Tech

Microsoft, US Army ink $21.9 billion deal to strap HoloLens onto personnel

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Microsoft | Getty Images) On Wednesday, the US Army formally moved forward with the largest-ever government-related deal for headsets in the virtual and augmented reality (VR, AR) sector: a 10-year agreement with Microsoft to provide 120,000 headsets “based” on the HoloLens line. Reports by CNBC and Bloomberg point to a […]

Sport

Sunday’s Best Deals: Ninja Hot + Cold Brew Coffee Maker, Solar-Powered Flickering Torches, Ergo Standing Desk Converter, Heidi & Oak Drawer Organizers, and More

A Ninja Hot and Cold Brew coffee system and a six-pack of Heidi & Oak drawer organizers lead Sunday’s best deals. Read more…

Tech

You soon won’t need to pay for Xbox Live to play free-to-play games

Xbox Live gamers will soon have a new reason to rejoice. (credit: Xbox) Xbox owners soon won’t need to pay for an Xbox Live Gold subscription to enjoy otherwise free-to-play games on their consoles. Wednesday’s update to the Xbox Alpha Insiders Update Preview program (version 2104.210323-0000) notes that “Multiplayer in Free-to-play games, Looking 4 Groups […]

Tech

Report: Microsoft in talks for $10 billion acquisition of Discord

Enlarge Microsoft is reportedly in the late stages of $10 billion acquisition talks with Discord, a gaming-focused community chat platform, according to unnamed “people familiar with the matter” who spoke to Bloomberg. Epic Games and Amazon were also involved in acquisition talks previously, according to Bloomberg’s sources. VentureBeat also reported this week that Discord is […]

Tech

US lawmakers propose Australia-style bill for media, tech negotiations

Enlarge / Rep. Ken Buck (R-Co.) and Microsoft president Brad Smith at a House hearing on regulation and competition in the news media industry on March 12, 2021. (credit: Drew Angerer | Getty Images) A group of US lawmakers is proposing new legislation that would allow media organizations to set terms with social media platforms […]

Tech

Microsoft Edge is dead—long live Microsoft Edge

Enlarge / There can be only one. (credit: Jim Salter) Microsoft officially ended support for the legacy (non-Chromium-derived) Edge browser this week. The death of legacy Edge was first announced in August 2020, with the end-of-life date set to March 9, 2021—this Tuesday. The deprecated version of Edge, originally named Project Spartan, was developed and […]