Microsoft

On a purely technical level isolated from all contexts, the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge web browser may actually have a lot going for it. It is compatible with almost all websites, thanks to the same backend that Google Chrome itself uses, and Microsoft has added features that improve performance or offer users a lot of conveniences. Unfortunately, perception can do a lot to make or break a product, regardless of its strengths, and Microsoft's aggressive push to bring Edge to Windows users' consciousness may ironically sour the web browser instead.

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If the Surface Duo turned out to be an expensive disappointment, it seems that Microsoft's next big products will be carrying on that trend. Although the larger dual-screen Surface Neo isn't expected until 2022 at the earliest, the operating system that is supposed to run on it may debut much earlier. In fact, Windows 10X could be ready to ship to manufacturers by the end of the year but it might give everyone a case of deja vu in the way it will handle "legacy" win32 software.

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As we close out the month, Microsoft has revealed a ton of new games that will heading to Xbox Game Pass in the final week of October and the first week of November. There are 13 games in all hitting the service over the next two weeks, with a 14th title going live later in November. As always, availability between console, PC, and Android will vary from game to game, but a number of them will be available on all three platforms.

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The arrival of trackpad support on iPads ushered in a flurry of updates for apps that now leverage this feature, giving users a laptop-like experience with the portability of a tablet. In an announcement today, Microsoft said that it has updated several of its Office apps for iPadOS to take full advantage of this feature. Likewise, the company has also enhanced the apps' interface.

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Internet Explorer is a web browser living on borrowed time. Microsoft initiated plans to move users from the old internet access point in favor of the newer app Microsoft Edge. The latest version of the web browser Edge 87 showed Microsoft's latest push for movement from IE to the latest web browser: blocking the biggest websites.

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The Xbox Series X is nearly upon us, and today Microsoft gave us a rather lengthy demo of its new console. Dubbed a "next-gen walkthrough," the nearly 15 minute minute video you see below can best be described as a comprehensive introduction to the console. In that way, the walkthrough offers a lot of information we already knew, but since this is a video, we're able to see many of those previously-revealed features in action.

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Aside from a brief period with Nokia-branded phones and its now troubled Surface Duo, Microsoft's presence on Android has mostly been on the software side. It has, however, tried to bridge the gap between mobile and desktop, primarily through exclusive features born out of its partnership with Samsung. Samsung isn't the only Android phone maker, though, and Microsoft can't risk alienating everyone else for too long. It might slowly be opening up some of those exclusive features to other Android phones, provided they're using Microsoft apps, of course.

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Both the Xbox Series X and the Sony PlayStation 5 are sporting new, larger, and more vertical designs and both have received their fair share of jokes and criticisms. Rather than sweep those under the rug, however, Xbox seems to have embraced its new console's association with a refrigerator in more ways than one. Beyond just accepting the meme and going along with it, it seems that Microsoft has actually decided to turn it into a real thing. Not exactly shocking coming from a company that makes console-themed onesies.

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Things seemed to be going well for the Surface Duo despite its somewhat older specs, that was until reviews and reports started coming in that put the dual-screen foldable's price into question. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft appears to have decided to slash the price by a considerable amount barely two months after the product launched. More than the early price cut, however, early believers in Microsoft's promise are now complaining about what seems to be a disorganized and inconsistent policy in how to handle returns and refunds.

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Redbox, the company best known for its red movie vending machines, launched a free ad-supported live streaming TV service earlier this year, one you probably haven't heard of. Bringing attention back to the service is a new announcement from Redbox revealing that Xbox One owners can now access this streaming service through their consoles.

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Xbox and Microsoft gaming head Phil Spencer may've just spilled the beans. In an interview this week, Spencer spoke about a whole lot of plans for the future of Xbox, including plans for "lower priced hardware" that'll work with Microsoft's game streaming service and xCloud. So maybe you won't need an Xbox Series S after all.

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Microsoft Research has made progress over the years and moving towards a virtual reality experience where feelings in the VR setting are on par with the realistic visuals produced by head-mounted displays. Microsoft Research has moved beyond some of its past prototypes with a new controller called Haptic PIVOT to bring physical forces to VR controllers.

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