The Register: Mozilla drags Microsoft, Google, Apple for obliterating any form of browser choice. “Firefox maker Mozilla is taking aim at Microsoft, Google, and Apple for using their operating systems to steer users to their browsers and stacking the deck against rivals who lack the same OS advantages. Like, for instance, Mozilla.”
Reuters: UK to examine cloud services dominated by Amazon, Microsoft and Google. “Britain said it would investigate competition in cloud services, a market dominated by the ‘hyperscalers’ Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google, which together account for around 81% of revenue.”
Ars Technica: Microsoft finds TikTok vulnerability that allowed one-click account compromises. “Microsoft said on Wednesday that it recently identified a vulnerability in TikTok’s Android app that could allow attackers to hijack accounts when users did nothing more than click on a single errant link. The software maker said it notified TikTok of the vulnerability in February and that the China-based social media company has since fixed the flaw, which is tracked as CVE-2022-28799.”
Sky News: Criminals posting counterfeit Microsoft products to get access to victims’ computers. “One such package seen by Sky News is manufactured to a convincing standard and contains an engraved USB drive, alongside a product key. But the USB does not install Microsoft Office when plugged in to a computer. Instead, it contains malicious software which encourages the victim to call a fake support line and hand over access to their PC to a remote attacker.”
Windows Central: Microsoft PowerToys adding tool for extracting text from images. “A new tool for Microsoft PowerToys will allow the app to extract text from images. The feature, referred to as PowerOCR on GitHub, is in its early stages.”
How-To Geek: What’s New in Microsoft Edge 104, Available Now. “Following the release of Chrome 104, Microsoft is now rolling out the same update for its Edge browser. Edge 104 includes an important security change, a new import option for Chrome, and more.”
Bleeping Computer: DuckDuckGo browser now blocks all Microsoft trackers, most of the time. “DuckDuckGo announced today that they will now be blocking all third-party Microsoft tracking scripts in their privacy browser after failing to block them in the past.”
Search Engine Roundtable: Microsoft Bing Search Tests & New Features. “There is just so much going on with Microsoft Bing Search between new features and tests, I figured I’d put together a quick list of them in one place. I am not 100% sure if these are all new because I am not as on top of Bing as I am with Google but here it goes.”
Bleeping Computer: Microsoft starts blocking Office macros by default, once again. “Microsoft announced today that it resumed the rollout of VBA macro auto-blocking in downloaded Office documents after temporarily rolling it back earlier this month following user feedback. The change comes after the company improved its user and admin support documentation to make it easier to understand the available options when a macro is blocked.”
BetaNews: Microsoft changes its policy against the sale of open source software in the Microsoft Store . “Having previously upset software developers by implementing a ban on the sale of open source software in its app store, Microsoft has reversed its decision. The company says that it has listened to feedback — which was vocal and negative — and has updated the Microsoft Stores Policies, removing references to open source pricing. Microsoft has also clarified just why it put the ban in place.”
ZDNet: Microsoft makes sharing Excel workbooks in Teams happen in real-time with ‘Excel Live’. “Microsoft is continuing to make real-time collaboration actually work inside Teams. Its latest effort in this space is called Excel Live. This feature will be available in public preview at the end of August. Microsoft officials announced Excel Live on Day 1 of the company’s annual Inspire partner conference on July 19.”
BBC: Microsoft launches simulator to train drone AI systems. “Microsoft has launched a platform to train the artificial intelligence (AI) systems of autonomous aircraft. Project AirSim is, in effect, a flight simulator for drones, which companies can use to train and develop software controlling them.”
Microsoft Blog: A street-by-street view of digital inequity in the United States. “Today, Microsoft is releasing a new Digital Equity Data Dashboard to help create better understanding of the economic opportunity gaps in towns, cities and neighborhoods across the United States. The new tool was developed by our Chief Data Science Officer Juan Lavista Ferres and the Microsoft AI for Good Lab, and aggregates public data from the Census Bureau, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), BroadbandNow and Microsoft’s own Broadband Usage Data.”
