Microsoft’s latest Agility SDK packs cutting-edge graphics features

Microsoft has released the latest version of its Agility SDK, packed with innovative graphics features that will be showcased at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2024.

The SDK 1.613.0 introduces Work Graphs, Shader Model 6.8, GPU Upload Heaps, and several other enhancements aimed at empowering game developers to create more efficient, flexible, and creative experiences.

Work Graphs: Unlocking the full potential of GPUs

The highlight of the Agility SDK is Work...

12 March 2024 | Developer

Microsoft offers ‘Arm Advisory Service’ for developers

To bolster the development of native software for Arm-powered PCs, Microsoft has unveiled its "Arm Advisory Service for developers".

The new initiative aims to ensure app compatibility for Windows on Arm, a version specifically designed for the processor architecture.

Microsoft’s announcement comes in response to research from analyst firm Counterpoint which predicts a substantial rise in the marketshare of Arm-powered PCs, from 14 percent to 25 percent by...

17 October 2023 | Developer

Bing Chat will be available to third-party browser developers

Microsoft has unveiled plans to make Bing Chat available to developers of third-party web browsers.

“With so many new, useful features now a part of Bing, we’re excited to announce you can start experiencing the new AI-powered Bing in third-party browsers on web and mobile soon,” Microsoft wrote in a blog post.

Bing Chat, which is powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 large language model, was launched six months ago. After initially facing challenges and criticisms, it has...

8 August 2023 | Artificial Intelligence

BUILD 2023: Microsoft wants every Windows dev ‘to be an AI developer’

Microsoft announced significant investments in tools during BUILD 2023 to democratise app development for the AI era on Windows.

Regardless of the architecture you're developing for, be it x86/x64 or Arm64, Microsoft wants to ensure that developers can easily integrate AI-powered experiences into their Windows apps, whether they run on the cloud or at the edge.

At the Build conference last year, Microsoft introduced Hybrid Loop, a development pattern that enables hybrid...

24 May 2023 | Artificial Intelligence

Sony accused of ‘blatant anti-competitive conduct’

Congress has raised concerns about Sony's monopoly on the gaming market in Japan, calling for an investigation into the firm's alleged "exclusionary conduct."

Senator Maria Cantwell told a Senate Finance Committee hearing: “Sony controls a monopoly of 98 percent of the high-end game market, yet Japan's government has allowed Sony to engage in blatant anti-competitive conduct through exclusive deals and payments to game publishers.”

Cantwell called on US Trade...

28 March 2023 | Gaming

Copilot X heralds a new era of AI-powered coding

GitHub has unveiled Copilot X, an upgraded version of its AI-powered coding assistance tool.

Copilot X adopts OpenAI’s latest GPT-4 model and now features chat and voice interfaces, support for pull requests, command-line support, and can generate answer questions from documentation:

https://twitter.com/marktenenholtz/status/1638549603753795584

Unlike traditional coding assistance tools that rely on simple code templates or pre-defined snippets, Copilot X uses...

24 March 2023 | Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft intends to launch a mobile app store

Microsoft is planning to launch a mobile app store that will compete against the App Store and Play Store.

According to Microsoft’s Xbox head Phil Spencer, Microsoft will take advantage of an upcoming EU law that will break up the monopoly held by the two major smartphone platform holders.

"We want to be in a position to offer Xbox and content from both us and our third-party partners across any screen where somebody would want to play," Spencer told the...

21 March 2023 | Android

Microsoft inflates Bing Search API fees

Microsoft is introducing massive price hikes for developers using the Bing Search API.

“We periodically assess the value and pricing of our services to meet market demands and align the pricing of our products and services with customer consumption trends and preferences,” wrote Microsoft.

“The new pricing model reflects more accurately the technology investments Bing continues to make to improve Search.”

Dependent on your needs, some of the prices have...

20 February 2023 | API

GitHub Copilot will enable developers to code using their voice

A new GitHub Copilot feature will enable developers to code using their voice.

Copilot was introduced last year and uses AI to help speed up mundane coding tasks by suggesting how to complete lines.

Behind the Copilot feature is an AI model developed by OpenAI called Codex. OpenAI claims that Codex has a broad knowledge of how people use code and is “significantly more capable than GPT-3” in generating code.

Microsoft-owned GitHub announced at its annual...

10 November 2022 | Development Tools

Windows Subsystem for Android is now considered stable

Microsoft is making good on its promise to fully support Android apps on Windows.

Following the demise of Windows Phone, Microsoft has put its weight behind Android. The company adopted Google’s OS for its Surface Phone and said that Android apps will run on Windows 11 as if they were native.

In reality, Android app support on Windows has been limited in functionality and limited to Windows Insiders in some markets. However, as of this week, Windows Subsystem for...

21 October 2022 | Android