Microsoft Monday: New Features In Windows 10 Build, Xbox One S PUBG Bundle, Cortana For iPad

Microsoft Monday” is a weekly column that focuses on all things Microsoft. This week, Microsoft Monday includes details about the Redstone Build 17093, the Xbox One S PUBG bundle, a LinkedIn Sales Navigator update, Resume Assistant being added to Office 365, an incentive for switching to OneDrive for Business and much more!

Microsoft Windows 10 Redstone Build 17093 Ditches Passwords And Adds Diagnostic Controls

Last week, Microsoft released Windows 10 Redstone 4 Build 17093 to the Fast ring and Skip Ahead. In Build 17093, Microsoft added several new features.

Delete Windows Diagnostic Data

Microsoft has added the ability to delete Windows Diagnostic Data in this build. This can be done by going to Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedbackand tapping on the Delete button.

Passwords Get Ditched

Last week, Forbes contributor Lee Mathews publishedan article about how Microsoft is ditching passwords in a new version of Windows 10 S. This means you can sign in to Windows with your fingerprint, your face or a PIN. These methods of logging in already exist, but Windows 10 S will not require you to create a password first and then use an alternative login system.

Rather than requiring a password, you just have to tap on a notification from the Microsoft Authenticator app on your phone to authorize the account. But this feature is currently limited to Windows 10 S for now. Windows 10 S is a version of Windows 10 that is limited to using apps that are available in the Windows Store.

Other Improvements

Some of the other improvements that were added include the ability to access captures and camera toggles from the Game Bar and full-screen mode and clutter free printing in the Edge browser. HDR video has been added and can be controlled under Settings > Apps > Video playback and toggling the Stream HDR video button. And a new Bluetooth feature is being tested in this build, which can connect to certain peripherals much easier than before.

Microsoft Build 2018 Developer Conference To Take Place May 7-9 In Seattle

Microsoft moved the Build developer conference from San Francisco to Seattle last year and it will remain there again this year. The events will be taking place between May 7 and May 9 and registration begins on February 15th.

This year, Microsoft is expected to provide an update about Windows 10, Office, Edge, Cortana, HoloLens, Azure, Xbox, etc. The cost of the full conference pass is $2,495. I will be sure to break down all of the important Build news in my Microsoft Monday article on May 13th.

Interestingly, Build will overlap with the Google I/O developers conference this year — which is taking place between May 8 and May 10. The Google I/O event will be happening in Mountain View, California.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator Is Now Used By Over 80% Of The Forbes Cloud 100

Last week, LinkedIn published a blog post saying that its Sales Navigator service is now used by more than 80% of the Forbes Cloud 100. It is now one of the industry’s fastest-growing enterprise-grade SaaS applications.

LinkedIn’s Head of Product in the Sales Solutions division Doug Camplejohn said that the Sales Navigator team chose to act like a startup and launch products as soon as they were ready without much pre-release training for customers. And LinkedIn only integrated Sales Navigator with a couple of systems rather than opening the platform to the dozens of types of sales applications a rep uses throughout their work week. That will no longer be the case because LinkedIn will release Sales Navigator will be updated on a quarterly cycle to provide advanced communications and training for administrators and users so that they will have “adequate time to familiarize themselves with new features and take advantage of them properly.”

And the first Sales Navigator Q1 Release contains several new features like the Sales Navigator Application Platform, New Account Pages, Auto-Saved Search Preferences, Custom Sales Alerts and Seat Transfer.

Sales Navigator Application Platform

LinkedIn recently launched the Sales Navigator Application Platform (SNAP) to mark a new in order to make Sales Navigator a more open platform. By doing that, LinkedIn’s goal was to provide key Sales Navigator insights directly within the applications salespeople use daily in categories such as CRM, Marketing Automation, Business Intelligence, Sales Acceleration, Web Conferencing and eSignature.

When it was launched, LinkedIn announced a first wave of over two dozen partners including Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics and Marketo. More than half of those planned integrations are lived and now there are four more that are available: Demandbase, InsideSales.com, SugarCRM and Oracle Sales Cloud.

New Account Pages

LinkedIn redesigned its account page experience to streamline the process of landing new accounts and building relationships within existing accounts by giving you the information you need when it is needed. This makes it easier to understand whether the account is a good match, who should be targeted and how to get a warm introduction.

