Here’s how Microsoft officials explained how Viva Sales works: “As sellers are working, they can tag customers in Outlook, Teams or Office applications like Excel, and Viva Sales will automatically capture it as a customer record, layered with all relevant data about the customer. Being able to automatically capture this level of customer engagement data was not available previously. This data can easily be shared with team members while collaborating in Office and Teams without retyping or looking it up in a CRM....

Microsoft recently updated its Windows release health dashboard to declare “Windows 11 is designated for broad deployment”, signaling the go-ahead for more people to upgrade, so long as the hardware meets Microsoft’s requirements for Windows 11. The milestone comes about seven months after Windows 11’s official release on October 5, 2021 and Microsoft’s shift to annual feature releases. Microsoft announced Windows 11 in June. SEE: The best computers: Is a Windows PC, Chromebook, or Mac right for you?...

“We’ve got to get people to download Edge,” says one large brain. “Nah, we’ve got to force them into it,” says another. “It’s the only way that works. It’s the traditional way.” And so Microsoft has tried so many stinky, annoying ways to get customers over (to) the Edge. Making it harder to use other browsers in Windows, for example. It’s clear this isn’t going to stop. I’m delighted, therefore, that the latest phase of Microsoft (no-)charm Edge offensive is so wonderfully, well, offensive....

The consumer version of the Surface Go 3 starts at $399.99, while the ‘for Business’ model, with extra security and management features, and optional LTE mobile broadband, costs from $499.99. The new Surface Slim Pen ($129.99) will work with the Surface Go 3 (as will any Surface Pen), but the keyboard hasn’t been updated with the charging well. If you have the keyboard from an older Surface Go model, it’s exactly the same Type Cover ($84....

That is what Muglia, former Microsoft executive and former Snowflake CEO, did Wednesday morning during his keynote address at The Knowledge Graph Conference in New York. The subject of his talk, “From the Modern Data Stack to Knowledge Graphs,” united roughly fifty years of database technology in one new form. “The industry knows this is a problem,” said Muglia. The five platforms, he said, representing “the modern data stack, have allowed a “new generation of these very, very important data apps to be built....

This leaves us in the middle, seeking good, affordable sound that’s impressive enough to provide awesome background music for a party, immersive enough for a great movie night, and versatile enough to power quiet Zoom calls. Monoprice’s DT-3BT speakers fit into the sweet spot perfectly. And they even have Bluetooth! Building an audio system can be frustrating. Incompatible parts, components that don’t complement each other’s sound profile, and the bevy of required hook ups may drive you bananas....

According to the Global Digital Trust Insights Survey 2022, the increase in cyberattacks in Brazil is among the key concerns of business decision-makers in Brazil, with each threat requiring a different response, new tools and training so teams can be prepared for future incidents. This scenario has prompted 83% of Brazilian organizations to plan for an increase in spending on cybersecurity in the coming year, the research has found. This compares with the predicted rise in budgets cited by 69% of those polled....

Lenovo’s smartphone unit has become a key value 5G player with devices hitting multiple price points. For instance, the Moto Edge will run $699.99 (and an initial sale with $200 off) and join a 5G lineup that includes Motorola One 5G Ace ($329.99), moto g stylus 5G ($399.99) and the razr, a foldable that’s due for an update with a 2nd gen version at $999.99. Doug Michau, executive director of North America Business Development at Motorola Mobility, said Motorola has gained market share as a number of Android players such as Huawei, ZTE, LG and HTE have dropped from the market in US....

But I still use an Android phone. Why? Because it can do things my iPhone can’t do. My previous favorite Android phone was the Ulefone Armor 9. I’ve been using this a lot over the last couple of years. Not only has it been my go-to handset when I need something that can put up with the harshest of environments, but it had cool features like a thermal camera and the ability to connect an endoscope....

The space agency has confirmed that Hubble is up and running again, with all science instruments onboard the spacecraft operational and ready to start collecting data for researchers on the ground. After some final instrument calibrations are completed, the telescope will carry out an observation at the end of the week – the first one since some of Hubble’s key hardware started playing up last month. SEE: An IT pro’s guide to robotic process automation (free PDF) (TechRepublic) The issue started on June 13, when Hubble’s payload computer froze....

