Microsoft

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, rolling out now, brings a lot of changes and improvements to the OS, and if you’re a Windows Insider you’ll have been testing them for months.

If you’re not a Windows Insider and you haven’t been keeping close tabs on the development of the latest feature update, this comprehensive list will reveal the full range of new features, changes, and improvements. There's plenty to get excited about.

Microsoft is set to begin shipping its second generation Surface Book in November and says it wants to offer the power of a desktop with the versatility of a tablet.

Surface Book 2 will be available in both 13 and 15-inch versions, weighing in at 3.38lbs and 4.2lbs respectively, both will have a PixelSense Display with multi-touch, plus Surface Pen, and Surface Dial on-screen support. The 15-inch version will have nearly seven million pixels -- 45 percent more than a MacBook Pro.

Four and a half years ago, an internal bug-tracking database at Microsoft was breached by a "highly sophisticated hacking group," according to five former employees of the company. The hack of the secret database was never made public.

It is believed that this is only the second time such a corporate database has been breached. US officials were alarmed to learn of the hack which could have exposed software vulnerabilities to the attackers, reports Reuters.

Microsoft and Amazon Web Services have joined forces to make machine learning accessible to a greater number of developers.

With that in mind, the duo has launched an open-source deep learning library called Gluon. The library will work as an interface where developers will be able to create prototypes, build, train and deploy ML models for either cloud or mobile apps.

Earlier today, news broke about the KRACK vulnerability that affects the WPA2 protocol. Security researchers have warned that the problem affects millions of devices running everything from Windows to Android and Linux.

Microsoft has announced that it has already released a security patch to fix the vulnerability in Windows. Google says that a patch for affected Android devices will be released "in the coming weeks."

When you update your copy of Windows 10 to the Fall Creators Update (from tomorrow), one of the changes you may notice is the introduction of a new, but quite subtle, look to the OS.

Microsoft's Fluent Design language is essentially like Aero, with cool transparency and blur effects added throughout.

Looking for new ways to make money out of its professional social network LinkedIn, Microsoft is testing video advertisements. Currently in closed beta testing, video advertising is available to "a limited number of advertisers" and it may well prove unpopular with LinkedIn users.

Following a well-worn path set out by the likes of Google, Facebook and others, the video ads will autoplay. The one saving grace is that videos will play without sound, but this is unlikely to be enough to prevent them from quickly becoming an irritant.

The data collecting activities of Windows 10 has landed Microsoft in trouble again. Investigating the telemetry built into the operating system, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) has said that Microsoft's spying is a violation of local privacy laws.

Of particular concern to the authority is the fact that users are not clearly told that data will be collected in both Windows itself and Microsoft Edge. With Microsoft's web browser gathering data about every URL that's visited by users who have not opted out of telemetry, and Windows 10 itself sucking up detailed information about app usage, the DPA is concerned that users are not adequately informed or protected.

It came as something of a shock to people when Microsoft first released an Android launcher in the guise of Arrow Launcher. Now the company is making it more obvious who is behind the app, bringing the launcher out of beta and relaunching it as Microsoft Launcher.

Joe Belfiore only very recently admitted that Windows Phone is dead, and this is something that is borne out by Microsoft's increasing interest in developing iOS and Android software. What may well come as a surprise to many is that Microsoft Launcher is actually a decent piece of software.

Windows Insiders who haven’t yet updated to the new Windows 10 RS4 build released today (and there may be many, as we're hearing reports of problems with its deployment), have a cumulative update heading their way.

Build 16299.19 (KB4043961) is currently rolling out to Windows Insiders running Build 16299.15 (the Fall Creators Update RTM), and offers a number of quality improvements.

Last week, Microsoft rolled out Build 16299.15 -- the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update RTM -- to Insiders on the Fast ring, and then also released it to those on the Slow and Release Preview rings.

The official Fall Creators Update rollout starts next week, meaning we’re now starting to see builds from the Redstone 4 (RS4) branch making their way to Insiders, as the Fast and Skip Ahead branches merge. Build 17017 for PC arrives today in time for the weekend, introducing some useful new features.

Microsoft took the Windows Developer Day as an opportunity to release a couple of new features and announce some fairly big changes to some of its best-known platforms

Among the biggest things announced are the launch of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update SDK. With the new SDK, which was in preview until now, developers will be able to submit everything they do, including apps, games and updates, to the Microsoft Store.

Microsoft only recently announced that its Edge browser would be coming to both iOS and Android -- and now the company is making good on its promise. A preview version of Microsoft Edge (described by the software giant as "unreleased") is now available on Google Play.

Based on Chrome's Blink engine, Edge for Android has a particular treat for anyone using Windows 10 Fall Creators Update -- they can take advantage of the "continue on PC" feature. This lets users start browsing the web on their phones, and then switch to a computer and pick up from where they left off.

Microsoft Surface computers are rather nice, but sometimes Panos Panay and team get a little wacky when describing the design process. Look, I get it, Panay is passionate about his job, and that is respectable. But come on, creating Surface devices isn't exactly like painting the Mona Lisa.

Today, Microsoft announces that some Surface accessories will soon be available in a new aqua color. Now, I suppose the color is decent, although it reminds me of a hospital. It is the type of color you paint the rooms of an assisted-living facility for the elderly. As Microsoft describes the process of selecting the color aqua, however, you would think they cured a disease -- the explanation is hilariously pretentious.

Microsoft is opening itself up to submissions from the public, making it possible for people to provide information about malicious websites. A new page on the Windows Defender Security Intelligence (WDSI) website gives anyone the opportunity to pass on details of phishing sites and other malicious pages directly to Microsoft.

The WDSI portal is described by Microsoft as being in preview, so it's possible that what you see now may change over time.