Pedro Hernandez

Money talks, and Microsoft is speaking volumes about its flagship operating system’s place in today’s financial services industry. Mobility is foremost on Microsoft’s agenda. While at the Sibos conference in Dubai, a gathering of financial companies and professionals, the software giant is “discussing how our technology can help financial institutions grow their businesses through mobile […]

Microsoft has added Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) with OAuth 2.0 support to Outlook.com, the company revealed during a Sept. 12 Reddit AMA (ask me anything) session with the team responsible for the successor to the popular Hotmail Web mail service. The update not only fills one of the service’s most glaring omissions but also […]

Microsoft is taking aim at Siri, and not only in its TV ads for Windows tablets. The Redmond, Wash.-based software company is reportedly preparing a voice assistant, code-named Cortana, for Windows Phone. The name should be familiar to fans of the Halo video game series on the Xbox. Cortana is a holographic AI construct that […]

Microsoft isn’t only hoping to attract enterprises to its Windows Azure cloud platform. The company is also courting scientists with the promise of “cloud power” to fuel new discoveries. The tech giant, which is rapidly expanding its cloud offerings as part of its transition into a “device and services” company, announced a new program called […]

Hewlett-Packard today officially announced its new Z workstation and display slate, including the “industry’s first workstation Ultrabook,” according to Jim Zafarana, vice president and general manager of HP’s Commercial Solutions Business Unit. HP is “recommitting to the high-performance user,” said Zafarana during a during a Sept. 4 preview for the press, analysts and select customers […]

Microsoft has taken a major step in fashioning Xbox Music into a cross-platform rival to online music streaming services like Spotify and Pandora. The company released an Xbox Music app for iOS and Android, revealed the company on Sept. 8. “Starting today, your Xbox Music Pass brings the catalog of music to iOS and Android […]

Following SkyDrive Pro’s recent capacity upgrades, Microsoft is taking aim at SharePoint Online with enhancements that make it more accommodating of large files. Mark Kashman, a senior product manager for SharePoint Marketing, announced in a Sept.5 blog post that due to Office 365’s surging popularity and increased usage, the company is loosening some restrictions on […]

Next-gen consoles from Microsoft and Sony are set to duke it out this holiday season. Xbox One, the successor to Microsoft’s popular video game and media streaming console, is set to launch on Friday, Nov. 22. Rival Sony is scheduled to release the PlayStation 4 a week earlier, on Nov. 15. The companies faced off […]

While the surprise Microsoft-Nokia deal continues to dominate headlines, Redmond’s business software division keeps setting the stage for new releases. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2, the latest version of the company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) software suite, is set to arrive in October, the company announced at its Directions EMEA 2013 conference in Vienna. The […]

Microsoft is acquiring Nokia’s Devices & Services business for 3.79 billion euros, or an estimated $5 billion, the companies announced late Monday, Sept. 2. The software giant is also paying Nokia 1.65 billion euros, or $2.1 billion, to license the Finnish device manufacturer’s patents and mapping technologies. Nokia will also assign to Microsoft its long-term […]