Tag: Microsoft

Amid big rumors, Phil Spencer will discuss ‘the future of Xbox’ in a podcast this week

Rumor has it that Microsoft plans to release at least some of its Xbox console exclusives on PlayStation 5. This Thursday, we’ll find out if it’s true. Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer acknowledged the rumors last week and announced that he’d reveal Microsoft’s “vision for the future of Xbox” this week. We’ve now learned that […]

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Microsoft Copilot AI climbs Google, Apple app store charts after Super Bowl ad (despite errors)

If you watched the Super Bowl NFL championship football game last night — and sat through all the many commercials — then you probably saw an ad from Microsoft for its new Copilot AI app. [embedded content] Promoting the successor to Bing Chat as “your everyday AI companion,” and a way to do far more […]

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Microsoft’s Bitlocker & TPM encryption combo defeated with a $10 Raspberry Pi and a bit of braininess

The point of Microsoft’s Bitlocker security feature is to protect personal data stored locally on devices and particularly when those devices are lost or otherwise physically compromised. With Bitlocker, it shouldn’t matter if you lose your laptop or somebody pinches your SSD. Your data still can’t be accessed. Except it can and all that’s needed […]

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Starfield’s latest update will end the scourge of vibrating clouds

Clouds. I’ve never trusted them. Floating up there all high and mighty, constantly threatening rain. What makes you think you’re so great, eh? With your posh names like cumulonimbus. You’re just water vapour, you know. You’re not better than me! It’s about time somebody put those fluffy reprobates in their place. Step forward Bethesda Softworks, […]

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The impact of 16,000 games industry layoffs, in one chart

Blizzard’s Unannounced Survival Game team, laid off in January 2024. Photo via a developer who asked to remain anonymous. (Image credit: Blizzard Survival Game team) The scale of the past year of videogame layoffs is a hard thing to wrap your head around. We’re confronted with more big numbers almost every week: the latest “regrettable” […]

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FTC hits Microsoft with federal complaint over game division layoffs

The US Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint with a federal appeals court over Microsoft’s plan to lay off 1,900 employees from its gaming division, saying the move “contradicts” Microsoft’s commitment to maintaining the studio’s operational independence while the FTC pursues its case against the merger. Microsoft completed its takeover of Activision Blizzard in […]

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Microsoft brings new AI image functionality to Copilot, adds new model Deucalion

In a startling move, Microsoft today announced a redesigned look for its Copilot AI search and chatbot experience on the web (formerly known as Bing Chat), new built-in AI image creation and editing functionality, and a new AI model, Deucalion, that is powering one version of Copilot. In addition, the Redmond, Washington-headquartered software and cloud […]

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Why Big Tech Loves To Lay Off Workers

Otherwise, layoffs are an accepted fact of economic life—so much so that in 2013, when Congress compelled the Bureau of Labor Statistics to cut its (teensy) budget by five percent, the agency eliminated its Mass Layoff Statistics program, which collected detailed (and quite useful) information about which industries did the laying off; which regions had […]

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The Perverse Cruelty of Big Tech Layoffs

Otherwise, layoffs are an accepted fact of economic life—so much so that in 2013, when Congress compelled the Bureau of Labor Statistics to cut its (teensy) budget by 5 percent, the agency eliminated its Mass Layoff Statistics program, which collected detailed (and quite useful) information about which industries did the laying off, which regions had […]

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Microsoft unveils Face Check for secure identity verification

Microsoft today announced the launch of Face Check, a new facial recognition feature for its Entra Verified ID digital identity platform. Face Check allows businesses to match a user’s selfie to their government ID or employee credentials, providing an extra layer of security for sensitive operations like password resets or help desk access. “Rather than […]

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Obsidian says combat in Avowed will be good, actually, following criticism of battles shown in last month’s game overview trailer

Obsidian recently showed off a sizeable chunk of Avowed, its upcoming first-person fantasy RPG. As you’d expect from the developers behind Pillars of Eternity, Avowed looks like a colourful, characterful affair. As we’ve also come to expect from Obsidian, it currently looks a little bit wonky. In particular, the combat depicted in the video drew […]

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Amid mounting rumors of Xbox games coming to PlayStation, Phil Spencer announces a ‘business update’ for next week

Evidence is mounting that Microsoft will release a host of its Xbox console exclusives on PlayStation, potentially marking the end of a tradition nearly as old as the medium: the viciously partisan console war. Xbox head Phil Spencer has tacitly acknowledged the rumors and reports too, and if the partial end of Xbox console exclusivity […]

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This year’s ‘Windows 12’ might just be nothing more than a large update for Windows 11, rather than a whole new operating system

To the casual observer, the story of the next version of Windows seems to be slowly turning into a 1990s-style sitcom: Will it come out in 2024? Will it be called Windows 12? Will it be full of AI gimmicks? Will Copilot finally get that date with Monica? Adding to the never-ending mystery of it […]

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Taylor Swift is not the first victim of AI: Decoding the deepfake dilemma

When sexually explicit deepfakes of Taylor Swift went viral on X (formerly known as Twitter), millions of her fans came together to bury the AI images with “Protect Taylor Swift” posts. The move worked, but it could not stop the news from hitting every major outlet. In the subsequent days, a full-blown conversation about the […]

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Black History Month: TV Specials, Documentaries You Should Watch

