The highly-anticipated remake of Resident Evil 3 is now live on Microsoft’s family of Xbox One consoles.

This latest version of the game is designed from the ground up for modern consoles with improved graphics, gameplay, and 4K Ultra HD when played on an Xbox One X.

Here’s the official store description and trailer:

Jill Valentine is one of the last remaining people in Raccoon City to witness the atrocities Umbrella performed. To stop her, Umbrella unleashes their ultimate secret weapon; Nemesis! Also includes Resident Evil Resistance, a new 1 vs 4 online multiplayer game set in the Resident Evil universe where four survivors face-off against a sinister Mastermind.

Resident Evil 3 also comes with the new multiplayer game, Resident Evil Resistance. It’s a one versus four online multiplayer experience which tasks four players with being survivors and the remainder being the evil Mastermind.

Experience a new 1 vs 4 online multiplayer game set in the Resident Evil universe where four survivors face-off against a sinister Mastermind. As the Mastermind your aim is to prevent the survivors from escaping by whatever means necessary. At your disposal will be all manner of tools including summoning vicious monsters, setting deadly traps, weaponizing cameras and more! In turn, the Survivors must work together to fend off the Mastermind’s attacks and complete puzzle style objectives to escape the map before time runs out!

Have you had a chance to play Resident Evil 3 yet on your Xbox One? Let us know if you liked it in the comments below and then stay tuned for our full review in the very near future.

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RESIDENT EVIL 3 for Xbox

Developer:
CAPCOM CO., LTD.

Price:
$39.99

With the Coronavirus crisis impacting Seattle hard, Microsoft is taking significant steps to help out their local community. In a series of tweets sent out by John Trujillo, the director of Microsoft’s Puget Sound real estate operations, we learned a bit more about how the company has shifted some of its usual operations to do its part.

According to Trujillo, once Microsoft’s work from home orders came, he realized that the community’s needs needed to be put first. Instead of supplying the Puget Sound Microsoft campus with materials, work shifted to scouring for personal protection equipment, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant wipes for employees, and for local hospitals in need.

In a few weeks, John’s team distributed over 240,000 medical masks, 100,000 nitrile gloves, 74,400 goggles, and 850 protective suits. Additionally, instead of putting campus food usually reserved for employees to waste, Microsoft also assembled and delivered 6,000 lunch boxes a day to families in need, for a total of 30,000 lunches per week.

Within the last couple weeks, we’ve procured & distributed 240,000 medical masks, 100,000 nitrile gloves, 3,000 sanitizing wipes, 74,400 goggles, and 850 protective suits. That’s just a start. More is coming. pic.twitter.com/52fJLe0IJy

— John Trujillo (@JohnLTrujillo) April 1, 2020

The folks behind the operation had to work with local philosophies to source, assemble and distribute the meals and also source the necessary equipment. There was also a tremendous learning curve, and Microsoft coordination with its suppliers to make this possible.

Sorry Fast Ring Insiders, Microsoft has just announced that there won’t be a new flight this week. Indeed, the Windows Insider team has recently discovered a blocking bug that won’t be fixed until next week.

Hello #WindowsInsiders! No Fast ring flight this week as we discovered a flight-blocking bug via internal testing. Fix is underway though and we should be back at it next week! Do check out the blog from last week to review a few updates that were made: https://t.co/aoa90CArQk pic.twitter.com/RddP1vJTPb

— Windows Insider (@windowsinsider) April 2, 2020

Microsoft released the build 19592.1001 for Fast Ring Insiders last week, which brought back the Tablet posture improvements for 2-in-1 convertible PCs that Microsoft first started testing last year. This build also brought an update for the Windows Search Platform (Indexer) to make it more efficient.

For Slow Ring Insiders, Microsoft also released a new cumulative update for Windows 10 version 2004 (20H1), which is likely almost ready to roll out to the general public. The company has yet to announce a release date as well as an official name (April 2020 Update? May 2020 Update?), but we’ll likely get more details very soon.

As more and more people head online due to the Coronavirus pandemic companies have turned to telecommunication tools like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Slack to continue their operations. Much like other services, Zoom has seen a surge in use. Reports have even said that it has seen up to 190 million daily users.

There have, however, been many security worries behind the service, causing the company itself to come out and respond. Here’s a recap of everything you need to know.

The Zoom risks and worries

We already covered the encryption, data collection, and privacy issues of Zoom in the ending of our separate post, but recently, security researchers have found things that go beyond that.  Most of these have been patched, however, but are still worth mentioning in retrospect. There’s also the concerning fact that government agencies running the response to the Coronavirus epidemic here in the United States spent big money on Zoom, and are actively using it, too, according to Forbes.

