Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S consoles are now getting the February 2022 software update. This update is fairly small, but it does introduce a new ability to use Microsoft Edge to set custom backgrounds (via Thurrott.com.)

With the update bumping the latest Xbox OS version to 10.0.22000.3542, you can try out this new option to set custom backgrounds in a few simple steps after it is installed. First off, you can find any image you like in Microsoft Edge, move the browser pointer over that image, then press the Menu button, and choose Set as background.

This is the only notable new feature that Microsoft mentions in the changelogs, but a Twitter user also mentions that it tweaks the way Gamerscore might appear. Now, you might see a comma between the digits in your Gamerscore, making it easy to read.

After installing this update, you might have some issues with Xbox’s Quick Resume feature. Microsoft mentions this in the changelog, saying that when returning to a Quick Resume title, your controller might not respond. You can fix it by quitting and coming back to the game. Other known issues covering Controllers, Games, Guide, Home, and TV displays can be seen in Microsoft’s documentation.

This update should install automatically on most consoles. If you’re still having issues, though. you can force the upgrade by going to the Xbox Settings App, clicking System, and then Updates.

This weekend’s Xbox Free Play Days event, running from midnight Thursday, February 10th through Sunday, the 13th, features quite a nice lineup. Microsoft has announced that the games will include Valkyria Revolution, PGA Tour 2K21, and Riders Republic.

If you’re curious, about these titles, we have your back. Valkyria Revolution is a 2017 action RPG with strategy elements and anime-inspired visuals. While it is technically part of the Valkyria Chronicles series, it has no narrative connection to it and is a standalone entry. PGA Tour 2K21 is, as you may be able to guess, a golf game. It is developed by 2K Sports and is essentially a continuation of The Golf Club franchise with the PGA license attached.

And last but certainly not least is Riders Republic. This is an adrenaline-charged action sports title with skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, and wingsuit flying. It is billed as a massively multiplayer sports game, in which up to 64 players can compete against each other at a time.

If you didn’t already know, Xbox Free Play days is what it sounds like — a nice perk for Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass subscribers. During these events, players can try out great games for a few days at no cost, maybe even finding a new favorite in the process. The games can be downloaded on a console or PC via the Microsoft Store. Players can go on to purchase the game at discounted prices, too, which we’ve noted below.

• Valkyria Revolution: 80% off, now $6.00 instead of $30.
• PGA Tour 2K21: 75% off, Standard Edition now $15 instead of $60
• Riders Republic: 50% off, Standard Edition now $30 instead of $30

This week’s impressive lineup further demonstrates the incredible value offered by Xbox Game Pass (and Xbox Live). The free Play Days are a wonderful way for gamers to try out games they otherwise would never give a second glance, but also it is a great way to try out popular games before making the purchase commitment.

Microsoft has announced a digital event for February 24. The event, titled “What’s Next in Security from Microsoft,” is focused on cyber security and the latest security innovations across Microsoft and other platforms and clouds.

Confirmed for the event are Vasu Jakkal, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Security, Compliance, and Identity, and other security experts. These folks will talk about the latest innovations that can reduce risks from cybersecurity issues. Jeff Pollard, Vice President, and Principal Analyst at Forrester, is also scheduled to speak at the event.

He will talk about the intelligence of the cloud and how it can be used to create innovative security solutions. For IT Admins, and anyone else attending the following topics will be discussed.

• Update your security strategy with the latest market trends.
• Protect your identities, apps, clouds, and endpoints with comprehensive solutions.
• Eliminate blind spots with proactive threat hunting and extended detection and response (XDR).
• Enforce least privilege access across your clouds.
• Identify security gaps and protect your multicloud environments against threats.

Other than these speakers, Microsoft will also have a Q&A session in the chat, so your security questions can be answered. If you’re interested in attending, you can register now for free using a Microsoft Account.

Have you felt in recent times that Microsoft Teams is using less battery on your laptop during your video calls? Well, you’re not mistaken, as Microsoft has steadily improved on Teams’ battery usage over the years. In a recent tech community post, the company described just the reasons why, and how it has reduced power consumption in meetings by up to 50%.

On the technical side, Microsoft says it accomplished this by first creating a test framework to measure power consumption during video calls and screen sharing. After getting results, Microsoft focused on camera optimizations to reduce demands on the CPU during video meetings as well as power draw from the camera itself. These include reducing code complexity for auto-exposure, auto-white balance, auto-aliasing.

In addition, Microsoft also worked to focus on video rendering, It says that Teams now combs video strands and composes them into a single video, which is consolidating operations in video rending and reducing power requirements for each device. Other optimizations include focusing on using the native resources of operating systems to improve how image fragments are transferred during the rendering.

