Microsoft sacks journalists to replace them with robots

Users of the homepages of the MSN website and Edge browser will now see news stories generated by AI

Dozens of journalists have been sacked after Microsoft decided to replace them with artificial intelligence software.

Staff who maintain the news homepages on Microsoft’s MSN website and its Edge browser – used by millions of Britons every day – have been told that they will be no longer be required because robots can now do their jobs.

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Skype audio graded by workers in China with ‘no security measures’

Exclusive: former Microsoft contractor says he was emailed login after minimal vetting

A Microsoft programme to transcribe and vet audio from Skype and Cortana, its voice assistant, ran for years with “no security measures”, according to a former contractor who says he reviewed thousands of potentially sensitive recordings on his personal laptop from his home in Beijing over the two years he worked for the company.

The recordings, both deliberate and accidentally invoked activations of the voice assistant, as well as some Skype phone calls, were simply accessed by Microsoft workers through a web app running in Google’s Chrome browser, on their personal laptops, over the Chinese internet, according to the contractor.

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Apple and Google named in US lawsuit over Congolese child cobalt mining deaths

Dell, Microsoft and Tesla also among tech firms named in case brought by families of children killed or injured while mining in DRC

A landmark legal case has been launched against the world’s largest tech companies by Congolese families who say their children were killed or maimed while mining for cobalt used to power smartphones, laptops and electric cars, the Guardian can reveal.

Apple, Google, Dell, Microsoft and Tesla have been named as defendants in a lawsuit filed in Washington DC by human rights firm International Rights Advocates on behalf of 14 parents and children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The lawsuit accuses the companies of aiding and abetting in the death and serious injury of children who they claim were working in cobalt mines in their supply chain.

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Microsoft Japan tested a four-day work week. Productivity jumped by 40%

The experiment for the month of August led to more efficient meetings and happier workers who took less time off

Microsoft tested out a four-day work week in its Japan offices and found as a result employees were not only happier – but significantly more productive.

For the month of August, Microsoft Japan experimented with a new project called Work-Life Choice Challenge Summer 2019, giving its entire 2,300 person workforce five Fridays off in a row without decreasing pay.

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Leaders and tech firms pledge to tackle extremist violence online

Jacinda Ardern and Emmanuel Macron met companies and G7 nations in Paris for Christchurch Call summit

World leaders and heads of global technology companies have pledged at a Paris summit to tackle terrorist and extremist violence online in what they described as an “unprecedented agreement”.

Wednesday’s event, organised two months to the day since the Christchurch massacre in New Zealand, drew up a “plan of action” to be adopted by countries and companies to prevent extreme material going viral on the internet.

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Microsoft becomes third listed US firm to be valued at $1tn

Company beat sales and profit expectations to join Apple and Amazon in prestigious club

Microsoft has become the third publicly listed US company, after Apple and Amazon, to boast a market value of more than $1tn after bumper quarterly results boosted its share price.

The company beat sales and profits expectations in the three months to 31 March, thanks in part to its cloud computing business, which signed up major corporate clients over the period.

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Microsoft workers decry grueling ‘996’ working standard at Chinese tech firms

A letter on Github demanded companies comply with labor laws, limiting workers to 40 hours a week versus a 12-hour day standard

Microsoft employees have published a letter on the software development platform Github in solidarity with tech workers in China.

Workers at tech companies in the country have used the Microsoft-owned platform to complain about grueling working conditions and the “996” standard in the industry, a philosophy endorsed by the tech billionaire Jack Ma. The name is based on the idea of working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week.

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Airplane with world’s longest wingspan takes flight, beating Spruce Goose record

Stratolaunch jet, brainchild of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, may be used to launch small satellites into space

A giant six-engine aircraft with the world’s longest wingspan – surpassing Howard Hughes’ infamous Spruce Goose – took off from California on its first flight on Saturday.

The behemoth, twin-fuselage Stratolaunch jet lifted off from Mojave Air and Space Port and climbed into the desert sky 70 miles north of Los Angeles. It landed two hours later.

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US Supreme Court urged to abandon Microsoft data privacy case

San Francisco, April 1 - The US Department of Justice has asked the Supreme Court to abandon its case against Microsoft over international data privacy after a law was signed to legally collect the data stored on foreign soil. The DoJ, in a court filing posted late on Saturday, said the new law signed by President Donald Trump last week answered the legal question at the heart of Microsoft's case.

Congress gives police in other countries easier access to U.S. data, raising privacy concerns

Police in other countries will be able to get emails and other electronic communication more easily from their own citizens and from Americans under a bill that Congress stuffed inside the massive $1.3 trillion spending deal passed this week. Supporters say the bill, dubbed the CLOUD Act, will simplify the process for the U.S. government and its allies to get evidence of serious crimes and terrorist threats when that evidence is stored on a server in another country.

Microsoft’s epic court battle with DOJ is coming to an end

Microsoft fought a court battle with the Department of Justice all the way to the Supreme Court - but the saga could soon be coming to an end. The Cloud Act, which is tucked into the spending bill that Trump signed Friday, addresses the question at the heart of the issue: Can law enforcement officials force US companies to hand over data that's stored on servers in foreign countries? The Cloud Act establishes a legal pathway for the US to form agreements with other nations that make it easier for law enforcement to collect data stored on foreign soil.

Christopher Liddell, ex-Microsoft and GM executive, is strong…

Christopher Liddell, ex-Microsoft and GM executive, is strong candidate to become Trump's new economic guru Christopher Liddell, an ex-Microsoft and General Motors executive, is currently the White House's director of strategic initiatives. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: https://usat.ly/2GiTFL2 Christopher Liddell is under strong consideration to become President Trump's next economic adviser, replacing Gary Cohn, who announced his resignation last week.

US Supreme Court wrestles with Microsoft privacy fight

WASHINGTON: Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared unsure how to resolve a dispute between Microsoft Corp and the Justice Department over whether U.S. law should allow prosecutors to compel technology companies to hand over data stored overseas. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, both conservatives, hinted at support for the Justice Department during the one-hour argument as the nine-member court wrestled with the technological complexities of email data storage.