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One of those appears to be a LinkedIn employee, which is technically a Microsoft subsidiary after its $26 billion acquisition. Neither employee came into contact with the other, meaning they were infected with COVID-19 separately. Thankfully, LinkedIn says its employee did not have any contact with other employees when infected. “Local health experts have determined that this individual had no known contact with other employees while infected and, based on that fact, there is no risk to those who work at LinkedIn from this case,” a spokesperson said....

1 AzureOps Changes2 Azure Update Management If you are unfamiliar with Azure Availability Zones, it is a datacenter within an Azure cloud region. The zones give added support for Microsoft’s cloud products such as SQL Database and Azure Virtual Machines. Microsoft says it has now expanded Azure Availability Zones into the West U.S. 2 and North Europe Azure regions. With this expansion, Availability Zones are available in the following regions:...

The update that caused the issues was a Windows security update that landed on October 11 alongside the overall Patch Tuesday releases. It resulted in affected Windows 11 2022 Update devices seeing the error SEC_E_ILLEGAL_MESSAGE within apps that are connected to servers. Microsoft is now sending out KB5018496 preview cumulative update to remedy the problem: “We address an issue that might affect some types of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) connections....

Microsoft Forms is a platform that helps professionals and educators create content in minutes. Forms can be surveys, feedback forms, or quizzes. They can be shared with anyone and form owners can see results of completed forms in real time. Thanks to its compatibility for any browser and ease of use, organizations have embraced Forms. Microsoft says the aptly titled Forms Pro will offer a more comprehensive survey service for businesses....

Produced by design agency Tendril, the videos show a level of polish and production quality typically reserved for hardware launches, such as Surface devices. This points to Microsoft wanting to put more energy into its software products in an ever-increasingly competitive marketplace. Of course, the services Microsoft is sexing up are hugely functional. Tools like Tasks and Yammer are mundane even if they get the job done. Microsoft’s videos make them seem like must-have exciting products....

Last year, the company sued Fancy Bear in a federal court outside DC on the grounds of trademark infringement, computer intrusion, and cybersquatting. The quiet case has now made it into the public eye, as have Microsoft’s motivations. The Most Vulnerable Point The Redmond giant is going for blood, attacking Fancy Bear’s “most vulnerable point”. The calculated move is intended not to drag its members into court, but instead grab its command-and-control points....

As before, the emulator is good news for developers who want to see how the HoloLens 2 UWP functions, but don’t have $3,500 for the headset. Visual Studio is integrated into the emulator, and Microsoft says users need Hyper-V for it to function: “The HoloLens emulator allows you to test holographic apps on your PC without a physical HoloLens and comes with the HoloLens development toolset. The emulator uses a Hyper-V virtual machine....

According to ZDNet, a hacker is selling email and password account information targeting Microsoft Office 365 accounts. Because these are C-suite level executives, it means the potential victims are high-up executives such as CEO, CFO, and COO of companies. The hacker in question is now selling those credentials through an ad on Exploit.in. If you are unfamiliar with this location, it is a forum for Russian hackers. To show the credentials are legitimate, the attacker has posted login information for a UK business management consulting agency executive and those from the president of a U....

The information was presented by threat intelligence analyst Ben Nahorney on the Cisco Security blog. Citing information for security firm Agari Data, Nahorney says the number of phishing emails sent to users pretending to be from Microsoft has increased. In fact, bad actors impersonating the Redmond giant now accounts for over half all phishing attacks during the last quarter. Another security firm, Avanan, doubled down on this data in its annual phishing report....

It is worth noting Microsoft has still not put an official date on the launch of Project xCloud. However, the company has already confirmed the service will launch sometime in October. We do know the first preview run will be limited to a “small number of participants”. The number of games will also be limited. “In the first phase of the Project xCloud public preview, featured games will be Gears 5, Halo 5: Guardians, Killer Instinct and Sea of Thieves,” explains a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge....

