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“We welcome dialogue with our employees on a continuous basis,” Nadella said. “When this first came up we had the dialogue and we made a principled decision that we’re not going to withhold technology from institutions that we have elected in democracies to protect the freedoms we enjoy.” The military contract comes under the US’ Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS). Its intention is to improve the lethality of soldiers via advanced sensors and cognitive training....

Ok, woo, hardly something big. However, it is interesting because the addition once again brings Skype closer to Snapchat. The redesign of the platform threw in plenty of Snapchat references. Microsoft was wearing its creative inspiration on its sleeve and was aiming for a market Skype does not necessarily command. The new photo effects are found in the Skype Highlights. The effects are described as “smart, whimsical effects, like quirky face stickers and witty captions....

Much like photo efforts from Google, Apple, and more, the feature uses AI to detect participants face, hair, hands, and arms. However, this is one of the first mass-market implementations of the technique in real-time video. The idea is to make it easier to focus on the user rather than their surroundings. They should also feel less need to clean or tidy before a call, with the objects behind them falling into a nice bokeh....

Slack says it reached 12.5 million concurrent users this week. This was a record for the company, which competes with Microsoft Teams in the workplace chat market. The user record for simultaneous active users shows the ongoing demand amid the coronavirus outbreak. Throughout the month Slack has been observing consistent user growth. The Verge reports the company had 10 million concurrent users on March 10. Six days later on March 16, the number increased to 10....

Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We’re just collecting error info, And then we’ll restart for you. ( 65 % Completed ) If you’d like to know more, you can search online later for this error kmode exception not handled Most of the time incorrectly configured device drivers can cause this type of error. Also corrupted registry database, Driver confliction issue of installing new hardware and bed memory (RAM) module results this BSOD Error....

Some users are reporting they are getting a hybrid experience of Windows 11 and Windows 10. Specifically, they are reporting they get Windows 11 however with the Windows 10 taskbar. This seems to be going down when users install the platform using Microsoft’s Update Assistant. If you might be unfamiliar with the Update Assistant, this can be a software users can access to do a clean install of Windows 11....

App researcher Jane Manchun Wong discovered information that shows the app will support voice activation. Users will be able to start voice commands by opening with “Hey Spotify”. Unfortunately, it seems the tool will only work when the app opens. In other words, you won’t be able to access Spotify from elsewhere on a device through your voice. It is worth noting Spotify’s music streaming rivals already have their own integrated voice commands....

Spotify has traded square boxes for a more rounded look while bringing in a new background gradient. In general, it’s a lighter offering, which is bad for fans of dark themes but does look notably better. Background Music Improvements It’s clearly the biggest change since its debut last August, and with it comes a number of new features. One of the most useful is an enhancement to Spotify’s background music feature, which can now show 20 additional playlists under the media controls....

This includes additions to the DisplayMask API. It now sports a bounding rectangle relative to the display metrics based on app context. An empty list with no interaction will be returned when it’s running in a single screen, while dual-screen usage will show a bounding rectangle that displays the position of the hardware hinge. Speaking of DisplayMetrics, Microsoft has resolved some of those weird issues with the way size is reported to an app....

LG batteries seem to be unaffected by the issue, and it’s unclear where the problems are coming from in the SIMPLO line. A firmware update could be responsible, or the batteries themselves could be faulty. Microsoft’s Response The complaints began to surface in May, and Microsoft has finally issued a statement to The Verge on the matter: “We are aware of some customers reporting a scenario with their Surface Pro 3 batteries in which the system is reporting lower battery capacity than expected....

Do you have a dream to one day say “¡Yo hablo Español!” and join the 577 million people around the world who speak Spanish? Perhaps you don’t have the time or money for an entire Spanish course and are looking for something more flexible to learn? Maybe you want to learn Spanish on the road, take a quick lesson at lunchtime, on the bus, or right before bed? If that sounds like you, learning Spanish with apps is the perfect solution!...

Though some of the issues were linked to the removal of a protective film, others weren’t. The Verge’s Dieter Bohn did not pull off the protector but experienced a bump in the screen, assumedly due to an object entering between the hinge and display. “While many reviewers shared with us the vast potential they see, some also showed us how the device needs further improvements that could ensure the best possible user experience,” said the company....

Your online presence is critical because it is what allows people to find your brand, connect with it, and learn to know, like, and trust it. However, if you know where to begin, creating an online presence may be less time-consuming and unpleasant. An online presence is the total of all of your online brand identities (personal and professional) and the relationships those identities have developed and engaged in. Your online presence has a huge reach, and if it’s done right, it can help you build brand recognition and win you fans, followers, leads, customers, and everything else you might desire for your company....

The Home Office today announced its own AI program that is designed to stop extremist content. Specifically, the AI will focus on finding, mitigating, and removing Islamic State (IS) propaganda. In a statement, the Home Office said the tool works at a 99.99 percent rate. In taking a proactive approach, the office also condemned tech giants for “consciously failing” to take enough action to stop extremism spreading online. However, some opponents have criticized the measure and claim it will lead to false imprisonments....

Yes, every single Nintendo Switch (around 15 million sold) could be hacked because of the flaw. Hacker Katherine Temkin and ReSwitched published details on the Fusée Gelée coldboot vulnerability. The team also showed a proof-of-concept for an exploit that opens the Switch to attack. At its core, the exploit uses a flaw found in the Tegra X1’s USB recovery mode. This chip’s bootROM should have lock-out processes to prevent exploits, but for some reason it does not work for this flaw....

“Iranian regime actors and proxies are increasingly using destructive ‘wiper’ attacks, looking to do much more than just steal data and money. These efforts are often enabled through common tactics like spear phishing, password spraying, and credential stuffing. What might start as an account compromise, where you think you might just lose data, can quickly become a situation where you’ve lost your whole network,” said CISA director Christopher C. Krebs in a statement....

Facebook has confirmed the vulnerability (CVE-2019-18426). In an advisory, the company said the attack would need the user to click a link. “Description: A vulnerability in WhatsApp Desktop when paired with WhatsApp for iPhone allows cross-site scripting and local file reading. Exploiting the vulnerability requires the victim to click a link preview from a specially crafted text message. “Affected Versions: WhatsApp Desktop prior to v0.3.9309 paired with WhatsApp for iPhone versions prior to 2....

As users report on the Microsoft forum Note: With Windows 10 update KB4284835, Microsoft has fixed an issue causing systems to boot to a black screen after upgrading to Windows 10 version 1803. Also fixed an issue where users report after upgrade to the windows 10 April 2018 update desktop became blank and shows “location not available” Where company explains that the issues occurred because of compatibility issues with previous updates to the Windows 10 April 2018 Update....

The latest version of the app introduces some UI changes. Currently in testing on the Insider, the update should reach end users soon. At the heart of this update is a new visual design that makes the Calculator look more modern. The improvement is small but noticeable. More importantly, it brings the app up to speed with Microsoft’s general aesthetic plans for Windows 10. Yes, I am talking about Fluent Design, the company’s evolving UI that is introducing elements incrementally....

You see, Microsoft would like to remove the Control Panel and has been ceding features to the Settings app for years. However, the company has never been able to cut the cord entirely. In the latest twist, the Redmond giant is taking a step further in its goal to kill off the Control Panel (this writer prefers the Control Panel, by the way). Microsoft is now actively redirecting users from the Control Panel to the Settings app....