The three new updates in the Account Pages include Company Summary, a New People Tab and a News and Insights Tab. The Company Summary determines if an account is relevant by getting insights into employee count, industry, revenue and contact information. The New People Tab organizes account contacts into three groups: saved leads, recommended leads and connections. And the News and Insights Tab gets updated when your prospect or account is mentioned in the news or in LinkedIn posts.

Auto-Saved Search Preferences

If you know your target and want to find companies in specific locations, industries, and/or sizes, you can use Sales Navigator to save those sales preferences to provide customized lead recommendations. And you can apply those as filters to any advanced searches with a single click. An example LinkedIn provided is setting a sales preference for locating Chicago-based Marketing Vice Presidents in Advertising companies with greater than 500 employees and want to see who at the chief experience officer fits the same location, function, industry and company size by pressing the toggle in the advanced search box to apply your sales preferences and swapping out CXO for VP in that filter.

Custom Sales Alerts

Now you can get email alerts when saved leads view your profile so you will know when they show interest.

Seat Transfer

If you are in sales and got hired by a company with a different Sales Navigator Team or Enterprise Edition corporate contract, you can bring your Sales Navigator data with you without having to contact LinkedIn’s customer support team.

Microsoft Provides Statement About Xbox Game Pass Backlash From Retailers

In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, Microsoft responded to the backlash from smaller retailers about Xbox Game Pass. Xbox Game Pass is a Netflix-like service where users can play titles online. And Microsoft said that its first-party games like Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2, Halo series and Gears of War series would be included on Game Pass as well.

Smaller retailers were looking to profit on selling Xbox exclusives so they were not happy with the change. And some of those retailers decided that they would no longer carry Xbox products.

“The response to the news thus far has been positive,” said a Microsoft spokesperson via GamesIndustry.biz. “As we noted in our announcement, our plan is to offer ways for select retailers to assort and promote Game Pass.” The spokesman added: “In fact, we’ve been pleasantly surprised with the breadth of demand from retailers so far, and we’re considering if and how we broaden our distribution plans. We welcome feedback on our plans, and will continue to evolve our plans as appropriate.”

Microsoft Announces Xbox One S PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) Bundle

Microsoft

Xbox One S PUBG Bundle

Microsoft has announced a $299 Xbox One S console bundle centered around the game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). The bundle comes with a 1TB Xbox One S console with 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 4K video streaming, an Xbox Wireless Controller, a full-game download of PUBG, a 1-month Xbox Live Gold trial and a 1-month Xbox Game Pass trial.

“Since its release as a console launch exclusive on Xbox One in the Xbox Game Preview program, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) has reached incredible milestones, most recently surpassing 4 million players across the Xbox One family of devices,” said Microsoft’s general manager of Xbox Devices Marketing Matt Lapsen. “We’ve been blown away by the response to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on Xbox One and today, we’re excited to announce the Xbox One S PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Bundle, offering fans the best value in games and entertainment with the hottest game on the planet.”

Mojang To Shut Down Scrolls Battling Card Game Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Microsoft-owned Mojang will be shutting down the Scrolls Battling card game, according to Rock Paper Shotgun. The official servers will be shut down and the game will no longer be playable. Mojang is hoping to release server software so people can run their own servers.

“We’ve made some progress towards being able to release the server software to the public, together with a slightly modified client that is able to connect to such servers. While we are still unable to guarantee this will happen or set a date, we have high hopes that we’ll be able to do this in the next few weeks or months. If and when this happens, the game client/server will not be open source,” said Mojang in a blog post earlier this month. “However, the game database will be fully editable by the community. This would allow for some degree of customization, including tweaking card stats, making new cards out of existing rules, changing various configurable settings (such as gold gain), and modifying the set list of trials.”

This was a long time coming because Mojang said in 2015 that the servers would remain online until July 2016, but the availability was extended for quite a bit longer.

Scrolls was originally announced in 2011 and then it became available in beta as of 2013. Then it launched in December 2014.

Microsoft Updates OneNote For Android With Lasso Tool

Microsoft has updated the OneNote tool for Android with a new lasso tool. This tool allows users to select ink drawings. OneNote for Android also now supports the ability to change the size of images and move text/images around on a page. And the OneNote update also supports palm rejection in case you are using a stylus.

source:forbes