microsoft news

If asking digital assistants to play music, answer questions, read stories, and tell jokes,tu on lights, lock doors is your thing, then Amazon Echo(3rd Gen) is definitely a great product and in many...

Jeff Kaplan has confirmed that at some unspecified point in the late future, Overwatch 1 and 2 will merge into the same client in due course.While speaking to Kotaku about Overwatch’s current state of...

Spotify has always been available for free and as a paid service, with the paid service naturally being leagues better, that may be about to change.The firm is tweaking its free service so that it can work better for users. The details aren’t quite clear yet, but Spotify wants its free service to be easier and more attractive to use for mobile users to attra...

Amazon’s Echo Look companion app –is getting updates from Amazon to improve voice support and more.With the Echo Look’s new update users can organise their clothing with the Collections tool. You can tag them according to options like colour, or even occasion. Whether users would want to put in the time to do this, of course, is another matter.Amazon seems to have taken this into consideration, adding a feature that automatically curates your catalogued clothes into themed Collections like weather, so you don’t have to.The firm is also adding in support for Vogue and GQ content. You’ll be able to see articles from Vogue and GQ in the app’s home screenfor those times you’re lost on what outfi...

While Destiny 2 was a step forward over its predecessor in many aspects, one system felt like it took two steps back. Shaders in the first game would change the color of your armor and could be re-used an unlimited amount of times. This changed in Destiny 2 where shaders became one-time use items. This angered a lot of fans who felt that Bungie was pushing players towards its Eververse microtransactions store, and the company has finally stated that it will look into fixing the controversial shader system (via Eurogamer).In the latest “This Week at Bungie” post on the company’s website, they detailed a few ways they are plaing to change the system for the better and make it more similar to t...

Microsoft has just put the final nail in Windows Mobile’s coffin, declaring that no more Insider builds will be delivered to the OS.The news was delivered in typical fashion by Microsoft over twitter by a Senior Program Manager for the Windows Insider team Brandon LeBlanc who merely said:No mobile builds are coming.— Brandon LeBlanc (@brandonleblanc) January 24, 2018Microsoft had earlier promised to keep the Insider Program going for Windows Mobile, but apparently, plans have changed:Before:Yes we plan to keep releasing new builds for Mobile!— Brandon LeBlanc (@brandonleblanc) October 12, 2017and now:Plans change. Such is the nature of things.— Jason (@NorthFaceHiker) January 25, 2018Microso...

It’s rather hard when your biggest success is also your biggest millstone, but for Microsoft the x86 Win32 platform has been both their biggest blessing and biggest curse, leading to their ubiquitous presence in every office and most households around the world, and also leaving them with an insecure platform which is difficult to monetize and manage.Microsoft has been trying since Windows 8 to move Windows users onto a more controlled platform, but efforts like Windows RT and Windows 10 S have invariably floundered due to the lack of power offered by the Windows Store when compared to the estimated 8 million Win32 apps available easily and often freely on the inteet.Microsoft is not well kn...

Sway is Microsoft’s future replacement for Powerpoint, making it easy to collate media and present data attractively.Microsoft says Sway makes it quick and easy to create and share polished, interactive reports, presentations, personal stories and more. Users simply need to add their content, and Microsoft will do the rest. That is of course unless those users use Windows Phone, in which case Microsoft no longer consider them worth supporting.When Sway was introduced Microsoft was quick to support the iPhone, but promised clients for Windows Phone was on the way.It seems over the course of the last 18 months plans have changed, and the app is no longer on the cards, accordingto a Microsoft ...

While the Xbox One X tends to be marketed towards more serious gamers and not the entire Xbox player base, this doesn’t mean its sales are hurting. During an aual shareholder meeting today,Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella mentioned how the console saw an incredible response over the holiday and how the company plans to pursue the expanding video game industry.“We’re mobilizing to pursue an expansive opportunity in the 100+ billion gaming market,” he said. “This means broadening our approach to how we think about gaming end-to-end. About starting with games and how they’re created and distributed, and how they’re played and viewed.”Specifically referring to the Xbox One X, he said that it’s the...

Apple is rumored to use their latest ARM-based A10 fusion processors on the upcoming iMac Pro. The news comes from the trusted Apple developerSteve Troughton-Smith who found the evidence inBridgeOS 2.0 firmware. The device is expected to go on sale...

Smart speakers are very often shared devices, which limits the services they can provide without mixing up everyone’s data and appointments.The solution, for these mostly blind devices, has been voice recognition, first seen on the Google Home, and today available on Amazon’s Echo range of smart speakers.Via the Amazon Alexa app housemates can now set up voice recognition using the Echo, Echo Dot,...

Up till now Amazon’s Echo voice assistants were the perfect servant – they did not speak until they were spoken to first.This is about to change, as Amazon is letting some developers test out the ability to send sound and light-based notifications to your Amazon Echo.Amazon has just releasedAmazon Alexa Notifications to a select group of developers. Aounced as part of theAlexa Voice Service (A...

Up till now Amazon’s Echo voice assistants were the perfect servant – they did not speak until they were spoken to first.This is about to change, as Amazon is letting some developers test out the ability to send sound and light-based notifications to your Amazon Echo.Amazon has just releasedAmazon Alexa Notifications to a select group of developers. Aounced as part of theAlexa Voice Service (A...

Amazon has a massive hardware event yesterday where they aounced a slew of products seemingly covering every niche of the smart speaker world.That does make it somewhat difficult to remember that a Microsoft-powered smart speaker has been aounced aounced as far back as December 2016, but the arrival of new glamour shots of the device, likely from the Windows Store, suggests the device will i...

Amazon has just held a hardware event today where they unveiled a new series of Echo products.Principal amongst them is a new Amazon Echo, which is shorter, squatter and covered in fabric, which should help it blend better into your decor.The device features a dedicated bass tweeter and support for multi-room audio, and will only cost $99, or $150 for 3.Amazon also showed off a new Echo Plus, whic...

While Microsoft and Apple are busy building premium smart speakers powered by Cortana and Siri, companies like Anker are introducing affordable smart speakers. The company is today introducing the new Eufy Genie, a $35 smart speaker powered by Amazon Alexa. The Eufy Genie is slightly bigger than Am...

Fans of the Dragon Quest series, and those looking for a new and exciting role-playing adventure are certain to rejoice with today’s aouncement from Square Enix, that Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age will be coming to the West next year. The highly-anticipated latest entry to the beloved...

Earlier this year, Microsoft invested in Indian e-commerce startup Flipkart as they entered into a strategic partnership to exclusively use Microsoft’s Azure platform. Today, Livemint reported that Microsoft is in talks to invest up to $100 million inOla, a ride-hailing service that competes with ...

Microsoft is closing down its Surface Hub manufacturing plant situated inWilsonville, Oregon. The company is laying off a total of 124 workers as part of the closure — with 61 employees leaving on the 8th of September. The software maker will lay off the other 63 employees in the coming months, re...

If you are an Amazon Prime subscriber, it’s time to ship for Amazon’s Prime Day. Amazon promised more deals than Black Friday for Prime Day, but there aren’t a lot of tech deals available at the moment. We were able to find a couple of good deals on Amazon UK, which you can find below: You can also...