Computer Safety & News

Microsoft Add Windows 10 Universal Print Capabilities — Redmondmag.com

Universal Print capabilities in Windows 11 now available in Windows 10 – Microsoft Tech Community

Universal Print capabilities are available for Windows 10 version 21H2 or greater (build 19044.1806). They include the ability to show a PIN (personal identification number) dialog box sign-in when users attempt to run a print job. Some printer makers, such as “Epson and Sharp,” support PINs with Universal Print-ready printer models, Microsoft indicated.

Microsoft also added the ability to use its Microsoft Endpoint Manager solution to configure Universal Print settings, such as indicating which printers are available for specific end users. Microsoft had previously announced back in June that this Microsoft Endpoint Manager capability for Universal Print settings would be available for Windows 11 devices, starting in June 2022. It also had suggested back then that such support would arrive for Windows 10 machines as well.

Windows 10 devices can now use Print Support Applications, which are Universal Windows Platform applications typically built by Microsoft’s partners. Print Support Apps are distributed via the Microsoft Store and add support for various printer customizations.

Two new modules are being added to the VIVA family of 7 products

Microsoft Commercially Releases Viva Goals and Previews Viva Sales — Redmondmag.com

Microsoft on Monday announced the “general availability” commercial released of Viva Goals, plus a preview release of Viva Sales.  The two products are new “modules” (or Web applications) in the Microsoft Viva suite, which Microsoft bills as its “employee experience platform.” Viva modules get accessed within the Microsoft Teams collaboration service, and there are currently about seven of them, namely:

• Viva Connections, which provides a news feed and permits content sharing.
• Viva Insights, which is designed for employee time management.
• Viva Learning, giving employees access to learning libraries.
• Viva Topics, used to surface information within organizations.
• Viva Goals, the Viva Sales Preview and the LinkedIn Glint add-on for getting employee feedback.

Viva Goals — integrates with Azure DevOps. Additionally, it works with other work management and data tools, and you can expect to see even more integrations with other Viva modules, Power BI, GitHub, and more Microsoft 365 apps over time.

Viva Sales — promises to take away the drudgery of having to manually enter sales information using Microsoft 365 Office applications, and is designed to work with customer relationship management (CRM) systems.  The drudgery work is taken away, in part, by artificial intelligence that works to find sales information. Specifically, Microsoft’s Context IQ solution is used for that purpose. Context IQ is associated with Office 365, Teams and Dynamics 365 services.

Microsoft Defender Security Services has become available & provides a suite of defenses for the cloud based Microsoft 365 environment.

Microsoft Releases New Microsoft Defender Security Services, Plus Microsoft Sentinel Solution for SAP — Redmondmag.com

Microsoft announces new solutions for threat intelligence and attack surface management – Microsoft Security Blog

The new products are Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management and Microsoft Sentinel Solution for SAP. All are now at the “general availability” commercial-release stage and available for production use by organizations.

Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence and Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management both stem from Microsoft’s acquisition of RiskIQ, announced last year. RiskIQ was noted back then for gauging threats based on its massive Web scanning capabilities, and was said to offer complementary solutions to Microsoft’s own capabilities.

Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence is an enterprise-grade service for organizations with security operations centers. It brings together “security signals” from the RiskIQ team at Microsoft, as well as from the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center and Microsoft 365 Defender security research teams.  Those teams have different specialties, but they altogether collect “more than 43 trillion signals” each day. They track “more than 35 ransomware families,” plus “more than 250 nation state, cybercriminal and other threat actors,” Microsoft indicated.

Corporate ADMINS should pilot test & roll out recent critical security updates for VMware.  As a leading virtual solution, it is important to update promptly as the Log4shell exploit is an example of active attacks on unpatched systems.

VMware Releases Security Updates | CISA

VMSA-2022-0021 (vmware.com)

Advisory ID: VMSA-2022-0021 — 2022-08-02

CVE(s): CVE-2022-31656, CVE-2022-31657, CVE-2022-31658, CVE-2022-31659, CVE-2022-31660, CVE-2022-31661, CVE-2022-31662, CVE-2022-31663, CVE-2022-31664, CVE-2022-31665

Synopsis: VMware Workspace ONE Access, Access Connector, Identity Manager, Identity Manager Connector and vRealize Automation updates address multiple vulnerabilities.

PC Magazine shares AMD’s latest developments, related to highly advanced CPU technology in this super-computer class processor with 64 cores.

