Microsoft’s largest U.S. data center to be built partly in Warren County

Microsoft will begin building its largest data center in the country in Warren County in 2017, local leaders announced last week. The massive data center will be built near the Cumming exit off Interstate 35. Plans include a facility twice the size of Jordan Creek, about 1.7 million square feet, that will bring in $12 million in tax revenue annually. West Des Moines Mayor Steven Gaer said Friday...

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Sikich LLP receives 2 Microsoft partner awards

 NAPERVILLE --Professional services firm Sikich LLP has been named 2016 US SMB Champions Club Heartland Partner of the Year and 2016 US SMB Champions Club Heartland Influencer Partner of the Year by Microsoft's US Small and Mid-sized Business Champions Club. The Heartland Partner of the Year award recognizes the US SMB Champions Club partner who has demonstrated significant Microsoft sales and year-over-year revenue growth with Heartland Area SMB customers. The Heartland...

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Microsoft cuts Xbox One price to $249 ahead of Xbox One S launch

Less than three years ago, Microsoft launched the Xbox One at $500. Ahead of its first major refresh, the company has cut the price on the existing bulky model to just $249. That’s a significant drop for the platform just a few months after its last round of price cuts, and it makes the Xbox One a compelling option for the right kind of customer. While this is hardly the first time Microsoft...

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Microsoft Authenticator brings two-factor logins to your Apple Watch

Two-factor authentication on Microsoft platforms doesn’t have to be a pain in the rear end. That seems to be the takeaway from Microsoft’s Monday announcement of a new authenticator app, the eponymous Microsoft Authenticator, that’ll debut for “all major mobile platforms” on August 15. The new app is a merger of what was previously several, essentially. Under the old system,...

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Science Center & Microsoft form 'digital alliance'

The University City Science Center said Tuesday it has formed a “digital alliance” with Microsoft Corp. that will focus on digital literacy, small business and entrepreneurship, health and wellness, and youth engagement with STEM subjects. Stephen S. Tang, president and CEO of the Science Center, said the partnership with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will expand on the work the organization has...

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Microsoft workers using a 'hackathon' to help those in need

SEATTLE -- Yossi Banai and his family have taken in 29 foster children over the last 10 years. They do it to show love and support to kids who may never have known it. Banai also knows what it's like to deal with the Washington State Department of Social Services, which handles foster kid cases. "You're working with a system that's big and complicated and inefficient and no one is there to help you," he said. A couple of years ago he and his family joined The Mockingbird Society, a...

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Microsoft just made it way easier to write a research paper with Word

If you've used the last few versions of Word, you'll know it's really hard to pinpoint exactly what's changed. Word might feel feature complete right now, but Microsoft isn't giving up on adding new and interesting features. This month, Microsoft is adding a new Researcher feature to Word. As the name implies, it's designed to make research paper writing a lot easier. Researcher uses Microsoft's Bing Knowledge Graph to query content from the internet and then pull it straight into...

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Microsoft wants you to write better, stay focused and bore fewer people

Microsoft announced a number of updates to Word, PowerPoint and Outlook today that will bring more of its machine learning smarts (among other things) to some of its core Office suite products. For Word, the focus is on helping you become a better, more confident writer. With Researcher for Word, the team is now building a new tool into Word that helps you find information regarding the topic about which you are writing. Those sources can be online journals and encyclopedias,...

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Microsoft investigating significant Surface Pro 3 battery issues

Microsoft is investigating widespread reports of battery issues with its line of Surface Pro 3 devices. Reports of Surface Pro 3 battery drain originated back in May, and some users are now reporting that their devices only last up to an hour after a full charge. It's not clear exactly what's causing the issues, but most Surface Pro 3 users who are experiencing the problems have SIMPLO batteries...

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Tim Sweeney claims that Microsoft will remove Win32, destroy Steam

Tim Sweeney doesn't like Windows 10 or Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform, the common development platform that allows developers to create software that can run on Windows on PCs, phones, tablets, HoloLens, and the Xbox. In March he published an op-ed in The Guardian saying that UWP "can, should, must, and will die" because, he claimed, Microsoft could use UWP to create a walled garden, ...

