Azure Maps in Power BI Gets Richer Visual Storytelling with Markers

Microsoft has rolled out a new Markers feature for the Azure Maps visual in Power BI, enabling users to replace basic shapes with meaningful icons and dynamic scaling to bring location data to life. The update simplifies map-based storytelling—letting analysts visualize deliveries, assets, or performance metrics without complex GIS tools.

Here’s how it can elevate your map visualizations:

• Markers capability

  Use meaningful icons or custom images, dynamically scale marker sizes, customize colors and transparency, and assign distinct icons by category—all to make your data instantly understandable.

• Real-world use cases

  Markers can be used in logistics and supply chain to visualize delivery routes and shipment volumes using truck icons. In utilities and operations, they help represent asset types, operational statuses, or outage locations. Retail and distribution teams can also use distinct icons and colors to differentiate store categories or performance levels.

• How to get started

  In Power BI Desktop or Web, add the Azure Maps visual to your report and include Latitude, Longitude, and PathID in the Build pane. In the Format pane, go to Markers, select Icon as the marker type, then choose an icon, adjust its size, and use fx on Rotation to bind an angle column for dynamic icon rotation.

Discover how Power BI helped the Independent Police Conduct Authority gain visibility at both macro and micro levels. Read the ICPA case study and get in touch with us today.

Microsoft Marketplace Positions Itself as Cornerstone for Enterprise AI Strategy

Microsoft is outlining a new framework to help organizations design their AI and agent strategies by leveraging the expanded Microsoft Marketplace catalog of apps, agents, and models. The guidance emphasizes choosing between building custom solutions, buying pre-built tools, or blending both to accelerate adoption while maintaining governance and integration with existing Microsoft infrastructure. Marketplace now positions itself as the central hub for sourcing, deploying, and governing AI solutions in the enterprise cloud ecosystem.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Why Microsoft Marketplace?

  Microsoft Marketplace is the go-to destination for accelerating AI adoption with confidence. Its unified catalog helps you move from concept to production faster—while managing cloud costs and optimizing performance.

• Build custom AI solutions your way

  Access 11,000+ pre-packaged models and 4,000+ AI apps and agents to create tailored AI solutions. Whether you’re building with pro-code APIs or using low-code tools, Marketplace fits seamlessly into the Microsoft ecosystem.

• Buy proven, ready-made AI solutions

  Short on time or resources? You can purchase production-ready AI apps and agents that already deliver real business value.

• Customise your AI strategy with a blended approach

  Most organisations fall between build and buy. A blended strategy lets you extend partner solutions with your own IP , customize what differentiates you, and reuse prebuilt components to reduce engineering effort and speed up time to value.

Transform how your teams work in Dynamics 365 and Power Platform with AI-driven intelligence. Explore Infinity AI Agents and get in touch.

Copilot Memories Debuts in Visual Studio to Help Teams Standardize Workflows

Microsoft is rolling out a new feature called Copilot Memories in Visual Studio that helps developers automatically capture and recall coding preferences and project guidelines, reducing repetitive tasks and inconsistencies. The AI-powered capability learns how teams like to work and prompts users to confirm when it detects new patterns or updates, making collaboration smoother and onboarding easier.

Here’s how it helps:

• Learns how you work

  Copilot Memories continuously learns your team’s coding preferences as you prompt. No more repeated reminders or searching through old messages—Copilot remembers what matters so you don’t have to.

• You stay in control

  Every time Copilot wants to save or update a memory, you’ll get a clear confirmation. Review, accept, or tweak it before anything is stored. Nothing happens without your say-so.

• Organised where you expect it

  Preferences can be saved to your personal file (%USERPROFILE%/copilot-instructions.md) or to a repo-level file (/.github/copilot-instructions.md). Copilot intelligently updates or creates these files for you.

• Better consistency, faster onboarding

  Projects become easier to maintain and quicker to onboard. New developers instantly see “how we do things here,” while experienced teams save time by letting Copilot handle the details.

Unlock smarter productivity with AI built for Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform. Explore Infinity AI Agents and contact us today.

Copilot Studio Brings Embedded AI Insights to Power Apps

Microsoft has unveiled a new reference architecture that enables contextual, AI-powered experiences directly within model-driven apps. By embedding Copilot Studio into app forms, organisations can surface intelligent insights exactly where users work—without disrupting workflows.

