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The third full-sized MX Master was released in September 2019 to almost universally positive reviews. Its better-than-ever ergonomics, intelligent scroll wheel, and rock-solid build quality brought in even more followers than its predecessor. This is why Logitech chose the MX Master 3 as one of the flagship products to launch its collection of “for Business” solutions. The MX Master 3 for Business and all “for Business” offerings support Logitech’s proprietary Bolt receiver, a revamped wireless connection technology that is designed to provide increased security against wireless intrusions and flawless operations in spaces with too much interference for most wireless peripherals to maintain a stable connection....

The scale of the program is being cheered in science communities as a needed boost for the national laboratories. The U.S. DOE announced $1.5 billion for fiscal year 2022 to build and upgrade scientific facilities, modernize infrastructure, and address deferred maintenance projects at its Office of Science-managed national laboratories. The funding comes as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022. Also: Intel unveils new chips that will power the upcoming Aurora supercomputer Big winners include the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, which will get $490....

The reason for that rarity is simple. Most wireless earbuds rely on a version of Bluetooth. Bluetooth tends to, well, suck for gaming. It introduces noticeable “latency,” or a delay between the game (or video) and audio. Obviously, in many games, this will get you killed by an enemy you only hear approaching after they’ve already shot you. Some Bluetooth protocols minimize this, but none reliably match the undetectable latency 2....

The rollout comes as part of a partnership between ASM and technology provider PopID, and the plan is to leverage advanced facial verification at locations in stadiums and theaters worldwide. This is in spite of skepticism worldwide that biometric identification, and facial recognition in particular, is being used to power global surveillance. PopID has harnessed the surge of interest in contactless payments during the pandemic to position itself as a leading provider of facial recognition for commerce....

As part of the collaboration, Mastercard said it would work with the DTA to examine a series of private sector-led pilots and the impact its digital verification service could have on retailer and consumer experiences and expectations online. “Australians are increasingly expecting no disruptions between their online and physical lives, and identity is an area that must keep pace with those expectations. Public-private pilots have the potential to make it easier to use these verified identities securely, everywhere they travel,” Mastercard Australasia division president Richard Wormald said....

Both Google and Microsoft presented their new AI-powered chatterboxes and both seemed to make fundamental mistakes. Yes, in the launch presentations. Then Microsoft’s Bing with ChatGPT took on less of a charming personality and more of a sociopathic affect. Also: ChatGPT: What The New York Times and others are getting terribly wrong about it Perhaps, then, AI needs a little more work. Real humans knew this already. When they talk to Alexa or Siri, they may not have been understood....

Fortunately, developers at TikTok parent ByteDance quickly fixed the flaw after Microsoft researchers reported the issue to it in February through its bug bounty program, according to Dimitrios Valsamaras, a researcher with the Microsoft 365 Defender Research Team. The bug has now been assigned the identifier CVE-2022-28799, and while it is fixed, Microsoft is urging all TikTok users on Android to update the app to the latest version. SEE: These are the biggest cybersecurity threats....

The latest Edge beta introduces a new browsing mode in Edge “where the security of your browser takes priority”. For admins who fear web-based attacks on desktop systems via the browser, this feature gives them the option to “mitigate unforeseen active zero days”. Enabling this mode can be configured, so that important sites and line-of-business applications “continue to work as expected,” according to Microsoft’s release notes. The security-focused Edge mode, spotted by Bleeping Computer, brings several Windows exploit mitigation technologies into play, including Hardware-enforced Stack Protection, Arbitrary Code Guard (ACG), and Control Flow Guard (CFG)....

The deal, valued at $68.7 billion, was announced last month by Microsoft. As part of the proposed deal, Microsoft would take in Activision’s 10,000 employees and gain control of the popular gaming franchises Call of Duty, Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, and Hearthstone. If approved, the $68.7 billion deal would become Microsoft’s largest acquisition to date. While both the FTC and Department of Justice both have authority in conducting antitrust enforcement, only the FTC will be involved in this merger review, Bloomberg reported....