The Harlem Hellfighters | Airs Feb. 4, 2024 at 9/8c | History If your dad loves a good war documentary, this one will be right up his alley. Narrated by Robin Roberts, it chronicles the heroic efforts of the 5th New York National Guard Regiment during WWI. It also details the racism they faced when […]

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Why AI and behavioral analytics are stealth strengths of Gartner’s MQ on endpoints

They are the silent strengths that endpoint providers rely on to sharpen their arsenals and keep them ready for the next onslaught of cyberattacks. AI and behavioral analytics are core to the DNA of the leading endpoint providers, including Cisco, CrowdStrike, ESET, Fortinet, Microsoft​​ and Palo Alto Networks.  Each of these endpoint providers sees cybersecurity […]

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Activision Blizzard added $2B in revenue to Xbox’s Q2 growth

Do you want to get the latest gaming industry news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our daily and weekly newsletters here. Microsoft revealed during its latest financial earnings report that its Xbox gaming division has seen a dramatic increase in revenue after last year’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Xbox’s revenue increased 60%, while […]

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Activision Blizzard esports department clobbered by layoffs

Activision Blizzard has laid off “a lot” of esports-related employees, according to Matt Morello, former associate director of Overwatch League, whose job was among the cuts. “Unfortunately today, along with a lot of other amazing esports folks, I’ve been let go from Blizzard,” Morello wrote on X today.  A person close to the matter tells […]

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Microsoft lays off most of Activision Blizzard esports organization

Do you want to get the latest gaming industry news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our daily and weekly newsletters here. Microsoft has laid off most of the internal Activision Blizzard esports organization, according to a source familiar with the matter. The layoffs at the internal group are believed to be part of […]

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Apple’s plan for EU market regulations draw criticism from Microsoft Xbox president

Do you want to get the latest gaming industry news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our daily and weekly newsletters here. Sarah Bond, Microsoft’s Xbox president, criticized Apple for taking a “step in the wrong direction” by coming up with controversial plans for compliance with European Union’s regulations. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney […]

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Microsoft adds new restrictions to Designer AI used to make Taylor Swift deepfakes

Microsoft has updated its free, online Designer AI image generator to prevent users from creating more images resembling celebrities in explicit scenarios, according to independent media outlet 404 Media. The updates came after an explicit series of deepfakes of musician Taylor Swift, which 404 also traced back to Microsoft’s Designer AI, began circulating on X, […]

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Anthropic confirms it suffered a data leak

It’s been an eventful week for AI startup Anthropic, creator of the Claude family of large language models (LLMs) and associated chatbots. The company says that on Monday, January 22nd, it became aware that a contractor inadvertently sent a file containing non-sensitive customer information to a third party. The file detailed a “subset” of customer […]

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Stunned devs left scrambling for livelihoods in wake of yesterday’s layoff bloodbath: ‘In the end the contributions didn’t matter’

The entire game industry is still reeling from yesterday’s bombshell announcement that Microsoft—hot on the heels of its $69 billion acquisition of Activision—would be laying off 1,900 employees across Activision-Blizzard and Xbox. Inevitably, Twitter is awash with reactions highlighting the human cost, both from dazed devs waking up in a world in which they no […]

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FTC probes Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic and their massive generative AI deals

In one of the first significant competitive practice actions around generative AI, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched inquiries into five top creators of the technology.  The agency today issued 6(b) orders to Amazon, Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic and Alphabet, requiring the companies to provide information about recent multi-billion-dollar investments and partnerships. The inquiry will […]

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Microsoft cuts 1,900 staff at Xbox, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard

Do you want to get the latest gaming industry news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our daily and weekly newsletters here. Microsoft is cutting 1,900 staff across the Xbox, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard teams as the latest in a wave of layoffs across the game industry. On top of that, Blizzard’s president Mike […]

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Microsoft cuts 1,900 jobs at Activision Blizzard and Xbox, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra leaves the company, and the studio’s survival game has been cancelled

As if 2023’s historic volume of gaming layoffs wasn’t enough, 2024 is starting in the exact same vein—studios including CI Games, Behaviour Interactive, and Riot Games have all let people go in January, and now it’s Microsoft’s turn. A message from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer to employees (via The Verge) says 1,900 employees are […]

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‘The key thing is that the good guys have better AIs than the bad guys’ says Microsoft founder Bill Gates on the threat from artificial intelligence

In an interview on Leading, a podcast from Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, co-hosts of The Rest is Politics, Microsoft and Gates Foundation co-founder Bill Gates talks about his perception of the dangers of AI. “The key thing is that the good guys have better AIs than the bad guys,” Gates says. “The issues is […]

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Avowed’s companions won’t ditch you for making the ‘wrong’ choices: ‘It’s not about maintaining their approval, it’s about getting to know them’

Avowed, the upcoming first-person RPG from Obsidian, mixes and matches a few RPG standards in its approach to companion characters and their stories. Before we get into details, some basics—in an interview with game director Carrie Patel and gameplay director Gabe Paramo this week, we learned the following about Avowed’s companions and party management: We’ll […]

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Obsidian’s Avowed is going ‘classless’, ditching Pillars of Eternity’s crunchy stat-heavy builds in favour of Skyrim-like ability trees

I was downright gleeful when I learnt that Avowed—Obsidian’s upcoming first-person fantasy RPG—was set in the Pillars of Eternity world of Eora. If there’s one thing I’m perpetually a bit mad about, it’s that the Pillars games didn’t do much, much better than they did (If there’s a second, it’s that Tyranny somehow managed to […]

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