The tech giant aspires to emulate companies such as Tencent, which has all-in-one applications like WeChat….reports Asian Lite News
Tech giant Microsoft will reportedly build an all-in-one ‘super app’ to compete with Apple and Google mobile dominance.
The application might combine shopping, messaging, web search, news and other services all in one place, reports AppleInsider.
Executives at Microsoft believe that the application will help to grow both Bing search and their advertising business.
The tech giant aspires to emulate companies such as Tencent, which has all-in-one applications like WeChat.
It is still unclear whether the company will ever release such an application. Meanwhile, last month, the tech giant had introduced ‘polls’ that offer users a way to create polls right away with the Microsoft Forms app, making meetings more engaging in Teams.
To post a poll in a Teams channel or get instant feedback in a chat pane, go to the channel or chat you want to include a poll in, then at the bottom of your Teams window, select Forms, then add your question – and – Answer options.
The move follows earlier agreements by both companies to buy renewable energy in the US, said the report…reports Asian Lite News
Google and Microsoft have both announced new agreements to lower their IT operations’ carbon footprint by using renewable energy sources in their data centres.
According to ‘The Register’, Google has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Engie, a French utility company, for 100 MW of energy generated by the Moray West offshore wind farm in Scotland to power its UK operations.
Meanwhile, Microsoft announced PPAs supplying more than 900 MW of renewable energy in Ireland for its data centres.
While Microsoft did not disclose its renewable energy suppliers, other sources identified Statkraft and Ireland’s Energia Group as two that are involved, with a mix of wind and solar projects, according to the report.
Google claimed that the new agreements will bring the company closer to its goal of running its UK offices and cloud regions entirely on carbon-free energy sources by 2030.
The company stated that with the most recent PPA signed with Engie, it expects to be at or near carbon-free by 2025.
Matt Brittin, President of Google EMEA, said that people in the UK and Europe are increasingly concerned about climate change.
The move follows earlier agreements by both companies to buy renewable energy in the US, said the report.
SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy signed a deal with Google for 900MW of solar power to power a Texas data centre, while Microsoft recently entered into a 20-year agreement with AES Corporation to supply its data centres in California with renewable energy from 110 MW solar and 55 MW four-hour storage projects.
In addition to expanding its data centres to meet customer demands, Microsoft has also increased its commitment to reducing carbon consumption and contributing to climate change solutions, the report added.
The cuts occurred across a variety of levels, teams, and parts of the world…reports Asian Lite News
Tech giant Microsoft has laid off nearly 1,000 employees across multiple divisions of the company, media reports said.
According to Axios, the move is yet another example of large tech companies cutting jobs after earlier moving to slow or freeze hiring as the broader economy cools.
The tech giant declined to say how many jobs had been cut, but a source said the layoffs numbered under 1,000, as per the report.
“Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly. We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead,” Microsoft was quoted as saying in a statement.
The cuts occurred across a variety of levels, teams, and parts of the world.
Multiple laid-off workers turned to Twitter and Blind, among other online forums, to share that their job had been cut.
The report noted that nearly all the major tech firms have slowed headcount growth, with many freezing all but essential hires.
Meta, which had already frozen hiring, plans to cut budgets in most divisions, with layoffs expected.
Meanwhile, in the past few months, the tech giant has laid off nearly 2,000 employees globally.
Other tech companies that have either laid off employees or slowed hiring in the current economic downturn include Google, Meta, Oracle, Twitter, Nvidia, Snap, Uber, Spotify, Intel and Salesforce, among others.
The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) identified evidence of a novel hacking campaign utilising a previously unidentified ransomware payload…reports Asian Lite News
Microsoft has identified a new hacking group that is targeting organisations in the transportation and related logistics industries in Ukraine and Poland.
The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) identified evidence of a novel hacking campaign utilising a previously unidentified ransomware payload.
“We observed this new ransomware, which labels itself in its ransom note as ‘Prestige ransomware’, being deployed on October 11 in attacks occurring within an hour of each other across all victims,” the company said in a blog post.
According to the company, this ransomware attack was not connected to any of the 94 currently active ransomware activity groups that Microsoft tracks.
