As we know data breaches happen, but Marriott International admits this one was very serious. Indeed, the company says hackers have enjoyed access to Starwood Hotels since 2014. Over the four years since, the personal information of around 500 million guests may have been exposed. Of course, a lot of people have stayed in Starwood hotels since 2014. While Marriott cannot say how many people are affected, the number is surely in the hundreds of millions....

Following the UK were the United States, France, Belgium, and Germany rounding out the top 5. Still, Microsoft points out even the best countries still have plenty of work to do to ensure a truly safe online environment. Indeed, in the UK, people still reported receiving unwanted sexual messages or content, being subjected to offensive names, and getting messages from strangers. Microsoft says, “millennials were most likely to be affected by these negative experiences, with 62 percent admitting they had felt moderate to severe pain....

Since the launch of the platform last November, Microsoft has been staging the rollout of Windows 11. Essentially, some users get the upgrade from Windows 10 before others. With its graduation to broad deployment, the platform is now available via Windows Update for anyone who wants it. Of course, compatibility requirements are still in place. So, if your PC was not compatible with Windows 11 before, it still won’t be....

Both the decision to create Microsoft 365 and make it a standalone product have paid off. The proof continues to be in the pudding. During Microsoft’s fiscal 2020 (which ended last week), it seems Microsoft 365 was a standout performer. During its Q4 2020 earning call, the company wrapped up its financial 2020. Over the last quarter, Microsoft took $38 billion in revenue. Yes, it was another bumper performance from Microsoft as it continues to thrive and grow....

The dataset contains questions about a set of Wikipedia articles. Microsoft’s model reached new highs of 82.650 on the exact match portion, just beating out Alibaba, which submitted a score of 82.440. Both beat human performance, which is 82.304. By utilizing the technology behind its breakthrough, Microsoft hopes to provide an AI that’s more useful to consumers. However, that doesn’t just mean virtual assistants. The company is already applying earlier versions to its Bing search engine for more natural queries....

GE and Microsoft will pool their technology to help companies remove barriers preventing digital transformation. Microsoft Azure will now play a key role in GE Digital’s operations. The company will standardize its Predix solutions on Azure, integration Predix into Microsoft services such as Azure Data and Analytics and Azure IoT. The announcement was eager to emphasize this is a true partnership. To that end, Microsoft and GE Digital will sell IoT solutions together....

KPMG is a provider of Tax, Audit, and Advisory services globally and will roll out Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 to member organizations and clients. Both tools will be the collaboration and productivity suite of choice for KPMG’s 207,000 employees in 153 countries. Furthermore, the company will also embrace Microsoft’s Azure and Azure AI services as a preferred cloud partner. Specifically, Azure will spearhead KPMG’s upcoming global cloud platform. All aspects of the partnership are based on a five-year agreement....

Now, the two tech juggernauts are now allowing select previews for Network Edge Compute (NEC) technology. This is an integration of Microsoft Azure in AT&T network edge locations. With the combination, Azure services will be more readily available to customers. AT&T Network Cloud (a virtual software driven 5G core) can now offer Azure services. NEC is only available so far in Dallas, and even there only for select users. Microsoft says the technology will make its way to select customers in Atlanta and Los Angeles in 2020....

The first is that Cortana is now available on Apple’s mobile platform for customers in the United Kingdom. Secondly, Microsoft has also updated the app with a new design. Android users have had both of these things since last year. Microsoft announced it would bring Cortana to the UK on both Android and iOS in December. Google’s platform scored the app shortly after, but iOS users have been left waiting....

Clear Software is based in Zionsville, Indiana, and is a provider of enterprise-grade automation technologies. Microsoft partner general manager Stephen Siciliano confirmed the deal in an official blog post. Siciliano says the addition to Power Apps/Power Automate will foster a “more seamless experience” for users of those platforms to develop automations for Oracle, SAP, and other systems: “Organizations depend on their business applications to work seamlessly across many different systems and data stores....

With this release, Chromium Edge on the Dev channel has moved to build 84.0.495.2. While the update is largely focused on fixing known issues, it does add some new features. The most notable is SmartScreen, that helps users to more efficiently block unwanted applications. SmartScreen is a tool that was once built into Microsoft Outlook to weed out spam emails. Microsoft removed the feature from Outlook back in 2016. Elsewhere in build 84....

While Microsoft has still not said how much it paid for Cloudyn, the figure is thought to be between $50 million and $70 million. Cloudyn is a company that monitors and enhances cloud storage capabilities. Based in Israel, it has built a reputation for improving cloud services and has worked with several cloud vendors. Founded in 2011, Cloudyn will now receive the full backing or Microsoft. Indeed, it is possible the company will eventually be folded into Azure....

Of course, when this appeared in build 15002, it was thought Microsoft would ready if for the Creators Update. The feature update for Windows 10 shipped to PC users last week, sans any throttling abilities. Microsoft has clearly missed the chance to ship Power Throttling with the Creators Update, or simply never planned for its to be released this soon. Instead, the new capability has now been announced as a feature for Redstone 3....

Again, Microsoft has not been ignoring the service. This is a major update leap from 2.0 to 3.0, but the actual bump is from TypeScript version 2.8 to TypeScript version 3.0. The most significant changes in this release include the “unknown” becoming a type. This means unknown can now longer be used for type declarations and is now a specific reserved type. As usual with a major version release, numerous API breaking changes....

Of the biggest additions is individual page distribution for teachers. Insiders can now give a page only to certain students, or create custom groups to distribute page variants or other changes. Further, users can now distribute multiple pages at once, or sub-pages by shift or ctrl selecting. They can also review pages that were distributed in a nested student group, or review a distributed page across multiple Class Notebook classes....

Last month, we reported on Microsoft’s decision to shutter its Surface Plus program. This was a financing program that allowed customers to spread the cost of a Surface device. When Surface Plus closed, it looked as though the payment plans was gone. Instead, Microsoft announced Surface All Access yesterday. After its event in New York City, the company expanded on the new program, including prices. “Surface All Access makes it easy to start working right away with your Surface, accessories, and Office 365 subscription—with one low monthly price for 24 months, world-class protection, in-store training, and dedicated customer support....

Known as “Aikido”, the PoC does work and Microsoft has already confirmed that Microsoft Defender was open to the vulnerability. The company says it has already rolled out a patch to fix the flaw. Yair called the attack Aikido after the martial art that relies on using opponents’ moves against them. It is a fitting name because the PoC does just that, taking the tools of anti-malware software and fooling them....

“After this week, we have no plans to add additional Original Xbox or Xbox 360 titles to the catalog on Xbox One,” Microsoft wrote in a blog post today. That’s bad news, but it is worth explaining exactly what Microsoft plans are. The company is not abandoning its idea of backward compatibility. Instead, the company will not release any more original Xbox and Xbox 360 games for the Xbox One....

Microsoft has officially announced the native VPN built into its web browser. This is an affiliate service, which means it does not come directly from Microsoft. Instead, the Microsoft Edge Secure Network is powered by Cloudflare. While it comes from a third party, Microsoft says all diagnostic and data is completely deleted every 24 hours. Importantly, this is a free VPN, although there is a cap of 1GB of data....

Microsoft has been offering the “Surf Game” to all Edge users since early 2020, after previously previewing it. It is an 8-bit retro title that plays directly within the company’s Chromium-based web browser. To celebrate the Holiday Season 2021, Microsoft is updating the game. You will be swapping the tropical backdrop and blue waves for a snowy slope and slalom skiing. Can you complete the course by avoiding obstacles like trees, rocks, buildings, and flags?...