The New Microsoft

• Microsoft ICE Contract Draws Fire

  “ICE’s decision to accelerate IT modernization using Azure Government will help them innovate faster while reducing the burden of legacy IT. The agency is currently implementing transformative technologies for homeland security and public safety, and we’re proud to support this work with our mission-critical cloud,” he wrote.

• Microsoft faces outrage for blog post touting ICE contract

  As outrage grew online, a Microsoft employee quietly removed mention of ICE from the January press release this morning. Social media users noticed that, too. The company has since restored the press release's original language, and called its removal a "mistake."

• Microsoft Removes Mention of ICE Cloud Work After Protests

  Microsoft Corp. scrubbed an online reference to its work for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as the agency faces criticism for its role in separating families at the U.S.-Mexican border.

• Microsoft briefly removes blog post mentioning ICE contract after backlash

• Microsoft's Ethical Reckoning Is Here

  Tech Workers Coalition, a labor group for tech industry employees, urged Microsoft employees to coordinate their opposition. “If you are a worker building these tools or others at Microsoft, decide now that you will not be complicit,” the group tweeted.

Android Leftovers

• Android users can now limit how much data their friends use

• Wileyfox Swift 2 range now has Android 8.1 Oreo

• Android is still an unsecure mess compared to the iPhone even when it's not on your phone

• Yahoo Mail mobile gets a modest makeover, launches for Android Go

• Google vows to double podcast audience with new Android app

• Huawei P9 might not get the Android 8.0 Oreo update

• Android apps installed peer-to-peer will appear in Play Library, gain offline protections

• You Can Now Install LineageOS 15.1 on Samsung Galaxy S5 Plus and OnePlus One

• How to Back Up Your Android Phone

First Ubuntu Touch OTA-4 Release Candidate Based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Is Here

The latest Ubuntu Touch update from UBports, OTA-3, was released last year near the Christmas holidays, but it was still based on Ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet), so if you though Ubuntu Phones are dead, think again, because the UBports team has been hard at work to bring you the OTA-4, which will be the first to rebase the operating system on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus). "The main reason why the arrival of OTA-4 seemed to take so long is because Ubuntu Touch switched its base to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Xenial Xerus. This is a mammoth milestone for the project, because it allowed us to transition from the unsupported Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet to a Long Term Support (LTS) base," reads today's announcement. Also: UBports' Ubuntu Touch OTA-4 RC Released, Upgrades To Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Open Source Skills Soar In Demand According to 2018 Jobs Report

Linux expertise is again in the top spot as the most sought after open source skill, says the latest Open Source Jobs Reportfrom Dice and The Linux Foundation. The seventh annual report shows rapidly growing demand for open source skills, particularly in areas of cloud technology.