Tag: Microsoft

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Mobile Syrup

Activision says it’s ‘committed’ to Call of Duty: Mobile, despite Microsoft’s earlier comments

Activision and supporting developers have quickly come forward to confirm they are “committed” to Call of Duty: Mobile as “part of the entire Call of Duty franchise.” This statement comes days after Microsoft said the contrary to regulators.

On Twitter, the official page for Call of Duty: Mobile posted a statement regarding the longevity and support of the title. In an effort to quell the worries of fans, the statement says that the team intends “to continue supporting the game with a robust roadmap of fresh new CODM content, activities, and updates for the long haul.”

This ordeal comes as part of the ongoing saga of Microsoft’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Last week, Microsoft informed U.K. regulators that Call of Duty: Mobile “is expected to be phased out over time with the launch of Warzone Mobile.” Of course, with that statement, Microsoft did not divulge how long it would take for Call of Duty: Mobile to be phased out. However, the statement alone was enough to send fans into a panic.

Call of Duty: Mobile is one of Activision’s most popular mobile titles. In 2022, the game crossed the 650 million downloads threshold. However, Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is projected to become another tentpole mobile title for the publisher. The battle royale has already seen a lot of popularity across consoles and PC.

It remains to be seen whether Microsoft’s comments were misrepresented or ill-informed while speaking to the U.K. regulators. However, as of now, it appears as though Call of Duty: Mobile will continue for the foreseeable future.

Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is slated to launch sometime this year. Pre-registration is already available on iOS and Android.

Microsoft is continuing its pursuit to acquire Activision Blizzard. The company recently signed a 10-year “binding” agreement with Nintendo and Nvidia to avoid anti-trust concerns. However, the acquisition continues to face pushback from the likes of PlayStation and the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). However, the CMA is due to deliver its final ruling on April 26th.

Image credit: Activision

Source: @PlayCODMobile

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft Bing search passes 100 million daily active users

Microsoft says that its Bing search engine has passed 100 million daily active users following the release of Bing Chat.

In a blog post, Microsoft detailed the new number and noted that it includes a “million plus new Bing preview users.”

It’s worth noting that Microsoft hasn’t revealed daily active user counts for Bing before the release of Bing Chat, so it’s hard to saw how much of an improvement the company has seen. If I had to guess, I’d say probably a significant amount given how much attention Bing Chat received from the media over the last few weeks.

Beyond the daily active user number, Microsoft also revealed that about one-third of the daily Bing preview users also use Chat daily, with the company seeing roughly three chats per session and over 45 million total chats since the preview started.

While 100 million daily active users may sound like a lot, it’s worth putting the number in perspective. Google, the current king of search, pulls over 1 billion daily active users.

But for Microsoft, any ground gained against Google is worth it. Last month, Microsoft’s CVP of finance, Philippe Ockenden, said on a call with analysts that for “every 1 point of share gain in the search advertising market, it’s a $2 billion revenue opportunity for our advertising business.”

It’s also worth noting that Bing Chat isn’t the only thing driving users to Bing search. As pointed out in the blog post, Microsoft’s Edge browser is also growing, and Edge pushes Bing as the default search engine. Moreover, Microsoft pushes Edge and Bing very aggressively on Windows, often to the frustration of users. But it appears the aggressive push is working out for Microsoft, so expect it’ll continue.

Source: Microsoft Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft says it’s ‘confident’ it can get Call of Duty: Warzone on Nintendo Switch

Microsoft is optimistic that it could overcome the technical limitations of the Nintendo Switch to bring Call of Duty to the platform.

In a filing to the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Microsoft outlined what could be done to make good on its 10-year “binding” agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty games to Nintendo platforms should its acquisition of Activision Blizzard be approved.

According to Microsoft, the engine powering the popular battle royale series is “mature and has been optimized to run on a wide range of hardware devices.” This includes the Xbox One, a nearly 10-year-old console, and PC GPUs “released as far back as 2015” — both of which predate the Switch’s 2017 launch. Further, Microsoft notes that Activision also offers a (yet-to-be-released) mobile version of Warzone that “runs natively on mobile phones which have much lower performance specifications than the Nintendo Switch.”

More specifically, Microsoft said there are “standard techniques” that have been used for Switch ports of the likes of Apex Legends, Fortnite, Doom Eternal and Crysis 3. On top of that, Microsoft says it’s “confident” in Activision Blizzard’s developers, who have a “long history of optimizing game performance for available hardware capabilities.”