OpenAI, he said, represents part of the next wave in computing. “The next big platform wave, as I said, is going to be AI, and we strongly also believe a lot of the enterprise value gets created by just being able to catch these waves and then have those waves impact every part of our tech stack and also create new solutions and new opportunities,” said Nadella. Also: How to get started using ChatGPT To that end, Microsoft “fully expect to, sort of, incorporate AI in every layer of the stack, whether it’s in productivity, whether it’s in our consumer services, and so we’re excited about it....

Microsoft’s blog post has a list of other fixes and known issues in Windows 11 build 22000.160. In case you missed it, Microsoft also released new preview builds for Windows 10 21H1 and the coming Windows 10 21H2 release to testers this week. The new Windows 10 21H2 preview brings no surprises. Still, it does deliver promised features, including GPU support Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and Azure IoT Edge for Linux on Windows (EFLOW) deployments for machine learning....

The main change to OneNote mobile takes effect on the Home tab in the app, Microsoft announced in a blog post. It will let users capture naturally with text, voice, ink and camera as well as remember rich note preview cards. OneNote has been downloaded from Google’s Play Store over 500 million times but it also exists in a crowded market filled with apps vying for attention among people who own devices with styluses, from iOS and Android smartphones, tablets and Windows 10/11 laptops....

Over the weekend, Micosoft said some users are now able to choose a style for the responses from Bing that are either ‘Precise’, ‘Balanced’, or ‘Creative’. A Microsoft exec tweeted a screenshot with the options, which also noted ‘Bing is powered by AI, so surprises and mistakes are possible," and also said: “Make sure to check the facts.” Also: What is ChatGPT and why does it matter? Here’s everything you need to know Microsoft released the new Bing with chat features on February 7 and quickly gained over a million people who’d signed up for the waitlist....

And there’s no better time to switch since there are so many great alternatives out there for the Mac: Firefox, Opera, Brave, Microsoft Edge. Yes, you read that right. Microsoft Edge. But not the version for the Mac. The Windows version. Must read: Buying a new Apple gadget? Here’s how to find the best deals (September 2021) One of my all-time favorite apps for the Mac is the virtualization software Parallels Desktop....

As flagship laptops, you’d expect both lines to be aiming high in component selection, performance, and features. Apple usually integrates all three of those tentpoles into its new MacBook Pro releases. Microsoft, however, seems more complacent, and I think that fact is starting to hold back the Surface Laptop line. All of the precision-machined cases and blazing-fast performance here couldn’t make me ignore the distractingly large bezels, nor could anything make me forget about its comically outdated webcam....

The company has released its new Teams ‘View Switcher’ to public preview, allowing users to click from an always-available menu of different views. Located at the top left of the screen, the view switcher icon allows for quick switching between Gallery, Large gallery, Together mode, Gallery at top, Focus, and Full screen. SEE: BYOD security warning: You can’t do everything securely with just personal devices It was one of a host of new and upcoming Teams features announced at Microsoft Ignite 2021 in March....

Microsoft’s Jeff Chen in a new blogpost explains the latest latency improvements are “mainly attributed to the upgrade of the framework, which we introduced this month.” The upgrade should be visible for users of the Teams app on Windows and Mac. “The upgraded Teams framework provides technical benefits including rendering the HTML tree faster, running JavaScript and serializing arrays more efficiently,” Chen notes. Also: Salary freezes and a return to the office?...

In a blog post, Microsoft 365 product marketing manager Jon Maunder said the tool is “specially built to bring enterprise-grade endpoint security to businesses with up to 300 employees, in a solution that is easy-to-use and cost-effective.” Once the tool is available, customers will be able to buy the platform directly from Microsoft as a standalone offering costing $3 per user per month. Maunder noted that Microsoft was prompted to create the platform because of a 300% increase in ransomware attacks in the last year....

I don’t have any inside information about what Microsoft plans to highlight at the April 5 event. But I have a few guesses. First, I would assume we could see a peek of some so-far-undisclosed features coming to the Windows 11 – both later this year and around October in the all-up Windows 11 22H2 feature update. Given Microsoft’s recent focus on tweaking search in Windows 11, perhaps we’ll see more on that front....