To do so, tech giants are donating their compute time and software. The effort is led by IBM, but also includes AWS, Google, and HP. On the research side of things is MIT and Rensselaer Polytechnic Insitute, propped up by the US department of energy, NASA, and the National Science Foundation. The effort marks a major collaboration between big tech and government, blending private and public in a manner rarely seen....
However, with the latest update the company is taking away features and not adding them. Firstly, Microsoft Launcher no longer has the Timeline feature moving forward. Next up, Microsoft has also depreciated Family Parental Controls. One of these removals is more explainable than the other. These days, Android users can download the Microsoft Family Safety app. In other words, there is a dedicated app available so there’s little need to have the tools on the Launcher....
When Microsoft’s 8th generation console launched in 2013, it arrived with the Kinect in the box. That was an error from so many angles and Microsoft acted to remove the sensor from the bundle. A successor to the original Kinect, Azure Kinect is a depth camera that as the name suggests leverages the power of Azure. Microsoft is aiming the device at enterprise users, saying it can help them build AI solutions....
Lists is a perfect example of Microsoft fleshing out its workplace tools to provide organizations with a one-stop shop for inter-organization collaboration. However, while the company has largely built on current market leaders – such as the success of Microsoft Teams after basing the service heavily on Slack – Microsoft Lists is different. As I discussed in May, Microsoft Lists is a chance for Microsoft to lead from the start....
Canadian oil sands have caused major controversy because of their impact on the environment and dwindling economic viability. In teaming with Microsoft, Suncor has become the first major Canadian oil company to embrace cloud. Microsoft will work with Suncor to transform the company’s network of fuel stations under the Petro-Canada brand. By leveraging the cloud, Microsoft will also track data from the oilsands and develop new strategies for employees in Suncor’s Calgary headquarters....
A video shared by Twitter’s WalkingCat mentions Redstone 4 as the ‘Windows 10 April 2018 Update’. Speaking in the WinHEC online video series, partner group program manager Mark Kuenster repeats the moniker, with a clear graphic displayed on screen. Microsoft has yet to announce the name officially, but in some ways the change makes sense. We’ve already had the Creators Update and Fall Creators Update, and this build doesn’t have as many creative features....
“We’ll be starting off with Mixer Movie Nights in October, with two showings of a different wonderfully spook-tacular horror movie each Saturday (and again on Halloween).” Heading to Halloween, Mixer users will see movies twice a day on Saturday’s. Showtimes are 11pm PST and then 4pm PST. It’s worth noting most of the movies are hardly triple A titles. However, we guess horror buffs will find something of interesting. The movies available on Mixer are 1972 Yellowhouse, House by the Lake, A Mosquito-Man, Friend Request, and The 50 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen....
This is another step towards Microsoft moving away from Universal Windows Platform (UWP) and marrying Win32 support. Instead, the company is looking for a blanket Windows experience that will be sent out under “Windows apps”. You can see how this will play out in the image above, with WinUI 3.0 encompassing Win32 and UWP across form factors. At first, WinUI 3.0 alpha will be available to Insiders for testing. Microsoft will make the platform available as an open source on GitHub....
Until this announcement, users could open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Viewer to read documents. They could do this even without the full version of Microsoft’s Office suite. The company debuted the viewer apps when the company wanted to change the default document format, but some users were stuck on the older format. Users could use the viewer app without needing the individual services on their machines. The apps supported the file formats handled in the full Office applications....
During the One Day Sale, savings on Microsoft products range from 27 to 50 percent. By far the most interesting deal is that for Surface Pro 4, which you can get for $849, down $350 dollars from its original price of $1.199. Furthermore, customers can get their hands on the Xbox One S 500GB – Forza Horizon 3 Bundle for only $299, with The Crew, Just Dance 2016, and Watch Dogs games for free....
In a Tech Community post to announce the feature, Microsoft says OneDrive Stories will have one core difference from the similar feature on Instagram, Facebook, and other social platforms. While on those social media rival sites the stories can be shared publicly, on OneDrive they will only be private. Users will only be able to share the Stories content with friends and family. Microsoft has a new feature in the works designed for sharing content with friends and family “Photo story brings all your memories into a private, invitation-only feed that you can share with family and friends, and it supports comments, reactions, and notifications to spur authentic interactions through photos that people actually care about,” explains Microsoft....
Users can now head to a new UserVoice sits for Skype. Microsoft says the focus of the site is for users to provide their ideas for the communications service. Whether this advice revolves around how to stabilize the service, how to design it, or what features to include. Last year, Microsoft overhauled the Skype experience with a new update. This was the biggest change to the platform in 10 years....
However, these were very much early drafts of the hardware we will see next year. For instance, no smartphone flagship will find success in 2020 without a stellar camera experience. Microsoft’s Surface Duo prototypes had holes where the cameras will be. It was the same for the Neo. In other words, we don’t know what cameras the pair will have. Microsoft has been quiet on the matter, too. The most we have had from the company is Surface chief Panos Panay promising the Surface Duo will get a “good camera”....
Children with visual impairment face challenges when learning to interact. For example, knowing which direction to move their head when talking. Issues with communication can lead to blind learners becoming isolated from their peer group, leading to frustration. PeopleLens aims to improve communication methods for blind children, but also for people who communicate with blind learners. It is a headset device that uses AI to read aloud to the wearer, using spatialized audio to say the names of known people when the blind person looks at them....
At the time of writing, two ISO download links appeared on the TechBench dump site. ISO files are often the precursor for a wider system launch. In other words, it is now only a matter of time until Microsoft makes download links for Windows 11 22H2 active. When that happens, users who want to update to the new version can do so. Of course, I always recommend holding off on an early install of a major update launch....
The company says supporting the newest innovations in processor technology will allow Project Olympus to manage increasing cloud demand. The project is Microsoft’s own hardware standard. It has been created to help bring down the cost of creating for cloud services, especially on Azure. Microsoft will share its hardware designs as open source, once they are 50% complete. Announced at the Open Compute Project (OCP) annual summit in March, the new hyperscale cloud device design has been partnered with Intel from the start....
Microsoft hasn’t always been concerned about the climate, but that’s changed in recent years. The Redmond giant set its first carbon emission target in 2009 and implemented a global carbon fee in 2012. That fee allowed Microsoft to become carbon neutral, but its emissions are still high. The company has been transitioning to more renewable and energy efficient sources, and its now committed to the next big step. Microsoft plans to reduce its carbon emissions by 75% by 2030, keeping in line with the Paris climate agreement....
On January 2, Microsoft rolled out an Office 2010 update to reflect changes in the Japanese calendar. While the company did not explain, he changes reflect the impending abdication of Emperor Tenno Akihito, who is to step down on April 30, 2019. Japanese calendars work through eras. Akihito’s abdication will end the Heisei era and a new calendar will start. Microsoft’s update to reflect the changes seems to have been broken....
Windows 10 on ARM hardware has been poorly reviewed. These are the laptops running Qualcomm Snapdragon chips that deliver vastly superior battery life. When announced last November, Microsoft debuted Always Connected PC alongside these Windows 10 on ARM solutions. While Windows 10 on ARM is more about Qualcomm integration in laptops, Always Connected PC is something else. At least, that’s what Microsoft is saying now. The company says the feature is not completely tied to the success of Qualcomm ARM processors for Windows 10....
As I have discussed over numerous Insider releases this month, Microsoft is winding down this preview cycle. With the Windows 10 Creators Update officially launching to all users next month, the company is ending its preview for the build That is best evidenced by a complete drying up of new features in recent builds. Sure, a quick look at changelogs (like the one below) shows a list of new additions, but these are not features....
