The Economic Times: Microsoft targeting small and medium businesses in Punjab, Haryana for cloud services

Tech giant Microsoft India said it is targeting small and medium businesses (SMBs) in Punjab and Haryana by offering them cloud-based solutions at cheaper rates. “Our solutions are developed to address SMBs needs and Punjab and Haryana have strong pool of businesses, which can benefit from cloud solutions Azure, Office 365 and CRM Online. The pay-as-you-go aspect of cloud specially benefits SMBs from a scalability and affordability perspective.” said Sudhir Nayar, Director – Partner Sales, Microsoft India.

Business Standard: Microsoft releases update of Office apps for iOS for multitasking on iPa

Microsoft has announced that it is releasing updates for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook for ipad. If the users update to iOS 9 on an iPad Air 2 then they will be able to run apps like Word and Excel side-by-side. Also, Word, Excel and PowerPoint are all getting the ability to see keyboard shortcuts by tapping the cmd key from an external iPad keyboard. The users can use Outlook for iPad now for composing new email or tabbing between email, calendar, files, people and settings using keyboard shortcuts.

ZNet: Microsoft forges ahead with ‘Prajna’ big-data analytics framework for cloud services

Microsoft Research is working on an open-source distributed analytics platform, codenamed Prajna, that is similar to Apache Spark, and meant for building distributed cloud services. Prajna is the main project in development by Microsoft Research’s Cloud Computing and Storage (CCS) group. The Microsoft team says that Prajna is pushing the distributed functional programming model further than Spark does by “enabling multi-cluster distributed programming, running both managed code and unmanaged code, in-memory data sharing across jobs, push data flow.

USA Today: Microsoft CEO Nadella -‘Culture is everything’

For Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the culture created inside the walls of any company isn’t just important, “it’s everything.” “At Microsoft, we’re aspiring to have a living, learning culture with a growth mindset that allows us to learn from ourselves and our customers,” he says. “These are the key attributes of the new culture at Microsoft, and I feel great about how it seems to be resonating and how it’s seen as empowering.”

NDTV: Windows 10 mobile’s latest build adds much-requested features to Photos app

The latest Window 10 Mobile preview build – dubbed 10536 – for Windows Phone handsets comes with an updated Photos app. The company said that it has added several of users’ most requested features to the app. The new additions include a folder view that makes it easier for a user to see OneDrive and PC folders from within the Photos app. In addition, users can now access files stored in an external storage media (SD card) right from the app.

Times of India: Microsoft picks Melghat village Harisal under Digital India plan

Harisal, a tribal hamlet in Melghat, is all set to become the first digital village in India in the next 100 days. On the assurance given by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis during the latter’s US tour, the software giant has chosen Harisal for developing it as the first ideal digital village in India. Microsoft will offer skill development training to village youth, take care of computer literacy of anganwadi sevikas and teachers and more.

CIO.IN: Microsoft renews information-sharing partnership with NATO

Microsoft and NATO have agreed to renew a longstanding partnership that will see the tech giant provide the intergovernmental treaty group’s Communications and Information Agency with details of Microsoft products and services, as well as new information about cybersecurity threats.

The Verge: Microsoft celebrates Super Mario Bros. with a ninja cat Easter egg

Yesterday marked 30 years since the release of Super Mario Bros. on the NES, a milestone that led to the 13th of September being marked as “8-bit Day.” Microsoft created its own easter egg for 8-bit Day, rewarding people who entered the famous Konami code on its homepage with a slice of video game history, a cute little message from the company, and a pixelated version of Microsoft’s ninja cat riding its T. Rex steed.

The Economic Times: Microsoft sets October 6 event for Windows 10 devices

Microsoft Corp sent out invitations on Monday for an event on Oct. 6, where it is expected to unveil new devices that run on Windows 10, its latest operating system. Microsoft is expected to unveil devices such as the Surface Pro 4 tablet, the Microsoft Band 2 wearable fitness tracker and the latest Lumia smartphones at the event.

ET CIO: Microsoft has bought a popular lock screen app – for Android

Microsoft has bought a popular Android app called Echo Notification Lockscreen, which lets you personalize what appears on your phone or tablet when it’s in lock mode. This actually makes Echo the second Android lockscreen replacement that Microsoft owns. Microsoft Chief Experience Officer Julie Larson-Green says it’s all in the name of “[taking] productivity to the next level” and “[keeping] you in the moment.”