Google has begun rolling out initial passkey support for Android and Chrome. In a blog post published Wednesday, the company said web admins can start integrating the technology into their websites through the WebAuthn API. Similarly, developers can download the latest Google Play Services beta to start testing the authentication standard within their apps.

Google expects to roll out stable support for passkeys later this year, with an API for native Android apps arriving in 2022 as well. The latter will allow you to choose between a passkey and a saved password when logging into a supported platform.

As more apps and websites add support for passkeys, Android and Chrome users will see their relationship with online credentials change. "Passkeys are a significantly safer replacement for passwords and other phishable authentication factors,” Google notes. “They cannot be reused, don't leak in server breaches and protect users from phishing attacks."

Creating a passkey on your Android phone will involve confirming you want to make one and then authenticating your identity with a fingerprint or face scan (you can also use a screen lock). Signing in is just as easy. You simply authenticate your identity and you’re good to go. You’ll manage your passkeys through Google Password Manager, where they’ll be automatically backed up to the cloud to prevent lockouts if you ever lose your device.

Since passkeys are part of an industry-wide initiative to do away with passwords, they work across different devices, platforms and browsers. For instance, as you can see in the screenshot above, you can use a passkey stored on an Android phone to log into a website you visit through Safari. With Apple and Microsoft making similar efforts, the web will hopefully become safer soon.

During its Surface event, Microsoft said Apple TV and Apple Music apps are coming to the operating system next year. You'll be able to check out previews of them in the Microsoft Store before the year is out. As such, those who use Apple's services soon won't need to use a web app or creaky old iTunes to access Apple Music or Apple TV on a Windows system.

Xbox users, meanwhile, can download an Apple Music app starting today, a year after the service landed on PS5. Apple TV has been available on Xbox consoles since late 2020.

In addition, you'll be able to access iCloud photo libraries in Windows without relying on a browser. These will be available to everyone through the Windows Photos app next month. Folks in the Windows Insider program can try the integration today by installing the latest version of the iCloud Windows app.

Apple's standalone Windows media apps have been a long time coming. The company was recruiting engineers to build them as far back as 2019, the same year Apple announced separate Music, TV and Podcast apps for Mac.

Based on its initial specs, the Surface Studio 2+ wasn't the upgrade we've been waiting four years to see. Perhaps spending a bit of time with it will change my mind. Maybe I'd be fine with an 11th-gen Intel CPU, instead of this year's (far better) 12th-gen chips. During Microsoft's hands-on event at its NYC store (or "Experience Center," as the company prefers), I spent some time with the Surface Studio 2+. It's certainly a very fast computer — but the thing is, it should be much more.

Microsoft hasn't touched the Studio 2+'s design at all: It still has a 28-inch Pixelsense screen that's easily converted into an easel-like view. The company was eager to throw in much faster hardware for this revision, according to Microsoft's Ishmael Adams, a senior designer on the Surface team. Unfortunately, he says, Intel's latest chips weren't ready when the company started revamping the Studio 2+. That's a shame, since we've found the 12th-gen chips to be faster and more power efficient. But hey, at least there's an RTX 3060 GPU now, and there's also potential to plug in an external GPU via a Thunderbolt 4 connection.

For the past several years, the Studio 2 has become an increasingly terrible computer to buy, due to its 2017-era hardware and sky-high price. So at the very least, it's nice to see a new model with better internals. The Studio 2+ is fast enough to last most creatives for several years. But if it had a 12th-gen Intel chip, it would be even more future proof. For a computer that starts at $4,300, I don't think that's too much to ask.

Beyond the internals, though, the Studio 2+ is still a striking all-in-one PC. We've seen some AiO competitors from Dell and HP, but nobody has pushed this hard to make a truly unique desktop experience. Perhaps one day Microsoft will be able to deliver a cheaper Studio device, much like it did with the Studio Laptop.

Follow along with the rest of our news from Microsoft's 2022 Surface event.

Microsoft might have a way to make Teams a more enticing option for meetings: make AI tackle the dirty work. The company is launching a Teams Premium offering for Microsoft 365 that uses AI to greatly simplify meeting management. Most notably, an "Intelligent Recap" feature automatically creates tasks, chapters and even personalized highlights. Miss a review meeting and you might know which segments to watch when catching up, not to mention what you'll need to work on.

Premium also uses AI to translate captions in real time for 40 spoken languages, so you won't always need to wait for after-the-fact translations to understand what happened. Meeting guides automatically set up the "right" options for a discussion, too.

Other upgrades include virtual appointment support (think doctors and consultants) as well as "high-quality" webinars. Improved protections for sensitive data add confidentiality labels and watermarks, so an unscrupulous coworker can't steal trade secrets just by taking screenshots during presentations.

We've asked Microsoft for details on availability and the 365 plans needed to use Teams Premium. The service already makes the company's strategy clear. It's hoping to counter the likes of Google Meet and Zoom by making Teams indispensable to businesses that don't always have the time or money to create recaps and translations. With that said, Microsoft's rivals aren't standing still — Premium's extras may become necessities before long.

