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Microsoft Xbox Series

Microsoft is Out with the Perfect Xbox Specifications : Here’s a look at Your Dream Console

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On Monday, Microsoft brought out the big guns and came out with the full specification list for its new Xbox Series X, and gamers couldn’t be more excited. The new model boasts of near-perfect specs and is expected to be on every gamer’s Christmas wish list. So, what’s so special about the Series X and why is the gaming fraternity going crazy over it? Here’s a look at everything you need to know about the Microsoft Xbox Series X which promises to bring be a next-gen gaming console.

Mind-Blowing Specifications

  1. The Xbox Series X will run on an AMD Zen 2 RDNA custom processor, which will be four times faster than the processor used in Xbox One.
  2. The new processor also offers 12 teraflops worth of GPU, which is twice that of the Xbox One X.
  3. The 12 teraflops GPU means the Xbox Series X will go far beyond the capabilities of mid-range AMD or Nvidia cards, making it a new gold standard.
  4. The Xbox Series X supports Variable rate shading which allows users to prioritize effects as per their needs and requirements. It also makes it possible to focus individual effects on just one game character or object, and renders that perfectly, without affecting the image quality of the rest of the screen.
  5. Xbox X will also have the DirectX Raytracing feature which will be on show for the first time ever, with this console. This feature will allow the console to create life-like images, realistic acoustics, real-time reflections, and even real-life lighting within the game.
  6. To wring the latency, the new Xbox comes with next-gen storage using SSD which promises faster load times than ever before.
  7. Furthermore, the Quick Resume option will allow players to access several games without delay from their suspended states.
  8. Also, to improve latency the device supports the Dynamic input option which results in minimising latency between Controller and console communication.
  9. The console also fully supports HDMI 2.1, meaning it has options such as Low Latency, Refresh rate variation and even Tearing prevention while gaming.
  10. Xbox Series X can go as high as 120 frames/sec, meaning the games will appear to be more real than ever before.
  11. Furthermore, Microsoft is heavily committed to its earlier games and hence will extend compatibility to Xbox One, 360 and original games with backward compatibility.
  12. The Series X, will, therefore, run all prior games faster, steadier and with better resolution than ever before.
  13. Also, the new Series will support videos in 8K, making it a great investment to have for the future, wherein 8K video support TVs become more popular.

Furthermore, Microsoft has said that further updates and specifications will be released in the coming months, with the Game Developers Conference in March being a key focal point. Also, the E3 convention in June might give Microsoft another opportunity to unveil more specs and features of the Xbox Series X. This convention might give us details regarding pricing, availability and even new launches. One of the most highly anticipated new launches for the Series X will be Halo Infinite. With these specs in place, Microsoft’s dream of creating the world’s most powerful console might just come true with the Xbox Series X.

Microsoft Vs Sony

The one area where Microsoft has a clear edge over Sony is with regards to backward compatibility of games. Whereas the PS4 has made several of the older PS games obsolete, Microsoft continues to make it possible for its users to access and enjoy its older titles. The two key interest areas where Microsoft seems to be the clear winner are computability and also delivery. Smart Delivery is a new feature that has come into play which makes it possible for you to reuse the games on various devices. For instance, if you buy a game for a particular device, Microsoft allows you access to the right game version for various Xbox types. Therefore, once you buy an Xbox, whichever one it may be, Microsoft has your back and will help you enjoy the gaming experience for years to come. This auto-updation of games is a feature loved by games as it allows them to enjoy games across platforms with ease, and unnecessary expense.

Furthermore, recent developments prove that Microsoft is interested in entering the cloud-based gaming industry, and the Xbox Series X might be a step in that direction. Their strategy seems to be to consolidate gaming across various platforms from PC to cloud, with mobile, Xbox and other consoles adding into the picture. However, Sony has stayed quiet with regards to its flagship new model PS5 and has released no announcements regarding the same. This announcement from Microsoft now has made it clear that it is now Sony’s turn to try to outdo the other with their announcement. Sony will, therefore, now be under pressure to release appropriate specs within a specified time interval. The relative quietness from their end indicates that something huge is in the making, and this sure seems to be an exciting time for gamers all around the world.