Anyway, for Windows 10 users, the biggest risk of them all was a UNC party injection in Zoom’s Windows 10 app. As pointed out by Bleeping Computer, with this security flaw, Zoom’s Windows 10 apps turns Windows networking UNC paths into clickable links. This allows Windows to connect to a remote site using SMB-file sharing protocol, and then send over the user’s login and password hash. It wasn’t isn’t the easiest thing for the average user to do, or for the receiver to recover, but it was still a glaring risk that was since patches, nonetheless.

For a few thousand, there’s another issue involving leaking peoples’ email addresses and photos. Noted by Vice, with this problem, the company directory setting of Zoom will automatically add people to a user’s lists of contacts if they signed up with a personal non-standard public email address that shares the same domain. It’s designed to make it easier to find a colleague, but it also pools people together as if they worked together with the same company, allowing you to see their names, email addresses, photos, and more.

Other security issues relate to macOS, where a zero-day bug allows any website to open a Zoom call with their video camera activated. As reported on Vice, Apple patched this via a silent update to the Malware Removal Tool.  Of course, there is the (now-patched) Facebook connection with Zoom, too. Without users permissions, the Facebook SDK in the Zoom iOS client was collecting non-personal device information and sending it to Facebook.

Oh, and let us not forget “Zoombombing” where random people could join in on Zoom meetings that aren’t protected. There are some suggested workarounds to prevent this as well, including using waiting rooms, passwords, and muting controls.

The Zoom response

As a response to these worries, Zoom’s own founder Eric Yuan has admitted to these concerns and showed how the company would respond. Interestingly, Yuan admits that the platform was built primarily for enterprise customers with a large IT base. He also admits that there was no way of knowing that everyone in the world would end up using Zoom, and said that “we now have a much broader set of users who are utilizing our product in a myriad of unexpected ways, presenting us with challenges.”

This alone shows why it’s best to keep away from Zoom for personal use, but still, Yuan admits that any security threats will be taken seriously and that “We are looking into each and every one of them and addressing them as expeditiously as we can.”

In the post, Yuan pointed to a company a blog post to help explain how to stop Zoombombing. The company also removed Facebook SDKs from its iOS app and updated its privacy policy to say it does not sell user’s data.  Zoom also will put all new features on hold to better handle privacy concerns, expand its bug bounty program, and even host a weekly webinar to explain privacy and security updates to the public.

Now, what about Microsoft?

With Teams being used by 44 million people daily, and Skype recently hitting the 40 million daily active users mark, there is a need to look at Microsoft’s security practices, too. After all, people are in need of virtual ways to communicate. People want a trusted platform where they can communicate, without worry. People don’t want their data to be sold.

Microsoft’s policies on this are clear and simple. As we’ve said multiple times, Microsoft does not use your data for anything other than providing you with the service that you have subscribed to. Microsoft also does not scan your email, documents, or teams for advertising or for purposes that are not service-related. Microsoft even doesn’t have access to your uploaded content. We suggest that while popular and easy are enticing, that you don’t forget privacy and security when making decisions on ways to make it through these difficult times.

Earlier this week, Microsoft filed a patent for a new human-powered cryptocurrency mining system that uses data generated by people to solve computationally difficult problems without even thinking about it.  While the description of the patent application goes into specific technical details, the idea is that people could be rewarded with cryptocurrency based on the activities they perform.

Imagine, you go running, play a video game, or participate in a yoga class, based on your mental concentration or physical exertion during those activities, you generate data that this proposed system could use to solve complicated math problems. While the patent seems to be a bit of science fiction, the reality is that the patent seems to tap into something many of us are already doing.  For example, tracking a run with a watch or mobile device and sharing that data with different apps or services, and with this patent, Microsoft is looking at using those same sensors to detect when the body is doing a physical task, such as a faster pulse, and then use that data to solve the math problems.

Whether this patent idea becomes a reality remains to be seen and there are still a significant amount of questions that remain around privacy and on whether this will work on existing blockchain protocols, or be a new one is unknown.  I think it would be safe to assume that Microsoft will at least leverage their Azure Blockchain as a Service as a fundamental part of their system. However, if someone wants to pay me for data I am already generating sounds pretty good to me.

