14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has announced that the News and Interests experience the company has been testing for several months in the Windows Insider program is now available for the first wave of production devices.
In other words, the new taskbar widget that shows the weather and expands to display news, articles, traffic information, and other data is no longer an insider-exclusive feature, but everyone can get it as long as they’re running Windows 10.
The new feature is available as part of the optional Windows 10 April 2021 cumulative update, and Microsoft says everyone will get it when the next Patch Tuesday rollout kicks off in May.
“News and interests on the Windows taskbar will begin rolling out to customers over the next several weeks. We are taking a phased and measured approach and broad availability will occur in the coming months,” the company explains.
To be included in the May 2021 Patch Tuesday rollout
Of course, the new feature comes with all the goodies that have been tested in the last preview builds in the Windows Insider program, including several customization options that allow it to better align with your expectations.
“You can adjust which information cards are included in your experience and how weather updates are displayed. The weather can be shown as an icon with text or as an icon only if you want to save taskbar space. You can also adjust which information cards – weather, finance, sports, traffic – are included, ensuring you are just seeing content you care about. Of course, if you are not interested in any of this information you can simply turn off the icon,” Microsoft explains.
Keep in mind that the rollout takes place gradually, so not everybody installing the April 2021 preview cumulative updates would see it. However, I expected the rollout to advance quite fast, so expect everybody to be able to try out the taskbar widget rather sooner than later.