These pronouncements follow in the wake of Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s high-profile commitment to the metaverse. What once seemed like a shiny distraction now defines the company’s future, with Zuckerberg committing tens of billions of dollars to build the metaverse. Other tech companies are piling in too, with Microsoft and chips specialist Qualcomm focusing on how they will develop hardware and applications for this space, and how their customers might benefit....

As the cost of the hardware – such as virtual and augmented reality headsets – begins to drop, he says, more businesses will start to explore how they can make the most of the metaverse. Like other industry experts, Jennings suggests the fact that major IT vendors – particularly Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta – are betting big on immersive experiences means it’s likely to gain significant traction soon: “That’s quite clearly where the world’s going,” he says....

Microsoft has refreshed the look and feel of the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint apps for Android and iOS. It’s also enabled mobile application management for devices that aren’t enrolled in Microsoft’s Intune mobile device management (MDM) platform, and enabled jailbreak detection for iOS. Previously, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint worked on devices that were enrolled using Intune mobile device management (MDM) only. SEE: Network security policy (TechRepublic Premium) Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-based service and distinct from Microsoft Defender antivirus....

Redmond still, though, harbors old habits that it finds very hard to shake. One of these is to nag Windows users until they pick up their PCs and toss them from great heights. Or, even worse, buy a Mac. The latest episode of Microsoft Is Poking Me Through The Windows involves a pop-up message that appears in Windows 10’s purpose-built notification center. It reads: “Microsoft recommends different browser settings. Want to change them?...

Search in Windows 10 and Windows 11 is now more than a tool to find files and apps, becoming a space where Microsoft can show graphical search highlights like anniversaries, special dates and related content to users. For the enterprise, it will also show work-related contacts and files. Microsoft rolled out search highlights to Windows 11 on the Windows Insiders Dev Channel in March (and later to Windows 10 testers, too)....

Loop needs some explanation because, while it’s an Office app, it’s also an app that Microsoft made to help people collaborate on projects using different Office apps. Microsoft introduced the app last year to offer users a canvas with portable components that stay in sync across apps. As such, Loop is a lightweight app with “components” that can operate across Teams, Outlook and OneNote. “Loop components are live and can be copied and pasted across Teams and Outlook – staying in sync in all the places they exist....

In the Redmond giant’s latest round of patches, usually released on the second Tuesday of each month in what is known as Patch Tuesday, Microsoft has fixed problems including remote code execution (RCE) bugs, denial-of-service issues, privilege escalation, and memory corruption issues. In total, when it comes to severity, five of the vulnerabilities are considered critical and 45 are deemed important. Products impacted by June’s security update include Microsoft Office, ....

The Redmond giant’s latest round of patches, usually released on the second Tuesday of each month in what is known as Patch Tuesday, includes fixes for problems such as RCE vulnerabilities, information leaks, Elevation of Privilege (EoP), Use-After-Free issues, and out-of-bounds memory access. Products impacted by June’s security update include the Windows operating system, Microsoft Office, Hyper-V Server, Azure, and Windows Defender. In total, three vulnerabilities are critical, one is moderate, and the rest are considered important....

Defender for IoT is an agentless monitoring system for securing Internet of Things (IoT) devices connected to enterprise IT networks, like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), printers, and smart TVs, as well as operational technology (OT) behind critical infrastructure. Microsoft Defender for IoT was launched in preview in late 2021 but was also formerly known as Azure Defender for IoT, which launched in public preview in 2020. Before that, it was called Azure Security Center for IoT....

The revelation was discovered by Twitter user Florian Beaubois, a Windows 11 user that also holds a Microsoft MVP certificate. In a tweet, Beaubois noted “Some people will go mad if Microsoft starts adding ads in explorer,” and showed an image he captured of a banner ad appearing at the top of a File Explorer window. The ad in question read “Write with confidence across documents, email, and the web with advanced writing suggestions from Microsoft Editor....