Sea of Thieves started off as an Xbox One exclusive before moving to Windows 10 PC via the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Now, Sea of Thieves is “coming soon” to Steam. In the last couple of months, Gears 5, Halo: The Master Chief Collection (MCC), and State of Decay 2 have also appeared on Steam. On Twitter, Nibel spotted the Sea of Thieves page on Steam.

Sea of Thieves is headed to Steam "coming soon"https://t.co/xdWUL0LmwN pic.twitter.com/qh3xddgsK8

— Nibel (@Nibellion) April 2, 2020

Sea of Thieves is an open-world, co-op pirate simulator that was developed and released in 2018 by Rare. Sea of Thieves has been available for free for Xbox Game Pass subscribers since the game’s launch on Xbox One and Windows 10 PC via the Microsoft Store. Since its launch, Sea of Thieves has gotten plenty of updates to squash bugs and performance issues. Sea of Thieves has also added new game expansion packs for free to Xbox Game Pass subscribers. It should be noted that an Xbox Live Gold subscription is required to play Sea of Thieves.

Here is the official announcement from Xbox. Or if you want, you can join Xbox Game Pass and start playing Sea of Thieves today. Otherwise, Sea of Thieves is available for $39.99 through the Microsoft Store.

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Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
$1.00

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Sea of Thieves: 2024 Edition

Developer:
Microsoft Studios

Price:
Free

Do you think Xbox Game Studios should release more games on Steam? Let us know in the comments.

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer was the special guest of IGN’s Podcast Unlocked this week, and this episode is a nice follow-up to the full reveal of the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5’s specs last month. On paper, Microsoft will kick off the next console generation with the most powerful console, a stark change compared to the Xbox One launch seven years ago.

Speaking with IGN, Phil Spencer did seem really confident about the hardware choices the Xbox team made for the Xbox Series X, especially compared to what Sony revealed about the PlayStation 5. “I will definitely have respect for any platform team that’s launching, it just takes a lot of work. But I will say, when we finally saw the public disclosure, I felt even better about the choices that we made on our platform. And I kind of expected that I would,” Spencer said.

Even though the 12 teraflops of computing power for the Xbox Series X should appeal to many hardcore console gamers this holiday season, Sony’s slightly less powerful PlayStation 5 could still beat Microsoft on price, just like it did with the PlayStation 4 back in 2013. But again, Phil Spencer isn’t too worried about that.

“You have to set a price target at the beginning for yourselves. And then you kind of roll in as you see the competition come in and start to go to market planning. I feel good about the price that we’re going to be able to get to. I feel good about the price and the performance capabilities that we have with Series X. I feel incredibly strong about the overall package,” the head of Xbox explained.

Phil Spencer’s strong hammering reached a new point in the podcast when the exec Microsoft leading the next generation of consoles. “We’re definitely going to be continuing to keep our eyes wide open as we go towards launch, looking at what the competition is doing, but you know, we have a plan and we feel very solid about our plan. We think it’s a winning plan. I believe we have a plan that can win, we’ve got to go execute. But I feel really good about the plan that we put together,” Spencer said.

It’s quite striking to see the head of Xbox with such a level of confidence ahead of the launch of Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, but as the exec said, it’s now up to the Xbox team to execute on the company’s plans. Microsoft appears well-positioned with an incredibly powerful console and great services like Xbox Game Pass, but we shouldn’t underestimate the power of brand loyalty, with Sony managing to sell more than 100M PlayStation 4 consoles during this generation. Sony also has a stellar lineup of exclusive games, something that Microsoft has been willing to address by acquiring several new studios in the past two years.

In the meantime, it’s hard to ignore that the Xbox team has been winning on the communication front so far. Microsoft already showed the design of its new console, as well as some gameplay footage of Gears 5 running on Xbox Series X. In the meantime, Sony has yet to reveal the design and internals of its PlayStation 5. Phil Spencer also reconfirmed during IGN’s podcast that as of today, the coronavirus outbreak won’t delay the release of Xbox Series X this holiday season, even though the Xbox team has been impacted.

“I’d say things right now aren’t easy, I think they’re stretched. I can feel it in the teams – they’re stretched. We have nothing right now that says we’re not going to make the dates we’ve been planning but I’ll also say this is real-time stuff and I’ll put the safety and security of teams at the top, along with a quality product. I don’t want to rush a product out if it’s not ready,” Spencer said.

If Phil Spencer is also working from home these days, the exec said on Twitter that he’s shaking things up with a work meeting done in the much-anticipated Minecraft Dungeons game. That sounds indeed more fun, if maybe not as productive as using Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft unveiled its Project Cortex Preview program back in November 2019. However, the Redmond giant was not accepting applications from the participants back then. In a follow-up step, Microsoft has now announced that the company has finally started to send invites for its Project Cortex Preview program though, but there is a catch. The invites are currently limited to a subset of applicants.

