Month: January 2024
Microsoft’s Gaming Revenue Is Up 49 Percent In Q2, Mostly Thanks To the Activision Deal
For the first time, Microsoft’s Q2 earnings report includes the impact of the company’s $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. “While Microsoft isn’t breaking out specific numbers, it says that its overall gaming revenue increased by 49 percent, 44 points of which came from the ‘net impact’ of the Activision deal,” reports Engadget. From the report: Microsoft’s More Personal Computing division, which includes Xbox, Surface and Windows, was up 19 percent ($16.9 billion) since last year. The company says the Activision deal accounted for 15 points of that increase. It’s a huge change for a division that’s been severely impacted by dwindling PC sales (which affects Windows licenses and Surfaces) and struggling Xbox consoles. PC device revenues were down 9 percent for the quarter, while Xbox hardware sales were up 3 percent. Xbox content and services revenue is also up 61 percent since last year, 55 points of which comes from Activision. Overall, Microsoft reported revenues of $62 billion, up from $52.7 billion a year earlier. Microsoft’s cloud division posted revenue growth of 28%, with its intelligent-cloud revenue up 20% to $25.9 billion. Meanwhile, its productivity and business-processes segment generated $19.2 billion.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
For the first time, Microsoft’s Q2 earnings report includes the impact of the company’s $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. “While Microsoft isn’t breaking out specific numbers, it says that its overall gaming revenue increased by 49 percent, 44 points of which came from the ‘net impact’ of the Activision deal,” reports Engadget. From the report: Microsoft’s More Personal Computing division, which includes Xbox, Surface and Windows, was up 19 percent ($16.9 billion) since last year. The company says the Activision deal accounted for 15 points of that increase. It’s a huge change for a division that’s been severely impacted by dwindling PC sales (which affects Windows licenses and Surfaces) and struggling Xbox consoles. PC device revenues were down 9 percent for the quarter, while Xbox hardware sales were up 3 percent. Xbox content and services revenue is also up 61 percent since last year, 55 points of which comes from Activision. Overall, Microsoft reported revenues of $62 billion, up from $52.7 billion a year earlier. Microsoft’s cloud division posted revenue growth of 28%, with its intelligent-cloud revenue up 20% to $25.9 billion. Meanwhile, its productivity and business-processes segment generated $19.2 billion.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Quordle today – hints and answers for Wednesday, January 31 (game #737)
Looking for Quordle clues? We can help. Plus get the answers to Quordle today and past solutions.
It’s time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off.
Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I’m still playing now, around two years after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it’s fun, but also difficult.
What’s more, its makers (now the online dictionary Merriam-Webster) are also keeping it fresh in the form of a variant called the Daily Sequence, which sees you complete four puzzles consecutively, rather than concurrently.
But Quordle is tough, so if you already find yourself searching for today’s Wordle answer, you’ll probably need some hints for this game too.
I’m a Quordle and Wordle fanatic who’s been playing since December 2021, so I can definitely help you solve Quordle today and improve your game for tomorrow. Read on for my Quordle hints to game #737 and the answers to the main game and Daily Sequence.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
Quordle today (game #737) – hint #1 – Vowels
How many different vowels are in Quordle today?
• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Quordle today (game #737) – hint #2 – total vowels
What is the total number of vowels in Quordle today?
• The total number of vowels across today’s Quordle answers is 8.
Quordle today (game #737) – hint #3 – repeated letters
Do any of today’s Quordle answers contain repeated letters?
• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.
Quordle today (game #737) – hint #4 – total letters
How many different letters are used in Quordle today?
• The total number of different letters used in Quordle today is 14.
Quordle today (game #737) – hint #5 – uncommon letters
Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?
• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today’s Quordle answers.
Quordle today (game #737) – hint #6 – starting letters (1)
Do any of today’s Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?
• The number of today’s Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.
If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you’re not ready yet then here’s one more clue to make things a lot easier:
Quordle today (game #737) – hint #7 – starting letters (2)
What letters do today’s Quordle answers start with?
• F
• S
• T
• C
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
Quordle today (game #737) – the answers
(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)
The answers to today’s Quordle, game #737, are…
FLOORSMOKETERRACHIDE
How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.
