Yes, that’s probably news many of us have wanted to hear for some time. However, this is no Surface Phone. Instead, Microsoft has resurrected some of the classic (we guess) Lumia devices from yesteryear. Perhaps the company found a crate of devices at the back of a warehouse somewhere. Either way, the Lumia 950, 950 XL, 650 and 550 models are all currently available. Microsoft has put them on its online store this month....

By moving to the company’s cloud platform, the service is also getting a rebrand to Azure Health Bot. While the general remit of the tool remains the same, it will benefit from integrating with Azure tools, compliance, and security additions. During 2020, Microsoft Healthcare Bot helped organizations deliver around 1 billion messages to 80 million people. With the COVID-19 crisis showing few signs of easing, Azure Health Bot will aim to provide the same level of access to customers....

Praise was almost universal for HoloLens 2 when it became available last year. However, one bone of contention was the display on the headset, with issues frequently reported. Microsoft now says they are working on improving the display. This will not be a hardware tweak but will add software improvements to boost image quality. It is worth noting HoloLens 2 already has a solidly better screen experience than the 1ST gen device....

In its blog post, the Skype team says it has focused on areas of the service that needed the most attention. Working with customers’ needs in mind, the team says it is using feedback to improve accessibility: “For the next updates to Skype, we are focusing on Mac, iOS, Windows Desktop, and Android. Although there are still more fixes and improvements to come, the Skype team has been focusing on the following areas: improving visible keyboard focus, eliminating cases where keyboard focus moves to non-actionable controls, ensuring keyboard focus moves back to the controls that opened a dialog or menu after the dialog or menu was closed, improving the accessible names and labels of controls, and improving the control types used....

In a Windows Blog post, the company discusses changes to the look of maps, creating consistency between web and UWP, and new features and improvements. Some of the changes, including visual improvements, were added after user requests. Among the new additions to Maps on Windows 10 is a new set of Map Styling APIs for the Map Control feature. These APIs allow users to customize the look of maps. Developers can render maps differently, while changing styling characteristics....

In a note made on the Feedback Hub, Microsoft says users on unsupported devices can update. They can get the Windows 10 Creators Update through the Release Preview Ring: “If you are a Windows Insider on an unsupported device, you can stay on the Windows 10 Creators Update and receive Cumulative Updates via the Release Preview ring. However, you do so at your own risk as it’s unsupported. If you are on one of these unsupported devices and in the Fast or Slow ring, you will need to switch to the Release Preview ring via Settings > Update & security > Windows Insider Program....

A post (now removed, via Windows Latest) in the Windows Insider Feedback Hub shows that Microsoft is ready to launch the Windows 11 Screen recording feature in beta. The post was referencing a new update for the Windows Snipping Tool, which will bring it to version 11.2211.11.0. It seems this build will introduce a screen recording facility That will be available on Windows 11 through the Snipping Tool. How it Works Until now, users have needed to use third-party solutions for screen recording....

However, the percentage of users on 7.1 and 8 still trumps 10. With a rise in malware, NSA leaks, and more, those protections are becoming even more essential. As a result, Microsoft is launching Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection on both versions. “We hear from our customer’s security is one of the biggest motivators for their move to Windows 10. Meanwhile, we know that while in their transition, some may have a mix of Windows 10 and Windows 7 devices in their environments,” explains Microsoft’s Rob Lefferts....

1 Building Employment Chances2 Training3 Certification With that in mind, the company has created a new global skills initiative that aims to retrain workers. Specifically, the goal is to transition 25 million people around the world with more digital skills before the end of the year. Microsoft is pooling resources from several divisions, as well as its GitHub and LinkedIn services. By leveraging LinkedIn Economic Graph, Microsoft will use data on jobs to help users....

Further, Cortana voice-over will be disabled by default, so you won’t hear settings read to you. Users can instead start Narrator with the usual WIN + Ctrl + Enter shortcut. Microsoft says this change was made due to user feedback. Instead, voice-enabled Cortana setup will only be active on Home. It’s still baffling that the company didn’t roll it out this way by default, but at least it’s fixed now....

