Microsoft has smooshed together three of its most popular productivity tools - the personal task manager To Do, the team-focused Planner, and the robust Project for the web - into a single, intelligent workspace now known simply as Microsoft Planner. Those tools still exist separately, but you can think of Planner as an overlay of them all, a unified view that can handle everything from your personal grocery list to managing a company-wide marketing reboot.
Microsoft is perhaps best known for its Surface Pro tablets which compete directly with the iPad Pro but its Surface laptop line has been the best way to experience Windows at its finest. If what you need is a thin, light notebook with full Windows 11, current AI-capable Copilot capabilities and good performance, this is an extremely tempting option. The most affordable model with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Plus processor and 256GB storage has now hit an all-time low cost on Amazon:
Microsoft is giving away Microsoft 365 Personal subscriptions to all US college students. This subscription gives students free access to Microsoft's Office apps and the Copilot AI assistant integration for a year, after which the students are eligible for a 50 percent discount to continue the subscription. While most students have access to education versions of Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, Microsoft's offer is for student's own personal Microsoft accounts, and is available to claim until October 31st.
