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Microsoft

It might not get the same kind of attention as Google and Apple, but Microsoft is still one of the biggest and most powerful tech companies operating today. It runs Azure, one of the biggest cloud computing services, and maintains Windows 11 and the whole Office suite of software. It also makes plenty of Surface hardware and has a whole slew of gaming products, including the Xbox Series X. But the company is ever expanding — building new hardware, acquiring new game studios, and making sure that even if Microsoft doesn't run your phone, it can touch plenty of the apps on it.

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The Verge
Read Xbox chief Phil Spencer’s memo to Microsoft employees about the Activision deal changes.

Microsoft announced a significant restructuring of its proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition earlier today that involves transferring cloud gaming rights for current and new Activision Blizzard games to Ubisoft. Xbox chief Phil Spencer has sent an internal memo to Microsoft employees discussing the deal changes. You can read the full memo right here.


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Microsoft has pulled more of its poorly-written travel articles.

Business Insider found that Microsoft removed articles that defined the terms “hamburger” and “seafood” and a photo recommendation article that suggested eating wagyu beef.

None of those are as egregious as the one suggesting people go to an Ottawa food bank on “an empty stomach,” but they cast further doubts on Microsoft’s processes for making these articles.

Microsoft said last week that the Ottawa article was due to “human error” and “was not published by an unsupervised AI,” but didn’t comment on the processes for the other stories to Business Insider.


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Verge Score

LG Gram Style review: a beautiful mess

I’ve never seen a laptop that looks quite like this. I’ve also never seen a laptop with its particular set of problems.

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OpenAI isn’t the only AI company Microsoft is working with.

Microsoft is also teaming up with Databricks, a software development company focused on data and AI, The Information reports. The newly-formed partnership will reportedly have Microsoft selling a new version of Databricks’ software that companies can use to create their own AI-powered apps.


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Twitter
Starfield is ready for liftoff.

Bethesda’s first new IP in 25 years, Starfield, has officially gone gold ahead of its debut on September 6th. Preloads will be available for Xbox Series S / X and the Microsoft Store on Windows on August 17th, with preloads for Steam starting on August 30th. If you need a refresher on what Starfield will be like to play, watch 45 minutes of Starfield gameplay right here.


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Youtube
Stray has finally meow’d its way to Xbox.

If you’ve been waiting for Stray to come to Xbox, now’s your chance to play it. The third-person cat sim is finally available on the platform after launching on PC and PlayStation last year.


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Good things come to those who wait.

Microsoft has found an all new level of efficiency in its August 4th Windows 11 test build: Updating your computer's IP address by typing “ipconfig /renew” into Windows command line is faster. New asynchronous error handling drops response time from 4.1 seconds to just .1 seconds, "depending on system and network conditions.”

And if that doesn’t inspire you, the build also brings HDR support for desktop backgrounds using the JPEG XR (.jxr) file format.


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PowerPoint was the big tech panic of 2003.

Ah, 2003. We had JNCOs, we were all friends with Tom, and we hated PowerPoint. But some said it was evil. Others, “the end of reason.” The Atlantic recently published a delightful story about the outsized hatred people had for PowerPoint as it reached critical user mass.

It was going to corrode our minds, degrade communication, and waste our time. Its sudden rise and rapid spread through business, government, and education augured nothing less than “the end of reason,” as one famous artist put it, for better or for worse. In the end, it would even get blamed for the live-broadcast deaths of seven Americans on national television.

It’s a good look back at a simpler kind of techno panic, just as social media was prepping to jam worms into all our brains.


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Youtube
The Excel World Championship is your must-watch sporting event of the weekend.

Okay fine, the World Cup is cool too. But on ESPN this morning, a bunch of the world’s best Excel users played a pretty epic elimination battle to see who is the best keyboard shortcutter / puzzle solver / knower of sick Excel tricks. That might sound boring! It’s not. Excel Esports is a big and growing thing, and it’s a shockingly great spectator sport.


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The Verge
Nearby Share is out of beta for Windows and Android users.

Back in April, we offered directions on how to install and navigate Google’s beta version of its Nearby Share app, which lets you share files between your Android phone and your Windows PC. Well, it’s now out of beta, and so we’ve updated our how-to article on, well, how to use it.


Microsoft denies there’s an Xbox ban exploit.

Several YouTubers have raised the alarm over a potential Xbox ban exploit, where people could use a third-party tool to get accounts banned. “Third party apps or tools cannot impact player enforcements, and no volume of inaccurate reports result in an enforcement,” says Kim Kunes, Xbox GM of trust and safety, in a statement to The Verge. “Only reports that have been reviewed by the Xbox Safety Team and determined to be accurate and in violation of our Community Standards result in an enforcement action such as suspension or an account ban.”


The rumored Xbox ban tool.
The rumored Xbox ban tool.
Image: GhillieMaster (YouTube)
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Windows Copilot enters the beta ring.

Microsoft is making the AI-powered assistant available to Windows Insiders in the Beta Channel, where they can ask it to do things like take a screenshot or summarize a website in Edge.

Not all Insiders will gain access to Copilot right away, as Microsoft says it will continue to roll the feature out in the “coming weeks.”