News|Jun 17, 2016

How Microsoft’s LinkedIn Buy Could Affect Lynda.com

With more than 1,300 tech-related video tutorials, Lynda.com is among developers’ most-visited destinations for online education. It’s also owned by professional social network LinkedIn, which Microsoft is buying for $26.2 billion, the software giant’s biggest acquisition yet. While most coverage of the purchase has focused on how Microsoft might take advantage of data on LinkedIn’s…
Read More→
news|Jun 14, 2016

Get Ready, Gamers: Xbox and PC Play Are About to Merge

One day into the E3 gaming expo, Microsoft has already made a slew of Xbox-related announcements. But perhaps most interesting for developers is that the company is moving forward with its plans to integrate Xbox and PC gaming. Its new ‘Play Anywhere‘ initiative will allow gamers to start a game on Xbox One, pause it,…
Read More→
news|Jun 10, 2016

Promote Your Business App With New Microsoft Directory

Microsoft has created a new ‘Ready for Windows‘ directory cataloguing business-related software that’s compatible with the operating system. Aimed at business customers, the website lists apps both alphabetically and by category. Developers can submit their ‘solutions’ for consideration via a link on the site. “The goal of the site is to provide visibility and awareness…
Read More→
news|Jun 8, 2016

Smart Office App Comfy Among First to Receive Microsoft Ventures Funding

An app that could spell the end of the air-conditioning wars waged by grumpy office workers everywhere is among the first recipients of funding from Microsoft’s new early-stage investment group, Microsoft Ventures. Comfy, a smart building app that crowd-sources user preferences and behavior patterns to adjust heating and cooling, raised $12 million in total Series…
Read More→
news|May 31, 2016

Microsoft Launches Venture Capital Group

Microsoft has started a formal venture fund to invest in early-stage companies working on cloud-related projects. Microsoft Ventures, announced in a company blog post Monday, aims to fill the gap between Microsoft’s large-scale investments and acquisitions and the assistance it provides to startups through its Microsoft Accelerator program. Among the products and services Microsoft is…
Read More→
news|May 26, 2016

Microsoft: Windows Phone Not Dead, Still Evolving

The latest round of layoffs in Microsoft’s Windows Phone business—1,850 jobs will be cut, according to an announcement earlier this week—seems to signal the final death gasp of a segment of the company’s business that has long struggled. Windows phones currently make up less than one percent of smartphones sold worldwide. Microsoft, however, continues to insist…
Read More→
news|May 23, 2016

Share Your Expertise, Win Prizes With VisionMobile’s Developer Economics Survey

VisionMobile is currently running its 11th Developer Economics survey, and devs who sign up to participate can win prizes including Microsoft Surface 3s, Windows IoT dev kits and more. The survey is a snapshot of what developers worldwide are up to—which tools we’re using, which programming languages we prefer, which app categories are hot right…
Read More→
editorial|May 20, 2016

The Future Is Here, and It’s Chatty

Among the most-talked-about news at Google’s I/O conference this week were the announcements of two AI-related projects: Google Assistant, an upgraded digital assistant capable of conducting two-way conversations and performing tasks like ordering movie tickets, and Google Home, a competitor to Amazon’s Echo that would combine home automation with virtual assistance. Meanwhile, ZDNet leaked that Microsoft…
Read More→
news|May 11, 2016

What’s New in Windows 10 Build 14342

Windows 10 preview build 14342 hit Insiders in Microsoft’s Fast Ring yesterday—a little earlier than scheduled, according to Petri.com. Here’s what’s new. Edge Extensions and Updates Users will see a lot of improvements for Edge extensions in this build, which like all fast ring previews is unstable should not be installed on your main production…
Read More→
news|Apr 27, 2016

Microsoft Open-Sources Xamarin SDK, Adds New Developer Tools

Microsoft today announced that it has open-sourced the Xamarin SDK for iOS, Android and Mac, making good on a promise it made during Build 2016. The source code released to the .NET Foundation under the MIT license includes native API bindings for all three platforms, command line tools and Xamarin.Forms, the company’s cross-platform UI framework.…
Read More→