News|Jul 13, 2016

Microsoft Will Offer Online Certification In Data Science

Microsoft debuted an online certification in data science this week, part of what the company is calling the new Microsoft Professional Degree Program. Aspiring data scientists can take courses in R and Python programming, as well as principles of machine learning. The virtual classes culminate in a Data Science Challenge, in which students compete with…
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news|Jul 11, 2016

Microsoft Pushes Business Use of HoloLens at Worldwide Partner Conference

Despite past demonstrations of holographic phone calls and fanciful worlds of toadstools and flowers, Microsoft’s augmented reality platform, HoloLens, is about more than fun and games, CEO Satya Nadella told the audience Monday at the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto. “I would encourage everyone to look at the applicability of this new medium in…
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windows-10|Jul 7, 2016

Windows 10 Build 14383 Arrives With Bug Fixes Galore

The moment of truth nears as Microsoft prepares to release its Windows 10 Anniversary Update to the public on August 2. In the meantime, the software giant is rolling out a few final, trouble-shooting previews for Windows Insiders. Rather than debuting new features, Windows 10 Preview Build 14383, released for PC and mobile Thursday, simply…
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how-to|Jul 6, 2016

FamilyNotes App Demos Windows 10’s Speech, Facial Recognition Capabilities

Microsoft wants to lead its customers into a bold future where interacting with computers and other devices is less reliant on keyboards and typing and more like conversing with an actual human. Or, as a recent post on the company’s Windows developer blog puts it, “Speech rules, text drools.” To demonstrate Windows 10’s speech, facial…
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News|Jun 28, 2016

.NET Core 1.0 Released, Visual Studio 2015 Updated

.NET Core 1.0—the open-sourced, cross-platform version of Microsoft’s web development framework—is now generally available. The release Monday caps two years of effort, in which nearly 10,000 developers participated, according to Microsoft. .NET Core 1.0 will allow developers to create web apps, micro-services and libraries that work on OS X and Linux as well as Windows.…
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News|Jun 23, 2016

Buildbox Now Supports UWP Game Building

Codeless game-building tool Buildbox has added support for the Universal Windows Platform, making it easy to create games and export them to the Windows Store, Windows mobile devices and XBox One, Microsoft announced Thursday. For those not familiar with Buildbox, its drag-and-drop interface allows users to build games without writing a single line of code,…
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News|Jun 21, 2016

Choose Your Own Visual Studio Adventure

Microsoft is expanding its Visual Studio installation options, making it even easier for developers to quickly install just the features they need. The company already previewed a new ‘light install’ option as part of Visual Studio 15, the latest version of the IDE that’s rumored to be shipping later this year. The new installer shaves…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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