Recent News

Marking the launch of Forza Motorsport 6, Xbox has invited gamers from all over to try and beat the race timings set by Lotus F1 team driver Romain Grosjean and Head of Xbox Phil Spencer and earn top bragging rights in the gaming community. The #TimetoShine Challenge asks the fans to set better race times than the ones set by Grosjean (1 minute 52.703 seconds) and Spencer (2 minutes 00.343 seconds), using the 2015 Lotus E23 Hybrid car on Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps track in Belgium, recreated in-game, especially for Forza Motorsport 6

International healthcare group Columbia Asia has partnered with Microsoft to evolve a next-generation cloud ready hospital management system to meet its emerging enterprise needs. Preeti Das, Director, Microsoft Services says, “When it comes to extending the benefits of next generation technology with high-quality healthcare for the wellbeing of patients, a sound architecture and cloud will go a long way. Our association with Columbia Asia will result in building advanced healthcare solutions that are capable of further enhancing patient safety and driving overall operational efficiency.”

Microsoft is working on a Linux-based operating system. This new operating system is not going to find its way into desktops and laptops, but is instead aimed at driving the networking hardware in the enterprise space. Microsoft has built something called Azure Cloud Switch (ACS), which is based on Linux. This software is being used to connect networking hardware like switches and routers

Microsoft is bringing the power of its Cortana Analytics Suite to Salesforce.com, looking to help the CRM service’s customers gain deeper understanding and insight into their sales pipeline. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella showcased the new offering — built in conjunction with Salesforce.com and Bozeman, Montana-based Alpine Metrics — at the Dreamforce Expo in San Francisco. The solution aims to provide customers with a better way to manage sales processes by leveraging the predictive analytics and decision-automation capabilities of Cortana Analytics.

Microsoft is rolling out an update that brings the Start menu to Windows RT 8.1, the operating system that powers the first two generations of Microsoft’s non-Pro Surface tablets, as well as a smattering of other early Windows tablets. Windows RT’s new Start menu is based on a version found in early technical preview builds from Windows 10. It’s more or less a mash-up of the Windows 7 Start menu and the one in Windows 10.

Microsoft has developed a prototype of a connected car that recognizes commands from the Cortana voice assistant, an executive with the Microsoft Asia-Pacific Research and Development Group said at the company’s TechDays conference. Based on the prototype, Cortana would display itself on the windshield of the car, helping drivers see nearby locations or perform such tasks as making restaurant reservations.

Microsoft Corp. announced a new commitment of $70 million in community investments over the next three years to increase access to computer science education for all youth, and especially for those from under-represented backgrounds. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, said, ” We’re proud to make this $70 million investment in computer science education to create new opportunities for students across the spectrum of diverse youth and help build a tech talent pipeline that will spark new innovations for the future.”

Microsoft Ventures has a unique program for the Indian start-up ecosystem: mentorship for late-stage start-ups. It has announced a list of 10 start-ups that made the cut from over 1,800 which applied for the winter batch of this programme. They comprise two series-A-funded start-ups and eight others that have raised over $1 million in funding. Three of them – TripHobo, VakilSearch, and VigyanLabs – are already well-established in the market. For them, there’s a special “Hi-Po” program of mentorship and access to new markets, partners, customers, and technology.

Skype has introduced a new feature called Mojis, which is a new option that allows users to send little clips of popular movies and TV shows to others in chats. The Mojis basically serves like GIF but they are very short videos created exclusively for the service from popular content. Skype says it has partnered with Universal Studios, Disney Muppets, BBC and other studios to bring high-quality clips to the messaging service at launch and more to be added in the future.