A blog post to the Microsoft Tech Community forums explains:

We’re opening a limited number of spaces for the next wave of our Project Cortex private preview program. Applications are open through April 8, 2020. We’ll notify selected participants by the end of April. Visit our preview program blog post to get more details on requirements and apply for the preview program.

Moreover, Microsoft confirmed that those applicants who have already applied don’t need to reapply. The Project Cortex team will “consider both existing and new applicants” during the selection process.

For those don’t know, with this new service, Project Cortex, Microsoft plans to help enterprises in organizing their corporate data. Notably, the service first leverages artificial intelligence to analyze valuable data within your organization’s documents. The data is then organized into topics and shared in Outlook, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams.

Do, you think that Project Cortex is going to be a useful addition in your organization’s workflow? Sound off in the comments section below.

Microsoft’s Xbox beta app for Windows 10, which made its debut last year with the launch of Xbox Game Pass for PC, is about to get faster and leaner. Windows Central noticed the under-the-hood changes in the latest update that shipped to Fast Ring insiders, with the app ditching the Electron framework also used by Skype on Windows in favour of Facebook’s React Native framework.

According to Windows Central, the new version uses over 50% less memory, and its size also went down from 300MB to 60MB. Those are very welcome improvements, especially since the existing Electron can be really resource-hungry when you’re downloading games. Except for this switch to React Native, this latest version of the Xbox beta app doesn’t seem to introduce any new features.

Overall, the Xbox beta app on Windows 10 remains the easiest way to check out the Xbox Game Pass for PC catalog, but social features such as the Xbox Live News Feed, Clubs, and Looking for Groups are still only available in the old Xbox Console Companion UWP app. For now, the Store section of the app also remains focused on Xbox Game Pass for PC titles, skipping other high-profile Xbox Live-enabled games available on the Microsoft Store such as Minecraft for Windows 10, Resident Evil 7, or Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

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Xbox

Developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Price:
Free

The official Windows 10 Telegram app updated today to Version 6.0 and added several new features such as folders to organize chats, advanced stats for channels with over 1,000 subscribers, and several new emoji groups including some inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here’s the brief release notes that were sent to users:

• If you have too many chats, you can now put your work and school chats into separate tabs – and swipe to switch between them.
• If you’re looking to hide some chats from view, you don’t need folders – simply send them to your Archive.
• Owners of large channels with more than 1000 subscribers can now view detailed statistics about the growth of their channels and the performance of their posts.
• We’ve also added a host of new animated emoji and stickers.

Telegram is a popular chat app with a strong focus on security and privacy. Do you use Telegram? Let us know why or why not in the comments below and then follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more Windows 10 app news.

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Telegram Desktop

Developer:
Telegram Messenger LLP

Price:
Free

The recently announced Microsoft Editor extension is now available to install on both the Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome web browsers.

Microsoft Editor is completely free to install though Microsoft 365 users gain extra functionality such as premium features that enhance the flow and style of your writing.

Here’s the official store description for Microsoft Editor:

Become a better writer across the web with Microsoft Editor(1), your intelligent writing assistant. Microsoft Editor(1) moves with you across sites, so you can confidently write clear, concise posts online. With this browser extension, you receive:

• Intelligent writing assistance – nail the basics of spelling, grammar, and punctuation for free. Receive advanced grammar and stylistic feedback on clarity, conciseness, formality, vocabulary, and much more with premium(2).
• Assistance anywhere you write – Receive feedback on sites like LinkedIn, Gmail, Facebook, and many more of your favourites with this browser extension. If you want Editor’s assistance beyond the web, open Word and look for the Editor icon to see how Editor can help across documents, email, and the rest of the web.
• Feedback in multiple languages – receive basic feedback in 20+ languages (and spellchecking specifically in over 80) to communicate clearly, no matter what language in which you’re writing.

(1) Available for Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome browsers and requires a Microsoft Account. Editor connects to a Microsoft online service that offers spelling, grammar and refinements suggestions for your writing on most websites.

(2) Microsoft 365 subscription required to access premium Editor features

Microsoft Editor works in much a similar way to the popular Grammarly service by automatically checking your writing across services as you type. Our own Arif wrote an in-depth comparison of the two services so make sure to check it out if you’re trying to decide between which service to use.

