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  1. AWS

    Introducing Microsoft Edge Game Assist

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    88% of PC players use a browser while gaming to get help, track their progress, or even listen to music or chat with friends1. These actions require you to pull out your phone or Alt-Tab to the desktop on your PC, taking you out of your game. Unless you have multiple monitors, you also can't see what's happening in the game while you're in the browser or reference a guide while you play. We believe there's a better way. Today, we're excited to introduce Microsoft Edge Game Assist (Preview), the first in-game browser that delivers a rich gaming-centric browsing experience—including access to your browser data from your PC and mobile devices. Game Assist is a special version of Microsoft Edge that's optimized for PC gaming and can appear on top of your game in Game Bar. It's game-aware and will suggest tips and guides for what you're playing. It also shares the same browser data with Edge on your PC so the information you care about is always accessible while you play—including your favorites, history, cookies, form fills, and more. This means you don't need to log into sites again, and it's easy to get to what you care about. You can even quickly access your favorite services like Discord, Twitch, Spotify, or any other page or site in the sidebar. And, like other Game Bar widgets, you can pin Game Assist above your game so you can reference a guide or watch a video while you play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZadyqM7Gxs Game Assist (Preview) is accessed via Game Bar, a gaming overlay that allows you to use in-game widgets including Xbox Social for connecting with friends and tracking your achievements, Spotify, Teams, and game utilities for capturing screenshots and game clips, fine-tuning your audio settings, and monitoring your system performance. Game Assist (Preview) is available starting today on Windows 11 with Microsoft Edge Beta 132. Setting it up is simple, and it's easily accessible from within Game Bar (Win+G). Continue reading to learn more about Game Assist (Preview) and how to get started. Browse the web without leaving your game
    Game Assist helps you get the most out of your game by bringing the full power of the web to Game Bar. Simply press Win+G at any time to open the Game Bar overlay. The game is always visible in the background for peace of mind, making it easy to quickly glance at a guide and then continue on with your game. Game Assist is designed to take up as little screen real estate as possible, but you can resize or move it to fit your needs. Game Assist shares the same browser profile as Edge on PC, so you always have access to your data. Your favorites and history will appear in the address bar, saved passwords and form fills can be quickly entered on pages, and you'll already be logged into the same sites as on PC. We've also optimized Game Assist to display a unique set of gaming tabs and sidebar apps for a gaming-centric experience and the best performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_uEt9aRr5E Game-aware new tab page
    Based on our research, 40% of PC players look up tips, guides, and other help while they play1. Game Assist makes this easier than ever by highlighting helpful resources for your game whenever you open a new tab. The initial preview is localized in English and supports a selection of popular PC games while we optimize the experience based on your feedback. Here are some of the games you can try today: Baldur's Gate 3 Diablo IV Fortnite Hellblade II: Senua's Saga League of Legends Minecraft Overwatch 2 Roblox Valorant Don't see your favorite game on the list? Stay tuned! We'll add tips and guides for more popular games throughout the preview and over time. In the meantime, you can still browse to your favorite guides in any game. View Game Assist while you play
    Ever needed to follow along with a guide or watch a video while you play? Now you can with Game Assist! Click the pin button in the top-right corner of Game Assist to display the widget above your game while you play. You can even adjust the transparency in the Game Bar settings under Personalization. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwml_KaUoKQ Watching a video? Click on the video player's full screen button to automatically resize Game Assist to fit the video! Click it again to return Game Assist to the original size. Picture-in-picture makes it easy to watch your favorite guide, live stream, or even TV show while you play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oz8M0GY_KQ Your favorite apps at your fingertips
    Chat with friends on Discord, watch a live stream on Twitch, listen to music with Spotify, and more. Add your favorite sites or services to the sidebar for instant access without leaving your game. The sidebar makes it easy to find the services that matter most without having to dig through your tabs; they're always just a click away! Game Assist also lets you reorder, remove, or add new apps to your sidebar so you're always in control. Try Game Assist today!
    We're excited to bring Microsoft Edge Game Assist to PC players and it's just the start of our journey. We're initially releasing Game Assist as an opt-in public preview while we gather your feedback on what you love and what might need to be improved. We want your help to shape the final experience, so please install Game Assist (Preview) and start sending us feedback. You can share your feedback in Game Assist by going to Settings and more ("...") > Send feedback. You can also vote on which features you want to see added to Game Assist using the new Game Assist Community feedback portal, and we'll be monitoring feedback on r/MicrosoftEdge, X, and other social channels as well. Getting started
    Ready to try Game Assist (Preview)? Here's how to get started: Make sure Windows 11 and Game Bar are up to date. Game Assist requires the Beta or Preview channel of Microsoft Edge. If you're running Windows Insider builds on your PC or have opted into Edge Preview, you already have Edge Preview and can skip to Step 3. Otherwise: Install the Microsoft Edge Insider Beta channel (you can also use the Dev channel for the latest updates, but things may be slightly less stable). Set Edge Beta as your default browser: go to Windows Settings > Apps > Default apps, search for Edge and, at the top of the page, click Edge Beta > Set as default. To opt-into Game Assist (Preview) and install the Game Bar widget, in Edge, go to Settings and more ("...") > Settings, then search for Game Assist in the search box, find the Game Assist option (above the Page zoom setting), and select Install widget. If you haven't used Edge Beta/Preview before, in Edge, go to Settings and more ("...") > Close Microsoft Edge, and then re-open the browser. You may have to repeat this step a few times for the Game Assist option to appear. You can now use Game Assist (Preview) by opening Game Bar with Win+G. We can't wait to hear what you think! Known issues
    The Game Assist widget is automatically closed after a period of inactivity. (Please share feedback about this!) Open tabs are restored when Game Assist is re-opened, but prior navigation history is not yet retained. You can't right-click on links, images, or the page. Some keyboard shortcuts are not yet supported. FAQ
    Does Game Assist work with any game and/or alongside other overlays? Yes! Game Bar and the Game Assist widget work above any game, and you can use it alongside other overlays. For the initial preview, the game-aware new tab page supports a selection of popular PC games while we optimize the experience based on your feedback. Why do I have to set Edge as my default browser? Game Assist shares data with the full Edge browser on your PC. This is typically Edge Stable, but if you have another channel of Edge set as your default browser it will prefer that channel instead. Edge Stable does not yet support Game Assist, so in the interim you'll need to set your default browser to Edge Beta for Game Assist to work. If you have Edge Preview (the default version of Edge on Windows Insider builds), you already have the necessary updates for Game Assist and do not need to install Edge Beta or set it as your default browser. Which versions of Windows does Game Assist support? Game Assist supports Windows 11 24H2, 23H2, 22H2, and all Windows Insider channels. Please make sure you've installed the latest mandatory updates. How does Game Assist know which game I'm playing? Game context is provided to all Game Bar widgets. You can control which widgets have access to this data in the Game Bar settings. Does Game Assist support Compact Mode or gamepad input? The initial preview of Game Assist is optimized for mouse and keyboard. Support for Compact Mode in Game Bar, handhelds, and gamepad input will be added in the future. 1 Based on internal Microsoft research.View the full article
  2. AWS
    Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4515 (KB5046756) to the Beta Channel. Changes in Beta Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Beta Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post. New features gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*
    Ability to seamlessly resume OneDrive files in 1-click from your phone to PC
    We are gradually rolling out the ability to seamlessly resume working on OneDrive files from your phone (iOS and Android) on your Windows 11 PC with a single click. With this feature, you will get a notification asking you if you want to pick up where you left off editing a OneDrive file like a Word doc that you last viewed or edited on your phone within a 5-minute time window preceding unlocking your PC. [caption id="attachment_177446" align="alignnone" width="455"] A cross-device resume notification indicating that you can continue working across devices seamlessly.[/caption] Upon clicking on this notification, the same file that you were viewing or editing previously on your phone will open in your default browser on your PC. Here are some important details about how this feature works: This feature works only when signing into OneDrive with a Microsoft account. Work and school accounts are not supported. And you need to be using the same Microsoft account signing into OneDrive on your phone and signing into your Windows 11 PC. This feature supports Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, OneNote notebooks/pages, and PDFs. The OneDrive file must be opened on your phone when your PC is locked. If you then unlock your PC within 5 minutes of accessing the file on your phone, you will receive the resume notification as noted above. For the best experience using this feature, you should be logged into OneDrive in your default browser on your PC. Your PC should be on Build 22635.4515 and higher in the Beta Channel. This feature can be managed and turned off via Settings > Apps > Resume. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Devices and Drivers -> Linked Phone. Passwordless Improvements
    As part of Microsoft’s commitment to a passwordless future, on Windows, we are launching API support for third-party passkey providers. Microsoft has been engaging with passkey manager partners on developing this capability. We are committed to bringing a passwordless future to all customers - together with third-party credential providers, we will raise the bar on login security with passkeys for all users on Windows. WebAuthn Plugin Authenticator APIs We are releasing updates to WebAuthn APIs to support a plugin authentication model for passkeys. In the coming months, Windows customers will be able to choose a third-party provider as an additional choice alongside the native Windows passkey provider while maintaining the Windows Hello user experience. Messages in WebAuthn flows will be forwarded to the plugin and responses are returned to the WebAuthn client applications. This enables plugins to create and authenticate with passkeys when requested by the customer. This model allows plugins to use Windows Hello as a user verification mechanism to enable a seamless passkey experience. You will notice additional user experience updates to the passkey flows and Settings alongside the new capabilities. If you are a developer for third-party passkeys, we invite you to integrate with Windows 11 to support customers in their passkey journey. To find out more about implementation detail, go to https://aka.ms/3P-Plugin-API. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Security and Privacy > Passkey. Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*
    [Start menu]
    We are rolling out the ability to right-click and share local files under the Recommended section of the Start menu. [caption id="attachment_177447" align="alignnone" width="343"] Share option shown when right-clicking on a local file under the Recommended section of the Start menu.[/caption] [Magnifier]
    We're adding a new keyboard shortcut CTRL + ALT + Minus for Magnifier users to quickly toggle between the current zoom and 1X zoom. Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*
    [File Explorer]
    Fixed an issue where sometimes you would be unable to navigate by entering a path in the address bar. Fixed an issue where the File Explorer address bar was unexpectedly overlapping with content while in full screen (F11) view. Improved performance of context menu launch for people when right-clicking on cloud files. Made a change to help ensure thumbnails for cloud files are displayed more consistently in search results within File Explorer. Fixed an issue which was causing some explorer.exe crashes in the last couple flights, including when trying to create new folders in certain locations. Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel
    Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel will receive updates based on Windows 11, version 23H2 via an enablement package (Build 22635.xxxx). Many features in the Beta Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel. For Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready. Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready. Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub. Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first. Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel. Thanks, Amanda & BrandonView the full article
  3. AWS
    Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.2415 (KB5046723) to the Dev Channel. With this update, we welcome Windows Insiders with Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs to join the Dev Channel to try out Recall (Preview) with Click to Do (Preview). Join the Dev Channel on your Copilot+ PC
    Here is how you can join the Dev Channel on your Copilot+ PC today (we have a video too!): Register for the Windows Insider Program here via our website with your Microsoft account or Microsoft Entra ID. This should be the same account you use to sign into your Copilot+ PC with. After you have registered, go to Settings > Windows Update > Windows Insider Program on your PC and select the Get Started button. When asked to link an account, choose the account you’re signed into Windows with and be sure that it is the same account you registered for the program with. Choose the Dev Channel and reboot. After rebooting and signing into your Copilot+ PC, go to Settings > Windows Update and check for updates and Build 26120.2415 should be offered. Your PC will download the update and reboot to finish the update process. New Copilot+ PC experiences
    Retrace your steps with Recall (Preview)
    We’re excited to release the first preview of Recall to our Windows Insider community. Recall is an entirely new way to search for things you’ve seen or done on your PC securely. With the AI capabilities of Copilot+ PCs, it’s now possible to quickly find and get back to any app, website, image, or document just by describing its content. We invite you to try out Recall and share feedback, issues, or suggestions for improvement through in-experience links or the Feedback Hub. We also want to recognize the contributions of researchers and the security community in shaping Recall. If you’re an Insider also in this group, we additionally invite feedback on Recall’s updated security and privacy architecture through participation in our Windows Insider Preview Bug Bounty Program. As is typical when first previewing new features with Windows Insiders, you may encounter some known issues listed at the bottom of this blog post we highly recommend you read. Setup: After installing this build, the models for Recall and Click to Do will start to download in the background. You can check the download status via Settings > Windows Update. To open Recall you can find it in the Start menu under the All apps list. [caption id="attachment_177437" align="alignnone" width="1024"] The first page of the first-run experience for Recall.[/caption] When you open Recall, you can complete the first-run experience, which will ask you to opt-in to saving snapshots. It will also require you to enroll in Windows Hello to confirm your presence. This requires you to enable BitLocker and Secure Boot if you haven’t already. If you don’t enable saving snapshots, Recall will not save any snapshots of your activity. [caption id="attachment_177438" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Recall with timeline control to go back in time to find something you did in the past on your PC.[/caption] Find It: Use your PC as you normally would. When you need to find or get back to something you’ve done previously, open Recall and authenticate with Windows Hello. As we use our PCs throughout the day working on documents or presentations, taking video calls, and context switching across activities, Recall helps you find things faster and easier and reduces the strain when you can’t remember something. Search using the clues you remember. You can not only search for the text you need to get back to, but now simply describe what you're looking for (“pie chart”). You can also browse the timeline to see snapshots from a specific time you remember and get right back to that document or website quickly. Recall’s search results leverage AI to provide both text and visual matches for your query. AI can make mistakes, if the results aren’t accurate or don’t look right, please provide us with feedback using the feedback link. When you’ve found what you were looking for, you can get back to the application, website, or document, or use Click to Do to act on any image or text in the snapshot you found. You can learn more about using Recall here. [caption id="attachment_177439" align="alignnone" width="1024"] The Recall icon in the system tray indicating when Recall is in use and running and the flyout lets you pause saving snapshots and open Recall.[/caption] Control: With Recall, you’re in control of what snapshots are saved and when Recalls saves them. A new icon in the system tray displays status and provides quick access to Recall actions. When Recall is enabled, you’ll see the Recall icon visible. It provides visual cues to remind you when snapshots are being analyzed and saved. Click the icon and you will be able to pause saving snapshots or view more status information. When paused, you see a slash through the icon. [caption id="attachment_177440" align="alignnone" width="1024"] You can delete a snapshot in Recall from the bottom actions when you no longer want it saved.[/caption] You can delete any snapshot in Recall that you don’t want and tell Recall to ignore that app or website in that snapshot going forward, either when viewing an individual snapshot or by searching for what you want deleted and removing those results. [caption id="attachment_177441" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Windows Hello authentication is required to unlock the Recall experience.[/caption] Your data: Insiders and Recall users, we want you to know your snapshots are truly yours. We do not send your snapshots off your PC to Microsoft or third parties, and don’t use them for training purposes. Microsoft can’t access the keys to view your encrypted data, so we can’t restore your snapshots if you remove Windows Hello or restore your snapshots if you need to reset your PC or move to a new PC. We will in future updates provide ways for you to store a backup of your keys for these cases. For now, your Copilot + PC only releases the keys to use Recall if you show your face, fingerprint, or PIN. Please note that while in preview, we may make updates that require a reset of your saved snapshots and will let you know here. Technical Insiders can learn more about the security and privacy architecture of Recall here. Privacy: We’ve updated Recall to detect sensitive information like credit card details, passwords, and personal identification numbers. When detected, Recall won’t save or store those snapshots. We’ll continue to improve this functionality, and if you find sensitive information that should be filtered out, for your context, language, or geography, please let us know through Feedback Hub. We’ve also provided an option in Settings that we encourage you to enable that will anonymously share the apps and sites you prefer to be excluded from Recall to help us improve the product. And you can also choose to exclude specific apps and websites through the Recall settings page which we talk about below. [caption id="attachment_177442" align="alignnone" width="1024"] The Recall settings page where you can disable saving snapshots, change your storage settings, delete snapshots and filter webs and apps from being saved.[/caption] Settings: Try out the additional settings available to configure Recall. Changing Recall settings requires you to authenticate with Windows Hello. You can disable saving snapshots, pause temporarily, filter applications and websites in supported browsers, control disk usage, and delete your snapshots at any time via Settings > Privacy and security > Recall and snapshots. Please provide us with feedback if additional settings would improve your experience. You can also remove Recall entirely by typing “Turn Windows features on or off” in the search box on your taskbar. Uncheck Recall from the dialog and restart your PC. Enterprises:  As announced at Ignite, for our enterprise customers, Recall is removed by default on PCs managed by an IT administrator for work or school, as well as Enterprise versions of Windows 11. IT administrators fully control the availability of Recall within their organization. Employees must choose to opt-in to saving snapshots and enroll their face or fingerprint with Windows Hello for snapshots to be saved. Only the signed-in user can access and decrypt Recall data, so although enterprises cannot access employee Recall data, they can prevent Recall from being used altogether and prevent any saving of specific apps or sites. IT administrators can click here to learn more about managing Recall on Copilot+ PCs in their organizations. Recall (Preview) will begin to rollout on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs, with support for AMD and Intel-powered Copilot+ PCs coming soon. As we gradually roll out Recall in preview, Recall is supported on select languages including Chinese (simplified), English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. Content-based and storage limitations apply. See here for more details. Recall is not yet available in all regions, with expanded availability coming over time. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Recall or through in-experience links. Click to Do (Preview) with Recall
    With Click to Do in Recall, you can get more done with snapshots and improve your productivity and creativity. Click to Do recognizes text and images in snapshots and offers AI powered actions you can take on these, saving you time by helping complete tasks inline, and/or quickly getting you to the app that can best complete the job for you. [caption id="attachment_177443" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Click to Do in Recall showing image actions on a highlighted image.[/caption] For text, Click to Do offers the following actions: Copy: Easily copy text to your clipboard. Open with: Open the selected text with your preferred application. Search the web: Quickly search the web for the selected text. Open website: Open any URL you recognize on screen in your preferred browser Send email: Send email to the email address recognized on screen in your preferred email app For image, Click to Do provides a variety of options: Copy: Copy the image to your clipboard. Save as: Save the image to your desired location. Share: Share the image with others. Open with: Open the image with your preferred application. Visual search with Bing: Perform a visual search and surface relevant contents using Bing. Blur background with Photos: Blur the background of the image using Photos app. Erase objects with Photos: Erase unwanted objects from the image using Photos app. Remove background with Paint: Remove the background of the image using Paint app. In this update Click to Do only works within the Recall experience. In a future update, you'll be able to effortlessly engage with Click to Do by simply pressing Windows logo key + mouse click, Windows logo key + Q, through the snipping tool menu and Print Screen, or searching “Click to Do” through Windows Search Box. These methods will make it easier than ever to take immediate action on whatever catches your eye on-screen. We're also working on introducing more intelligent text actions to enhance your experience even further. Just like with Recall noted above, Click to Do (Preview) is available only on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs. Support for Intel and AMD-powered Copilot+ PCs is coming soon. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Click to Do. Other changes included in this Dev Channel update
    This update (Build 26120.2415) includes additional changes and improvements available to Windows Insiders across every Windows 11 PCs. These changes include: New features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*). New features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Dev Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post. Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*
    [Windows Hello]
    The revamped and modernized Windows Hello user experience that is rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Beta and Canary Channels will start rolling out to Insiders in the Dev Channel soon. [Narrator]
    We have added new functionalities to Narrator scan mode. Skip past links (N’) allows you to navigate to the text after a link. This is most helpful when navigating through long emails, news articles, and wiki pages. Jump to lists (L’) allows you to quickly access a list on a web page or a document. To try these new features, you need to turn on Narrator first (Win key + Ctrl + Enter), then turn scan mode ON by pressing Caps Lock + Spacebar and finally use the new shortcuts – ‘N’ and ‘L’. Please note that scan mode is ‘ON’ by default on most web pages (like news articles, wiki page, etc.). [Speech in Windows]
    We have improved our speech-to-text and text-to-speech experience on Windows. Users of Narrator, voice access, live captions, live translations, and voice typing might see a message asking them to update their language files manually. The language files will be released separately through Microsoft Store. Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*
    [Taskbar & System Tray]
    Fixed an issue causing explorer.exe to crash sometimes when interacting with app icons in the taskbar in the latest flights. [Desktop]
