Microsoft Support & Discussions

The August Smart Lock, which started shipments in late August, will now go on sale in Apple's retail stores beginning this week for the price of $249.99. The lock, which opens via a smartphone app and Bluetooth hardware, has gotten a lot of attention for its technology. However, it's also gotten some bad press based on the fact that not all of the company's pre-orders have shipped to their customers yet. In a blog post, August explained why they are going ahead with a retail launch even though they are still catching up on pre-orders: Thousands of our early supporters indicated that, because the August Smart Lock needs to fit the look and feel of their homes, t…

Microsoft is expanding the number of apps made by its Skype team today with the Skype Qik video messaging app, designed specifically for mobile devices running on iOS, Android and Windows Phone. The app is scheduled to launch today for all three platforms. So what is Skype Qik? Basically, it's a way to send quick video messages to friends that may or may not be online at the time, instead of the real time video chats that are supported by the regular Skype app. Microsoft says: "It's easy to swap video messages with groups of friends and show everyone what's happening down at the pub, catch up on the latest gossip, or make everyone jealous with your thrift shopp…

One Handed Keyboard is a unique app developed for owners of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The two smartphones are larger in every way compared to previous iPhone generations, but these latest devices can prove difficult to use with only one hand available. This app helps solve that problem by making it easier to single-handedly type away. The custom keyboard can be configured for both left and right-handed use, with the ability to quickly switch back to normal (full width) size by holding down the spacebar. While it's possible to change the color of the keyboard itself, the app automatically switches between available themes depending on which app is currently in u…

Apparently learning Klingon is passe among those folks who want to speak fictional languages. Now that Game of Thrones is such a massive hit on HBO, many folks want to speak that show's Dothraki language and they can now take lessons with the official Dothraki Companion app for the iPhone and iPad. The $3.99 Dothraki Companion is written by David J. Peterson, who helped to create the language for the show. Here's a taste of what to expect: The app includes interactive games, over 300 vocabulary flashcards, a comprehensive grammar summary, culture notes, and a conversational dialogue. The Living Language Dothraki Companion app can be used with the Living Languag…

Earlier today, a thread surfaced on Reddit offering up 400 Dropbox usernames and passwords in plain text, with a note that over seven million accounts have been compromised in total. Dropbox has since announced on its blog that it wasn't hacked, and that the leaked passwords were stolen from a third party service. Dropbox has not been hacked. These usernames and passwords were unfortunately stolen from other services and used in attempts to log in to Dropbox accounts. We'd previously detected these attacks and the vast majority of the passwords posted have been expired for some time now. All other remaining passwords have been expired as well. The leak that was…

Email app Mailbox has been updated to version 2.3.1, with support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. You can now also edit what what actions your swipe gestures take. In Mailbox's settings, you'll now find a new section called Swipes. In addition to the four traditional actions, Archive, Trash, Snooze, and List, you can now choose to have a long or short swipe mark an item as read or unread, mark as spam, star or unstar, or print that email. Additionally, you can choose specific Snooze and List actions, so a swipe to Snooze always snoozes an email for the evening, for instance, or a swipe that always places messages in a specific list. This update also fixes some…

This week will see Apple publicly launching OS X Yosemite, unveiling new iPads, and probably even a new Mac, but Will.i.am is shooting to steal some of that thunder by unveiling his own smartwatch. On the same day. I mean, sure, the Apple Watch is going to steal all of its thunder, but what's to stop a member of The Black Eyed Peas from charting his own wearables course? According to the Telegraph, Will.i.am's smartwatch (which we're strongly-tempted to call the Will.i.watch) will be able to connect to a phone over Bluetooth, but will also work on its own: [Will.i.am] said it will feature apps such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, leading to expectations it …

In addition to likes and typing out your comments onto friends' posts, Facebook is now allowing you to express all your emotional glory through stickers. Previously available as a feature inside Facebook Messenger, now users can add stickers within comments to regular Facebook posts. Just tap the smiley face icon in the bottom-right of any comment field to pick a sticker to send. It'll be available to all posts from people, in groups, and on events now. I think stickers will allow people to reply to a variety of posts in a more fun way than words alone. You can now easily show your excitement for a post with good news, cheer up a friend who's feeling down, and expre…

The Camera app in your iPhone or iPad has a timer feature similar to that in standard point and shoot or DSLR cameras. This means that if you've got a tripod or can prop your iPhone against something, you can easily frame a photo and then jump in it yourself, no photographer needed! Simply set the timer and let the Camera app do the rest! How to set a timer with the iOS Camera app Launch the Camera app on your iPhone or iPad. Tap on the timer icon in the top navigation — if you're in landscape mode, the timer icon is on the side. Choose either 3 seconds or 10 seconds. Tap the camera shutter when you're ready for the countdown to start. That's all there …

French telecom Iliad has decided to end its efforts to acquire T-Mobile, announcing today that parent company Deutsche Telekom and members of T-Mobile's board "have refused to entertain its new Offer." Illad had first announced plans to offer $15 billion in cash for 56.6 percent of T-Mobile in July, which was quickly refused by the company. Illad announced earlier in October a plan to increase its offer, which would have seen it take a 67 percent stake in T-Mobile at $36 a share. Today, Illad said: "Iliad had the ambition to accelerate T-Mobile US' transformation, notably by saving more than USD 2 billion of cost annually. This transaction would have created…

Today, as part of Update Tuesday, we released eight securityupdates – three rated Critical and five rated Important - to address 24 Common Vulnerabilities & Exposures (CVEs) in Windows, Office, .NET Framework, .ASP.NET, and Internet Explorer (IE). We encourage you to apply all of these updates, but for those who need to prioritize deployment planning, we recommend focusing on the Critical updates first.

