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The Age of Empires IV Season Two Update has arrived, bringing new content, additional ways to customize your gameplay and more, all available through Oct. 24. The first round of Season Two kicks off July 12 and runs for two weeks. Head over to AgeOfEmpires.com to find out how to take part in the new challenges and unlock exclusive rewards. Continue reading...

Today, Panos Panay announced the release and availability of the Windows 11 2022 Update, the latest version of Windows 11. Windows is a key component of how more than a billion people connect, learn, play and work. In this blog I’ll share how to get the 2022 Update (also known as Windows 11, version 22H21), details on our approach to delivering continuous innovation including improvements to the update experience, and information for commercial and education customers. How to get the update Starting today, the first major update to Windows 11 is now available for users who want to update. Our launch approach to Windows 11 leverages our well-established update systems …

At CES 2023, one of the most influential tech events in the world, new Windows 11 PCs showcased innovation throughout its partner ecosystem. These include advances from silicon partners Intel, AMD and NVIDIA, as well as the latest consumer, commercial and gaming devices from Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and other gaming device partners. This technology reinforces how relevant the PC is in daily life; to connect, create, work, learn and play – from anywhere. It does all that while being accessible and secure, freeing up time and peace of mind to be creative. As an ecosystem, Microsoft is focused on achieving consistent sustainability targets across Windows 11 devices. Wit…

Gamers looking to level up now have more options, thanks to Windows 11 PCs introduced at CES 2023 by Dell and Alienware. And with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate [1] built in through the Xbox app, players can access hundreds of PC games. Game Pass on Windows 11 takes advantage of features like DirectX 12 Ultimate, DirectStorage, Auto HDR and Controller bar [2] to make playing easier and faster. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2023/01/G15-03-1024x767.jpg Dell’s new G15 gaming laptop is a top-notch entry-level PC for gaming enthusiasts, with colors appealing to ‘80s pop aesthetics. It comes with exclusive gaming function macro keys and toggle audio keys to…

Acer today announced major updates to its Windows 11 laptop line-up, with new designs and support for industry-leading technology: 13th Gen Intel Core processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs. The new Predator Triton 17 X and Predator Helios Neo 16 are made for gamers and creators alike, with powerful new components and premium display options. The thin and powerful Predator Triton 14 is designed for work or play, while its sleek, understated design makes it ideal for any environment. And the Predator Helios 3D 15 SpatialLabs Edition brings glasses-free, stereoscopic 3D to the world of gaming, infusing new life into more than 70 modern and classic titles, with mor…

After carving out a name for itself on PC and recently reaching the 10 million player milestone, Naraka: Bladepoint is heading to Xbox Series X|S and will be available with Xbox Game Pass on June 23. "In Naraka: Bladepoint, players are thrust into high-octane action in this unique 60-player battle royale with 'Unchained Multiplayer Combat,' an exhilarating combination of melee action and unparalleled parkour movement," writes Raylan Kwan, Marketing Manager, in a post on Xbox Wire. "There’s never been a better time to battle it out with players across the world on other platforms." Head over to Xbox Wire for details and to watch the trailer. Continue reading...

At CES 2023 ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) showcased an array of Windows 11 PCs for gamers and creators through its “Seeing An Incredible Future" virtual launch event, including its newest lineup of thin-and-light Zephyrus gaming laptops, which come with cooling improvements, better display options and chip upgrades from Intel, AMD and NVIDIA. All models include three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate providing access to hundreds of high-quality PC games.* And with Windows 11, there are many ways to enhance professional and personal pursuits, such as Focus sessions, snap layouts and Clipchamp. [caption id=attachment_178036" align="alignnone" width="1024]https://blogs.windo…

Constructing tomorrow’s physical infrastructures? Designing the next generation of innovative products? Running complex simulations and data processing? Or tackling any number of tasks across a variety of industries? Then Lenovo’s latest ThinkStation and ThinkPad workstations – powered by Windows 11 – may be just what you need. The company’s portfolio of workstations spans a wide range of customizable forms and functions for workflows in fields as diverse as architecture, engineering and construction, product design and development, healthcare, media and entertainment, energy, finance, data science and AI. Because these industries often generate complex and confidential d…