    Fixed the issue where your desktop background may not show correctly sometimes with multiple monitors (showing big black areas). [File Explorer]
    Did some work so the search box in File Explorer shouldn’t draw off the end of the window anymore. [Input]
    Fixed an underlying issue in the last few flights that could cause Windows wheel devices to not scroll. [Narrator]
    Fixed an issue in the previous flight which caused Narrator to crash on launch if you used one of the natural voices (like Jenny). Known issues
    [Recall with Click to Do]
    The following known issues will be fixed in future updates to Windows Insiders: You must have Secure Boot enabled for Recall to save snapshots. Ensure Secure Boot is enabled before trying out Recall. This support article will help you enable Secure Boot. Clicking links within Recall to submit feedback may experience a delay in loading the Feedback Hub application. Be patient and it will display. Recall can be enabled or disabled from “Turn Windows features on or off”. We are caching the Recall binaries on disk while we test add/remove. In a future update we will completely remove the binaries. Some users experience a delay before snapshots first appear in the timeline while using their device. If snapshots do not appear after 5 minutes, reboot your device. If saving snapshots is enabled, but you see snapshots are no longer being saved, reboot your device. Some users may see a message to “Make sure Recall is saving snapshots”, while the Settings page for Recall shows saving snapshots is enabled. Reboot your device to resolve this issue. Websites added as filters may be saved if the content is in split screen or side bar pane in Edge. This will be addressed in an update. Make sure you update Microsoft 365 apps to the latest version so you can jump back into specific documents. Recall may not currently work with some accessibility applications. Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel
    Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel receive updates based on Windows 11, version 24H2 via an enablement package (Build 26120.xxxx). Updates delivered to the Dev Channel are in a format that offers a preview of enhancements to servicing technology on Windows 11, version 24H2. To learn more, see https://aka.ms/CheckpointCumulativeUpdates. Many features in the Dev Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel. For Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready. Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready. Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub. Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first. Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel. Thanks, Amanda & BrandonView the full article
  4. AWS
    Microsoft Edge is here to help you navigate the busiest time of the year. From finding the best deals on your shopping list, helping you prepare for holiday travel, or even giving you ideas for a DIY ugly holiday sweater, Edge has the built-in tools you need to shop smarter and accomplish more than you thought possible, all while staying safer online. Here is a quick guide on how Edge's AI-powered tools can help you make the holiday season more joyful: Find the Perfect Gift
    We all have that one person in our lives who is difficult to shop for but to whom we always want to give the most thoughtful gift. Copilot in Edge, conveniently built into your browser, can create a list of ideas with just a prompt. Simply ask Copilot, "what are some great gift ideas for my teenage nephew?" and you'll get a curated list of suggestions. You could even add a bit more detail to get even more refined suggestions like "what are some great gift ideas for my teenage nephew who loves gaming and movies?" Once you've found the perfect gift (or gifts!), Edge brings built-in shopping tools right to your fingertips, helping you get the best deal on the perfect gift. Stay on Budget
    On average, shoppers are shown over $400 per year in savings using Microsoft Edge. If you are someone who enjoys finding the best deals on your shopping list, Edge is the browser for you. With built-in shopping tools such as coupons, price tracking, price comparison, price history, and cashback, you can be confident you are getting a great deal. For example, once you've found the perfect gift for your nephew, clicking on the blue tag on the address bar Edge will show you available coupons, compare prices on other retailers, cashback options, and more. It is all designed to save you time and money. So, if there are coupons for the site, you won't need to manually search for and enter coupon codes one by one as Edge will automatically apply them at checkout with a single click. For those who shop on the go, coupons and cashback features are also available on the Edge mobile app. You can also start your shopping journey on Bing — the only major search engine offering cashback. The same shopping tools you know and love from Edge, like coupons and cashback, are also available on Bing, so you get the same powerful shopping experience across your browser and search engine. Stay Safer Online
    While shopping online is incredibly convenient, it can cause worry about the safety of our personal information. When it comes to secure online shopping, Microsoft Edge has the tools to help keep your information safe — and even streamline your online shopping. Say, for example, you're at the airport, needing to buy a last-minute gift before you board. If you're on your laptop, chances are you're connected to the public airport Wi-Fi. Microsoft Edge can help protect your information by encrypting your data with Edge Secure Network (VPN)1. What's more, Edge is also equipped with features that not only keep your personal information safe, but also add convenience while you shop. With Wallet and Autofill, you can keep all your information on hand, helping you prefill address and payment methods, while also keeping them stored securely — giving you peace of mind and saving you time. If you're on your mobile device, Wallet and Autofill are also available on the Edge mobile app helping you stay safer online while you shop on-the-go. Tackle Your Holiday To-Do List
    The holidays come with endless to-do lists, and Copilot in Edge can be your go-to holiday planning assistant, helping you discover ideas, tips, and information to get through your tasks quickly. For example, if you're going to an ugly sweater party and signed up to bring cookies, simply ask Copilot in Edge, "Please give me ideas for an easy ugly holiday sweater I can DIY" and/or "Can you find me a yummy recipe for vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies?" In no time, you'll have ideas to work with to be ready to serve the best cookies, and ugly sweater look - and hopefully get time back to focus on other things on your to-do list, or simply enjoy the season. Plan Your Holiday Travels
    Traveling for the holidays can add another layer of complexity and stress to an already busy time of the year. And believe it or not, this is another aspect of the holidays Edge can help with — not just in the obvious browser tasks, like booking travel and stay, but also providing you helpful and thoughtful guidance on how to plan and prepare for your upcoming trip. For example, maybe this is your first time traveling to visit family with your baby. With just one click on your browser window, you can access Copilot in Edge and either type or voice your prompt — like, "Hi Copilot! What do you suggest as a packing list for traveling with our baby for the first time?" In just a few seconds, you will see (or hear) a list of useful suggestions — and it can even provide tips for navigating family dynamics. Beyond helping you plan, Edge can also help you stay organized as you book your travels. With Workspaces, you can collaborate with your travel group to decide on flights and stays. Those you share the workspace with will see the same browser content you see, updated in real time. We hope Edge's AI-powered tools can help you with all aspects of the holidays and hopefully give you time back to enjoy the magic of the season. To learn more, visit Holiday Shopping with Microsoft Edge | Microsoft Edge and please continue to send us your feedback as we work to create web experiences and tools to give you a smarter way to browse. Remember, if you're running a Windows PC, you already have Microsoft Edge installed, so check it out and see why Microsoft Edge is the smarter way to browse. For those who want to try Microsoft Edge and are on a macOS, mobile, or Linux device, download it and let us know what you think2! 1 Users signed into Edge with their personal Microsoft account automatically receive 5 GB of free VPN data protection every month. To conserve your VPN data limit, content streaming sites such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and more, will not be routed through the Secure Network VPN service. 2 You can share your feedback from the browser window by going to Settings and more (...) > Help and feedback > Send feedback.View the full article
  5. AWS
    Xbox Wire’s Danielle Partis is not a fan of scary games, but  S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl – which launches today on Xbox Series X|S and PC – is a first-person survival journey where The Zone encompasses a “unique, complex and compelling setting to unravel.” She writes, “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is an open world affair, in which you’re expected to fend for yourself in brutal and unpredictable situations, where basically any living thing you come across can and will hurt you. For those unfamiliar with the series, it is paramount to stay prepared – as with any survival game, you’ll need to constantly be on the hunt for weapon ammo, medical supplies and food. Not to mention, this entire habitat is one giant, quarantined hazard, brimming with monsters, environmental anomalies and of course, radiation.” Find out more about the game on Xbox Wire and read about the journey the studio took to finish it.View the full article
  6. AWS
    Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27754 to the Canary Channel. We are also not planning to release SDKs for 27xxx series builds for the time being. What’s new with Build 27754
    Modernized Windows Hello
    At Microsoft, we are committed to security and enhancing user experiences. As part of this commitment, we launched enhanced passkey features in September 2023 and are now revamping the Windows Hello user experience. This represents a significant update to Windows Hello, aligning it with contemporary Windows visual design standards. The primary focus is on making authentication intuitive and seamless. [caption id="attachment_177394" align="alignnone" width="453"] Image showing new Windows Hello iconography.[/caption] Modernized Windows Hello Visual Communication: The updated Windows Hello visuals are designed to facilitate fast and clear communication and appear on the Windows Sign-in screen as well as other authentication flows such as passkey, Microsoft Store and many more. [caption id="attachment_177396" align="alignnone" width="583"] Image of the Windows 11 login screen depicting new Windows Hello iconography.[/caption] Revamped Windows Hello credential user experience for passkeys and the new administrator protection experience: We redesigned Windows security credential user experiences for passkey creating a cleaner experience that supports secured and quick authentication. Users will now be able to switch between authentication options and select passkey/devices more intuitively. [caption id="attachment_177397" align="alignnone" width="585"] Image of new passkey sign-in flow screens.[/caption] This experience will also apply for the new administrator protection feature coming to Windows 11, version 24H2 and higher and currently in preview with Windows Insiders in the most recent Canary Channel builds. For more information on administrator protection – you can check out this blog post that highlights our investments in adminlesss experiences in Windows from Microsoft Ignite. FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Security and Privacy > Passwordless experience. Changes and Improvements
    [General]
    If you hold Shift and CTRL when clicking on a jump list item in Start menu or taskbar, this will now launch that item as admin, just like if you were to do Shift + CTRL and click the app icon itself. For example, if you right-click on Windows Terminal, and hold Shift and CTRL when you click PowerShell, it would open a PowerShell window as admin. [Taskbar & System Tray]
    We’ve updated the previews that show when you mouse-over/hover over apps on the taskbar. We have also improved the animations for when these previews show on the taskbar based on Insider feedback. [caption id="attachment_177179" align="alignnone" width="555"] Updated taskbar previews shown for two open File Explorer windows.[/caption] We are trying out a more simplified system tray to highlight the date/time in a shortened form and to show the notifications bell icon based on DND status. Without the notification bell icon, you can get to your notifications by clicking the date and time to Notification Center. You can revert to the long form of the date/time and bell icon visuals by toggling the values in the Settings via Settings > Date and Time under “Show time and day in the system tray” and Settings > System > Notifications under “Notifications”. These settings are also accessible through the context menu shown by right clicking the system tray clock/bell icon button. [caption id="attachment_177177" align="alignnone" width="348"] Simplified system tray shown with shortened form data and time and no notification bell icon.[/caption] Fixes
    [General]
    Fixed the issue with applying policy for the Digital Markets Act in EEA regions in Build 27749. Fixed an issue where an update failing and rolling back could potentially result in a duplicate Windows entry in the boot menu. [File Explorer]
    Fixed an underlying issue which was causing RAW images taken in portrait mode to unexpectedly display in landscape mode thumbnails. Did some work so the search box in File Explorer shouldn’t draw off the end of the window anymore. [Taskbar & System Tray]
    Fixed an issue on secondary monitors for left aligned taskbar users, where the widgets text in the taskbar might overlap the date and time. [Input]
    Fixed an underlying issue which could cause the mouse to unlock from a game window on a system with multiple monitors after opening and closing Game Bar, so you couldn’t use it within the game. [Other]
    Fixed an underlying issue causing some apps used for remoting into other PCs to crash in the latest Canary builds. Fixed an issue causing some Insiders to see bugchecks with SYSTEM THREAD EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED in the latest Canary builds. Fixed an issue where sfc /scannow was unexpectedly showing errors every time it was run. This issue is not fixed. Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to Registry Editor going unresponsive if you pressed Alt after clicking on the license information in the About section. Known issues
    [General]
    [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”. We’re investigating reports that some Insiders are still experiencing rollbacks (with error code 0xc190010) when attempting to install the latest Canary builds. [NEW] We’re investigating reports that accent colored window borders are not displaying when enabled, and shadows aren’t displaying when enabled. [NEW] We’re investigating reports that people are seeing window launching (and other) animations even though the setting to show animations is turned off. [Desktop]
    We’re working on the fix for an issue where your desktop background may not show correctly sometimes with multiple monitors (showing big black areas). [Narrator]
    [ADDED 11/22] Narrator is crashing on some builds with Natural voices like Jenny or Aria. We suggest you switch to a non-natural voice like David, Mark, etc. from Narrator settings page and restart your PC to continue using Narrator. Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel
    The builds we release to the Canary Channel represent the latest platform changes early in the development cycle and should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windowsand features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready. Many features in the Canary Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel. Some features may show up in the Dev and Beta Channels first before showing up in the Canary Channel. Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub. To get off the Canary Channel, a clean install of Windows 11 will be required. As a reminder - Insiders can’t switch to a channel that is receiving builds with lower build numbers without doing a clean installation of Windows 11 due to technical setup requirements. The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for these pre-release builds. Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel. Thanks, Amanda & BrandonView the full article
  7. AWS
    The pilot had been missing for about a week, last seen taking off from an airport in Covington, Washington, heading home in his Piper Dakota to Puyallup, about 36 miles south of Seattle. Though he had gone down in the heavily developed and densely populated suburbs, no one had been able to find him or his small aircraft. This was 2007 and Khoi Duong was on an air mission as part of a search and rescue team.  He’d already gone up once that day looking for the missing pilot, eyes continually scanning the landscape below, looking for something, anything, that could lead them to him and his aircraft. Duong, who was raised in Seattle, was a high school intern at Microsoft. After he graduated from the University of Washington, he returned to Microsoft and is now a full-time quality engineer within Xbox Game Studios. His professional and volunteer worlds intertwine constantly. As a tester, he lent his search and rescue expertise to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, which released Nov. 19 on PCs (Win 10/11 and Steam) and consoles (Xbox Series X|S). Fans of the sim have asked repeatedly for search and rescue situations, and they’ve gotten their wish with this release. MSFS 2024 is as close as someone can get on a computer or console to flying all kinds of aircraft, from gliders to Cessnas to vintage fighter planes and commercial airliners. In this newest version, flying search and rescue missions is a career option, complete with step-by-step guides that allow players to take what they’ve learned and apply it to each stage of becoming a first responder. Find out more about Duong’s search and rescue experiences, along with others’ perspectives on this part of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, on Microsoft Source.View the full article
  8. AWS
    At Microsoft, security is our top priority, and with every release, Windows becomes even more secure. At Ignite 2024, we will highlight new Windows security innovations that will provide the clarity and confidence our customers and organizations require while navigating this evolving digital landscape. We will also talk about our learnings from the July incident, and investments we are making as a result. Protecting your data and ensuring the integrity of your systems is paramount. From chip to cloud, Microsoft provides multiple layers of security to help protect identities and data, and enables an expansive ecosystem for innovation at a critical time. As the security landscape evolves, we continuously enhance Windows' security and resilience, ensuring it remains a secure platform for our partners, developers and customers. A strong security posture is essential for your business, and a shared responsibility across our ecosystem. This week at Ignite, we’re sharing more on our Secure Future Initiative (SFI) — our commitment to making security foundational in everything we do at Microsoft. Since launching SFI, we’ve focused the equivalent of 34,000 full-time engineers on the highest-priority security challenges. The November update dives into insights across all aspects of SFI as well as learnings that customers can implement to strengthen their own security posture. Explore the latest insights and best practices in our November update. Security and Resiliency: Our Top Priority
    Protecting your organization’s data from emerging threats and ensuring system integrity is paramount. Windows 11 raises the bar for security and reliability, while maintaining the Windows open ecosystem where customers and partners innovate freely. We are committed to ensuring that Windows remains the most reliable and resilient open platform for our customers. As part of this commitment, we are introducing the Windows Resiliency Initiative, covering four areas of focus: Strengthen reliability based on learnings from the incident we saw in July. Enabling more apps and users to run without admin privileges. Stronger controls for what apps and drivers are allowed to run. Improved identity protection to prevent phishing attacks. Empowering IT administrators with great tools during critical times is a top priority. Our first step is born out of the learnings from the July incident with the announcement of Quick Machine Recovery. This feature will enable IT administrators to execute targeted fixes from Windows Update on PCs, even when machines are unable to boot, without needing physical access to the PC. This remote recovery will unblock your employees from broad issues much faster than what has been possible in the past.  Quick Machine Recovery will be available to the Windows Insider Program community in early 2025. We are our evolving our partnership with endpoint security partners who you rely on to keep your employees safe as part of the Microsoft Virus Initiative (MVI). Together, we will adopt Safe Deployment Practices, which means that all security product updates must be gradual, leverage deployment rings, as well as monitoring to ensure any negative impact from updates is kept to a minimum.  To help our customers and partners increase resilience, we are developing new Windows capabilities that will allow security product developers to build their products outside of kernel mode. This means security products, like anti-virus solutions, can run in user mode just as apps do. This change will help security developers provide a high level of security, easier recovery, and there will be less impact to Windows in the event of a crash or mistake. A private preview will be made available for our security product ecosystem in July 2025. And, in alignment with the Secure Future Initiative, we are adopting safer programming languages, gradually moving functionality from C++ implementation to Rust. Windows 11 Secure by Default: More Secure than Windows 10 
    Moving to Windows 11 provides a more protected environment with advanced security features. We are intently focused on raising the bar to ensure robust defense against sophisticated attacks. All new Windows 11 PCs require a hardware-backed security baseline, such as TPM 2.0 and virtualization-based security by default. This baseline is the starting point, and the foundation needed to help secure everything else on Windows. Copilot+ PCs feature Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security, and the built-in Microsoft Pluton security processor, ensuring they meet the high standards of secured-core PCs by default. Built into new Windows 11 PCs, including Copilot+ PCs, are a growing list of existing features now enabled by default, or with additional protections added to significantly reduce the potential for attacks. These changes make Windows 11 more secure by default than Windows 10, from the chip to the cloud. Examples include Credential Guard, vulnerable driver block list, Local Security Authority (LSA) protection now enabled by default for new consumer devices, and BitLocker enabled by default on most modern systems. In addition, insecure code and crypto algorithms have been removed, and kernel attack surfaces, like Tool Tips, have been moved to user mode. Our security teams are working hard for you, so you don’t need to spend your time manually enabling security on new or upgraded PCs. Our focused security work, driven by observing attacker patterns and behaviors, has resulted in a reported 62% drop in security incidents and a threefold reduction in firmware attacks and 2.9 times fewer instances of identity theft reported.1 New Windows 11 Security   
    Security is a pursuit, and not a destination. Today, I am announcing new features to help commercial customers with three longstanding challenges with Windows security — overprivileged users and applications; unverified apps and drivers; and insecure credentials and authentications. These capabilities have been top requests from customers around the world, including our internal Microsoft security team who we are working with to ensure real-world testing in preparation for scaling to our largest customers. Reducing Administrator Privileges
    Running users and apps as administrator violated the principle of least privilege and leads to many security incidents. As noted in the 2024 Microsoft Digital Defense Report, token theft incidents, which abuse user’s privileges, have grown to an estimated 39,000 per day1. With that in mind, organizations today have a complex binary challenge when setting up policy for employees. The choice is between having users with standard user permissions or users with administrator permissions. By choosing to run with administrator permissions, you can do every modification you need — like adjusting the time-zone, making registry changes, installing applications and many other tasks without friction. However, the bad news is that if malware infects your account, it then also has direct access to critical system resources, and can silently make changes that cause disruption, result in data loss, or worse. By contrast, standard user permission offers better security. User access to critical system resources is blocked by default, and it helps block malware or apps from silently changing machine configurations. However, standard user permission is frustrating for users as they cannot do some common tasks like changing the time settings or installing productivity applications, because in many cases a standard user will not have the administrator credential. Standard user permission also creates an additional overhead for IT to help users with acceptable tasks, unless they have tools such as Microsoft Intune Endpoint Privilege Management. Administrator protection, currently in preview, is a new solution where users have the security of standard user permissions by default, but can still easily make system changes, including app installation, on their PCs when needed. With administrator protection, if a system change requires administrator rights, like some app installations, the user is prompted to securely authorize the change using Windows Hello. Windows creates a temporary isolated admin token to get the job done. This temporary token is immediately destroyed once the task is complete, ensuring that admin privileges do not persist. Administrator protection helps ensure that users, and not malware, remain in control of system resources. It will also be disruptive to attackers as they no longer have automatic, direct access to the kernel or other critical system security without specific Windows Hello authorization. [caption id="attachment_179206" align="alignnone" width="815"] User prompts for authorizing admin operations[/caption] Protecting Credentials
