Microsoft Ventures today announced two steps that point to how the tech giant’s VC arm wants to get involved in artificial intelligence in a big way. First, it’s now going to pursue investments through a special fund dedicated to AI startups that focus on “inclusive growth and positive impact on society.” Second, it is the first […]
It’s Computer Science Education Week, in case you didn’t know, and in honor of this hallowed period Microsoft is publishing the thoughts of a few of its scientists and engineers on what will change in the tech world over the next decade. Seventeen women were asked to chime in — an effort to highlight their […]
If you weren’t anywhere near Shenzhen today, you likely missed some of the stories coming out of Microsoft’s Windows Hardware Engineering Community event (WinHEC). The company used the opportunity to highlight a number of partnerships and plans designed to hasten the next step in Windows evolution. At the top of the list is Project Evo, […]
After getting its final European Commission approvals earlier this week, Microsoft and LinkedIn today announced that Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn, the social networking site, has officially closed. The news comes six months after news first broke of the deal. In an internal memo, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner went through the areas where the two […]
In the battle of the virtual assistants, Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant and Microsoft’s Cortana, the latter hasn’t had much success off the Windows 10 platform — its iOS app is ranked No. 1,295 on the top charts, for example. In an effort to give its assistant broader appeal, Microsoft is today announcing a redesign of its smartphone application, […]
Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn looks like it’s ready to go. The company’s Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith just announced that the deal has been cleared by the European Commission — the last regulator that needed to sign off on the deal. “As a result, we’ve now obtained all of the regulatory approvals needed to complete […]
Microsoft announced a slew of goodies today for its upcoming Windows 10 Creators update, designed to please IT admins and simplify management of Windows 10 inside large enterprises. Microsoft has been trying to get enterprise companies — you know the ones with lots of users — to make the switch to Windows 10. They claim, even before […]
Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube today announced they would cooperate on a plan to help limit the spread of terrorist content online. The companies said that together they will create a shared industry database that will be used to identify this content, including what they describe as the “most extreme and egregious terrorist images and videos” […]
Microsoft has offered concessions to EC competition regulators in the hopes of smoothing the way for its planned acquisition of LinkedIn. It announced the $26.2 billion deal this June. Reuters reports the development follows a meeting between the Commission and Microsoft executives last week at which the EC expressed concerns. An EC spokesperson confirmed it has received “a […]
How is this for a surprise: Microsoft today announced that it is joining the Linux Foundation as a high-paying Platinum member. “This may come as a surprise to you, but they were not big fans,” Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin told me in regards to his foundation’s history with Microsoft. The new Microsoft under CEO […]