Today Microsoft shipped MS14-057 to the .NET Framework in order to resolve an Elevation of Privilege vulnerability in the ClickOnce deployment service. While this update fixes this service, developers using Managed Distributed Component Object Model (a .NET wrapped around DCOM) need to take immediate action to ensure their applications are secure.

Today we released eight security bulletins addressing 24 unique CVE’s. Three bulletins have a maximum severity rating of Critical, and five have a maximum severity rating of Important. This table is designed to help you prioritize the deployment of updates appropriately for your environment. Bulletin Most likely attack vector Max Bulletin Severity Max exploitability Platform mitigations and key notes MS14-058(Kernel mode drivers [win32k.

Even more people around the world will soon be able to buy the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in October as Apple has announced an expanded list of 36 countries and territories that will sell their newest smartphones by the end of this month. Apple had already announced that China and India will begin to sell the new iPhone 6 models on Friday, October 17. Today, the company revealed that Monaco will begin to sell the smartphones on that same day. Here's a list of the other countries that will have the iPhone 6 models on sale for the rest of October: Thursday, October 23: Israel Friday, October 24: Czech Republic, French West Indies, Greenland, Malta, Poland, Reunion…

Earlier this month, Tencent revealed that pre-orders in China for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were in excess of 4 million, and today the publication has posted revised numbers which see total pre-orders at 20 million, five times more than what was initially quoted. According to Tencent: [Translated] As of today morning, Jingdong Mall iPhone reservation quantity 6 over 4.66 million, iPhone 6 Plus is more than 4.82 million, total bookings iPhone new machine a total of about 9.49 million. Insiders optimistic expectations, with three operators and other online shopping platform, the new machine total booking amount continent iPhone has reached more than 20 million. …

Those who rely on Dropbox to store their personal files may have lost some of their data. The service has experienced some issues regarding a bug in older versions of its available desktop apps. This bug deleted files uploaded by affected users who activated the Selective Sync feature, leading some to find they'd lost a large amount of files. Should users shut down (or restart) the affected clients while Selective Sync was active, they would find the feature not being able to locate a portion of the files uploaded to the cloud. The good news is Dropbox has been busy working to restore files where possible and releasing updated versions of the desktop apps. Dropbox ha…

Apple is said to have already begun training its retail store employees on using the Apple Pay system. Though a firm launch date has not been announced yet, a new report says that Apple has begun training its own staff and the company is also working with retail partners ahead of a launch. A 9to5 Mac report, which does not cite any sources, said Apple's training has begun and there are leaked training materials detailing the process of how Apple Pay will work. Apple has begun preparing for the launch by kicking off Apple Pay training programs for its own group of retail store employees and by working with retailers to prepare for the debut later this month... A…

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Family Sharing allows you and the other members of your household to share iTunes, App Store, and iBooks purchases across all your devices, without having to purchase them multiple times. While most app developers support Family Sharing, Apple gives them the option to opt out if they choose. Luckily, there's an easy way to find out if specific apps are eligible for Family Sharing. Here's how! How to tell if iOS apps are eligible for Family Sharing How to tell if Mac apps are eligible for Family Sharing How to tell if iOS apps are eligible for Family Sharing Launch the App Store app on your iPhone or iPad running iOS 8 or higher. Search for the app you'd like …

It's another week, and we've gathered together the very best apps and games that have been released over the last seven days for iPhone and iPad. If there's a running theme for the games this week, it's racing. We've got a fresh endless runner, a casual game, and some more classic racing racing games to take in. On the app side, there's a healthy selection for the creatives out there, with art, video, and photography apps, but also something for the left-brained iPhone owners. Enough yap, let's start downloading some sweet apps for iPhone and iPad. Daddy Long Legs This is a free game similar to the awkward long-distance runner QWOP. Players have to delicately m…

The controversial way that Apple offered a free new album from U2 in September didn't stop a ton of people from downloading it. In an interview this week, Eddy Cue, Apple's senior VP of internet software and services, said that the Songs of Innocence album has been downloaded 26 million times in full on iTunes since its release on September 9. In addition, Cue told Billboard that 81 million people have heard songs from the U2 album since its release on Apple's services, including iTunes, iTunes Radio and Beats Music. He added, "Prior to this, 14 million customers had purchased music from U2 since the opening of the iTunes Store in 2003." The free ride for Songs of…

iOS 8 brings with it a brand new way to type on your iPhone and iPad. QuickType is a new type of predictive keyboard that gets smarter as you use it. Not only that, since QuickType is contextually aware of your conversation, it can even present you with an answer to a question someone asked so you spend even less time typing out responses. And depending on who you're corresponding with, QuickType can even pick up on your conversation style. All you've got to do to train QuickType is start using it! How to start using QuickType on your iPhone or iPad Launch any app and pull up the keyboard — we'll use the Messages app as an example. Simply start typing as you alway…