Of course, this is all hypothetical until Microsoft actually owns Activision Blizzard. As it stands, European regulators are still deliberating on the deal, although Reuters reported last week that Microsoft’s deals with the likes of Nintendo and Nvidia have helped stave off governmental anti-competition concerns. Sony, for its part, has staunchly opposed the acquisition, arguing that Call of Duty would give Microsoft an unfair advantage. Most recently, the company expressed concerns that Microsoft might release inferior versions of games on PlayStation.

We’ll know for sure which argument ultimately wins out when the CMA delivers its final ruling on April 26th.

Image credit: Activision

Source: Microsoft

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Mobile Syrup

Xbox reveals new ‘Velocity Green’ wireless controller, available now

Xbox has announced a brand new ‘Velocity Green’ wireless controller.

As the month of March begins, Xbox is ringing in the spring months with a fresh new green controller. The colour is bold and punchy, joining the catalogue of colourful controllers alongside Shock Blue, Pulse Red, Deep Pink, and Electric Volt. 

The Velocity Green controller boasts the design and aesthetics of the standard Xbox Wireless controller. Players can access the hybrid D-pad, textured grips and back case. The new Xbox Wireless Controllers, which debuted alongside the Xbox Series X and Series S also include the Share button. The Velocity Green colour model is no different.

The new Xbox wireless controller is compatible with Xbox consoles, PC and mobile devices thanks to Bluetooth connectivity.

March is the month of St. Patrick’s Day as well. To celebrate the season of green, Xbox is also launching the Xbox Icon Collection Velocity Green Hoodie on the Xbox Gear Shop. The hoodie includes the Xbox logo on the front and a small four-leaf clover sewn into the sleeve. Preorders for this piece of gear are available now.

Last month Xbox announced its out-of-this-world ‘Stellar Shift Special Edition’ controller.

The Xbox Wireless Controller – Velocity Green is available to order now from the Microsoft Store for $74.99 CAD. 

Image credit: Xbox

Source: Xbox

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft requests the FTC to seek PlayStation’s exclusivity deals deets

The ongoing legal battle between the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Microsoft over the latter’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard has taken a new turn.

As reported by Kotaku, the FTC is seeking details from Sony about its PlayStation exclusivity deals, including the amount it pays for “blocking rights” to keep games off rival services like Xbox Game Pass.

This comes after Microsoft’s request to the FTC regarding PlayStation detailing its exclusivity deals. The request covers all deals made by PlayStation after January 1st, 2019, including any fees or agreements that prevented publishers from launching their games on Xbox Game Pass.

The judge in the case has sided with Microsoft’s request, stating that understanding the full extent of Sony’s exclusivity deals and their effect on industry competitiveness will assist in Microsoft’s defence regarding its Activision acquisition.

FTC’s chief administrative judge D. Michael Chappell said:

Microsoft argues that the Complaint in this case makes a number of allegations regarding high-performance video game console developers’ exclusivity arrangements with video game publishers. Microsoft states that it is aware that SIE requires many third-party publishers to agree to exclusivity provisions, including preventing the publishers from putting their games on Xbox’s multi-game subscription service, and that understanding the full extent of SIE’s exclusivity arrangements and their effect on industry competitiveness will assist in its defense.

The last time we saw an exclusivity deal like this made public was back in 2021 during the Epic Games vs. Apple saga.

Microsoft’s initial request was to get details on Sony’s exclusivity deals dating back to 2012, but the timeline was deemed “excessive” by the judge, and agreed to seek details from Sony about its PlayStation exclusivity deals made post-2019. The evidentiary hearing for the case is scheduled for August 2nd, and it could be months before any potential new details are revealed.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Game Developer Via: Kotaku

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft confirms it’s testing a revamped volume mixer for Windows 11

Earlier this year, Microsoft’s work on a revamped volume mixer for Windows 11 leaked. Now the company has confirmed it’s testing a new volume mixer in a post about Windows 11 Preview Build 25309, which is rolling out to testers in the Windows 11 Insider Dev channel.

The new volume mixer appears in the quick settings panel and can be accessed by clicking the Wi-Fi/sound/battery icons in the bottom-right corner of the taskbar. Microsoft also added a keyboard shortcut to access it (Win+Ctrl+V).

The volume mixer adds several quality-of-life improvements to Windows 11’s volume controls. It adds the ability to quickly swap between audio outputs like headphones and speakers, adjust the volume of individual apps, toggle spatial audio technologies and more.

New volume mixer in Windows 11

New volume mixer in Windows 11 | Image credit: Microsoft

As was pointed out back in January when the feature leaked, the changes largely mirror what’s offered in a third-party app called EarTrumpet created almost five years ago to fix the various limitations of the Windows 10 volume controls.

It’s not clear when Microsoft will roll out the new volume mixer for all, but at least now we know for sure the company is testing it. It should eventually make its way into stable Windows 11.

