink screen remains visible even in direct sunlight while its waterproofing allows you to bring it to the beach or the pool without worry.

There are now on-board buttons which can turn to the next or previous page if you aren’t a fan of turning the page digitally, similar to those found on the Kindle Oasis. The device features built-in OverDrive which allows you to borrow e-books from your local public library as long as your library card is active, along with access to the Kobo bookstore which is full of over five million titles to read.

The device with 8GB internal storage is set to arrive in the US in stores and online at Kobo beginning on October 23 with a retail price of $279.99. A version with 32GB of storage is set to be released later this month in Japan and other countries at a later date. If you’re interested, you’ll be able to pre-order the device starting October 15.

Considering the price, an Amazon Kindle could be more fitting for your lifestyle. There are various options for as low as $80, along with Kindle Unlimited which is a great buy for avid readers as well.

See at Kobo

Apple Store App Updated With Siri Shortcuts Support to Make Pre-Ordering iPhone XR Faster

Apple today updated its Apple Store app with support for Siri Shortcuts, which the company says can be used to make pre-ordering the upcoming iPhone XR with the iPhone Upgrade Program faster than ever.

When getting pre-approved for an iPhone XR, iPhone Upgrade Program members will see a new “Add to Siri” button that can be used to record a custom phrase like “pre-order my iPhone.”

Once pre-orders are available on October 19, customers can say the custom-made phrase and Siri will pull up their pre-approvals in the Apple Store app, allowing for quick order completion.

Other than the Siri Shortcut outlined by Apple, there do not appear to be other Apple Store Shortcut options available at this time. Full release notes for the update are below:

What’s New
iPhone Upgrade Program members can now use Siri Shortcuts for an even faster way to complete their iPhone XR pre-order on 10.19. Look for the ‘Add to Siri’ button while getting pre-approved, and record your own voice command, like “pre-order my iPhone.” Say your phrase when pre-order begins, and let Siri pull up your pre-approval in the Apple Store app so you can quickly complete your order.

The Apple Store app can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
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Apple to Announce Q4 2018 Earnings on November 1

Apple today updated its investor relations page to announce that it will share its earnings results for the fourth fiscal quarter (third calendar quarter) of 2018 on Thursday, November 1.

The earnings release will provide a look at sales of the new iPhone XS and XS Max during their first week of availability, and we may hear some details on how well the Apple Watch Series 4 sold.

Apple has not provided launch weekend sales for the iPhone XS and XS Max, so earnings will mark the first look at how well the updated devices sold compared to the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X.

Apple’s guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017 includes expected revenue of $60 to $62 billion and gross margin between 38 and 38.5 percent. In 4Q 2017, Apple posted revenue of $52.6 billion and gross margin of 37.9 percent.

The quarterly earnings statement will be released at 1:30 PM Pacific/4:30 PM Eastern, with a conference call to discuss the report taking place at 2:00 PM Pacific/5:00 PM Eastern. MacRumors will provide coverage of both the earnings release and conference call on November 1.

Tags: earnings, AAPL
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Apple CEO Tim Cook to Discuss Privacy, China, Alex Jones and More in VICE Interview Tonight

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently sat down for an interview with VICE News Tonight’s Elle Reeve, and the footage from the interview is set to air tonight.

According to a teaser shared by VICE News Tonight, Cook will cover topics that include the importance of privacy, Apple’s relationship with China, and why Apple blocked conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars app and podcast.

Ahead of the interview, VICE shared several quotes from Cook on the above-mentioned topics. On privacy and its impact on Siri, for example, Cook said that Apple doesn’t believe that personal data is needed to make services better. “Whoever’s telling you that — it’s a bunch of bonk,” he said.

Cook also said Apple has not made it easier for the Chinese government to get data from Chinese customers because the company uses the same encryption everywhere.

It’s not easy for anybody to get it. I mean it’s it’s encrypted like it is everywhere. And so no, I wouldn’t I wouldn’t get caught up in the, ‘Where’s the location of it?’ I mean, we have servers located in many different countries in the world. They are not easier to get data from being in one country versus the next.

On the topic of Alex Jones, Cook said that the removal of the Infowars show from Apple podcasts is an example of the importance of human curation. Cook also said that Apple does not lean one way or the other politically, and it wasn’t taking a political stance removing Jones’ offensive content.

What users want from us and what we’ve always provided them is a curated platform. We think the what the user wants is someone that does review these apps, someone that does review the podcasts, someone that on like Apple news, where a human is selecting the top stories. And that’s what we do. We don’t take a political stand. We’re not leaning one way or the other. You can tell that from the stuff on the App Store and in podcasts etc. You’ll see everything from very conservative to very liberal. And that’s the way I think it should be.

Cook went on to explain that there was no coordination between tech companies after Facebook and Twitter both removed Infowars content after Apple did. “I’ve never even had a conversation about [Alex Jones] with other tech companies,” he said. “We make our decisions independently and I think that’s important.”

We asked Apple CEO @tim_cook for examples of when he has chosen privacy over profit. “Well that would be a very long list, to be honest with you.”

