Recent News

With the Nokia Lumia 638, Microsoft has delivered two key features under a single roof – Dual SIM card slots and 4G LTE. Usually, you’d find separate variants for each of these attributes like the Lumia 630 that supports two SIMs and the 635 that’s an LTE-specific model.

Asus is taking convergence to a new level with what the company says is the world’s first five-mode laptop. It features a Windows and Android laptop and tablet as well as an Android smartphone. A 5-inch smartphone docks into the 12.5-inch screen tablet that can be attached with a full QWERTY keyboard and touchpad to turn into a laptop. The Transformer Book V runs both Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4 KitKat. It includes a dedicated hardware button to switch between the two operating systems.

Microsoft Corp. named Jeff Teper, a former Office software vice president who helped guide that unit’s transition to Web-based products, as head of corporate strategy to work in areas such as acquisitions and development. Teper was promoted last month, and the company hasn’t announced his replacement in the Office group, said Peter Wootton, a spokesman for Microsoft. Teper reports to Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood.

Ever since Satya Nadella stepped in as Microsoft’s CEO, the tech giant is all geared up on its mobile-first-cloud-first vision. His first step was to make Office available on Apple’s iPad. The latest is that Microsoft joins hand with long-time rival Salesforce.com to integrate the latter’s apps into its Windows and online Office platforms including Office 365, Outlook Microsoft Azure and Windows Phone. The new development is expected to further strengthen the company’s position in mobile devices and the cloud.

Microsoft Ventures in India announced the graduation of 17 technology startups, 16 of which constituted the fourth batch of its Accelerator program and another from an earlier batch. Ravi Narayan, Director, Microsoft Ventures in India, said, “Over the course of the last two years, Microsoft Ventures has emerged as a key player in the Indian startup ecosystem, working closely by pooling its resources with other accelerators, incubators and industry bodies, with the single objective of helping startups. While each of us are putting in a lot of efforts, many of these are fragmented and don’t have the potential of making a significant impact. We felt the need for a forum which brings together all the stakeholders and provides them with a platform to discuss current initiatives, decide on actionable follow-up steps and measure the progress over a period of time. ‘Think Next’ is that forum, and we are confident it will provide a strong boost to the local entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

Microsoft showcasing its Skype Translator app at the inaugural Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. At the event, with Microsoft’s CEO and Re/code’s Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher looking on, Gurdeep Pall, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Skype and Lync demonstrated the new app which translated his conversation with a German colleague in real time. Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft, said, “We are entering a new era of more personal computing” and how Microsoft’s goal was to create computing experiences that are “more natural, more human, more like us.”