Completely new features in this build of Windows 11 include support for snap groups in the ALT+TAB command menu, the introduction of a quicker way to add and remove media servers in the File Explorer menu, and the latest portion of the company’s “ongoing effort to bring over settings from Control Panel into the Settings app.” This final feature update, which has really been ongoing since Windows 10, sees the option to uninstall a given third-party app, as well as the option to uninstall Microsoft’s own Windows updates being moved over to the new settings interface....

Also: Your MacBook Air needs this slim, lightweight hub The 8-in-1 dock features two USB-A (3.1 Gen 2), two USB-C (Thunderbolt 4), one Ethernet (2.5Gbps), one 3.5mm audio jack, and one security lock (Kensington compatible) on the rear, and USB-A (3.1 Gen 2) and USB-C (Thunderbolt 4) ports on the front. That means users can quickly plug in a flash drive, USB dongle, or smartphone without needing to crawl behind their workstations and risk pulling a muscle (just me?...

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (formerly Defender ATP), gives security teams visibility over unmanaged devices running on their networks. It’s a cloud-based security service that gives security teams incident response and investigation tools and lives as an instance in Azure. It’s distinct from Microsoft Defender antivirus that ships with Windows 10. Microsoft pushed the public preview of this unmanaged device capability to public preview in April, as ZDNet reported at the time....

Microsoft’s latest Teams updates as detailed in its August update should make video meetings more palatable for everyone and includes new features for presenters and participants. Live captions and live transcriptions in Teams are handy for multilingual global firms and anyone who needs to take notes during meetings. Teams now has “reporter mode” that positions content on a screen that’s shared with participants, such as a host’s slides, as a visual aid above the presenter’s shoulder, just like a news story would be presented....

Also: The best Surface PC: Which one is right for you? Microsoft officials have said that Windows 11 includes a number of the features that were meant to be part of Windows 10X. Microsoft just recently took the wraps off the third-generation Surface Go running Windows 11, but it starts at $400 (before volume discounts) again, minus the keyboard and pen. The Surface Laptop Go, a Surface Go with a real keyboard, also is fairly expensive and starts at $550....

The company said the flaw (tracked as CVE-2022-21907) is quite potent and has released a patch in this month’s Patch Tuesday. Furthermore, they recommended that users prioritize patching affected servers. Vulnerability Lies with HTTP Protocol Stack The vulnerability lies in the HTTP Protocol Stack (HTTP.sys). This is a protocol listener used to process HTTP requests by the Windows IIS web server. To carry out a successful attack, threat actors would have to send maliciously crafted packets targeting Windows servers that use the vulnerable HTTP Protocol Stack....

It noted that Asia-Pacific saw malware and ransomware attacks at higher frequencies, clocking 1.6 and 1.7 times higher, respectively. than the global average. Citing numbers from its 2019 threat report, Microsoft said developing markets such as Indonesia, India, and Sri Lanka were most vulnerable to such threats that year. It added that cybercrime not only resulted in financial losses and brought down operations, but also posed risks to national security and eroded trust in digital economies....

Here’s how it works. OpenLens, under the MIT License, is as free as it’s always been in the full sense of open-source, free software. But, things get more complicated with Mirantis’s new Lens subscription versions, Lens Personal and Lens Pro. According to a blog post by Miska Kaipiainen, Mirantis’s VP of product engineering, the new Lens subscription model also has a revamped Lens Terms of Service Agreement. This covers the use of Lens Desktop and all related services....

Parental Control App or Stalkerware? Earlier this week Kaspersky malware expert Victor Chebyshev published a report on new super stalkerware Kaspersky encountered called MonitorMinor. MonitorMinor is being sold online as a parental control app, however, Chebyshev states this is actually stalkerware. It is possibly for this reason that it cannot be bought either on Google Play or via Apple’s App Store. Kaspersky categorized MonitorMinor as stalkerware because it is almost impossible to detect it on the victim’s device....

The smart control set includes a garage door sensor and a hub. The sensor determines the current status of the garage door and communicates to the hub via Bluetooth. The hub is connected to Wi-Fi via your phone’s MyQ app, and works as a radio frequency (RF) remote control for the garage door. You can access the information from the MyQ app, then simply tap on “Close” from your phone....