    Credential and identity theft is a prime focus of cyberattacks. In fact, Microsoft Entra data shows that of more than 600 million identity attacks per day, more than 99% are password-based2. And our findings reveal that Multifactor Authentication (MFA) offers outstanding protection, with over 99.99% of MFA-enabled accounts remaining secure during the investigation period3. We continue to add additional protection for credentials and authentications. Windows Hello is the built-in MFA solution on Windows. It has been further hardened and extended to support passkeys. You no longer need to choose between a simple sign-in and a safe sign-in. Windows Hello is also being used to protect Recall and Personal Data Encryption. Trusted Apps and Drivers
    Many attacks occur due to users downloading unsafe or unsigned apps and drivers. We continue to add protections to help you defend yourself and your organization from malicious apps and drivers. Smart App Control and App Control for Business policies provide peace of mind that only verified apps can run on your device. This eliminates attacks like malicious attachments or social engineered malware. With the power of AI, we’ve made it much simpler to deploy. IT admins can simply select the ‘signed and reputable policy’ template in the app control wizard. This enables millions of verified apps to run regardless of the deployment location. Line of business apps unknown to Microsoft can be easily added by the IT admin through policy changes or via Microsoft Intune managed app deployments. Windows Protected Print works seamlessly with Mopria-certified devices and does not require third-party drivers. It is designed to mitigate many of the past security issues with print drivers, and offers a more streamlined experience. Data Protection
    Your commercial data is one of the most important assets for your business, and we are providing more encryption options, including Personal Data Encryption. Personal Data Encryption for known folders is a new Windows 11 Enterprise capability using Windows Hello authentication to help protect files stored in the Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders. Protection is indicated by the lock icon on the file. With Personal Data Encryption enabled, a device administrator won't be able to view file content, as the files remain encrypted until you authenticate with Windows Hello. An IT admin, using Microsoft Intune (or another management tool) can select all or a subset of these folders to apply Personal Data Encryption. It integrates with OneDrive and SharePoint on Microsoft 365 to allow for easy collaboration. Personal Data Encryption can be used independently of BitLocker, or other solutions, and when combined with BitLocker, it offers double encryption protection. Enterprise developers can also leverage the Personal Data Encryption API to extend protection of their application data. OS Management and Configuration
    In addition to evolving security features, we continue to evolve tools to enable IT to manage and configure Windows at scale. Hotpatch in Windows is being introduced for Windows 11 Enterprise 24H2 and Windows 365. This revolutionary feature allows businesses to apply critical security updates without requiring a system restart, shortening your time to adopt critical security updates by up to 60% from the moment a security update is offered.  With hotpatching through your Windows Autopatch settings in Microsoft Intune, you can reduce the number of system restarts for Windows updates from 12 times a year to just four, minimizing security risk while keeping systems secure and productivity uninterrupted. This means consistent protection, and a streamlined, seamless experience for your users. Hotpatch in Windows is currently in preview. Zero Trust DNS. Network destinations are often defined by domain names, making enforcement challenging. Zero Trust DNS restricts Windows devices to approved domains, blocking outbound IPv4 and IPv6 traffic unless resolved by a Protected DNS server or allowed by IT admin. Learn more about the Zero Trust DNS preview. Config Refresh, available now, is a frequently requested feature as configuration drift can occur when a user or app makes changes to a PCs system registry. Config Refresh helps enforce MDM-defined security policies by automatically returning PC settings to the preferred configuration. Config Refresh works locally on the PC without needing to connect to the MDM, so devices can self-manage settings drift even when offline. Security and Innovation for a Reliable Digital Future 
    Nearly 40 years after its launch, Windows continues to evolve to meet the challenges of the ever-changing digital landscape and delivering on expectations for reliability and security. Security is a team effort; by collaborating with OEM partners, app developers and others we deliver Windows from chip to cloud, secure by design and default. The updated Windows Security book is available to help you understand how to stay secure with Windows. Learn more about Windows 11 and Copilot+ PCs. To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us on LinkedIn (Microsoft Security) and X (@MSFTSecurity) for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.View the full article
  9. AWS
    Windows has been at the heart of modern computing for nearly 40 years. It is the ubiquitous, open platform that powers computing experiences around the world and plays a significant role across multiple industries, such as education, government, military, hospitals and corporations, many of which provide mission critical services requiring a high level of security and resiliency. And this responsibility that Windows holds to keep businesses of every size running is one we take seriously. In close collaboration with our ecosystem partners, we ensure that Windows remains the optimal platform for organizations to perform at their best. As we enter this new era of work, we are focused on empowering our customers and organizations to modernize their computing experience with AI experiences and the cloud. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aERpkd5egQ As we come together at Microsoft Ignite 2024, we're excited to unveil the latest security, AI and cloud innovations coming to Windows for our commercial customers. We're pushing the boundaries to continue making Windows the most secure and performant platform for you and your organization. Announcements include: The latest security innovation, requirements and updates on our commitment to building the most secure operating system on Earth Availability of new cutting-edge AI tools for our developer community designed to drive new innovation on Copilot+ PCs and Windows 11 Updates on AI-powered Copilot+ PCs with Windows 11 and Microsoft 365 for enhanced productivity The introduction of a new class of devices built to connect securely to Windows 365 in seconds, and expansion of Cloud PC solutions to more jobs such as Frontline workers, BYOD (bring your own device) employees, high-capacity computing and cloud-powered resiliency. Throughout the next few days, we will outline our commitment to security, productivity and user experiences across Windows 11, Copilot+ PCs and Windows 365. Windows 11 is the most secure operating system on Earth, and the best computing platform for businesses of all sizes. We will explore how, together, Windows 11 and Microsoft 365 boost employee productivity, the value and performance Copilot+ PCs provide organizations, and we will share details on the right IT controls and security layers available to safeguard your organization. Additionally, we will highlight how Windows enables management of countless mission-critical workloads and how we are extending Windows across more platforms, to more jobs, with Windows 365 Cloud PCs. Security and Resiliency: Our Top Priority
    [caption id="attachment_179197" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Layers of protection chip to cloud[/caption] Protecting your organization’s data from emerging threats and ensuring system integrity is paramount. Windows 11 raises the bar for security and reliability, while maintaining the Windows open ecosystem where customers and partners innovate freely. We are committed to ensuring that Windows remains the most reliable and resilient open platform for our customers. As part of this commitment, we are introducing the Windows Resiliency Initiative, covering four areas of work: Strengthen reliability based on learnings from the incident we saw in July Enabling more apps and users to run without admin privileges Stronger controls for what apps and drivers are allowed to run Improved identity protection to prevent phishing attacks Empowering IT administrators with great tools during critical times is a top priority.  Our first step is born out of the learnings from the July incident with the announce of Quick Machine Recovery. This feature will enable IT administrators to execute targeted fixes from Windows Update on PCs, even when machines are unable to boot, without needing physical access to the PC. This remote recovery will unblock your employees from broad issues much faster than what has been possible in the past. This feature will be available to the Windows Insider Program community in early 2025. We are also evolving our partnership with endpoint security partners you rely on to keep your employees safe.  For over 20 years, we have collaborated deeply with these partners as part of the Microsoft Virus Initiative (MVI). These partners have extensive integration with the Windows platform and play a significant role in safeguarding customers' digital portfolios. This summer we brought together a group of industry leaders and partners to discuss new ways we can work together to ensure that Windows 11 remains the most secure and resilient operating system. As an outcome of that summit, MVI partners will be required to take specific actions to improve security and reliability. In addition to increased testing and strengthened incident response processes, these partners must follow safe deployment practices for updates to your Windows endpoints. The practices include controlled gradual rollouts, and the monitoring and recovery procedures such as those recently shared by the US Cybersecurity and Secure Infrastructure Administration (CISA). The close Microsoft collaboration with MVI partners also includes working on new Windows platform capabilities to enable running anti-virus processing outside kernel mode. This will enable anti-virus products on Windows to provide a high level of security while minimizing reliability risks, as crashes outside kernel mode will only affect the anti-virus application, and not all of Windows. A private preview of these new Windows security platform capabilities will be made available to partners in July 2025. Our focus on Windows security goes well beyond the close collaboration with the MVI partners. Our Windows Secure by Design strategy is a comprehensive approach to ensuring that Windows 11 is the most secure operating system we have ever built, from the moment you power on your PC. With Windows 11, we've achieved a remarkable 3x reported reduction in firmware attacks and 2.9x fewer instances of credential theft compared to Windows 101
    We continue to raise the security bar with hardware security baseline requirements, security at every endpoint and related features enabled on by default. Hardware Security Baseline: Our customers expect that every Windows 11 PC is safe and secure. Windows 11 leverages the latest hardware security features, such as TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot, to provide a robust defense against sophisticated attacks. Hardware security baselines now provide organizations with a consistent foundation and the confidence they expect in their operating system. User-centric security enhancements: Guided by the Microsoft Secure Future Initiative, we are making big changes to deliver the highest level of Windows security. Smart App Control and App Control for Business policies provide peace of mind that only verified apps can run on your device, helping fend off attacks like malicious attachments or even social engineered malware. Windows Hello authentication has been extended to passkeys, so that you no longer have to choose between a simple sign-in and a safe one. Administrator protection: We have introduced a new feature in preview where employees have standard user permissions by default, but can still make Windows system changes, including app installation, when necessary. With administrator protection enabled, if a system change requires administrator rights, the employee is prompted to authorize the change using Windows Hello. Upon approving the change, Windows creates a temporary isolated admin token that is destroyed once the process is completed.  Administrator Protection helps to ensure that employees remain in control, not malware. Learn more  from David Weston about these new security enhancements. Windows 365 and Windows 11 provided us with the capability, the operational resilience, the security that we needed to be able to provide a secure platform on which to build our products and services off.
    --Sandra Lee, Group Chief Information Security Officer, London Stock Exchange Group
    For detailed insights into these features and our Windows security priorities, please refer to our updated Windows Security book. This book provides a comprehensive view of our commitment to the Microsoft Secure Future Initiative and our aligned Windows security goals. Empowering Developers with Cutting-Edge AI Tools
    As we continue our journey into the AI era of computing, providing the right software tools and performant hardware to our developer community is critical to our success. This important community is at the forefront of this AI transformation, and with the introduction of Copilot+ PCs equipped with a powerful neural processing unit (NPU), we are seeing accelerated innovation around new AI experiences.  Today, I’m excited to share new capabilities for developers which are designed to assist in the integration of AI in applications. At Build 2024, we introduced Windows Copilot Runtime (WCR), a reliable platform for developers to create innovative experiences more securely and efficiently, regardless of where they are on their AI development journey. Windows Copilot Runtime encompasses AI frameworks and tool chains that enable developers to integrate their own on-device models into Windows, utilizing robust client silicon such as GPUs and NPUs. Whether they are just getting started or are already building custom models, WCR includes a set of APIs that are powered by over 40 on-device models included with Windows. Phi 3.5 Silica, built from the Phi series of models, is optimized for the Snapdragon X series NPU in Copilot+ PCs, enabling text intelligence capabilities like text summarization, text completion and text prediction. Developers can access Phi 3.5 Silica API and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) API which recognizes and extracts text present within an image in Windows App SDK 1.7 Experimental 2 release in January. Today, I’m pleased to announce four new Imaging APIs in Windows Copilot Runtime which developers can access in Windows App SDK 1.7 Experimental 2 release in January. Image super resolution: API increases fidelity of the image as well as upscaling the resolution of the image. This API can be used to enhance clarity of blurry images. Image segmentation: API enables separating foreground and background of an image, as well as removing specific objects or regions within an image. Creativity apps like image editing or video editing can easily bring background removal capabilities in their apps using this API. Object erase: This API enables erasing unwanted objects from the image and blends the erased area with the rest of the background. Image description: API provides a text description of an image. We are seeing exciting innovation with Windows Copilot Runtime and the NPU, coming from new third-party developers such as Adobe Premiere Pro, LiquidText, Dot Vista, Promeo by Cyberlink, McAfee’s Deepfake Detector, Capture One, Affinity Photo and more. In addition to the new AI-powered APIs and frameworks, it’s important to enhance developer productivity with tools they need to be efficient in their workflow. Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) offers a robust environment for AI development on Windows, allowing developers to simultaneously run Windows and Linux workloads. Starting today, we are introducing several critical enhancements to WSL and WinGet, empowering IT professionals to effectively manage their enterprise’s line-of-business applications. Intune device compliance integration will provide IT professionals with an interface to control WSL distribution and version usage in their enterprise with controlled access. Microsoft Entra ID integration with WSL allows enterprise developers to access protected enterprise resources from a WSL distribution. It provides an automatic connection for Linux processes to use the underlying Windows authentication. We are excited to offer developers more choices for Linux distribution on WSL. With a new WSL distribution architecture, we are providing additional extensibility to IT professionals and enterprise developers to have more Linux distributions including Red Hat to choose from. Harnessing the Power of AI: Windows 11 and Copilot+ PCs
    AI is at the heart of our vision for the future of Windows 11, and its introduction into the productivity space is an exciting step forward. By leveraging the combined strengths of Windows 11 and Microsoft 365, we empower employees to achieve more with less effort through all-new AI experiences on Copilot+ PCs and Windows 11. With an integrated NPU capable of 40+ TOPS (trillion operations per second), Copilot+ PCs provide unique AI experiences and rich contextual insights across applications, with near real-time processing capabilities and support for the next generation of AI applications. When you add Microsoft 365 and the suite of innovative tools – including a large language model, graph and productivity features – employees can improve workflows, communicate effectively and collaborate more efficiently. With the introduction of Copilot+ PCs, Windows has been rearchitected, in collaboration with AMD, Intel and Qualcomm, and OEM partners, to optimize every layer of the stack for AI experiences.  Copilot+ PCs are the fastest, most intelligent and the most secure PCs we've ever built. Together, Windows 11 on Copilot+ PCs with Microsoft 365 deliver experiences that enrich and empower employees and businesses in valuable new ways. Our innovation focuses on three key aspects of the employee experience: simplifying workflows, helping you find information faster and improving communication tools so everyone can be seen, heard and understood. Together, Windows and Microsoft 365 offer an experience with fewer clicks, less friction, richer context and greater capabilities for everyone. [caption id="attachment_179214" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Microsoft 365 Copilot[/caption] Simplifying Your Workflow
    An important aspect of productivity is the ability for employees to quickly switch between tasks, navigate applications and identify the right tools. This all takes time and effort which may distract from the task at hand. With Microsoft 365 Copilot on Windows 11, employees with a Copilot+ PC have access to a personal assistant for work designed to scale their impact, including aiding in idea generation, collaboration and task completion. We have only just begun unlocking new possibilities with Microsoft 365 Copilot on Copilot+ PCs. Microsoft 365 Copilot can harness the power of AI by utilizing the integrated NPU, allowing models to run locally. This reduces reliance on an internet connection for tasks such as AI writing assistance in applications like Outlook and Word. In the coming months, organizations will experience even greater benefits through new AI innovations, making generative writing capabilities accessible to more employees and enabling them to achieve more with less effort. Learn more from Jared Spataro about Microsoft 365 Copilot innovations in his blog. Recall (Preview):  Disabled by Default
    Earlier this year, we introduced Recall for Copilot+ PCs, designed to make it easier to quickly find what you've seen before on your PC. We heard your feedback on needing a secure and controllable experience for using Recall in your organizations, and it will be. Recall will be disabled by default, and IT will enable this feature through new policies before it can be made available to employees for opting in and will ship with meaningful security enhancements, including additional layers of data encryption and Windows Hello protection, making it one of the most secure experiences we have ever built. Our goal is to ensure that your employee and organization data is protected from the beginning, and we look forward to hearing your feedback on this new experience. [caption id="attachment_179215" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Recall IT controls[/caption] AI Assistance at Your Fingertips
    Another Copilot+ PC feature recently announced is Click to Do (preview), an all-new powerful productivity paradigm that puts AI at your fingertips to assist with many tasks across applications such as being able to summarize any content on your screen, even if it’s in a Teams call. Click to Do (preview) in Recall is releasing first to our Windows Insider community on Copilot+ PCs before rolling out more broadly to our customers. It is designed to connect you to quick AI actions based on the context of what's on your screen, making it faster and easier to get things done, all done in secure and private workflows. [caption id="attachment_179216" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Click to Do (preview)[/caption] Finding What You’re Looking For Faster
    A seamless workflow relies on quickly finding what you need. Employees often struggle to locate files or information on their PC and across applications. Copilot+ PCs, with powerful NPUs, will reduce this frustration using Improved Windows Search, which uses federated semantic search to interpret user intent even when it doesn't match the exact file name. This feature will be released first to our Windows Insider community on Copilot+ PCs, starting early next year, before rolling out more broadly to our customers. Our Microsoft 365 Copilot customers can search both local and cloud files, boosting efficiency. These capabilities will expand to the Windows search box and Settings in the future. [caption id="attachment_179212" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Improved Windows Search[/caption] Effective Communication and Team Collaboration
    Achieving optimal productivity involves more than just completing tasks; it also includes enabling employees to communicate effectively while engaging in work they are passionate about. When using Teams on Copilot+ PCs, employees will experience optimized performance and reduced battery consumption. Teams Super Resolution enhances the quality of incoming video, improving visibility of colleagues even with weak internet connections. Live Captions with live translation support from over 40 languages into English, makes it easier than ever to connect with colleagues near and far2. And, for the days you need to look and sound your best, Windows Studio Effects provide valuable visual and audio filters, providing optimal appearance and sound quality during a video call. These innovative experiences are powered by Windows Copilot Runtime. Studio Effects, Live captions with live translations and Image super resolution are available as ready to use APIs in Windows Copilot Runtime. Organizations can leverage these APIs to bring similar experiences to life in your applications, such as WhatsApp who has upgraded their user experience adding Windows Studio Effects controls directly into the UI. Learn more. [caption id="attachment_179220" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Teams Super Resolution[/caption] Work Securely and with Enhanced Flexibility in the Cloud
    With Windows 365, we extend Windows 11, Microsoft 365 and AI capabilities across any platform. Give employees the limitless computing power of Windows in the cloud, with access to the same Windows experience no matter which device they are on. With Windows 365 you can ensure business continuity across your entire team from remote and in-person employees, to consultants, contractors and temporary workers. A More Secure Way to Access Your Work – Windows 365 Link
    As organizations shift more workloads to the cloud for better security and flexibility, Microsoft is expanding its Cloud PC solution with a new class of devices built to connect securely to Windows 365 in seconds. Today we are excited to announce Windows 365 Link – the simple, secure and purpose-built device for Windows 365.  Windows 365 Link is now in preview and will become generally available for purchase in select markets at $349 starting April 2025. It enables desk-based users to work securely on a familiar Windows desktop in the Microsoft Cloud with responsive, high-fidelity experiences. Compact, fanless and lightweight, Windows 365 Link can be conveniently shipped directly to users. It boots in seconds, wakes instantly from sleep, and offers local processing for video conferencing solutions such as Microsoft Teams meetings and Webex by Cisco, maximizing employee productivity. Windows 365 Link supports dual 4K monitors, four USB ports, an audio port, an Ethernet Port, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, making it compatible with both wired and wireless peripherals. It is simple to manage using Microsoft Intune alongside other PCs with a small Windows-based OS footprint with minimal applicable configuration policies. Windows 365 Link is designed with security in mind. The device does not store local data or apps and employees do not have admin privileges, ensuring corporate data stays protected within the Microsoft Cloud. Security baseline policies are enabled by default and security features cannot be disabled. Login is simple and secure with password-less authentication using Microsoft Entra ID and the Microsoft Authenticator app or USB security keys. Windows is dedicated to delivering choice and flexibility for our customers. Critical to that effort is our OEM and silicon ecosystem. Just like we did with 2:1s, we’re starting with first party devices and doing the work to get the product experience right. As we continue to expand the Cloud PC category, we look forward to expanding offerings as well, scaling with our OEM partners in 2025. [caption id="attachment_179205" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Windows 365 Link[/caption] Support for Frontline Workers and BYOD
    Today at Ignite, we are also announcing Windows 365 Frontline provisioned in “shared mode,” which will provide a new way to access Windows 365 Cloud PCs and is now available in preview. This new mode is designed for users who need brief access to complete ad-hoc tasks quickly and securely from a non-personalized Windows desktop environment and their user data is deleted upon log off. Additionally, Windows App now supports Mobile application management (MAM) for iOS and Android. Now in preview, MAM enhances device redirection and strengthens security on unmanaged or externally managed devices. It allows organizations to define device security criteria and customize access, supporting BYOD scenarios. Now with Windows 365, we have one integrated solution that leads to security, that leads to cost efficiency, that leads to much better employee productivity and employee experience.
