Snag the Surface Pro 9 for $600 off with this crazy Prime Day deal
Grab Microsoft's latest Surface Pro 9 PC at a mouth-watering discount this Amazon Prime Day sale.
If you're on the lookout for a new laptop or convertible PC in the latest Amazon Prime Day sale, you may want to consider Microsoft's latest Surface Pro offering. The Intel Core i7-powered Surface Pro 9 with 16GB of RAM is now available for 28% off its regular price, allowing customers to save a staggering $600 on the latest Amazon Prime Day offerings.
Save $100 on the small, but powerful Xbox Series S in this amazing Prime Day deal
Save a bunch on one of the most affordable ways to get into current-gen console gaming.
It's that time of the year again. Amazon's Prime Day sale is upon us, which means there are a lot of opportunities to save money on your favorite products. Although there are several fantastic deals out there for PC gamers, the console crowd hasn't been left out in the cold. In fact, one of the most affordable ways to get into current-gen console gaming is now available for even cheaper. On this Prime Day, you can save a whopping 33% off the list price of the Xbox Series S and grab it for just $199 instead of the usual $299. This is the lowest price we've seen for this affordable console. But don't let its low price fool you.
Microsoft fixes camera problems on Arm-based Windows devices
If you use an Arm-based Windows device and are running into camera issues, keep an eye out on Windows Update.
Microsoft releases Windows updates on a monthly basis bringing new features, improvements, and bug fixes. In fact, updates for supported versions of Windows are expected today as well, as the firm initiates these rollouts on the second Tuesday of each month, known as "Patch Tuesday". However, sometimes, its releases cause unforeseen issues that are usually patched in the subsequent monthly update or through out-of-band updates. Now, Microsoft has announced that it has resolved one such niggling issue affecting Arm-based Windows devices.
Windows 11 version 21H2 is reaching end of support soon
If you are still on the original release of Windows 11, you may want to consider upgrading sooner rather than later.
Windows 11 was announced back in June 2021 and began rolling out to the public on October 5 of the same year. Since then, the operating system has received multiple major updates including the Windows 11 2022 Update (version 22H2), and Moment updates in October 2022, February 2023, and June 2023. With numerous versions of Windows 11 now available, Microsoft has announced that it is ending support for the original version of the operating system soon.
Access powerful workstations in the cloud through Microsoft Dev Box, now generally available
Microsoft Dev Box offers cloud-powered workstations with up to 32 vCPU, 128GB RAM, and 2TB of storage for $629/month.
Although Microsoft already offers Windows PCs powered by the cloud through multiple solutions including Windows 365, these workstations do not usually cater to specialized use-cases and have long deployment times. One scenario that Microsoft felt that it had been missing for several years is offering powerful cloud-based workstations to developers, pre-configured and ready for building applications. To tackle this problem, the Redmond tech firm announced Microsoft Dev Box in May 2022, and now, the solution is generally available.
Now anyone can put their Android app on Windows 11
Amazon is encouraging Android developers to reach the desktop market through its Windows 11 Appstore support.
Although support for Android apps on Windows 11 was one of the headlining features when the operating system was announced back in 2021, users quickly found out that only a handful of apps in the Amazon Appstore are officially supported in the preview. Even with this limited scope, the associated experience offered by Android apps on Windows 11 wasn't good, and the implementation had a lot of notable issues. However, Amazon and Microsoft have been working out some kinks and the Amazon Appstore on Windows 11 has now hit general availability for developers.
Your next medical consultation could be assisted by Google's AI chatbot
Google's AI chatbot is reportedly being tested in several real hospitals since April 2023, paving the way for AI-powered healthcare.
Following the hype created by Microsoft Bing and OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google is arguably playing catch-up to the competition. After the lukewarm initial release of Bard, Google announced that it is moving its AI-powered search chatbot to the PaLM 2 language model back in May. Alongside this, it also shared models for Sec-PaLM2 and Med-PaLM2 for those in the cybersecurity and the medical industry, respectively. It turns out that the latter of these two large language models (LLMs) is already being trialed in real environments.
Here are all the new features Microsoft added to Teams in June 2023
Microsoft added a whopping 45 features and enhancements to Teams during June 2023, including Spatial audio and a new chat density.
Microsoft Teams gets new features on a regular basis to enhance online communication and collaboration. Back in May 2023, Microsoft added loads of features to the software in order to attract new customers and facilitate the existing ones. Now, the company has published a roundup of all the capabilities it introduced to Teams in June 2023, with the features totaling a whopping 45 in number.
Here are all the new features Microsoft added to Excel in June 2023
Microsoft has added a boatload of features to Excel this month across multiple platforms including web, Windows, and Mac.
Microsoft Excel is heavily utilized both in enterprise environments and personal use for multiple scenarios like data crunching, visualizations, testing, documentation, and planning, among many other things. As such, the Redmond tech giant regularly adds new features to the software to make sure it meets emerging use-cases and enhances existing ones. It also publishes a roundup of all the capabilities it added to Excel on a monthly basis, and now, it has done the same for the month of June 2023.
Xbox Game Pass is coming to Nvidia GeForce Now with Age of Empires IV leading the charge
Nvidia GeForce Now gamers can rejoice as Xbox Game Pass titles are making their way to the service at no additional cost.