Watch the full exclusive interview on #VICENewsTonight at 7:30 PM EDT on @HBO. pic.twitter.com/zD3t43B4TN

— VICE News (@vicenews) October 2, 2018

To see Cook’s full range of comments, make sure to watch Vice News Tonight at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on HBO.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: Tim Cook
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MIT’s latest A.I. is freakishly good at determining what’s going on in videos

Just a few frames of information telling a story are all we need to understand what is going on. This is, after all, the basis for comic books — which provide just enough of the important story beats for us to follow what has happened. Sadly, robots equipped with computer vision technology struggle to do this. Until now, at least.

Recently, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) demonstrated a new type of artificial intelligence system which uses a neural network to fill in the blanks in video frames to work out what activity is taking place. The results make it astonishingly good at determining what is taking place in a video.

“The newly developed temporal relation modules enable the A.I. system to analyze a few key frames and estimate the temporal relation among them, in order to understand what’s going on in the video — such as a stack of objects [being] knocked down,” Bolei Zhou, a former Ph.D. student in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), who is now an assistant professor of computer science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told Digital Trends. “Because the model works with key frames sparsely sampled from the incoming video, the processing efficiency is greatly improved, enabling real-time activity recognition.”

Another exciting property of the A.I. model is that it can anticipate and forecast what will happen early on by viewing frames of video. For instance, if it sees a person holding a bottle, the algorithm anticipates that they might take a drink or possibly squeeze it. Such anticipation abilities will be essential for artificial intelligence used in domains like autonomous driving, where it could proactively prevent accidents by guessing what will happen from moment to moment.

“It [could also] be used to monitor human behaviors, such as a home robot assistant which could anticipate your intention by delivering things beforehand,” Zhou continued. “It [could additionally be employed] to analyze the massive [number of] videos online, to do better video understanding and video retrieval.”

The next step of the project will involve increasing the A.I.’s ability to recognize a broader number of objects and activities. The team is also working with robotics researchers to deploy this activity recognition into robot systems. These could see enhanced perception and visual reasoning skills as a result.

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Oculus Quest vs. Oculus Go

Since the debut of its very first Oculus Rift prototype, Oculus VR has been making virtual reality more accessible. Following on from the Gear VR, it released the Oculus Go in mid-2018 and will follow it up with another standalone headset in 2019, called the Oculus Quest. Both require no additional hardware to operate and have much lower price tags than some of the VR competition, but which is better? We pitted the Oculus Quest vs. Oculus Go, to find out.

Design

VR headset development has improved in recent years and both the Oculus Go and Oculus Quest reflect that. They have different color schemes, but both offer a smooth exterior with no obvious sensor bumps or dips like the HTC Vive. We found both to be comfortable to wear over extended periods, with enough space for various face shapes and sizes. However, we did note some light bleed at the base of the Go’s padding, which meant that it was often more immersive to use in a darkened room.

Although the head mounting mechanisms and cushioning of both headsets are pretty comparable, there is a noticeable difference in weight. Where the Oculus Go weighs the same as the Oculus Rift — around 470 grams — the Oculus Quest with its additional sensors and internal hardware, weighs in at 100 grams heavier. Oculus is reportedly still fine-tuning it, and it didn’t cause any difficulties for us in terms of comfort, but it may become more of a factor for longer play sessions.

Both headsets feature the same spatial audio solution built right into the horizontal headstrap which lets you hear everything in game without completely separating you from the real world. That allowed us to hear instructions from demo staff during our testing, and at home, that should make it easier to communicate with real people outside of VR.

Performance

Where tethered headsets like the Oculus Rift and smartphone powered headsets like the Gear VR are dependent on processing power from separate hardware, the Oculus Go and Oculus Quest are both entirely self-contained. That means they have their own displays, processors, memory, storage, and batteries.

The Oculus Go sports a single 2,560 x 1,440 LCD panel offering 1,280 x 1,440 pixels per eye and operates at a standard 60Hz refresh rate, though some developers can unlock extra performance for a 72Hz refresh rate if the app isn’t too taxing otherwise. Powering that display is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor with its own on board graphics. The headset comes in two guises. A 32GB model which retails for $200, and a 64GB model which costs $250.

In comparison, the Oculus Quest has twin OLED displays which have richer colors and deeper blacks than the Oculus Go’s, but do suffer more from ghosting in high-contrast scenes. They each have a resolution of 1,440 x 1,600, which works out to a total resolution of 2,880 x 1,600 — a slight improvement that smooths out the screen door effect a little more, but is more noticeable an enhancement over the Oculus Rift. It also operates at a stock (and locked) refresh rate of 72Hz, for smoother visuals and what should be a slightly more comfortable viewing experience.

Powering those displays is a newer and more capable, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835. It’s still a far cry from what PC-tethered headsets are capable of, but it should give a little more graphical grunt to the Quest over the Go, leading to better visuals once developers get to grips with the hardware.

There is only one planned model for the Quest at the moment, though Oculus is said to be considering others. It will retail for $400 and will have 64GB of storage.