“The Prestige ransomware had not been observed by Microsoft prior to this deployment. The activity shares victimology with recent Russian state-aligned activity, specifically on affected geographies and countries, and overlaps with previous victims of the FoxBlade malware (also known as HermeticWiper),” Microsoft explained.
The tech giant said it has not yet linked this ransomware campaign, called DEV-0960, to a known threat group that was continuing investigations.
The ransomware payload was deployed by the actor after an initial compromise that involved gaining access to highly privileged credentials.
“In all observed deployments, the attacker had already gained access to highly privileged credentials, like Domain Admin, to facilitate the ransomware deployment,” said the team.
The threat landscape in Ukraine continues to evolve, and wipers and destructive attacks have been a consistent theme.
“Ransomware and wiper attacks rely on many of the same security weaknesses to succeed,” said Microsoft.
In the coming weeks, Ofcom will launch a market study under the Enterprise Act 2002 into the UK’s cloud sector…reports Asian Lite News
The UK’s communication regulator Ofcom on Thursday announced a probe into the Cloud market dominance of Amazon, Microsoft and Google in the country’s 15 billion pound Cloud services market and if the competition concerns are identified, it could lead to further action against the tech giants.
Ofcom also kicked off a probe to look at digital services such as WhatsApp, Zoom and smart speakers, as online and traditional networks converge.
“The way we live, work, play and do business has been transformed by digital services. But as the number of platforms, devices and networks that serve up content continues to grow, so do the technological and economic issues confronting regulators,” said Selina Chadha, Ofcom’s Director of Connectivity.
“That’s why we’re kick-starting a programme of work to scrutinise these digital markets, identify any competition concerns and make sure they’re working well for people and businesses who rely on them,” she added.
In the coming weeks, Ofcom will launch a market study under the Enterprise Act 2002 into the UK’s cloud sector.
The largest providers of cloud services — known as ‘hyperscalers’ — are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and Google. Collectively, these three firms generate around 81% of revenues in the UK public cloud infrastructure services market.
“If we find a market is not working well, there can be negative impacts on businesses and ultimately consumers, through higher prices, lower service quality and reduced innovation. In these circumstances, Ofcom can make recommendations to the government to change regulations or policy and take competition or consumer enforcement action,” it emphasised.
Ofcom said it has engaged closely with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in planning the market study.
Over the next year, Ofcom will also start a broader programme of work to examine other digital markets, including online personal communication apps and devices for accessing audiovisual content.
“We are interested in how services such as WhatsApp, FaceTime and Zoom are affecting the role of traditional calling and messaging, and how competition and innovation in these markets may evolve over the coming years,” said Ofcom.
On Cloud, Jio has partnered Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure to ensure a vibrant ecosystem of cloud-enabled business applications and solutions for its millions of users…reports Asian Lite news
As Reliance Jio gets prepared to launch standalone ‘True 5G’ services by Diwali this year in key metro cities, the company has partnered some of the world’s leading technology giants as strong partners in the ‘made in India’ 5G collaboration.
While Jio partnered Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta (formering Facebook) for immersive technology, it has collaborated with Google to develop ultra-affordable 5G smartphones.
On Cloud, Jio has partnered Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure to ensure a vibrant ecosystem of cloud-enabled business applications and solutions for its millions of users.
The company has picked chip-maker Intel for cloud-scale data centres and 5G edge locations, while it has robust relationships with leading global network technology providers like Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and Cisco.
Jio also forged a collaboration with Qualcomm to develop 5G solutions for India, which can be taken to the rest of the world.
Using JioAirFiber, people can do away with all expenses related to buying computer hardware and periodically upgrading it, and opt to use a virtual PC hosted in the cloud — called Jio Cloud PC.
With no upfront investment or tension of periodical upgrading, a user needs to pay only to the extent used, resulting in a super-affordable way to bring the power of a PC, even multiple PCs, to every Indian home and business.
Meta and Jio Platforms also announced the launch of the first-ever end-to-end shopping experience on WhatsApp, where consumers can shop from JioMart right within their WhatsApp chat.
Jio will launch 5G services in four metro cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai — by Diwali.
These will be expanded to other cities and towns in phases rapidly to cover the entire country by December 2023.