Amazon's October Prime Day offers a great opportunity to pick up a new monitor for your work-from-home or gaming setup. They're often some of the most expensive peripherals to get, so it always helps when you can wait and pick up a new model on sale. A number of monitors from brands like LG, Samsung, Dell and others have been discounted for the Prime Early Access Sale, so chances are you'll find one that's been discounted that's the appropriate size and resolution for your needs. Here are the best monitor deals we could find for October Prime Day.

LG monitor deals

LG

LG discounted a mixture of standard and gaming monitors for Prime Day this time around. The cheapest of the bunch is this 32-inch FHD IPS display for $180, or 28 percent off its normal rate. But if you're a gamer, you should consider this 27-inch LG Ultragear QHD monitor — it has a 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time and support for NVIDIA G-Sync.

Samsung monitor deals

Samsung

Samsung's monitor deals include the Smart Monitor M8 for only $500. That's the best price we've seen on the display that doubles as a smart TV. When you're not using it for productivity, you can access streaming services like Netlfix and Prime Video directly from the device, and it has a built-in smart home hub, too. If you don't need all those extra bells and whistles, displays like the $160, 24-inch SR35 monitor and the $280, 32-inch Odyssey G5 are also good options.

Dell monitor deals

Dell

There's a big sale on Dell and Sceptre monitors that knocks up to 43 percent off select models. This 24-inch Dell IPS gaming monitor with a 240Hz refresh rate is cheaper than ever at $200, and you can get this all-purpose, 27-inch Dell FHD USB-C monitor for only $224.

Acer monitor deals

Acer

If you're looking for a true budget monitor, Acer's got a handful of deals worth considering. You can pick up this 23.8-inch FHD IPS monitor with a 178 degree wide viewing angle for only $95, or this 27-inch Nitro WQHD gaming monitor, with AMD FreeSync Premium and overlocking to 170Hz refresh rates, for only $210 — $90 off its usual rate.

Get the latest Amazon Prime Day offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

Today Microsoft announced its refreshed Surface Laptop 5, which just like before will be available in 13.5 and 15-inch models. The new notebooks will also feature 3:2 touchscreens with a very familiar brushed aluminum design. Actually, almost everything about the Surface Laptop 5 is the same as before, aside from the addition of new 12th-gen Intel CPUs and one Thunderbolt 4 port. And for me, when I’m seeing at all the other advancements its competitors are making, I have to even wonder if Microsoft is really trying or if it's just doing the bare minimum.

Now don't get me wrong, improved performance is nice. And I suspect the Surface Laptop 5 will be a nice system. But that's mostly because the Surface Laptop 4 was pretty good too. You still get a high-res PixelSense touch display that now has some built-in automatic color tuning thanks to support for Dolby Vision IQ. There's also a new sage green color option which looks nice, though we've already seen this shade pop up before on the Surface Laptop Go 2.

But that's about it in the way of new specs or features. And that's really frustrating because it seems like there are a lot of low-hanging fruit that Microsoft could address that would make its mainstream laptop line a much better rival for systems like the XPS 15 or an equivalent ThinkPad.

For starters, while you get an IR camera for Windows Hello, the main webcam is still 720p, which is really not OK on a premium laptop in 2022. You also still only get a total of two USB ports: the aforementioned Thunderbolt 4 jack and a vanilla USB 3.1 (not even 3.2) Type-A socket. Look, that's fine for a budget system, but especially on the 15-inch model, there really ought to be better connectivity. How about an SD card reader or something? Thankfully, at least Microsoft is keeping the bonus 5-watt USB-A charging port on the Surface Laptop's power brick, which can come in handy when you need to charge your phone in a pinch.

On top of that, unlike the Surface Laptop 4, this year's model is only available in Intel-based configurations. There's no AMD version, which is kind of a shame. And while I don't mind only getting integrated graphics on the 13.5-inch version, I really wish Microsoft had built at least one variant of the 15-inch with a discrete GPU. It doesn't even have to be something super beefy like an RTX 3080. A 3060 or even a 3050 Ti would be just fine. I really don't think I'm asking for too much. After all, Microsoft included an optional 3050 Ti GPU on last year's Surface Laptop Studio, which is a slightly smaller, but thicker system. Honestly, one of the most interesting things about the Surface Laptop 5 are Microsoft's wallpapers for Windows 11, which are new for 2022 and designed to match the system's exterior color.  

But more importantly, after seeing Dell add a new member to the XPS 13 family and all the changes Apple is making on the MacBook Air and Pro lines, it's just a bit disappointing to see Microsoft simply going through the motions. And all this is coming from the company that basically invented the modern detachable 2-in-1, so I know Microsoft can do better.

