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By zikalify · Posted
Microsoft commits to upskill 1 million UK workers in AI this year by Paul Hill Microsoft has partnered with the UK government in the latter’s ambitious plan to train 7.5 million workers in AI skills over the next five years. Specifically, Microsoft has committed to upskilling 1 million of those workers by the end of this year. This represents a significant portion of the overall target and within a very short timeframe. The education drive by Microsoft builds on its previous “Get On” program, which has given 1.5 million people basic digital skills. The effort to train up 1 million British workers in AI is part of Microsoft’s broader £2.5 billion investment in UK AI infrastructure. Ensuring workers have the skills to leverage AI tools is important. Microsoft CEO UK Darren Hardman said recently that two-thirds of business people wouldn’t hire someone lacking AI skills, showing just how vital it is to get people’s skills up to date. Microsoft's approach to AI skills development Microsoft has several platforms to offer AI training, including Microsoft Learn, AI Skills Navigator, and through partnerships with non-profit organisations such as Catch22 in the UK. Its educational materials cover everything from the basics of generative AI to helping you prepare for advanced roles like being an AI engineer. With Catch22, Microsoft helps to train people who face various challenges to getting tech skills, including gender and ethnicity barriers, homelessness, mental health issues, school exclusion and disability. Microsoft is also trying to get more women into tech fields through programmes like TechHer, where it has trained thousands of women across UK government departments. Many of the courses that Microsoft offers come complete with certificates that you can show off on your CV when applying for a job to impress potential employers and land a job. Who else is partnering with the UK government? While Microsoft is playing a massive role in the government’s plans, it’s not the only big tech giant helping out. The firms that have partnered with the government are: Accenture, Amazon, Barclays, BT, Google, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, Sage, SAS, and Salesforce. While all of these firms are helping to train workers, Microsoft’s planned efforts are the most notable. This initiative by the government will help the country brace for the changes AI is expected to bring to the economy. In April, the United Nations said that AI will affect 40% of all jobs, so being ready is a must. -
By hellowalkman · Posted
Microsoft has an update on Exchange Online Basic Auth removal for Office 365 by Sayan Sen Back in 2022, Microsoft announced the retirement of Basic Authentication as it was moving to modern OAuth 2.0 token-based authentication. The reason was simple, to move away from such simple username-password authentication to more secure sign-ins. While Microsoft had previously planned to "permanently remove support for Basic authentication with Client Submission (SMTP AUTH) in September 2025", the company has now updated this timeline, adding a final delay. Perhaps this was on the cards given that Microsoft recently extended Basic Auth support for High Volume Email to 2028. On the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, a new message has been posted that details the changes regarding SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) AUTH Client Submission. The message says: Thus, starting March 1, 2026, Exchange Online will begin phasing out Basic authentication for sending emails via SMTP AUTH. At first, fewer attempts will be blocked, but by April 30, 2026, this older method will be fully disabled. After that, any apps or devices that want to send email this way will need to use OAuth. The message further adds how admins can proceed with the changes in case OAuth is not supported: Users who have access to the M365 Admin Center can view the message under ID MC786329. -
By LoneWolfSL · Posted
