Technology

Another bit of expected news at todaybig Microsoft event. Herethe latest version of the Surface Laptop. Once again, not a lot of changes on the outside of the product — which might be for the best. After all, the Laptop is presently my favorite member of the Surface family.

Product lead Panos Panay touched upon the keyboard, which is easily one of the devicebest features, particularly compared to the keyboard cases found on other Surface devices. Like the Pro, the new device now comes in a much slicker matte black. And, like the Pro, most of thekey changes are inside.

The new Laptop is said to be 85 percent faster than its predecessor, thanks to an on-board 8th-gen Quad Core Intel processor. The battery also gets an impressive 14.5 hours, which should more than get you through that flight. Thateven more impressive because Microsoft is giving the laptop a brighter, thinner and higher-resolution display, too.

Pre-order for the device opens today, starting at $899. It will start shipping October 16.

Microsoft today announced that the Windows 10 October 2018 update is now available. The company made the announcement at a small press event in New York, though itobviously no surprise that Microsoft decided to roll out the October update in the month that gave it its name.

As usual, these rollouts take a while. You can force the update now, but for those who want to wait, Microsoft will start the automatic updates on October 9.

Like most recent Windows updates, the October release isn&t going to blow you away with a new interface or crazy new features. Most of these updates now are incremental, but overall, the new release offers a number of interesting new features.

The most interesting of these is probably the new &Your Phone& app, which allows you to text from your PC using an Android phone that also runs Microsoftmobile companion app. In later iterations, that app will also sync notifications to your desktop, but for now, thatnot an option. There also are tools for continuing your workflow as you switch from your phone to PC (or vice versa). These features work for iOS users, too.

As far as syncing between devices goes, itworth noting that the update also will allow you to share your clipboard between PCs.

Since everybody likes a dark mode these days, the Windows 10 File Explorer now also includes a dark theme. Therealso a revamped search experience, as well as a new screenshot tool.

While the release includes plenty of other tweaks, both in terms of functionality and design, the most anticipated feature, Sets, didn&t make it into this release. Sets is probably the biggest change to the overall Windows user experience since the release of Windows 10, so maybe itno surprise that Microsoft is trying to perfect this. And perfection takes a while.

Microsoft made a huge number of announcements at its Surface event today, including a full rundown of its Windows 10 October Update and new products in its Surface Pro, Surface Laptop and Surface Studio lineups, but the Redmond company had even more surprises for its attendees beyond those headliners. 

As reported by Engadget, Microsoft has also