Today, we’re announcing the next generation of AI product updates across our business applications portfolio, including the launch of the new Microsoft Dynamics 365 Copilot – providing interactive, AI-powered assistance across business functions. According to our recent survey on business trends, nearly 9 out of 10 workers hope to use AI to reduce repetitive tasks in their jobs. With Dynamics 365 Copilot, organizations empower their workers with AI tools built for sales, service, marketing, operations and supply chain roles. These AI capabilities allow everyone to spend more time on the best parts of their jobs and less time on mundane tasks. Customer relationship m…

Minecraft players have helped raise more than $227,000 for the Nature Conservancy and mangrove restoration since The Wild Update was released, with one of the new biomes being the mangrove swamp. "These areas are filled with towering mangrove trees, large mangrove roots and sweet little saplings called propagules," writes Sofia Dankis on Minecraft.net. "Like a lot of things in Minecraft, they also exist in the real world. And like a lot of those things, one of the reasons that we added them to the Overworld is to show everyone how cool they are!" Visit Minecraft.net to watch the video and find out about efforts to preserve the mangrove environment and how Minecraft player…

Today, we are announcing the third phase of our long-term partnership with OpenAI through a multiyear, multibillion dollar investment to accelerate AI breakthroughs to ensure these benefits are broadly shared with the world. This agreement follows our previous investments in 2019 and 2021. It extends our ongoing collaboration across AI supercomputing and research and enables each of us to independently commercialize the resulting advanced AI technologies. Supercomputing at scale – Microsoft will increase our investments in the development and deployment of specialized supercomputing systems to accelerate OpenAI’s groundbreaking independent AI research. We will also…

It’s been such an exciting year for Edge and Bing. We’ve worked diligently to bring you rich, AI-powered innovation to help you find, create and achieve beyond what you ever thought possible. Yesterday, we announced another iteration of AI-powered features across Bing and Edge, and today, I’m eager to tell you more. Like advancements in shopping, to help you find what you need at the best price, and new ways help you get more done with browser actions, Tab Auto-grouping, Inline Compose and PDF view in Bing Chat on the Microsoft Edge mobile app. And because we need smarter ways to get more done at work, we’re excited to tell you more about Bing Chat Enterprise on the Micro…

There are more than 100 PC games available through PC Game Pass, but where to start? To help players find the right game for them, Xbox tapped streamer Bruce Greene to pick some of his favorites from the PC Game Pass library. “I’ve been playing PC games for 25 years and I’m super impressed by what’s on PC Game Pass,” he says. “I picked like 40 or 50 cause like there were so many good games on there and I had to pare them down which is hilarious. Being a curator, it’s perfect for me.” Head over to Xbox Wire to see what he picked and why. Continue reading...

As we head into the height of the holiday season, you might be in search of a new Windows 11 PC as a gift for your loved ones – or even for yourself. Luckily, there’s plenty of choices out there for you, but we’ve curated a few to give you a jump start on your shopping, with devices aimed at delivering the best ways to work and play wherever you are. And once you have it, you’ll find plenty you can do with it thanks to the most recent update on the operating system, such as snap layouts, Focus sessions and Clipchamp. (We made a cheat sheet of tips for you if you need help making the most out of Windows 11.) https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2022/1…

It's only Dec. 20 but the Minecraft New Year's Celebration is already underway. Claim Lucky’s Minigame Mayhem by Logdotzip by downloading it from the Minecraft Marketplace. And while you're there explore the Marketplace for deals of up to 75% off. Find out about Lucky’s Minigame Mayhem, where you can morph into mobs like the Warden and master the art of furniture design in a minigame that showcases the diversity of Minecraft. Continue reading...

Today, Microsoft officially completed the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, publishers of some of the most played and most beloved franchises in gaming history across console, PC and mobile. From Pitfall to Call of Duty, World of Warcraft to Overwatch, Candy Crush Saga to Farm Heroes Super Saga, their studios have pushed the boundaries of gaming for players around the world. For the millions of fans who love Activision, Blizzard and King games, we want you to know that today is a good day to play. Together, we’ll learn, innovate and continue to deliver on our promise to bring the joy and community of gaming to more people. Visit Xbox Wire to learn more. The pos…

Last week, we announced our new creator tools in Microsoft 365, Microsoft Bing and Edge, designed to help ignite people’s imaginations and express themselves. Today, Image Creator from Microsoft Bing begins rolling out in a limited preview to select markets and will be coming soon to Microsoft Edge. To learn more about how Image Creator works, check out this post from the Bing team. As I mentioned in last week’s announcement, we are in the early stages of bringing DALL.E 2 by OpenAI to these experiences. We are in limited preview with the Microsoft Designer app and today we are beginning to roll out Image Creator in Bing to a small set of geographies. We are intentiona…

