During Microsoft’s second Build 2017 keynote, executive vice president of the Windows and Devices Group Terry Myerson announced that iTunes will be coming to the Windows Store. He said Windows 10 Home/Pro and Windows 10 S users will get the “complete” iTunes experience including Apple Music and full support for the iPhone.
Myerson also revealed that the Linux-based Ubuntu operating system will be offered through the Windows Store as well. This stems from the Linux Bash Shell feature added to Windows 10 last year, which enables users to install and run Linux operating systems without the need to create a dual-boot scenario. That said, SUSE Linux and Fedora are heading to the Windows Store too.
Myerson made these announcements after officially revealing the next major update to Windows 10. Code-named Redstone 3, it will arrive this fall officially as the Fall Creators Update, and will expand on what Microsoft introduced to Windows 10 in the first Creators Update released in April. One of the improvements will be in the Windows Store, which will see new app solutions across multiple platforms.
For example, UWP capabilities are coming to Visual Studio Mobile Center. UWP is short for Universal Windows Platform, which is an architecture that enables apps to run on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile no matter what kind of hardware is running underneath. This new capability will provide a more unified app experience across all Windows 10, Android, and iOS devices.
“For consumer apps, we added 35 new payment instruments this year and now support payments in 247 markets globally. We have also seen monthly in-app purchase sales double year over year in the Windows Store,” Myerson added.
He went on to talk about specific apps that will appear in the Windows Store. Spotify previously announced its intention to offer a UWP app after the introduction of Windows 10 S. Now Autodesk plans to expand its UWP presence in the Store by way of its Autodesk Stingray graphics rendering engine, which will not only take advantage of proprietary UWP features, but support Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality platform.
“When Autodesk introduced their UWP SketchBook last summer, it became their fastest growing new platform introduction with an average of 35-percent sales growth every month throughout 2017,” Myers said. “Autodesk SketchBook, the de facto application for painting and drawing, was built from the ground up as a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app leveraging the pen and touch capability of Windows 10.”
Enterprise application software company SAP plans to invade the Windows Store this month with its SAP Digital Boardroom app. It will be a “next-generation” board portal providing a “single source of truth” for C-level executives wanting real-time contextual information, data summaries, analytic reports, and so on. It won’t be based on Microsoft’s UWP platform, however, but will serve as a progressive web app instead. That means it will rely on web-based technologies yet will deliver an app-like experience.
“This allows SAP to reuse their web content and investments to target multiple platforms, while at the same time take advantage of deeper integration with Windows 10,” Myerson said.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.