Here’s what you need to know:

• How it works

  This approach uses Power Apps Component Framework (PCF) controls to call Copilot Studio Agent APIs, triggering AI reasoning, returning responses, and enabling optional user actions—all within the app experience.

• Why it matters

  Embedded AI accelerates decision-making, keeps users in flow, and ensures consistent outcomes through reusable, domain-aware agent topics and custom prompts.

• What you’ll need

  A model-driven app, PCF control, Copilot Studio agent, custom prompts, and Dataverse tables—combining deep UI customization with loosely coupled AI logic.

• Real-world use cases

  In healthcare, clinicians receive treatment suggestions based on patient data. In finance, advisors get investment recommendations aligned to portfolio and risk profiles.

Unlock real, actionable insights from your Dynamics 365 and Power Platform data with AI. Discover Infinity AI Agents and get in touch today.

Microsoft Enhances .NET Testing Workflows with Azure DevOps Integration

Microsoft has announced full Azure DevOps support for its modern .NET testing solution, Microsoft.Testing.Platform, marking a major step toward smoother CI/CD testing workflows. The update introduces intelligent handling of test retries and better pipeline integration, aiming to improve reliability and clarity in automated test results.

Here’s what you need to know:

• What’s New in Azure DevOps?

  Azure DevOps now provides first-class support for Microsoft.Testing.Platform, allowing you to run tests with the familiar DotNetCoreCLI task and handle retries intelligently.

• What is Microsoft.Testing.Platform?

  Microsoft.Testing.Platform is a modern, lightweight alternative to VSTest, built for flexibility and performance.

• Running Tests in Azure DevOps

  Run tests using the recommended DotNetCoreCLI task or execute dotnet test directly when custom scripting is needed.

• Understanding Retry Outcomes

  Retry results clearly show whether tests pass on the first run, pass after a retry, or fail after all retry attempts.

• Get Started Today

  Upgrade to .NET SDK 10, add the Retry extension, enable AllowPTRToDetectTestRunRetryFiles, and run tests with the --retry-failed-tests flag.

Curious how the right apps can enhance your Dynamics 365 and Power Platform? Explore custom business applications and connect with us.

Dataverse Search Gets Smarter with Agentic AI at the Core

Microsoft is introducing a major upgrade to Dataverse Search by embedding agentic AI to deliver more intuitive, context-aware responses across Dynamics 365 and Power Apps. The new approach transforms traditional keyword lookups into dynamic, conversational interactions with business data, marking a significant step toward more intelligent enterprise workflows.

Here’s what makes it powerful:

• From queries to real conversations

  Ask questions in natural language and get real-time, actionable insights—no need to understand tables or schemas. You can refine and build on questions as the conversation evolves.

• Agentic architecture

  This isn’t simple text-to-SQL. Each question is treated as a goal. The orchestrator reasons through it using a dynamic loop: plan → execute → refine, delivering smarter, more contextual results.

• Real-world example

  A coffee equipment seller identifies at-risk opportunities, then asks for the positive response rate for Coffee Grinder 02. The system delivers precise answers, including calculated metrics, to support faster decisions.

• Glossaries & enriched schema

  Makers can fine-tune how the Q&A agent understands data. Teach it your company’s terminology, acronyms, and add richer descriptions to tables and columns—so answers align with how your business actually talks.

Turn your data into action with AI-powered Agent Actions. Analyze, recommend, and update records automatically with Infinity AI Agents—contact us to get started.

The Most-Watched .NET Videos and Live Streams That Defined 2025

2025 was a standout year for .NET video content, with the community tuning in to thousands of hours of learning, announcements, and live discussions. From must-watch beginner content to deep technical sessions and major event live streams, the year delivered some clear favorites. Microsoft has rounded up the top .NET videos and live streams that captured developers’ attention throughout 2025.

Here are the highlights:

• “Start Here” videos

  Evergreen intros continued to dominate—covering C#, .NET, .NET MAUI, and ASP.NET Core—helping new developers get up to speed fast.

• New videos released in 2025

  Conference content stood out, especially from .NET Conf, with popular sessions on .NET 10, Visual Studio 2026, clean architecture with ASP.NET Core 10, and more.

• Series highlights

  Developers followed along with preview and release waves through dedicated .NET 10 series, Aspire-focused Aspire Fridays with community guests, and deep-dive content for those wanting advanced technical insights.

