Employees within Microsoft have been against the partnership since day one. The main argument has been that Microsoft’s HoloLens tech will ultimately be used for the purpose of killing. While the US Army contract is to train soldiers for modern warfare, Microsoft snapped up the deal. Back in March, we reported on Microsoft’s concern that its $22bn HoloLens contract with the U.S. Army is not going to plan. Reports suggested the US Army was preparing to change the terms of the contract and take fewer devices....

Looking at some recent features to land on the Whiteboard application. In June, Microsoft updated the app with a new UI and also added several new shades, sticky notes support, reactions, note grids, and dozens of new templates. Other new features include new inking tools, intelligent ink, inking shortcuts, straight lines, and ink signals for the recently announced Surface Slim Pen 2. Microsoft also now allows Whiteboard users to insert, align and reposition shapes and images....

Microsoft is no longer sending out its twice-yearly upgrades automatically. On the Windows Update page, a new setting called Download and Install Now is available. We have known about this feature since last month, but Microsoft has been vague on what it exactly is. The company has not said how long it will allow users to delay the update before it starts pushing out automatic updates. Alongside the announcement, Microsoft detailed more information about how long it will hold off on automatic releases....

Once you have made the decision to choose Microsoft’s Azure platform as the host for your business’s databases you will want to follow a series of protocols that are designed to ensure a smooth transition. As part of that decision-making process, you may well have searched for managed IT solutions Brisbane, for instance, to get professional guidance on how best to organize your databases and systems. Having discovered that migrating to Azure could help reduce costs and ongoing overheads, where are some of the steps you should be following....

Of course, this means new Firefox versions will be available on a monthly basis. However, it will not happen until the first quarter of 2020, which is when the new schedule goes live. Looking at Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release for enterprise users), Mozilla says now changes to the release schedule will be made. This means new updates will continue to arrive every 12 months as normal. In other words, the next ESR will land in June 2020, and the next in June 2021, and so on....

According to the company, the new tier brings in a whole new level of customers. It costs $6.99 per month to sign up for Netflix Basic with Ads. Netflix chose Microsoft over Google and Comcast because Microsoft does not have a competing video service. As for the 12 nations the solution is launching in, they are: Australia Brazil Canada France Germany Italy Japan Korea Mexico Spain UK U.S. Netflix has previously resisted using ads on its platform....

However, according to Economic Daily News, this won’t stop Apple from integrating a fingerprint sensor. The company will instead use an onscreen solution for authentication. Though we can’t verify the validity of these sources, it’s worth noting that it does line up with previous rumors. Reports that stretch back to 2015 suggest that Apple has been researching such technology for a while, but ran into production issues. More recent rumors said Apple wanted to finalize the design by May....

There have been a series of alleged Geekbench results since then, as well as images. So far the rumors surround a device dubbed the Nokia 9. It will apparently have a Snapdragon 835, a 5.3″ QHD display, 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM. However, another benchmark that has been linked with the device suggests an 8GB variant. However, another benchmark that has been linked with the device suggests an 8GB variant....

“We don’t have any technical blockers to keep us from creating Linux binaries, and it’s definitely something we’d like to do down the road. That being said, there is still work to make them ‘customer ready’ (installer, updaters, user sync, bug fixes, etc.) and something we are proud to give to you, so we aren’t quite ready to commit to the work just yet,” said the team. At the moment, it’s working on bringing the browser to MacOS and older versions of Windows, but it seems Linux is fair game after that point....

No additional details were added, other than a tweet stating a Microsoft and Movies Anywhere tweet is expected soon. Given the track-record of leaker WalkingCat as a reliable source, there is no doubt that we can expect some news about a deal in the near future. If you are unfamiliar with Movie Anywhere, it is a cloud-based streaming platform which used to show exclusive content from Disney. Last year, the US-specific service switched to accept content from other studios but is still owned by Disney....