Weekend PC Game Deals: Total War grabs, management freebies, demos to try, and more by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Weekend PC Game Deals is where the hottest gaming deals from all over the internet are gathered into one place every week for your consumption. So kick back, relax, and hold on to your wallets. The Humble Store brought out a couple of fresh bundles this week, and up first is the Narrative Arc collection. This comes with Mutazione, Venba, and Frank and Drake in the starting tier with an $8 price tag. Going up a rung will cost you $14, and this adds on Season: A Letter to the Future and Dustborn. Lastly, paying $20 gets you Harold Halibut and Six Ages 2: Lights Going Out. Next, the Case and Consequences Collection landed. This bundle comes with Heavy Rain, Song of Farca, Lacuna, and Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments in the starting tier for $6. The second and final tier of this bundle costs $10, adding on Murders on the Yangtze River, BROK the InvestiGator, and Between Horizons. Both bundles will come to an end two weeks from now, so you have plenty of time to decide. The Epic Games Store's mystery giveaways came to an end this week, but the standard promotion has already returned, touting a freebie from Sega. The Two Point Studios-developed construction and sim experience Two Point Hospital is now yours to claim. Arriving as a spiritual successor to the classic title Theme Hospital, this also offers a humorous take on hospital management and patient treatment. You'll be creating treatment rooms, hiring doctors, and taking care of financials, all the while patients with the wildest illnesses pass through looking for cures. The Two Point Hospital giveaway will last until Thursday, June 19. This is also when The Operator will become the next free game on the platform. Free Events The demo festival that Valve hosts three times a year, Steam Next Fest, is back with a brand-new selection of games to try out. This promotion is slated to last until June 16, giving you just a few more days to try out gameplay slices from upcoming games. Several standard free events are currently active too. This includes the colony sim Stardeus, the dungeon-crawler roguelite Barony, the WW2-set hardcore first-person shooter Hell Let Loose, the building and management sim Construction Simulator, as well as the side-scrolling looter brawler Towerborne. Big Deals The Steam Summer Sale is just days away, but plenty of publishers already having big promotions on their games. This includes a Total War historical sale, Konami classics, 505's early summer promotions, and others. With those and more, here's our hand-picked big deals list for this weekend: SILENT HILL 2 – $41.99 on Steam Forza Horizon 5 – $29.99 on Steam Hell Let Loose – $24.99 on Steam Wasteland 3 – $19.99 on Steam Resident Evil 4 – $19.99 on Steam Metro Awakening – $19.99 on Steam Halo Infinite (Campaign) – $19.79 on Steam Mind Over Magic – $18.74 on Steam Castlevania Dominus Collection – $17.49 on Steam DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT – $15.99 on Steam Blasphemous 2 – $14.99 on Steam Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced – $14.99 on Steam Total War: THREE KINGDOMS – $14.99 on Steam Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition – $14.99 on Steam DRAGON BALL Z: KAKAROT – $12.99 on Gamesplanet DREDGE – $12.49 on Steam Fable Anniversary – $12.24 on Steam METAL GEAR SOLID V: The Definitive Experience – $11.99 on Steam Total War: ROME REMASTERED – $10.19 on Steam Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire – $9.99 on Steam Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night – $9.99 on Steam Ghostrunner 2 – $9.99 on Steam METAL GEAR SOLID 3: Snake Eater - Master Collection Version – $9.99 on Steam METAL GEAR SOLID 2: Sons of Liberty - Master Collection Version – $9.99 on Steam Barony – $9.99 on Steam Total War: PHARAOH – $9.99 on Steam DRAGON BALL FighterZ – $9.59 on Steam Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor – $9.09 on Steam The Callisto Protocol – $8.99 on Steam Quantum Break – $7.99 on Steam Oxygen Not Included – $7.49 on Steam The Ascent – $7.49 on Steam Ghostrunner – $7.49 on Steam Total War: SHOGUN 2 – $7.49 on Steam Overcooked! 