Microsoft to pay $20m for child privacy violations | BBC News

June 7, 2023June 5, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Microsoft will pay $20m (£16m) to US federal regulators after it was found to have illegally collected data on children who had started Xbox accounts.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached a settlement with the company on Monday, which also includes increased protections for child gamers.

Among other violations, the FTC found that Microsoft failed to inform parents about its data collection policies.

It follows a similar action against Amazon last week over its Echo devices.

The FTC said Microsoft violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by not properly getting parental consent and by retaining personal data on children under 13 for longer than necessary for accounts created before 2021.

Microsoft kicks Twitter in the teeth | TechCrunch

April 20, 2023April 19, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Microsoft is dropping Twitter from its advertising platform next week, nearly two months after Twitter announced that it will begin charging a minimum of $42,000 per month to users of its API, which include enterprises and research institutions.

Users began receiving emails about its new pricing details in early March, per a Wired report that observed at the time that the new pricing scheme “prices out nearly everyone.”

With its $2.15 trillion market cap and roughly $100 billion cash on hand at the end of last year, Microsoft obviously has the money to pay Twitter what it wants, so the move appears to be a bit of a statement, even as Microsoft is declining to elaborate further about its decision.

Netflix with ads is coming, but it’s ‘early days’ | CNN

July 15, 2022July 13, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

You’ll soon be able to sign up for a cheaper version of Netflix with ads — though that option is still in its “early days.”

Netflix will partner with Microsoft on this new ad-supported subscription plan, the two companies announced Wednesday.

The partnership follows the surprising announcement in April that Netflix (NFLX) would be open to adding a lower-priced ad-supported tier to its service — something its CEO Reed Hastings resisted for years. But the company is going through one of the roughest periods in its 25-year history, after losing subscribers in the first quarter for the first time in more than a decade.

Windows 11 adoption is slowing, but it’s not a failure yet | Digital Trends

March 2, 2022March 1, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Windows 11 released last fall and promised to be a new and refreshing update that tries to rid itself of the past. Unfortunately, it seems that Windows 11 adoption has been slowing in lieu of Windows 10 updates. That’s not always a bad thing and doesn’t necessarily mean Windows 11 is a failure, though.

AdDuplex, an ad network, released statistics on Windows 11 adoption based on their sampling of 60,000 computers running the software. The percentage of users who installed the Windows 10 21H2 update is at 21%. By contrast, almost 20% of Windows PCs have been updated to Windows 11 since its October release.

Best tablets 2021: Because the iPad is no longer your only option | Mashable

August 2, 2021August 1, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Even if you have a very capable smartphone and a nice laptop, tablets are still a worthwhile hunk of tech to add to your arsenal.

The touchscreen that can be carried anywhere makes for a portable studio for creatives, a crucial sidekick for commuters and frequent travelers, and a mini TV for people who aren’t missing the newest episode of Loki just because they’re on vacation.

A simple question kicks off the process of narrowing down your options: Are you an Apple person? Whether that’s yes, no, or an “I have no idea,” the buying guide below lays out the pros and cons of the main picks from Apple, Amazon, Samsung, and Microsoft.

Microsoft fixes critical PrintNightmare bug | BBC News

July 8, 2021July 7, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Microsoft has issued a fix for a critical bug dubbed PrintNightmare.

It says, hackers are using the bug, accidentally disclosed by researchers.

It can help them “install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights” remotely on all versions of Windows.

It affects the Windows Print Spooler, software that manages printing, controlling the order in which print jobs from computers in an office are put in a queue, for example.

Microsoft Spring Event to Feature Surface Laptop 4, Webcam | Digital Trends

March 10, 2021March 9, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It could shape up to be a busy spring hardware season for Microsoft. The company is rumored to be launching a new webcam, as well as the Surface Laptop 4 and other peripherals, at its next Surface event in a few weeks, according to Microsoft watcher Brad Sams.

Details are naturally scarce, but it is believed that this new webcam could sport a privacy cover, as well as support for high dynamic range video. This would be Microsoft’s first external webcam since the 2006 release of the Lifecam, which is actually still available for purchase.

Windows 10 is rumored to be getting a major redesign. Don’t screw this up, Microsoft! | CNN

January 7, 2021January 5, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Microsoft is rumored to be working on a major redesign of Windows 10 that could bring big changes to the way the PC operating system looks and functions.

Windows 10 could use a refresh. Aside from twice-annual tweaks, Windows 10 been mostly unchanged since its release in 2015. Six years is long in the tooth for any PC operating system, and a revolution is coming to personal computers that threatens Windows’ standing as the dominant productivity operating system.

Still, Microsoft (MSFT) doesn’t exactly have the best reputation for fixing operating systems that ain’t broke. So a lot is riding on Microsoft’s ability to turn the next iteration of Windows 10 into something hundreds of millions of computer owners will want to keep using.

It’s Official: Salesforce Buying Slack For $28 Billion, Taking On Microsoft With Benioff’s Biggest Deal Yet | Forbes

December 2, 2020December 1, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

After nearly a week of speculation, Salesforce confirmed its intent to acquire popular workforce chat platform Slack in a deal valued at $27.7 billion on Tuesday, marking the enterprise cloud giant’s largest-ever acquisition and positioning it to compete more forcefully with the nation’s second-largest tech firm by market capitalization, Microsoft.

Daily Crunch: This TikTok deal is pretty confusing | TechCrunch

September 22, 2020September 21, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Companies send out conflicting messages about the TikTok deal, Microsoft acquires a gaming giant and the WeChat ban is temporarily blocked. This is your Daily Crunch for September 21, 2020.

The big story: This TikTok deal is pretty confusing

This keeps getting more confusing. Apparently TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has reached a deal with Walmart and Oracle that will allow the Chinese social media app to continue operating in the United States, and the deal has been approved by Donald Trump. But it’s hard to tell exactly what this agreement entails.