Source: Microsoft Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Intel’s upcoming chips reportedly support Windows 12: leak

Image credit: Intel

Intel and Microsoft could be preparing for Windows 12, at least going by details shared in a recent leak.

As detailed by The Verge, leaker ‘@leaf_hobby‘ — who previously revealed the full specs of Intel’s Xeon chips before launch — shared information about Intel’s upcoming Meteor Lake desktop chips. Intel internally mentions that the next-gen CPUs will support Windows 12, per the leak.

Although the tweet was deleted, The Verge cites details from VideoCardz that Meteor Lake is also expected to include 20 PCIe Gen5 lanes. Intel and Microsoft declined The Verge’s request for comment on the leaks.

Despite there being no official announcement from Microsoft about Windows 12, it’s worth noting that there will likely be a new version of Windows in the near future. The company reportedly moved back to a three-year release cycle after ditching that approach with Windows 10 — with that in mind, Windows 12 could arrive in 2024.

At the same time, Intel’s Meteor Lake is expected later this year or early in 2024, which means the timing would line up with a potential Windows 12 launch. Meteor Lake will be an important milestone for Intel as the company moves to its ‘Intel 4’ 7nm node and to a ‘chiplet’ design with separate dies for the CPU cores, integrated graphics and input/output. Intel previously said it’d push to include AI capabilities as well.

This lends further credence to the Meteor Lake and Windows 12 integration. Again, Microsoft hasn’t provided any details about Windows 12, but the company has made a strong push in AI software, most notably with the ChatGPT-powered Bing Chat, which recently arrived on Windows 11. Microsoft’s head of consumer marketing, Yusuf Mehdi, told The Verge earlier this week that Microsoft was looking at ways to integrate AI-powered features in future versions of Windows too.

Coupled with AMD’s recent Ryzen 7000 mobile chips, which include a dedicated AI engine, it’s no surprise Intel’s working on its own AI capabilities to support Windows features.

Header image credit: Intel

Source: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 update adds Bing Chat to the taskbar

Microsoft has unveiled its next big Windows 11 update, chock full of new features and capabilities. However, the star of the show is Bing.

If it weren’t for the fact that Microsoft’s ChatGPT-powered Bing Chat dominated tech headlines for the last two weeks, I’d be shocked that Bing would be the standout addition to Windows 11. This is the world we live in now. In a blog post about the new Windows 11 update, Panos Panay, chief product officer, outlined that the Windows 11 taskbar would now include access to the new Bing in the search bar.

Bing Chat on the Windows 11 taskbar | Image credit: Microsoft

Microsoft didn’t say much more about Bing Chat in Windows 11, but it did explain that those in the Bing preview will have access after installing the new Windows 11 update. If you haven’t joined the waitlist for the Bing preview, you can learn more about how to do so here.

Beyond Bing

Phone Link for iOS | Image credit: Microsoft

Of course, Bing was one of many announcements. Microsoft also shared that Windows 11 would get a preview of Phone Link for iOS. Phone Link, for those unfamiliar, is a Windows feature for linking various smartphone features, such as access to messaging, apps on your phone, sharing photos and videos, and more. The iOS version of Phone Link will allow sending and receiving iMessages, as reported by The Verge.

So far, Phone Link has only really worked with Android, and Samsung phones getting the most feature support. It’s great to see Phone Link expanding to include iPhone. I suspect this was sped along by competition from the launch of Intel Unison, a similar phone-to-PC connection software that does support iPhones. Those interested in trying the Phone Link for iOS preview can learn more here.

Revamped touch taskbar | Image credit: Microsoft

Microsoft also highlighted recent Phone Link improvements for Android users, specifically mentioning the ability to activate your Samsung phone’s hotspot with a click from your PC, or the ‘Recent Websites’ feature that can transfer your browsing sessions from your Samsung phone to your Windows PC.

Microsoft says it updated Windows Studio Effects to make it easier to access the features from the taskbar. Along with that, Microsoft revamped the ‘Chat’ feature of the Windows 11 taskbar with a video preview to help streamline the process of jumping into a video call.

Snipping Tool will let you record your screen

Snipping Tool with screen recording capabilities | Image credit: Microsoft

Moreover, Microsoft added a revamped ‘Quick Assist’ app that should make it easier for the tech-savvy among you to help troubleshoot friends’ and family members’ Windows woes. Quick Assist includes the ability to switch between screen sharing and full control during a session, as well as a new “laser pointer” people can use to highlight icons, menus and more.

Perhaps one of the other exciting additions — at least for me — is that the Snipping Tool will now be able to record an area of the screen. This is a huge bonus as someone who often wants to record part of my screen to make a GIF for a story I’m working on.

