When people think of Twitter, their minds might conjure images of short-form messages filled with emoji. While it is much more than that, it is how some people view the social network. Lately, however, the company is looking to expand into other markets, such as streaming media. As a publicly-traded company, Twitter could be looking to rejuvenate a relatively stagnant stock.

Today, Twitter announces that its streaming video is no longer limited to your phones and tablets. Yes, folks, it is finally time for Twitter's video in your living room, as the company releases a free app for three popular TV-connected media devices -- Microsoft Xbox One, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV. While the experience on all three will be similar, it looks like Apple's device will be slightly better thanks to an exclusive side-by-side split-screen feature.

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Many large enterprises use Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) as their identity platform for managing users and providing secure access to thousands of cloud SaaS and on-premises applications.

Secure access company Ping Identity is announcing a collaboration with Microsoft to deliver integrations that will expand secure remote access and single sign-on (SSO) from any device to more on-premises web applications for Microsoft Azure AD customers.

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HP is turning away from Salesforce and Oracle software to run its sales processes and now plans to use Microsoft Dynamics customer relationship management (CRM) software exclusively in its sales and support departments.

The two companies have entered into a six-year contract and plan to roll out Dynamics CRM to 6,500 of HP's sales staff and 20,000 of its support personnel. Though the dollar amount of this deal is still unknown, around 50 percent of the company's workforce will now use Microsoft's software and services to manage their relationships with customers.

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The latest big update to Windows 10 began rolling out to users a month ago, but while the Anniversary Update officially became available on the 2 August, it was a staggered launch.

Microsoft targeted "newer" devices first, with those on older systems set to receive the update shortly afterwards. If you were keen to upgrade, you could of course hurry things along or take matters into your own hands.

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Microsoft keeps adding new features to its Office 365 suite, and now it has made easier for people outside a group to collaborate on files. A new feature, for Office 365 groups, allows people who aren't staff members, or members of a particular group, to join in and collaborate.

Group owners can now use the web version of Outlook to invite non-staff members in.

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For a little while now Microsoft's ad campaigns have been less about highlighting its own products, but a vehicle for knocking others'. It's something we've seen numerous times with the company's Surface ads, and now there's another one.

This time around we see the Surface Pro 4 compared to a MacBook Air. Microsoft says the former is better than the latter because it has a pen. Oh, and a detachable keyboard. But the tone of the ad is just so ridiculous, it serves only to make Microsoft look pathetic.

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News of software vulnerabilities often centers on products from well-known companies that potentially put large numbers of end users at risk.

But a new report from software solutions company Flexera Software reveals that the niche products used by specialist industries can be just as much of a problem.

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A security researcher has revealed a way to determine the password needed to access a protected Windows or OS X account. Using Rob Fuller's technique, it doesn't matter if the computer in question is locked, and it uses a USB SoC-based device to crack user credentials.

By modifying the firmware of a USB dongle, Fuller was able to make the device appear as an Ethernet adaptor. By spoofing a network connection, it is then possible to trick a target computer into giving up an account password.

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Microsoft has announced that local datacenters are now available in the UK to Office 365 and Azure customers. This enables companies dealing with UK-only customers to ensure that data remains within the country and fully complies with data protection and privacy laws.

Describing itself as the "first global cloud productivity provider" to offer UK residency for data, Microsoft says Azure and Office 365 are now generally available from multiple data center locations in the UK. It has already attracted the custom of the Ministry of Defence.

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Microsoft is now the overall leader in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) market, beating Salesforce by a tiny margin. However, not everything is as straightforward as it seems.

According to Synergy Research Group, Microsoft, even though late to the party as usual, now holds 15 percent of the SaaS market, while Salesforce, the leader so far, has 14 percent share.

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Not everyone is in a position to pay for their office software and this led to a market for free Microsoft Office competitors. One of the best known and most popular is OpenOffice, but the open source project is in trouble.

Volunteer vice president Dennis E. Hamilton has warned that retirement of the project "is a serious possibility". The problem is a combination of a lack of volunteers willingness to work on the project, and the increasing popularity of LibreOffice. The lack of developers means that important security updates are at risk.

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Microsoft is fighting the US Justice Department in an attempt to quash a law that prevents companies informing customers that the government is requesting their data. The technology giant has the backing of other tech companies as well as media outlets.

Amazon, Apple, Google, Fox News, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Mozilla are among those offering their support to Microsoft. The lawsuit says that blocking companies from keeping their customers informed is unconstitutional, and it comes at a time when tech companies in particular are keen to be as open and transparent as possible about government requests for data.

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The Windows Store can sometimes be a satisfying place to download and manage video games, apps, movies, and music. Regarding apps and games, however, the store is littered with a lot of low-quality items. In other words, Microsoft still has a lot of work to do, but it is slowly getting there.

Today, the Windows-maker announces that Windows 10 users can now pre-order video games through the Windows Store. It is one of those things that probably should have been possible from the start, but better late than never, right? The real question is, should Valve, owner of Steam, be worried?

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Windows Insiders are beta testers for Windows 10. They get their hands on the latest builds, and get to try out the latest features. However, they also get to experience known issues and occasionally encounter show-stopping bugs.

A number of Windows Insiders on the Fast ring who installed the latest new release, Build 14915, which was pushed out just yesterday are reporting that it kills their Wi-Fi stone dead.
Writing at the Community forum, Microsoft says:

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The Anniversary Update may have introduced a whole host of new features but it has also caused a fair number of problems for Windows 10 users. Among the most annoying issues reported since its release in late-July are freezes on systems equipped with SSDs.

Microsoft has acknowledged the problem and provided a couple of workarounds that users could try, promising that a permanent fix would eventually be made available. Microsoft says that it has addressed the freezing issues in the latest Cumulative Update that it just released.

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