Pedro Hernandez

Skype’s growing list of video-messaging options has claimed a victim, the stand-alone Skype Qik app, Microsoft announced this week. The Redmond, Wash., software maker is shutting down Skype Qik on March 24, giving users roughly a month to save video messages they wish to keep before Microsoft switches off the service. In essence, the company […]

A new app from Microsoft Garage, a mobile software development unit within the Redmond, Wash., giant that focuses on experimental and small-scale apps, has released a new multitasking keyboard app for Android. Dubbed the Hub Keyboard, the app bundles a handful of tools that reduce the need to switch between apps to complete certain actions, […]

Bill Gates, Microsoft’s storied co-founder and former CEO, is siding with U.S. law enforcement officials in the controversial San Bernardino iPhone case. Apple CEO Time Cook has publicly rejected a court order to assist the FBI in unlocking an encrypted iPhone 5C used by Syed Farook, one of the suspects in the Dec. 2 mass […]

Add the Open Connectivity Foundation to the growing list of Internet of things standards groups. Microsoft, along with other leading technology companies including Cisco, General Electric, Intel, Qualcomm and Samsung, have come together to form the OCF, announced the Redmond, Wash., software maker on Friday. The OCF will focus on developing industry standards for the […]

Microsoft and its hardware partners are showing off Windows 10’s mobile-first demeanor at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain. Each year around this time, MWC brings mobile device vendors together to show off their latest wares before they ship to consumers. This year, the early buzz is surrounding LG’s new G5 smartphone along with […]

As promised earlier this year by Microsoft Vice President Gurdeep Pall, the Skype group video calling feature is finally arriving on the iPhone, iPad and Android versions of the app. “Today, we’ve started rolling out group video calling on iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets in Western Europe and North America and we expect […]

Although Microsoft Band can track various health signals and activities, the device is shaping up as a wearable for golfers. This week, Microsoft released new updates for the fitness wearable, including a new tournament setting for golfers. “An option right on your new Microsoft Band, Tournament Mode for Golf will allow you to play a […]

Azure Container Service, the Docker-friendly container management offering from Microsoft and data center orchestration specialist Mesosphere, is now available to all comers. Announced last fall and previously offered as a limited beta to select customers, Azure Container Service is Microsoft’s answer to the management challenges posed by Docker’s growing popularity on its own cloud. “Docker […]

Microsoft’s Translator app for Android has learned a new trick: offline translations. Microsoft announced today that the app now supports offline language packs based on the company’s research on machine learning and artificial intelligence. Currently, nine languages are available, namely Chinese (simplified), French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese. The offline translation tech […]

Microsoft’s hopes for Windows 10 in the enterprise just got a major lift, the software giant announced Feb. 17. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has agreed to upgrade 4 million seats to Microsoft’s latest operating system by this time next year, said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of Microsoft Windows and Devices, in a […]

In the coming weeks, Office Delve users will be able to further personalize their profiles, courtesy of a new Office 365 update. Launched in 2014, the cloud-powered Delve app uses the company’s machine-learning technology to surface Office content and communications that relate to a user’s role and responsibilities within an organization. The latest release builds […]

Azure SQL is Microsoft’s bid to get enterprises to float their databases on the company’s cloud, but it may be overkill for some organizations or developers looking to test their apps. Microsoft’s answer to the problem is to release SQL Server Express to the Azure Gallery marketplace. Customers can now access SQL Server Express with […]