The Japanese arm of computer giant Microsoft has partnered with nascent blockchain startup LayerX to “accelerate” uptake of the technology, Cointelegraph Japan reported Nov. 30. LayerX, which formed in August as a joint venture from news curation app Gunosy and advisory service AnyPay, oversees blockchain integration for enterprise, including areas such as smart contracts and general consulting. Using Microsoft’s Azure Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) solution, the companies will seek […]

Shares of Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) dropped by the most in four years on Friday after its outlook for holiday season sales missed targets, fanning concerns that Wall Street’s tech darlings are finally starting to face stronger competition. The third-quarter results were the second time running that billionaire Jeff Bezos’ firm had fallen short of sales […]

Microsoft’s stock market value now stands at $823 billion, on track to close above Amazon’s for the first time since April. Microsoft overtook Amazon as second most valuable U.S. company on Friday after investors punished Jeff Bezos’ e-commerce behemoth for a disappointing quarterly earnings report, wiping $65 billion off the online retailer’s market capitalization. Apple […]

Microsoft is moving to turn blockchain-based decentralized identity from a lofty aspiration into a business line. In a white paper posted this week, the software giant says it intends to develop two products designed to give consumers greater control of their personal data – long the Holy Grail of many technologists in the blockchain space and adjacent industries. One such product […]

AT&T has introduced a suite of blockchain solutions to allow enterprises in various industries to track and manage information more efficiently, the telecom giant announced on its website. The solutions include technology from Microsoft and IBM and can benefit users in industries ranging from manufacturing to retail and healthcare. The company noted it is combining its “edge to edge” capabilities with distributed […]

Software giant Microsoft has debuted a new Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) product that allows businesses across industry verticals to deploy a flexible instance of Ethereum tailored specifically for enterprise environments. Announced on Tuesday, Ethereum Proof-of-Authority on Azure allows enterprises to build applications on an Ethereum blockchain that is not secured by a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm and consequently […]

It was revealed at E3 last month that Microsoft  was building a cloud gaming system. A report today calls that system Scarlett Cloud and it’s only part of Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox strategy. And it makes a lot of sense, too. According to Thurrott.com, noted site for all things Microsoft, the next Xbox will come in two flavors. One will […]

The old desktop app will be retired in September Microsoft is once again redesigning its Skype app for Windows today. While the software giant released a universal app for Windows 10 users previously, the Skype classic desktop app is getting updated today with a new design that’s similar to the mobile version of Skype. Microsoft has been testing […]

I’ve been hunting for a great MacBook Pro replacement since early 2017 and while I’ve been happy with my switch to a desktop machine at home, it’s been an interesting journey trying to find something that’s on the same all-around hardware and software experience on the laptop side. Over the past year I’ve spent time with the Razer […]

It’s been quite a while in coming, but Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 for Marketing service finally is available in public preview. Dynamics 365 for Marketing is Microsoft’s marketing module aimed at small-to-midsize businesses. (Microsoft advises enterprise customers using Dynamics to go with Adobe’s Marketing Cloud instead.) Dynamics 365 for Marketing also is meant to be the replacement for Microsoft’s Dynamics […]