Big Tech platforms sign new EU disinformation code. The 34 signatories, such as platforms, tech companies and civil society followed the 2021 Commission Guidance and took into account the lessons learnt from the Covid-19 crisis and Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine…reports Asian Lite News
Big Tech platforms like Meta, Microsoft, Google, Twitter and others on Thursday signed up to a new “Code of Practice on disinformation” in the European Union (EU).
The 34 signatories, such as platforms, tech companies and civil society followed the 2021 Commission Guidance and took into account the lessons learnt from the Covid-19 crisis and Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.
The new Code sets out extensive and precise commitments by platforms and industry to fight disinformation and marks another important step for a more transparent, safe and trustworthy online environment, the European Commission said in a statement.
Notable, some Big Tech companies like Apple and Telegram are yet to sign the code.
“We now have very significant commitments to reduce the impact of disinformation online and much more robust tools to measure how these are implemented across the EU in all countries and in all its languages,” said Vera Jourova, Vice-President for Values and Transparency.
“This new anti-disinformation Code comes at a time when Russia is weaponising disinformation as part of its military aggression against Ukraine, but also when we see attacks on democracy more broadly,” Jourova added.
The new Code will also reduce financial incentives for disseminating disinformation and allow researchers to access to platforms’ data more easily.”
“To be credible, the new Code of Practice will be backed up by the DSA (Digital Services Act), including for heavy dissuasive sanctions. Very large platforms that repeatedly break the Code and do not carry out risk mitigation measures properly risk fines of up to 6 per cent of their global turnover,” said Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market.
The 34 signatories include major online platforms, notably Meta, Google, Twitter, TikTok and Microsoft, as well as a variety of other players like smaller or specialised platforms, the online ad industry, ad-tech companies, fact-checkers, civil society or that offer specific expertise and solutions to fight disinformation.
The strengthened Code aims to address the shortcomings of the previous Code, with stronger and more granular commitments and measures, which build on the operational lessons learnt in the past years.
Signatories will have six months to implement the commitments and measures to which they have signed up.
At the beginning of 2023, they will provide the Commission with their first implementation reports.
Connecting cultures
Microsoft and the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), here on Friday announced the launch of a new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform for connecting artworks and cultures around the world.
The platform called INTERWOVEN is rooted in MAP’s vast collection of South Asian textiles and was developed as part of Microsoft’s AI for Cultural Heritage initiative, which leverages technology to empower people and organisations dedicated to the preservation and enrichment of art and culture.
INTERWOVEN brings together collections from key institutions and partners across the world alongside MAP’s (including the V&A in London, MET in New York, Rietberg in Zurich and the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada) to reveal connections between artworks from different cultures, mediums and time periods.
INTERWOVEN represents these visually and intuitively, encouraging further exploration, discovery and cross-cultural exchange.
After the pandemic, a primary aspect of our mission is to use the digital realm to connect with people across the country, and the world. Wea¿re rethinking the idea of museums. They cannot be mere repositories of objects,” said Kamini Sawhney, Director, MAP, in a statement.
“MAP will not just be a collection of objects, but a space for ideas and conversations that are initiated through our collections. INTERWOVEN fits securely within this vision.”
The platform works by providing users two options. The first allows the user to view predefined journeys, created primarily by MAP’s educational and research arm, the MAP Academy.
These combine relationships between global artefacts suggested by the AI, which are then researched and expanded further by individual curators. It is an explorative model for how AI might be used in museology and art historical research.
The second option invites general users to explore the platform to stumble upon meaningful and sometimes even surprising visual connections. It provides a new way to engage with culture and learn more about the history of textiles and fashion and their relationship to global exchange.
Previous projects under Microsoft’s AI for Cultural Heritage initiative have involved improving accessibility through the Open Access collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the digital restoration of ‘Ancient Olympia’, in collaboration with the government of Greece.
In India, the MAP in Bengaluru is the first project under this initiative.
“INTERWOVEN is a project that is deeply impactful to society, culture, and heritage. The project interweaves technology with art, using AI to find shared histories in artistic traditions from different corners of the globe, particularly pertaining to something as rich and complex as textiles,” said Rohini Srivathsa, National Technology Officer at Microsoft India.
