News, reviews, articles on the topic Microsoft
Microsoft is starting to sell replacement components for its Surface devices through the Microsoft Store. Surface owners can now replace their displays, batteries, SSDs, and other parts.
Microsoft continues to improve the Windows for Android subsystem and this time adds the ability to enable file sharing. The update with this feature is now available to all Windows Insider testers and includes file sharing, drag-and-drop support, an improved camera, and the usual bug fixes.
As expected, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a request to block Microsoft's deal with Activision Blizzard. This is not a surprise at all: the FTC announced its plans to block the deal back in December last year, citing the fact that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard would allow Microsoft to "suppress" Xbox, Game Pass, and Cloud Gaming competitors.
On Sunday, 11 June, at a private briefing in Los Angeles, Xbox's Head of Player Support Sarah Bond announced that Microsoft plans to move its PC Game Pass titles to Nvidia GeForce Now, as it does with Boosteroid, for example:
Microsoft is expanding the Bing Voice experience in Edge for desktop. With this update, you can now talk to the Bing chatbot by asking it questions by voice and receive a voice response.
Microsoft has started testing a Windows 11 build with a "modernised" Explorer interface that now includes RGB lighting controls. The updated File Explorer interface has a modern, homely look with large file thumbnails and a carousel interface that displays the latest files added to your favourites.
The Windows for Android subsystem that allows you to run some of your apps directly on Windows 11, while constantly improving, isn't perfect. A recent forum post from the WSA team revealed that Android apps on Windows 11 now have access to local file sharing, allowing users to upload photos and videos through certain apps.
Microsoft has agreed to pay $20 million in compensation to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over allegations that it violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). According to official information, the company stored children's personal information for longer than the required period when they created their accounts.
During the presentation of Apple's Vision Pro mixed reality headset, many people probably wondered about the availability of software for it, but that's all right. The Vision Pro will support thousands of iOS and iPadOS apps, as well as a bunch of native apps from other developers, such as Excel, Word, and Microsoft's Teams, which were even demonstrated during the presentation.
Microsoft has announced that it is ending support for Cortana on Windows. The company says that it will "no longer support Cortana on Windows as a standalone application" starting at the end of this year.
Almost two years after the announcement, Microsoft has begun testing a dark theme-enabled version of Paint, and it's now available on the Dev and Canary channels for Windows insiders. Like most other apps in Windows 11 that support dark modes, Paint will automatically switch to match your system's theme, or you can manually enable dark mode on the new settings page in Paint.
A recent Bloomberg report sheds light on the circumstances surrounding the failed release of Redfall last month. According to the report, the game's development was hampered by a lack of clear direction, high staff turnover, and insufficient resources for what was described as a AAA game.
Widgets have been around since Windows 11 was launched, but they haven't gained much popularity among users. Well, it looks like Microsoft is going to change that - in the new build of the system for developers, we spotted several new really useful widgets that will allow you to monitor the use of CPU, memory and video card resources or view the speed of your Wi-Fi or Ethernet network. In general, similar data can be monitored through the Task Manager, but the use of widgets makes everything much easier.
It seems that Microsoft has started to advertise its new products more intrusively lately - we've already seen enough Windows 11 test builds that "recommend" you try Office or One Drive. But Windows 10 owners shouldn't worry - the company has reached out there, too.
Microsoft has supported a major plan to capture carbon dioxide emissions from a wood-fired power plant. The Danish energy company Ørsted, with which the corporation entered into an agreement to purchase credits that have captured more than 2.76 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide.
