Microsoft is adding yet another market for its popular Minecraft video game, announcing that it has acquired the rights to MinecraftEdu from Teacher Gaming LLC. MinecraftEdu adapts Minecraft into a teaching tool, featuring a library of lesson plans for subjects such as STEM, history, language, and art. Microsoft plans to rename the service Minecraft Education Edition and launch it on a free trial basis this summer.

The regular version of Minecraft was designed to encourage an interest in game design and programming in children, but MinecraftEdu caters specifically to the needs of the educator. Teachers can adapt the game's virtual world to their own needs, and easily download modifications made by other instructors. At the time of the acquisition, MinecraftEdu was used in 7,000 classrooms across 40 different countries worldwide. Microsoft's brand power is expected to sharply increase this number.

Microsoft released their first quarter earnings report today and they made good on their promise that their search engine, Bing, would be profitable in 2016. Bing made over $1 billion in the first quarter of the year, quite a feet. Revenue grew in coordination with the release of Windows 10 which allowed search to be profitable.

No one likes when the stores start displaying Christmas items before Halloween has passed. But according to reports from groups like AdGooroo, Black Friday ads are already being run on popular PPC platforms across the Internet. Companies are hoping to get an early jump on shoppers who want to save by purchases items on the most popular shopping day of the year.

Freedom

One of the most useful productivity apps, Freedom helps you to focus more at work by closing down certain potentially distracting websites, allowing you to focus on work. You can choose which websites you don't want to see, and you can also control the length of time the sites are blocked off for, or even disable your browser altogether if you still cant focus.

Headspace

You can improve your performance and even your productivity, by using one of the productivity apps that incorporates mindfulness techniques into your daily routine. With just 10 minutes spent each day, Headspace can help you to achieve that much needed calmness and clarity.

Windows 10 has been on the market for a full month at this point. Gamers on Stream have always been very found of the Windows operating system, using it over 95% of the time to play games on Stream. And those using Windows 10 have grown considerably fast from 14% to 17% since the official launch. Gamers need a high performance operating system, and are now moving from Windows 7 and Windows 8 to Windows 10. Thus, they perceive it as a reliably platform for heavy use.

Developers can add their data to the Google Cloud by mailing in hard drives and USB flash drives.

Offline Media Import/Export is the new service from Google that allows Cloud customers to mail physical storage devices to the company to be stored in the cloud. The service is thought to save companies time transmitting the data over an Internet line. Iron Mountain is running the program for Google in America and might expand into other countries as well. The fees are currently unknown and there does not appear to be an export option at this time.

Plans for the US to Relinquish Control of ICANN Submitted by Internet Professionals.

ICANN wishes to regain control of a position within their business that is currently managed by the U.S. It is an administrative review panel made up of notable government officials.

A conglomerate of web professionals publicized a plan showing how the US can concede supervision of ICANN, the non-profit organization that handles and controls all internet monikers and web addresses.

These experts put together this 199 page plan after the US commerce department said that it would hand over all management responsibilities to an international faction of interested individuals. They publicized their decision to make this controversial move some time last year.

Numerous individuals worldwide have been anticipating this announcement and wondering how ICANN would run without government involvement. Republican lawmakers have been particularly concerned because they are not content with the possibility of foreign countries taking control of the entire internet.

There was a shock last week when Google Drive lowered its prices for online storage. This has led experts to concede that large online storage users will always have a way of avoiding high tariffs.

Thursday saw this unprecedented price slashing taking place alongside the announcement of a free 15 gigabyte plan. According to Avram Piltch of Tom's Guide there is more to it than what meets the eye, like Google's plans to increase membership.

Google are doing what Amazon did to booksellers, says Arun Taneja. They are attempting to change the reality of online storage. Today the average person may need only 10 GB. However, this could increase owing to Google Drive's new drive.

Comedians have found a lot of material in the offices of corporate Americans. Even the workers themselves understand how dreary it can be to spend their days at work in a cubicle. According to one study in 2005, American corporate employees waste more than twenty five percent of their eight hour workday, and their lunch break is not included in this figure. While underachievers may take comfort in this statistic, the rest of us are wondering where all that time goes.

The study was a joint effort by AOL and Salary.com, based in their findings after polling more than ten thousand employees in America. The participators confessed that they wasted their time and their employer's money using the Internet for personal reasons, socializing, conducting personal business, daydreaming, and doing personal errands.

Ride-hailing companies based on mobile applications have immediately become popular since they were introduced. However, the lack of government regulation is preventing this new industry from truly taking off the ground.

Key players are now pushing for the fast-tracking of regulations given the rising demand and potential for taxes. Nevada is leading the way with transport regulators voting in favor of asking the governor for emergency status.