Pedro Hernandez

Microsoft has sold the MSN China web portal to XiChuang Technology for an undisclosed amount, the company announced this week. The company had originally planned to shutter the service, the Redmond, Wash., software maker announced earlier this year. Instead, the company has sold MSN China to XiChuang, whose chief executive, Anderson Liu, formerly served as […]

Microsoft has launched a new tool that alerts the Redmond, Wash., software giant when its users encounter hate speech on its consumer online services. A dedicated web form now allows users of the company’s Skype, Xbox Live and other services to report the offending content. “Without question, the internet is overwhelmingly a force for good. […]

Microsoft surprised the industry during its hardware event in New York City last year when it took the wraps off the Surface Book, the company’s first laptop. Featuring a unique hinge design, a detachable screen and optional discrete graphics on some models, the Surface Book (pictured) is Microsoft’s take on what a premium Windows two-in-one […]

Like cloud computing, smartphones and the plain old internet before it, the internet of things (IoT) is being heralded as a game-changing technology for businesses. Airlines, for example, expect the proliferation of IoT technologies to help the industry improve performance, service and practically every other aspect of air travel. Some organizations still need convincing, at […]

Microsoft has tweaked some of its Excel connectors, allowing users to gather more data for their business intelligence and analytics efforts with fewer steps. This month’s update includes an improved connector for SAP HANA, allowing users to select more than one value for a variable or parameter in the Navigator window. HANA, the in-memory analytics […]

Microsoft is working on new features that make it easier for people with dyslexia and the visually impaired get work done in its Office productivity software suite. Among the new capabilities that the software giant is releasing this quarter across its Office ecosystem is an improved Editor tool for Word. Announced last month, Editor tackles […]

Instead of digging into menus in search of the right tools and options, Microsoft wants users of its Power BI Desktop software to explore their business data and unearth insights faster by grouping the application’s analytics capabilities into a single, easy-to-find place. “With this release, we have added a new analytics pane, which will be […]

Last year, Microsoft finally closed the sizable functionality gap between the Windows and Apple versions of is productivity software by releasing Office 2016 for Mac, ahead of its Windows counterpart, no less. Now, the software giant is crossing another chasm, this time from 32 to 64 bits. In an online support document this week, Microsoft […]

Microsoft once again has VMware vSphere in its sights. Despite Microsoft’s high-profile entry into server virtualization back in 2008, VMware continues to dominate the space. Sure, Redmond has made some solid gains—Gartner called Microsoft “a mainstream contender for enterprise use” in its latest analysis of the market—but VMware remains the to-go vendor for organizations seeking […]

Microsoft today released the findings of a new study conducted on behalf of the company by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA). After surveying 804 American teens, aged 13 to 17, and 810 parents of teens of those ages, Microsoft and the NCSA found that when it comes to online safety, teens and their parents […]