Microsoft gives Windows 10 Insiders a redesigned news feed

With most people getting their news online through social media and dedicated apps, Microsoft is updating the way Windows 10 presents the news to make it more eye-catching in a bid to stand out from the crowd. Insiders can check out the updated design in the Windows taskbar today. The changes include different colored themes for articles in the feed, which used to be in grey, to make them more "engaging."

Selecting "see more news" will now take you to a new-look browser layout featuring larger cards that show a snippet of text from articles. That should help with skimming the news compared to just scanning headlines and could help you decide whether to read the full story. The update also adds updated emoji graphics — including like, love, surprise and anger, among others — for when you want to share your reaction to an article.

Microsoft says the update is rolling out to Insiders in the dev channel in the US with access to the news and interests feed, so you may not see the changes immediately. It plans to bring the new look to other regions in the future. As usual, the latest Insider Preview Build also includes a bunch of smaller tweaks, including a couple of changes and improvements and over a dozen fixes. These include an update to the system icons to align them with the Microsoft Fluent Design style, while an issue that was impacting the reliability of start and other modern apps in recent flights has been resolved.