Author: Microsoft Stories

Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 update, seeded to Insiders on the “fast ring”, enhances the capabilities of Cortana. The digital personal assistant now supports three more languages, making it functional in 14 languages in total. The Windows 10 build 14279, among other things, adds support for Spanish (Mexico), Portuguese (Brazil), and French (Canada) languages to Cortana. A new feature introduced to the build allows users to put reminders on Cortana without specifying a date.

Microsoft will begin automatically pushing new firmware to its Windows Mobile 10 Insider participants. Previously, users who wanted a firmware update had to shift their phone to the Production ring, then shift their phone back to their desired Windows 10 Insider ring. The auto-publish update will ease this issue. The company released Mobile Insider Build 10586.122 for the Slow and Release Preview rings of Windows 10 Mobile. Users on the Fast ring will have to switch back to one of the other two rings to receive the improvements.

Microsoft India along with its partners, HP and Intel, showcased a range of Windows 10 computing devices in Chennai. Mr. Priyadarshi Mohapatra, Country General Manager, Consumer Channel Group, Microsoft India, said, “At Microsoft we are working closely with our partners to help them unlock the device potential in India with Windows 10 ecosystem. We are excited to offer customers the Windows 10 experience across a range of partner devices such as laptops, tablets, 2-in-1s, projectors and PC-on-a-stick to enable them be more productive while enhancing their computing experience.”

Microsoft continues discussing the merits of releasing Xbox One exclusive titles for both the console and Windows 10, in light of Quantum Break heading to PC and Forza 6: Apex being announced. Aaron Greenberg, Marketing Executive, Xbox told, “Our business is not to prevent players to play the games we create. What we really intend to do is to make sure that our games are utilized by the greatest possible number of gamers.”

Microsoft Corporation and the NCAA announced a comprehensive partnership to provide college basketball fans the ultimate March Madness bracket experience along with a new Windows 10 NCAA app. Bing, Official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will be the Official Bracketologist of the NCAA for the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship; leveraging over a decade of extensive NCAA statistical data to help create an immersive bracket experience complete with Bing Predicts data and matchup analysis.

Microsoft announced a Dynamics CRM update. Available to online users in the second quarter of this year, the new release focuses on the integration of FieldOne and Adxstudio technologies for new field-service and Web-portal capabilities. It will also introduce project service, an offering that’s designed to support complex, multi-day engagements and optimize resourcing with skills-based assignments.

Microsoft is offering a new feature that lets companies stretch their database tables from on-premises infrastructure to its Azure storage service. Microsoft launched its SQL Server Stretch Database Service along with the first release candidate beta of SQL Server 2016. The new feature will allow database administrators to set up certain tables to stretch from their on-premises infrastructure to Microsoft’s cloud, while still allowing applications to access all the data across both environments.

BC Platforms, a world leader in genomic data management solutions, announced its collaboration with Microsoft to provide integrated genomic data management solutions in healthcare using the Azure cloud platform and services. The two companies will build the first proof of concept case with Helsinki University Hospital in 2016. David Heckerman, a distinguished scientist at Microsoft said, “We are delighted to be providing these genomics solutions on Microsoft Azure, in collaboration with BC Platforms. Together, we can provide a complete platform for the interpretation of complex genomic and clinical data across key international markets.”

Microsoft and Raspberry Pi are teaming up to provide an entire package needed to build Internet of Things and smart devices, including hardware, OS and cloud services. It is to assist Raspberry Pi 3 users take their envisioned devices from concepts to the end market. Microsoft is previewing a new edition of its Windows 10 IoT Core operating system for the Raspberry Pi 3. The credit-card sized Raspberry Pi 3’s new features include a 64-bit ARM CPU, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth which make it easier for smart devices to communicate with sensors and pull information to the Cloud for analytics.

Microsoft announced another update for the Xbox One and the Xbox app for Windows 10, including a change for players of Xbox 360 backwards compatible games. One can now purchase games directly on Xbox One from the store. The changes will allow – Twitch users to broadcast the chatter happening within their party, host bigger parties than before, broadcast the party chat audio from headset and speakers simultaneously, in-game DVR recording, access to the Gamerscore Leaderboard feature and several other changes.