Microsoft Links QuickBooks, Power BI to Offer New Financial Insights

Today’s topics include a preview version of Microsoft QuickBooks Online content pack for Power BI, Dell’s first Internet of things product, Microsoft bringing the technology from its How-Old.net Website to Bing and questions on whether it’s legal to use the Apple Watch while driving.

Microsoft has released a preview version of the QuickBooks Online content pack for Power BI, providing small businesses with new insights into their financial health.

Power BI is a cloud-based business intelligence offering that integrates with Microsoft’s Office 365 productivity suite. To successfully import data, the content pack requires that users have admin rights to Intuit’s QuickBooks Online.

Once the services are linked, you see your cash flow, profitability, customers and vendors all in one place, according to Microsoft’s Power BI team.

Dell has started a new division to develop and market Internet of things-type products and services. The company has also already come out with its first IoT product: an inexpensive gateway appliance that onramps IT systems to the cloud and filters data.

Pricing for the Dell IoT Gateway starts at $479, but it can be augmented with additional enterprise functionality for $200 to $300 more. The IoT Gateway, which looks exactly like a desktop router, is a repurposed Wyse 3000 Series thin-client terminal, the IP of which has been owned by Dell for a few years.

Microsoft is bringing the machine-learning technology behind the company’s surprisingly successful How-Old.net Website to Bing Image Search. Branded as the “#HowOldRobot” by Microsoft, the age- and gender-identifying site first appeared as a tech demo during April’s Build developer conference.

Three hours after Microsoft staffers sent an internal email, thousands of users began sharing screenshots on social media and the Internet depicting their supposed age. Microsoft is now putting HowOldRobot to work on its search engine, the company said last week.

A driver in Quebec, Canada, was given a $120 traffic ticket for allegedly using his Apple Watch while driving his car on a local roadway, but he intends to appeal the citation.

The officer who allegedly saw him and cited him ticketed him under Section 439.1 of the Quebec Highway Safety Code, which forbids any person from using “a hand-held device that includes a telephone function” while driving a road vehicle.