Hear 64 Cores Roar! First Tests: AMD’s Monster Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX | PCMag

AMD’s elite Ryzen Threadripper processors and their huge dies, derived from the company’s Epyc server chips, have distinguished themselves as the ultimate multi-core monsters. They are ideally suited for pro-grade content-creation and rendering—not the kind your occasional YouTuber needs, but for the likes of Pixar and well-funded movie studios. They’re also great for crunching titanic data sets and spinning up modeling applications at full tilt.

Threadripper first hit the market years back as a marginally consumer component, with standalone motherboards and chips available for DIY-ers. The more recent Threadripper Pro, meanwhile, is the version for desktop workstations, equipped with AMD’s Ryzen Pro remote-management and security features. It aims straight for Intel’s Xeon W-class and even dual Xeon workstations.

Microsoft has moved from a semi-annual release to annual release of it’s “feature versions” for WIN10 & WIN11.  For example, there was no Windows 10 22H1 version release during 1st half of 2022.  The annual release allows greater stability in future as usually one of the two semi-annual releases were light on new features anyway.  November 2022 is preliminary target for 22H2 at this point. 

Windows 10 Version 22H2 Preview Released for Testing by Orgs — Redmondmag.com

Releasing Windows 10, version 22H2 to the Release Preview Channel | Windows Insider Blog

Windows 10 version history – Wikipedia

Microsoft on Thursday announced the release of its “first preview build” of Windows 10 version 22H2, namely build 19045.1865.  Organizations participating in the Windows Insider Program for Business should test this emerging new operating system now prior to its commercial release, the announcement suggested. One perk for organizations is that they can request free support from Microsoft on the issues they may discover.  Microsoft had also offered free support for commercial organizations last month when it had announced a preview of Windows 11 version 22H2.

This MIT study highlights future developments in advanced computer hardware.  These designs will be faster and use less energy based on recent discoveries.

New hardware offers faster computation for artificial intelligence, with much less energy | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

New hardware offers faster computation for artificial intelligence, with much less energy.  Engineers working on “analog deep learning” have found a way to propel protons through solids at unprecedented speeds.

Programmable resistors are the key building blocks in analog deep learning, just like transistors are the core elements for digital processors. By repeating arrays of programmable resistors in complex layers, researchers can create a network of analog artificial “neurons” and “synapses” that execute computations just like a digital neural network. This network can then be trained to achieve complex AI tasks like image recognition and natural language processing.

A multidisciplinary team of MIT researchers set out to push the speed limits of a type of human-made analog synapse that they had previously developed. They utilized a practical inorganic material in the fabrication process that enables their devices to run 1 million times faster than previous versions, which is also about 1 million times faster than the synapses in the human brain.

The Harvard Business Review is an excellent resource for leadership training & business articles

3 Ways to Innovate in a Downturn (hbr.org)

Recessions offer major opportunities for innovators. They can be a good time to introduce game-changing offerings or simple, affordable solutions or make bold, strategic moves. The resource scarcity that typically accompanies recessions forces innovators to…more
The sense that a recession is coming is growing. If it does, will it cause innovation to slow? Not necessarily. History shows that recessions create three specific opportunities for innovators.

1. Game-Changing Offerings — Startups with radical products or services that “reverb” off of the big event driving the recession can take off.

2. Simple, Affordable Solutions — Downturns can be great times to introduce offerings that connect with consumers who have tighter purse strings or are naturally frugal given continued uncertainty.

3. Bold Strategic Moves-– Downturns can be great times for established companies to make dramatic changes.

An in-depth preview of new iOS features planned for version 16

Everything New in iOS 16 Beta 4 For Lock Screen, iMessage, CarPlay, and More – MacRumors

iOS 16 is currently in beta for developers and members of Apple’s free public beta testing program, and the software update will be released for all users with an iPhone 8 or newer in September. A second public beta of iOS 16 that corresponds with today’s fourth developer beta is also now available.  We’ve outlined notable new features and changes in iOS 16 beta 4 below.

1. iMessage Edit/Undo Send Changes
2. Live Activities API
3. New Wallpapers in Home App
4. New Time Limits for Undo Send in Mail
5. Lock Screen Notification Settings
6. New Lock Screen Customization Interface
7. Bolder Music Player on Lock Screen
8. New Wallpapers for CarPlay

Gmail’s New Unified Design Rolls Out for All Users | PCMag

Google decided to start rolling out the new integrated Gmail design to everyone this week(Opens in a new window), assuming they have Chat turned on. With Chat turned off, the new look will still appear, but just for the Gmail experience rather than unified with the other apps (Chat, Meet, Spaces).  Not everyone will see the new design appear today, but it should arrive soon enough. If you really don’t like it, open Settings and under Quick Settings there should be an option to “Go back to the original Gmail view.” It’s unclear how long Google will continue to offer the old design, so enjoy it while you still can.