Microsoft plans to open Cortana to third-party developers to compete with Amazon Echo and Google Home

In line with recent rumors that Microsoft is going to harness the ubiquity of Windows and the smarts of Cortana to compete with Google and Amazon in the smart home niche, the tech giant has now opened its AI assistant to third-party developers and device makers. This way Cortana can be integrated into a plethora of non-Microsoft devices that will be connected in a vast and unified software ecosystem. One such device has already been announced, and it's a Harman/Kardon speaker in the vein of Google Home and Amazon Echo slated for a 2017 release.

Microsoft outlined its plans in a recent blog post, revealing that Cortana will be open for both third-party software and hardware developers. This means that third parties will be able to incorporate Microsoft's voice assistant in various devices, as well as write software that takes advantage of her capabilities. For software developers, Microsoft has prepared the Cortana Skills Kit, which is a set of tools that will allow developers to integrate the AI assistant into their apps, meaning users will be able to use voice commands to control large portions of the software. The preview kit is already available behind the curtains to a handful of partners and is expected to see a broader launch in early 2017.

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Microsoft's Arrow Launcher picks up a small update that adds Bing wallpapers

The completely free Android launcher coming from Microsoft, Arrow recently received a new update that adds a couple of new features. If you've been a long-time Arrow Launcher users, then you should be looking for version 2.8 now.

Google Play store does not seem to show the updated version, but it's probably on the way. Anyhow, let's take a look at the very short changelog that details the new features and improvements in the latest update.

The most important change is the addition of Bing wallpapers, which for some reason weren't available in the Microsoft app. Also, for those who haven't yet tried the Android launcher, the developers made the “apps mode” explanation much clearer and easier to understand.

Last but not least, a bunch of bugs have been squashed and some crashes reported by users have been addressed and hopefully won't affect the launcher anymore.

As mentioned earlier, Arrow Launcher 2.8 is available for download for free, so one more reason to give it a spin if you haven't done that already. 

Keep in mind though that the Android launcher will only work on devices running Android 4.0.3 and newer, so make sure you meet the software requirements before getting it.

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Microsoft updates Next Lock Screen with fingerprint support for more devices

The Next Lock Screen application for Android devices has just received a small, but important update that extends some of its features to even more smartphones.

Developed by Microsoft's Garage project, Next Lock Screen has been updated with support for fingerprint unlock method for more devices. Although the feature was available for quite some time, it didn't work for all Android smartphones.

With the latest update, Microsoft promises to bring fingerprint unlock on a lot more devices, so if it didn't work for you in the past, you might want to try again after updating Next Lock Screen.

But that's not all, as Microsoft announced that it has added new welcome tutorials to the application, which are supposed to be more meaningful and easier to follow.

The update brings support for volume control shown on top of lock screen, and it should also improve GPU performance, as well as reduce memory usage. The developers confirmed the update contains some bug fixes, too.

Don't forget that if you want to be up to date with the latest features the developers plan to include in the Next Lock Screen, you can join the app's beta community on Google+.

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