• Top live streams

  Highly watched live sessions featured .NET conferences, .NET 10 discussions, modernization topics, and Model Context Protocol (MCP). Over 30 episodes of On .NET Live brought together product experts and community voices.

• Community-focused content

  .NET Community Standups continued to offer behind-the-scenes updates, open discussions, and a direct line to the teams building the platform..

Enhance your Dynamics 365 with custom business applications designed to boost your productivity. Get in touch with us today.

Power BI’s Biggest Visualization Competition Is Back

Microsoft’s flagship data visualization competition, the Power BI DataViz World Champs, is officially back for another year, inviting analytics professionals and enthusiasts worldwide to push their creative and storytelling skills with fresh challenges. The global contest will span multiple rounds of curated datasets and culminate in a live finale at FabCon 2026, spotlighting top visual talent from the Power BI community.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Contest Structure
  The competition runs across three rounds, each featuring a fresh challenge and curated dataset. Entries are evaluated through judges’ scoring and community fan voting, with one Wildcard finalist selected by the judges—leading to a live finale at FabCon 2026 on March 16.

• Three Rounds – Key Dates
  Round 1 runs from January 12–19, followed by Round 2 on January 19–26, and the Final Round from January 26 – February 2.

• Finalist Selection – Key Dates
  Community voting takes place from January 19 – February 14, with finalists announced weekly on January 26, February 2, February 9, and February 16, and the Wildcard revealed on February 16.

Discover how Power BI can turn your data into actionable insights. Explore Business Intelligence and contact us today.

Microsoft .NET Team Reflects on a Landmark Year of Developer Innovation

2025 proved to be a milestone year for the .NET community, marked by a surge in high-impact blog content spanning major platform releases, tooling updates, and ecosystem insights. The official recap highlights the most-read posts that shaped developer conversations across performance, AI, productivity and community engagement.

Here’s a quick recap:

• .NET 10

  The headline release of the year. As the latest LTS version, .NET 10 delivered improvements across the runtime, SDK, libraries, languages, workloads, and tooling.

• AI

  AI became part of everyday .NET development—from Copilot experiences to agents and tool integration patterns. Highlights included simpler AI agents for developers, building Model Context Protocol servers in C#, and the preview of new .NET AI templates.

• Productivity

  Many posts focused on shortening feedback loops, whether through smarter Copilot workflows or faster “try this now” experiences—helping developers choose the right copilot approach, from Ask mode to Agent mode.

• Announcements

  Some of the most impactful updates focused less on new features and more on how .NET is released, supported, and kept secure across the ecosystem.

• Tooling

  Tooling also leveled up with support for SLNX, a simpler solution file format in the .NET CLI, and dotnet run app.cs, making it easier than ever to get started with C# and .NET 10.

Unlock more value from Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform with custom business applications designed for your workflows. Contact us to get started.

.NET Blog Explores Generative AI Foundations for .NET and C# Developers

Microsoft has published a new .NET Blog post introducing key generative AI and large language model concepts for C# developers as part of its 2026 .NET ecosystem guidance. The article offers a concise refresher on what AI and generative AI are, and how these technologies can be leveraged to create intelligent, responsive applications in .NET.

Here’s what you need to know:

• What is Generative AI?

  Generative AI refers to systems that can create text, images, audio, code, and more. These systems are powered by Large Language Models (LLMs) trained on billions of tokens to generate intelligent, contextual outputs.

• Tokens and parameters

  Models don’t read text directly—they break it into tokens such as words, fragments, or characters. Parameters are the trained weights that influence a model’s reasoning depth, knowledge, and nuance.

• Prompts, instructions, and tools

  Prompts are what users send to the model, while system instructions act as a hidden blueprint guiding its behavior. Tools (or functions) allow the model to access real-world data and services like APIs, databases, or business systems.

• Model Context Protocol (MCP) and agents

  MCP provides standards that let models understand which tools are available and how to use them. Agents combine a model, tools, and context into a specialized, goal-driven AI solution.

• Model management in the .NET ecosystem

  The .NET ecosystem enables secure, trusted, and cost-effective AI using platforms like GitHub Models, Microsoft Foundry, Foundry Local, and Ollama. These tools help developers choose, host, and run models for both enterprise and local workloads.

Unlock AI that adapts to your business in Dynamics 365 and Power Platform. Explore Infinity AI Agents and get in touch today!