On the one hand, the Surface Pro 9 is pretty much what we expected: a jump up to Intel's 12th-gen CPUs. But Microsoft surprised us with a huge shakeup for its tablet PCs. There's also a Surface Pro 9 running a custom SQ3 Arm chip, which also includes built-in 5G. Can an x86 Intel processor and a mobile Arm chip really sit side by side? We got a chance to compare the two new machines at Microsoft's hands-on event, and to be honest, we just have more questions.

Both models look and feel the same, save for the more visible 5G antennas on the Arm model. Microsoft representatives say performance is also comparable between the SQ3 and Intel's chips, something we'll have to fully test to believe. The same reps also noted that app compatibility with legacy x86 apps has gotten better for Arm devices, and there are an increasing number of native Windows apps which will run just fine across both platforms.

Developing...

Follow along with the rest of our news from Microsoft's 2022 Surface event.

It should soon be much easier to access your iPhone's photo collection on a Windows-based PC. Microsoft is updating Windows 11 with the option to directly view iCloud photo libraries in the Photos app — you won't need your browser or special software. So long as your iCloud account has enough space to hold all your images, you might never need to manually transfer photos to your Windows machines.

The news comes just as the Apple Music app launches on Xbox consoles. It reflects Microsoft's ambition to make Windows the "most open" desktop platform with support for rival services and apps. You can use Android apps and run Linux instances, for example. While this is partly a not-so-subtle dig at Apple's more closed ecosystem, it's good news for users who'd rather not switch hardware just to get seamless photo syncing.

Developing...

It's been four years since we got the Surface Studio 2, the much-improved followup to Microsoft's ever-so-flexible all-in-one desktop. Surely, the company has something special in store for the next version, right? Well, yes and no. The Surface Studio 2+ is indeed significantly faster than before, thanks to Intel's H35 11th-gen CPU and NVIDIA's RTX 3060 graphics.

But we've also spent most of this year being impressed by Intel's terrific 12th-gen hybrid chips, which deliver vastly better performance than 11th-gen CPUs. (Just imagine how much more intriguing the Studio 2+ would be with a 16-core 12th-gen HX CPU.) You'd think a computer starting at $4,300 would have the fastest hardware available? No wonder it's not called the Surface Studio 3.

Microsoft

If you've been following our coverage of the Studio line, the Studio 2+ will sound pretty familiar. It has the same 28-inch PixelSense screen, a flexible hinge that can be effortlessly pushed down to an easel-like angle, and it packs in all of its hardware in a desktop-friendly base. Following the trend we've seen with all of Microsoft's Surface hardware this year, there aren't any exterior design changes at all. But hey, at least we've finally got Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports and Dolby Vision HDR.

Microsoft claims the Core i7-11370H CPU in the Surface Studio 2+ is 50 percent faster than the Studio 2, as well as five times faster than the original 2017 modeled. Coupled with the RTX 3060, which is twice as fast as the GTX 1060 in the Studio 2, this new desktop will definitely be a fast performer. But the hardware geek in me can't help but wonder why Microsoft couldn't make Intel's 12th-gen chips work. They're technically more efficient, and it's not as if there wasn't enough time to prepare for new hardware.

Microsoft

I'm sure the Studio 2+ will satisfy general buyers who are willing to pony up big bucks for a uniquely flexible desktop. But I can't think of recommending Intel's 11th-gen chips in any other computer today, unless you're snagging it with a serious discount. For such a premium, they're practically a dealbreaker.

At least the Studio 2+ is well equipped otherwise, shipping with 32GB of DDR4 RAM and a 1TB SSD. (It sure would be nice to see some SSD expansion slots, though). But take note, if you want it to ship with Microsoft's Surface Pen, Keyboard and Mouse, you'll have to spend an extra $300. (That makes it a $4,500 computer with last year's Intel chip! The horror!)

You can pre-order the Surface Studio 2+ today, and it'll be available in select markets on October 25th.

Follow along with the rest of our news from Microsoft's 2022 Surface event.

Those rumors of a Microsoft speaker were true. Microsoft has unveiled an Audio Dock that, as the name implies, combines a speaker with a laptop hub. The design centers on a relatively powerful, omni-directional speakerphone (complete with dual mics, a 15W woofer and 5W tweeters), but also includes a 60W USB-C connection for charging your computer, two regular USB-C ports, an HDMI 2.0 jack and a lone USB-A offering. In practice, that means you can attach two monitors while still leaving room for an external drive or mouse.

As you'd imagine, the company is leaning heavily on the Audio Dock's usefulness for meetings. You'll find large dedicated buttons for the microphone toggle (handy for working from home) and launching Teams. Don't worry if you aren't a fan of Microsoft's ecosystem — the hardware supports Macs as well as calling services like Google Meet and Zoom.

Microsoft

The Audio Dock will be available for $250 in some markets on October 25th. It doesn't fill precisely the same niche as a smart speaker, but the allure is obvious. This is an easy way to streamline your desk setup, whether you're playing music in crunch mode or participating in a brainstorming session. While the 60W charging will rule out many high-performance laptops, this might save you money versus buying separate accessories.