A few months ago, Microsoft announced that it is bringing Xbox and Activision games to Nvidia GeForce Now. While games from the latter of the two are seemingly on hold as Microsoft works to close its $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company has stayed true to its word on the one thing that it can do right now: bringing Xbox games to Nvidia's streaming service. Starting today, Xbox Game Pass games are coming to Nvidia GeForce Now, with Age of Empires IV leading the charge.
Microsoft Teams is getting collaborative notes in meetings
Collaborative meeting notes are now rolling out to Teams customers and they do exactly what they say on the tin.
Online communication and collaboration is a key focus area for hybrid work environments, and it is important for software like Microsoft Teams to keep up with this demand. Microsoft regularly updates Teams with new features and improvements to continue enticing new users. Now, it has added a very useful functionality to Teams in the form of collaborative meeting notes.
Win32 app isolation is now in public preview, here is what it does
Win32 app isolation is a nifty security capability that Microsoft introduced in Windows 11 last month, this is how it works.
At its annual Build conference last month, Microsoft announced the ability to run Win32 apps in isolation on Windows 11. The company didn't go into a lot of detail in its initial blog post, but it highlighted the option to run Win32 apps in a sandbox environment so that the rest of the operating system is secure from potentially malicious software. Now, it has revealed more information about this particular capability, including how it works and fits into the rest of the security infrastructure of Windows.
WhatsApp is getting video messages and a new callback feature soon
WhatsApp Beta has received updates across multiple platforms, with new features that will likely please many.
WhatsApp has been rolling out lots of new features and improvements in its recent beta releases, like the ability to send HD pictures to other users, as well as an upgraded UI and screensharing for Android. Meta has now updated WhatsApp Beta across multiple platforms, enabling the ability to record and send video messages to other users, as well as leverage a new callback functionality.
Microsoft offers workaround for SMB authentication failing in Windows 11
SMB signing was enabled by default in Windows 11 Insider Enterprise editions recently, causing some failures. Microsoft now has a workaround.
Over a year ago, Microsoft announced that it will no longer ship Windows 11 Home with Server Message Block version 1 (SMB1), since it is a very old network security protocol that has been considered insecure for some time and has been succeeded by newer iterations. That said, SMB is still present in Windows 11, and in fact, the company made SMB signing the default behavior in Windows Insider Enterprise builds earlier this month. However, Microsoft has learned that SMB authentication is failing in certain scenarios, and as such, it has now offered a workaround for the issue.
You may use the Logitech Scribe camera to present a physical whiteboard in Google Meet soon
Google is adding a nifty feature called "content cameras" to Meet that will enable users to conveniently share a physical whiteboard in a meeting.
It has become increasingly important in this era of hybrid work to have tools that allow you to efficiently communicate and collaborate with people across different physical locations. Apps such as Microsoft Teams and Google Meet are regularly updated in this regard to meet the need of both personal and enterprise consumers. The latter is now receiving support for a useful capability that should make it easier to share content in a hybrid working environment.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 will reportedly get optimized Google apps for the cover display
Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 5 reportedly contains customizations from Google that will likely please many.
Samsung has a pretty solid track record when it comes to releasing foldable phones, with the Galaxy Z Fold 4, Fold 3, and Flip 4 all making appearances in our picks for the best foldable phones that you can buy in 2023. The company is expected to release its Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 handsets this year, with some renders of the latter leaking a few weeks ago. Now, some more interesting details have been revealed about the Galaxy Z Flip 5.
UK government will get early access to OpenAI and Google's AI models for safety purposes
During London Tech Week 2023, the UK government has announced that it will receive priority access to certain AI models for safety purposes.
Artifical intelligence applications are all the rage these days with big tech firms investing millions of dollars in the space. We recently learned that the PaLM 2-powered Google Bard is getting better at solving coding and mathematical questions, while both Bing Chat and ChatGPT continue to showcase stellar performance across a variety of use-cases. However, with the increasing prevalence of AI systems, it's important to be cautious about their applications too. The UK government is now looking to take steps in this direction with early access to some popular AI models.
Google Bard is much better at solving coding and mathematical questions now
Google has rolled out new capabilities for Bard which make it better at answering logical and coding questions.
Although Microsoft's Bing Chat seems to be the front-runner when it comes to AI-powered search assistance, Google's Bard is slowly catching up in terms of functionalities and features. The Mountain View firm recently enriched its AI search interface with image integration too. Now, it has updated Bard with better logical reasoning skills so that it can respond to mathematical and coding questions more accurately.
Mozilla Firefox now allows you to search for bookmarks
Mozilla Firefox 114 is now available with lots of new features including searching for bookmarks and enhancements to browser history.
Mozilla Firefox is among the best web browsers that you can use right now and while it isn't as feature-rich as the market leader, Google Chrome, Mozilla still updates it with new capabilities regularly. Now, the company has rolled out version 114 of the browser with several interesting changes.
Here are all the new features Microsoft added to Teams in May 2023
Microsoft added a boatload of features to Teams during May 2023, with improvements across the board for chat, call, security, collaboration, and more.
Microsoft Teams is one of the most popular online communication and collaboration tools, especially in work environments. Microsoft regularly updates it with new features to attract more customers and also publishes a monthly roundup of all the capabilities it added to its software, similar to Excel. Now, it has revealed a detailed list of the numerous functionalities and improvements it added to Teams during the month of May 2023.