Page 38 - Microsoft

Microsoft Outlook faces second outage in 24 hours, users unable to log in

Some users have even shared the update on Twitter, questioning if Outlook is down again

Microsoft to pay $20 mn to settle US charges of 'illegal' children's data

Microsoft will pay a fine of $20 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it illegally collected and retained the data of children who signed up to use its Xbox video game console. The agency charged that Microsoft gathered the data without notifying parents or obtaining their consent, and that it also illegally held onto the data. Those actions violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, the FTC stated. In a blog post, Microsoft corporate vice president for Xbox Dave McCarthy outlined additional steps the company is now taking to improve its age verification systems and to ensure that parents are involved in the creation of child accounts for the service. These mostly concern efforts to improve age verification technology and to educate children and parents about privacy issues. McCarthy also said the company had identified and fixed a technical glitch that failed to delete child accounts in cases where the account creation process never finished. Microsof

Microsoft 365 down for more than 15,000 online users, 3rd outage this year

Microsoft services have faced at least three outages since the beginning of the year

Microsoft Windows 11 gets new phone photos feature in File Explorer

Meanwhile, Microsoft has announced that it will no longer support its virtual assistant Cortana in Windows as a standalone app, starting in late 2023

Microsoft to end support for its virtual assistant 'Cortana' on Windows

"Instead of clicking the Cortana icon and launching the app to begin using voice, now you can use voice and satisfy your productivity needs through different tools," it said

Microsoft increases Bing Chat's turn limit to 30 chats per session

Microsoft has now again increased AI-powered Bing Chat's turn limit to 30 chats per session and 300 chats per day

Microsoft Teams' now lets users collaborate with communities on Windows 11

Tech giant Microsoft has announced new features in the free version of its proprietary business communication platform 'Teams', including the ability to collaborate with communities on Windows 11

Microsoft, Accenture to empower 13 Indian startups on social impact

Launched in 2020, previous cohorts of the programme focused on addressing issues in food safety, livelihood, education, sustainability, and skilling

Space shuttle to self-driving cars: LambdaTest wants to test every tech

LambdaTest wants to test not just software, but every kind of technology, including the next space shuttle and self-driving cars

Microsoft to add force quit option to Windows 11 taskbar: Details here

The company introduced a new 'never combine mode', which lets users see each app window on the taskbar individually with labels

Microsoft backed OpenAI closes $175 mn fund to empower other AI startups

Sam Altman-run OpenAI has closed a $175 million investment fund focused on empowering other AI startups, with backing from Microsoft and other investors.

State-sponsored Chinese hackers could be prepping for disruption: Microsoft

State-backed Chinese hackers have been targeting US critical infrastructure and could be laying the technical groundwork for the potential disruption of critical communications between the US and Asia during future crises, Microsoft said Wednesday. The targets include sites in Guam, where the U.S. has a major military presence, the company said. Hostile activity in cyberspace from espionage to the advanced positioning of malware for potential future attacks has become a hallmark of modern geopolitical rivalry. Microsoft said in a blog post that the state-sponsored group of hackers, which it calls Volt Typhoon, has been active since mid-2021. It said organizations affected by the hacking which seeks persistent access are in the communications, manufacturing, utility, transportation, construction, maritime, information technology and education sectors. Separately, the National Security Agency, the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and their ...

Microsoft-IIT Madras AI bot helps villagers access govt services via phones

The Jugalbandi AI assistant is powered by language models from AI4Bharat and reasoning models from Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service

Microsoft integrates AI into Windows 11, announces Copilot: Details here

In a detailed blog post, Microsoft announced that it will introduce Windows Copilot, a centralized AI assistance and new AI features in the Microsoft store on Windows.

Microsoft-backed group aims to bridge language gap with AI assistant

The Jugalbandi bot, named after a duet where two musicians riff off each other, uses language models from government-backed AI4Bharat and artificial intelligence tech through Microsoft's Azure OpenAI

Blackstone bets on Indian data binge, in talks with Microsoft, Amazon

Covid-19 created a shift in data consumption habits with more people working remotely and a spike in the use of social media, streaming platforms and e-commerce.

Meta sells Giphy to Shutterstock to comply with UK regulator order

The company said Giphy would add minimal revenue this year and it would launch efforts to increase revenue from 2024

As employment picks up in India, IT sector lags in competition: Report

According to the report, the momentum in IT services has slowed down as against the banking and healthcare sectors. A 27 per cent decline in hiring activity was reported in the IT sector

Microsoft's healthcare AI arm Nuance Communications plans to cut jobs

Speech-recognition company Nuance Communications, acquired by Microsoft for $19.7 billion, is undergoing layoffs as it focuses on its healthcare business

Twitter accuses Microsoft of data misuse, foreshadowing a fight over AI

A lawyer for Twitter owner Elon Musk accused Microsoft of misusing the service's data and demanded an audit from the software giant. The letter primarily addresses a seemingly narrow set of alleged infractions by Microsoft in drawing information from Twitter's database of tweets. But the move could foreshadow more serious developments. Musk has previously accused Microsoft and its partner OpenAI in a tweet of "illegally" using Twitter data to develop sophisticated AI systems such as ChatGPT. "Lawsuit time," Musk wrote in that April tweet. But the letter, signed by Musk lawyer Alex Spiro, tiptoed around that concern. It noted that Microsoft's agreement with Twitter barred it from overuse of the service's data such as exceeding "reasonable request volume" or "excessive or abusive usage." Spiro then noted that "despite these limitations", Microsoft had retrieved more than 26 billion tweets in 2022 alone. He provided no context for those numbers. The process of training AI systems .