Personal Vault

Microsoft Launches the Personal Vault for its Worldwide Users

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Having enough data storage is the biggest issue today. Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft’s OneDrive, being the biggest player in the field, try to provide better services to its users. Recently, Microsoft added extra security to its OneDrive with a new feature called OneDrive Personal Vault. The feature, on its release, was only available for some selective markets, but from today onwards, the company has made it available to its worldwide users.

The Personal Vault feature enhances the security of the user’s account by allowing them to enable various security functions to their accounts. These security functions include two-step authentication that can be through fingerprints, facial recognition, a pin sent to one’s email address, to mobile number through SMS, or even through Microsoft Authenticator.

Though the feature has been opened for the public worldwide, it will be first available in countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. And, it is earlier than the date that was scheduled for its worldwide release. So the users from the other countries do not have to worry as the feature will reach them as soon as the year ends.

Personal Vault
Image Source: trustedreviews.com

The feature is available for every user, but won’t provide the full-fledged experience to all of them, as some of the users are not the paid ones. There are limitations for free users. The ones who have subscribed for the free version of Microsoft OneDrive, do have access to the Vault, but they can only put only three files in it. Whereas, the ones who are Office 365 users, they do not have to worry about the number of files, as they can put as many files in the Personal Vault as they want to, based on the storage limit they have paid for.

Other than the secure storage, the new Vault can also scan the documents which get extra security. The Vault also gets automatically locked if it remains inactive for some time. So, the user needs to login to it again to use it. The Vault also restricts the accidental sharing of the files. If you are using the Vault on a Windows 10 PC, the files in the Vault get automatically synced to the BitLocker encrypted drive on the PC.

Microsoft along with the Personal Vault also introduced the new storage options for One Drive. That means that the Office 365 users now can expand their 1TB storage in 200GB increments, starting at $1.99 a month per 200GB. The company also revealed features like the dark mode for OneDrive on iOS, and the PC Folder backup, which will make OneDrive to backup your Windows 10 PC’s folders to the cloud.

Microsoft Windows 10 Tab Experience

Microsoft Releases New Build for Insiders that Enhances the Windows 10 Tab Experience

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Microsoft has been experimenting with Windows 10 since it was first launched to bring a better user experience for its customers. Recently, it had released some new features for its Tablet OS. This time, again, keeping the Tab experience in mind, the company has launched a new build for testing, i.e., Build 18970 (20H1), to enhance it. The company released the build for the Microsoft Insiders for the testing, and along with that, they can also use the Cumulative Update Build 18970.1005 (KB4518974).

The build has been designed for the 2-in-1 convertible PCs, including the Surface Pro. The new build has got a similar design as the current Windows 10 desktop interface, but as soon the keyboard is removed, or the position of the PC is changed to a Tablet’s, Windows becomes compatible to the Tablet view.

The new build has brought some changes to the current interface of the 2-in-1s. The changes include increased spacing between the Taskbar icons, and the company has collapsed the Search box on taskbar into an icon. So to use the Search box, one needs to tap on the icon, and the Search box will pop up on the screen. Also, when turned into a Tablet, the File Explorer switches to touch-optimized layout for better accessibility for the users. The company has also optimised the keyboard software for the Tablet, as when turned into a Tab, the Touch keyboard is auto invoked upon tapping on any of the text fields on the screen.

Microsoft Windows 10 Tab Experience
Image Source: microsoft.com

Since the company is trying to provide its users with a better Tablet experience, it has also made some changes in the settings for the Tablet. Along with the new build, Microsoft has also made refurbished the Rest option for the Windows. Now, the users can easily re-install the Windows from the cloud or local drive using the Reset option. Earlier Reset option only allowed the installation through a local install, that too with available Windows files (the compressed copy of Windows files stored at the local disk). Now the users will be able to speed up the process of installing the Windows through the cloud.

These are some of the changes that Microsoft has defined through a Blogpost, but according to the reports, there are some more. But that, one can only know after exploring the new Build. Currently, it is only available to the Microsoft Insiders, and after the update is released for the general public, the users can enjoy the new Tab experience as soon they change the position of the laptop as a Tab or remove the keyboard from it.