Per Microsoft, there were a couple of factors in helping reduce Team’s energy consumption. At the front is lowering the strain on IT admins to buy hardware. Another is also ensuring that both folks with low-end hardware and those with high-end hardware have the same great Teams experience.

Heading into the future, more optimizations are on the way. Microsoft noted it’s planning to work with CPU and GPU vendors to ensure that next-gen chips are optimized for Teams and video conferencing. We’ve already seen the first of that with Snapdragon 8cX Gen 3 ARM-based chips, which includes improved camera start-up time (15% faster), support for autofocus, auto white balance, and auto exposure, as well as noise cancellation all on the SoC.

Perhaps attempting to soften the blow with regulators over concerns about Microsoft’s announced acquisition of Activision, President Brad Smith took to the Microsoft on the Issues blog today to lay out a new set of open guidelines for Microsoft’s app stores.

Federal approval of the acquisition isn’t a slam dunk, and the company is already working to position itself as one of the good guys, with Smith saying “(w)e want regulators and the public to know that as a company, Microsoft is committed to adapting to these new laws, and with these principles, we’re moving to do so,” noting that Microsoft has been adapting to regulations for two decades after its antitrust issues, and that “we believe it’s possible to adapt to new rules and innovate successfully. And we believe it’s possible for governments to adopt new tech regulation that promotes competition while also protecting fundamental values like privacy and national and cyber security”

Smith then goes on to say that there’s currently too much friction between creators and gamers, and perhaps takes a bit of a shot at Apple: “app store policies and practices on mobile devices restrict what and how creators can offer games and what and how gamers can play them.”

To help to ease that friction (and to butter up government regulators), Smith announced  a set of Open App Store Principles for “Microsoft Store on Windows and to the next-generation marketplaces we will build for games,”  in four main areas:

Quality, Safety, Security & Privacy

We will enable all developers to access our app store as long as they meet reasonable and transparent standards for quality and safety.
We will continue to protect the consumers and gamers who use our app store, ensuring that developers meet our standards for security.
We will continue to respect the privacy of consumers in our app stores, giving them controls to manage their data and how it is used.

Accountability

We will hold our own apps to the same standards we hold competing apps.
We will not use any non-public information or data from our app store to compete with developers’ apps.

Fairness and Transparency

We will treat apps equally in our app store without unreasonable preferencing or ranking of our apps or our business partners’ apps over others.
We will be transparent about rules for promotion and marketing in our app store and apply these consistently and objectively.

Developer Choice

We will not require developers in our app store to use our payment system to process in-app payments.
We will not require developers in our app store to provide more favorable terms in our app store than in other app stores.
We will not disadvantage developers if they choose to use a payment processing system other than ours or if they offer different terms and conditions in other app stores.
We will not prevent developers from communicating directly with their customers through their apps for legitimate business purposes, such as pricing terms and product or service offerings.

In addition, Microsoft is making a further and broader set of commitments:

• We will continue to enable developers to choose whether they want to deliver their apps for Windows though our app store, from someone else’s store, or “sideloaded” directly from the internet.
• We will continue to give developers timely access to
• We will enable Windows users to use alternative app stores and third-party apps, including by changing default settings in appropriate categories.

Finally, Smith addresses a couple of questions regulators and consumers may have about the Activision acquisition. First, he commits to making “Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard titles” available on Playstation not only through Sony’s current agreements with Activision, but “beyond the existing agreement and into the future so that Sony fans can continue to enjoy the games they love,” and says they are working to support Nintendo in the same way.

He then notes that these open app store policies, while they apply specifically to mobile app stores, will at least in part apply to the store on the Xbox console, as well: “beginning today, we will move forward to apply Principles 1 through 7 to the store on the Xbox console. We’re committed to closing the gap on the remaining principles over time. ”

Microsoft appears to know full well it’s facing a tough challenge to get the Activision acquisition approved by regulators, and is already pushing to plead its case. Whether it will be enough to appease those regulators remains to be seen.

When an employee breaks company policies on services like Teams or Yammer, an IT admin usually has to step in and take charge. That process is usually a lengthy one, but Microsoft is now making moves to help admins cut down their response time to said issues (via TechRadar.)

According to a listing on the Microsoft 365 roadmap, with some incoming changes to the compliance center, the detection and investigation time of said compliance issues will soon be reduced from 24 hours to 1 hour. It’s not clear what the specific changes are, but Microsoft hopes it can help admins “respond to communication compliance alerts promptly.” A separate document from Microsoft looks into the risks of these issues, like scanning emails, and potential messages that might pose human resources issues.

This isn’t the first move Microsoft has taken to help with compliance issues, especially in Teams. Previously, Microsoft worked on a feature to let chat supervisors delete irrelevant and inappropriate chat messages in Teams channels.