Reveled this week and available immediately, the new repo allows WinDev users to see issues that may affect them on Windows. Microsoft will use the repository to gather and catalog problems in the dev cycle for the Windows 10 platform. “We created this repo to enable developers who use Windows to submit & discuss issues directly to Windows engineering teams who don’t already have a repo of their own, whether the issues you uncover are to do with using Windows itself, or running your code on Windows,” says Rich Turner, Senior Program Manager, Windows Developer Team....

“After 10 years and 100 million repositories, we’re only just getting started,” he said. “Thanks to our users, we’re building something bigger than any single repository or project—a community that’s pushing software forward in tangible ways. So thank you for building with us now and in the years to come. “ Despite the initial jump ship during Microsoft’s acquisition, GitHub now boasts 31 million developers and 1.1 billion contributions. A new repository is created every 1....

If you are unfamiliar with fisheye cameras, they hold lenses that allow them to see a complete 360-degree view. It is worth noting this is not a technology Microsoft is inventing as it has been around for years. However, the recently published Microsoft Patent plans to utilize fisheye camera technology differently. Specifically, the company wants to use AI to improve how ambient capture devices work. Typically, these capture devices need multiple cameras to be able to cover the 360-degree field of view (FoV)....

However, a new patent suggests the company is thinking about solutions that will make things much more natural. “A virtual reality headset system with an area configured to change its opacity. The virtual reality headset system is configured to provide an immersive experience, but also allow a user to see at least part of the outside world,” reads the patent. “The headset has a housing which partially encloses a display....

Furthermore, the company is continuing to prepare Cortana for supporting voice commands. A recent Microsoft patent details voice input for third-parties using Cortana. The technology follows a previous patent for supporting silent voice control. Voice commands for Cortana are already available on may third-party service. In fact, voice input is a major part of the service’s abilities. However, the patent points out a method for mapping the assistant’s native voice for numerous reasons....

A Microsoft Patent for the Surface Pen was filed in August 2016 and published earlier this week. Microsoft describes the company’s efforts to create a printed circuit board that would be placed in a battery-powered pen. “A device and a method for manufacturing of a printed circuit board for installing in a battery-powered device, the method including mounting on a printed circuit board (PCB) a PCB surface mount component comprising a planar mount configured to be mounted on the PCB and a kinetic energy absorption element with a battery contact on a distal end of the energy absorption element, and trimming the PCB out of a panel comprising the PCB and a border around the PCB....

Those mixed reviews have been effusive in praise for the Surface Duo hardware. This is a thin, high-end, and well-engineered handset that reviewers love. However, they were less happy about the way the Duo works. Microsoft is now aiming to solve this problem with a major software update. Thanks to the Duo running year-old specs thanks to being announced in 2019, there was a worry the device would not be a good performer....

The project has also changed slightly. Microsoft Pluton is a security chip platform that will replace the company’s existing Trusted Platform Module (TPM). However, it builds on TPM and makes some improvements to create more security for Windows devices. TPM is a component of Windows 10 that stores important data, such as user information for sensitive tools. It keeps this information separate from other Windows system, making it harder for attackers to gain access....

Naturally talking up his company over its competitor, Smith said Microsoft “welcomes” employee dissent on its projects, from both employees and shareholders. “Every time we hear from our employees, we have the opportunity to learn,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that we’ll necessarily reach the same conclusion, but we do get smarter.” Indeed, Microsoft employees have protested several of the company’s decisions in the past few years. They criticized its partnership with oil giant Chevron, its bid for the JEDI cloud contract, and its involvement with the ICE....

Ok, the truth is this was in the works for a while, but it is good to see Microsoft being proactive again with Cortana. The company has recently removed the assistant from Dynamics 365 and many have speculated the company will eventually retire Cortana. Today’s news should cool those rumors as Redmond seems to want to expand Cortana support this year. The company says it is making it easier for manufacturers to implement Cortana Devices SDK into products....