At a time when business are using web accessibility software to make their websites accessible to all, Microsoft has released a new add-on that does the same thing for its office software.
As over 1bn people are currently living with a disability, the software giant's Office Engineering team has created a new accessibility add-on for Microsoft Office called Accessibility Reminder.
According to a new blog post, Accessibility Reminder helps drive awareness of the importance of making your organization's Office documents accessible with tips and tricks to fix accessibility issues. With the app's comment feature, disabled users can also remind their fellow collaborators that something in a document needs to be changed so that they can see or hear it.
The Accessibility Reminder app is currently available in Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint for both desktop and the web.
Accessibility Reminder app
Microsoft's new Accessibility Reminder app allows users to insert reminder comments in Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint slides to spread awareness of any issues they have when trying to collaborate with others.
In addition to more general comments, users can also create custom comments to notify specific document authors and include personalized messages, organization-specific links, training and more.
To install Microsoft's Accessibility Reminder app, you first need to navigate to this website, sign in with your Microsoft 365 email address and fill out a short form. From here, you'll be taken to the Microsoft Garage project download site where you can specify which applications you want to install and use the app in.
While Microsoft released its Adaptive Controller back in 2018 to help disabled gamers play games on Xbox and PC, its new Accessibility Reminder app will likely be a big help for them when working from home and collaborating with their co-workers in documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
Microsoft has achieved a major milestone after its ad network – spread across Bing, Outlook.com, AOL, MSN.com, Yahoo, and other properties – reached one billion people last year.
The news comes via MediaPost, which cites Microsoft internal data and ComScore as evidence of the huge reach of the company's ad business.
According to Microsoft, many of the viewers are “overlapping audiences” – the term used for when an audience member uses multiple properties or services from the company at once. As such, 64% of US Windows users also visited a Microsoft service in Q3 2021.
How did we get here?
You might be wondering how Microsoft has somehow managed to create an ad business that compares to Google and Facebook and the answer is essentially that Microsoft has been plugging away for a long time to get here.
Back in 2006, Microsoft struck a deal with Facebook to supply ad inventory to the growing service, giving the former much-needed eyeballs and letting Facebook focus on growing its service.
The success of MSN.com has also played a role. According to Alexa.com, MSN.com records an average of 40 million daily visits, ranking 59th in the world. The news service, which often aggregates others, outranks CNN.com by this metric.
Microsoft also recently acquired AT&T's programmatic ad marketplace Xandr, suggesting the company's ambitions are extensive.
In order to get users to spend more time on its professional social network, LinkedIn is preparing to launch a new virtual events platform for both audio and video.
As reported by TechCrunch, the company's new events platform will allow creators and organizations to list, host and market interactive virtual events.
LinkedIn actually began looking into events before the pandemic began with the launch of its Events hub back in 2019. However, as more people started working from home, the company added online polls and video events to provide remote workers with access to events.
Now though with its new virtual events platform, LinkedIn will start out with an audio-only product similar to Clubhouse that will launch in beta this month followed by a video version that will be available in the spring.
Audio and video events
When LinkedIn's new events platform launches in beta later this month, organizers won't have to rely on other third-party software as it will include all of the tools needed to run interactive content from end-to-end.
Hosts will be able to record and run their events straight from LinkedIn as the new platform will include tools for online attendees and hosts to have live conversations and moderate discussions. However, attendees will also be able to communicate with one another both during and after an event has ended. Promoting these events will be a cinch as well as organizers can do so on LinkedIn.
The platform will start off by targeting individual creators who already rely on the professional social network to connect with a wider audience and cover topics such as career development and recruitment.
Product manager at LinkedIn, Jake Poses provided further details on the company's philosophy when it comes to its new virtual event platform for audio and video in an interview with TechCrunch, saying:
“Our philosophy is to put the organizers in control. We want to make it easier to host virtual round tables, fireside chats, and more. Some may want the event to be more formal, or less formal. Some might want to communicate with their audience, to open up to the floor. We’re giving professionals interactivity and support.”
We'll likely hear more from LinkedIn once the audio-only portion of its new virtual events platform begins rolling out in beta later this month.
Microsoft is doubling down on efforts to drive the adoption of collaboration platform Teams in conference room settings.
As per two new entries to the company’s product roadmap, users will soon be able to perform a wider range of actions via Microsoft Teams panels, the touchscreen devices mounted outside of meeting rooms.
For example, Microsoft Teams users will be able to “check out” of conference rooms if their meetings end earlier than expected, as a courtesy to colleagues who might need the space. In a similar vein, it will also be possible to extend existing reservations via Microsoft Teams panels, provided doing so does not create a clash.
Microsoft Teams in the office
Both updates are still currently under development, but should roll out to all Microsoft Teams panel users by the end of May.
With the majority of experts predicting a widespread transition to hybrid working once the pandemic recedes, Microsoft is eager to position its collaboration and video conferencing platform as the go-to choice for in-office deployments too.
The company faces stiff competition from the likes of Zoom, which has its own range of conference room solutions, but Microsoft is putting in the legwork with a series of updates of its own.
