Known as the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2020, the draft legislation from the Department of Home Affairs wants to make amendments to the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018. Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton believes the proposal improves the 2018 act by creating “an enhanced framework to uplift the security and resilience of Australia’s critical infrastructure”. In other words, the reach of the 2018 Act would extend to more sectors, such as communications, data and cloud, food and grocery, defence, research, health, transport, and higher education....

If you are unfamiliar with Game Bar, it is a feature for PC gamers on the platform. It offers quick access to settings and abilities, such as game recording and screenshots. Sure, most users already use third-party apps for these needs, but Microsoft wants to improve Game Bar. According to a report from Thurrott, code in Redstone 4 build 17046 shows what some of the improvements will be. For example, Microsoft will remove the Xbox Live avatar from the bar, replacing it with a Gamertag....

Analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities believes Microsoft will push to release before the PS5. “I’m sure Microsoft intends to launch first, and I am equally certain that the new Xbox will be backwards compatible with any Xbox One X software,” Pachter said in a conversation with GamingBolt. It is unclear why Microsoft wants to beat Sony to the 9th generation console market. The most obvious answer is the company wants to get a sales head start on its rival....

I can probably predict your two questions. What is a Download-A-Thon, and what’s the point? First, let’s tackle the easier question. The Download-A-Thon is something that the folks at Firefox have come up with to show off the speed of its updated new browser. Even if you are not hitting the stores this Cyber Monday, there is a chance you will be making a purchase online. The day is so busy that many sites crash and simply buying that laptop on the cheap becomes a frustrating experience....

After the CEOs repeated denials to give evidence, lawmakers decided to quiz Facebook’s European Policy Chief Richard Allan. But in a symbolic gesture, it left an empty chair with the name tag ‘Mark Zuckerberg’. For his part, Allan apologized for Zuckerberg’s absence and did not sit in the CEOs seat. However, questions about the company’s conduct remain largely unanswered. In particular, the committee asked about documents seized by the UK last week....

Of course, we know what happened in the time between the cancellation and now. Microsoft bought the Lumia brand and since Windows as a mobile platform has all but collapsed. It may be too romantic to look back on 2014 as a good time for the OS, but it was a time that offered promise. The Nokia Mercury is arguably a prime example of that promise. This tablet looked like an oversized Lumia smartphone, and while it just looks okay in 2017, back in 2014 it would have been a desirable slate....

New work norms post-pandemic are gaining ground. If not so long ago you were taken aback by the impressive number of companies who’ve had their employees work remotely, now there’s another trend that’s surprising: the Metaverse. Work transcends place and time, so no doubt big companies like Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, Roblox etc. will succeed in creating something beautiful which combines both work and virtual space. We might not live to see those days, but it’s still an interesting topic to acknowledge....

With 136 countries on board, the deal will cover 90% of global GDP when it comes into effect in 2023. It is clear the deal is a major step forward in preventing tech companies from avoiding tax payments by operating in favorable countries. However, OECD is eager to point out the deal does not eliminate tax competition. What it does do is ensure countries get tax payments. It is worth noting the agreement only covers companies with revenues of €750 million or more....

Live Events has been in preview on Office 365 since last year. As the name suggests, it is broadcasting tool for enterprise users. Christina Torok, senior product marketing manager for Microsoft Stream, says events can be big productions or small-scale. While focused on broadcasting, the service also features some basic production tools. “Live events in Microsoft 365 enables anyone to create live and on-demand events that deliver compelling communications to employees....

In an announcement today, Parallels revealed it worked in partnership with Google to allow Windows apps to work on Chrome OS. However, the company points out apps will be limited to Enterprise users. Interestingly, Google does not seem overly enthused by this development. While the company worked with Parallels, the company only offered one line in a blog post to confirm the announcement. As for the collaboration, Parallels says it will bring the following benefits:...

Indeed, the company has been warning users for the last two years that MS Paint will be removed. However, Aggiornamenti Lumia has found the Product Alert has now been taken down. Discovered in the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview Build, it is unclear what the removal of the notice means. The most obvious meaning is that Microsoft has decided not to kill off MS Paint. Although, it could also mean the company is now ready to take down the app entirely and has no need for the notice....

The change should let gamers quickly figure out if they’d be interested in a title without having to launch it. At the same, it means the company can push games that are trending, or perhaps ones that have great gameplay but aren’t doing quite as well as expected. “When you open up the Xbox Game Streaming preview app, you’ll see a set of trailers for five different games you can swipe through at your leisure....

Dominance in the mobile market is something Qualcomm was eager to talk about. The company says every smartphone contains some of its software. The next step is 5G (due first half of 2019) and the transformation of computing to a mobile experience. Of course, this means Windows 10 on ARM. Qualcomm says mobile has become the driving platform for IoT, networking, mobile and automotive. However, no mention was made about mobile and virtual/mixed reality....

Back in February, Qualcomm announced the Xtended Reality (XR) platform. At the time, it was thought the company would simply embed XR into the upcoming Snapdragon 845 processor. While the 845 will still support XR, the introduction of the Snapdragon XR1 provides OEMs with a dedicated chip. Leveraging artificial intelligence, the Snapdragon XR1 Platform can optimize XR performance and offer improved efficiency and power managements. The upside of the processor is it will allow OEMs to integrate processing directly into devices, such as headsets....

The OS its referencing is Microsoft’s Windows 10X. Though the company has been working on it for a while, it won’t be launching its first device with it (Surface Neo) until late next year. Further, its own device is a dual-screen display, rather than a flexible one. Thanks to the delay, it’s unlikely Intel will show off the 17-inch device until at least mid-2020. Intel wanted the device partly to show to OEMs and get the foldable ball rolling....

Microsoft says many tools could arrive as early as December, but some are extending further into the SharePoint Online roadmap. Perhaps the most noteworthy addition is a new site performance page. Available to editors and owners of SharePoint websites, the page provides a ranking system based on color (red to green like traffic lights) to show the “health” of a page. “Page health measures page performance which impacts the viewing experience and the page’s ability to engage viewers and serve its purpose....

The feature is available across Android, iPhone, iPad, Linux, Mac, Windows, and Windows 10. It works on both group calls and one-on-one, in both audio and video. “The live captions & subtitles feature provides a more inclusive experience for everyone in the Skype community, especially for people who are deaf or hard of hearing,” said the Skype team in a blog post. “Skype has been hard at work at making our features more inclusive, and live captions & subtitles are just one way we made Skype calls more accessible....

Like Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus allows users to access some PS4 games for free under a subscription model. However, with the launch of the PS5, Sony added an interesting and confusing quirk to the platform. Specifically, the company only allows players to claim the free PS4 games through a PS5. Once they have redeemed the game, they can play it on PlayStation 4 (as well as PS5). However, most PS4 owners with PlayStation Plus do not yet have the PS5....

Like its rivals, Dell is getting the details of the launch out of the way, allowing CES 2018 to be a pure showcase for its products. The Dell XPS is entering an increasingly competitive field that includes Microsoft’s Surface Book 2 and HP’s x360 Spectre. Of course, there is also Apple’s MacBook products on the other side of the OS fence. These days, simply having a well spec’d machine is not enough....

It’s now acknowledged that the issue can only be solved via a replacement. Microsoft is offering affected users a replacement Surface Pro 4 free of charge, up to three years from the date of purchase. “Creating the best products and experiences for our customers is our top priority. We have heard your feedback and after careful examination, have determined that a small percentage of Surface Pro 4 devices are exhibiting a screen flicker that cannot be addressed with a firmware or driver update,” said a spokesperson....