In the News

Microsoft recently released a new and what seems like one of the most major updates for its camera app, Pix on the Apple app store. The latest update adds support for several new features for the iOS 10 release including widget for lock and 3D Touch support. The new version will consist of Widget support, which lets users jump directly to photo capture, selfie capture, video capture or gallery.

Microsoft has finally added Google Drive support for Outlook on Web to allow users to receive and edit the files from the Internet version of its email client. The company has also added the support for Facebook and made it easier to search for attachment in long conversations with its update to Outlook. The Android and iOS version of Outlook already allowed users to receive and edit the files from Google Drive from inside the app.

The article is about the “Aadhaar App” which will allow people to “lock” their biometrics, have an “inbox” with their transaction history along with a dynamic one-time password a la Google Authenticator that generates security codes to access Gmail which change every few seconds. The app will also store a digitally signed Aadhaar, which can be “shared” through email or Bluetooth with a service provider say a bank or telecom operator, reducing the need to carry a physical copy of the Aadhaar card. The app will be first enabled for Android phones, followed by those of Apple and Microsoft operating systems.

Microsoft is calling Google out on its latest improvements to battery life in Chrome. While the company acknowledges that competitors have made significant improvements of late, it still finds Edge has an edge over other major Windows browsers. The Chrome team put out a battery test last week that looked suspiciously similar to one done by the Edge team a few months ago, except it only showed improvements to its own browser instead of comparing it to competitors.

Over the past couple of years, Microsoft has, under CEO Satya Nadella, embraced open source like never before. It’s a remarkable shift for the Redmond giant, which traditionally kept its trade secrets and powerful technologies behind closed doors. One major sign of that is new data from GitHub, which is home to some of the Web’s biggest collaborative code projects. The company, which counted more than 5.8 million active users on its platform over the past 12 months, noted that Microsoft topped the list of organizations with the most open source contributors.

Microsoft announced that it has joined Google’s Android for Work program and will support Google’s container technology for mobile application management in a future release of Intune, Microsoft’s own enterprise mobility management (EMM) server. Android for Work, initially released in winter 2015 as part of an Android 5.0 Lollipop update, brought to Android the same level of enterprise-grade protection for mobile apps that had previously been available only to Apple’s iOS devices or Samsung’s Android devices running Samsung’s own Knox technology.

Microsoft’s Project Centennial Bridge for Win32 apps is finally ready for production. With Project Centennial bridge, traditional Windows desktop applications can be distributed and sold through the Windows Store. The popular note-taking application Evernote becomes the first to use this new capability. Until now, only applications built for the Universal Windows Platform were available via the Windows Store. At Build 2015, Microsoft announced Project Centennial Bridge, which made it easier to port Win32 apps to Windows Store with zero or no changes.

Microsoft started rolling out the much-hyped Windows 10 Anniversary Update from August 2. However, many users still haven’t received a notification on their systems about the update. Now, fresh information comes in stating that the update may not be done rolling out until early November. Microsoft did inform at the time of initial rollout that the update would be in phases because of the volume of devices running on Windows 10, but the exact time period wasn’t specified. Now, ZDNet reports that it received a blast email from Microsoft that in a footnote revealed the update will take three months to roll out to all users which would mean by November 2.

Microsoft has introduced new features for Outlook on iOS and Android users to help them manage their work. The major change with the updated Outlook app is the event icons. With Outlook calendar, users can see event icons matching the event keyword. While creating an event, users can now type an address and Outlook will offer auto complete and even add a map. Calendars builds on Calendar Apps, which were introduced a few months ago, such as Wunderlist, Facebook and Evernote, will allow users get information directly in their inbox. The calendar apps feature is available for iOS and Android.

The ‘Great Place to Work Institute’ today released the second annual list of India’s Best Companies to work for in IT & ITeS segment. Adobe Systems India, Google India, and Microsoft India are among the 50 best IT & ITeS workplaces in the country, according to the survey. Dubbed as India’s Silicon Valley, Bengaluru was unsurprisingly the most popular location for IT companies assessed.