Author: Microsoft Stories

Microsoft researcher emeritus and Silicon Valley icon Gordon Bell says, “I’m really proud to be part of that organization.” Microsoft Research is more important to the tech titan than ever. Crucial futuristic products like the HoloLens holographic goggles and Skype Translate came straight out of the company’s science labs. But it wasn’t always this central to Microsoft; it was considered “not appropriate to be a part of what Microsoft was selling.”

Microsoft has made Flow, an IFTTT-like tool, that would connect several services together and allow users to create workflows. The service for now is only available in its preview version. For those unaware, IFTTT or ‘If This Then That’ is a tool that connects several Web services and apps, and allows users to create simple ‘recipes’ or workflows that perform a function if a certain condition is met. For instance, one can create a formula where, if one tweets an image on Twitter, it would automatically be saved to one’s connected cloud storage account.

Employees that need access to certain business data on the go can now build their own app using a tool from Microsoft. PowerApps allows business employees to take data from a variety of sources and create apps that run on phones and tablets without requiring them to do any coding. Applications built with PowerApps, which can run on iOS, Android and the web, can pull data from sources including Dropbox, OneDrive, Dynamics CRM and SharePoint Online.

Microsoft has found a novel way of letting people use its Bing search engine entirely with images. Simply point a smartphone, phablet or tablet at an item or object and take a photo, and Bing should be able to identify it. The updated Bing app for iOS is available to download from the iTunes App Store now.

Facebook has rolled out applications tailored to Microsoft’s latest operating system for the social network as well as its Messenger and Instagram services. Free Windows 10 Facebook and Messenger programs were hitting virtual shelves at the Windows desktop app store, and now an Instagram application powered by the Microsoft operating system has hit the Windows Phone Store.

YASH Technologies, announced its Microsoft Gold application development competency, demonstrating a “best-in-class” ability and commitment to meet the evolving needs in today’s mobile-first, cloud-first world. Phil Sorgen, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft, said, “By achieving a gold competency, partners have demonstrated a deep expertise and commitment that puts them at the top of our partner ecosystem. He further said, “These partners’ proficiency of the latest Microsoft technology is instrumental in helping customers continue to drive innovative solutions.”

Minecraft, the sandbox game owned by Microsoft, is now available to play on Samsung’s portable virtual reality headset, the Gear VR. The new version will work just like the Pocket Edition, giving users access to Creative and Survival modes, along with the option of multiplayer and skins. Gamers will require a controller to play the game though.

Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and next-generation services, announced an expanded relationship with Microsoft, a global leader in platform and productivity solutions. Judson Althoff, President, Microsoft North America, said, “Enterprises today are on a journey of digitization – reinventing business processes and adapting to new business models to build a competitive advantage. We are working closely with Infosys in North America and other markets around the globe to help our customers in their digital transformation journey. We are excited about the accelerated Infosys investment in building a global pool of resources together with a range of industry applications. Our efforts will allow both companies to meet the explosive demand of a new generation of solutions powered by Microsoft Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics.”

Collaboration has been a central focus of Office 2016, and this month’s updates really take it up a notch. Users can find out about anyone who’s working on a document, and even call an all-hands virtual meeting to discuss new changes. The Activity feed presents a slightly different tweak on the familiar Track Changes function. While Track Changes allows users to see what edits have been made to a particular document, the Activity feed reports who saved a particular document, and allows to jump back to the version he or she was working on.

Metalogix, the premier provider of unified software to migrate, manage and secure content across enterprise collaboration platforms, announced its May 2016 lineup of events and webinars. The event will feature live product demonstrations, discussions and tutorials at the NLIT Summit, SharePoint Spring Workshop and Expo, Collab365 Summit, and other noteworthy industry events.