Have you tried Microsoft Editor yet? Let us know if you’re happy with it in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest and Facebook for more Microsoft news.

One of the most-popular video games out right now is Animal Crossing: New Horizons and, while it’s only available on the Nintendo Switch, Xbox gamers and streamers have still found a way to express their brand loyalty by designing their own custom Microsoft clothing that can be worn in-game and shared with others to wear in their games.

Olda Robot, a partnered video game streamer on Microsoft’s Mixer streaming platform (check his channel out here), has designed an entire wardrobe of Mixer-inspired hats and tops for others to wear (see above image).

Here’s his tweets with images of each item and the codes for importing them:

Here's the Hoodies and Tees!#Mixer #AnimalCrossing #ACNH pic.twitter.com/tacguPjSRj

— Olda Robot (@oldarobot) April 1, 2020

Here's the Beanies and Caps!#Mixer #AnimalCrossing #ACNH pic.twitter.com/Z7XlkBswiK

— Olda Robot (@oldarobot) April 1, 2020

Twitter user, VIDEO1, has created an impressive amount of Animal Crossing: New Horizons wearables including Xbox-branded hats, tees, and images.

Here’s the relevant images and codes for his creations:

Updated the Xbox hats #AnimalCrossing #ACNHdesigns pic.twitter.com/B5bf0e81HZ

— ???? V I D E O ???? (@VIDEO199X) March 31, 2020

Consoles. If you make the Xbox cushion you can set it on top of the controllers. #AnimalCrossing #ACNHdesigns pic.twitter.com/cljNwToXrV

— ???? V I D E O ???? (@VIDEO199X) March 31, 2020

After a basic Xbox logo? Here’s two designs that you can use:

I made the @Xbox logo in #AnimalCrossing @XboxP3 @majornelson pic.twitter.com/1P7OdHNyz0

— Tony (@TheSharkBytes) March 26, 2020

https://twitter.com/snorkel_dolphin/status/1240823463234895873

Have you created any Microsoft-related Animal Crossing designs? Share them with the community in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest and Twitter for more geek content.

Washington State has officially adopted a Microsoft supported law that includes the most detailed regulations of facial recognition in the United States, and represents a model for other states to use as the use of facial recognition grows.

The law was officially passed on March 12th and was signed into law today by Washington State Governor Jay Inslee. With this new law, government agencies can use facial recognition technologies but with significant restrictions to ensure that the new technology isn’t deployed for mass surveillance purposes or tracking of citizens.

As a technology, facial recognition can identify individuals in photos, videos, or live cameras using existing databases that contain known subjects.  For obvious reasons, the technology is popular with law enforcement and businesses by being able to identify a person using nothing more than facial features, or using what’s known as “Biometric Artificial Intelligence,” to identify a person based on the shape, facial features or movements of an individual. However, many people are already pushing for a ban on the technology due to the potential that the potential invasion of privacy for individuals who are not engaged with a business or are not aware of being monitored by law enforcement.

With Microsoft‘s support, and in support of their own facial recognition services, the new law takes a big step forward in attempting to protect Washingtonians to ensure agencies and businesses can deploy facial recognition as a tool that works for the benefit of the public.  For example, facial recognition could be used during Amber or silver alerts and could be used to find a missing person. The new law requires agencies to obtain a warrant to run facial recognition scans (for non-emergency situations) and must be tested to ensure there are no unfair performance differences based on skin tone and age.

While there will continue to be broad discussions on the merits of the technology, and how best to use/deploy it, its good to see some progress that ensures that rather than just straight banning a technology that has the potential to do good things, Washington and Microsoft are taking a more pragmatic approach and that further reviews and recommendations will happen at the government level.

Skype is enjoying some resurgence these days as more and more people rely on messaging apps to keep in touch during the coronavirus outbreak. The Microsoft-owned service isn’t enjoying the same level of momentum as other video calling apps such Zoom these days, but with an ubiquitous presence and 40 million users every day, it’s still a force to be reckoned with.

Skype is also updated every two weeks or so, and the latest Insider update (8.59.76.26) that is now rolling out on all platforms is bringing some interesting features. On Windows, you can now send any files from File Explorer with Skype, with the app now being integrated with the right-click menu.

The update also includes minor improvements including the ability to end an ongoing call directly from your Recent Chat list, and you can also now use the Shift or Crtl/CMd buttons to delete multiple contacts at once in your contact list. The Skype team says that the new features will roll out gradually, so you may need to wait a little bit before seeing them. The Skype Insider app can be downloaded on your platform of choice on this page, and it’s also available on the web.

