Pedro Hernandez

SQL Server 2016 features new services to enable advanced, in-database analytics. Dubbed SQL Server R Services, they integrate the popular open-source R statistical computing language used by data scientists for predictive modeling. To familiarize enterprises with the technology’s potential and help them get started on developing their own analytics applications, Microsoft has released three machine-learning […]

Microsoft is making it tougher for enterprises to fall victim to macro-based attacks that prey on Office users. A new policy-setting feature in Office 2016 allows administrators to block macros from untrusted sources. Office macros are sharable bits of code that are meant to automate mundane and repetitive tasks, allowing users to save time while […]

Microsoft is currently rolling out an update for Office 365 Video that offers businesses new insights to help determine the impact of their video efforts on the workplace. Office 365 Video is a cloud-based video streaming and management service, powered by Azure Media Services, for SharePoint intranets. After videos are uploaded, they can be shared […]

During the inaugural Microsoft Data Insight Summit today, the software giant released SandDance, a new visualization tool for Power BI that helps unlock the storytelling potential of analytics data. Power BI is an extensible, cloud-powered business intelligence (BI) toolset that supports custom visualizations built by both Microsoft and the software’s community of users. “It’s a […]

Microsoft wants to make it easier for users to make sense of things, well dollars and cents, in the March 2016 update for Excel Online, the browser-based version of the company’s venerable spreadsheet software. The update includes new options that allow users to correctly and uniformly format dates, times, percentages, fractions and currencies while they […]

The jobs of administrators tasked with transferring data with Azure Data Factory, Microsoft’s cloud-based data integration service, are about to get easier. Microsoft launched a preview of an interactive tool called Azure Data Factory Copy Wizard, which provides a new, code-free approach to moving data between the company’s various cloud database offerings. “Data is the […]

Just in time for the spring home improvement season, Microsoft has partnered with Lowe’s to help the hardware store chain’s customers use HoloLens to visualize their remodeling jobs. This month, in the greater Seattle area, Lowe’s is piloting a kitchen remodeling demonstration using HoloLens, Microsoft’s augmented-reality headset. Lowe’s intends to follow up with another in-store […]

Microsoft has begun rolling out Windows 10 Mobile to select Windows Phone 8.1 devices, the company announced yesterday. “Select” is the operative word. Not all Windows Phones are eligible for the upgrade, according to Michael Fortin, corporate vice president of the Windows and Devices Group Core Quality unit. Essentially, the mobile operating system (OS) runs […]

Microsoft has released new software that provides Docker developers and administrators with more container portability on Azure. The open-source Docker Volume Plugin for Azure File Storage—the source code of which is available on GitHub—uses Azure File Storage on Linux’s support of the Server Message Block (SMB) 3.0 protocol to disassociate Docker container data volumes from […]

Windows Insiders, members of Microsoft’s early-access program, can get an early look at how extensions work on the Microsoft Edge browser, the company announced. Microsoft Edge is bundled with Windows 10, replacing Internet Explorer (IE) as the operating system’s default Web browser. (IE11 is still available for users of legacy Web applications.) Faster and more […]