    --Vineet Gupta, Head of Employee Experience, HP
    Extending Windows 11 to Mixed Reality
    Windows in mixed reality brings the full capabilities of Windows 11 to mixed reality headsets, starting with Meta Quest 3 and Quest 3S. Access to your local Windows PC or Windows 365 Cloud PC from a Quest headset is seamless and it takes only seconds to connect to a private, high-quality, large, multiple-monitor workstation. This will be available in public preview by the end of the year. Endpoint Modernization
    We continue to make progress on Windows endpoint modernization, designed to enhance security, productivity and management efficiency for organizations moving to Windows 11. As the end of support for Windows 10 approaches, there has never been a better time to upgrade to Windows 11, a more secure and resilient computing environment that empowers organizations to protect their data, optimize productivity and remain competitive in the rapidly evolving digital landscape. And with features like Windows Backup for Organizations with Entra ID Accounts coming in public preview this Spring, the transition to Windows 11 is easier than ever before. Learn more about the tools and resources available to organizations. And, as more of our customers make the move to the cloud, we continue to support them with Cloud PCs, Cloud Services and Cloud Management tools. Today at Ignite we announced several new features to help IT management ensure they can minimize the impact to the already stretched resources within their teams. Windows Update for Business deployment service has now been woven into Windows Autopatch, providing a more cohesive and streamlined update experience. With this change, customers can use Windows Autopatch to simplify keeping their Windows devices up to date.  This automation helps to ensure the seamless deployment of updates for the Windows operating system, Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Edge. The unified dashboard in the Microsoft Intune admin center allows for easy management of update policies, groups, status and reports, enabling IT professionals to maintain the level of control needed for their organization. This approach aims to reduce complexity, enhance compliance and security, and improve resource allocation. This dashboard ensures timely updates, minimizes disruptions and frees IT resources for strategic initiatives, without requiring additional licensing. Hotpatch for Windows is an innovative feature in preview, aimed at boosting both productivity and security. With Hotpatch, updates are downloaded in the background and become effective immediately upon installation, eliminating the need for a device restart. This enables customers to work without interruptions, while keeping systems protected with the latest security updates. When combined with Windows Autopatch, Hotpatch streamlines the update process and significantly shortens the time needed for applying updates. Organizations utilizing Windows Autopatch have reported up to a 95% reduction in the time required to deploy feature updates. Hotpatch will also be available on Windows 365 Cloud PCs. Building a Future with Windows: Innovation and Security at the Forefront
    As we look to the future, our mission remains clear: to create a seamless and secure experience for every customer, organization and developer. With the new capabilities in Windows 11, Copilot+ PCs and Windows 365, combined with our relentless focus on innovation, we are building a future where we will unlock the full potential of what Windows can offer. What you've seen today is just the beginning. We're committed to continuous innovation and improvement. Whether it's through enhanced security, better performance or transformative AI experiences, we're building a future where Windows empowers every user and organization to achieve more. 1 Windows 11 Survey Report. Techaisle, September 2024. Commissioned by Microsoft. Windows 11 results are in comparison with Windows 10 devices. 2 On some devices, Copilot+ PC experiences require free updates available starting later this year and continuing into 2025. Timing varies by device and region. See aka.ms/copilotpluspcsView the full article
  10. AWS
    Today's work environment doesn't look the same as it did a few years ago. You're supporting flexible work patterns, with remote users who are often using personal devices. Cybersecurity threats are more sophisticated, complicating the task of protecting sensitive information. And seemingly overnight, the responsibility of stopping unauthorized AI use is falling on your shoulders as IT and security professionals. Combine all this with the fact that today's work relies heavily on software as a service (SaaS), and you'll see that the web browser is crucial to accessing corporate resources and AI. This makes it an endpoint you simply cannot afford to overlook. You need a secure, business-ready browser. The challenge is that not all browsers can meet that bar. And some solutions meet security requirements only to get in the way of productivity. This is where Microsoft Edge for Business aims to help: to calm the chaos by addressing this mix of needs holistically, and give you control without adding to the noise—or your costs. In this blog, you'll learn how Edge for Business as a secure enterprise browser can help you, as well as new innovations to make the workday better for you and your users. Jump to the following sections to learn more: Microsoft Edge for Business is your secure enterprise browser Management made simple Safely introduce and control AI in your organization Deploy encrypted shared passwords with ease Keep your estate up-to-date Protect your Microsoft Office documents on the web Support any device, anywhere Detect scams in real time with scareware blocker Management for partners is getting easier with new policies in Microsoft 365 Lighthouse Calm tab chaos with just a few clicks Learn more Or watch the video to see all these features in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kuql1W5mZHs Microsoft Edge for Business is your secure enterprise browser
    With the growing use of SaaS and cloud services, the browser is the most used app on a PC. And with this single app, you need to meet the wide range of use cases in your organization, including elevated security and data control scenarios. The good news is that you already have the right browser ready to go, pre-installed on Windows. Edge for Business is a secure enterprise browser optimized for AI that can help meet the security and productivity needs of your entire organization, as a single browser. It supports advanced security features such as data loss prevention, unmanaged device support, and even generative AI controls. With Edge for Business, you get more security without the hassle of a ton of extensions, since it extends the enterprise-grade protections from your Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 licenses, at no additional cost. This security is backed by Microsoft, a leader in security, compliance, identity, and endpoint management. Management made simple
    To configure your secure enterprise browser, you need a robust management solution. If you're a pro at policy management or are an enterprise customer, you likely use Microsoft Intune to configure policies, and you can manage Edge for Business there too. For browser specialists, small or medium sized businesses, or those that want a guided experience, we recommend the Edge management service in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Customers love its easy-to-use UI, AI controls, and organizational branding features, and now it's even better with the added capability to set Intune policies. This enables you to deploy both browser policies in the cloud and Intune policies from a single pane, making it easy to keep users safe and your browser workflow streamlined. The ability to deploy Intune policies in the Edge management service is now in preview. Safely introduce and control AI in your organization
    AI is a big productivity accelerator, yet it also presents a big challenge with unsanctioned AI use. The Edge management service offers a comprehensive solution for overseeing AI in Edge for Business. You can restrict access to public AI services that may not meet your organization's compliance requirements, as well as exert precise control over Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft's AI chat for the web and work. Edge for Business offers an integrated Copilot experience with enterprise data protection that addresses data leakage and other AI security concerns. Not all browsers offer integrated AI chat with enterprise-grade data protection, and at no additional cost. You also have the power to manage the browser's AI features that are independent of Copilot, such as text prediction and AI-generated themes. Managing Copilot and other AI usage in the Edge management service is generally available, and you can learn more here. Deploy encrypted shared passwords with ease
    There's a known security gap that you may have been tolerating out of necessity—a common password shared across a set of users. Whether it's a team accessing the same data repository or managing common social media accounts, passwords are often passed around in emails, chats, and even on paper. This risky practice can lead to unapproved users gaining access and serious downstream consequences. Secure password deployment in the Edge management service can help put an end to this. It enables you to deploy encrypted shared passwords to a set of users, allowing them to log into websites seamlessly without ever seeing the actual passwords, reducing the risk of unauthorized access and enhancing your organization's overall security posture. Secure password deployment will be available in preview in the coming months for Microsoft 365 Business Premium, E3, and E5 subscriptions. Keep your estate up-to-date
    Keeping all browser instances up-to-date is crucial to protect against threats. The Edge management service offers a single view of all managed Edge instances with their update status and possible actions to take. For out-of-date devices, you can easily schedule updates or notify users to update their browser to avoid workflow interruptions. This feature is now in public preview. Protect your Microsoft Office documents on the web
    Managing sensitive Microsoft Office documents on the web has traditionally posed significant challenges due to insufficient leak controls in the browser. Edge for Business now respects usage rights restrictions on sensitive Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, such as blocking screen captures. It leverages Microsoft Purview Information Protection settings that were previously only for desktop Office apps, enhancing protections for editing, printing, and copying on the web. This protection is native and exclusive to Edge for Business. Microsoft Purview Information Protection for online Microsoft 365 documents is currently in preview and will be generally available by the end of the year. To prevent unintentional sharing of sensitive information, we strongly recommend disabling other browsers that lack adequate document protection, so users do not accidentally expose content through security loopholes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xYs0stcgm4 Support any device, anywhere
    Managing data security across personal and unmanaged devices has become a new norm with hybrid work. With Microsoft Intune's Mobile Application Management (MAM), you can help ensure that your organization's data remains secure even on these devices, without requiring device enrollment. By leveraging Intune's app protection policies, you can help safeguard sensitive information, enforce compliance, and provide a seamless user experience across Windows 10, Windows 11, and mobile devices. Whether your employees are using company-owned or personal devices, MAM helps ensure that your organization's data is protected, enabling secure and productive work environments. Unmanaged device support using Intune MAM is currently available. Learn more about Intune MAM and how to use it for mobile devices. Detect scams in real time with scareware blocker
    Online scams have become increasingly sophisticated, to the point where you may feel it's out of your control to protect yourself and your users—even those who are technologically savvy. One particular type of scam is "scareware". It takes over the entire browser screen, creating a sense of urgency and panic that pressures people to act quickly, potentially granting the scammer remote access to their computer. These scams appear and vanish within hours—often before any preventative action can be taken. To combat such scams, Edge is introducing new, no-cost capabilities to help identify scareware in real-time to help make the internet a safer place both inside and outside of work. Scareware blocker uses machine learning (ML) to identify these scams. Upon finding a potential danger, it displays a warning to alert users. If the user identifies the website as safe, they are still in control and can continue to the page. For organizations, using scareware blocker helps prevent attacks that could attempt to gain remote access. This helps to protect your network and your employees. Scareware blocker will be in public preview in the coming months. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcJKbba2AjY Management for partners is getting easier with new policies in Microsoft 365 Lighthouse
    For partners, Microsoft 365 Lighthouse is a game-changer. It provides Managed Service Providers (MSPs) with a powerful tool to manage customers at scale. Lighthouse facilitates multi-tenant management, giving you a clear view and control over all your customers. You can quickly set up security settings for Microsoft Edge for Business, so that policies are consistently applied across all your customers, saving you time while enhancing security. We're excited to announce that additional Edge for Business policies will be coming to Lighthouse, making it even easier for partners to manage and secure their customers' web browsers. These new policies include customization abilities, such as adding organization branding; enhanced security features, such as password monitoring and generation; and other configurations, such as allowing Copilot to access page content and allowing single sign-on. These policies will be available in Lighthouse in public preview in the coming months. Learn more here. Calm tab chaos with just a few clicks
    We know security is a top concern, but you also want to drive productivity for your organization. Edge for Business comes packed with useful tools that help your users stay organized and tame the chaos. If you're someone who constantly has a ton of tabs open, you probably know how chaotic it can be to locate the specific tab you need. With vertical tabs, you can more easily read the page titles by displaying the tabs on the side rather than horizontally on top. Furthermore, you can group your tabs together with a name and color, so they are even more organized. If you don't have time to group your tabs individually, Edge for Business can do it for you. AI detects the common themes across your tabs and groups them together for instant organization. And, you can easily adjust the groupings to suit your preferences. These tab groups remain synced across your devices, ensuring you stay organized regardless of your location. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PICEfaEZ4f0 When you're working on multiple projects, it's easy for project tabs to get mixed together, wasting your time as you search for the right one. But what if all your tabs for each project were separated into their own neatly organized windows? Edge workspaces do just that. Workspaces let you open a group of tabs together, so you can bring up a whole project's tabs in one go. You can also share the workspace with others, so your team can access all the project resources with just one link. Workspaces allow you to switch between projects quickly, and you can close out of your workspace with all your tabs auto-saved to come back to it later. Between tab groups and workspaces, using Edge for Business makes it easier to manage your work and projects. To get started with these, download and share the tip sheet. Vertical tabs, tab groups, and Workspaces are currently available. Learn more here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k68GRWzZDF8 Learn more
    As a secure enterprise browser optimized for AI, Edge for Business is flexible to meet the needs of users across your entire organization. Tap into the security investments you've already made with Microsoft 365 and extend protections into the browser, at no additional cost. Watch this secure enterprise browser explainer video Editor's note – November 19, 2024 – The scareware blocker section has been revised to clarify impact that scareware is designed to gain remote access.View the full article
  11. AWS
    Two things can be true at the same time.
    In the case of AI, it is absolutely true that the industry is moving incredibly fast and evolving quickly. It’s also true that hundreds of thousands of customers are using Microsoft AI technology today and, by making early bets on the platform, are seeing big benefits now and future-proofing their ability to benefit from the next big wave of AI improvements.
    Microsoft Ignite is our annual event that spotlights the updates and creations that enable customers, partners and developers to unleash the full potential of Microsoft’s technology and change the way we approach work.
    This year, we are announcing about 80 new products and features, including new capabilities in Microsoft 365 Copilot, additions to the Copilot + AI stack and new Copilot+ devices offerings. Underpinning each of these innovations is our commitment to security. Since launching our Secure Future Initiative (SFI) one year ago, we have made security the No. 1 job of every employee at Microsoft, dedicated 34,000 engineers to this focus and, at Ignite, we will announce innovations that are rooted in our SFI principles: secure by design, secure by default and secure operations.
    More than 200,000 people have registered to join us for this year’s Ignite, with more than 14,000 attendees at our in-person events in Chicago. Attendees can choose from more than 800 sessions, demos and expert-led labs from Microsoft and our partners. Most of the Ignite content will be available on demand for those who can’t attend the live event.
    Copilot momentum
    Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work, and we have seen the momentum grow as more organizations are moving to Copilot and deploying it to great success. All up, nearly 70% of the Fortune 500 now use Microsoft 365 Copilot.
    That echoes an industry trend: A recent IDC study showed that generative AI is on the rise, with 75% adoption among companies surveyed in 2024. In addition, for every $1 invested, companies are realizing a return of $3.70, and leaders are saying they are realizing as much as a $10 return, according to the study.
    The investments that Microsoft has made in Copilot are paying dividends for our customers.
    We recently highlighted some of the more than 200 customer stories of accelerated AI Transformation, with Copilot helping many of them spark innovation and transform their organization for the better. Several examples include:
    Intelligent power management company Eaton leveraged Microsoft 365 Copilot to help streamline and automate operations, improve data access, centralize knowledge and empower teams to focus on higher-value tasks. One immediate challenge addressed through Copilot focused on the manual, time-consuming documentation process in Eaton’s Finance operations. Copilot helped Eaton document over 9,000 standard operating procedures (SOPs), resulting in an 83% time savings for each SOP. Consulting firm McKinsey & Company is creating an agent to speed up the client onboarding process. The pilot showed lead time could be reduced by 90% and administrative work reduced by 30%. The agent automates complex processes, such as identifying the right expert capabilities and staffing teams and acts as a single place where colleagues can ask questions and request follow-ups. By streamlining tasks and reducing manual inputs, this agent could potentially save consultants many hours, allowing them to spend more time with clients. Boosting productivity with Microsoft 365 Copilot
    Microsoft is continuing to supercharge productivity with new capabilities in Microsoft 365 Copilot designed to help simplify the workday.
    Copilot Actions, now in private preview, enable anyone to automate everyday tasks with simple, fill-in-the-blank prompts, whether it’s getting a daily summary of meeting actions in Microsoft Teams, compiling weekly reports or getting an email upon return from vacation that summarizes missed meetings, chats and emails.
    Anyone can easily set up Actions right in their Microsoft 365 app, allowing users to focus on more impactful work, save time and boost productivity.
    New agents in Microsoft 365 are designed to help scale individual impact and transform business process. At Ignite we will introduce:
    Agents in SharePoint: These natural language AI assistants are grounded on relevant SharePoint sites, files and folders to make it easy to find answers from that content, and to make quicker decisions as a result. Now generally available, every SharePoint site will include an agent tailored to its content. Users can also create customized agents scoped to select SharePoint files, folders or sites with as little as one click. Interpreter: This agent in Teams helps users overcome language barriers by enabling real-time, speech-to-speech interpretation in meetings. Available in public preview in early 2025, meeting participants will also have the option to have the agent simulate their personal voice. The Employee Self-Service Agent: An agent available in private preview in Business Chat expedites answers for the most common policy-related questions and simplifies action-taking on key HR and IT-related tasks — like helping employees understand their benefits or request a new laptop. It can be customized in Copilot Studio to meet an organization’s unique needs. Other agents in public preview take real-time meeting notes in Teams and automate project management from start to finish in Planner. Copilot + AI Stack
    The Copilot stack empowers users to build more ambitious products by leveraging advanced technology at each layer of the stack. To create a unified experience where customers can design, customize and manage AI applications and agents, we are introducing Azure AI Foundry, which gives customers access to all existing Azure AI services and tooling, plus new capabilities like:
    Azure AI Foundry SDK, now available in preview, provides a unified toolchain for designing, customizing and managing AI apps and agents with enterprise-grade control and customization. With tools that help organizations responsibly scale their applications, Foundry also provides 25 prebuilt app templates and a simplified coding experience they can access from familiar tools like GitHub, Visual Studio and Copilot Studio. Azure AI Foundry portal (formerly Azure AI Studio), now available in preview, is a comprehensive visual user interface to help developers discover AI models, services and tools. With a new management center experience that brings essential subscription information into a single dashboard, the portal also helps IT admins, operations and compliance teams manage AI applications at scale. Azure AI Agent Service, coming soon to preview, will enable professional developers to orchestrate, deploy and scale enterprise-ready agents to automate business processes. We also continue to back up our Trustworthy AI commitments with new tools. Today we’re announcing AI reports and risk and safety evaluations for images to help organizations ensure AI applications are safe and compliant. AI reports will help organizations improve observability, collaboration and governance for AI apps and fine-tuned models, while evaluations for image content will help customers assess the frequency and severity of harmful content in their app’s AI-generated outputs.
    Copilot+ devices
    As organizations move more workloads to the cloud to enhance security and flexibility, Microsoft is expanding its Cloud PC solution by introducing the first in a new class of devices purpose-built to connect securely to Windows 365 in seconds.
    Windows 365 Link is the simple, secure, purpose-built device for Windows 365. It is in preview now and will become generally available for purchase starting in April 2025 in select markets with an MSRP of $349, allowing users to work securely in a familiar Windows desktop in the Microsoft Cloud with responsive, high-fidelity experiences.
    Windows 365 Link is secure by design. The device has no local data, no local apps and admin-less users so corporate data stays protected within the Microsoft Cloud.
    Other new capabilities for Copilot+ PCs for commercial customers include harnessing the power of inbuilt native processing units (NPUs) to deliver local AI. With improved Windows Search, and the new Recall experience (preview), finding what you need on your PC is easier than ever by just describing what you are looking for. These features are releasing first to our Windows Insider community on Copilot+ PCs before rolling out more broadly to our customers.
    BlackRock momentum
    Four years ago, BlackRock, one of the world’s pre-eminent asset management firms, formed a strategic alliance with Microsoft to move its Aladdin platform to Microsoft Azure. With this foundation on Azure, BlackRock rolled out generative AI tools for global clients with Aladdin Copilot. Through generative AI, Aladdin Copilot serves to strengthen the connective tissue across the platform, leveraging Microsoft technology to help users receive answers instantly to unlock new efficiencies and discover important business insights even faster. Aladdin Copilot makes BlackRock’s Aladdin platform even more intelligent and responsive. That results in enhanced productivity, enables scale and keeps users more informed.
    BlackRock’s move to Azure and launch of Aladdin Copilot are just two of the many ongoing milestones in a long-term partnership that also includes an enterprise-wide deal for 24,000 seats of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Today, about 60% of BlackRock’s Copilot user population is leveraging Copilot on a weekly basis. Additionally, BlackRock also recently made the choice to move its on-prem CRM solution to the cloud with Dynamics 365, citing its native integration with Teams and Outlook as one of its primary decision-making factors.
    Strength in security
    We know that the threat landscape is rapidly evolving, and it’s imperative that we stay ahead of bad actors. At Microsoft we believe that security is a team sport, and we are stronger when we partner as a security community to share information, collaborate and stop bad actors.
    In that spirit, and as part of our Secure Future Initiative (SFI), at Ignite we are announcing the largest public security research event in history: the Zero Day Quest. This event, which focuses on AI and cloud security, will offer the largest award pool in the industry at $4 million, in addition to our existing $16 million annual bounty program. This competition aims to attract the world’s best security minds to tackle high-impact scenarios critical to our customers’ security, with award multipliers, starting today.
    As the threat landscape has changed, we have seen rapid evolution in the way attackers exploit weaknesses within systems — particularly by navigating graph relationships between identities, files and devices to uncover attack paths. Attackers thinking in graphs cause wider damage from the first point of intrusion. Traditional security products, with limited visibility into these graph relationships, are often better suited to protect specific devices or mediums — like laptops or inboxes — rather than the full scope of potential attack surface.
    Today’s Microsoft Security Exposure Management launch is a pivotal step in transforming cybersecurity with savvy data and AI-based strategies. The power of incorporating Microsoft graph data, in context with data from customers’ other third-party security tools, creates a powerful single pane of glass to visualize attack paths before threat actors do. With computing power and cloud-scale performance to distill powerful real-time mapping of assets and evolving risks, Exposure Management assists security teams in preventing intrusions and provides IT, operations and risk leaders with real-time data to support cyber risk decision-making.
    This is only a small section of the many exciting features and updates we will be announcing at Ignite. As a reminder, you can view keynote sessions from Microsoft executives including Satya Nadella, Rajesh Jha, Scott Guthrie, Charlie Bell and Vasu Jakkal, live or on-demand.
    Plus, you can get more on all these announcements by exploring the Book of News, the official compendium of all today’s news.
     
    The post Ignite 2024: Why nearly 70% of the Fortune 500 now use Microsoft 365 Copilot appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog.
    View the full article
  12. AWS
    As fans of books, especially in their physical format, it is our great pleasure to launch 8080 Books, an imprint of Microsoft. Our first title, No Prize for Pessimism, is authored by Sam Schillace, deputy chief technology officer at Microsoft, and is available today. Our second title, Platform Mindset, by Marcus Fontoura, will be available later this year.  
    Computing has become an essential ingredient to almost every endeavor on our planet, and, as students of both Microsoft and technology, our goal with 8080 Books is to publish original research, ideas and insights at the intersection of science, technology and business, and, in doing so, to help advance discourse on this important landscape.   
    The name of our imprint takes its inspiration from the 8080 microprocessor — a foundation for the company’s earliest software breakthroughs. Not coincidentally, 8080 is also the last four digits of Microsoft’s corporate headquarters phone number.   
