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Microsoft has been running a bounty program for a few years now, launching it just ahead of the release of Windows 8.1 back in mid-2013. At the time, the company was awarding up to $50,000 for exploits, in an attempt to help address any potential security issues before they could become a larger public concern. It’s a tact taken by a number of tech’s biggest names, like Google, Facebook and,…

It used to be that if you wanted a premium, powerful but relatively small and light laptop, there weren’t many good options apart from Apple’s MacBook Pro. These days that certainly isn’t the case with loads of excellent options from the world of Windows 10 PCs. With Apple’s new 13in MacBook Pro not being everyone’s cup of tea, here are some of the best 13in alternatives, all with high-resolution screens,…

I badly need a new computer. The last time I bought one was in the summer of 2011, not long after the MacBook Air’s first (and only) redesign. It was perfect timing: my last MacBook, the white plastic kind, had wiring literally sticking out of it after taking a spill. And Apple had just dropped the Air’s price down to $1,299 — the same price I believe my original MacBook…

More than 200 flags were given to members of the Air Force’s 354th Fighter Wing and residents of Fairbanks, Alaska, for Pride Month in 2015. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Ashley Nicole Taylor) In late October, the superintendent for a Defense Department school in Germany informed one of her students — the 11-year-old transgender daughter of a service member stationed at Ramstein Air Base — that the child was no longer allowed…

Perspective can be relative. Consider Jordan Spieth’s 13th hole on Sunday at The Open. You know the one that took more than 20 minutes for the Golden Child to play a shot and will be a highlight reel special for the next 20 years. For Spieth, the foul-ball tee shot and frantic moments that led to an unlikely bogey was nothing less than a sea change in the round, a…

The vote, 45-55, underscored the bind that Republican leaders have found themselves in. Seven Republicans voted against the measure — Senators Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine, Dean Heller of Nevada, John McCain of Arizona, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — showing that repealing the health law without an immediate replacement lacks crucial support among Republicans. Advertisement Continue…

Photo Credit Doug Chayka Microsoft devices used to be a joke. Even putting those two words together — Microsoft and devices — would elicit a giggle. After all, Microsoft was good at making software, not at making gadgets. Now, however, there’s been a change. Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times’s technology columnist, recently visited Microsoft’s hardware lab at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash. His conclusion is that Microsoft is…

Barely a day passes without some news about containers and that speaks to how quickly this technology is being adopted by developers and the platforms and startups that serve them. Today it’s Microsoft’s turn to launch a new container service for its Azure cloud computing platform: Azure Container Instances (ACI). The company also today announced that it is joining the Cloud Native Computing Foundation as a platinum member (that’s a $370,000/year commitment)….

Before my visit earlier this year, I’d never been to Cuba, though Cuba had certainly been to me. The Miami of my ’80s childhood was a suburban reboot of prerevo­lutionary Cuba, filled with people who still toasted El año próximo en La Habana (“next year in Havana”) at important occasions. Everything from family letters to fresh-off-the-raft waiters kept us apprised of the increasingly desperate conditions. In Miami, even the dogcatcher…

It was not clear what prompted Mr. Trump’s decision. The Pentagon referred questions about the policy change to the White House, where several officials did not immediately respond to questions about the reasoning and timing behind Mr. Trump’s decision. But the announcement came amid a debate on Capitol Hill over the Obama-era practice of requiring the Pentagon to pay for medical treatment related to gender transition. The dispute has unfolded…

THE PROGNOSIS Obamacare repeal is probably about to get “skinny.” It’s looking likely that GOP legislation to revamp Obamacare will undergo a pretty major weight loss program before all is said and done. Expectations are building that Senate leaders will ultimately present Republicans with a “skinny” bill after more aggressive  measures fail during some 20 hours of floor debate over the next few days.  The way it’s being presented to senators, this scaled-back version of an Obamacare rollback may…

President Trump renewed his attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions Wednesday, questioning on Twitter why the top U.S. law enforcement official had not replaced the acting FBI director — a move that Trump himself has the authority to do. In two tweets just before 10 a.m., Trump wrote, “Why didn’t A.G. Sessions replace Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a Comey friend who was in charge of Clinton investigation but got…

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday and was moved to an inpatient rehabilitation facility after more than a month of surgeries, Fox News confirmed. Scalise, R-La., had been treated at MedStar Washington Hospital since June 14, when he and four others were shot during a congressional baseball practice. “Congressman Steve Scalise has made excellent progress in his recovery from a life-threatening gunshot…

WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has fired an information technology staffer following his arrest on a bank fraud charge at a Virginia airport where he was attempting to fly to Pakistan. Wasserman Schultz spokesman David Damron says Imran Awan was fired by the Florida lawmaker on Tuesday. Awan’s attorney, Chris Gowen, confirmed that his client was arrested at Dulles Airport on Monday. He says Awan was cleared to…

If USB Type-C, the newest USB standard, wasn’t confusing enough for the average person already, it will be now. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group has announced USB 3.2, which should, in theory, double current top USB speeds to 20 gigabits per second. That is, if you have hardware that supports it, though you should be able to use your existing cable. USB 3.1, the existing Type-C format,…

I badly need a new computer. The last time I bought one was in the summer of 2011, not long after the MacBook Air’s first (and only) redesign. It was perfect timing: my last MacBook, the white plastic kind, had wiring literally sticking out of it after taking a spill. And Apple had just dropped the Air’s price down to $1,299 — the same price I believe my original MacBook…

Alyssa Pressler Gazette staff AlyssaPress71 Police have accused a Gastonia man of stealing and then attempting to pawn laptops, according to arrest warrants.  Glenn Thrash II, 34, was booked into Gaston County Jail on Tuesday afternoon with several charges related to stolen laptops.  Police say Thrash first stole two laptops, a 13-inch Dell laptop and a 17-inch Hewlett Packard laptop, from National Pawn and Jewelry located…

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Republican Sens. John Cornyn (Tex.) and John Barrasso (Wyo.) leave the Senate chamber after Vice President Pence breaks a 50-50 tie to formally open debate on Republican health-care legislation. (Oliver Contreras For The Washington Post) THE BIG IDEA: Mitch McConnell is like a quarterback who has just converted on fourth and long. The Senate majority leader kept the drive to repeal Obamacare alive, but he’s still trailing by a…

President Donald Trump compared America to a nation under wartime occupation that needs to be liberated from illegal immigrants during a “Make America Great Again” rally in Ohio Tuesday night. Trump said illegal immigrant gang members are like “animals” and that they’re not using guns to kill people “because it’s too fast and it’s not painful enough.” He claimed gang members will “take a young, beautiful girl, 16, 15 and…

It started Monday morning with Donald Trump calling his own attorney general “beleaguered.” It continued with an Air Force One flight to West Virginia and a rambling, partisan speech to thousands of hollering Boy Scouts. And it kept going with another manic jag of tweets on Tuesday, as the president took a second shaming swipe at Jeff Sessions, delegitimized the acting director of the FBI, urged senators to “step up…