Microsoft

Fortnite has been unavailable to play on the iPhone and iPad since Apple banned it from the App Store amid an ongoing legal battle with Epic Games, but the battle royale game has returned to iOS devices thanks to Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming service. This article explains how to get Fortnite up and running on the service – keep reading to learn how it works. Apple removed popular title...

With the release of iOS 14.5 and tvOS 14.5, Apple users can now connect their PS5 DualSense and Xbox Series X controllers to an iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Keep reading to learn how it works. Since iOS 13 and tvOS 13, users have been able to connect popular console controllers to an iPhone or Apple TV to play Apple Arcade games and other iOS games, instead of having to spend extra money on...

With iOS 13 and tvOS 13, Apple users are now able to connect their favorite console controllers to an iPhone or Apple TV. In this guide, we've provided a quick rundown of how to go about pairing the DualShock 4 Wireless Controller and Xbox Wireless Controller to both iOS and tvOS devices. Previously, MFi controllers were the only solution to playing games on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. With...

Microsoft today updated its Cortana app for iOS, improving the way the AI assistant works on iOS devices. Designed to compete with Siri, Cortana is a personal assistant that can do things like set reminders, schedule calendar appointments, answer queries, and offer up information you're interested in through machine learning techniques. Today's iOS app update introduces a revamped look that...

Microsoft and Qualcomm have revealed they hope to release ARM-powered laptops by the end of the year, with the two companies promising multi-day battery life from the new machines (via Trusted Reviews). At its annual 5G summit in Hong Kong, Qualcomm revealed new details about the PCs it is developing in partnership with Microsoft. Known as "Always Connected PCs", the laptops are powered by...

Microsoft today introduced the Surface Book 2, the second generation of its high-end notebook and tablet hybrid. The new Surface Book 2 is equipped with Intel's latest eighth-generation Core processors, up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics, up to 16GB of RAM, and up to 17 hours of battery life based on video playback. Microsoft says those tech specs make the Surface Book 2 up to five...

Microsoft has officially ended support for Office for Mac 2011 as scheduled, nearly seven years after the software suite was first released. 2011 versions of Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint will no longer receive feature or security updates as of October 10, 2017. Any form of paid or free technical support from Microsoft has also ended indefinitely. Microsoft Lync for Mac 2011 still...

Microsoft has publicly admitted for the first time that its Windows Phone is dead. In a series of tweets, Windows 10 chief Joe Belfiore said that the company is no longer developing new features or hardware for Windows 10 Mobile, with only bug fixes and security updates to come for existing users. Belfiore explained that his team had tried "very hard" to incentivize app developers by paying...

Parallels Desktop 13 for Mac received an update on Thursday to include full compatibility with the new Apple File System (APFS) and HEVC video standard included in macOS High Sierra. With APFS support, Parallels Desktop 13.1 can take advantage of Apple's cross-platform replacement for HFS+, bringing more security and better performance on devices with flash memory. New HEVC video support...

Microsoft today announced that its Edge web browser is coming to iOS, starting with a beta version for iPhone available today. Microsoft Edge will primarily appeal to iPhone users that use a Windows PC instead of a Mac thanks to a "Continue on PC" feature that enables users to push a website from the mobile to desktop version of the browser, like Apple's Handoff. Continue on PC...

At an event held in San Francisco this morning, Samsung and Microsoft announced the debut of the HMD Odyssey, a headset designed to work with the Windows Mixed Reality platform. Priced at $499, the headset offers high-resolution dual 3.5-inch AMOLED displays with a 110-degree field of view for what Samsung says is the "most immersive Windows Mixed Reality experience." With AMOLED technology,...

Since the Google Drive app for iOS was updated earlier this month, several iPhone and iPad users have been unable to open Microsoft Word documents and many other file types in Apple's Files app for iOS 11 or iCloud Drive app for iOS 10. Instead, when users with the Google Drive app installed attempt to open a DOCX file in the Files or iCloud Drive apps, for example, the Google Drive app...

Starting today, Apple search results from Siri and Spotlight on Mac and iOS will be provided by Google rather than Microsoft's Bing. Apple announced the news in a statement that was given to TechCrunch this morning, claiming consistency across iOS and Mac devices is the reason behind the switch. "Switching to Google as the web search provider for Siri, Search within iOS and Spotlight on Mac...

Apple says it is working closely with Microsoft to fix an issue that prevents Outlook.com, Office 365, and Exchange 2016 account holders from sending or replying to emails using Apple's native Mail app in iOS 11. Apple published a support document on Tuesday, September 19 – the official launch date of iOS 11 – to acknowledge the issue affecting users of Microsoft email servers. If you...

Amazon and Microsoft today jointly announced that Alexa and Cortana will soon be able to communicate with each other. Microsoft said the collaboration will allow access to Alexa via Cortana on Windows 10 PCs later this year, and via the Cortana app for iOS and Android at an unspecified point in the future. Similarly, users will be able to access Cortana on Alexa-enabled devices like the...

Parallels Desktop 13 for Mac got its official release on Tuesday. The thirteenth version of the Windows virtualization software comes with numerous new features including support for macOS High Sierra and the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. Top of the features list is Touch Bar support, enabling owners of compatible MacBook Pros to use the OLED strip with Microsoft Outlook, Excel, and...

After previously giving four Microsoft Surface devices a purchase "recommendation" status, Consumer Reports today has pulled that status from the Microsoft products. The publication said that because of "poor predicted reliability" in comparison with rival brands, it can no longer recommend any Surface laptops or tablets to consumers. The decision specifically targets four Microsoft Surface...

Microsoft appears to be working on a Touch Cover smart keyboard for at least one iPad model, according to battery information for products containing lithium-ion batteries shared on its website earlier this year. Microsoft's Surface RT with Touch Cover The documents were published in April, but they were only discovered now by German blog WinFuture, which tipped its information to The Verge....

In April of 2016, Microsoft opened up a beta test and then launched its Word Flow Windows Phone keyboard on the iOS App Store in the United States. Over a year later, some users have noticed that Microsoft has now closed down the app and removed it from Apple's App Store (via WindowsCentral). On Word Flow's Microsoft Garage page, the company notes that "the Word Flow experiment is now...

Microsoft and Johnson Controls today revealed a new product partnership in a smart thermostat called "GLAS." The thermostat has been built by Johnson Controls, the company that made the first electric thermostat, with Microsoft providing all of the internal software, including the ability for users to awake and control its functions with smart AI assistant Cortana (via The Verge). In the...

Microsoft today launched a new app called Seeing AI, which the company describes as a talking camera for people who are visually impaired. The app uses artificial intelligence and the camera of an iPhone or iPad to describe the world around it. It's able to recognize text, objects, and people. The app turns the visual world into an audible experience and using it is as simple as pointing the ...

Microsoft today announced some major changes to its Outlook app for the iPhone and the iPad, introducing a redesigned conversation experience, improved navigation, and smarter search features that are coming in the near future. The enhanced conversation design displays more of a conversation on a single screen, and there's clearer separation between each individual message. When opening a...

Today, Microsoft is ending support for Windows Phone 8.1, effectively marking the end of the "Windows Phone" era. Microsoft released Windows Phone in 2010 and, within three years, it became the world's third most popular mobile operating system. But the platform simply couldn't compete with the likes of Apple and Google and, as of earlier this year, iOS and Android accounted for a combined...