Microsoft

Microsoft Teams launches for friends and family with free all-day video calling

Microsoft is launching the personal version of Microsoft Teams today. After previewing the service nearly a year ago, Microsoft Teams is now available for free personal use amongst friends and families. The service itself is almost identical to the Microsoft Teams that businesses use, and it will allow people to chat, video call, and share… Read more

New Wi-Fi Flaws Revealed – Actually Quite Old

Home News (Image credit: Shutterstock) Widespread flaws affecting Wi-Fi have been disclosed to the public by security researcher Mathy Vanhoef nine months after he tipped the Wi-Fi Alliance off about the problem. The vulnerabilities, reported by Gizmondo from a site set up by Vanhoef exploit mistakes in the implementation of Wi-Fi standards, and can affect… Read more

Microsoft rolls out Dolby Vision gaming test on Xbox Series X and S

Dolby Vision gaming is arriving on the Xbox Series X and S for testers who are a part of the Xbox Insider’s “alpha ring” group. This HDR format offers an upgraded set of features like support for dynamic metadata. Microsoft says the feature means “brighter highlights, sharper contrast, and more vibrant colors” in games when… Read more

Epic fights Apple in court by playing Candy Crush

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Expert testimony continues Sometimes I reflect on my life and wonder where I went wrong, such that I am sitting on a wooden pew in federal court, watching a Google search for Candy Crush Saga on the display monitor. This is a huge trial with major stakes for… Read more

Maybe it’s time for a HomePod fire sale, Apple

There’s been some buzz recently about how Apple is having problems getting rid of its HomePods, with the now-discontinued Siri speakers still being on sale two months after Apple announced their discontinuation. And yet, the speakers are still $300, which is only slightly lower than their launch price of $350. Apple: it’s time to put… Read more

Xbox is testing accessible chat options like transcription and speech synthesis

Microsoft has announced new text-to-speech and speech-to-text features for Xbox Party Chat, which aim to help make communication on the platform more accessible. The features are currently being tested through the Xbox Insider program. The speech-to-text feature puts a window on the screen with automatic transcriptions of what people in the voice chat are saying,… Read more

Colonial Pipeline reportedly paid the hackers nearly $5 million, despite suggestions to contrary

After a devastating and deeply embarrassing cyberattack on one of the United States’ largest oil pipelines, one that forced many gas stations to shut down and reportedly saw average national gas prices rise above $3 for the first time since 2014, the oil is flowing again — but Bloomberg is reporting that Colonial Pipeline had… Read more

Xbox is partnering with the studio behind the world’s biggest mobile games

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios is teaming up with Tencent’s TiMi Studios, developer of the wildly successful mobile hits Call of Duty: Mobile and Honor of Kings. According to a Google Translated version of the announcement from TiMi, the two companies have formed a “strategic partnership” to create “game content,” but it’s unclear exactly what that… Read more

A security researcher found Wi-Fi vulnerabilities that have existed since the beginning

The security researcher who discovered the Krack Wi-Fi vulnerability has discovered a slew of other flaws with the wireless protocol most of us use to power our online lives (via Gizmodo). The vulnerabilities relate to how Wi-Fi handles large chunks of data, with some being related to the Wi-Fi standard itself, and some being related… Read more

Biden signs executive order aiming to prevent future cybersecurity disasters

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday implementing new policies aimed to improve national cybersecurity. The executive order comes in the wake of a number of recent cybersecurity catastrophes, such as last week’s ransomware attack that took down the Colonial Pipeline, the Microsoft Exchange server vulnerabilities that may have affected north of 60,000… Read more

Valve Head Gabe Newell Hints at Upcoming Console News

Home News (Image credit: Valve) Gabe Newell, the head of Valve Software, hinted to students in New Zealand that the company might expand its Steam platform, or at least some games, to the console space later this year. The comment is vague at best, but at least it shows that the owner of one of… Read more

The original Xbox background is here to haunt the Xbox Series X / S

The Xbox has gone through several visual periods during its life span, from an edgy and yet somehow dorky green alien thing, to a modern look that could be described as “I know how to use Excel but I can still have fun.” But like stumbling on a Facebook album from high school, you can… Read more

Windows 10 Tips and Tricks: From Troubleshooting to Life-Changing Productivity Hacks

Home News We’re breaking down tips and trips for making Windows 10 shine. (Image credit: Shutterstock) Your PC is nothing without its operating system, and for most devices (about 1 billion to be more precise), that OS is Windows 10. Windows has been around for so long that even the technologically inept should be able… Read more

The Nintendo Switch is finally getting a $10 calculator app

We’re in a relatively quiet period for Switch releases while we wait for Skyward Sword’s remaster to release in July. Thankfully, today marks the arrival of a new $10 calculator app on Nintendo’s console, which should stop your machine from gathering too much dust over the coming months. Hell yeah. Math. The app, which was… Read more

be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 650 W Review – Kill the Noise

Introduction We would like to thank be quiet! for supplying the review sample. The be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM (Fully Modular) line lists three models of different capacities: 550 W, 650 W, and 750 W. In a previous review, I evaluated the strongest model of the line, and in today’s review, we will take… Read more