Swift owns various trademarks associated with herself, including her name and date of birth. Previously, she attempted to trademark the lyrics “Nice to meet you. Where you been?” Within days of its release, her team decided ‘Tay’ was too close to comfort and sent an email of warning to Smith, who also acts as Microsoft’s chief legal officer. “An email had just arrived from a Beverly Hills lawyer who introduced himself by telling me: ‘We represent Taylor Swift, on whose behalf this is directed to you....

The changes are currently live in Chromium Edge on Windows 10 via experimental flags. PlayReady is a copyright protection technology built into Windows, so the functionality is unlikely to come to ChromeOS via that method. However, a new commit (via WindowsLatest) suggests efforts to bring the 4K-ready DRM to all Chromium are nearing completion. “To support the playback of protected/DRM media on Windows with 4K content, we are going to use MF-based Protected Media Path (PMP) architecture,” said Microsoft’s Frank Li....

This month, the major improvement users can expect is extension syncing, which is currently in testing on the Canary channel. They should also notice some bug fixes for favorites syncing, the ability to set a custom photo on their new tab page, and better handling of links across multiple profiles. The only change listed for Summer right now is history syncing, which is much anticipated. It should let users continue where they left off on another PC, or browse for something on their phone and find it again on desktop....

If you work in tech, you’ve probably not given much thought to workplace injuries and occupational hazards. You may be aware of some vague detrimental effects of poor posture on your body, but you likely also believe that they’re nothing that serious. After all, you don’t work in an environment where you’re exposed to dangerous pollutants or harsh chemicals, you don’t have to operate heavy machinery or deal with unruly or uncooperative people, so what is there to worry about?...

Singer recently gathered 4 percent of Twitter’s shares through his hedge fund Elliot Management. He called for a new board of directors and for Dorsey to be removed. In fact, playing on Dorsey’s own desire to spend time in Africa, Singer promised to kick him to the continent. Twitter has now revealed Dorsey will remain CEO following a reprieve from Clarence Thomas. That means Singer is no longer actively calling for a new CEO, although Dorsey’s position is now tenuous at best....

A month out from the full launch, beta users can check out the new TypeScript features. Among those additions are optional chaining. This gives developers the ability to more efficiently deal with errors in “null” and “undefined” vales in JavaScript. “So what is optional chaining? Well at its core, optional chaining lets us write code where we can immediately stop running some expressions if we run into a null or undefined....

Windows Sets is a tabbing system that will work across Windows 10. Essentially a universal tab ability for applications. It works like tabs on a web browser, allowing users to open a tab in an application by clicking a + symbol in the title bar. A new tab will show recent apps, documents, and a search. Importantly, the Alt+Tab tool was integrated with Sets and would allow users to switch between tabs within the tool....

In the House letter sent to CEOs of the companies, the committee simply asks “Why was an information embargo imposed?” It goes on to read “What company or combination of companies proposed the embargo?” With the closure of the embargo, the world got to know about the flaw. Meltdown and Spectre affects chips at a kernel level. It leaves machines stretching back over a decade open to exploit. Giants of the tech industry kept the flaw embargoed in an effort to create patches....

However, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales may have a better solution, and it draws on his unique expertise. Wikitribune is a platform for evidence-based news built on a community of volunteers and journalists. The site will focus on creating fact-checked stories with easily identifiable sources. Unlike the unassociated Wikipedia, it will have video and audio content, as well as transcripts. The service is currently in its crowdfunding stage and is looking to hire ten journalists with the money it raises....

Ignoring Microsoft’s messy update schedule (what is a major update, what isn’t?), one of the big changes for Sun Valley will be a revamped Windows 10 desktop experience. Microsoft documentation shows Windows 10 21H2 will play a pivotal role. It will transform the look and feel of the operating system with a fresh design across desktop, Taskbar, Start menu, and Action Center. WindowsLatest found a Microsoft job post that seems to point towards development of this design....

Available for Windows 10 May 2019 Update (version 1903), the update makes phonetic keyboards available in the following languages: Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Odia, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. The virtual keyboard on Windows 10 can now learn typing patterns and preferences from the user. Using learning technology, the keyboard will present individualized word suggestions in the languages listed above. Microsoft says the suggestions will help improve accuracy of typing....

A new crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo has been set up by Khiron-Sigma (K?). The campaign is seeking funding for an ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) called the KS. There will be one version called the KS-PROID, running stock version of Android 7.x Nougat. More interestingly, there will also be another version called the KS-PRO, running Windows 10 based on ARM processing. The London-based company was founded by a former Microsoft employee and says the device has been created from a fans perspective....

Travis Ormandy of Google Project Zero published a tweet pointing to a bug in Notepad, Microsoft’s basic text editing application for Windows 10. “Am I the first person to pop a shell in notepad?” Ormandy asked in the tweet. “This is a real memory corruption exploit, I’ve reported it to MSRC (Microsoft Security Response Center). Surprising number of people replied thinking I was just right clicking stuff…. I said, ‘it’s a real bug’ It took me all weekend to find good CFG (Control Flow Guard) gadgets, just showing off....

I will go deeper into exactly what a credential-provider on Windows 10 is. For now, though, it’s enough to say users would essentially be able to sign into Windows 10 with their Gmail account. Google’s chromium project is now developing the method for becoming a credential-provider for Windows 10. This means an email address linked to Google (Gmail) to login to Windows 10. Windows uses a credential provider to know which users have logged into Windows 10....

Quick Assist was launched back in 2016 with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. The tool was an evolution of the older remote assistance feature, allowing for more seamless remote access. It is designed for those who may not be sure about the ins and outs of Windows and other services. They can get assistance easily without having to go through a tedious process of relaying information. Windows admins are annoyed that Microsoft is shifting the app to the Microsoft Store....

1 Backward Compatibility for the Original Xbox2 Xbox Avatars Overhaul3 USB Support and Store Gifting By the looks of things, they will be most significant in a while, launching alongside the native 4K Xbox One X. The software giant is looking to impress its new users, and part of that is a fresh new interface. We’ve seen a lot of hints about Microsoft’s Fluent Design System, which will make use of blurred, transparent panels and additional texture....

If you are unfamiliar with Chris Novak, we get it. Even so, he has been vital in the Xbox division and has been leading Xbox Research and Division (R&D) for the last five years. For 15 years before that, Novak was instrumental in the development of various Microsoft products. Over his time with the company, he has worked on products like Xbox Live, Xbox Game Pass, and more recently Xbox Cloud Gaming....

Microsoft has been a little more forthcoming and dropped tidbits of info since announcing Xbox Series X in the summer. Among the biggest points of speculation is what will power the next generation of consoles. It now seems Microsoft and Sony’s chip partners have shed some light on what we can expect. Specifically, Eurogamer has found a GitHub file detailing testing for AMD Ryzen APUs. This silicon is expected to be the computing base of the PS5....

Her prior position, which she held for 4 years, was the principal program manager lead of Windows fundamentals, flighting platforms, and operations. For three years prior to that, she was the principal program manager lead of engineering services fo the Windows and devices group. Needless to say, she has plenty of experience shipping Windows builds. “Amanda’s passion for Windows is evident in her 20-year career at Microsoft, which began with coordinating beta programs for Windows....

If you make a mistake with Windows, you leave the front door open for hackers. Malicious actors can use that weakness to exploit the computer. They’ll be able to hijack your login credentials, steal your money and open credit cards in your name, abuse your national insurance number, or sell your information to other parties. Computer hackers can target anyone. They target anyone who they believe is weak and could bring them easy financial gain....