Microsoft's popular motion-sensor technology for Xbox is now available for Windows-based PCs. Kinect for Windows lets users control their PCs using the same gesture and voice commands as Kinect for Xbox, but at a closer range.
Microsoft cloud users can monitor the security of their databases using SQL Azure Security Services, a monitoring service prototype released by SQL Azure Labs.
According to reports, Microsoft plans to take the integration of the Windows 8 desktop/tablet and the Windows Phone 8 OS much deeper than just the Metro-style tile user interface, potentially allowing intensive cross-platform development.
- By Scott Bekker
- 02/02/2012
An open source SDK for developing Windows Phone applications that connect to Amazon Web Services reached beta earlier this month.
- By Kathleen Richards
- 01/31/2012
Microsoft Office 15 has reached the technical preview stage and is now available to a select group of testers, according to the company.
Directions on Microsoft, an independent analyst firm that follows the Redmond software maker, revealed its expectations for Microsoft's 2012 product releases, licensing and overall roadmap this week.
Microsoft threw a spotlight on its support for the open-source Node.js server-side JavaScript development environment this week at the Node Summit in San Francisco.
- By John K. Waters
- 01/27/2012
Apple's officials underscored that it is making significant inroads in the enterprise during its earnings call on Tuesday and several reports back up that claim.
- By Jeffrey Schwartz
- 01/27/2012
Apple's results for the quarter ended Dec. 31 soared well beyond analysts' expectations, aided by record sales of iPhones and iPads over the holiday season, the company reported on Tuesday.
- By Jeffrey Schwartz
- 01/25/2012
Microsoft has announced a virtual launch event for SQL Server 2012, the next generation of its relational database.
Microsoft is ending its annual MIX conference aimed at Web developers and designers and has shelved plans to hold the conference this spring.
Microsoft and other tech giants beat analysts' estimates, reporting stronger than expected quarterly results on Thursday, but Google uncharacteristically fell short.
Microsoft reported positive fiscal second-quarter results on Thursday. Total revenue was $20.89 billion for the quarter, which ended on Dec. 31, 2011.
Initial fears by the Linux community that Microsoft's requirements for secure boot on Windows 8 machines would thwart Linux use appear to be half-correct.
Amazon Web Services launched a new database service on Wednesday that is designed let customers store huge amounts of unstructured data.
- By Jeffrey Schwartz
- 01/19/2012
Microsoft announced simplified licensing for System Center 2012 this week as the company issued release candidates of all eight components for testing.
The biggest update to the Microsoft Windows file system in nearly two decades is designed to take advantage of new storage architectures, the use of metadata and virtualization in Windows Server 8.
- By Jeffrey Schwartz
- 01/18/2012
Google is making inroads with its cloud-based suite of Google Apps. The company inked its largest deal to date with Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), the second-largest banking institution in Spain.
Microsoft's patent portfolio now covers 70 percent of all Android devices sold in the United States, the company claimed this week.
A Forrester Research report on the global technology market predicts an IT spending slowdown in 2012 followed by a rebound next year driven in part by a shift to newer technologies including mobile devices, analytics and sensors.