In this installment of the Friday Tech Five we're ranging far and wide looking at what's happening in the tech industry, some new products and even word on a Farm Industry News friend and his work explaining ag tech to others.

First up is news from EquipmentWatch, a sister brand to Farm Industry News which recently highlighted equipment that maintained its used equipment value. Now the brand is launching the EquipmentWatch Market Report. EW works to gather data from a variety of public sources including sales information and auction data to develop in-depth pricing trend models.

This new Market Report looks at the construction, agriculture and heavy truck industries and shows pricing and value trends not only for each industry, but for specific equipment types in the industry. The report is free for you to download and offers insight into the fair market value (FMV) and the forced liquidation value (FLV) for equipment in each industry. You can learn more about the report here.

Microsoft issued its earnings report this week and returns were below market expectations in part because of the continued slump in the PC market - we're doing so much with our smart phones and tablets now. In addition, the company is turning to cloud computing in a big way - called Microsoft Azure - and while that's a growing business it's not growing as fast as first predicted.

The company is - however - gaining traction with its subscription approach to Microsoft Office, which is bringing a growing income stream to the firm. Check out this report - including a live blog at the end - from the Microsoft earnings call. It appeared on recode.net.

Precision Hawk gets a little help from outside investors with news the company has landed $18 million in Series C funding from the venture arms of three companies - Verizon, Yamaha and Japan's largest mobile phone network NTT Docomo. Great news for industry, and further proof that investors outside of agriculture are interested in the future of food production technology; and the folks at AgFunder note that it is Verizon's first ag investment; the big wireless provider has been talking up its ag work in the past apparently it's opened its wallet too.

Syngenta talks tech investments in another report from AgFunder, a group that helps facilitate funding for fledgling companies in agriculture. As for Syngenta, no fledgling firm, Jamie Eichorn outlines the company's strategy. He heads up technology services at the seed and crop protection giant. Eichorn talks candidly about how the company views different parts of its business.

Telling the ag tech story takes some dedication and apparently a love of travel. Our friend Chad Colby, who talks AgTech often and travels the globe (he was in Australia recently), was in West Virginia recently at the Robert C. Bird Institute, talking ag technology and a local television station caught up with him. You can learn what Chad had to say, and how it was covered by local television reporters.

If you have comments, or tech news we should look into, send along a link and we'll include it with this weekly report.