In addition to the new functionality set to land in the spring, Microsoft recently announced a feature to help companies monitor and limit the capacity of meeting rooms, to facilitate social distancing (if it’s still required in future).
The desired room capacity is set by the administrator and overcrowding is detected using cameras with people-counting functionality. If a room is over capacity, an alert will appear on the in-room display and Microsoft Teams panel outside.
Microsoft will hope that features such as these, in addition to a roster of intelligent meeting room hardware (displays, webcams, microphones etc.), will help build on the strong foundation established during the pandemic.
Currently under development, the new-look password management feature will allow users to add credentials to their roster manually for the first time.
At the moment, Microsoft Edge requires users to visit a website, log in and wait for a prompt from the browser. By introducing a manual option, Microsoft will minimize the friction associated with adding passwords en masse.
The ability to add account credentials manually first featured in an early-access build of Google Chrome, which is based on the same Chromium engine as Edge. Microsoft appears to have built upon this foundation to port the functionality over to its own service.
It’s unclear precisely when the feature will make its way into a full public build, but it is currently available to members of the Edge Canary channel under the Profile menu.
Microsoft Edge password manager
Microsoft first introduced password management functionality to its flagship browser in January last year, offering users a simple alternative to fully-featured services like LastPass and Dashlane, which cost in the region of $ 40/year.
The idea was to give users a cost-effective way to limit the risk of credential stuffing, brute force attacks and identity theft.
However, recent reports suggest it may still be ill-advised to store your account credentials in your web browser, as opposed to using a dedicated service.
According to security company AhnLab, info-stealing Redline malware is capable of both evading antivirus software and stealing passwords and other sensitive data from its victim’s browser.
In a recent incident, an infection resulted in the compromise of a corporate network, after VPN credentials were stolen from a remote employee’s web browser.
From a cybersecurity perspective, although storing unique passwords in Microsoft Edge is better than deploying an identical password across multiple accounts, it shouldn’t be considered the perfect solution.
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration and video conferencing platform that helps people communicate effectively across a number of different mediums.
The service allows users to communicate via text chat, voice or video call and also benefits from synergies with various other Microsoft 365 services, such as OneDrive and PowerPoint.
Although Teams started out as a business application, Microsoft has recently pushed the platform as a consumer service too and, accordingly, has built it into the heart of its new Windows 11 OS.
The free version of Microsoft Teams offers a generous feature set that will be sufficient for many individuals and small businesses, while a paid version is available for larger organizations after a more comprehensive solution.
Microsoft Teams clients are available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, so employees can communicate using pretty much any device.
Cut to the chase
What is it? A collaboration and video conferencing service What platforms is it on? All major operating systems How much does it cost? Depends on the plan, but a free version is available Who is the target audience? Predominantly business users, but regular consumers too
Free version or paid?
The free version of Microsoft Teams boasts all the features employees will need to collaborate remotely and could be a perfectly suitable option for smaller businesses.
Unlimited text chat and search, group video conferencing, one-on-one video calls, 2GB of cloud storage per person (or 10GB across the entire team) and access to web-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote all come free of charge.
However, the free version of Microsoft Teams lacks a few important security and administration facilities – such as enforced multi-factor authentication, single sign-on and user management – that most businesses are likely to need.
If you’re looking to upgrade your Microsoft Teams subscription, there are three options available: Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
Microsoft 365 Business Basic is available for $ 5.00 per user per month (£3.80/AU$ 6.90), and includes the ability to schedule and record Microsoft Teams meetings, boosts the file storage capacity to 1TB per user and includes the additional security features mentioned above.
Office 365 Business Standard, meanwhile, costs $ 12.50 per user per month (£9.40/AU$ 17.20). It features all the benefits of the cheaper package, but also includes desktop versions of Microsoft’s famous productivity applications (Word,Excel, PowerPoint etc.) and business apps such as Bookings, Invoicing and MileIQ.
Finally, Office 365 Premium adds advanced security and privacy features, as well as a greater range of device management options. This package will run your business $ 20.00 per user per month (£15.10/AU$ 27.50).
From here, you can download the Microsoft Teams app for desktop or mobile, or you can enter your email address in the relevant field and Microsoft will deliver a download link directly.
Those looking to download Microsoft Teams mobile app can also navigate to the relevant app store on their device, be that Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
Microsoft Teams features
Microsoft Teams offers all the core collaboration features, from high-quality video conferencing to phone calls, text chat and group messaging.
When it comes to the in-meeting experience, the service provides users with a variety of tools, such as custom and blurred backgrounds, different viewing modes, breakout rooms and text chat. Users can also share their screen during presentations, making it easier for audience members to follow along.
Teams allows meetings to be recorded, which means people unable to attend can catch up on anything they missed. And since the start of the pandemic, Microsoft has introduced a few important accessibility features too, such as live captions and transcription.
