Microsoft builds a “news and weather” widget in the taskbar on Windows 10

Microsoft announced today that Windows 10 will soon have a news and weather widget integrated into the taskbar, giving you weather and news information at a glance with a fly-out interface that provides a more detailed overview. The new feature is part of Microsoft’s Sun Valley effort, which aims to spruce up the Windows UX with new features and designs.

The feature is officially called ‘news and interests’ and can be found to the left of the system bar on the taskbar. If minimized, the widget will show you the current weather and any news reports. Clicking on it opens an excursion with an ad-free experience with the latest news, detailed weather information and more.

Today, the feature is available in the Windows Insider Dev Channel (Build 21286) and will be released to the public later this year.

Microsoft highlights the following features as part of the News & Interests widget:

• Stay informed: Quickly view your news and interests directly from the taskbar. Get caught up in the latest news, weather, sports and more, and then go back to everything you did without disrupting your workflow. You have easy access to news and interesting content from over 4,500 global brands such as The New York Times, BBC or The Verge, and beautiful live weather maps. Choose an article to open a streamlined reading version with fewer distractions so you can save time and stay focused.
• Customize your feed: You can tell us what content you want to see or what you do not want to see (select More options … and select “More such stories” or “Less such stories”) and over time more stories about the things about which your caring appears in your stream, including those you would otherwise miss. You can also use emoji to respond to stories.
• You are in control: At Microsoft, we believe that privacy begins by putting you in control and providing the tools and information; you need to make informed choices. Through news and interests, there is quick access to the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard. Through the Microsoft Edge browser, there are built-in controls to restrict the tracking of advertisers and third parties. And if news and interests do not appeal to you, you can easily eliminate them by right-clicking on the taskbar.

Users can choose to hide the feature if they prefer not to have an information tab in the taskbar by clicking on it. Interestingly, the feature requires the new Microsoft Edge to be installed in order to function. Without it, the new feature will not work. We expect many more features for Windows 10 to appear in the coming weeks, including a refreshing design with rounded corners and more.

Meanwhile, what are your thoughts on the news and interest widget coming to Windows 10? Let us know in the comments.

You can learn how to participate in the Windows Insider program in our tutorial and more about Microsoft’s announcement today.

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