Pedro Hernandez

At the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference, taking place in Chicago June 24 -27, Microsoft is making a case for mixed reality in public and school libraries. Mixed reality, Microsoft’s Windows-based take on augmented and virtual reality, is already making inroads in the enterprise. Now, through the company’s new Limitless Libraries grant […]

Microsoft has updated its Quantum Development Kit, adding improved debugging capabilities and performance enhancements for faster simulations. Released in late 2017, the programming toolkit helps coders get started on developing software for quantum computers, even if they aren’t experts in quantum physics. It works with Microsoft’s Visual Studio IDE (integrated development environment) and includes the […]

Microsoft is turning vacations, walks around the neighborhood and nature hikes into an opportunity for users of its Bing mobile apps to learn more about their surroundings and help improve the company’s artificial intelligence technologies along the way. The software giant has added new intelligent visual search technology to the Bing mobile apps for Android […]

Microsoft continues to chip away at the barriers that are preventing some companies, particularly those that operate under stringent regulatory regimes, from placing more of their data in the cloud. The technology giant has rolled out that it is calling the immutable storage option for its Azure Storage Blobs service, the company’s take on cloud-based […]

Microsoft announced the acquisition on June 20 of Bonsai, a Berkeley, Calif. startup specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for autonomous systems and industrial environments, Financial terms were not disclosed. As it turns out, Bonsai has been on Microsoft’s radar for quite a while. The company is one of many that have received venture capital […]

Pulse Secure is bringing its security-enhancing, hybrid IT-enabling access technologies to Microsoft’s cloud. On June 19, the San Jose, Calif., security vendor and Juniper Networks spin-off announced the availability of its cloud-based Pulse Secure Appliance (PSA) technology on the Microsoft Azure marketplace, listed as Pulse Connect Secure, allowing customers to extend secure access to applications, […]

Microsoft and Adobe are building on the partnership that they forged in September 2017 with a deeper integration between the latter’s e-signature technology and Dynamics 365. Adobe Sign, part of the Adobe Document Cloud digital document service that allows businesses to securely capture signatures electronically and create paperless business processes, now supports multi-step Dynamics 365 […]

Microsoft’s educational push has taken a new, more video-based direction. The Redmond, Wash., software giant announced on June 18 that it has acquired Minneapolis-based Flipgrid, a social learning platform that leans heavily on video content to drive engagement in the classroom. Financial terms surrounding the deal were not disclosed. Flipgrid encourages class participation using video […]

SwiftKey, the popular predictive, AI-enabled keyboard for mobile devices, will be part of the next major Windows 10 update, which is expected to arrive sometime in the fall. Rather than peck at virtual keys, SwiftKey allows users to “swipe” across a keyboard to complete words. And the more it is used, the smarter it gets. […]

Add the Ruum project management app to SAP’s growing list of products that work with Microsoft’s business application and cloud services slate. During its SAPPHIRE conference earlier this June, the German software maker made waves by announcing that its platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offering, dubbed SAP Cloud Platform, was officially available on Microsoft Azure. As it turns […]

Microsoft is giving Office’s user interface a makeover, including tweaks to the ribbon user interface (UI), new colors and updated icons. Over the next few months, Outlook, Word and other cornerstone Office applications will feature some revamped interface elements intended to help users get the most out of the productivity software suite from Microsoft. They […]

Power BI’s Drill Through data exploration feature is now available for Microsoft’s business intelligence (BI) software’s mobile apps. First appearing in the Power BI Desktop client software, Drill Through allows users to create a guided, insight-gathering experience and add another layer of interactivity to their reports. Using filters, report authors can use existing data points […]