Pedro Hernandez

Sticky Notes, a Windows Ink Workspace app, is bringing its Cortana-powered capabilities to more users across more parts of the globe. The latest Windows 10 preview build (14965) contains an update to the stylus-friendly app (it also supports keyboard input) that enables Insights to work with additional languages and in more regions of the world. […]

Azure SQL’s in-memory capabilities are now generally available, Microsoft announced this week, setting the stage for brisk and advanced cloud-based analytics. As the term suggests, in-memory processing relies on data stored in a RAM to accelerate database performance. Rather than wait for data to wend its way from storage components and arrays to a server’s […]

While it bears a striking resemblance to its predecessor on the outside, the redesigned Surface Book with Performance Base that hits store shelves Nov. 10 in the U.S. and Canada, is a different beast on the inside. The updated 2-in-1 laptop, unveiled last month during Microsoft’s Windows 10 media event in New York City, delivers […]

During the E3 2016 conference in June, Microsoft unveiled is trimmer, 4K video-enabled Xbox One S and teased the late-2017 release of its Project Scorpio games console with full 4K gameplay. Noticeably missing was the rumored Xbox TV streaming stick. A Windows Central report suggests that the early leak of rival Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro, […]

Making sure its customers don’t fall too far behind the technology curve, Microsoft announced earlier this year that it would use a string of upcoming Feature Packs to help SharePoint Server 2016 keep pace with its rapidly evolving, cloud-based counterpart, SharePoint Online. The first Feature Pack was originally set for an early 2017 release, but […]

Microsoft has updated its Power BI mobile apps, offering users new and faster ways of accessing their business analytics on the go. On all mobile platforms (Android, iOS and Windows), the apps now use the Favorites page as the default landing page, helping users quickly reach their most used dashboards and visualizations. Users who haven’t […]

Following the late-September debut of Kubernetes 1.4, Microsoft this week announced that its cloud container management offering, Azure Container Service (ACS), now supports the open-source container deployment and orchestration technology. Originating at Google and now a project run by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation at the Linux Foundation, Kubernetes is a container cluster manager that […]

Microsoft has released a new preview build of Skype for Windows 10 PCs and smartphones that enables users to reply to Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) texts. Essentially, the latest Skype client allows Windows 10 PC users to answer texts without needing to grab their phones. “With this feature, you can […]

Soon, smaller companies won’t have to pay extra for Access. Microsoft is bundling its database management system with its Office 365 plans for small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Next month, Microsoft will be rolling out Access, which is presently included with Office 365 ProPlus, E3 and E5 plans, to Business and Business Premium subscribers as […]

Data scientists and organizations considering a cloud-based platform for their big data analytics needs can now evaluate Microsoft’s Data Science Virtual Machine for several hours without paying a dime. “You can launch a VM instance with just a few clicks and explore it fully—no credit cards or Azure subscriptions needed,” wrote Microsoft staffers Paul Shealy, […]

As expected, Microsoft unveiled its answer to Slack at a media event in New York City this week. Currently in beta, the new business team collaboration service, simply called Teams, is only available as part of business Office 365 plans. The move pits Microsoft against a fast-growing startup whose platform quickly became the group collaboration […]

Bletchley v1 is now available in the Azure Marketplace cloud app store, laying the foundation for business blockchains on Microsoft’s cloud. Introduced in June, Project Bletchley is an Ethereum-based technology for creating blockchains quickly, wherein a preselected set of trusted nodes manages the consensus process. In September, Microsoft launched Bletchley v1, cutting the time it […]