Pedro Hernandez

The Q&A feature in Microsoft’s Power BI allows users to find answers and gather insights by posing questions using plain language. It can come in handy, but Microsoft is betting that it can do a better job with some help in the linguistics department. In the April update for Power BI Desktop, the client software […]

Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Microsoft’s elastic, cloud-based data warehousing offering for big data workloads, is now offering its customers more detailed performance insights. The service supports Azure Monitor, revealed Kevin Ngo, program manager of SQL Engineering at Microsoft, in an April 12 announcement. As its name suggests, Azure Monitor is a performance monitoring tool that […]

Windows Server 2019 test build 17639, now available to members of the Windows Insider early-access program, includes new features that Microsoft hopes will make it easier for long-time customers to loosen their grip on older versions of the operating system. First, the latest build includes in-place upgrade functionality, enabling administrators to switch to a newer […]

Microsoft is partnering with C3 IoT to bring together the internet of things and artificial intelligence for enterprises. C3 IoT, an internet of things platform-as-a-service (PaaS) provider based in Redwood City, Calif., already has a firm foothold in the growing market for industrial IoT solutions. In September 2016, after completing a $70 million round of […]

Skype’s new Creators Mode isn’t the only video technology that Microsoft is showing off at the National Association of Broadcasters’ NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 9 -12. Microsoft is also demonstrating the new features in Stream, which are part of the Dynamics 365 refresh for spring 2018, a sweeping set updates to the business […]

When Visual Studio 2017 version 15.7 for Windows arrives, Android developers will have less of a wait to see the results of their code changes. In the third beta release of Visual Studio 2017 15.7, which is now available for download, Microsoft has cut the time it takes to start the debugging process. Now, while […]

This summer, Microsoft’s Skype for Windows 10 and Mac desktops will gain a new mode that will enable users to work collaboratively on livestreams, podcasts and other video content. Dubbed Skype for Content Creators and currently in beta, the new mode dispenses with the need for additional equipment to record multiuser video calls and streams. […]

Microsoft is getting ready to release the next feature major update to Windows 10, code-named Redstone 4 (RS4). It’s a fairly substantial update, offering enterprise users advanced setup capabilities and allowing developers to natively evaluate machine-learning models on a local Windows PC. In an April 5 update on the status of Windows 10 preview build […]

Despite warnings from cyber-security experts, ransomware keeps racking up victims. With new security capabilities for Office 365, Microsoft is offering users ways to fight back. Ransomware is a prime example of how cyber-criminals are not only weaponizing software exploits, but also monetizing them. Once it gains a foothold on a victim’s system—typically a Windows PC—ransomware […]

With new, lower-cost Azure IoT Hub subscriptions, Microsoft wants to make it easier for businesses to kick off their enterprise internet of things projects. Served up by Microsoft’s cloud, Azure IoT Hub is a device connectivity, provisioning and management service that the tech giant launched in early 2016. Since then, Microsoft has integrated the service […]

Looking to grow its Power BI business intelligence and data analytics ecosystem, Microsoft went shopping close to home for its latest buy. Microsoft has acquired enterprise report rendering technologies from fellow Redmond, Wash., technology firm Forerunner Software for an undisclosed amount, the company announced on April 2. Specifically, the software giant has snapped up Forerunner […]

Microsoft is accelerating its transformation into cloud-first technology company, not only with major personnel moves, but also by increasing the reach of its Azure cloud-computing operations. Recently, the company announced the general availability of its new cloud application service called Azure Availability Zones in select regions in the U.S. Reducing the risk cloud of data […]