“Our approach to AI centres around meaningful innovation and this project beautifully allows art to be more accessible and inclusive for people around the world. We stay committed to using technology to help celebrate and preserve culture as part of our AI for Cultural Heritage initiative,” she added.
Microsoft has detected and disabled a previously undocumented Lebanon-based activity group that is working with other actors affiliated with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) to attack organisations in Israel…reports Asian Lite News
Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) named the group ‘Polonium’.
The tech giant suspended more than 20 malicious OneDrive applications created by Polonium actors, notified affected organisations, and deployed a series of security intelligence updates that will quarantine tools developed by Polonium operators.
“Our goal is to help deter future activity by exposing and sharing the Polonium tactics with the community at large,” the company said in a statement.
The group is linked with Iranian government and such collaboration or direction from Tehran would align with a string of revelations since late 2020 that the “Government of Iran is using third parties to carry out cyber operations on their behalf, likely to enhance Iran’s plausible deniability”.
Polonium has targeted or compromised more than 20 organisations based in Israel and one intergovernmental organisation with operations in Lebanon over the past three months.
“This actor has deployed unique tools that abuse legitimate cloud services for command and control (C2) across most of their victims. Polonium was observed creating and using legitimate OneDrive accounts, then utilising those accounts as C2 to execute part of their attack operation,” explained Microsoft.
This activity does not represent any security issues or vulnerabilities on the OneDrive platform.
“As with any observed nation-state actor activity, Microsoft directly notifies customers that have been targeted or compromised, providing them with the information they need to secure their accounts,” said the company.
Since February, Polonium has been observed primarily targeting organisations in Israel with a focus on critical manufacturing, IT, and Israel’s defense industry.
In at least one case, Polonium’s compromise of an IT company was used to target a downstream aviation company and law firm in a supply chain attack that relied on service provider credentials to gain access to the targeted networks, according to the researchers.
The company mentioned that voting is open to all Microsoft Store on Windows customers on Windows 10 and 11 around the world…reports Asian Lite News
With an aim to look for the best Windows apps available through the Microsoft Store, the tech giant has recently opened voting for its Microsoft Store App Awards 2022.
The company said there are three categories of apps to vote for, which are, file management, utility and open platform. “We would like to recognise apps which are amazing, beautiful, and useful — the apps which make your day better, more productive, or more enjoyable. This vote is about you and the apps you love to use,” Microsoft said on the voting form.
The company mentioned that voting is open to all Microsoft Store on Windows customers on Windows 10 and 11 around the world.
Users have no obligation to vote and may cancel at any time without submitting a vote. “There is no compensation for voting, and casting your vote does not enter you into any agreement with Microsoft,” the company said.
Users may vote in one, two, or all three categories based on users’ own personal experience with the apps. “One vote per person. We may disqualify additional votes, bot votes, etc. at our discretion. We may remove an app if we detect unfair or unusual voting patterns,” Microsoft said.
The update is available for Chrome via version 99.0.4844.84 on Windows, Mac, and Linux…reports Asian Lite News
Google has started asking users on Windows, macOS, and Linux to update Chrome builds to version 99.0.4844.84, after finding a new vulnerability.
The company has highlighted that the exploit is being utilised in the wild and Google is aware of it.
“We will also retain restrictions if the bug exists in a third-party library that other projects similarly depend on, but haven’t yet fixed,” the firm said in a statement.
The update is available for Chrome via version 99.0.4844.84 on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
One can head over to the three-dot button on the top-right of Chrome and navigate to Help > About Google Chrome to trigger the update.
“We would also like to thank all security researchers that worked with us during the development cycle to prevent security bugs from ever reaching the stable channel,” the company noted.
Meanwhile, Microsoft issued its own notice saying the issue was fixed in Edge version 99.0.1150.55 released the same day.
In its first big security update for the new year, Google rolled out 37 fixes for Windows, Mac and Linux and one of which was rated critical.
According to Google, 22 types of security fixes have been given in the latest Chrome browser, which works to increase user privacy.
It also recently updated the Chrome stable channel to 96.0.4664.93 for Windows, Mac and Linux, which is available for all users.