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Microsoft silently kills dev backdoor that boots Linux on locked-down Windows RT slabs

Microsoft has quietly killed a vulnerability that can be exploited to unlock ARM-powered Windows RT tablets and boot non-Redmond-approved operating systems. The Register has learned that one of the security holes addressed this week in the July edition of Microsoft's Patch Tuesday closes a backdoor left in Windows RT by its programmers during its development. ...

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The Need for Big Data!

Big data is a term for data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data processing applications are inadequate. Challenges include analysis, capture, data curation, search, sharing, storage, transfer, visualization, querying, updating and information privacy. The term often refers simply to the use of predictive analytics or certain other advanced data analytics methods that extract value from data, and seldom to a particular size of data set. Accuracy in big data may lead...

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Your website may be engaged in secret criminal activity

Most of us think of website hacks as illicit activities aimed at siphoning critical information or disrupting the business of website owners. But what happens when your site becomes hacked, not for the purpose of harming you but rather to further the ends of other parties? Most likely, the attackers would manage to feed off your resources and reputation for months or years without being discovered, because it’s hard to take note of something that isn’t directly affecting you. This is...

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Microsoft announces professional degree program to fill the skills gap

Microsoft wants more data scientists in the job market. But some young people need to acquire their knowledge starting completely anew, while mid-career professionals need to build on their previous experience. To plug the skills gap for both categories, Microsoft launched a series of classes in data science through edX.org, the nonprofit online learning destination founded by Harvard University...

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Facebook Challenges Apple For Control Of The Next Major Battleground

The news that Facebook is working on encrypting end-to-end communication in its chat client is another sign that messaging is the next major battleground online. Facebook also is also working for SnapChat style ‘self destructing’ messages, and the rise of messaging bots allows third-party developers to deliver solutions inside the chat environment. End-to-end encryption is increasingly being seen...

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2017 Tesla Model 3 Already Overwhelms Bolt, Leaf

There is no direct competitor to the Tesla Model 3, merely because it is considered a premium compact sedan. We could argue for the BMW i3, but even with a range extender it doesn’t really come close at all. And unless the BMW 3-Series or Mercedes C-Class arrives starts offering fully-electric models, its closest rivals would be the Chevrolet Bolt and Nissan Leaf. They actually stand up against the Model 3 pretty well. The Bolt, for one, is going to arrive sooner than the other two. It’s...

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Nissan Leaf 30kWh Tekna car review – ‘It’s relaxing’!

ften, when I think an idea won’t catch on (the mobile phone, the breakfast bar), it’s just because I haven’t thought about it as hard as its inventor has; I fear this may be true of the Nissan Leaf. It struck me as inherently preposterous to design a car that has to be delivered on the back of another car, because no one can be sure it’ll make the journey on electricity alone. While we’re here, why...

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Fedora 24 Pushes Linux Boundaries

Red Hat has announced the release of Fedora 24, an open source Linux operating system maintained by the Fedora Project community.Fedora Linux is the community version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, or RHEL. Fedora 24 is comprised of a set of base packages that form the foundation of three distinct editions: Fedora 24 Cloud, Fedora 24 Server and Fedora 24 Workstation. Delayed four times during its development...

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HandyLinux Is a Great Toolbox for Linux Newbies

HandyLinux is a distro that offers a simplified approach to using the Linux desktop operating system. HandyLinux first appeared about three years ago. The latest version, 2.5, was released in early June. The developers make it easy to peal off the "Handy" layers to reveal a more standard Linux environment as users learn the system. Those who no longer need the IT tools included with the initial installation can remove them easily using the Handy2Debian application from the main menu. That...

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Malware hits millions of Android phones

Up to 10 million Android smartphones have been infected by malware that generates fake clicks for adverts, say security researchers. The software is also surreptitiously installing apps and spying on the browsing habits of victims. The malware is currently making about $300,000 (£232,000) a month for its creators, suggests research. The majority of phones that have been compromised by the malicious...

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