BlackBerry takes on Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana BlackBerry has announced a new feature expected for BlackBerry 10.3: BlackBerry Assistant, a virtual assistant similar to Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana. The virtual assistant is voice-activated and helps manage simple tasks such as searching e-mail and calendar, sending invitations, and figuring out what’s trending on Twitter. … continue reading
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has followed up his lengthy inspirational memo on Microsoft’s future with a harsh dose of reality, promising layoffs of up to 18,000 employees over the next year. In a brief e-mail to Microsoft employees this morning titled “Starting to Evolve Our Organization and Culture,” Nadella explained that the “strategic alignment” of … continue reading
Microsoft Research is going against everything Internet users have been told and lectured about over the past couple of years by encouraging the use and reuse of simple passwords. “Our findings directly challenge accepted wisdom and conventional advice,” wrote Dinei Florencio and Cormac Herley of Microsoft Research, and Paul C. van Oorschot of Carleton University … continue reading
Microsoft patent filing reveals plans for fitness-focused smartwatch Microsoft’s rumored smartwatch finally has some specs. A recent patent filing for a “Wearable Personal Information System” details sensors, features and other components of the fitness and health-oriented wearable device. The patent diagrams feature icons for running, heart rate and calories. (Related: Microsoft’s designs on an eyewear … continue reading
It seems clear that we’re living in a golden age of capabilities. Satya Nadella’s “Bold Ambition and Our Core” memo boasts that “the Cortana app on my Windows Phone merges data from highway sensors and my own calendar and simply reminds me to leave work to make it to my daughter’s recital on time.” Siri, … continue reading
Bountysource, a crowdfunding platform for open-source software The popularity of crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo has finally extended to developers with Bountysource, a crowdfunding platform for open-source software. Bountysource allows open-source developers or any other community members to offer a “bounty” to developers to fix a particular bug or help develop a … continue reading
Microsoft has evolved considerably from its early days selling developer tools, or its era focusing on Windows and Office, or its run as a server software maker, or its first iteration as a cloud/online services company. Despite all the myriad changes, it’s always been true that Microsoft does not excel at innovation. In fact, when … continue reading
To mark the start of the next fiscal year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sent out a lengthy memo to employees laying out, among other things, a proposed reorganization of the company, a renewed focus on devices and services and a call to action to “reinvent productivity.” The memo, entitled “Bold Ambition & Our Core,” talks … continue reading
IBM, Docker, Microsoft, Red Hat & others join Google’s open-source Kubernetes container project Kubernetes, the recently open-sourced cloud container automation project maintained by Google Cloud Platform and IT automation and configuration management provider SaltStack, is gaining the support of IBM, Docker, Microsoft, Red Hat and others joining the Kubernetes community. Google Cloud Platform SVP Urs … continue reading
Just over a month after the release of CTP 1, Microsoft has officially released another community technology preview of the next version of Visual Studio, codenamed “14.” Visual Studio director of program management John Montgomery announced the release of Visual Studio “14” CTP 2 in a blog post, explaining that the new preview, which Microsoft … continue reading
Google offers temporary workaround for Android Wear bugGoogle’s wearable platform, Android Wear, is missing a way for users to install paid apps on their devices. Users can see the apps in the store but can’t install them. To rectify this problem, Google has issued a temporary workaround to enable paid apps on Android Wear. Until … continue reading
Blackberry defends square Passport smartphone; LLVM updates Windows support; Python tops introductory CS languages … continue reading
