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Windows 10 quick tips: Get the most out of Cortana

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  Microsoft’s digital assistant Cortana was one of the major additions to Windows 10 when it first came out. But it was launched back in December 2015, and it’s changed quite a bit since then. Over the years, it’s had new features added, and then others taken away. Depending on which version of Windows you’re using, it may be integrated directly into the Windows Search box, or run as an entirely separate app. No matter which version you use, though, it’s a very useful tool and can do a lot for you, including alerting you to upcoming meetings; searching your PC and the web; telling you about the weather, news, and sports; and a lot more. To help you get the most out of Cortana, I’ve put together some of my favorite tips for using it — including using Cortana to manage your Google Calendar, send you reminders, and track packages and flights. [ Related: Cortana explained: How to use Microsoft's virtual assistant for business ] But because Cortana works very differently depending on wh
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Microsoft's Surface Duo is a big-picture product

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  I'm gonna go ahead and call it: The reviews for the Surface Duo, Microsoft's long-under-development and finally-ready-for-release first Android phone, aren't gonna be glowing. The Duo, launching Sept. 10 for a cool $1,400, isn't exactly an ordinary device. It may or may not be a product worth buying for most people — that's yet to be seen. What we can say, though, is that the Duo is a first-generation stab at a very different class of gadget. It's intended for a very specific type of tech user. And approaching it with the standard review technique of comparing components and obsessing over specs is going to miss the bigger picture of what it's all about. To wit (brace yourselves, phone nerds): The Duo uses an older-generation processor instead of the latest and greatest high-end chip (gasp!). It lacks near-field communication (gulp!), which means it won't work with most in-person mobile payment systems. And it has but a single camera on the inside of i
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TikTok ban: What'll happen to Chinese apps on your phone?

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  In a major announcement, the Centre on Monday banned 59 Chinese apps in a show of coercive diplomacy with China amid simmering tensions between the two countries. Signalling strong intent, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) announced the ban, while noting the security threat these apps pose. The list of apps found to be flouting section 69A of the IT Act comprises popular ones like TikTok, WeChat, Helo, UC Browser, Shein, CamScanner, Mi Community, Likee, Bigo Live and Vigo Video. While the move has been hailed by many in support of the 'Boycott China' protest, it may perplex smartphone users with a lot of questions and challenges, especially social media influencers. Also Read: '$100 billion? May be not!': How TikTok ban will impact ByteDance's valuation How will the ban be implemented? The government's notification issued concerning the ban will be followed by instructions to the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block these app
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Paris St-Germain are through to their first Champions League final.

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Paris St-Germain are through to their first Champions League final courtesy of a deserved victory over RB Leipzig in an entertaining semi-final in Lisbon. One of Europe's biggest spenders, but also one of the continent's most high-profile underachievers on the grandest stage, PSG finally seized their opportunity courtesy of goals from Marquinhos, Angel di Maria and Juan Bernat. The former, who scored the first of two late goals in a comeback win over Atalanta in the last eight, rose to head home a superbly delivered free-kick from Di Maria. The Argentine forward then finished well from close range following an audacious flick from Neymar after Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi had relinquished possession with a dire kick. With the fit again Kylian Mbappe and Neymar terrorising the Leipzig backline, the French side should have been out of sight before the break, but the latter twice hit the post - from a clipped finish and then an opportunist free-kick from range -
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Microsoft sets new support deadlines for IE11 and Edge

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Microsoft on Monday set dates for nudging Internet Explorer (IE) toward the grave and for ending security support of the original circa-2015 Edge browser. Neither announcement was unexpected. Microsoft reduced IE – notably the final edition, IE11 – to second-rate status more than four years ago, when it halted development of the browser. And once the Redmond, Wash. developer released a stable, production-grade version of its reworked Edge, the one built with technologies from the Google-dominated Chromium open-source project, it was only a matter of time before the company axed the legacy Edge. The earlier version debuted alongside Windows 10 in July 2015. Although Microsoft bundled the announcements into a single post to a company-run blog , each end-of-support decision – one regarding IE11, the other the 2015 Edge – was aimed at separate, if sometimes overlapping, constituencies. One year to IE11's 'degraded experience' with Microsoft 365 Ironically, the hammer will fall
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Washington's Alex Smith activated off physically unable to perform list: 'Next step in the comeback

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  Is Messi's time at Barcelona coming to an end? 7 Aug 20207 Aug 2020From the section European Football BBC Sport examines the relationship between Barcelona and Lionel Messi, who has put contract talks on hold, and is free to walk away from the Nou Camp at the end of the season.
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Art That Stirs Creativity: Rufus Wainwright

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  For “Touchstones,” ARTnews asks creative figures from different disciplines—writers, musicians, filmmakers, chefs, and so on—about one artwork that has inspired them. Meredith Monk Composer, singer, creator of the opera ATLAS, winner of 2015 National Medal of Arts… …on Ann Hamilton, The Event of a Thread (2012) [pictured above] The Event of a Thread was a huge installation mounted in the Park Avenue Armory in New York. It was multisensory and combined different perceptual modes into one. There was a huge white curtain strung across the Armory and swings that came down from the ceiling; when someone swung, they were attached to pulleys and chains that influenced the movement of this beautiful silk. It was a piece about interdependence and interconnection, and to be able to manifest a philosophical principle like that in an aesthetic way was extraordinary. It was a kind of weaving in real time of objects and language and action.
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