Windows 11 Taskbar to Bring Back the Weather Widget

Microsoft is bringing its weather widget back to the Windows 11 taskbar. It's a feature that originally made a debut in Windows 10, providing live weather conditions and quick access to the broader widget and newsfeed.

However, Windows 11 removed this taskbar integration in favour of a separate widget panel. According to The Verge, Amanda Langowski, Microsoft's head of Windows Insider, explained, "We are trying out showing the Widgets entry point on the left side of your taskbar with live weather content. You can also open the Widgets board by simply hovering over the entry point."

The weather widget will display on the left side of the taskbar by default or as an additional icon if you have the Windows 11 taskbar aligned to the left. This latest change to the taskbar, available in the Windows 11 Dev Channel, follows testers' ability to display time and date on multiple monitors. These changes are expected to roll out in a Windows 11 update in 2022.

Along with the changes to the taskbar, Microsoft also announced a new voice access feature for Windows 11. "Voice access is a new experience that enables everyone, including people with mobility disabilities, to control their PC and author text using their voice," said Langowski. Voice Access will support opening applications, switching between them, and activities such as browsing the web, reading and composing emails. Once enabled, you will be able to use commands like "open Word" to open Microsoft's word processing application, or say "click" to select items.

Voice Access appears to be a mix of the various Microsoft speech recognition tools in Windows over the years. It's not yet confirmed when Voice Access will be available to all Windows 11 users, and Microsoft said the new features will appear in future annual versions of Windows or as part of monthly service releases, according to The Verge.