Before we jump into the monthly updates for Microsoft 365 let’s take a moment to look back on what many of us will consider being a historical month.  As a company, Microsoft has seen unprecedented growth for their online services like Teams and Skype with both achieving more than 40 million daily active users and they’ve announced a range of new services to support health care professionals and organizations respond to Covid-19, including the recent launch of the Power Platform solution focused on helping medical professionals, new crisis management sites for companies and organizations, and streamlined offerings to make activities like meetings more inclusive and focused.  With that in mind, let’s review the updates to Microsoft 365.

Using Teams for Meetings

With the unprecedented growth of Teams, Microsoft is moving quickly to add new technologies to Teams to improve the overall meeting experience.  Whether its kids in the background, running water from the sink or sitting next to the TV, we’ve all had the experience of wanting to mute someone’s Microsoft phone to reduce the amount of noise.  Microsoft now offers real-time noise suppression to minimize the impact of distracting background noise. Microsoft attempted to show how this works by showing a video of an employee eating potato chips during a meeting.

In addition to noise suppression, Teams will soon release the ability to pop out chats into a separate window, as well as offer support for users who are either offline or in a location where they have minimal bandwidth.

For industrial workers, Microsoft offers a new Teams integration with RealWare head-mounted devices allowing them to access information and communicate hands-free with remote experts while on a job site.

For businesses, Microsoft also announced the new Bookings App in Teams that makes it easier to schedule, manage and conduct virtual appointments as we as well offering Microsoft 365 Business Voice in Teams allowing users to make and receive calls anywhere in the world.

New Microsoft 365 plans for small and medium-sized businesses

Microsoft is changing its Office 365 plans for individuals and families by with newly announced name changes to several of their plans to the newly named “Microsoft 365 Personal and Family” plans.  While the name change doesn’t immediately have an impact on users, it does set the stage for a transformation of the types of apps and services Microsoft delivers to its consumer users.

Emergency Events

With all of Microsoft’s updates this month, many of those changes are about connecting and collaborating with your co-workers, families or government organizations to help us all be aware of important updates.  Microsoft released a new crisis management site in Sharepoint that allows anyone to quickly respond to emergency events.

Microsoft also released the new Power Platform Solution for healthcare that allows healthcare organizations to maintain a real-time view on their critical inventory including management of multiple sites.

Improved Collaboration

In addition to enabling better access to information during emergencies, Microsoft also released new app updates to streamline conversations.   You can use new interactive Yammer emails in Outline to engage in Yammer conversations directly from Outlook including the ability to reply to a thread, vote, like or attach videos directly from your inbox.

Microsoft also released several updates to Excel and PowerPoint including the new PowerPoint Designer tool to help users design and format content ideas including working on a mobile device.

Improved Email and Calendar Search

A feature that I am anxiously testing is Microsoft’s newly announced search capability that they claim “recognizes natural language” to make it easier to find email, events or information that you need including the ability to type or speak your search.

Conclusion

March was a momentous month and the updates to Microsoft 365 reflect that.  Microsoft has added new features that make it easier to work from home and to connect, communicate and find the people or information that you need.

If you’ve been considering a web browser extension that can help improve your writing, there’s now a new player you can choose from. Although Grammarly has long been the most popular solution, Microsoft recently introduced its own take known as Microsoft Editor.

This new A.I. powered tool looks to superpower the grammar and spelling corrections you’ve long seen in Word and the other Office apps. Just like Grammarly, Microsoft Editor is free to use, and there is a premium option available, too. But, how do the two stack up against each other? In this guide, we’ll explain the differences between the two.

Price

To begin, we’ll mention prices. If you’re looking to get the most out of Microsoft Editor or Grammarly, you’ll need to pay up. With Grammarly, a free plan gets you access to correcting critical grammar and spelling checks. Similarly, with Microsoft Editor, those who aren’t subscribed to Microsoft 365 will only get access to corrections for spelling and grammar issues.

Paid Grammarly plans step up the features and give you access to more suggestions for reliability, vocabulary, writing style, and even a plagiarism detector. With Microsoft Editor and Microsoft 365, meanwhile, you’ll get access to advanced grammar and style corrections, including for clarity, formality, and punctuation conventions.

Coming down to price: Microsoft 365 Personal plans are $6.99 per month. Microsoft 365 Family Plans are $9.99 per month. Or, if you’re looking at yearly plans, $99.99 for Microsoft 365 Family and $69.99 a year for Microsoft 365 Personal. Keep in mind, these plans do come with other features too, such as access to the Office 365 apps, and more.

