Author: batteryforpc

Microsoft is open sourcing WPF, Windows Forms and Win UI via GitHub and making available the first public preview of Visual Studio 2019.
Microsoft is making three of its most popular Windows frameworks — Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Forms and the Windows UI XAML Library (WinUI) available under open source licenses. And the company is launching the first public preview of Visual Studio 2019 today, December 4.
Microsoft is making a number of developer-related announcements today, timed with the company’s annual Connect(); conference. The open sourcing of WPF, Windows Forms and WinUI via GitHub is definitely one of the biggest Connect (); announcements, especially given Microsoft’s shift from trying to distance itself from these frameworks several years ago to re-embracing them given their continued popularity with developers.
At Build 2018 earlier this year, Microsoft officials said that with .NET Core 3.0, developers would get support for building client apps using WPF, Windows Forms and XAML Islands(native Universal Windows Platform controls in WinForms and WPF applications).
Speaking of .NET Core 3.0, Microsoft also announced today that the first preview of that technology is available today. In addition to adding support fro WinForms and WPF, .NET Core 3 adds updates to the web, cloud IoT, AI and Windows desktop workloads for .NET developers. On December 4, Microsoft also made .NET Core 2.2 generally available.
Microsoft forked the .NET Framework to make the .NET Core subset of it more portable across platforms in in 2014. .NET Core became the open-source cross-platform implementation of the .NET development platform that runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
But back to Visual Studio… The initial public preview of Visual Studio 2019 is available for download today. That release is meant to help developers start and resume coding faster and more easily. VS 2019 also will add increased coding space, more refactoring capabilities and smarter debugging, according to company officials.
Microsoft execs said VS2019 is designed to work better with Git repositories, whether they’re local repos, online Git repos on GitHub, Azure repos or others. The new pull-request experience allows developers to review, run and debug pull requests without having to leave the developer experience. It includes a new search experience, replacing the existing “Quick Launch” box, which allows developers to search for settings, commands and install options.
Microsoft is building access to Visual Studio Live Share — its coding collaboration service — directly into Visual Studio with the 2019 release. Microsoft is adding more collaboration capabilities to the version of Visual Studio Live Share in VS 2019, and is making them available as well as an extension for its lightweight cross-platform Visual Studio Code developer tool.
Microsoft plans to talk more about the full feature set and VS 2019 SKU line-up in the coming months as it releases more previews. Devs can install VS 2019 side-by-side with their current VS 2017 installations or use the VS 2019 images on Azure. Microsoft officials haven’t said if VS 2019 will ship in 2019, but I’d assume so.
Microsoft also announced today that it’s making available a first public preview of Visual Studio 2019 for Mac. (VS for Mac is a rebranded version of Xamarin Studio.) The 2019 release adds a new welcome screen and new code editor.

We already know Samsung’s 10th-anniversary Galaxy S10 is the biggest shake-up of the Galaxy range in years. There will be four models (including a new, more affordable version), up to six cameras, massive displays and ‘gradient’ colour schemes. And now Samsung isn’t even trying to hide its biggest upgrade of all…
In a pair of official announcements which are about as subtle as a brick, both Verizon and AT&T have announced a partnership with Samsung to deliver a ‘5G Galaxy smartphone’ in the first half of 2019. And yes, we know exactly what this is.
“5G is going to be about more than just a network. Customers will eventually be able to connect in near real-time to unforeseen possibilities,” said David Christopher, president of AT&T Mobility and Entertainment. “Together with Samsung, we plan to bring the best in technology and innovation to our customers. The future we imagine with 5G is just beginning, and it is a great time to be a consumer.”
Christopher is right. 5G is fast enough and reliable enough to replace home broadband and its integration in phones is big deal, so its good to know Samsung has been testing 5G in the Galaxy S10 for some time.
Why would the announcement only be for one phone when the Galaxy S10 has four different models? Because only the flagship Galaxy S10 ‘Beyond X’will get 5G. Samsung does have plans to integrate 5G into its folding ‘Galaxy F’ but that will be a limited release which is not expected to be sold outside Asia and it certainly won’t arrive in the US before the Galaxy S10.
Could Samsung have another 5G capable phone? Not before the Galaxy S10 and, as a 10th-anniversary model, Samsung is not looking to undermine its 2019 headline release straight after launch.
Furthermore, there’s another interesting plot twist: the news hits Apple hard.
The simultaneous announcements from Verizon and AT&T come in the week it has been confirmed Apple will not have 5G in its iPhones until late 2020, at the earliest. Given 5G is already rolling out at a breakneck pace nationwide, this is not like Apple previously missing the launch of 3G or 4G. This one will impact immediately due to technical problems and come with a cost penalty.
All of which makes this a pretty great day for Samsung, and adds credence to the company’s promise that the Galaxy S10 will be a very significant upgrade.
Is it all smooth sailing? Not quite. Samsung still has to sell its customers on the controversial decisions to scrap not just one, but two beloved featuresdue to a controversial redesign. And that’s not going to be easy…