1 Manipulating Time2 SpectreRSB SpectreRSB and ret2spec are two Intel CPU-level flaws that abuse the Return Stack Buffer but use different potential attack procedures. Looking at ret2spec first, it was discovered by researchers at the University of Saarland and the University of California. Security experts showed how a flaw in the RSB of Intel CPUs can be tricked into handing information from protected memory locations. Intel and AMD have admitted the vulnerability is real and could be exploited through speculative executions....

If you are unfamiliar with the Galaxy Active, it is Samsung’s latest wearable. More affordable and compact than the flagship Galaxy Watch, the Active cuts a nice balance. A newly discovered patent shows Samsung is working on a feature that would allow the Active to measure body composition of a wearer. The patent describes a device that uses bioelectrical readings to read composition. Such a device will use bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) to receive a reading of fat quantities and moisture through low energy alternating current (AC) based on electric resistance differences between adipose tissue and non-adipose tissue....

1 Share Sale2 Bigger Picture?3 Loyalty Last month, the company announced a bonanza fiscal 2018 financial performance. Microsoft’s share has risen to new heights after the company smashed through the $100 billion revenue barrier for the first time. Profit was high and just about all major company divisions have excelled. Right now is a good time to be a Microsoft shareholder. However, breaking several records means many think this may be the best Microsoft we will ever see....

Some of the additions for Insiders are already available in the wild. For example, the integration of Skype’s Meet Now tool in the Windows 10 system tray. While it seems like Microsoft Teams and Skype Meet Now are competing, that’s not really the case. Teams is much more focused towards enterprises with collaboration tools and more support for participants. It seems Meet Now is more suited to 1:1 meetings. Elsewhere in the latest Skype Insider update, Microsoft has made improvements for Android 11 users....

The PS4 has come out way ahead in recent times thanks to a strong exclusive lineup. 2018 saw the release of critically acclaimed titles like God of War and Spiderman, as well as remasters like Shadow of the Colussus and Spyro: Reignited. At this point, it seems the company has simply run out of games to reveal. “PlayStation fans mean the world to us and we always want to innovate, think differently and experiment with new ways to delight gamers....

This has some implications for users and Windows 10 as a platform. Firstly, it is the first time the service has been available for Windows 10 users. This is important because the platform has often (correctly) been accused of lacking important and popular applications. With more big-name developers on the store, it is more likely that others will follow suit. The addition of Spotify could also make the store more appealing to users....

Emulating the announcement of Ninja, Shroud celebrated the move with a short sketch. In it, he says he’s “making moves”, before a dramatic sequence that displays the Mixer platform on his dual monitors. Shortly after the announcement, the streamer hit 78,000 viewers on his “new home” playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Assumedly, Grzesiek penned a similar deal with Microsoft as Belvins, who may have been paid millions. — Michael Grzesiek (@shroud) October 24, 2019 With this tactic, Microsoft is essentially looking to buy viewers....

1 Study2 Smartphone Renaissance According to new information, Nokia is the best Android brand in terms of software security. Counterpoint Research found 96 percent of all Nokia smartphones sold since the third quarter of 2018 are running Android Pie or newer. Because of the fragmented nature of Android, the latest versions of the OS are more secure, but only a limited number of devices are on those latest versions. Nokia seems to have a good record of ensuring its newest smartphones are up to date....

All users can now take advantage of the 280 limit, so mybe cut off wrds will not be a prblm anymore. However, there is one caveat to this roll out. Twitter has only fully released the new limit for English, Latin languages, Germany, and other European languages. The company says Japanese, Korean, and Chinese users will not get the new limit. Twitter argues these languages are flexible enough to work in the frame of the previous 140-character limit....

Now the new Update Assistant for Microsoft’s highly anticipated Creators Update has leaked online. Microsoft enthusiast WalkingCat has leaked a test version of what appears to be the Update Assistant for the Windows 10 Creators Update. The version number of the leaked Assistant is 1703 and is not yet completely functional. https://twitter.com/h0x0d/status/845083858349449217 As mentioned before, Microsoft will roll out the Windows 10 Creators Update gradually, which means not all users will be able to get it from day 1....