Note 10 series

Galaxy Note 10 Series to Get Major Microsoft Apps, as a Result of New Samsung-Microsoft Partnership

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Microsoft is one of the biggest tech company in the world, but it could not make a mark in the smartphone industry with its Windows phones. But now, the company has taken a step forward and has partnered with the biggest Android smartphone manufacturer company, Samsung.

Samsung just hosted its Unpacked event in the New York City, where it launched its Galaxy Note 10, Note 10 Plus, Note 10 5G, Galaxy Book S, and a few other Samsung devices. The Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also attended the event and went on stage to announce the new partnership between the two companies.

The partnership will help Microsoft bundle a few of its apps to the Samsung Note 10 series smartphones. Through one of the features that the companies are combinedly getting to the phone is the mirroring of Androids apps to the Windows 10 systems using Microsoft’s Your Phone app. The users will be able to see their text messages, notifications, and even, the whole screen on their desktop or laptops’ screen by simply connecting the smartphone with a USB-C or USB-A cable. The users then can run all the apps of the phone on the PCs as well as make calls using the Your Phone app.

Note 10 series
Image Source: eftm.com

Other than the Your Phone app, the new Samsung Note 10 series smartphones will also render support for Microsoft’s OneDrive, Outlook, Microsoft Office, etc. With OneDrive the users will have an option other than Google Drive to store their data on the cloud. Also, the support for Outlook and Microsoft office will provide the users with a better way to process their documents over their smartphones.

“From calls and text messages to emails and photos, we’re making these everyday experiences great and the interactions between all the devices seamless,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said while on stage, “the combination of Microsoft intelligent experiences and Samsung’s powerful, innovative new devices, like the Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Book S, make this possible.”

Most likely, the new partnership is entirely targetting on the rival company Apple, that already has got awesome built-in products on its iPhones. The main reason why iPhone users have always been afraid of switching to an Android phone. iPhone has already provided its users with the ability to send and receive text messages and e-mails through their Mac devices, and its productivity suite, iWork, is everything, a corporate user would want for all of their document related works.

But as Samsung has just joined its hands with Microsoft, to bring similar flexible features to its series of smartphones, it may be able to encourage the iPhone users to get Android smartphones.

Though the partnership between the two companies was big news, the event was solely to boast about the new Galaxy Note 10 series. The company talked about all the features that the new smartphones will possess. The company also revealed the price of the devices and when these will be available in the market.

The cost of the Galaxy Note 10 in India starts at Rs 69,999, while the starting price for Note 10+ will be Rs 79,999. The smartphones have already made available for pre-orders in the U.S. on selected online retail outlets, including Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm Mall, Tata Cliq and Samsung’s online store. The pre-orders in India will start on August 23. The company has also imposed offers like cash backs on the pre-orders.

hotmail

Hotmail : One of the First Viral Hit on the Internet

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Creating an email id is no herculean task for us today. But, there was a time, when the world was a different place, and one could only access the inbox through only one’s personal computer. How tedious would that have been! Today, we are accustomed to so much luxury and technological freedom that we can access our emails from any system and from anywhere in the world. All thanks to Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith, the founders of the one and only Hotmail!

Ever since its launch in 1996, the concept has been accepted with open hands by the public, as it was able to satisfy one of the major needs of the common man. Hotmail is considered as one of the very first of the webmail services, which later, went on to be absorbed by Microsoft. Hotmail is now most popularly known as Outlook.com, as it has been revamped and launched by Microsoft again in 2017.

It all started with a normal conversation between two colleagues at the Apple office of San Francisco. Sabeer Bhatia was getting tired of the mundane tasks and routine work that he had to do at Apple. It was at the same time when their manager left the firm to work for a startup, named Power Systems in Silicon Valley. Both Sabeer and Jack followed him, and soon, joined the startup.

Hotmail Founder Sabeer Bhatia
Images Source: rediff.com

It was during this phase of their journey that Bhatia created a browser-based email. This million-dollar idea changed the course of things on the internet and was able to create a wave of changes in how people accessed their mails. The inception of the idea was when Bhatia found it difficult to send emails to his colleagues because of the firewall. This posed as a major hindrance for a large group of office going individuals and other technology users of the mid to late ’90s.