Windows 11 Energy recommendations | Image credit: Microsoft

Windows 11 is getting new energy-saving features too. In the Settings menu under System > Power & Battery, there’s an ‘Energy recommendations’ screen that suggests different settings people can tweak to improve energy use.

Wrapping things up, Microsoft expanded Windows 11’s Widgets system with new options from Phone Link, Xbox Game Pass and partners like Meta and Spotify, there’s an improved touchscreen mode with a minimized taskbar, Notepad now has tabs, and there are new accessibility options in the Windows 11 update.

You can check out everything new in Windows 11 here.

Update 2023/02/28 at 9:04am ET: Added a sentence about Phone Link for iOS supporting iMessage.

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft brings Bing Chat preview to iOS, Android and Skype

Just a couple weeks after Microsoft unveiled its revamped Bing with a new ‘Chat’ feature powered by an upgraded ChatGPT, the company is continuing its breakneck rollout by launching Bing Chat on mobile.

In a new blog post, Microsoft said that Bing Chat is “available on iOS and Android today.” The blog post makes mention of the Bing mobile app and the Edge mobile browser, but in my brief testing, I wasn’t able to easily access it through the Bing app on my Pixel 7. However, Bing Chat was available through Edge when tested on both the Pixel 7 and an iPhone XS as long as I was signed into my corresponding Microsoft account.

That said, accessing Bing Chat wasn’t particularly straightforward. On both devices, I had to search a query through Bing first, and then I could tap the ‘Chat’ option to switch over to Bing Chat.

Along with availability on iOS and Android devices, Bing Chat now supports voice input. In fact, it appears that’s the main way Microsoft wants people to interact with Bing Chat on mobile — when you access the Chat interface, there’s a big, blue microphone button you tap to speak a query. You can still type queries by tapping the grey keyboard icon on the left side of the interface.

Bing Chat in Microsoft Edge for Android

Bing Chat in Microsoft Edge for Android.

As with other devices, accessing Bing Chat on mobile requires access to the Bing preview. If you haven’t signed up for it, check out our how-to here. If you already have access to the Bing preview, Chat should be available as long as you’re signed in with the same Microsoft account on your mobile devices.

Beyond the Bing app and Edge, Microsoft expanded Chat to Skype. Skype users can add Bing to conversations the same way they would add any other contact and then ask it questions by typing “@Bing” into a message. Moreover, Microsoft says users can pick how they want Bing to respond. For example, Bing can reply with bullet points, text, or a simplified answer.

Microsoft appears to be using Bing in Skype to test out how it’ll work in a messaging environment before a wider expansion. In the blog post, the company specifically outlined plans to bring Bing to “other communications apps, like Teams, in the future.”

Bing in Skype

Bing in Skype | Image credit: Microsoft

Bing in Skype is available worldwide in preview starting February 22nd. For those already part of the Bing preview experience, Microsoft says the Bing in Skype capabilities will show up later today — if you’re not part of the preview experience, you’ll have to sign up and join the waitlist (again, check out our how-to here). Microsoft did warn that it’s aware of “connectivity issues in low-bandwidth situations” when using Bing, and the company says it’s working on a fix.

These latest expansions to Bing Chat come after Microsoft capped the length and number of conversations people can have in response to extended conversations causing Bing to go haywire.

Source: Microsoft

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Microsoft ups cap on Bing AI chat lengths, daily chats

After acknowledging that long chat sessions confused Bing Chat, Microsoft is back with another blog post about its ongoing efforts to reign in the Bing AI.

Last week, Microsoft explained that lengthy chat sessions confused the language model that Bing Chat uses — as a refresher, Bing Chat runs on an updated version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. That came after a ton of reports surfaced highlighting various odd and unhinged statements made by Bing Chat.

Microsoft’s first attempt to reduce the issue was to limit how many Bing Chat sessions people could have and how long the sessions could go. The company started with a cap of 50 chat turns per day and five chat turns per session, describing a ‘turn’ as “a conversation exchange which contains both a user question and a reply from Bing.”

In the latest blog post, Microsoft said it would increase chat turns per session to six and increase to 60 total chats per day, with plans to expand further, after receiving feedback about the initial cap.

“Our data shows that for the vast majority of you this will enable your natural daily use of Bing. That said, our intention is to go further, and we plan to increase the daily cap to 100 total chats soon. In addition, with this coming change your normal searches will no longer count against your chat totals.”

Microsoft also reiterated plans to allow Bing Chat users to pick a tone for conversations, ranging from ‘Precise’ with shorter, search focused answers, ‘Balanced,’ or ‘Creative’ with longer, chattier answers. However, it’s not clear when this change will arrive.

Source: Microsoft