Software
The Windows 10 Taskbar is having a big upgrade with the latest weather and news widget
Microsoft is making a major improvement to the Windows 10 taskbar soon, with the inclusion of news and weather widgets. The latest functionality is now available to testers and will allow Windows 10 users to access news feeds, inventory and weather information directly from the taskbar. You can easily take a look at the weather without having to open the Start menu, add a third-party app, or check it online.
The taskbar functionality will appear in a mini content feed that can be tailored with the latest sporting politics, news, and weather updates. Microsoft is using the Microsoft News network to upload news and content from more than 4,500 outlets.
The organization has been curating this through artificial intelligence in recent months, and this particular feature will also learn what news is important to you whether you reject or like feed stories.
Microsoft is beginning today to test this new feature with its Windows Insiders on the Windows 10 Dev Channel, and it is likely to be open to all consumers later this year. It would initially only be open to testers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and India.
This latest taskbar feature would also enable Microsoft's Chrome-based Edge to be enabled on a PC. This means that any link you select inside the feature will push you to read Edge, and Microsoft will default to show content in the Reading Window.
You can uninstall this new taskbar functionality, of course, and Microsoft says it's going to be an ad-free experience. It seems to be more convenient than the People Bar that Microsoft developed into Windows 10 a few years back. The People Bar serves as a fast way to reach contacts, but it only supports applications such as Mail and Skype and not broad third-party messaging systems.
