Microsoft Releases Updated Cognitive Toolkit

Microsoft has released a beta version of its updated Cognitive Toolkit, the deep learning technology that its developers use to train computer systems in speech and image recognition. Available on Github under an open source license, the toolkit is the same one Microsoft researchers used to create a speech recognition system that could recognize words…

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…

Visual Studio 2015 Update 1 Released

Microsoft has dropped Visual Studio 2015 Update 1 less than two weeks after it was announced during the Connect() conference.  Included in this release are new features such as support for Android Marshmallow and iOS 9 in Apache Cordova apps, new Universal Windows apps tooling, ASP.NET RC1, and the latest .NET framework (4.6.1). This release features…

What We’re Thankful For!

Today is Thanksgiving in the USA, a time for reflection and gratitude for all of the joys in our lives.  And while our staff will be busy showing our family and friends how much we appreciate them, several of them took a few moments to say what in they are thankful for in technology. The…

Connect() 2015 Videos Available

Microsoft’s Connect() conference last week included not only the keynote with the announcements but more than 60 individual breakout sessions on technologies from Azure to Office365.  Those videos are available now for streaming on Channel 9.  The format for the videos include several Q&A sessions with the keynote speakers such as Scott Guthrie, Anders Hejlsberg,…

Visual Studio 2015 Update 1 CTP Released

Last week amid all the hardware releases, Microsoft also released a CTP of the next update for Visual Studio 2015.  This release includes support for Edit and Continue in C++ Windows Store projects, the C# Interactive debugging window, and a pull request hub in the Team Explorer window. Team Explorer now features a new Pull…

Windows 10 IoT Core Released

Microsoft has released another Windows 10 version this week with support for the Rasberry Pi2 and MinnowBoard MAX devices.  Dubbed IoT Core, it’s designed for embedded devices which may or may not include a screen.  This version doesn’t include the usual user shell experience and so you have to write a Universal Windows App as…

Microsoft Details Bridges to Windows Universal Apps

The rather lackluster Day 2 keynote from Build 2015 was short on big announcements as they looked to drive home the message of the power of the Windows Universal Platform including a few more details on the bridges they are building for Web, Android, and iOS developers to move their apps to Windows. Day 2…

Microsoft Continues Push To Win Over Developers at Build 2015

Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella took the stage at Build 2015 today and with a little help from his Microsoft colleagues made the strongest pitch yet for why all developers should build apps for Windows 10. Build 2015 kicked off with a bang today as the three hour long keynote showcased Microsoft’s continued emphasis on empowering…

Visual Studio 2015 CTP 6 Overview: Big Features and Hidden Gems

The latest Community Technology Preview of Visual Studio 2015 contains a dizzying array of changes, some of which include whole new features as well as several harder-to-see bits of awesomeness. Microsoft unleashed a whirlwind of new capabilities to the public at large with CTP 6 for Visual Studio 2015 as well as the first CTP…

Microsoft Releases CoreCLR Source Code on GitHub

Microsoft has released more of it’s .NET stack into the open source world today as it makes the core .NET execution engine available on its GitHub repository. Microsoft has made a substantial contribution to its .NET open source repository today adding the CoreCLR source code to the existing CoreFX libraries.  This contribution represents nearly 2.5M lines…