    With a combined tenure of, well, let’s just say a long time, we’re both acutely aware of the rich well of talent at Microsoft from which we can draw upon and publish under the 8080 Books imprint over time. However, our intention is that we will seek to use this not just as a platform for Microsoft authors but also to showcase minds and ideas from outside of the company.  
    While we are not currently accepting unsolicited manuscripts, our website does provide more details about our plans, such as evaluating out of print titles that we feel remain relevant to today’s leaders, and why we feel the time is right to launch this imprint.  
    We hope you enjoy our launch title, which is available here, and we look forward to hearing your feedback, questions and ideas as we embark on this new adventure.  
    For anyone in the Puget Sound area, we invite you to Schillace’s first reading and signing at Brick & Mortar Books, on Wednesday, Dec. 11 in Redmond, Washington. Check here for details. Space is limited. 

    The post 8080 Books, an imprint of Microsoft, launches, offering thought leadership titles spanning technology, business and society appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog.
    View the full article
  13. AWS
    Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4510 (KB5046716) to the Beta Channel. Changes in Beta Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Beta Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post. Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*
    [Taskbar & System Tray]
    We are rolling out the ability to share files directly from the jump lists on the taskbar, which appears when you right-click on an app with a jump list like Notepad the taskbar. [caption id="attachment_177429" align="alignnone" width="318"] Share icon appearing on a txt file on the jump list for Notepad.[/caption] [Input]
    We are beginning to roll out the new Gamepad keyboard layout for the on-screen keyboard in Windows 11 again that began rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel with Build 22635.4145. [caption id="attachment_177283" align="alignnone" width="692"] New Gamepad keyboard layout for the on-screen keyboard in Windows 11 that supports the ability to use your Xbox controller to navigate and type.[/caption] [Narrator]
    We have added new functionalities to Narrator scan mode. Skip past links (N’) allows you to navigate to the text after a link. This is most helpful when navigating through long emails, news articles, and wiki pages. Jump to lists (L’) allows you to quickly access a list on a web page or a document. To try these new features, you need to turn on Narrator first (Win key + Ctrl + Enter), then turn scan mode ON by pressing Caps Lock + Spacebar and finally use the new shortcuts – ‘N’ and ‘L’. Please note that scan mode is ‘ON’ by default on most web pages (like news articles, wiki page, etc.). [Speech in Windows]
    We have improved our speech-to-text and text-to-speech experience on Windows. Users of Narrator, voice access, live captions, live translations, and voice typing might see a message asking them to update their language files manually. The language files will be released separately through Microsoft Store. Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*
    [Lock screen]
    Fixed an issue where you might unexpectedly see a message saying “You’re offline. Widgets are unavailable”. Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel
    Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel will receive updates based on Windows 11, version 23H2 via an enablement package (Build 22635.xxxx). Many features in the Beta Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel. For Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your PC over time once they are ready. Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready. Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub. Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first. Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel. Thanks, Amanda & BrandonView the full article
  14. AWS
    The holidays are fast approaching and time with loved ones is right around the corner. Spend more time making memories and less time shopping by scoring hot holiday deals from Microsoft Store that make purchasing the top tech of the season as easy as going back for seconds at Thanksgiving. Shop with confidence at Microsoft Store
    Choose from the most innovative Surface Copilot+ PCs around, equipped with AI-powered experiences, or give the gift of gaming with a variety of Xbox offerings. And with Microsoft Store’s 24/7 online support and flexible ways to pay, it’s easy to find and purchase the perfect present. Don’t sweat the little things, ensure gifts arrive on time with fast and free 2-3-day shipping on most products. Give yourself the gift of peace of mind with free extended returns and price protection through Jan. 31, 2025. Looking to upgrade? For a limited time, get up to $600 cash back when you trade in an eligible used device and buy a new Copilot+ PC Surface Laptop or Surface Pro. Offer ends Dec. 14. Not sure what to gift? Microsoft Store’s new AI-powered Store Assistant chat experience can help you learn about Microsoft products and assist you in searching for the perfect gift for everyone on your list. Simply click on the Store Assistant chat to help you determine which device is right for your loved one. Save big on Surface and upgrade your Windows experience today
    Save up to $400 on select Surface Pro and 20% on Surface Pro Flex Keyboard With the versatility to transform from a tablet, to a laptop, to a multi-monitor setup, the Surface Pro has the flexibility to meet the demands of a busy student, a frequent traveler, an on-the-go creator and anyone in between. Give the gift of supercharged productivity and endless creativity with a device featuring all-day battery life and unique Copilot+ PC AI experiences. The Surface Pro Flex Keyboard unlocks new levels of flexibility with the ability to either attach to your Pro for the ultimate laptop set-up or detach as a standalone keyboard. Offers begin Nov. 18 and end Dec. 2. Save up to $400 on select Surface Laptop Help your loved ones work smarter, stay connected and boost their productivity with the most intelligent Surface Laptop that unlocks new Copilot+ PC AI experiences. This sleek and lightweight touchscreen laptop - with the longest battery life on any Surface - offers speeds up to 86% faster than before, the most inclusive touchpad on the market and comes in immersive 13.8” and 15” displays. Offer begins Nov. 21 and ends Dec. 7. Save up to $600 on Surface Laptop Studio 2 Perfect for the creative on your list who needs a powerhouse device, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 seamlessly transitions from a powerful touchscreen laptop to a perfectly angled display for entertainment, to a creative canvas for drawing with Surface Pen. Offer ends Dec. 11.  Give the gift of gaming and entertainment this holiday
    From movies to TV shows and games, we have something for every person in your life. Enjoy $50 off Xbox Series S - 512GB from Nov. 21 to Dec. 2. Plus, save $10 on select Xbox Wireless controllers from Nov. 22 to Dec. 2, and take deep discounts on popular games like EA SPORTS FC 25 Standard Edition and NBA 2K25 Standard Edition. Save up to 60% on PC games. Keep the fun going all year long with PC games like Ace Attorney Anthology, Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy and Forza Motorsport Premium Edition. Save up to 55% on games purchased from the Microsoft Store on Xbox. Find your favorite games like NBA 2K25, EA SPORTS FC 25 or Star Wars: Outlaws on sale, and check out more exclusive offers below: Customers that purchase Diablo® IV: Vessel of Hatred™ - Standard Edition, Diablo® IV: Vessel of Hatred™ - Deluxe Edition or Diablo® IV: Vessel of Hatred™ - Ultimate Edition between today and Dec. 2 will receive a promotional $5 Xbox gift card and Sound of Slaughter Bundle. Terms and conditions apply. Customers that purchase EA SPORTS College Football 25, EA SPORTS College Football 25 – Deluxe Edition or EA SPORTS MVP Bundle (Madden NFL Deluxe Edition and College Football 25 Deluxe Edition) from now through Dec. 2 will receive a promotional $5 Xbox gift card and EA SPORTS College Football 25 – 500 College Football Points. Terms and conditions apply. Customers that purchase F1 24 or F1 24 Champions Edition will receive a promotional $5 Xbox gift card and an F1 24 VIP Podium Pass. Terms and conditions apply. Customers that purchase NHL 25 Standard Edition Xbox Series X|S or NHL 25 Deluxe Edition Xbox Series X|S will receive a promotional $5 Xbox gift card and NHL 25 550 Points Pack. Terms and conditions apply. Save up to 50% on select movies and TV shows. Cozy up by the fire with the family and watch hit movies from the Godzilla vs Kong 5 Film Collection, Harry Potter: The Complete 8 Film Collection and Transformers 7 Movie Collection. Save up to 50% on select apps in the Microsoft Store on Windows. Enhance your music-listening experience, entertainment capabilities and more with savings on apps like Dolby Access, DTS Sound Unbound and Karaoke One available in the Microsoft Store on Windows. For more deals on Xbox consoles, controllers, and Xbox and PC games, visit Xbox Wire. Select offers live now and end Dec. 2. Available while supplies last; offers vary by market. Microsoft Store offers discounts throughout the holiday, visit microsoft.com to find the perfect gift. Editor’s note – Nov. 15, 2024 – The Dolby offer was updated. Note: Offers are U.S.-only. Please check your local Microsoft Store for deals in your region.View the full article
  15. AWS
    Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 11 Build 26100.2448 (KB5046740) to Insiders in the Release Preview Channel on Windows 11, version 24H2 (Build 26100). Below is a summary of the new features and improvements included as part of this update separated into two sections: gradual rollout and normal rollout. The bold text within the brackets indicates the item or area of the change we are documenting. Gradual rollout
    The following features and improvements might not be available to all users because they will roll out gradually. Text bolded in brackets indicate the area of the change being documented. [Start menu] New! When you right-click apps that you have pinned to the Start menu, jump lists will appear for apps that have jump lists. [Taskbar] New! The system tray shows a shortened date and time. Also, the notification bell icon might not show if you have set the toggle for “Do not disturb” to on. If the bell icon does not show, click the date and time to view your messages in the notification center. To go back to the long form of the date and time, go to Settings > Date and Time. Then turn on the toggle for “Show time and day in the system tray.” To show the bell icon, go to Settings > System > Notifications. Turn on the toggle for “Notifications.” You can also get to these settings using the context menu. Just right click the system tray clock or bell icon. [Touchscreen] New! This update adds a new section for touchscreen edge gestures. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Touch. There, you can choose if you would like to turn off the left or right screen edge touch gesture. [Task Manager] New! The Disconnect and Logoff dialogs now support dark mode and text scaling. New! The Performance section now shows the type for each disk. [Input Method Editor (IME)] New! After you install this update, the IME toolbar will hide when apps are in full screen mode. This only occurs when the IME toolbar is active, and you type Chinese or Japanese characters. [File Explorer] New! You can share content to an Android device from the context menu in File Explorer and on the desktop. To use this feature, you must install and configure Phone Link on your PC. [IFilters] New! Windows Search runs IFilters in Less Privileged App Containers (LPAC). LPACs are like app containers, but they deny more permissions by default. A process that runs in an LPAC only has access to the resources it needs. The process does not have access to sensitive system components and data. This reduces the potential damage that a compromised process can cause. [Dynamic Lighting Settings page] New! Its page will show a placeholder message when there is no compatible device attached to your computer. Also, the Brightness and Effects controls will be off. New! This update adds the Forward, Backward, Outward, and Inward direction options to the Wave effect. The Gradient effect now has the Forward direction option. [Narrator] New! We have added new functionalities to Narrator scan mode. Skip past links (N’) allows you to navigate to the text after a link. This is most helpful when navigating through long emails, news articles, and wiki pages. Jump to lists (L’) allows you to quickly access a list on a web page or a document. To try these new features, you need to turn on Narrator first (Win key + Ctrl + Enter), then turn scan mode ON by pressing Caps Lock + Spacebar and finally use the new shortcuts – ‘N’ and ‘L’. Please note that scan mode is ‘ON’ by default on most web pages (like news articles, wiki page, etc.). [Speech in Windows] New! We have improved our speech-to-text and text-to-speech experience on Windows. Users of Narrator, voice access, live captions, live translations, and voice typing might see a message asking them to update their language files manually. The language files will be released separately through Microsoft Store. [Settings] New! Tailored Experiences is now Personalized offers in the out of box experience (OOBE). You can find it on the Recommendations and offers page. Go to Settings > Privacy & security. Here, you can turn off the setting that sends data about your device to enhance Windows. [Jump lists] New! If you hold Shift and CTRL and click a jump list item, this opens the item as an admin.   [DISM] Fixed: The StartComponentCleanup task does not work properly. It stops at 71% and shows error 6842.  [PowerShell] Fixed: The Get-WindowsCapability command sometimes fails. Then you have to restart your PC.  [Windows Update] Fixed: When you install an update, you might get error 0x800f0905.  [JPG files] Fixed: You cannot use an API to find rotation information.  [Display]   Fixed: App windows might collect in the corner of a monitor after your device goes to sleep. This occurs when you use multiple monitors.  Fixed: Mica material might not display correctly. This occurs when you use a slideshow background.  [Mouse] Fixed: When you use the "Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key," the circles might be tiny on some displays.  [Clipboard] Fixed: Clipboard history (Windows logo key plus sign (+) V) might show no content. This issue occurs even though it is on, and you have copied text and images.  [Taskbar] Fixed: When you choose "Automatically hide the taskbar," the search box shows as an icon, not as a search box.  [File Explorer]   Fixed: There might be more space than you expect between the items listed in the left pane.  Fixed: The search box is cut off when the File Explorer window is small.  Normal rollout
    This update includes the following features and improvements that are rolling out as part of this update. Text bolded in brackets indicates the area of the change being documented. [File Explorer] Fixed: When you select the See more button, the menu expands upward instead of dropping down. Because of this, the menu might go off the screen, depending on the position of File Explorer. [HTML Applications (HTA)] Fixed: HTA optional components (OC) are now in ARM64 Windows PE. [Task Manager] Fixed: The Users page might cause Task Manager to stop responding when you use the keyboard. [Graphics Device Interface Plus (GDI+)] Fixed: You cannot get the properties of image files using GDI+). Fixed: Scaling is wrong when you re-encode images in GDI+. [RAW format images] Fixed: They show in the wrong orientation. [Exporting chart objects] Fixed: An app stops responding when it exports chart objects in PDF and XLSX formats. [Mouse and Xbox game bar] Fixed: Your mouse might unlock from the game window. This occurs when you have multiple monitors and open and close the Xbox game bar. [ADDED] [Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)] Fixed: It stops working and will not start up.  Thanks, Windows Insider Program TeamView the full article
  16. AWS
    Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 10 22H2 Build 19045.5194 (KB5046714) to BOTH the Beta Channel and Release Preview Channel for Insiders who are on Windows 10, version 22H2. The Beta Channel and Release Preview Channel will receive the same Windows 10 build today just like we’ve been doing since June. However, this will be the last time we release a Windows 10 build to the Beta Channel as we will be shutting down the Beta Channel for Windows 10. Insiders on Windows 10 in the Beta Channel will be moved over to the Release Preview Channel, and we will continue to release builds for Windows 10 in the Release Preview Channel only going forward. Insiders on Windows 10 today in the Beta Channel can also move to the Release Preview Channel on their own via Settings > Update & Security > Windows Insider Program and choosing the Release Preview Channel. We recommend customers prepare for Windows 10 end of support by moving to Windows 11 today. For Windows Insiders on Windows 10 in the Beta Channel, we’re beginning to roll out the following improvements
    [Start menu] New! The Recommended section of the Start menu will show some Microsoft Store apps. These apps come from a small set of curated developers. This will help you to discover some of the great apps that are available. If you want to turn this off, go to Settings > Personalization > Start. Turn off the toggle for Show suggestions occasionally in Start. Insiders in the Beta Channel on Windows 10 who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Updated & Security > Windows Update. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your device over time once they are ready. This update includes the following features and improvements for Windows Insiders in BOTH the Beta and Release Preview Channels
    Items bolded in brackets indicate the area of the change being documented: [App list backup] Fixed: Win32 shortcuts might not back up to the cloud. ​​​​​​​ [Copy cloud files] Fixed: When you drag and drop files from a cloud files provider folder, it might result in a move instead of a copy. ​​​​​​​ [Motherboard replacement] Fixed: Windows does not activate after you replace a motherboard. [Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA)] Fixed: This update brings profiles up to date for certain mobile operators. [Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) printer] Fixed: Windows stops responding when you use an IPP USB printer. Thanks, The Windows Insider Program TeamView the full article
  17. AWS
    Hello Windows Insiders, today we’re releasing Windows 11 Build 22631.4534 (KB5046732) to Insiders in the Release Preview Channel on Windows 11, version 23H2 (Build 22631).   Below is a summary of the new features and improvements included as part of this update separated into two sections: gradual rollout and normal rollout. The bold text within the brackets indicates the item or area of the change we are documenting. Gradual rollout
    The following features and improvements might not be available to all users because they will roll out gradually. Text bolded in brackets indicate the area of the change being documented. [Start menu] New! When you right-click apps that you have pinned to the Start menu, jump lists will appear for apps that have jump lists. [Taskbar] New! The system tray shows a shortened date and time. Also, the notification bell icon might not show if you have set the toggle for “Do not disturb” to on. If the bell icon does not show, click the date and time to view your messages in the notification center. To go back to the long form of the date and time, go to Settings > Date and Time. Then turn on the toggle for “Show time and day in the system tray.” To show the bell icon, go to Settings > System > Notifications. Turn on the toggle for “Notifications.” You can also get to these settings using the context menu. Just right click the system tray clock or bell icon. [Touchscreen] New! This update adds a new section for touchscreen edge gestures. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Touch. There, you can choose if you would like to turn off the left or right screen edge touch gesture. [Mouse] New! This update adds the option to turn off enhanced mouse pointer precision to Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Mouse. There is also a new option to change the direction in which the mouse scrolls. [Task Manager] New! The Disconnect and Logoff dialogs now support dark mode and text scaling. New! The Performance section now shows the type for each disk. [Input Method Editor (IME)] New! After you install this update, the IME toolbar will hide when apps are in full screen mode. This only occurs when the IME toolbar is active, and you type Chinese or Japanese characters. [File Explorer] New! You can share content to an Android device from the context menu in File Explorer and on the desktop. To use this feature, you must install and configure Phone Link on your PC. [IFilters] New! Windows Search runs IFilters in Less Privileged App Containers (LPAC). LPACs are like app containers, but they deny more permissions by default. A process that runs in an LPAC only has access to the resources it needs. The process does not have access to sensitive system components and data. This reduces the potential damage that a compromised process can cause. [Dynamic Lighting Settings page] New! Its page will show a placeholder message when there is no compatible device attached to your computer. Also, the Brightness and Effects controls will be off. New! This update adds the Forward, Backward, Outward, and Inward direction options to the Wave effect. The Gradient effect now has the Forward direction option. [Narrator] New! We have added new functionalities to Narrator scan mode. Skip past links (N’) allows you to navigate to the text after a link. This is most helpful when navigating through long emails, news articles, and wiki pages. Jump to lists (L’) allows you to quickly access a list on a web page or a document. To try these new features, you need to turn on Narrator first (Win key + Ctrl + Enter), then turn scan mode ON by pressing Caps Lock + Spacebar and finally use the new shortcuts – ‘N’ and ‘L’. Please note that scan mode is ‘ON’ by default on most web pages (like news articles, wiki page, etc.). [Speech in Windows] New! We have improved our speech-to-text and text-to-speech experience on Windows. Users of Narrator, voice access, live captions, live translations, and voice typing might see a message asking them to update their language files manually. The language files will be released separately through Microsoft Store. [Settings] New! Tailored Experiences is now Personalized offers in the out of box experience (OOBE). You can find it on the Recommendations and offers page. Go to Settings > Privacy & security. Here, you can turn off the setting that sends data about your device to enhance Windows. [Taskbar] Fixed: When you choose "Automatically hide the taskbar," the search box shows as an icon, not as a search box. [File Explorer] Fixed: There might be more space than you expect between the items listed in the left pane. Fixed: The search box is cut off when the File Explorer window is small. [Jump lists] New! If you hold Shift and CTRL and click a jump list item, this opens the item as an admin. Normal rollout
    This update includes the following features and improvements that are rolling out as part of this update. Text bolded in brackets indicates the area of the change being documented. [Motherboard replacement] Fixed: Windows does not activate after you replace a motherboard. [Country and Operator Settings Asset (COSA)] Fixed: This update brings profiles up to date for certain mobile operators. [Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) printer] Fixed: Windows stops responding when you use an IPP USB printer. [Bluetooth LE Audio] Fixed: Some devices, like hearing aids, do not stream Bluetooth audio. [ADDED] [Mouse and game bar] Fixed: Your mouse might unlock from the game window. This occurs when you have multiple monitors and open and close the game bar.  Thanks, Windows Insider Program TeamView the full article
  18. AWS
    Every day, NASA’s satellites orbit Earth, capturing a wealth of information that helps us understand our planet. From monitoring wildfires to tracking climate change, this vast trove of Earth Science data has the potential to drive scientific discoveries, inform policy decisions and support industries like agriculture, urban planning and disaster response.
    But navigating the over 100 petabytes of collected data can be challenging, which is why NASA has collaborated with Microsoft to explore the use of a custom copilot using Azure OpenAI Service to develop NASA’s Earth Copilot, which could transform how people interact with Earth’s data.
    Geospatial data is complex, and often requires some level of technical expertise to navigate it. As a result, this data tends to be accessible only to a limited number of researchers and scientists. As NASA collects more data from new satellites, these complexities only grow and may further limit the potential pool of people able to draw insights and develop applications that could benefit society.
    Recognizing this challenge, NASA embarked on a mission to make its data more accessible and user-friendly. Through NASA’s Office of the Chief Science Data Officer, the agency seeks to democratize data access, breaking down technical barriers to empower a diverse range of audiences, from scientists and educators to policymakers and the general public.
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    The challenge: Navigating the complexity of data
    NASA’s Earth Science Data Systems Program is responsible for collecting an incredible variety of data from spaceborne sensors and instruments. This data spans everything from atmospheric conditions to land cover changes, ocean temperatures and more. However, the sheer scale and complexity of this information can be overwhelming. For many, finding and extracting insights requires navigating technical interfaces, understanding data formats and mastering the intricacies of geospatial analysis — specialized skills that very few non-technical users possess. AI could streamline this process, reducing time to gain insights from Earth’s data to a matter of seconds.
