Azure boasts new machine learning capabilities and Microsoft reveals details of Ignite conference — Weekend Reading: Oct. 17th Edition

Greetings, Weekend Reading warriors. Whether your head’s in the clouds, or you’ve got boots on the ground, we’ve got news for you. Read on.

At the big data event Strata + Hadoop World in New York, Microsoft announced Wednesday the expansion of Azure data services, including support of real-time analytics for Apache Hadoop in Azure HDInsight and new machine learning capabilities in the Azure Marketplace.

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Hang onto your collective hats. Microsoft is scrapping some of its annual individual events in favor of a massive, unified enterprise technology conference in May. Held in Chicago, Microsoft Ignite will include a keynote address by Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella and appearances by a who’s who of the company’s technical and business leaders.

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Did we say boots on the ground? Microsoft and salesforce.com unveiled new joint solutionsdesigned to empower individuals and organizations to be more productive — during Dreamforce 2014, this week in San Francisco. The software includes: Salesforce1 for Windows, Salesforce for Office, Power BI for Office 365 and Excel integrations with Salesforce.

Speaking of strategic partnerships, Microsoft and Docker Inc., the company behind the Docker open platform for distributed applications, announced on Wednesday that a future release of Windows Server will support Docker’s new container technologies. The goal is to drive productivity by enabling virtual real-time change to application code.

Make your Skype time more productive, and more fun, with Skype Qik, a new messaging app that provides ongoing video chats so you can capture moments, share laughs and chat with groups of friends. Or, use a Qik Flik to record five-second videos when you want to reply to a message but are pressed for time. Available on Android and iPhone and coming to Windows Phone.

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In apps this week: Xim, from Microsoft Research, takes real-time photo sharing to a whole new level and Facebook for Windows Phone gets prettier and more versatile. Never leave the couch again! The Roku app, available from the Windows and the Windows Phone Store, allows you to wirelessly duplicate what’s on your Miracast-enabled Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices to your TV screen.

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This week on the Microsoft Facebook page, we introduced the first-ever 3D-printed, Lumia-powered robotic space observatory.

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Enjoy the weekend — whether that means soaring or staying grounded. See you back here, next week.

Posted by Aimee Riordan
Microsoft News Center Staff

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