Daily Sequence today (game #737) – the answers
(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)
The answers to today’s Quordle Daily Sequence, game #737, are…
RATTYCURIOBRISKSTORY
Quordle answers: The past 20
Quordle #736, Tuesday 30 January: BANAL, FORTH, BOOZE, UNSETQuordle #735, Monday 29 January: EASEL, STAIN, DODGE, THONGQuordle #734, Sunday 28 January: SHOWY, LAGER, CHANT, FAUNAQuordle #733, Saturday 27 January: WORSE, FAUNA, SPOUT, FREAKQuordle #732, Friday 26 January: ONION, SHONE, KNOLL, PARRYQuordle #731, Thursday 25 January: SIGMA, SHALT, SPREE, EAGLEQuordle #730, Wednesday 24 January: YOUTH, PENCE, CRAZE, LUNARQuordle #729, Tuesday 23 January: BEZEL, MEALY, SLUNG, FREERQuordle #728, Monday 22 January: APPLE, TRAIN, ABBEY, SPELLQuordle #727, Sunday 21 January: PERCH, FIEND, THREW, MEDALQuordle #726, Saturday 20 January: SCOOP, RELAX, LAYER, TEETHQuordle #725, Friday 19 January: SMELT, VENOM, SMALL, CHEEKQuordle #724, Thursday 18 January: BAWDY, SCOUT, COCOA, SPECKQuordle #723, Wednesday 17 January: TONAL, RAVEN, CURVE, DECALQuordle #722, Tuesday 16 January: STUNG, THETA, PAPAL, VAUNTQuordle #721, Monday 15 January: QUAIL, NAVEL, FREER, SPLATQuordle #720, Sunday 14 January: WINCE, WOMEN, SMOKY, BADLYQuordle #719, Saturday 13 January: SHRUB, ASCOT, COMMA, SHAWLQuordle #718, Friday 12 January: VOWEL, EXILE, FUDGE, SMARTQuordle #717, Thursday 11 January: COUNT, HALVE, RARER, DALLY
Quordle FAQs: Everything you need to know
What is Quordle?
Where Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day, Quordle presents you with four puzzles to solve. And rather than complete them in turn, you do so simultaneously. You get nine guesses, rather than the six for Wordle, but the rules are otherwise very similar.
It’s played online via the Quordle website and you can also get to it via the Merriam-Webster site, after the dictionary purchased Quordle last year.
As with Wordle, the answers are the same for every player each day, meaning that you’re competing against the rest of the world. And also as with Wordle, the puzzle resets at midnight so you have a fresh challenge each day.
The website also includes a practice mode – which I definitely recommend using before attempting the game proper! – and there are daily stats including a streak count. You also get Quordle Achievements – specific badges for winning a game in a certain number of turns, playing lots of times, or guessing particularly hard words.
Oh, and it’s difficult. Really difficult.
What are the Quordle rules?
The rules of Quordle are almost identical to those of Wordle.
1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.
2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow.
3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray…
4. …BUT the word you guess appears in all quadrants of the puzzle at the same time, so an A could turn green in one square, yellow in another and gray in the final two.
5. Answers are never plural.
6. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.
7. Each guess must be a valid word in Quordle’s dictionary. You can’t guess ABCDE, for instance.
8. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses and there is no equivalent of Wordle’s Hard mode.
9. You have nine guesses to find the Quordle answers.
10. You must complete the daily Quordle before midnight in your timezone.
What is a good Quordle strategy?
Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can’t blindly throw letters at it and expect to win – you’ll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.
That’s the case in Wordle too, of course, but it’s even more important in Quordle.
There are two key things to remember.
1. Use several starting words
Firstly, you won’t want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words.
The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.
For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options – you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe – but something like that should do the trick.
If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!
2. Narrow things down
Secondly, if you’re faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options – for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH – you’ll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options.
In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It’s risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it’s the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure – you simply don’t have enough guesses.
In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.
German Police Secure $2 Billion In Bitcoin From Pirate Site Operators
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: With help from the FBI, German police managed to secure nearly 50,000 bitcoin (USD $2 billion) from the operators of the defunct movie streaming portal, Movie2k. […] Movie2K was another pirate site that showed an early interest in bitcoin. In its heyday, the site was the dominant pirate streaming portal in German-speaking countries. It generated a healthy revenue stream, part of it held in bitcoin. The operator of the site never got to spend most of it though. The site surprisingly shut down in the spring of 2013. Many suspected that legal troubles had plagued the site, something confirmed years later when Dresden police announced several arrests.
It was rare to see new activity in an already-dated dossier, but the biggest surprise followed later when the police announced that $29.7m in bitcoin had been secured from the site’s operators. This ‘seizure’ was one of the largest of its kind but the authorities estimated that the operators had more bitcoin stashed away, much more. Today, new information released by Dresden police shows that the assumption was correct.