With Grammarly, you’ve got three different options, which help fit your needs. You can pay $29.95 for a monthly plan, $19.98 for a quarterly plan (billed as one payment of $59.95), or an annual plan which comes up to $11.66 a month, billed as a one-time payment of $139.95.

If you’re just looking at the money, Microsoft Editor will be cheaper. It also might have more value for you, considering that you’ll be getting access to Microsoft’s other services, too. However, if you genuinely want a service that can genuinely help improve your writing, Grammarly might be the better option, as we describe next.

The Microsoft Editor

When it comes to features, Grammarly and Microsoft Editor are close together, at least if you look at it on paper. Grammarly works as an extension on Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox, as well as an add-in on Microsoft Word and Outlook. Microsoft Editor, meanwhile, is built-in to Word, and is already available as an extension on Edge, but will be coming soon to Chrome. You’ll also see that it’s available on Word Online, just how Grammarly was recently updated to work with Word Online. Both work on both Windows and MacOS.

We tried using the Microsoft Editor extension on Edge in Windows 10 for writing this article and were disappointed. Despite us having an Office 365 subscription, it installed but didn’t work on spell checks on the websites we needed it most (WordPress, Google Docs, etc.) We tried it on Amazon.com for leaving a comment, however, and it worked just fine. Similar to Grammarly, misspellings showed up underlined in red, and right-clicking over it and then clicking the line would bring up a box with suggestions. Grammar and other issues, meanwhile, showed up in blue, and clicking the underlined text would do the same. We needed to right-click each time, though, as hovering to correct does not work as it does with Grammarly extension on Windows 10.

It’s hard for us to judge Microsoft Editor, as we couldn’t test it on WordPress for our writing, but many users have given it mixed reviews. When it comes to the extension, some have complained that it offers a dot for punctuation errors, which confuses users with a regular period. Others have also said that there isn’t an “Ignore this warning” setting like in Grammarly. To support our experience, there’s even a review that indicated that when compared to Grammarly, Microsoft Editor doesn’t work on all websites. The Microsoft Editor extension is still very much a work in progress.

We recently reviewed the Microsoft Editor experience in Microsoft Word and found it much more useful. There we got complete suggestions for clarity, sentence structure, and more. If anything, Microsoft Editor is best in Microsoft Word, then it is on the web with an extension, at least at the time of this writing.

Grammarly does it best

At the current state, compared to Microsoft Editor, Grammarly does things much better as an extension and as an overall service. We’ve used the free version daily for quite a while, and have come to love it. Unlike Microsoft Editor, the Grammarly extension gives you a dedicated area, right near the box you’re typing your text it. It gives you a visual look with a number for all your spelling corrections, which is something Microsoft Editor extension can’t do.

You also can customize the service to your liking. It has options for entering your own vocabulary into a custom dictionary. A bit similar to what we experienced with Microsoft Editor on Word, Grammarly also has an “Assistant” which can help you with conciseness, clarity, engagement, and delivery. It’s clearly much more useful than Microsoft Editor.  Grammarly can auto-correct words that you’ve frequently misspelled and there’s even a plagiarism detector and passive and active voice detector, which we don’t see in the current version of Microsoft Editor.

Microsoft Editor is more of a bonus than it is a Grammarly competitor

If you look at it, Microsoft Editor shouldn’t be seen too much as a “Grammarly-like” competitor. It’s really meant to add “bonus” value to Microsoft 365 subscriptions and help you get more bang for your buck. After all, we’ve long enjoyed spelling and grammar corrections in Word and the rest of the Office 365 suite. The features don’t compare, at least as of yet, and Grammarly is the way to go if you want to become a better writer.

We reached out to Grammarly for comment on this story, and a representative emailed us a copy of the company’s FAQ page.

Despite Microsoft improving the ergonomics of its Xbox Series X controller to reduce the amount of latency while gaming as well as including USB-C and adding a new share button, the company is adamant about dragging old AA-battery tech into this next generation experience.

Earlier this month, senior designer Ryan Whitaker within the Xbox division unveiled some specifics about its Xbox Series X controller that included a refined ergonomic design, Dynamic Latency Technology, USB-C port, tactile dot pattern, deeper dish D-pad design, PS4-inspired Share button, and included Bluetooth connectivity out of the box.

