BetaNews: Microsoft releases first build of its Edge browser for Linux . “We’ve known for a while that Microsoft has been working on a Linux version of its new Chromium Edge browser, and today the software giant announces the first build for users to try. Today’s release supports Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and openSUSE distributions and Microsoft says going forward it will be releasing new builds on a weekly basis.”
Microsoft
The Verge: Microsoft is letting more employees work from home permanently
The Verge: Microsoft is letting more employees work from home permanently. “Microsoft will now allow employees to work from home freely for less than 50 percent of their working week, or for managers to approve permanent remote work. Employees who opt for the permanent remote work option will give up their assigned office space, but still have options to use touchdown space available at Microsoft’s offices.”
BetaNews: KB4579311 cumulative update is causing numerous problems for Windows 10 users
BetaNews: KB4579311 cumulative update is causing numerous problems for Windows 10 users. “A few days ago, Microsoft released a new cumulative update for Windows 10. The KB4579311 update was supposed to fix a range of issues with the operating system including various security problem, but — once again – this update is proving problematic for many people.”
CNN: Microsoft takes down massive hacking operation that could have affected the election
CNN: Microsoft takes down massive hacking operation that could have affected the election. “Microsoft has disrupted a massive hacking operation that it said could have indirectly affected election infrastructure if allowed to continue. The company said Monday it took down the servers behind Trickbot, an enormous malware network that criminals were using to launch other cyberattacks, including a strain of highly potent ransomware.”
BetaNews: Microsoft releases KB4583263 update for Windows 10 to prevent swollen laptop batteries
BetaNews: Microsoft releases KB4583263 update for Windows 10 to prevent swollen laptop batteries. “Microsoft has teamed up with HP to work on a fix for a problem affecting various HP Business Notebooks. The flaw not only causes a reduction in performance and battery life, but can also lead to swollen batteries. The problem lies with the HP Battery Health Manager, and the update from Microsoft and HP is rolling out to enable a new charging algorithm to help alleviate the issue.”
Bleeping Computer: Microsoft Edge is getting a new ‘Web Capture’ annotation feature
Bleeping Computer: Microsoft Edge is getting a new ‘Web Capture’ annotation feature. “In Microsoft Edge preview builds, Microsoft has introduced a new tool called ‘Web Capture’ that will allow you to capture screenshots of the webpages and create web notes. With Web Capture feature, you can take screenshots to copy or share. You can also take full-page screenshots by scrolling to the bottom of the webpage.”
CNN: Elon Musk criticizes OpenAI exclusively licensing GPT-3 to Microsoft
CNN: Elon Musk criticizes OpenAI exclusively licensing GPT-3 to Microsoft. “Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk doesn’t seem to approve of Microsoft’s deal with OpenAI — the research company he co-founded in 2015. The Tesla and Space X founder criticized Microsoft (MSFT) in a tweet following news that the company acquired an exclusive license for GPT-3, a language model created by OpenAI, that generates human-like text.”
BetaNews: Microsoft releases PowerToys v0.23.0 with promise of new Video Conference utility
BetaNews: Microsoft releases PowerToys v0.23.0 with promise of new Video Conference utility. “PowerToys v0.23.0 is a release that focuses on ‘stability, localization and quality of life improvements’, and there are numerous fixes to the various the utilities that make up the suite. Unfortunately, there are no new tools in this version, but Microsoft has given an update about the upcoming Video Conference utility.”
BetaNews: Source code for Windows XP and other Microsoft software leaks online
BetaNews: Source code for Windows XP and other Microsoft software leaks online. “Torrents have appeared online containing the source code for Windows XP, Windows 2000, and other software from Microsoft. Shared on the notorious 4chan, a collection of files approaching 50GB in size also include the source code for Windows Server 2003, Windows NT and MS DOS.”
MIT Technology Review: OpenAI is giving Microsoft exclusive access to its GPT-3 language model
MIT Technology Review: OpenAI is giving Microsoft exclusive access to its GPT-3 language model. “The companies say OpenAI will continue to offer its public-facing API, which allows chosen users to send text to GPT-3 or OpenAI’s other models and receive its output. Only Microsoft, however, will have access to GPT-3’s underlying code, allowing it to embed, repurpose, and modify the model as it pleases.”
BetaNews: Microsoft releases new patch for Windows 10 October 2020 Update (20H2)
BetaNews: Microsoft releases new patch for Windows 10 October 2020 Update (20H2). “[Six] days ago, Microsoft started to roll out what it thought would be the final release for Windows 10 20H2 (October 2020 Update as it’s also known) to Insiders in the Beta and Release Preview Channels — Build 19042.508 (KB4571756). [Two days ago] it updates that ‘final’ build to 19042.541, fixing a massive list of issues.”
ThreatPost: Unsecured Microsoft Bing Server Leaks Search Queries, Location Data
ThreatPost: Unsecured Microsoft Bing Server Leaks Search Queries, Location Data. “An unsecured database has exposed sensitive data for users of Microsoft’s Bing search engine mobile application – including their location coordinates, search terms in clear text and more. While no personal information, like names, were exposed, researchers with Wizcase argued that enough data was available that it would be possible to link these search queries and locations to user identities — giving bad actors information ripe for blackmail attacks, phishing scams and more.”
BBC: Google and Facebook under pressure to ban children’s ads
BBC: Google and Facebook under pressure to ban children’s ads. “Tech firms have been urged to stop advertising to under-18s in an open letter signed by MPs, academics and children’s-rights advocates. Behavioural advertising not only undermines privacy but puts ‘susceptible’ youngsters under unfair marketing pressure, the letter says. It is addressed to Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft.”
BetaNews: Microsoft preparing the Windows 10 October 2020 Update for release — with at least one known issue
BetaNews: Microsoft preparing the Windows 10 October 2020 Update for release — with at least one known issue. “It won’t come as any surprise to most of you to hear that the next big feature update for Windows 10 is very nearly ready for release. Microsoft believes that Build 19042.508 (KB4571756) is the final release for Windows 10 20H2 (October 2020 Update as it’s also known) and is going to begin rolling it out to those users on the Release Preview Channel from today.”
Microsoft: This free Windows 10 app lets developers express themselves in pixels (ZDNet)
ZDNet: Microsoft: This free Windows 10 app lets developers express themselves in pixels. “Microsoft Research has released a new app called ‘Expressive Pixels’ that gives makers a new tool to create animations for LED displays or to insert as animated GIFs into emails. The free Microsoft app is available now from the Microsoft Store and offers technically adept Windows 10 users a new way to create animations like Emojis to display on LED screens. “