2 – $6.24 on Steam Human Fall Flat – $5.99 on Steam Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition – $5.99 on Steam Don't Starve Together – $5.09 on Steam Last Day of June – $4.99 on Steam ABZU – $4.99 on Steam Super Meat Boy Forever – $4.99 on Steam Total War: MEDIEVAL II – Definitive Edition – $4.99 on Steam Legend of Grimrock 2 – $4.79 on Steam Golf With Your Friends – $4.49 on Steam Rise of the Tomb Raider – $4.49 on Steam Golf It! – $4.49 on Steam Sunset Overdrive – $3.99 on Steam Super Meat Boy – $3.74 on Steam Tomb Raider – $2.24 on Steam Crime Boss: Rockay City – $1.99 on Steam Mortal Shell – $1.49 on Steam Crypt of the NecroDancer – $1.49 on Steam This War of Mine – $0.99 on Steam Two Point Hospital – $0 on Epic Store DRM-free Specials The DRM-free discounts from the GOG store this weekend include open-world adventures, story-rich titles, indies, publisher sales, and more. Here are some highlights: No Man's Sky - $23.99 on GOG The Thaumaturge - $19.24 on GOG INDIKA - $16.24 on GOG Against the Storm - $14.99 on GOG Shadows of Doubt - $14.99 on GOG EVERSPACE 2 - $14.99 on GOG Core Keeper - $13.99 on GOG art of rally - $12.49 on GOG Shadowrun Trilogy - $10.07 on GOG Cold Waters - $9.99 on GOG Disco Elysium - The Final Cut - $9.99 on GOG Streets of Rage 4 - $9.99 on GOG Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition - $8.99 on GOG Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator - $7.99 on GOG Little Nightmares - $4.99 on GOG Edge Of Eternity - $4.49 on GOG Epistory - Typing Chronicles - $4.49 on GOG This War of Mine: Complete Edition - $4.07 on GOG Graveyard Keeper - $3.99 on GOG Alba: A Wildlife Adventure - $3.39 on GOG Chroma Squad - $2.24 on GOG EVERSPACE - $0.99 on GOG Keep in mind that availability and pricing for some deals could vary depending on the region. That's it for our pick of this weekend's PC game deals, and hopefully, some of you have enough self-restraint not to keep adding to your ever-growing backlogs. As always, there are an enormous number of other deals ready and waiting all over the interwebs, as well as on services you may already subscribe to if you comb through them, so keep your eyes open for those, and have a great weekend. -
By Chay Meredith · Posted
I've had the opposite honestly Linux always just works except for games with drm/anti cheat Windows is sometimes corrupted on first install Windows update downloading wrong drivers ... -
By zikalify · Posted
Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks now integrated in OneNote on Windows by Paul Hill Microsoft has announced that Enterprise customers with Microsoft 365 Copilot, SharePoint, or OneDrive licenses can now use Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks integrated directly with OneNote on Windows. Copilot Notebooks are AI-powered and bring together different resources such as Copilot Chat, files, notes, and links into a single space to make you more productive. The Redmond giant wants to make it easier for customers to gather content, understand complex topics, and create “smarter content” with Copilot Notebooks. This integration is squarely aimed at Enterprise customers, not Personal or Family subscribers. How Copilot Notebooks enhance productivity in OneNote When you open OneNote on Windows, you should see Copilot Notebooks in the left-hand sidebar, from here you can view or edit existing notebooks or you can create one by going to Home > Create Copilot Notebook or New notebook. During the creation of your new notebook, you can give it a name and add references such as OneNote pages, .docx, .pptx, .xlsx, .pdf, or .loop files. This gives Copilot extra context to provide you with more refined answers. Once you have created a notebook and added your reference documents, you can use Copilot Notebooks to help you gather insights from your documents, draft summaries, and generate audio overviews. An important caveat to mention about these notebooks is that you can only add 20 files as references and only individual OneNote pages, as opposed to sections and notebooks, can be added. Microsoft could add support for these in the future, but you can’t add them yet. Another limitation right now is that some OneNote features aren’t functional within Copilot Notebooks, including tags, section groups, inking, templates, password protection, Immersive Reader, and offline support. Availability and what it means for enterprise users Microsoft 365 Copilot Notebooks in OneNote for Windows are available for Enterprise customers with an appropriate license (anyone with a Microsoft 365 Copilot, SharePoint, or OneDrive license) running OneNote Version 2504 (Build 18827.20128) or later. If you have any other feedback to give to Microsoft, you can give it via Help > Feedback. As an Insider preview, Microsoft will likely improve this before declaring it stable so let Microsoft know of any issues you have. Now that the feature is available as a preview, it’s the perfect time for IT admins and other decision-makers to evaluate the feature to see how it could benefit their wider organization.
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