Month: October 2018
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October 30, 2018If you use the web version of Skype, then you’ll doubtless be interested to learn that Microsoft has brought all the latest features to the web-based spin of its messaging service – or at least to the preview version. As spotted by MS Power User, a big update to the Skype for Web preview (which you can access here – providing you’re running Chrome or Microsoft’s Edge browser) brings with it all the latest features from the desktop and mobile versions. That means web users can now enjoy HD video calling (individual or group video calls), and they can record calls, as well. A new Notifications Panel collects all your reactions to messages, @mentions in group chats, and more, in one central hub so you can see what’s happened at a glance. Tech Radar Great to see Microsoft pushing Skype ahead its a great platform.
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October 30, 2018The Skype for Business 2019 server includes several new hybrid cloud features and simplifies the migration path from the on-premises product to cloud-based Microsoft Teams. Microsoft has released the 2019 server for Skype for Business, reaffirming its commitment to the on-premises product for several more years even as it pushes customers to the cloud-based Office 365 suite. Skype for Business 2019, made available this week, will extend support for on-premises customers through at least 2023. It also improves the platform’s security by adding support for the 1.2 version of the Transport Layer Security protocol for protecting digital communications. But the 2019 server does not include any substantive on-premises feature upgrades. Instead, Microsoft has focused on making it easier for businesses to begin using certain cloud features, even while keeping calls, messages and user accounts on premises. Tech Target On premise, services are still a big revenue for Microsoft even though they do not talk about it.
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October 30, 2018Technology has become a huge part of everyone’s daily life, most of all with the gadgets we carry on us a lot of the time. Personalizing these items can be fun and an expression of one’s personality. Since electronics only have small variances in the options you have available, it can be nice to make it your own. New accessories are constantly keeping up to date with the evolving technology. These 5 easy ways can help you to express your individuality by providing a way to personalize your gadgets. Phone Cases Cases are a way to keep your phone protected and decorated at the same time. It’s a given that the fancy new smart phones that come out every year become more and more delicate. iPhones, having a glass screen, need to have a case to reduce the chance of cracking. But no one wants a bulky boring case. Luckily, there are designs and colors galore to choose from. Whether you have a favorite color or certain style, you are sure to find a case to suit you. Swapping cases for every occasion can be easy. Want to accessorize your Halloween costume? There are even iPhone cases for Halloween! Creative cases come in all sizes and can even help give you inspiration for a costume. Pop Sockets Pop sockets are a new trend for the smart phone industry. They are small circles that pop in and out and stick on the back of your phone. This accessory provides an extra piece to grip onto when you are holding your phone with one hand. It aids in selfie taking and texting. Some people even use it as a stand to prop their phone against while watching shows or videos on their mobile device. These are a completely customizable piece to add...
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October 30, 2018When we look around the internet today, some of the companies that we recognize most are among the largest in the world. If you do much shopping online, there is a good chance that you buy from Amazon. If you do any kind of online selling, there is a good chance that you take to the marketplace of eBay to make such selling possible. That in itself is quite revealing, in truth. We now know that the internet has a clear and established hierarchy; sites we go to first before anyone else. If you want to tell the world about your day, you go to Facebook. If you want to find out some information, you go to Wikipedia. If you want to ask the internet a question, you tend to ask Google. Need to buy something? Check out Amazon. It’s just part of the modern world, and it’s very interesting in a lot of ways. You will soon find that big internet companies are holding a huge amount of way and power, without you even realizing it. In true big company fashion, too, they often own other companies that you might not had really thought about who owned them! With this in mind then, let’s take a look at some of the real-time stats that can be found about major internet companies. This lets you see at first-hand close-up detail just how much these companies dominate, and how quickly they have become major entities in the day-to-day living we all day. Keep in mind that some of these companies are little more than a decade old: some of them even less. With that in mind, then, it’s easy to see why these companies are such massive parts in the way the world works. PayPal As one of the single largest...