Following an investigation carried out by the Dresden General Prosecutor’s Office, the Saxony State Criminal Police, and the local tax authority (INES), nearly 50,000 bitcoin were ‘provisionally’ secured earlier this month. The haul is worth more than $2 billion at today’s exchange rate. Never before has this much bitcoin been secured by German authorities; it’s also one of the largest crypto hauls worldwide. “The Bitcoins were seized after the accused voluntarily transferred them to official wallets provided by the [Federal Criminal Police Office]. This means that a final decision has not yet been made about the utilization of the Bitcoins,” police write.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: With help from the FBI, German police managed to secure nearly 50,000 bitcoin (USD $2 billion) from the operators of the defunct movie streaming portal, Movie2k. […] Movie2K was another pirate site that showed an early interest in bitcoin. In its heyday, the site was the dominant pirate streaming portal in German-speaking countries. It generated a healthy revenue stream, part of it held in bitcoin. The operator of the site never got to spend most of it though. The site surprisingly shut down in the spring of 2013. Many suspected that legal troubles had plagued the site, something confirmed years later when Dresden police announced several arrests.
It was rare to see new activity in an already-dated dossier, but the biggest surprise followed later when the police announced that $29.7m in bitcoin had been secured from the site’s operators. This ‘seizure’ was one of the largest of its kind but the authorities estimated that the operators had more bitcoin stashed away, much more. Today, new information released by Dresden police shows that the assumption was correct.
Following an investigation carried out by the Dresden General Prosecutor’s Office, the Saxony State Criminal Police, and the local tax authority (INES), nearly 50,000 bitcoin were ‘provisionally’ secured earlier this month. The haul is worth more than $2 billion at today’s exchange rate. Never before has this much bitcoin been secured by German authorities; it’s also one of the largest crypto hauls worldwide. “The Bitcoins were seized after the accused voluntarily transferred them to official wallets provided by the [Federal Criminal Police Office]. This means that a final decision has not yet been made about the utilization of the Bitcoins,” police write.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Zuckerberg among tech bosses to testify on child safety
Senators say Meta, X, TikTok, Discord and Snap are not doing enough to protect children online.
Senators say Meta, X, TikTok, Discord and Snap are not doing enough to protect children online.
Microsoft Edge steals your data from Google Chrome
Microsoft Edge is increasingly aggressively snatching your open tabs from Google Chrome in an attempt to get you to switch.
The post Microsoft Edge steals your data from Google Chrome appeared first on ReadWrite.
Microsoft Edge is increasingly aggressively snatching your open tabs from Google Chrome in an attempt to get you to switch. The new Microsoft Edge has shown to be a good browser since its release in 2020, but Microsoft has never stopped aggressively pushing Edge over competing browsers, mainly Chrome. Google and Microsoft have been at odds over this matter for years; Microsoft even temporarily hid the Windows 11 default browser’s options.
The Verge reported that after updating a Windows computer, Microsoft Edge would instantly launch and display every tab open in Google Chrome on the same device. Even though Edge has never requested to sync data with Chrome and hasn’t been utilized on that computer. The same thing occurred on another machine after an upgrade and a system restore. Another strategy Microsoft is using, which is starting to receive notice this week, is to have Edge copy all of your open tabs from Google Chrome so you may resume where you left off if you end yourself in Edge.
Transferring data from Chrome to Edge each time browser is used
With the most recent Windows upgrades, Microsoft appears to be making greater use of an already-existing feature that transfers data from Chrome to Edge each time the browser is used.
Users of Microsoft Edge can “import browser data on each launch.” Although users can disable the feature through Edge’s settings (edge://settings/profiles/importBrowsingData), Microsoft is now forcing users to enable it following Windows updates.
this post bothered me for days so I reinstalled Windows ++ confirmed that there’s an obscure setting to sync Chrome data into Edge (+ it’s shared to MSFT if you’re signed-in & sync your browsing data) — to turn it off, open Edge then: edge://settings/profiles/importBrowsingData pic.twitter.com/SiBmDsD8oT
— Zach Edwards infosec.exchange/@thezedwards (@thezedwards) January 26, 2024
Zach Edwards on Twitter/X found that, during post-update setup, Windows has added a new option turned on by default, which is described as saying: “With your confirmation, Microsoft Edge will regularly bring in data from other browsers available on your Windows device. This data includes your favorites, browsing history, cookies, autofill data, extensions, settings, and other browsing data.”
After giving customers a brief explanation on how to disable this, Microsoft prompts them to approve the behavior and provides a “Not Now” option on a different screen. Some users have observed that Edge continues to import Chrome data each time it launches — even when this import setting is turned off. Although many people have noticed this behavior, Microsoft has not responded to requests for information or to comment.
Featured Image Credit: Photo by Neon Joi; Pexels
The post Microsoft Edge steals your data from Google Chrome appeared first on ReadWrite.
Elon Musk: $56bn Tesla compensation package voided by court
The lawsuit was filed by a shareholder who argued that it was an inappropriate overpayment.
The lawsuit was filed by a shareholder who argued that it was an inappropriate overpayment.