Wayne Williams

Windows 10 users have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Threshold 2, or the November Update to give it its official name, for a while. Well, today that wait is over. Windows Insiders on the Fast and Slow rings received the update previously in the form of Build 10586, but now it's automatically being pushed to everyone.

This is a huge update, packed with new features, improvements and of course bug fixes. If updates weren't already mandatory I'd be telling you to go update your copy of Windows 10 right now (you can of course hurry things along by going to Settings > Update & Security and clicking/tapping on Check for updates.) With so much to cover, I'll keep the intro here to a minimum and crack on with talking about all the cool new stuff.

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Noise-canceling headphones do a great job of filtering out unwanted background sounds, such as the rumble of traffic or the chatter of crowds. It’s a clever technology, and one that Ford is set to implement in its vehicles, starting with the all-new Ford Mondeo Vignale.

The car giant’s Active Noise Control tech emits sound waves that cancel out engine, transmission, and wind noise, resulting in a much quieter journey. No need to crank up your music to drown out unwanted external sounds.

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There’s no question that Microsoft’s new Surface Book laptop/tablet hybrid has divided opinion. Some people love it, while others remain unconvinced, especially with regard to the high price and unconventional hinge. It’s very much designed as a rival to the MacBook Pro, and during its launch Microsoft made this clear by declaring its new device to be twice as fast as Apple’s offering.

So is Apple worried about the competition? Not so much. The company’s CEO Tim Cook took a swipe at the device earlier today while talking to students at Trinity College, in Dublin.

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At the Future Decoded event, which kicked off today at London’s ExCel Center, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took to the stage to talk about his firm’s mobile first, cloud first strategy.

During his speech he announced that Microsoft plans to offer commercial cloud services from the UK. Azure and Office 365 will be available from local data centers in late 2016, followed by Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online shortly afterwards.

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The major Threshold 2 update for Windows 10 was released to Fast ring Insiders last week, and moved on to the Slow ring yesterday in preparation for pushing to all users of the new OS in a couple of days' time.

With that branch of development done and dusted, Microsoft has switched its attention to the next big update, codenamed Redstone. This will bring some much needed improvements to Windows 10 -- including extensions in Microsoft Edge -- when it arrives sometime in 2016.

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I’ve got to be honest, I don’t get the appeal of "smart" versions of luxury Swiss watches. Buy an analog Rolex, or Omega, and you’ve got a quality timepiece that will last for years, decades even. I have an Omega Seamaster that’s serviced every few years or so which looks exactly how it did the day I bought it, and keeps perfect time. There’s a lot of skilled craftsmanship that goes into making an analog watch, and whipping out those innards and replacing them with a digital interior immediately cheapens the watch for me, and makes it feel like a bit of a knock off.

TAG Heuer Connected, is the first Android Wear powered product from the fabled Swiss watchmaker, and if you’re a fan of TAG Heuer’s stylings, then the Connected has a lot to offer, including a titanium case and signature vulcanized rubber strap in seven striking colors -- green, blue, orange, red, white, black, yellow.

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After years of rumors regarding a super-sized tablet, Apple finally took the wraps of its iPad Pro two months ago. The new device has a 12.9 inch screen, with a 2,732 x 2,048 resolution and 5.6 million pixels.

If you’ve been thinking of buying one, the good news is the device will be available to order online from Wednesday and will be in stores later this week.

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Microsoft is preparing a huge update to Windows 10, codenamed Threshold 2. We don’t know exactly when it will be made available, only that it’s coming this month.

In advance of that update, Microsoft is in the process of rolling out a new Insider Preview build which has all the hallmarks of being a test run of Threshold 2, or the Fall Update, as it’s likely to be known.

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Cortana was originally only available on Windows Phone, but Microsoft’s personal assistant has since become an integral part of Windows 10, and is currently available in public beta form on Android too.

Cortana is set to arrive on iOS at some point in the future, but don’t expect to be able to download the app any time soon -- there’s still quite a lot of development to go. However, that said, Microsoft is currently looking for testers to try out an early version of the iOS app and you can express your interest by filling in a short survey.

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The internet has turned us all into sharers. If you find something interesting online, be it a photograph, video, or an article, there’s a good chance you might share it with people via Facebook, or Twitter.

Microsoft wants Skype to become another way of easily sharing content, and so has introduced a new Share button which will let you quickly forward content on to people you know. "Effortless sharing that sparks richer conversations", as the Skype team describes it.

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Microsoft’s search engine Bing comes baked into Windows 10 in several ways. It’s the default search choice in Edge and Cortana, and you can even use its image of the day as the wallpaper for your lock screen via the Windows Spotlight feature.

As well as displaying a new image on a regular basis, Windows Spotlight lets you "like" photos which appeal to you. The more pictures you like, the better idea Windows will have of the sort of imagery you want to see, and it will customize the content accordingly.

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It’s that time of the month again when NetMarketShare releases its desktop operating system usage share figures and we get to see how well (or not) the various flavors of Microsoft’s operating system are doing. In October, Windows 10 gained usage share, while all other versions of Windows lost share. That’s to be expected of course.

However, it’s far from great news for Microsoft as Windows 10’s growth once again slowed. Making the new OS free to upgraders, and advertising it heavily still doesn’t seem enough to get people to make the switch. No wonder Microsoft has started using bullyboy tactics.

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Surface Book went on sale yesterday, and today we’re seeing the first reports of a big problem with Microsoft’s MacBook rival. According to numerous reports, the device is blighted with a nasty intermittent flickering screen issue.

It’s not only the new laptop that has the problem either, it’s affecting the new Surface Pro 4 too -- epileptics beware. You can see the flickering in action below.

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When Google announced its first OnHub wireless router, my colleague Brian Fagioli had one question -- why? The answer, according to Joe Wilcox’s excellent review, is it gives great Wi-Fi and is, in a word, "fantastic". High praise indeed.

The TP-LINK-built OnHub was always intended to be the first in a series of easy to use wireless routers from Google, and today the second device arrives, this time coming from ASUS.

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Surface Pro 4, the latest generation of Microsoft’s popular Windows slate, and Surface Book, the company’s brand new high-end laptop, both go on sale today -- provided you live in the US or Canada. If you live elsewhere you’ll have to wait until November.

Pre-orders have reportedly been brisk, with both devices going in and out of stock. Microsoft says the initial reaction to Surface Book and early pre-order activity has exceeded its expectations, so it’s likely to have limited quantities in store today.

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