Items tagged with NASDAQ:MSFT
Gamers are in a for a treat this holiday season. Well, multiple treats—on the PC side, new graphics cards are coming, and in the realm of consoles, Sony is preparing its PlayStation 5 and Microsoft is readying its Xbox Series X. But could there be more more consoles to come shortly after? Perhaps so, according to a new leak. We have already heard chatter about there possibly being a PlayStation 5 Pro in the wings, and we will have to wait and see if any such device materializes. Likewise, recently discovered documents suggest Microsoft could be prepping a lower power Xbox Series X console, for playing games at 1080p or maybe even 1440p for a cheaper price than its 4K-capable brother. Source:...
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The coronavirus (COVID-19) has hit the business sector particularly hard over the past few months, and some big-name companies have either been forced to drastically change their operations, or have closed their doors altogether. Even a tech giant like Microsoft is not immune to the aftereffects of COVID-19, as the company has announced a “strategic change” in its retail operations going forward. The change means that most of the company’s Microsoft Store physical locations will be closing down shortly. Microsoft’s endeavor towards physical stores was modeled in part on the very successful Apple Stores. Customers were able to walk into a Microsoft Store...
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The latest Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 update has been published, and it promises that Alpha 5 is coming in early July. The release date will be unveiled on July 2, with full build notes offered along with the update. Developers are also sending out new Alpha invitations and reminding Alpha testers they will be automatically granted access to the Closed Beta when it launches. The most significant announcement today is a Partnership Series Update that introduces NAVBLUE. NAVBLUE is software that real world pilots use for flight planning, aircraft performance, flight data analysis, crew planning, and aeronautical charts, along with other functions and features. The company issued a press release...
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Microsoft hasn’t exactly been making a lot of new friends with the Windows 10 May 2020 Update due to numerous issues that have cropped up for users. From crashes, to buggy apps, to printer woes, the May 2020 Update (version 2004) is being actively avoided by many average consumers and businesses. However, it looks as though Microsoft is making it a little bit harder (or at least less obvious) to defer major feature updates. Previously, system admins had the ability to defer updates for as long as 365 days for Enterprise and Education editions of Windows 10. Now, however, that option has been whittled down to a maximum of just 35 days, which is the same blackout period available...
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In the rush to plug up security holes and introduce new features, it is not uncommon for Microsoft's updates to inadvertently break things. We have covered numerous instances of this over the past several weeks. Here is one more you can add to the pile—there is an apparent bug in Microsoft's Mail and Calendar app that is wreaking havoc on Gmail accounts. The Mail and Calendar app is a Universal Windows Program (UWP) app available in the Microsoft Store. It has mostly positive reviews, with a 4.4 star rating out of 5 stars from 2,059 people who have taken the time to vote. But like any program, it is not without the occasional issue, and this latest one is creating headaches for some people....
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Microsoft's team of software engineers have plenty to keep themselves busy with, following recent updates to Windows 10. There are numerous issues affecting the May 2020 Update for Windows 10, but also a handful of problems introduced by separate security patches rolled out this month. One of them is causing some systems to reboot. This particular problem is related to this month's cumulative Patch Tuesday update, which began rolling out to PCs on June 8. Microsoft has acknowledged the issue, saying the crashes are tied to the Local Service Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS), which is a process that enforces security policies on Windows systems by handling user logins, password changes, and...
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Back in March Microsoft announced DirectX 12 Ultimate, which is the latest in a long line of application program interfaces (API) that has served as the middleman between the games you play and the high-end gaming hardware that you have installed in your system. DirectX 12 Ultimate is being billed as a unifying force between feature sets and programming for both Windows 10 and the upcoming Xbox Series X gaming platforms. Today, NVIDIA is claiming bragging rights as the first GPU vendor to deliver full compliance for DirectX 12 Ultimate with the release of its latest public Game Ready and Studio drivers. Although we should mention that this revelation shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise,...
