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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease is known to most people these days through the viral Ice Bucket Challenge. However, the disease has been affecting people for decades, most notably renowned scientist Stephen Hawking. ALS afflicts the nervous system, attacking cells and neurons in the brain and spinal cord. In many instances, the disease claims all motor skills, rendering a patient motionless apart from eye movement. Technology to help ALS sufferers speak exists....

If you are unfamiliar with GODEL, it is a language model that integrated to features into a single solution. Specifically, it is a task-oriented model that can also drive conversations to be social and realistic. Most chatbots are focused on being one or the other. “GODEL combines both these capabilities, giving dialog agents the ability to generate responses based not just on the context of the conversation, but also on external information, content that was not part of the dataset when the model was trained....

First announced with the Surface Neo last October, Windows 10X is going at alone at launch. Microsoft decided to postpone the launch of the dual-screen Surface Neo. Instead, Windows 10X will arrive on single-screen laptops built by OEMs. Panay confirmed as much today. “The world is a very different place than it was last October when we shared our vision for a new category of dual-screen Windows devices,” wrote the Chief Design Officer....

However, like any big project, Quantum computing needs developers behind it. In September, the company announced its Quantum Development Kit, and it’s now available to all in a free preview. It comes with a brand new programming language, which has the fitting name of Q#. Alongside it is a compiler, Visual Studio integration, and a local quantum computing simulator. Microsoft Azure also powers a simulator, allowing for over 40 logical qubits of power....

The Thurott.com founder says the device will use the Surface Connect power connector, rather than the popular USB-C port. It’s a move he believes is a mistake, adding, “Sounds like Surface Pro 4.5”. Despite this, Microsoft’s reasoning is fairly clear. It wants to keep unity across its older devices. Changing the charging method would mean owners of the Pro 3 and 4 would have to buy new power adapters and docking stations....

Last month, a leak showcased some of the specs of the Surface Pro 7, as well as the Surface Book 3. Now, a Geekbench benchmark listing has pointed to the Pro 7 featuring the latest Intel CPU technology. The listing is for a product dubbed “OEMJL Product Name EV1.5A”, which seems to be Microsoft’s new device. Why? Well, Microsoft uses a similar naming pattern for its Surface Go on the benchmarking software....

Previously, the Visual Studio Code for Powershell 7 plugin did let users replicate the ISE experience of PowerShell 6 and lower, but it was a more complicated process. Now, users can just click on the PowerShell icon and type ‘Enable ISE Mode’. The team has also made PSReadLine available for the extension. With it, you get access to features like syntax highlighting, multi-line editing, and back search. This addition has been highly requested, but the team says it required a lot of hard work to implement....

However, general manager of investor relations Mike Spencer says the dwindling percentage is at least partially due to the law of large numbers. In a conference call (via ZDNet), Spencer explained that the bigger Azure gets as an overall business, the slower the percentage ticks up. He also pointed out that in constant currency, Azure is up a closer 68%, though enterprise mobility and security is now growing more moderately in line with expectations and the Office 365 trajectory....

In the Microsoft Digital Defense Report, the company says 2022 saw a new age of hybrid warfare. This new area of cybersecurity has been perpetuated by Russia’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine. Microsoft points out attacks are becoming more aggressive and open as authoritarian leaders are less concerned about the consequences. The company says in 2022 there have been increasing attacks against critical infrastructure. In fact, Microsoft points out that these attacks increased from 20% to 40% of all nation-state-backed attacks....

Specifically, there is a problem with network adapters and NICs in Hyper-V. Microsoft has been quick in solving this issue and is now sending out-of-band (OOB) updates as a fix. On Windows Server 2022, users can install KB5022553, while for Server 2019, KB5022554 is the patch. Microsoft provides the following changelog to confirm the patches: “Improvements This non-security update includes quality improvements. When you install this KB: This update addresses an known issue that affects Hyper-V hosts that use software defined networking (SDN) and are managed by System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM)....

Of course, this is not official yet, but the report says Microsoft would pay between $50 million and $70 million for the cloud company. Cloudyn is a company that monitors and enhances cloud storage capabilities. The company has worked with numerous cloud vendors over the years. Microsoft is remaining quite on the potential of this deal. Both Redmond and Cloudyn are towing the party line and saying, “no comment at this time....

A couple of new patents show the company is still deep in development of such a device. By now it is clear Microsoft is working on a device with two folding screens. Whether that hardware will ever be released remains to be seen, but the company is pushing to revolutionize mobile. The two new patents enhance the folding screen technology. The first addresses an issue with how to interact with a device split across two screens, while the second solves how light displays accurately on a curved display....

Starting with the Surface Pro 4, you’ll get a $100 discount if you choose the Intel Core i5 models of the device. For a limited time only, the 128GB/i5 – 4GB RAM combo is selling for $899, while the 256GB/i5 – 8GB RAM now goes for $1,199. Deals on other laptops include the Dell XPS 13 9350 Signature Edition, which is now priced at $685, down from its original price of $999....

According to reports, the new Microsoft Store can be seen on apps.microsoft.com. The page comes with the name “Windows Apps Preview” which fits into the current naming convention of Windows Apps in the current store. Of course, the obvious question is why would Microsoft be updating the store design just months after launching an all-new experience. Well, Windows 11 is the answer. While the new Microsoft Store made some aesthetic changes, it was not a complete sync with the Flow design of Windows 11....

That’s according to tipster Evan Blass, who says Windows 10X will be the production name for WCOS. Windows Core OS (WCOS) is a modular variant of the Windows 10 platform. By creating a modular Windows experience, Microsoft can put the full power of Windows 10 on any device. WCOS will provide Microsoft with a platform that will work on mobile devices and PCs alike. Blass adds that Win32 applications will function on Windows 10X....

Microsoft has not specifically said which markets the Surface Duo is coming to. Instead, the company has taken a vague approach to the roll out, saying it is employing “a measured and phased approach to availability to meet customer demand.” According to a report from Windows Central, this approach will mean non-US markets won’t get the device until 2021. Apparently, Microsoft wants to gauge how US customers take to the device....

Confluence Cloud is the cloud-based version of Atlassian’s collaboration program. Users of Microsoft Teams on Office 365 can find the Messaging Extension through the app store. The integration brings several abilities, such as searching through Confluence instance and attaching a page into the informative card. Microsoft says the following information is available for the card: Confluence Space name with page title Preview of the content Created and Last Updated date Created by and Last modified by contributor names Button to view the page in Confluence...

No one likes a spam call or SMS, and TRAI has developed rules to prevent such calls. The regulator says telecom operators must use blockchain technology to stop unauthorised access, boost confidentiality, and protect data. Microsoft and Tech Mahindra have developed a solution that falls within their regulation. Using Microsoft’s Azure, the solution should prevent unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) in India. “Tech Mahindra…announced today its collaboration with Microsoft to create a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)-based solution to build a robust ecosystem in line with the regulations issued by Trai,” a joint statement says....

Of course, Windows 11 has a dark mode, so it makes sense for apps to fit into that platform-wide aesthetic. As he has been doing in recent weeks, Microsoft Windows and product chief Panos Panay teased the new MS Paint app on his Twitter account. In the video, we can see the new dark mode and how the design tweaks Microsoft has made results in a smoother Paint app… at least in terms of looks....

As we reported last week, the app has been available for pre-order. the To-Do UI has been kept consistent for its Mac debut. It is good that Microsoft has created a truly uniform cross-platform experience. It will be interesting to see which platform feature set To-Do will come with. The app is now widely available for Mac users. Last week I speculated whether Microsoft would leverage To-Do’s iOS features for Mac, or use its own Windows PC tools....