The odds are against today’s defenders Today the odds remain stacked against cybersecurity professionals. Too often, they fight an asymmetric battle against prolific, relentless and sophisticated attackers. To protect their organizations, defenders must respond to threats that are often hidden among noise. Compounding this challenge is a global shortage of skilled security professionals, leading to an estimated 3.4 million openings in the field. The volume and velocity of attacks requires us to continually create new technologies that can tip the scales in favor of defenders. Security professionals are scarce, and we must empower them to disrupt attackers’ traditional…

Just last week, we announced exciting innovation coming not just on Windows, but across Surface, Microsoft 365, Bing and the new Microsoft Copilot. Starting today, there is available for our customers in the September Windows update. Ready to upgrade or buy a new PC but not sure how to make the shift quickly and easily? Windows Backup is there to support you every step of the way. In a hurry to make a healthy meal plan for the week and finding the time to do so is challenging? Copilot in Windows can make building the plan and creating the shopping list a breeze. Want to unleash your inner creative and brand that side hustle you’ve been thinking about? Powerful creator …

At CES 2023, Acer debuted the first models of its new Swift Go line, highlighting an ultraportable design with Windows 11 and 13th Gen Intel Core processors built in. The Swift Go 16 and Swift Go 14 have an OLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate. The thin-and-light laptops deliver vibrant, true-to-life images with 500-nit peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color range and VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500-certification. Long hours of work, learning and play are made easier thanks to the laptop displays’ TÜV Rheinland Eyesafe display certification, productivity-optimized 16:10 ratio and touch-optional capabilities. The laptops’ backlit keyboards and OceanGlass touchpads further en…

In 2021, Windows teamed up with Disney+ to bring the fan-favorite app to Windows 11 and Microsoft Store. This popular streaming service includes Disney classics, recent animated and live action movies from its studios, as well as series and films from the Marvel and Star Wars universes. Disney+ was the first app to use a new feature in the Microsoft Store that produced a "Stream on Disney+" button upon searching for content in the store. To celebrate the release of Marvel Studios’ “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law”, an Original series streaming exclusively on Disney+, Microsoft debuted a video showing She-Hulk using Windows 11 in her daily life – both personal and professional…

Gamers who want to play on-the-go will find a new option with the debut of ROG Ally, ROG’s first gaming handheld powered by the recently introduced AMD Ryzen Z1 Series processors and Windows 11. The Ryzen Z1 family of high-performance processors includes the Ryzen Z1 and Ryzen Z1 Extreme. They feature up to eight cores and 16 threads, with the proven efficiency of Zen 4 architecture and smart power management technology to ensure more battery life. With built-in AMD RDNA 3 architecture graphics, gamers will have enough power to play modern games at high frame rates. AMD also has a suite of software features that can increase performance with higher frame rates and faster …

If you’re looking for Windows laptops, Acer has announced two refreshed PCs for work and play: the Swift Edge 16 and the Predator Triton 16. Powered by the latest AMD Ryzen 7040 Series processors, which keep this Windows 11 laptop running longer when unplugged, the Swift Edge 16 also makes the most of up to AMD Radeon 780M graphics for immersive visuals. [caption id=attachment_178329" align="alignnone" width="1024]https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2023/05/PREDATOR-TRITON-16-PT16-51-02-1024x731.jpg Predator Triton 16[/caption] The latest 13th Gen Intel Core processors power the Predator Triton 16, the latest addition to Acer’s gaming portfolio. A f…

For the past decade, we have been on a journey with our customers to help them achieve digital transformation, which is business transformation empowered by cloud technology. With increasing excitement around generative AI — both for its potential and the impact it is already having — organizational leaders are eager to prioritize adoption that takes advantage of this next wave of AI transformation. At Microsoft, we are working with our customers to pragmatically assess and develop responsible, secure AI strategies focused on maximizing their investment while yielding desired business outcomes. With our differentiated copilot capabilities, customers can take advantage of …

The new 2022 Razer Blade 14 laptops, including the new Mercury Edition color options, come with support for Microsoft Pluton. Microsoft Pluton’s chip-to-cloud security technology protects users with an array of hardware-based security capabilities and services. New and existing 2022 Blade 14 owners should contact Razer Support to download this update. https://blogs.windows.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/2/2022/11/Razer_Blade_14_007-1024x519.jpg Find out more about the new Blade 14 Mercury Edition and other models. Continue reading...