Microsoft has announced plans to acquire npm Inc, the company behind popular JavaScript package manager npm.

No details of the amount of money involved have been revealed, nor the timing of the acquisition, but Microsoft says that it plans to integrate npm into GitHub. Both companies feels that acquisition will help the open source community in general, but the JavaScript community in particular.

Continue reading →

Microsoft is no stranger to using nag screens to annoy Windows 10 users, and now the company is back to its old tricks again. After installing the latest batch of update for the operating system, users are being confronted with a full-screen "Get even more out of Windows" message.

The nag screen encourages users to investigate other Microsoft products such as Your Phone, Windows Hello, Office 365 and OneDrive. It's part of what Microsoft describes as "post-upgrade setup".

Continue reading →

Earlier today, Microsoft revealed a ton of new information about its upcoming new game console -- the terribly named Xbox Series X. This is just three months after the game system was first unveiled to the world. Despite its terrible name, the Xbox Series X is looking to be an incredibly powerful console. The AMD-powered system features 12 Teraflops of power, 4K gaming, and an insane 16GB of GDDR6 memory.

The Xbox Series X will come with a super-fast 1TB SSD too, which sounds like a lot of capacity, but it really isn't. Look, with more and more people downloading games and forgoing optical disks, a terabyte of storage will fill up very quickly. Thankfully, Xbox Series X has a special storage expansion port on the rear that will allow owners to easily increase capacity without opening up the device. Best of all, this port will apparently allow the same speed as the internal drive. Unfortunately, however, Microsoft has opted for a proprietary port -- one that will only work with this console.

Continue reading →

We always knew that the Xbox Series X was going to be an impressive, powerful device, and now Microsoft has confirmed this. The company has revealed the full specifications for the upcoming game console... and it's a beast!

The console is more like a high-end gaming PC (it's not without good reason that Microsoft bills it as its fastest, most powerful console ever) and it offers hardware-accelerated raytracing, 4K output at 60 fps, and support for up to 120fps. All of this is driven by an 8 core AMD Zen 2 CPU and an RDNA 2-class GPU -- and you'll be able to buy it this year.

Continue reading →

Whenever there's any kind of major news story that sparks public interest it's usually good for cyber criminals as they seek to exploit people's fears for their own gains.

The latest coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is no exception. The UK's National Cyber Security Centre has identified a number of attacks on a COVID-19 theme, these include bogus emails with links claiming to have important updates, which once clicked on lead to devices being infected.

Continue reading →

When Microsoft was preparing to launch Windows 10 back in 2015 it famously stated that it expected over 1 billion devices to be running the new OS within 2-3 years. For a variety of reasons -- most notably the dismal failure of its mobile aspirations -- that never happened.

But the OS has been gaining share at a steady rate, and today the software giant announces that Windows 10 has, five years later, finally hit the coveted 1 billion milestone.

Continue reading →

The worldwide coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is leading to many people self-isolating, and employers encouraging -- or requiring -- staff to work from home. Many schools also decided to turn to remote teaching solutions to keep pupils away from the risk of infection.

Just as millions of people settle into the idea of remote working or learning, many for the first time, Microsoft Teams is suffering with major problems. Users found that they were unable to send messages via Teams, and were met instead by a notification reading: "we're sorry -- we've run into an issue".

Continue reading →

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) is wreaking havoc across the globe, infecting people on all continents with the exception of Antarctica. Whether or not the disease is serious or not seems to depend on the infected's age and other underlying medical conditions, but still, people are hoarding food and supplies as if it were the apocalypse.

So, why are people panicking? Well, there are many reasons, but a big one is misinformation. Sadly, the internet is full of fake data and mistruths, causing people to worry. Since so much misleading information is on social media, people have no idea where to turn for reliable data. Microsoft is hoping to provide truthful information with an all-new Bing Coronavirus (COVID-19) Tracker.

Continue reading →

As coronavirus (COVID-19) makes it way around the world, governments are scrambling to contain the spread within their respective countries. Technology company are also reacting to the crisis, taking steps to clamp down on scams and misinformation.

Having already announced that all stores outside of Greater China will be closed for two weeks, Apple has now revealed strict limits on coronavirus-related apps in its App Store. The company say this is a move to try to ensure the credibility of health and safety information.

Continue reading →

Microsoft has announced that not only is Windows Subsystem for Linux -- or WSL 2 as it's also known -- soon going to be generally available in Windows 10 version 2004, but also that the Linux kernel will be updated though Windows Update.

The new approach comes as Microsoft removes the Linux kernel from the Windows OS image. The change in update delivery will enable Microsoft to push out updates faster than before, and eliminates the need to user interaction.

Continue reading →

As of now, I don't have any children of my own, but from what some parents have told me, children can be wildly annoying. People keep on reproducing, however, so there must be some unseen benefit to having them. All kidding aside, I am sure most parents love and enjoy their kids, but let's be honest, it can be tedious for an adult to have to spend an extended amount of time with a child. That's why many parents love the ability to drop the kids off at school -- it gives them a break. There's nothing wrong with wanting some adult time either.

Unfortunately, due to the damn COVID-19 coronavirus, many schools are closed and parents are being asked to work from home. This is the perfect storm for parents to be annoyed by their bored children. Thankfully, traditional television, DVDs, and streaming services can keep the little ones quiet. OK, fine, to a lesser extent, I suppose reading books can help too. Knowing the pain of these parents, The Walt Disney Company is doing something extraordinary -- releasing Frozen 2 to the Disney+ streaming service three months early.

Continue reading →

Have you ever been to an Apple retail store? They are very hip and fun -- a great way to get a hands-on experience with a product before buying it. Unfortunately, Apple retail stores are also wildly disgusting. Look, it is in my experience that most people in these stores aren't actually buying anything, or planning to make a purchase, but instead, they are killing time by playing with things. Germs can have a field day at the Apple Store!

In particular, Apple stores inside of shopping malls are often places parents drop their kids to play while they shop. Apple doesn't ban food either, so it is not uncommon to see people eating Auntie Anne's Pretzels with their hands and then touching iPhone screens. The spread of germs in an Apple retail store is a legitimate concern.

Continue reading →

For many people, Bill Gates is synonymous with Microsoft, even though for years now he has had very little to do with the company he co-founded.

These days, Gates’ focus is mostly on philanthropic activities, like global health and development, education and climate change. He stepped down from the day to day running of Microsoft in 2008, but remained on the board. Today he announces that is no longer the case.

Continue reading →

What gets CISOs out of bed in the morning is knowing that they are keeping their organizations safe, according to a new study from privileged access management company Thycotic.

The study of more than 550 IT security decision-makers globally finds being the 'business bodyguard' and the knowledge that they are keeping their organization safe is the top motivator (29 percent), closely followed by being the upholder of ethics (25 percent).

Continue reading →

With employees being encouraged to work from home, smaller businesses can face a problem due to the cost of additional licenses needed to make this happen.

Cloud business suite Zoho has stepped up to the plate by making its Remotely suite available free of charge until July 1st.

Continue reading →