    This issue isn’t just a matter of convenience; it has real-world implications. For example, scientists who need to analyze historical data on hurricanes to improve predictive models, or policymakers who want to study deforestation patterns to implement environmental regulations, may find themselves unable to easily access the data they need. This inaccessibility affects a broad array of sectors, including agriculture, urban planning and disaster response, where timely insights from spaceborne data could make a significant difference.
    Moreover, as new satellites with new instruments continue to launch and collect more data, NASA is constantly faced with the challenge of building new tools to manage and make sense of this growing repository. The agency explored emerging technologies that could not only streamline data discovery but also broaden accessibility, enabling more people to engage with the data and uncover new insights.
    The solution: AI-powered data access through Microsoft Azure
    To address these challenges, NASA IMPACT worked with Microsoft to develop an AI-driven customer copilot, called Earth Copilot, which could simplify data access and encourage a wider range of users to interact with its Earth Science data. Together, they built the proof of concept AI model that leverages Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and advanced AI capabilities to transform how users can search, discover and analyze NASA’s geospatial data.
    The key to NASA’s Earth Copilot lies in the integration of cloud-based technologies like Azure OpenAI Service, which provides access to powerful AI models and natural language processing capabilities that enable developers to integrate intelligent, conversational AI into their applications. This approach allows NASA to integrate AI into its existing data analysis platform — VEDA. These technologies together make it easier for users to search, discover and analyze Earth Science data
    By combining these technologies, Earth Copilot enables users to interact with NASA’s data repository through plain language queries. Instead, they can simply ask questions such as “What was the impact of Hurricane Ian in Sanibel Island?” or “How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect air quality in the US?” AI will then retrieve relevant datasets, making the process seamless and intuitive.
    Democratizing data for open science
    The collaboration between NASA IMPACT and Microsoft has resulted in a solution that democratizes access to spaceborne data, enabling a broader range of users to engage with NASA’s science data. This has significant benefits for the scientific community, as researchers can now spend less time on data retrieval and more on analysis and discovery. For example, climate scientists can quickly access historical data to study trends, while agricultural experts can gain insights into soil moisture levels to improve crop management.
    Educators and teachers can use real-world examples to engage students in Earth Science, fostering curiosity and encouraging the next generation of scientists and engineers. Policymakers can leverage the data to make informed decisions on critical issues like climate change, urban development and disaster preparedness, ensuring they have the most accurate information at their fingertips.
    The development of this AI prototype aligns with NASA’s Open Science initiative, which aims to make scientific research more transparent, inclusive and collaborative. By removing barriers to data discovery, NASA and Microsoft are setting the stage for a new era of discovery, where insights are not confined to a select few but can be explored and expanded by anyone curious about the world.
    Looking ahead: Bridging the gap between data and insights
    At the moment, the NASA Earth Copilot is available to NASA scientists and researchers to explore and test its capabilities. Any responsible deployment of AI technologies requires rigorous assessments to ensure the data and outputs cannot be misused. After a period of internal evaluations and testing, the NASA IMPACT team will explore the integration of this capability into the VEDA platform.
    This collaboration exemplifies how technology can empower people, drive innovation and create positive change. Solutions like this will be essential in ensuring the benefits of data are shared widely, enabling more people to engage with, analyze and act upon information that shapes our world.
    The post From questions to discoveries: NASA’s new Earth Copilot brings Microsoft AI capabilities to democratize access to complex data appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog.
    View the full article
  19. AWS
    Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27749 to the Canary Channel. We are releasing ISOs for this build – they can be downloaded here. We are also not planning to release SDKs for 27xxx series builds for the time being. Changes and Improvements
    [Narrator]
    We have added a new shortcut “Narrator key + control + X” to copy what Narrator last spoke to clipboard. It follows the pattern of using “Narrator key + X” which repeats the last spoken phrase out loud and is a good way to memorize similar shortcuts. You can use these shortcuts to review and copy what Narrator spoke, useful in cases you want to quickly copy some content or descriptions or codes/numbers for use. Narrator will now auto-read contents of a mail in the new Outlook app similar to behavior in Outlook classic. Fixes
    [File Explorer]
    Fixed an issue which was causing the items in the navigation pane to become very spread out (with unexpected padding between each item) for some people. Fixed an underlying issue which was causing RAW images taken in portrait mode to unexpectedly display in landscape mode thumbnails. [Taskbar & System Tray]
    Made a change so you will now see a search box if the taskbar auto-hides when the setting for search on the taskbar is set to “Search box” (rather than an icon). [Input]
    Updated the mouse option “Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key”, so that the circles displayed are now DPI-aware, and aren’t really small on high DPI monitors. [Narrator]
    We have addressed a performance issue where Narrator would slow down after 15 minutes of continuous use with a single application. If you continue to experience any performance delays, do report using Feedback Hub. Fixed an issue where Narrator would add an additional announcement “contains style” whenever its focus is on text that has styling attributes such as bullets, numbers across applications such as Microsoft Edge, Teams, Outlook, etc. Fixed an issue where few dialogs in Narrator were not adopting the 200% text scaling setting in Windows. [Task Manager]
    Fixed an issue causing Task Manager to show a 0 count for apps and processes. [Audio]
    Fixed an underlying issue that could lead to the audio on certain audio devices unexpectedly going to 100% on boot or after sleep. Fixed a blank entry in Settings > Privacy, which was crashing Settings if you clicked it. [Other]
    Mitigated an issue resulting in Git not working for Insiders with Arm PCs in the previous flight. Fixed an issue causing some insiders to see a bugcheck with KERNEL_MODE_HEAP_CORRUPTION in the previous flight. Fixed an underlying issue which could potentially lead to not being able to join a domain. Fixed an issue where DirectAccess wasn’t working and might stay stuck in a connecting state. Known issues
    [General]
    [IMPORTANT NOTE FOR COPILOT+ PCs] If you are joining the Canary Channel on a new Copilot+ PC from the Dev Channel, Release Preview Channel or retail, you will lose Windows Hello pin and biometrics to sign into your PC with error 0xd0000225 and error message “Something went wrong, and your PIN isn’t available”. You should be able to re-create your PIN by clicking “Set up my PIN”. We’re investigating reports that some Insiders are still experiencing rollbacks (with error code 0xc190010) when attempting to install the latest Canary builds. [NEW] We’re working on the fix for an underlying issue causing some apps used for remoting into other PCs to crash in the latest Canary builds. [NEW] This build has an issue with applying policy for the Digital Markets Act in EEA regions. [Desktop]
    We’re working on the fix for an issue where your desktop background may not show correctly sometimes with multiple monitors (showing big black areas). Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Canary Channel
    The builds we release to the Canary Channel represent the latest platform changes early in the development cycle and should not be seen as matched to any specific release of Windows and features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready. Many features in the Canary Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel. Some features may show up in the Dev and Beta Channels first before showing up in the Canary Channel. Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub. To get off the Canary Channel, a clean install of Windows 11 will be required. As a reminder - Insiders can’t switch to a channel that is receiving builds with lower build numbers without doing a clean installation of Windows 11 due to technical setup requirements. The desktop watermark shown at the lower right corner of the desktop is normal for these pre-release builds. Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel. Thanks, Amanda & BrandonView the full article
  20. AWS
    Across every industry, AI is creating a fundamental shift in what’s possible, enabling new use cases and driving business outcomes. While organizations around the world recognize the value and potential of AI, for AI to be truly effective it must be tailored to specific industry needs.
    Today, we’re announcing adapted AI models, expanding our industry capabilities and enabling organizations to address their unique needs more accurately and effectively. In collaboration with industry partner experts like Bayer, Cerence, Rockwell Automation, Saifr, Siemens Digital Industries Software, Sight Machine and more, we’re making these fine-tuned models, pre-trained using industry-specific data, available to address customers’ top use cases.
    Underpinning these adapted AI models is the Microsoft Cloud, our platform for industry innovation. By integrating the Microsoft Cloud with our industry-specific capabilities and a robust ecosystem of partners, we provide a secure approach to advancing innovation across industries. This collaboration allows us to create extensive scenarios for customers globally, with embedded AI capabilities — from industry data solutions in Microsoft Fabric to AI agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio to AI models in Azure AI Studio — that enable industries to realize their full potential.
    Introducing adapted AI models for industry
    We’re pleased to introduce these new partner-enabled models from leading organizations that are leveraging the power of Microsoft’s Phi family of small language models (SLMs). These models will be available through the Azure AI model catalog, where customers can access a wide range of AI models to build custom AI solutions in Azure AI Studio, or directly from our partners. The models available in the Azure AI model catalog can also be used to configure agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio, a platform that allows customers to create, customize and deploy AI-powered agents, which can be applied to an industry’s top use cases to address its most pressing needs.
    Bayer, a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of healthcare and agriculture, will make E.L.Y. Crop Protection available in the Azure AI model catalog. A specialized SLM, it is designed to enhance crop protection sustainable use, application, compliance and knowledge within the agriculture sector. Built on Bayer’s agricultural intelligence, and trained on thousands of real-world questions on Bayer crop protection labels, the model provides ag entities, their partners and developers a valuable tool to tailor solutions for specific food and agricultural needs. The model stands out due to its commitment to responsible AI standards, scalability to farm operations of all types and sizes and customization capabilities that allow organizations to adapt the model to regional and crop-specific requirements. Cerence, which creates intuitive, seamless and AI-powered user experiences for the world’s leading automakers, is enhancing its in-vehicle digital assistant technology with fine-tuned SLMs within the vehicle’s hardware. CaLLM Edge, an automotive-specific, embedded SLM, will be available in the Azure AI model catalog. It can be used for in-car controls, such as adjusting air conditioning systems, and scenarios that involve limited or no cloud connectivity, enabling drivers to access the rich, responsive experiences they’ve come to expect from cloud-based large language models (LLMs), no matter where they are. Rockwell Automation, a global leader in industrial automation and digital transformation, will provide industrial AI expertise via the Azure AI model catalog. The FT Optix Food & Beverage model brings the benefits of industry-specific capabilities to frontline workers in manufacturing, supporting asset troubleshooting in the food and beverage domain. The model provides timely recommendations, explanations and knowledge about specific manufacturing processes, machines and inputs to factory floor workers and engineers. Saifr, a RegTech within Fidelity Investments’ innovation incubator, Fidelity Labs, will introduce four new models in the Azure AI model catalog, empowering financial institutions to better manage regulatory compliance of broker-dealer communications and investment adviser advertising. The models can highlight potential regulatory compliance risks in text (Retail Marketing Compliance model) and images (Image Detection model); explain why something was flagged (Risk Interpretation model); and suggest alternative language that might be more compliant (Language Suggestion model). Together, these models can enhance regulatory compliance by acting as an extra set of review eyes and boost efficiency by speeding up review turnarounds and time to market. Siemens Digital Industries Software, which helps organizations of all sizes digitally transform using software, hardware and services from the Siemens Xcelerator business platform, is introducing a new copilot for NX X software, which leverages an adapted AI model that enables users to ask natural language questions, access detailed technical insights and streamline complex design tasks for faster and smarter product development. The copilot will provide CAD designers with AI-driven recommendations and best practices to optimize the design process within the NX X experience, helping engineers implement best practices faster to ensure expected quality from design to production. The NX X copilot will be available in the Azure Marketplace and other channels. Sight Machine, a leader in data-driven manufacturing and industrial AI, will release Factory Namespace Manager to the Azure AI model catalog. The model analyzes existing factory data, learns the patterns and rules behind the naming conventions and then automatically translates these data field names into standardized corporate formats. This translation makes the universe of plant data in the manufacturing enterprise AI-ready, enabling manufacturers to optimize production and energy use in plants, balance production with supply chain logistics and demand and integrate factory data with enterprise data systems for end-to-end optimization. The bottling company Swire Coca-Cola USA plans to use Factory Namespace Manager to efficiently map its extensive PLC and plant floor data into its corporate data namespace. We also encourage innovation in the open-source ecosystem and are offering five open-source Hugging Face models that are fine-tuned for summarization and sentiment analysis of financial data.
    Additionally, last month we announced new healthcare AI models in Azure AI Studio. These state-of-the-art multimodal medical imaging foundation models, created in partnership with organizations like Providence and Paige.ai, empower healthcare organizations to integrate and analyze a variety of data types, leveraging intelligence in modalities other than text in specialties like ophthalmology, pathology, radiology and cardiology.
    Accelerating transformation with industry agents
    Microsoft also offers AI agents that are purpose-built for industry scenarios. Available in Copilot Studio, these agents can be configured to support organizations’ industry-specific needs. For example, retailers can use the Store Operations Agent to support retail store associates and the Personalized Shopping Agent to enhance customers’ shopping experiences. Manufacturers can use the Factory Operations Agent to enhance production efficiency and reduce downtime by enabling engineers and frontline workers to quickly identify and troubleshoot issues.
    All this AI innovation wouldn’t be possible without a solid data estate, because AI is only as good as the data it’s built upon. By ensuring data is accurate, accessible and well integrated, organizations can unlock deeper insights and drive more effective decision-making with AI. Microsoft Fabric, a data platform built for the era of AI, helps unify disparate data sources and prepares data for advanced analytics and AI modeling. It offers industry data solutions that address each organization’s unique needs and allows them to discover, deploy and do more with AI.
    At the forefront of addressing industry needs securely
    At the core of our AI strategy is a commitment to trustworthy AI. This commitment encompasses safety, security and privacy, ensuring that AI solutions are built with the highest standards of integrity and responsibility. Trustworthy AI is foundational to everything we do, from how we work with customers to the capabilities we build into our products.
    At Microsoft, we combine industry AI experience, insights and capabilities with a deep understanding of customer challenges and objectives. Along with a trusted ecosystem of experienced partners, we unlock the full potential of AI for each industry and business. Our goal is not just to offer or implement AI tools but to help customers succeed by embedding AI into the very core of what each industry does.
    AI transformation is here, and Microsoft is at the forefront of this revolution. As we continue to navigate this new era of innovation, it’s clear that AI will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of business across all industries and that Microsoft will continue to lead the way. To learn more about how customers in a variety of industries are transforming with AI, visit How real-world businesses are transforming with AI.
    The post Microsoft introduces new adapted AI models for industry appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog.
    View the full article
  21. AWS
    October was an exciting month of amazing showcases and announcements for applications leveraging the power of the NPU on the new Copilot+ PCs to deploy their AI innovations on Windows. Windows’ diverse hardware ecosystem empowers developers with a range of options at their fingertips to develop and deploy AI. From client to web apps, DirectML, foundational to Windows Copilot Runtime, aims to uniquely simplify how developers can scale their AI innovations across Windows. Through a single, cross-hardware DirectX API, DirectML works across different hardware architectures, local device accelerators and machine learning frameworks, supporting an open platform for AI on Windows. Let’s see some of the amazing AI innovations leveraging DirectML on Copilot+ PC NPUs. Adobe® Premiere® Pro is the first Adobe app to leverage NPU on Copilot+ PCs, powered by Intel® Core™ Ultra and DirectML
    Adobe is at the forefront of machine learning (ML) for creatives by providing a variety of hardware-accelerated features throughout their product suite. Now, Adobe Premiere Pro has enabled the machine learning efficiency of the latest Intel Core Ultra processors, opening up even more platform possibilities for Adobe customers. Through collaboration with Intel and Microsoft, Adobe enabled Audio Category Tagger to optionally utilize Intel’s latest generation NPU using DirectML as a beta capability in Premiere Pro. This feature automatically tags audio, classifying clips as sound effects, music, dialog or ambience, which makes it easy for creatives to just get started editing their audio files right away. Each clip is marked with an Essential Sound Badge, and clicking on that badge opens the Essential Sound Panel to give access to parameters needed for that sound category. [caption id="attachment_57164" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Audio Category Tagger labeling A. Music B. SFX C. Dialogue D. Ambience[/caption] We are excited to partner with an AI innovator like Adobe to deliver on the promise of DirectML. Adobe’s extensive portfolio of applications and AI-driven scenarios offers a unique proving ground for DirectML and we’ll continue our partnership across GPU- and NPU-accelerated applications. Capture One to bring NPU-enhanced Match Look and AI Crop features to Copilot+ PCs
    Capture One is an imaging software commercial studio photographers use in the fashion and e-commerce industries. It helps professionals quickly edit many images while maintaining complete control over the creative expression and artistry behind every shot. At Snapdragon Summit, Capture One showcased two advanced AI-powered features on Copilot+ PCs powered by the Qualcomm NPU. [caption id="attachment_57165" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] The Match Look feature being applied to an image in Capture One[/caption] Match Look is a brand new tool that lets you instantly match the style or edits of a reference image — whether from a previous project, a film still or a mood board. It uses AI selection to dynamically adjust multiple editing sliders, giving you a strong starting point for editing and color grading. [caption id="attachment_57167" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] The AI Crop feature in use in Capture One[/caption] AI Crop allows you to make instant and consistent crops. Avoid errors and reduce manual effort. Set a crop reference on a single photo and automatically create consistent crops for all other images, even while shooting. Capture One continues to utilize AI innovation in a way that maintains the creative artistry their photographers required and DirectML is excited to partner with them to bring their vision to life. Affinity Photo 2 accelerates Object and Subject Selection capabilities with NPU
    Affinity Photo 2 is a popular image-editing app that is used by millions of digital creators worldwide. Human creativity is the heart of Affinity products, so it’s no surprise that the first AI enhanced tools they announced are focused on optimizing artist workflows — eliminating tedious tasks and friction between creator and canvas. Affinity Photo 2 will scale these features to their creator base by using DirectML on Copilot+ PCs. Like stated during the Snapdragon Summit, they have already achieved the optimized workflow of these AI experiences with DirectML, powered by the Qualcomm® Hexagon NPU in the Snapdragon® X Elite Compute Platform. Object Selection is a newly announced feature that eliminates the grunt work of manually creating layer masks, by using ML to quickly isolate and segment objects within an image. Automating this process gives artists a shortcut to the ‘real’ creative work — applying visual adjustments and effects to targeted areas within an image. Using the Qualcomm® Hexagon NPU in the Snapdragon® X Elite Compute Platform, Object Selection tasks will increase overall efficiency and productivity for creators. [caption id="attachment_57168" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Object Selection being applied within Affinity Photo 2[/caption] Affinity is at the forefront of identifying ML innovations that deliver to their promise of incredible speed, power and precision image editing software and DirectML looks forward to scaling this promise across Windows’ diverse hardware ecosystem. What’s next?
    The DirectML team is always excited to see the creative and amazing ways developers are innovating with AI to enhance the experience for their customers across Windows. Stay tuned for more DirectML features coming soon, as we continue to invest in features to support an open platform for AI on Windows! To learn more about DirectML and to get started today, visit aka.ms/directml or check us out at various sessions at Microsoft Ignite.View the full article
  22. AWS
    One of the highlights of my career has always been connecting with customers and partners across industries to learn how they are using technology to drive their businesses forward. In the past 30 years, we’ve seen four major platform shifts, from client server to internet and the web to mobile and cloud to now—the next major platform shift to AI.  
    As today’s platform shift to AI continues to gain momentum, Microsoft is working to understand just how organizations can drive lasting business value. We recently commissioned a study with IDC, The Business Opportunity of AI, to uncover new insights around business value and help guide organizations on their journey of AI transformation. The study found that for every $1 organizations invest in generative AI, they’re realizing an average of $3.70 in return—and uncovered insights about the future potential of AI to reshape business processes and drive change across industries.  
    Today, more than 85% of the Fortune 500 are using Microsoft AI solutions to shape their future. In working with organizations large and small, across every industry and geography, we’ve seen that most transformation initiatives are designed to achieve one of four business outcomes:  
    Enriching employee experiences: Using AI to streamline or automate repetitive, mundane tasks can allow your employees to dive into more complex, creative and ultimately more valuable work. Reinventing customer engagement: AI can create more personalized, tailored customer experiences, delighting your target audiences while lightening the load for employees. Reshaping business processes: Virtually any business process can be reimagined with AI, from marketing to supply chain operations to finance, and AI is even allowing organizations to go beyond process optimization and discover exciting new growth opportunities. Bending the curve on innovation: AI is revolutionizing innovation by speeding up creative processes and product development, reducing the time to market and allowing companies to differentiate in an often crowded field. In this blog, we’ve collected more than 200 of our favorite real-life examples of how organizations are embracing Microsoft’s proven AI capabilities to drive impact and shape today’s platform shift to AI. We hope you find an example or two that can inspire your own transformation journey.