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Microsoft has taken down a couple of fake Google Chrome ads from Bing after getting reports from users. The fake ads were first spotted by a user who was trying to download Google Chrome. The user who goes by the username “GabrielLandau” reported the fake ads to Bing on Twitter. Upon getting the report, Microsoft was quick enough to remove those ads from Bing. The Bing Ads team confirmed that they have removed the ads and banned the account associated with the fake ads. The Bing Ads team also urged users to continue reporting fake or low-quality ads to the team so an appropriate action can be taken. MSPowerUser
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October 29, 2018Microsoft raised prices for the retail versions of Office 2019 by as much as 10% when it began selling the application suite earlier this month. The price increases were similar to those announced in July for commercial licenses sold in volume. Then, Microsoft said that such licenses would cost 10% more than the ones for Office 2016, with CALs (client access licenses) required for applications to connect to Windows Server, Exchange Server and the like, slated to climb as much as 30%. Computer World Is Microsoft showing increased revenues by hiking the prices of products like Apple.
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Microsoft’s recent release of the new Surface Family, Specifically the Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2, have been receiving lots of attention, along with Surface Headphones, which are coming soon. Now, the NFL wants to join in with the game with their debut set of four video ads dubbed “side hustles” which feature pro players. The pro football stars, Melvin Ingram, Larry Fitzgerald, and Alvin Kamara are in their own videos over on the Microsoft Surface youtube channel. Larry Fitzgerald starred in an Advert earlier in January 2018. ONMSFT Great to see Microsoft keeping this deal alive.
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October 29, 2018In the modern world of computer viruses, malware, spyware, keyloggers, trojans, and packet snippers you can never be too careful when it comes to securing your information. Think about how many times a day you put in passwords, credit card number or any personal data into your computer or smartphone this information needs to be kept safe. Anytime you are going to put any sensitive data into your computer or smartphone I recommend using a VPN. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and is a network that is constructed using the Internet to connect to a private network, using encryption and other security mechanisms to ensure that only authorized users can access the network and that the data cannot be intercepted. This type of network is designed to provide a secure, encrypted tunnel in which to transmit the data between the remote user and the connected network. When you are connected to a VPN anything you send over the VPN is encrypted even if the site you are working on sends passwords without encryption the VPN protects you by having the isolated secure encrypted tunnel. A VPN is a must especially if you are using your phone or computer on any type of free Wi-Fi offerings like at a Starbucks or McDonalds. Hackers can sit on these free networks and just sniff for passwords or sensitive data that’s not encrypted the use that data to reverse engineer a way to get your information. A VPN can be used as well for geographical locations for example if you connect to a VPN say in Germany and you are in America you will get the German version of Google and Facebook. This comes especially in handy when you want to view content on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon that is not available in...
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October 26, 2018Microsoft released their earnings report this week and have reported $29.1 billion in revenue with huge growth in places like Office 365, cloud and gaming. While we saw a little percentage drop in Azure revenue which is to be expected as those numbers hire the percentage will start to decrease a bit that’s very normal but for me, the news of the earnings report was Office 365. Office 365 is reporting a growth of over three million users per month. To break it down further Microsoft Office 365 commercial revenue grew 36% and passed the 155 million monthly active users mark. On the consumer side, Microsoft is reporting 32.5 million active subscriptions. That is 187.5 million subscribers at a growth rate of about 3 million users a month it’s very possible Microsoft will have anywhere between 195 million and 200 million monthly active Office 365 subscribers between consumer and commercial subscriptions. I would like to point out the 35% growth in Office 365 revenues and the Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 51% since these are add-on services to commercial users this shows that Microsoft is successful in extracting more revenue per month from its users once they get you to subscribe not only are they getting a subscription every month they are selling you additional 365 services. Some other key points from the earnings report I found interesting LinkedIn grew 34% with record levels of engagement and job postings Xbox hardware revenue grew 94% Surface had another billion dollar quarter Search advertising revenue grew 17% Overall another great quarter for Microsoft.