Sabeer was so confident of his idea that he asked Jack Smith to leave his job and start working with him full time. They soon pitched the idea to Venture Capitalists and asked them for 3 million dollars to fully develop the vision. After a lot of negotiations and bargaining, a total of 30,000 dollars they agreed upon. The venture capitalists asked for a 30% share of the profit, but the duo only agreed for 15% of the total profit or shares of their firm.

Within six months, Bhatia was able to launch the product. The product was such a huge success which even the founders had not anticipated. They received 100 thousand subscribers within the first week of the launch. The momentum was so high, such that the number of new registrations went up to a thousand users per day. It was one of the biggest entrepreneurial successes that the world had ever seen, making a deep mark in the digital realm.

Even then, they were asked to add more impressions, clickthroughs, and other added displays. All of the latest additions gave the startup more than one million dollars per month. Even this huge amount of money was not enough to sustain the functioning properly. It was during this time when rocket Mail (later came to be known as Yahoo) partnered with the very own Hotmail. This partnership was not very successful, and the two of them parted their ways very soon.

There were many such developments in the field, created lots of innovations, mergings and split-ups. One of the most remarkable of the acquisitions worth mentioning was that of Hotmail by Microsoft. The acquisition was for around 400 Million USD, making Sabeer Bhatia one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the decade.

With over 65 million subscribers and counting, Hotmail can be considered as one of the most viral and highly accepted concepts ever launched. Now known as Outlook.com, Hotmail succeeded in eliminating one of the most frustrating issues faced by the internet users of the ’90s. This is the reason why there is still a large community of people who still have not converted to outlook.com from Hotmail.com. The version of MSN Hotmail, which was the name given immediately after the acquisition by Microsoft, was also a hit. Even then, the tidal wave that Hotmail created among the people is still very much remarkable.

Kano and Microsoft Bring New DIY Windows 10S PC Kit

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Reportedly, Microsoft has partnered with Kano, a London-based startup, that specializes in building build-your-own PC DIY kits for the kids. The two companies have joined their hands to bring a DIY touchscreen laptop for its little users, that will be running the Windows 10S.

Kano PC
Image Source: venturebeat.com

Windows 10S is the lighter version of the Windows 10, and it will be the first time that any of the Kano computers will be operating a Windows OS. Though using the Windows 10S will restrict Kano laptop to run apps only from Microsoft. Previously, Kano laptops ran the Raspberry Pi 3s OS and the OS from Kano itself.

The new Windows-based Kano PC is a laptop/tablet, which is a similar version of most of the Microsoft’s Surface PCs, but having a transparent back on its 11.6” screen. The screen of the laptop is a touch screen, and the transparent back shows the components of the upper flap of the laptop.

The laptop comes into detachable pieces, such that the kids will need to assemble the entire system themselves. The laptop is empowered with the 1.44 GHz Intel Atom x5-Z8350 quad-core processor, supporting a 4GB RAM, and 64GB of eMMC storage. The laptop also supports expending the storage with the help of microSD card. It also has got an HDMI port, microphone, detachable speakers, headphone jack, and 2 ports for USB extensions. The laptop also renders support for WiFi and Bluetooth for connectivity.

Since the kids will need to assemble the laptop by themselves, the company has provided a storybook kind of instruction manual for the kids, on how to attach the parts of the PC together and make the experience even more interesting.

The company has included some educational apps to the laptop, including ‘How Computers Work’, in order to teach the kids more about coding and computing. Other applications that are included in the PC are some educational apps from Minecraft, Microsoft’s 3D Paint and Pong-based game development apps. The kids will also be able to create 3d models and learn binary codes, with the help of Kano PCs.

Kano is known for bringing computing DIY kits for the kids, and it has already launched various famous DIY kits, including Harry Potter-themed coding kit with the wand and a computer running a Kano OS operating system. The new Windows-based Kano PCs have been made available for preorders on Kano’s official website and also at the Microsoft Store for a price $299.99 and £299.99. These PC kits will go live on sale in the US and UK starting from Oct 21.