    Enriching employee experiences
    Generative AI is truly transforming employee productivity and wellbeing. Our customers tell us that by automating repetitive, mundane tasks, employees are freed up to dive into more complex and creative work. This shift not only makes the work environment more stimulating but also boosts job satisfaction. It sparks innovation, provides actionable insights for better decision-making and supports personalized training and development opportunities, all contributing to a better work-life balance. Customers around the world have reported significant improvements in employee productivity with these AI solutions:
    Access Holdings Plc adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot, integrating generative AI into daily tools and, as a result, writing code now takes two hours instead of eight, chatbots launch in 10 days instead of three months and presentations are prepared in 45 minutes instead of six hours. Adobe is connecting Adobe Experience Cloud workflows and insights with Microsoft 365 Copilot to deliver generative-AI powered capabilities that enable marketers to increase collaboration, efficiency and creativity. Amadeus empowers its teams to focus their time and skills on value-added tasks with Microsoft 365 Copilot, by summarizing email threads, chat or transcripts and summing up information from diverse sources. ANZ has invested in Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot and Copilot in Microsoft Edge to boost productivity and innovation across its workforce. Asahi Europe & International (AEI) has adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot, saving employees potentially 15% of time previously spent on administrative tasks. AXA developed AXA Secure GPT, a platform powered by Azure OpenAI Service that empowers employees to leverage the power of generative AI while targeting the highest level of data safety and responsible use of the tool. Axon Enterprise developed a new AI tool with Azure OpenAI Service called Draft One, resulting in an 82% decrease in time spent on reports, which freed up officers to engage more with their community. Aztec Group enhanced productivity and client experience by trialing Microsoft 365 Copilot with 300 staff, uncovering “unlimited” use cases and plans for a wider rollout. Bader Sultan & Bros. Co. W.L.L implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance employee productivity and speed up customer response times. Bancolombia is using GitHub Copilot to empower its technical team, achieving a 30% increase in code generation, boosting automated application changes to an average of 18,000 per year, with a rate of 42 productive daily deployments. BaptistCare Community Services is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to save employees time as they navigate workforce shortage challenges, allowing them to focus more on the people they care for. Barnsley Council was recognized as “Double Council of the Year in 2023” for its implementation of Microsoft 365 Copilot, which modernized operations and reduced administrative tasks, leading to improved job satisfaction and increased creativity. BlackRock purchased more than 24,000 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses spanning all employees, functions and locations, helping improve the Copilot experience, including codeveloping new features and functions. British Heart Foundation is testing Microsoft 365 Copilot and in its initial test, users estimate that Microsoft 365 Copilot could save them up to 30 minutes per day. Buckinghamshire Council deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot with staff reporting productivity improvements, quality enhancements and time savings, which are enabling the different teams to do more with less. Campari Group adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to help employees integrate it into their workflow, resulting in time savings of about two hours a week from the support of routine activities such as email management, meeting preparation, content creation and skill acquisition. Capita is using GitHub Copilot for productivity improvements as well as improvements in developer satisfaction, recruitment and retention. CDW used Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve work quality for 88% of users, enabling 77% to complete tasks faster and increasing productivity for 85% of users. Chi Mei Medical Center is lightening workloads for doctors, nurses and pharmacists with a generative AI assistant built on Azure OpenAI Service. E.ON is focused on Germany’s energy transition, leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot to manage the complex grid in real-time, increasing productivity and efficiency for its workforce. Enerijisa Uretim has adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline meeting summaries, reformat documents and compile reports, enabling employees to concentrate on more strategic and fulfilling activities instead of spending six hours in meetings. EPAM is deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot to consolidate information and generate content and documents. Farm Credit Canada implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot, which resulted in time savings on routine tasks for 78% of users, with 30% saving 30 to 60 minutes per week and 35% saving over an hour per week, allowing employees to focus on more value-added tasks. Finastra used Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate tasks, enhance content creation, improve analytics and personalize customer interactions, with employees citing a 20% to 50% time savings. Four Agency Worldwide increased employee productivity using Microsoft 365 Copilot to generate ideas for creative work and support administrative-heavy processes, data analysis and report generation, allowing staff to focus on outreach and less time doing paperwork. Goodwill of Orange County developed an AI-powered app using Azure AI capabilities to help more people, including those with developmental, intellectual and physical disabilities, work in unfilled e-commerce positions. Honeywell employees are saving 92 minutes per week—that’s 74 hours a year! Disclaimer: Statistics are from an internal Honeywell survey of 5,000 employees where 611 employees responded. Insight employees using Copilot are seeing four hours of productivity gained per week from data summarization and content creation. Joos uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to grow its brand with worldwide collaboration by streamlining meetings, optimizing presentations and improving communications. Kantar is harnessing the power of Microsoft 365 Copilot by reducing costly, time-consuming IT processes and boosting productivity for employees. KPMG Australia is using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, Azure AI Search and Microsoft Copilot 365 to perform advanced text analysis of dozens of client source documents to identify full or partial compliance, or noncompliance, in a fraction of the time required for manual assessments. LGT is launching Microsoft Copilot LGT to improve efficiency, showing users save an average of an hour a week even in the pilot phase. Lotte Hotels & Resorts has been creating a new work culture that allows employees to work more efficiently and focus on the nature of the work by adopting Microsoft Power Platform for automation. MAIRE is leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate routine tasks, saving over 800 working hours per month, freeing up engineers and professionals for strategic activities while supporting MAIRE’s green energy transition by reducing their carbon footprint. McDonald’s China chose Microsoft Azure AI, GitHub Copilot and Azure AI Search to transform its operations, resulting in a significant increase in AI adoption, consumption and retention from 2,000 to 30,000 employee transactions monthly. McKnight Foundation adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot for all staff, saving time, increasing productivity and freeing space to focus on strategic priorities. Morula Health is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance productivity, streamline medical writing tasks and ensure data security, ultimately improving efficiency and client satisfaction. Motor Oil Group is achieving remarkable efficiency gains by integrating Microsoft 365 Copilot into its workflows, with staff spending minutes on tasks that used to take weeks. Nagel-Group uses Azure OpenAI Service to help employees quickly access information which saves time, creates efficiency and transparency, and leads to higher-quality answers overall. National Australia Bank is leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot for daily productivity and data analysis and insights and Microsoft Copilot for Security to quickly analyze millions of security event logs and allow engineers to focus on more important areas. NFL Players Association integrated Azure AI Services and Azure App Service into their video review process, reducing review time by up to 73%, significantly increasing efficiency and enhancing player safety through consistent rule enforcement. O2 Czech Republic boosts productivity and streamlines meetings with Microsoft 365 Copilot, revolutionizing how information is shared and making automation a part of daily work. Onepoint developed a secure conversational agent based on Azure OpenAI, which delivers productivity gains of between 10% and 15% across all business lines. Orange Group has over 40 use cases with Azure OpenAI Service and GitHub Copilot across business functions to support employees in their day-to-day tasks, enabling them to concentrate on higher value-added activities. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve staff report productivity by saving one to two hours a week, or simple formatting tasks down to a matter of seconds, enabling more resources to deliver frontline services.  PA Consulting transformed its sales operations with Microsoft 365 Copilot, so its people can invest more time on the activities that have the biggest impact for clients and maximize the strategic value they provide. Petrobras used Azure OpenAI Service to create ChatPetrobras, which is streamlining workflows, reducing manual tasks and summarizing reports for its 110,000 employees. Petrochemical Industries Company automates work processes to save time with Microsoft 365 Copilot from weeks to days, hours to seconds. PKSHA Technology is optimizing their time on critical work by increasing efficiency in meeting preparations, data analytics and ideation with the help of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Providence has collaborated with Nuance and Microsoft to accelerate development and adoption of generative AI-powered applications, helping improve care quality and access and reduce physician’s administrative workloads. RTI International adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to gain productivity wherever possible, allowing staff to focus on their areas of expertise, delivering even better science-backed solutions for clients. Sandvik Coromant is using Microsoft Copilot for Sales to drive efficiency and accuracy, shaving at least one minute off each transaction, allowing sellers and account managers to focus their expertise on responding to customers’ needs with analysis, creativity and adaptability. Sasfin Bank built a solution on Microsoft Azure that centralized 20,000 documents to analyze contract clauses and provide real-time snapshots, moving guesswork into data-driven decision-making. Scottish Water implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot, reducing mundane tasks to a minimum and thus freeing up time for employees to work on the more meaningful tasks. Shriners Children’s developed an AI platform allowing clinicians to easily and securely navigate patient data in a singular location, enhancing patient care and improving the efficiency of their healthcare services. Siemens is leveraging Azure OpenAI Service to improve efficiency, cut downtime and address labor shortages. Softchoice employees are experiencing firsthand how Microsoft 365 Copilot can transform daily workflows, realizing productivity gains of 97% reduction in time spent summarizing technical meetings and up to 70% less time spent on content creation. Syensqo utilized Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service to develop a custom AI chatbot in three months, which improved their internal data management, decision-making and overall efficiency. Teladoc Health uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to revolutionize its telehealth operations, automating routine tasks, boosting efficiency and increasing productivity. Telstra developed two cutting-edge generative AI tools based on Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service: 90% of employees are using the One Sentence Summary tool, which resulted in 20% less follow-up customer contact, and 84% of customer service agents are using the Ask Telstra solution. Topsoe achieved 85% AI adoption among office employees in seven months, significantly enhancing productivity and business processes. Torfaen County Borough Council utilized Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline back-office processes, resulting in significant time savings and enhanced productivity for both business and children’s services teams, with further rollouts planned. Trace3 leveraged Microsoft Copilot to streamline and enhance processes across the business and with clients, such as reducing the time it takes HR recruiting managers to respond to applicants within a couple of days instead of several weeks. Unilever is reinventing their marketing process with Copilot, saving time on briefing tasks, automatically pulling in relevant market data, content and insights to accelerate campaign launches. Uniper SE implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce time spent on manual and repetitive tasks and help workers focus on more pressing work, such as developing enhanced solutions to speed up the energy transition. Unum Group built a custom AI application to search 1.3 terabytes of data with 95% accuracy using Azure OpenAI Service. Virgin Atlantic adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot and is seeing real business benefits, including productivity improvements, enabling new ways of working. Visier built a generative AI assistant that leverages Azure AI and Azure OpenAI Services to deliver workforce analytics and actionable insights for more than 50,000 customers. Virtual Dental Care developed an AI application Smart Scan that leverages Microsoft Azure to reduce paperwork for mobile dental clinics in schools by 75% and frees dentists to devote more time to patient care. Zakladni Skola As Hlavkova adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot and saw a 60% improvement in handling administrative documents, decreased lesson preparation from hours to a few minutes, increased inclusivity and enhanced communication with students and parents. Reinventing customer engagement
    We’ve seen great examples of how generative AI can automate content creation, ensuring there’s fresh and engaging materials ready to go. It personalizes customer experiences by crunching the numbers, boosting conversion rates. It makes operations smoother, helping teams launch campaigns faster. Plus, it drives innovation, crafting experiences that delight customers while lightening the load for staff. Embracing generative AI is key for organizations wanting to reinvent customer engagements, stay ahead of the game and drive both innovation and efficiency.
    Absa has adopted Microsoft Copilot to streamline various business processes, saving several hours on administrative tasks each day. Adobe leverages Microsoft Azure to streamline the customer experience, harnessing the power of the connected cloud services and creating a synergy that drives AI transformation across industries. Acentra Health developed Medscribe, a web application that uses Azure OpenAI Service to generate draft letters in a secure, HIPPA-compliant enclave that responds to customer appeals for healthcare services within 24 hours, reducing the time spent on each appeal letter by 50%. Alaska Airlines is using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Defender and GitHub to ensure its passengers have a seamless journey from ticket purchase to baggage pickup, and it has started leveraging Azure OpenAI Service to unlock more business value for its customer care and contact centers. Ally Financial is using Azure OpenAI Service to reduce manual tasks for its customer service associates, freeing up time for them to engage with customers. BMW Group optimizes the customer experience, connecting 13 million active users to their vehicles with the MyBMW app on Azure, which supports 450 million daily requests and 3.2TB of data processing. Boyner has tripled its e-commerce performance using Microsoft Azure, seeing a rise in customer satisfaction, engagement, conversion rate and revenue. Bradesco Bank integrated Microsoft Azure into its virtual assistant, BIA, resulting in reduced response time from days to hours, improving operational efficiency and client satisfaction. Capgemini Mexico integrated GitHub Copilot to support scalable AI implementations, which has led to improved customer experiences and increased efficiency. Capitec Bank uses Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft 365 Copilot, enabling their AI-powered chatbot to assist customer service consultants in accessing product information more efficiently, saving significant time for employees each week. Cdiscount is leveraging GitHub Copilot and Azure OpenAI Service to enhance developer efficiency, optimize product sheet categorization and improve customer satisfaction. Cemex used Azure OpenAI Service to launch Technical Xpert, an AI tool used by sales agents to provide instant access to comprehensive product and customer solution information, significantly reducing search time by 80%. Chanel elevated their client experience and improved employee efficiency by leveraging Microsoft Fabric and Azure OpenAI Service for real-time translations and quality monitoring. City of Burlington created two AI-powered solutions: MyFiles system using Microsoft Power Platform for building permits and CoBy, a 24/7 customer support assistant using Microsoft Copilot Studio. City of Madrid created an AI virtual assistant with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, offering tourists accurate, real-time information and personalized responses in 95-plus languages. Cognizant is making performance management more effective and meaningful with Microsoft Azure Machine Learning to help clients across industries envision, build and run innovative digital enterprises. Coles Group has leveraged Microsoft Azure to enhance its digital presence and improve customer engagement, rolling out new applications to its stores six times faster without disrupting workloads. Commercial Bank of Dubai used Microsoft Azure to upgrade its application infrastructure, improving transaction security and speed so individual customers can now open an account and start banking in about two minutes. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has significantly improved productivity and customer satisfaction by integrating multiple Microsoft AI solutions, reducing task completion time from days to hours and achieving a 98% customer happiness rate. Elcome uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve the customer experience, reducing response times from 24 hours to eight hours. elunic developed shopfloor.GPT based on Azure OpenAI, leading to increased productivity for customers and saving 15 minutes per request. Estée Lauder Companies is leveraging Azure OpenAI Service to create closer consumer connections and increase speed to market with local relevancy. First National Bank (FNB) is using Microsoft Copilot for Sales to help bankers create professional, thoughtful emails in 13 native South African languages, to enhance customer interactions, streamline communications and reinforce its commitment to innovation and customer service. Flora Food Group migrated to Microsoft Fabric to offer more detailed and timely insights to its customers, enhancing service delivery and customer satisfaction. Groupama deployed a virtual assistant using Azure OpenAI Service that delivers reliable, verified and verifiable information, and boasts an 80% success rate. International University of Applied Sciences (IU) adopted Azure OpenAI Service to revolutionize learning with a personalized study assistant that can interact with each student just like a human would. Investec is using Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales to enhance the bank’s client relationships, estimating saving approximately 200 hours annually, ultimately boosting sales productivity and delivering a personalized, seamless customer experience. Linum is using Microsoft Azure to train their text-to-video models faster and more efficiently without losing performance or wasting resources. Lumen Technologies is redefining customer success and sales processes through the strategic use of Microsoft 365 Copilot, enhancing productivity, sales, and customer service in the global communications sector. McKinsey & Companyis creating an agent to reduce the client onboarding process by reducing lead time by 90% and administrative work by 30%. Meesho leveraged Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service and GitHub Copilot to enhance customer service and software development, resulting in a 25% increase in customer satisfaction scores and 40% more traffic on customer service queries. Milpark Education integrated Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Studio and in just four months, improved efficiency and accuracy of student support, decreasing the average resolution time by 50% and escalations by more than 30%. NC Fusion chose a comprehensive Microsoft solution to make marketing engagement activities easier and accurately target the best audience segments. Medgate, a telehealth subsidiary of Otto Group developed a medical Copilot powered by Azure OpenAI which summarizes consultations, supports triage and provides real-time translations. Pacific Gas & Electric built a chatbot using Microsoft Copilot Studio that saves $1.1 million annually on helpdesk support. Pockyt is using GitHub Copilot and anticipates a 500% increase in productivity in the medium to long term as they continue adapting AI and fine-tuning their software development life cycle. South Australia Department for Education launched an AI-powered educational chatbot to help safeguard students from harmful content while introducing responsible AI to the classrooms. Sync Labs is using Microsoft Azure to create AI-driven solutions that have led to a remarkable 30x increase in revenue and a 100x expansion of their customer base. Syndigo is using Azure to accelerate digital commerce for its customers by more than 40% and expand its customer base. Telkomsel created a virtual assistant with Azure OpenAI Service, resulting in a leap in customer self-service interactions from 19% to 45%, and call volume dropped from 8,000 calls to 1,000 calls a day. Torrens University chose to use Azure OpenAI to uplift its online learning experience, saving 20,000 hours and $2.4 million in time and resources. Trusting Social integrated Microsoft Azure services to launch AI-driven agents that are changing how banks function and transforming their customer’s banking experience. University of California, Berkeley used Azure OpenAI Service to deploy a custom AI chatbot that supports student learning and helps students with complex coursework. University of Sydney created a self-serve AI platform powered by Azure OpenAI Service, to enable faculty to build custom chatbots for enhancing student onboarding, feedback, career simulation and more. Van Lanschot Kempen is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce the time needed for daily tasks, freeing up time to invest in that crucial personal connection. Virgin Money built an award-winning virtual assistant using Copilot Studio to help build customers’ confidence in their digital products and services. VOCALLS automates over 50 million interactions per year, resulting in a 78% reduction in average handling time aside from a 120% increase in answered calls. Vodafone Group is leveraging Microsoft’s AI solutions, including Azure AI Studio, OpenAI Service, Copilot and AI Search, to achieve a 70% resolution rate for customer inquiries through digital channels and reduce call times by at least one minute. Walmart is using Azure OpenAI Service to deliver a helpful and intuitive browsing experience for customers designed to serve up a curated list of the personalized items a shopper is looking for. Weights & Biases created a platform which runs on Microsoft Azure that allows developers to keep records, log successes and failures and automate manual tasks. World2Meet is providing better customer service and operations with a new virtual assistant powered by Microsoft Azure. Xavier College is modernizing its student information systems on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Azure to unlock powerful insights, fostering innovation and data-driven decision making. Zavarovalnica Triglav implemented Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Azure OpenAI Service to streamline its operations with automated responses and smart rerouting of customer enquiries. Reshaping business process
    Transforming operations is another way generative AI is encouraging innovation and improving efficiency across various business functions. In marketing, it can create personalized content to truly engage different audiences. For supply chain management, it can predict market trends so companies can optimize their inventory levels. Human resources departments can speed up the hiring process, while financial services can use it for fraud detection and risk assessments. With generative AI, companies are not just refining their current processes, they’re also discovering exciting new growth opportunities.