What sets Teams apart from its competitors, however, is its position within the wider Microsoft 365 suite of apps and services. For example, Teams is intertwined closely with OneDrive and SharePoint, making file-sharing easy and intuitive. An upcoming PowerPoint integration, meanwhile, is set to make managing notes during presentations and engaging with the audience less challenging.
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Ink Drop)
Security
When it comes to video conferencing security, end-to-end encryption (E2EE) is considered the holy grail.
Under this system, communication between meeting participants is encrypted using cryptographic keys held only on users’ devices. This means no third party, including the service provider, has access to the keys to decrypt private meeting data.
Microsoft Teams was relatively slow on the uptake where E2EE is concerned. Only recently has E2EE entered general availability for Teams calls, and even then it requires a number of features to be disabled.
That said, Microsoft has taken strong steps to prevent a practice known as “Zoombombing”, whereby an uninvited individual invades and disrupts a meeting. And the company has also added a handy disable video function that should help limit disruptions caused by legitimate attendees.
According to the Microsoft website, Teams also enforces two-factor authentication and encryption of data in transit and at rest. To ensure customers remain compliant with relevant regulations, meanwhile, Microsoft lets users make choices about the location of the data centers used to process their data in transit.
Support
As for customer service, Microsoft offers pretty much all avenues of support you might expect – with the exception of a live chat service.
The first port of call should be the extensive knowledge base, but otherwise users can seek further help via Microsoft 365 support channels, which include an online form, phone support and a dedicated Get Help app.
Microsoft Teams has native clients for all the major operating systems, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. Attendees can also join sessions via web browser if they please.
Microsoft says it’s only going to get worse: It’s seen state-sponsored and cyber-criminal attackers probing systems for the Log4Shell flaw through the end of December. Threatpost
Fluent Design is Microsoft's design language that the company is rolling out to Windows 11 and other apps throughout the year. But Microsoft Teams is going to have to wait slightly longer for its own update for Fluent emojis.
The update was scheduled for November 2021, but it looks as though emoji, and other features, will be coming soon in a significant update for Teams users.
Its online collaboration platform is reaching its fifth year in 2022, with the pandemic being a significant part of its growth of 250 million users so far. However, with Skype still being maintained by Microsoft as well, the new features for Teams need to differentiate itself from being a good platform for businesses to an essential one.
A fluent delay of features
While Fluent design has been available for Windows 11 and Office 2022, it's also expanded to other apps, such as Paint, Calendar, and other apps by Microsoft.
However, Teams is scheduled to reap the benefits of Fluent design in February, alongside live transcripts of calls, better meeting options, and other features that are coming to the app in 2022.
Video filters were also delayed from August to March this year, where you can customize your appearance before joining a conference call.
Many of these features should prove useful to many, but it depends if some of these are further delayed so that the Fluent design can be finished for Teams in March.
Having music or other audio playing during a video call can be distracting for attendees and embarrassing for users which is why Microsoft added a noise suppression feature to its video conferencing software earlier this year.
This feature is now enabled by default for most users and as a result, any background noise is automatically removed during meetings in Microsoft Teams.
While you may want music and other background noise to be removed from your speeches and presentations, this isn't always the case which is why Microsoft also created a high-fidelity music mode. When enabled, this mode streams the sound from your laptop or PC including all background sounds in high quality.
Enabling high-fidelity mode
According to a new post in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, the software giant has developed a new machine learning-based music detector that can let users know whenever music is detected.
Once this feature rolls out in January of 2022, Teams users will see a notification at the bottom of their screen which reads “Music is detected and may be suppressed. Enable High fidelity mode to make sure everyone clearly hears your music” alongside a button to enable high fidelity mode as well as another button to dismiss the notification altogether.
While you still may not want background music to be heard during important business meetings, this feature could be useful for those giving music or even dance lessons over Teams.
Getting your ideas across in Microsoft Teams will soon be even easier as Microsoft is working on a new update for its video conferencing software that will allow users to see messages in chat and participants in a video call at the same time.
Back in June, the software giant added chat bubbles to its online collaboration tool so that users wouldn't miss private messages sent during a video call. Just like in WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, these chat bubbles display a floating notification on your screen and according to Microsoft, they also make “chat more central to the conversation”.
While the introduction of chat bubbles enabled Teams users to see their private messages during meetings, Microsoft is now planning to make them available for group chats so that everyone can keep up with the conversations happening via text as well as those taking place in a video call at the same time.
Chat bubbles during Teams meetings
According to a new post in the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, Microsoft plans to add a new feature to Teams that will allow everyone to view chats sent during a meeting on the front of room display in a Teams Room.
For those unfamiliar, Microsoft Teams Rooms is a dedicated hardware and software solution for video conferencing that was previously called Skype Rooms. With a Teams Rooms display set up in a meeting or conference room, in-person attendees can all focus on one screen at the front of a room as opposed to having to stare down at their laptops.
Now though with chat bubbles on a Teams Room display, those working from home will be able to add to the conversation taking place in a meeting room as attendees will be able to see their messages in chat alongside a meeting's video feed.
This new feature is set to roll out in April of next year and will likely be a welcome addition for organizations that have implemented hybrid work policies.
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