Microsoft has released 4 new free wallpaper theme packs into the Microsoft Store. The packs appear to be centred around the landscapes and the season and include:

SNOWY MOUNTAINS

Peaks glitter under the moon, stars, and Northern Lights. Snowy sweeps reflect sunrise and sunset onto towering cliffs. Take in the views from the warmth of your desktop with this 18-image set, free from Windows 10 Themes.

FROSTY ART

Frozen bubbles, crystalline leaves, and delicate buttercups show off their fragile sparkles in this 20-image set, free for Windows 10 Themes.

FIELD OF POPPIES

Take in the vivid beauty of these symbolic flowers with this free, 16-image set for Windows 10 Themes.

UP IN THE SKY

Seen from above, below, or across a graceful wing, these 16 images of aircraft will send your imagination on a journey with this free Windows 10 Theme.
After downloading the collection, go to Start > Settings > Personalization > Themes and click on the theme you prefer.
To apply and change to the most appropriate colour, based on the current wallpaper, go to Customize > Colors > Automatically select a primary colour from the background.

The dust has barely had time to settle on AMD’s X470 chipset, which launched alongside its second-generation Ryzen processors. Looking ahead, however, X570 is now right around the corner, or so the latest leak says. One thing that’s interesting about the upcoming chipset is that it supposedly will offer PCI Express Gen 4 support.
If the X570 does indeed end up supporting PCIe 4.0, as the latest leak indicates, it will be AMD’s first chipset to do so, and the first consumer platform in general. It also stands to reason that AMD’s upcoming Zen 2 processors (Ryzen 3000 series) will support PCIe 4.0 too.
Whether the leaked information is accurate or not, it’s impossible to say (AMD doesn’t talk about unreleased products, and nothing has been announced yet). This is all based on a slide at Gamer.com.tw. The slide appears to be several months old, as it highlights AMD’s B450 chipset and Athlon 200GE series as being unreleased as well.
According to the slide, AMD will launch its X570 chipset at Computex. That’s still several months away—Computex 2019 gets underway on May 28 and runs through June 1.
While it’s wise to always take leaks and rumors with a generous heaping of salt, it wouldn’t surprise us if Zen 2 (otherwise known as Matisse) ends up supporting PCIe 4.0. AMD appears to be embracing the updated spec—it recently launched Radeon Instinct MI60 accelerator is the world’s first 7-nanometer GPU to boast PCIe 4.0 support, which doubles the bandwidth over PCIe 3.0 solutions.

Microsoft appears to be planning on overhauling its Windows 10 icons alongside its Office suite. The software giant revealed a new icon design for Office 365 earlier this week, and with it teased some Windows changes it has been considering. “It is a huge undertaking to build a common system and design 10 icons at the same time,” explains Jon Friedman, head of Office design at Microsoft. “Now that we have established the system we will start to scale it across all of Microsoft.”
Friedman also revealed, as spotted by Thurrott, that this Office effort is just “the beginning of a cross-company effort to update all icons in the same style.” An early glimpse at just how Windows 10 might be updated was teased as part of Friedman’s blog post. It includes Windows 10 concept images that have updated modern icons for photos, news, mail, and many other built-in apps. The Verge understands these images are simply mockups for now, but that Microsoft is looking at modernizing Windows 10 icons in the long-term.
Windows 10 still includes icons in some parts of the operating system that have existed for more than 10 years. These older icons look very out of place if you ever come across them, despite Microsoft’s efforts to modernize its Windows design and in particular the way you configure settings in the operating system. Microsoft has had numerous design efforts over the years for Windows, but now that the company is focused on a broad single icon design across the entire company it could be what’s needed to finally clear up some ancient examples.