The battery life in both models is said to be roughly the same, lasting around 2-3 hours. With the heftier hardware in the Quest, we would expect it to have a slightly larger battery to make this possible, which may be why it comes in heavier.

Tracking and controllers

The starkest difference between the Oculus Quest and Oculus Go is in their tracking capabilities and input options. While neither require external trackers like the Oculus Rift, the Oculus Go utilizes on board sensors like a gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer to deliver only three-degrees-of-freedom. That is tilt and rotation tracking. It cannot do positional tracking so won’t notice if you move side to side, up or down, or forward and backwards. Its controller is also quite limited in that it’s a small, wireless remote control with a few button inputs — though some users have reportedly found success connecting third-party gamepads for greater input options.

In comparison, the Oculus Quest offers much more nuanced and expansive tracking and input options. It uses four corner-mounted sensors on the headset itself to track the wearer in 3D space, giving six-degrees-of-freedom that allows for roomscale experiences that are typically only associated with tethered headset solutions. It also offers boundary and object tracking to make sure users don’t walk into chairs or walls.

Oculus even showed off what it called “arenascale” tracking at Oculus Connect 2018, where it placed several Oculus Quest users in a tennis court sized area, all of whom were tracked by their own headsets.

The Quest’s main form of input is a modified pair of Touch controllers that are similar to those used with the Oculus Rift. They have triggers, face buttons, and a thumbstick each, with a relocated ring-sensor for tracking their location. Due to requiring the headset to “see” them in the virtual world, they may not work correctly if moved behind the user — something that isn’t a problem for external sensor VR setups — but they are far more capable for complicated motion inputs in VR than the Go’s limited controller options.

Software

The Oculus Go has an expansive software library with a number of its own titles and many hundreds that were originally built for the Gear VR headset but are fully compatible with the Go.

The Quest, on the other hand, has a much less established library. We’re still as much as six months away from its release, so Oculus has plenty of time to flesh it out with original content, but at this time it’s hoping that Rift developers port their roomscale experiences over to the Oculus Quest to give users more to play with when it’s released.

The best of both worlds

The Oculus Quest might not be ready for a general release just yet, but its potential has us incredibly excited. It’s a powerful, mid-range virtual reality headset with almost none of the drawbacks of the original tethered solutions that debuted back in 2016. It’s entirely wireless, easy to pick up and use for first-time VR explorers, and its price tag isn’t too monstrous at $400, although if you have a decent gaming PC already, it’s worth considering a Rift — or Vive — instead.

The Oculus Go on the other hand, is a more entry-level headset in every way. It’s less detailed, less powerful, and far less capable when it comes to exploring virtual reality. It might be noticeably cheaper, but with just $150 between the 64GB versions of both headsets, the Quest is easily worth spending that bit extra on. Virtual reality is jarringly unreal when you can’t move from one spot, even to lean in close to something, or reach for it with your tracked hand.

The Oculus Quest makes that leap to tangible virtual reality and does so with all of the portability of a mobile VR solution. It’s the kind of easy to use, borderless VR experience that is likely to help bring the technology to mainstream audiences like never before. When it debuts next Spring, that is.

Winner: Oculus Quest

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Final leaks show black Surface Pro, Surface Laptop, and Surface Studio

In addition to modest upgrades to its hardware, the biggest change this year to the Surface product would be the addition of a black color. When the Surface RT and Surface Pro initially debuted, Microsoft went with a black coat on the devices’ VaporMg construction.

However, in recent years, Microsoft switched to silver and later added more color options for the Surface Laptop range. Previously, a Microsoft New Zealand event listing hinted at the black color option. “But in October 2018, Surface goes Back to Black,” the listing detailed, confirming earlier leaks and speculations.

And most recently, WalkingCat posted on Twitter what is believed to be final press shots for the black Surface Pro, Surface Laptop, and Surface Studio (shown above).

Microsoft’s refreshed hardware is expected to bring new Intel processors to make the Surface lineup more competitive. It’s believed that the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop will get updated to eighth-generation Intel processors, while leaked benchmarks suggest that the Surface Studio will get an updated seventh-generation Intel chip.

Black peripherals

In addition to Surface PCs, Microsoft may also unveil updated peripherals.

Hours ahead of Microsoft’s press event on Tuesday, October 2, Best Buy outed Microsoft’s Modern Mobile Wireless BlueTrack Mouse in the black variant. The listing for the peripheral in the black color gives further credibility that Microsoft may be making a return to black when it refreshes its Surface PC products with color-coordinated accessories.

Although the listing appears to still be live, Best Buy has since pulled the product, noting that the item is no longer available for purchase. “This item is no longer available,” Best Buy said on its website. “But don’t go! We have similar items in stock.”

In addition to the Modern Mouse, Microsoft is also believed to announce an updated model of its Surface Dial and Surface Pen, though we don’t yet know if those will be painted in black.

The company may also use the event to announce updates to its software and services. Given that the next major Windows 10 update, which Microsoft said would be called the October 2018 Update, is around the corner, Microsoft may also demo some of the new features that will be hitting Windows 10 this month.

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