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Apple's recent announcement that it has begun a two-year transition phase to move away from using Intel's CPUs in favor of its own custom ARM-based silicon in future Macs came as somewhat of a surprise, save for the rumors that emerged just ahead of the reveal. In light of the news, what is less surprising is that Boot Camp will likely join Intel in its banishment from Macs. Well, I should say Intel CPUs, and not the company as a whole. Despite the looming breakup, Apple and Intel seem to be on a path to remain friends, with Intel confirming to us that "Apple is a customer across several areas of business, and we will continue to support them." We will have to wait and see how that pans out....
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It is a good thing Microsoft opted to slow play the roll out of its May 2020 Update (build 2004) for Windows 10, otherwise it could have ended up another train wreck, like the October 2018 Update (build 1809) that caused so many problems a couple of years ago. Adding to the growing list of problems with the latest feature upgrade is a bug affecting some OneDrive users. "I recently updated Windows 10 to version 2004, and after the last update-related reboot OneDrive would keep complaining about not being able to connect to Windows--required for the Files On-Demand feature," a user wrote on Microsoft's Tech Community forums. The user says they tried a workaround related to cldflt.sys offered in...
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All eyes in the streaming space are on Tyler "Ninja" Blevins following Microsoft's surprise announcement that Mixer is transitioning to Facebook Gaming. The decision to effectively shutter Mixer comes less than a year after Microsoft lured Ninja away from Twitch, reportedly paying him around $30 million to stream exclusively on the now-defunct platform. "Ultimately, the success of Partners and streamers on Mixer is dependent on our ability to scale the platform for them as quickly and broadly as possible. It became clear that the time needed to grow our own livestreaming community to scale was out of measure with the vision and experiences that Microsoft and Xbox want to deliver for gamers now,...
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Over the past few months, we’ve seen some good deals on Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7 convertible. When we last visited the device, the SKU with an Intel Core i7-1065G7 Ice Lake processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD was available for $1,299. However, not everyone has $1,299 to plunk down on a new device. For those people, Best Buy has a hot deal on a new Surface Pro 7 complete with Type Cover for just $599. To put that in perspective, that combo would typically cost you $959, so this represents a savings of $360, and makes it a far better bargain than the entry-level Surface Go 2 with its smaller display and inferior processor. For that price, you’ll get a Core i3-1005G1...
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Microsoft is seemingly in a race to get the Surface Duo out the door before Samsung announces its equally intriguing Galaxy Fold 2. Now we're seeing even more evidence that the launch is imminent. Surface Duo assets have already shown up in Microsoft's Your Phone app according to Zac Bowden. The fact that Microsoft would put this unreleased phone in its production app shows that the wait won't be much longer. Looks like Your Phone already has the assets to differentiate between normal Android phones and Surface Duo pic.twitter.com/BBnKenOF1E— Zac Bowden (@zacbowden) June 20, 2020 Windows Latest is separately reporting that the Surface Duo, which will launch with Android 10 installed,...
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Many Windows 10 users have already had Microsoft's latest version of its Edge browser pushed out via a software update. Now users of older versions of Windows will get the same treatment, whether they want the Edge browser or not. Microsoft is currently pushing the new Chromium Edge browser to users on Windows 7 SP1 or later and Windows 8.1 and later that are on Home, Professional, Ultimate, Starter, or Core editions. The good news for network administrators in large organizations is that Microsoft promises any of those editions that are running on Active Directory or Azure Active Directory domain will be excluded from the automatic update. Microsoft very much wants all Windows users, no matter...
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Developers working on Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 have published the June 18 update for the game. This week's update is very brief with a note that the testing of a patch for the Alpha 4 version of the game is in the final stages. The developers are targeting a release date of June 25, and patch notes will be offered along with the build. Developers are also sending out new Alpha invitations, so any fans of the game who haven't yet got in on the Alpha action want to be sure to watch for invites. There have been a couple of notable delays in the Partnership Series Update. NAVBLUE and FlightAware have been pushed back by a week each. NAVBLUE is now set for release on June 25 with FlightAware...
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It looks as though Microsoft's nascent xCloud game streaming service is in store for a big hardware upgrade next year. Microsoft xCloud has been available in preview form (aka beta) since October 2019 and allows you to stream Xbox One games to your Android or iOS device for on-the-go, console-quality gaming. Microsoft is reportedly planning a full-scale public launch later this year, and the xCloud game servers will be powered by current-generation Xbox One S hardware nestled with in blade servers. However, there is a big hardware upgrade on the way in 2021 according to a new report from The Verge. It is claimed that Microsoft will next year switch to Xbox Series...