    Accelleron used Microsoft Power Platform to support numerous business applications and simplify processes for service agents and employees, resulting in the onboard of new agents in 30 minutes, compared to two days for other solutions. Accenture developed an AI-powered financial advisor that leverages RISE with SAP on Microsoft Azure to enhance their infrastructure and integrate financial data. Atomicwork leverages Azure OpenAI to bring together three power capabilities: a conversational assistant, a modern service management system and a workflow automation platform. Blink Ops fully embraced generative AI to build the world’s first Security Automation Copilot with more than 8,000 automated workflows to help any Security/IT task through prompts. Chalhoub Group is using Microsoft Fabric to modernize its data analytics and streamline its data sources into one platform, increasing agility, enhancing analytics and accelerating processes. Cineplex is developing innovative automation solutions for finance, guest services, and other departments, saving the company over 30,000 hours a year in manual processing time. ClearBank moved its services to Microsoft Azure to gain scalability and efficiency, pushing out 183% more monthly system releases, gaining both scalability and efficiency. Danske Statsbaner increases productivity up to 30% with help from Microsoft AI solutions. Eastman implemented Microsoft Copilot for Security, realizing the benefits of accelerated upskilling, step-by-step guidance for response and faster threat remediation. Fast Shop migrated to Microsoft Azure, creating a self-service culture of access to data, eliminating delays, reducing costs and increasing leadership satisfaction with data while providing more agility in reporting. Florida Crystals adopted a value-added solution across Microsoft products including Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce telecom expenses and automate industrial process controls. GHD is reinventing the RFP process in construction and engineering with Microsoft 365 Copilot. GovDash is a SaaS platform that leverages artificial intelligence to streamline the entire business development lifecycle for government contracting companies using Azure OpenAI. Grupo Bimbo is deploying Microsoft’s industrial AI technologies to modernize its manufacturing processes, optimizing production and reducing downtime, driving significant cost savings and empowering global innovation. Insight Canada implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline business operations, realizing a 93% productivity gains in functions including sales, finance and human resources. Intesa Sanpaolo Group enhanced its cybersecurity with AI-enabled Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Copilot for Security, resulting in faster threat detection, increased productivity and reduced storage costs. Kaya deployed a custom implementation of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power BI to modernize its supply chain, leading to enhanced visibility, improved planning and streamlined inter-department operations. Lionbridge Technologies, LLC is using Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI Service to accelerate its delivery times and improve quality, reducing project turnaround times by up to 30%. LTIMindtree integrated Microsoft Copilot for Security, offering automated incident response, integrated threat intelligence and advanced threat analysis. Mania de Churrasco used Microsoft Azure, Power Platform and Microsoft 365 to achieve high efficiency, security and scalability in its operations, in addition to improving its data intelligence, which indirectly participated in a 20% increase in sales year on year. National Bank of Greece built an Azure-powered Document AI solution to transform its document processing, improving the bank’s accuracy to 90%. Nest Bank has revolutionized its operations by integrating Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure OpenAI Service, resulting in doubled sales and increased daily transactions from 60,000 to 80,000, showcasing the transformative impact of generative AI in the financial sector. Network Rail modernized their data analytics solution with Microsoft Azure, helping engineers understand data 50% faster than before and improve efficiency, passenger experiences and safety—all while saving costs. Nsure developed an AI-powered agent that uses Copilot Studio and Power Automate to reduce manual processing time by 60% while also reducing associated costs by 50%. Oncoclínicas implemented Microsoft Azure to transform its entire data ecosystem with a web portal and mobile application that performs all image processing and storage. Pacifico Seguros has adopted Microsoft Copilot for Security to optimize its security operations and anticipate and neutralize threats more efficiently and effectively. Parexel adopted Azure Databricks and Microsoft Power BI, achieving an 85% reduction in data engineering tooling costs, a 30% increase in staff efficiency and a 70% reduction in time to market for data product delivery. Paysafe used Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline meetings, information management, and document creation, addressing language barriers, eliminating time-consuming tasks, and boosting creativity along the way. Planted is integrating Azure OpenAI to manage everyday tasks more efficiently and facilitate the search for information for innovative process development. Presidio realized dramatic productivity gains saving 1,200 hours per month on average for the employees using Microsoft 365 Copilot and created 70 new business opportunities. Qatar Charity used Copilot Studio to increase its call center efficiency, reducing average handle time by 30%, increasing customer satisfaction by 25% and achieving a 40% reduction in IT maintenance costs. Saphyre uses Microsoft Azure and AI to provide an intelligent cloud-based solution that automates and streamlines financial trading workflows around client and counterparty life cycle management, reducing manual efforts by 75%. Swiss International Air Lines migrated and modernized with Microsoft Azure, achieving up to 30% cost savings, a remarkable boost in platform stability along with enhanced security visibility. ZEISS Group uses Microsoft Fabric to create a secure and trusted data supply chain that can be shared effortlessly across a range of business units. ZF Group builds manufacturing efficiency with over 25,000 apps and 37,000 unique active users on Power Platform. Bending the curve on innovation
    Generative AI is revolutionizing innovation by speeding up creative processes and product development. It’s helping companies come up with new ideas, design prototypes, and iterate quickly, cutting down the time it takes to get to market. In the automotive industry, it’s designing more efficient vehicles, while in pharmaceuticals, it’s crafting new drug molecules, slashing years off R&D times. In education, it transforms how students learn and achieve their goals. Here are more examples of how companies are embracing generative AI to shape the future of innovation.
    Air India has incorporated Microsoft 365 Copilot into multiple departments, unlocking a new realm of operational insights that not only provide critical data on flight punctuality and operational hurdles but also empower proactive, collaborative decision making. Agnostic Intelligencedeployed Azure OpenAI Service to eliminate time-consuming tasks, saving users up to 80% of their time and enabling IT managers to focus on innovation and quality assurance. Albert Heijn is using Azure OpenAI for everything from customer personalization to demand forecast and food waste projects, making it easier for its customers to change their lifestyle. Amgen is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to boost productivity and has the potential to speed up drug development and support advancements in their business processes. APEC leverages Microsoft Azure and deep neural network algorithms to develop an app that enables healthcare providers to capture retinal images, increasing the accuracy to identify Retinopathy of Prematurity (RoP) to 90%. ASOS is using Azure AI Studio to help customers discover new looks with genuine shopping insights, personalized conversations, naturalism and even humor to enliven the shopping journey. Auburn University is incorporating Microsoft Copilot to promote AI literacy, accessibility, and collaboration, with the aim to expand educational and economic opportunities for its entire academic community with AI-centric tools. B3 launched an AI assistant using Azure OpenAI Service that aids 10,000 users a day to answer Brazilians’ questions about how to start investing. Basecamp Research aims to build the world’s largest database of national biodiversity and apply AI and machine learning to advance bioscience. Bayer is using Microsoft Copilot to contribute to feeding a growing global population and helping people lead healthier, disease-free lives. Brembo leveraged Azure OpenAI to develop ALCHEMIX, a solution to generate innovative compounds for its brake pads, drastically reducing the development time of new compounds from days to mere minutes. Canary Speech can now train new vocal models in as little as two months and handle millions of transactions per month with Microsoft Azure. CapitaLand simplified internal processes, increasing efficiency to more than 10,000 worker days saved per year and deployed Azure OpenAI Service to build the first AI hospitality chatbot for its lodging business. Cassidy is using Azure OpenAI Service to enhance efficiency across various industries, supporting over 10,000 companies. Coca-Cola is implementing Azure OpenAI Service to develop innovative generative AI use cases across various business functions, including testing how Microsoft 365 Copilot could help improve workplace productivity. Denso is developing “human-like” robots using Azure OpenAI Service as the brain to help robots and humans work together through dialogue. eFishery is using Azure OpenAI for farmers to get the data and insights on fish and shrimp farming, including more precise feeding and water quality monitoring. EY developed an application that automatically matches and clears incoming payments in SAP, resulting in an increase from 30% to 80% in automatically cleared payments and 95% matched payments, with estimated annual time savings of 230,000 hours globally. FIDO is using Azure OpenAI Service to develop an AI tool that uses sound to pinpoint leaky pipes, saving precious drinking water. Georgia Tech is using Azure OpenAI Service to enhance the electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, achieving rapid data classification and predictive modeling, highlighting the reliability of networked chargers over non-networked ones. GigXR developed a solution to create the intelligence for specific AI patients using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and other Azure services. GoTo Group is significantly enhancing productivity and code quality across its engineering teams by adopting GitHub Copilot, saving over seven hours per week and achieving a 30% code acceptance rate. GovTech used Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to create LaunchPad, sparking more than 400 ideas and 20 prototypes, laying the foundation for the government to harness the power of generative AI. H&R Block is using Azure AI Studio and Azure OpenAI Service to build a new solution that provides real-time, reliable tax filing assistance. Haut.AI provides skin care companies and retailers with customizable, AI-based skin diagnostic tools developed with the help of Microsoft AI. Helfie is building a solution that caters to healthcare providers who can arm their patients with an application to more quickly and accurately access the care they need. Hitachi will implement Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot to create innovative solutions for the energy, mobility and other industries. Icertis is providing AI-based tools that will recognize contract language and then build algorithms to automatically choose the right approach based on the content of the contract. ITOCHU is using Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Studio to evolve its data analytics dashboard into a service that provides immediate recommendations by automatically creating evidence-based product proposals. IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU) is using the power of Azure OpenAI Service to develop Syntea, an AI avatar integrated into Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot, making learning more personalized, autonomous and flexible. Khan Academy has partnered with Microsoft to bring time-saving and lesson-enhancing AI tools to millions of educators. Lufthansa Group developed an animated 3D avatar called Digital Hangar to help guide passengers from initial travel inspiration to flight booking through an exchange with an avatar in natural language. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is using Azure OpenAI Service to help accelerate digital innovation in power plants. Molslinjen has created an AI analytics toolbox that has reduced fuel emissions, improved customer satisfaction and brought in millions of additional revenue. Novo Nordisk recently published initial results with predictive AI models for advanced risk detection in cardiovascular diseases, including an algorithm that can predict patients’ cardiovascular risk better than the best clinical standards. Paige.AI​ is using AI and Microsoft Azure to accelerate cancer diagnoses with data from millions of images. Pets at Home created an agent to help its retail fraud detection team investigate suspicious transactions. Plan Heal is using Microsoft AI to create solutions that enable patients to monitor and report health metrics so care providers can better serve them. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is testing a new battery material that was found in a matter of weeks, not years, as part of a collaboration with Microsoft. Rijksmuseum is harnessing the power of Copilot to make art accessible at scale by joining forces with Microsoft to improve and expand the art experience for blind and low-vision community members. Royal National Institute of Blind People is using Azure AI Services to develop an AI-based solution that quickly and accurately converts letters to braille, audio, and large print formats. Schneider Electric provides productivity-enhancing and energy efficiency solutions and is using a whole suite of AI tools to hasten its own innovation and that of its customers. SPAR ICS created an award-winning, AI-enabled demand forecasting system achieving 90% inventory prediction accuracy. Suzuki Motor Corporation is adopting Azure OpenAI Service for data security, driving company-wide use with five multipurpose apps. Tecnológico de Monterrey created a generative AI-powered ecosystem built on Azure OpenAI Service with the goal to personalize education based on the students’ needs, improve the learning process, boost teachers’ creativity and save time on tedious tasks. TomTom is using Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Cosmos DB, and Azure Kubernetes Service to revolutionize the driver experience. Unilever is partnering with Microsoft to identify new digital capabilities to drive product innovation forward, from unlocking the secrets of our skin’s microbiome to reducing the carbon footprint of a multibillion-dollar business. Unity used Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to build Muse Chat, an AI assistant that can guide creators through common questions and help troubleshoot issues to make game development easier. University of South Florida is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to alleviate the burden of repetitive, time-consuming tasks so faculty and staff can spend this time creatively solving problems, conducting critical research, establishing stronger relationships with peers and students and using their expertise to forge new, innovative paths. Visma has developed new code with GitHub Copilot, Microsoft Azure DevOps and Microsoft Visual Studio as much as 50 percent faster, contributing to increased customer retention, faster time to market and increased revenue. Wallenius Wilhelmsen is implementing Microsoft 365 Copilot and using Microsoft Viva to drive sustainable adoption, streamlining processes, empowering better decision making and cultivating a culture of innovation and inclusion. Wipro is committed to delivering value to customers faster and improving the outcomes across the business by investing $1 billion in AI and training 200,000 employees on generative AI principles with Microsoft Copilot. Read more:
    Get the study: Business Opportunity of AI | Microsoft Explore Microsoft AI solutions: Artificial Intelligence Solutions | Microsoft AI Assess your AI readiness: AI Readiness Wizard – Microsoft Adoption Build a strategic plan for AI: AI Strategy Roadmap | Microsoft AI IDC InfoBrief: sponsored by Microsoft, 2024 Business Opportunity of AI, IDC# US52699124, November 2024
    The post How real-world businesses are transforming with AI appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog.
    View the full article
  23. AWS
    In 2024, generative AI emerged as a key driver for business outcomes across every industry. Already this new generation of AI is having an incredible impact on our world — yet companies and industries are just scratching the surface of what’s possible as they continue to develop new use cases across every role and function.
    To help guide organizations on their AI transformation journey, Microsoft recently commissioned a new study through IDC, The Business Opportunity of AI. IDC’s findings show that when organizations truly commit to and invest in AI, the return on investment (ROI) potential grows significantly.

    According to IDC, the study’s findings reflect a tipping point as AI gains momentum across industries. As companies worldwide go deeper with AI, Microsoft customers continue to deploy innovative new solutions and discover how tools like Copilot can transform their day-to-day work. In telecommunications, Lumen Technologies estimates Copilot is saving sellers an average of four hours a week, equating to $50 million annually. In healthcare, Chi Mei Medical Center doctors now spend 15 minutes instead of an hour writing medical reports, and nurses can document patient information in under five minutes. Pharmacists are now able to double the number of patients they see per day. In retail, AI models help Coles predict the flow of 20,000 stock-keeping units to 850 stores with remarkable accuracy, generating 1.6 billion predictions daily.
    IDC’s 2024 top 5 trends for AI
    IDC’s findings align with what Microsoft is seeing as we work with companies across industries to deploy AI. We’ve highlighted more than 200 of our top AI customer stories to show a sampling of how AI is already driving impact today. Below is a look at the top trends we’re seeing in IDC’s study and the impact of those trends on organizations working with AI today.
    #1 Enhanced productivity has become table stakes. Employee productivity is the No. 1 business outcome that companies are trying to achieve with AI. The study shows that 92% of AI users surveyed are using AI for productivity, and 43% say productivity use cases have provided the greatest ROI. While productivity is a top goal, generative AI use cases that are close behind include customer engagement, topline growth, cost management and product or service innovation — and nearly half of the companies surveyed expect AI to have a high degree of impact across all those areas over the next 24 months.
    #2 Companies are gravitating to more advanced AI solutions. In the next 24 months, more companies expect to build custom AI solutions tailored directly to industry needs and business processes, including custom copilots and AI agents. This shows a growing maturity in AI fluency as companies realize the value of out-of-the-box use cases and expand to more advanced scenarios.
    #3 Generative AI adoption and value is growing across industries. Even though it is relatively new to the market, generative AI adoption is rapidly expanding — 75% of respondents report current usage up from 55% in 2023. The ROI of generative AI is highest in Financial Services, followed by Media & Telco, Mobility, Retail & Consumer Packaged Goods, Energy, Manufacturing, Healthcare and Education. Overall, generative AI is generating higher ROI across industries.
    #4 AI leaders are seeing greater returns and accelerated innovation. While companies using generative AI are averaging $3.7x ROI, the top leaders using generative AI are realizing significantly higher returns, with an average ROI of $10.3. In addition to the enhanced business value, leaders are also on an accelerated path to build and implement new solutions — 29% of leaders implement AI in less than 3 months versus 6% of companies in the laggard category.
    #5 Looking ahead: Skilling remains a top challenge. Thirty percent of respondents indicated a lack of specialized AI skills in-house, and 26 percent say they lack employees with the skills needed to learn and work with AI. This dovetails with findings from the Microsoft and LinkedIn 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report, which found that 55 percent of business leaders are concerned about having enough skilled talent to fill roles.
    That is why over the past year we have helped train and certify over 14 million people in more than 200 countries in digital skills. And we are committed to working in partnership with governments, educational institutions, industry and civil society to help millions more learn to use AI.

    AI’s growing economic impact
    While companies today are largely implementing out-of-the-box generative AI solutions and seeing significant ROI, more than half of those surveyed expect to build custom industry and line-of-business applications in the next 24 months — demonstrating that today’s ROI is quickly becoming tomorrow’s competitive edge.
    “We are at an inflection point of autonomous agent development and are beginning an evolution from using just off-the-shelf assistants and copilots that support knowledge discovery and content generation to custom AI agents to execute complex, multistep workflows across a digital world,” says Ritu Jyoti, GVP/GM, AI and Data Research at IDC. “With responsible technology usage and workplace transformation, IDC predicts that business spending to adopt AI will have a cumulative global economic impact of $19.9 trillion through 2030 and drive 3.5% of global GDP in 2030.”
    Key findings from IDC’s The Business Opportunity of AI study include:
    Generative AI usage jumped from 55% in 2023 to 75% in 2024. For every $1 a company invests in generative AI, the ROI is $3.7x. The top leaders using generative AI are realizing an ROI of $10.3. On average, AI deployments are taking less than 8 months and organizations are realizing value within 13 months. Within 24 months, most organizations plan to expand beyond pre-built AI solutions to advanced AI workloads that are customized or custom-built. The ROI of generative AI is highest in Financial Services, followed by Media & Telco, Mobility, Retail & Consumer Packaged Goods, Energy, Manufacturing, Healthcare and Education. 43% say productivity use cases have provided the greatest ROI. The primary way that organizations are monetizing AI today is through productivity use cases. In the next 24 months, a greater focus will be placed on functional and industry use cases. The top barrier when implementing AI is the lack of both technical and day-to-day AI skills. Learn how to fuel your AI journey
    IDC’s study, which included more than 4,000 business leaders and AI decision-makers around the world, also identifies the top barriers organizations face when implementing AI. As businesses integrate new solutions, they navigate important considerations such as data privacy, responsible use and the need for investment in both technology and skills.
    No matter where you are in your cloud and AI transformation journey, Microsoft can help. To learn more about how customers across industries are shaping their AI transformation with Microsoft, please visit Microsoft’s AI in Action page. For more on how to get started in your AI transformation journey, visit Microsoft AI.
    IDC InfoBrief: sponsored by Microsoft, 2024 Business Opportunity of AI, IDC# US52699124, November 2024
    The post IDC’s 2024 AI opportunity study: Top five AI trends to watch appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog.
    View the full article
  24. AWS
    Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22635.4445 (KB5046745) to the Beta Channel. Changes in Beta Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Beta Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post. Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*
    [File Explorer] 
    We’ve added a New Folder option in the context menu when right-clicking locations in the navigation pane. Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Beta Channel with toggle on*
    [Taskbar]
    Fixed a few issues impacting explorer.exe reliability in the latest flights related to the taskbar, including an issue impacting some Insiders which could cause explorer.exe to crash sometimes when right clicking apps in the taskbar. Fixed an issue on secondary monitors for left aligned taskbar users, where the widgets text in the taskbar might overlap the date and time. [File Explorer]
    We fixed an issue where the date/time properties of files were unexpectedly updated in some cases after copying them. We fixed an issue where the Details Pane icons weren’t responding correctly to theme changes, making it hard to see if you switched from dark to light or vice versa. We fixed a black flash in File Explorer that appeared when duplicating a tab. We made a change to help improve performance of context menu launch and File Explorer navigation. We fixed an issue where when you did a search it may unexpectedly trigger the search happening repeatedly. [Other]
    Fixed an underlying issue which could result in Snipping Tool screenshots being distorted on certain displays. Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel
    Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel will receive updates based on Windows 11, version 23H2 via an enablement package (Build 22635.xxxx). Many features in the Beta Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel. For Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your device over time once they are ready. Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready. Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub. Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first. Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel. Thanks, Amanda & Brandon
  25. AWS
    Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26120.2222 (KB5046746) to the Dev Channel. Changes in Dev Channel builds and updates are documented in two buckets: new features, improvements, and fixes that are being gradually rolled out for Insiders who have turned on the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available (via Settings > Windows Update*) and then new features, improvements, and fixes rolling out to everyone in the Dev Channel. For more information, see the Reminders section at the bottom of this blog post. Changes and Improvements gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*
    [General]
    If you hold Shift and CTRL when clicking on a jump list item in Start menu or taskbar, this will now launch that item as admin, just like if you were to do Shift + CTRL and click the app icon itself. For example, if you right-click on Windows Terminal, and hold Shift and CTRL when you click PowerShell, it would open a PowerShell window as admin. Fixes gradually being rolled out to the Dev Channel with toggle on*
    [File Explorer]
    Fixed an issue causing the See More (“…”) menu to open in the wrong direction (and potentially display offscreen as a result). [Input]
    Fixed an underlying issue which could cause the mouse to unlock from a game window on a system with multiple monitors after opening and closing Game Bar, so you couldn’t use it within the game. [Windowing]
    Fixed a recent issue causing windows to potentially unexpectedly move around after waking from sleep if you had multiple monitors. [Other]
    Fixed an underlying issue which could lead to Registry Editor going unresponsive if you pressed Alt after clicking on the license information in the About section. Known issues
    [Narrator]
    [NEW] [IMPORTANT] There is an issue in this build which will cause Narrator to crash on launch if you use one of the natural voices (like Jenny). If you are a Narrator user, we recommend pausing updates from Settings under Windows Update > “Pause Updates”. If you do install this update and encounter this issue, switching to another voice, like Microsoft David, in Settings under Accessibility > Narrator will stop the crashes. As Narrator is crashing, you will need to use a secondary screen reader, or have someone assist in order to do this. [Desktop]
    We’re working on the fix for an issue where your desktop background may not show correctly sometimes with multiple monitors (showing big black areas). Reminders for Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel
    Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel receive updates based on Windows 11, version 24H2 via an enablement package (Build 26120.xxxx). Updates delivered to the Dev Channel are in a format that offers a preview of enhancements to servicing technology on Windows 11, version 24H2. To learn more, see https://aka.ms/CheckpointCumulativeUpdates. Many features in the Dev Channel are rolled out using Control Feature Rollout technology, starting with a subset of Insiders and ramping up over time as we monitor feedback to see how they land before pushing them out to everyone in this channel. For Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel who want to be the first to get features gradually rolled out to you, you can turn ON the toggle to get the latest updates as they are available via Settings > Windows Update*. Over time, we will increase the rollouts of features to everyone with the toggle turned on. Should you keep this toggle off, new features will gradually be rolled out to your device over time once they are ready. Features and experiences included in these builds may never get released as we try out different concepts and get feedback. Features may change over time, be removed, or replaced and never get released beyond Windows Insiders. Some of these features and experiences could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready. Some features in active development we preview with Windows Insiders may not be fully localized and localization will happen over time as features are finalized. As you see issues with localization in your language, please report those issues to us via Feedback Hub. Because the Dev and Beta Channels represent parallel development paths from our engineers, there may be cases where features and experiences show up in the Beta Channel first. Check out Flight Hub for a complete look at what build is in which Insider channel. Thanks, Amanda & Brandon