However, it was Whitaker’s tidbit about the inclusion of AA-battery tech powering the Xbox Series X controller experience this time around that had the internet ablaze.

pic.twitter.com/uSV5Or7TN1

— Jaydub (@JayDubcity16) March 16, 2020

Fortunately, Microsoft is a company run mostly by telemetry and data, and the company justifies its choice as one that offers gamers greater flexibility.

Microsoft spoke to a group of reporters at its Redmond, WA campus this month and explained that “What it comes down to is when actually talking to gamers, it’s kind of polarising and there is a strong camp that really wants AAs. So just giving flexibility is the way to please both [sets of] people… You can use a rechargeable battery pack and it works just like it does on the Elite, [but] it is a separate thing.”

While built-in rechargeable batteries seem future-forward, Microsoft is working with a sound argument that AA battery tech incorporates a level of flexibility that circumvents the degradation of recharge cycles while addressing in-game solutions that offer a handy answer to low-battery issues in the midst of heated gaming.

With much of the general design of the Xbox Series X leveraging aspects of its predecessors, there is a chance that older controllers will still interface with the new console and staunch rechargeable battery fans can continue to use their controller of choice.

Microsoft PowerToys brought some fun to Tuesday with the release of v0.16.0 that includes some bug fixes and stability updates, along with 4 new utilities including the always popular Image Resizer extension. To get everyone up to speed, PowerToys used to be a utility that would allow anyone to customize previous versions of Windows, and since its release in September 2019 for Windows 10, Microsoft has seen a lot of enthusiasm from the community with many developers wanting to contribute to PowerToys.

With today’s 0.16 release, Microsoft has made improvements to its utilities, documentation, and tools making it easier for the community to dive in. The major updates with this release include:

• FancyZone improvements:
  • Multi-Monitor improvement: Zone flipping switching now works between monitors!
  • Simplified UX: Removed layout hot-swap and flashing due to multi-monitor lacking
• New Utilities!
  • Markdown Preview pane extension
  • SVG preview pane extension
  • Image Resizer Window Shell extension
  • Window Walker, an alt-tab alternative
• Updated and closed over 100 issues!
• Testing improvements
  • 54 UX Functional tests
  • 161 new Unit tests

Hopefully, with the next release, Microsoft will enable a new auto-update feature for PowerToys and indicated that they already have a plan for it. For anyone interested in giving PowerToys a try, just visit their GitHub page to install and run it via GitHub.

Microsoft has confirmed that development on Edge Chromium is continuing and that despite its announced delay of updates back on March 20th, Edge 81 will be released into the stable channel in early April.  This revised schedule matches Google’s recent announcement that Google Chrome 81 will be released the week of April 7th and that releases will get back to a more regular 6-week schedule.

With today’s update, Microsoft also confirmed that they will continue to deliver security and stability updates to Edge 80 and the preview channels will be on their regular schedule.  One important change to the schedule includes the cancellation of the version 82 release with Microsoft jumping ahead to Microsoft Edge 83 for their next release in mid-May.

To align with the Chromium schedule, we plan on skipping build 82 to focus on the quality for the release of Microsoft Edge 81 to our Stable channel in the coming weeks. Our Dev and Canary channels are now on build 83. See more details on the blog here: https://t.co/HphrQlDQhM https://t.co/pv78fSIHHg

— Microsoft Edge Dev (@MSEdgeDev) March 31, 2020

For anyone who wants the latest updates, you can check out Microsoft Edge’s twitter feed.

It’s been almost a year and a half since Microsoft first announced that they will disable Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.0 and 1.1  during the first half of 2020 by default for Microsoft’s browsers. However, with the impact of Covid-19 still in effect for many of us, Microsoft has announced that they will be postponing the planned change to later this year to minimize any potential disruption to their users.

For Microsoft Edge (Chromium), TLS 1.0 and 1.1 are designed to be disabled by default with Microsoft Edge version 84, which is currently planned for July 2020.

For Internet Explorer 11 and Edge legacy edition, the designed disable date is September 8, 2020.

It is important to note that for many people the impact of this change will be minimal and by moving to TLS 1.2 Microsoft is doing us all a favor and improving the cryptographic protocol used to transport data over the network. Today, TLS 1.2 is already supported by most modern browsers. More importantly, this change ensures that a user’s browser experience remains seamless.  Services such as PayPal, Stripe, UPS, and others have indicated that they already support version 1.2 and will soon begin refusing older TLS 1.0 connections.

Users can also “re-enable” the previous versions of TLS in Microsoft’s browsers, but Microsoft strongly recommends that organizations move off of the previous versions as quickly as possible.