Microsoft’s newest Windows 10 preview for PCs adds Uber and event reminders to Cortana

Microsoft today announced the release of a new Windows 10 preview build for PCs that comes with the long-awaited integration of Uber into Microsoft’s Cortana personal digital assistant, as well as new Cortana event reminders and feature additions for the Microsoft Edge browser.

Build 10565, which follows build 10547, is now rolling out to people in the fast ring of the Windows Insider Program, although for people in Russia and Turkey the build won’t come out for another few days, Gabe Aul, vice president of engineering systems in Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, wrote in a blog post on the news.

Update on Oct. 13: Microsoft today released a new software development kit (SDK) preview, No. 10563, to help programmers take advantage of the latest features in Windows 10. The new SDK preview build corrects issues in previous builds and comes with a new app pre-launch test.

Perhaps the biggest improvements in Build 10565 are in Cortana, with Uber taking the spotlight, of course.

“Cortana will keep track of your bookings for movies and ticketed events through your email confirmations. Two hours prior to the event start time, you’ll get helpful information to be sure you know where to go and get there on time, including an option to book and track an Uber ride directly from Cortana,” Aul wrote.

And Cortana is getting smarter about taking action in response to input you write on-screen.

“Cortana is able to intelligently understand your inked notes — setting reminders based on locations, times and numbers that she can understand from your digital annotations,” Aul stated.

There’s also a new way to preview what a tab will look like in Microsoft Edge. You no longer have to click on the tab to see its contents; now you can just roll your mouse over it, sort of like the way you can roll your mouse over an application icon in the taskbar in Windows 10.

And on top of that, Microsoft is showing a preview of new syncing capabilities for the Reading list and Favorites in Edge. That’s been a sticking point for those who are accustomed to the ability to sync bookmarks across devices in other browsers, like Google Chrome. The independently owned Pocket app allows you to save articles and sync them across computers and mobile devices, and now Edge’s Reading list does too.

For those wishing to update to Windows 10 from devices running older versions of Windows, Microsoft is making things simpler. You can now just type in your product key you used for Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 in the “Change Product Key” section of the Update menu on Settings. “If you do a clean install of Windows 10 by booting off the media, you can also enter the product key from prior Windows versions on qualifying devices during setup,” Aul wrote.

When it comes to printing in Windows 10, Microsoft has made a few tweaks. You can no longer set a default printer based on your current network location. But you can designate the last printer you used as the default now.

As usual with a preview build, Microsoft has fixed a few bugs — for instance, certain apps will no longer show up two times in the taskbar — and has a few known issues. Here’s one: “The search box does not work if you are in a locale where Cortana is not available,” Aul wrote. “We are currently investigating workarounds.”

Read the full blog post for a complete list of changes in this build. And if you aren’t yet part of Microsoft’s Windows Insider Program, you can sign up to get the latest in Windows 10 here.