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The most popular web browser also happens to be a notorious memory hog, particularly for power users who juggle a bunch of tabs. We are of course talking about Google Chrome. There have been ongoing efforts to reduce Chrome's appetite for memory, and not just by Google—Microsoft's recent May 2020 Update for Windows 10 includes a feature that might be of help. While not aimed specifically at Chrome, the May 2020 Update introduces Windows segment memory heap improvements that could potentially benefit the browser and other Win32 applications. "The value SegmentHeap indicates that segment heap will be used. Segment heap is a modern heap implementation that will generally reduce your overall...
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The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our way of life in more ways than we could have possibly ever imagined, and many businesses have made adjustments to cope with the new realities of social distancing and working from home. One such company is Microsoft, which announced in late March that it would temporarily pause optional, non-security updates for Windows 10. The reason for this change was quite simple, as Microsoft at the time explained that it was “prioritizing our focus on security updates” in an effort to “ensure business continuity and to keep our customers protected and productive.” Nearly three months later, Microsoft says that it will soon be ready...
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As far as Google is concerned, it is time to stop thinking about Chromebooks strictly in the sense of educational tools, and expand the view into the enterprise space as well. Parallels apparently shares this sentiment. As such, Parallels announced it has partnered with Google to bring full-featured Windows applications to the Chrome Enterprise platform. "Remote work is a new reality, making efficiency, connectivity, speed, reliability, security and undisrupted access essential elements of a successful organization. At this key moment, our two organizations have formed a landmark partnership to equip enterprises with solutions that optimize their businesses and teams to meet the evolving challenges...
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installing the May 2020 Update for Windows 10 is still not an option on my main desktop, and I am just fine with that, given the number of issues that have arisen since it went public on May 27. We have written about several of them already. The latest woes reported by Windows 10 users who made the upgrade include experiencing login issues in various programs. Fortunately, the login headaches some users are having do not appear to be widespread. Nevertheless, it is annoying for those who are experiencing issues, no matter how many others are running into the same trouble. Over on Reddit, a user started on a thread regarding Windows 10 version 2004 forgetting login information in Chrome, Edge,...
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Kentucky Fried Chicken is having some fun on Twitter at the expense of Microsoft and Sony, both of which have revealed their next-generation game console designs, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, respectively. Each one has a unique look, but can they fry chicken? The "KFConsole" can, while also cranking out 4K visuals and 120 frames per second. A video promoting the spoof console was posted by KFC Gaming, the official gaming account of KFC (yes, the fried chicken chain maintains a gaming presence on Twitter). Have a look... The future of gaming is here. Introducing the KFConsole. #PowerYourHunger pic.twitter.com/ssUrX41Ab1 — KFC Gaming (@kfcgaming) June 12, 2020 Console designs that...
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Microsoft's Windows 10 May 2020 update has been slowly rolling out over the last few weeks but this update has unfortunately brought a wide variety of issues with it. Most recently, some users have been unable to utilize the Windows 10 “Fresh Start” tool since the installation of the latest update. The Fresh Start tool allows users to install a clean version of Windows 10 on their device, perhaps recovering proper functionality from a cluttered or malfunctioning image. Users are able to keep some of their personal files, but the tool removes various third-party apps and even Microsoft Office. As a result currently, after this update, users will need to reinstall any apps...
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There's a company selling a Mac clone, or "Hackintosh" as they are sometimes called, that is operating under the name OpenCore Computer. The company has no affiliation with the OpenCore Bootloader, however, if you've ever worked with that piece of software. The dual-boot rig OpenCore Computer is building is called the Velociraptor. The Velociraptor computer essentially is in violation of Apple's end-user licensing agreement for macOS, however, because it's running macOS on non-Apple hardware. There is no issue with the machine running Windows of course, because Redmond just wants to spread that love anywhere it can. The computer maker claims on its website to make Mac Pro-style workstations...
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