The storage company reported second quarter revenue of $1.57 billion with net income of $224 million, or 98 cents a share. Non-GAAP earnings for the quarter were $1.28 a share. Wall Street was expecting NetApp to report second quarter revenue of $1.55 billion with non-GAAP earnings of $1.21 a share. The bulk of NetApp’s sales in the quarter were attributed to hybrid cloud deployments. NetApp has been building out its public cloud business with partnerships with AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure....

The company’s in-house brand is once again dipping into the latter arena, revealing its new Drop BMR1 Nearfield Monitors during CES 2023. This new offering is a pair of compact desktop speakers that use some novel technology to create “a natural soundstage and excellent imaging capabilities” and can be oriented horizontally or vertically to fit your desktop and monitor setup. Also: CES 2023 tech you can actually buy now The BMR in the name comes from the single “balanced mode radiator” that does the heavy lifting of producing the sound for each speaker....

For New South Wales, the COVID-19 digital vaccination certificate will be available on the ServiceNSW app for certain users based in Lismore, Port Macquarie, Tamworth, and Wagga Wagga. “Up to 500 customers, to be selected by the businesses involved, will participate in the pilot across Tamworth, Port Macquarie, Wagga Wagga and Lismore,” Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole said. Meanwhile, the Victorian government said it commenced similar trials on Monday in businesses and events “across highly vaccinated parts of regional Victoria”....

If you’re outside the United States, you’ll need a VPN and a couple of different U.S. streaming providers (Paramount+ and FuboTV) to watch Sunday’s games. Fortunately, both services have free trials so you can watch the games at no charge. Follow the step-by-step guide below: However it played out for your team personally, the stage is set for Sunday, Jan. 30’s Super Bowl deciding matchups. The Chiefs and Bengals are slated to battle it out for the AFC Championship at 3:00 pm (E....

Dubbed “NoReboot,” ZecOps’ proof-of-concept (PoC) attack is described as a persistence method that can circumvent the normal practice of restarting a device to clear malicious activity from memory. Making its debut with an analysis and a public GitHub repository this week, ZecOps said that the NoReboot Trojan simulates a true shutdown while providing a cover for the malware to operate – which could include the covert hijacking of microphone and camera capabilities to spy on a handset owner....

The partnership will allow anyone who subscribes to Helium Mobile, a 5G crowdsourced network, to access both Helium’s 5G network and T-Mobile’s wireless network throughout the US. Currently, Nova Labs has over 900,000 Helium hotspots that provide LongFi coverage around the world. The LongFi signals broadcast by hotspots create the Helium network, along with devices like the Invoxia LongFi tracker to update its location as long as it’s within range of a nearby hotspot....

“NSW is home to some of the world’s leading universities and we want to strengthen our working relationships with the sector to commercialise research and develop world-leading local precincts where people live and create jobs,” NSW Dominic Perrottet said. The partnership, entered into through a memoranda of understanding, will see 100 current and potential university-backed projects be provided with funding along with collaboration from the state government. The projects span technological areas such as AI, big data, and cybersecurity among others....

Demand for RTX has grown significantly over the past year, Bob Pette, VP of Nvidia’s Professional Visualization business unit, said to reporters this week ahead of Nvidia’s spring Graphics Technology Conference (GTC). There are more and more applications taking advantage of RTX features, as well as more use cases in data science and AI. On top of that, Pette said, “The new normal of hybrid work” means “companies buying multiple and more capable systems to ensure their workers are productive from wherever they’re working....

The cloud-based identity management firm reported a non-GAAP net loss of $11 million, or 7 cents per share. Total revenue was $351 million, an increase of 61% year-over-year. Analysts were expecting a net loss of 24 cents on revenue of $327 million. “Our strong third quarter results reflect the continued shift to Identity-First architectures and the critical adoption of Zero Trust security environments, which are both propelling our market leading position,” CEO Todd McKinnon said in a statement....

Thanks to a vulnerability that allowed threat actors to bypass the app’s deeplink verification, to take over a victim’s TikTok account, hackers simply had to get victims to click a “specially crafted link.” According to Microsoft, the vulnerability has been fixed. The researchers said they “did not locate any evidence of in-the-wild-exploitation” of the vulnerability. One-Click Account Compromise In a blog post, Microsoft researchers shed light on the TikTok vulnerability that allows hackers to exploit a JavaScript bridge to inject code and hijack users’ accounts, they explained....