Items tagged with NASDAQ:MSFT
Earlier this week, Microsoft Defender for IoT researchers discovered malicious downloads that affect Windows and Linux devices. These downloads, among other propagation methods, ensnare local devices in a botnet used to attack Minecraft servers around the world.
Threat actors, or more likely script kiddies, are...
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The Federal Trade Commission has voted to issue an administrative complaint against Microsoft Corp.'s acquisition of game developer Activision-Blizzard. The announcement follows Microsoft's agreement with Nintendo concerning the highly-popular Call of Duty franchise.
Just a mere two days ago, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer...
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Yet another chapter in the Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard merger has surfaced and this time it is an agreement with Nintendo. While Microsoft has been under scrutiny from multiple regulators in the UK and EU, it has been apparently wining-and-dining regulators in the US. It has also making deals with other...
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Yet another chapter in the story of Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision-Blizzard is unfolding. We're again talking about the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In November we saw that the FTC was considering a lawsuit to stop the mega-deal. However, recently, Microsoft has been talking about...
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Microsoft kicked off 2022 by announcing its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, and as we close in on the end of the year, Call of Duty has become the sticking point. Sony has objected to the deal, which could prevent it from offering future Call of Duty titles, but Microsoft is seeking to...
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It seems like regulators are starting to push more thorns into Microsoft's sides lately. The United States' Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is probably going to take a gander at this $69 Billion acquisition. Tacking on to the the headache Microsoft is already experiencing thanks to the EU Commission investigation and...
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Microsoft has announced Games for Work. This is a new app for its Teams workplace collaboration app, to facilitate playing games with co-workers. Gaming with co-workers might be considered an unwelcome distraction by some employers, but Microsoft asserts that some co-worker gaming fun can "build trust, create...
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Xbox CEO Phil Spencer insists that the Activision Blizzard acquisition is more about Candy Crush than Call of Duty (COD). The $68.7 billion deal still faces an "in-depth" investigation by the European Commission before it can be finalized.
When Microsoft announced its desire to purchase Activision Blizzard, some...
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Microsoft often has a hiccup or two after some initial releases of its ubiquitous operating system. The 2022 update to Windows 11, labeled 22H2, is no different. Unfortunately for some consumers, the issues are with gaming performance, but Microsoft is aware of the issue and working on it.
Microsoft, however, was...
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Microsoft Flight Simulator is celebrating a monumental milestone, as Microsoft releases its 40th Anniversary Edition. The new version is touted as being the most advanced in the highly-popular franchise to date.
Bruce Artwick first began development on Flight Simulator way back in 1977. Artwick was approached by...
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When you buy a new game console, you expect improved graphics and performance over the last generation, right? You don't want your current-generation game console to have performance problems. The Xbox Series S may be a step down from its Series X sibling, but it's still a potent current-generation game console, and...
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Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal may be in jeopardy, as the European Commission launches an "in-depth" investigation into the buyout. The European Commission announced its more in-depth investigation into the deal in order to assess its likely impact on competition.
The deal for Microsoft to buy out Activision...
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Microsoft teased the next version of DirectStorage technology back in mid-October, saying that it was "coming soon." Well, the developers weren't kidding around, because it's barely three weeks later and DirectStorage 1.1 is now available and ready to use.
Despite the small version number increment, DirectStorage 1.1...
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Microsoft unveiled Windows 365 back in July of 2021, and while adoption has been slow, it looks like the Redmond giant is going all in. A recent careers page listing for the company shows a new role Principal Software Engineering Manager with a focus on cloud and web technologies. The role is part of what Microsoft is...
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Gaming has experienced substantial growth over the past few years, and many expect that trend to level off as the economy cools. But Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, says that the company will continue investing in Xbox as gaming tends to weather economic downturns well. To keep consoles accessible...
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In recent months the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft has come under significant scrutiny both from regulators and competitors. The claim is that if Microsoft gains controlling interest in the games developer they could have a near-monopoly in the gaming market, particularly in cloud space...
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AMD has issued an advisory regarding reported Windows 11 versus Windows 10 performance deltas in certain games with its newly minted Ryzen 7000 series desktop processors. While the company has not observed any usual performance characteristics so far (and neither have we, for that matter), it is looking claims by...
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Chrome is the most popular browser on the planet and we reckon there's a fair number of people surfing the web with it inside Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. Well, bad news for them—barring a last-minute reprieve, Google plans to sunset its Chrome browser on Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 with its version 110...
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There has been a lot of movement in the cloud gaming space in the last few months, including the shuttering of Google Stadia. This has led Microsoft to call cloud gaming a “new and immature technology” in a recent filing that refutes claims made by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), even though...
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One of the biggest features of the Windows 11 2022 Update was the addition of Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA). This unlocked the capability of using Android apps somewhat natively on Windows 11 devices, very much like Windows Subsystem for Linux. Microsoft seems to be going all in on Android, because Android 13 is...
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If you run Windows, do you use third-party cleaner apps like CCleaner and PrivaZer? These apps are of dubious utility for most users, but they do have legitimately-useful functions, like clearing out temporary folders and removing leftover update data. Microsoft would apparently prefer that you use its own software...
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On September 24, the cyber threat intelligence company SOCRadar notified Microsoft that one of its Azure Blob Storage servers was misconfigured and leaking customer information. Now, almost a month later, both Microsoft and SOCRadar have released blog posts warning businesses that some of their transaction data and...
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