Infer.NET has been a success for Microsoft since it was launched a decade ago. The machine learning framework gained a USPTO’s Patents for Humanity Award in Information Technology category thanks to furthering development in advanced machine learning. Microsoft says being able to open source Infer.NET was always an end goal. Development started on the framework in the United Kingdom in 2004. The Microsoft Research team in Cambridge created a solution that has evolved since, allowing the development of scalable and interpretable machine learning applications....

Interestingly, while Microsoft has a history of missing trends by waiting too long, the company’s patience in folding screen may be a good idea. Samsung’s Galaxy Fold has shown that tech ambition maybe outpaced reality slightly. Even devices from Huawei and Lenovo still lack what seems to be a final touch. Not least, visible creases on the screens. Microsoft has decided to continue to R&D its own folding screen hardware, which is known as Centaurus....

The company’s concept describes a smart ring with two sensors and a controller. The first sensor detects the movements of a primary finger, and the second the one adjacent to it. Meanwhile, the controller would enable multi-finger gestures by calculating the relative movement between the first and second finger. With this ability, users would be able to control a secondary device, like a monitor, phone, or watch. It could also combine with devices like the HoloLens to enable augmented reality control....

It is worth noting PCs running the Qualcomm Wi-Fi driver are old. Either way, Microsoft says a new Wi-Fi driver update will be sent through OEMs. That’s a little problematic because some manufacturers may take longer than others to release the update. Users on those PCs will not be able to download and install Windows 10 May 2019 Update until they have updated their Wi-Fi driver. “To safeguard your upgrade experience, we have applied a hold on devices with this Qualcomm driver from being offered Windows 10, version 1903, until the updated driver is installed....

It is worth noting this is the classic Surface Studio all-in-one desktop PC and not the Surface Laptop Studio. While the previous generations of the Surface Studio have come with the latest and greatest specs, Windows Central reports the third model will not. Sure, it will remain a high-end device focused on premium design and performance. However, the reports says Microsoft will offer just one version of the device. Specifically, an 11th Gen Intel Core CPU and a “last-gen” Nvidia GTX GPU....

According to retailer listings, the laptop will get a specific hardware bump. Specifically, the CPU will be improved from the current dual-core i5-7300U to a quad-core i5-8350U. As you can see, the i5-8350U has two extra cores. Elsewhere, it also provides an increased maximum boost clock speed of 3.6GHz, up from 3.5GHz in the i5-7300U. This is all good news for multi-core computing as the 8350U should provider a 50% increase in power....

In recent years, people have started to rely more on using mobile devices and the Internet for different purposes. In a digitalized world, industries need to leverage technology if they want to thrive. The Covid-19 pandemic has led to significant advancements in telemedicine and a boost in patients’ experience. However, there is still plenty of room for change. Unfortunately, medical negligence is common in the UK, and its effects on patients’ lives are devastating....

In an interview with Business Insider at the World Economic Forum, Smith talked a little about why he believes the company triumphed. According to the executive and chief legal officer, it came down not to favoritism, but investment and hard work. “What was surprising to the outside world in terms of end result was less surprising to us,” he said. “We knew how hard we had been working and, perhaps more importantly, how much progress we made in not just satisfying but exceeding the requirements....

If implemented, the API would allow for the Windows Emoji picker in Google Docs, for example. It could also let images relocate on the page depending on layout constraints and better support software keyboards. Microsoft has built a sample application to show how developers could use EditContext in a simple text editor. However, the solution currently breaks in-built browser spellchecking. This could be an issue for solutions that don’t use a custom spellchecker, like Google Docs....

In its announcement, Microsoft says the box is designed to help customers move and manage data into Azure cloud more quickly and easily. Azure Data Box supports 256-bit AES encryption on data. One of the benefits of the box is that it does not require an external packaging for packaging. It is able to plug directly into customers networks and store 100 TB of data. Microsoft says the following benefits come from the box:...