Microsoft news – Page 145

Posted on December 5, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Soundscape app uses Bing Maps to deliver the world in 3D sound to people who are blind or have low vision

Imagine being able to navigate through your neighborhood using your hearing alone. Microsoft Soundscape is an application built by the Enable Group in Microsoft Research that helps the blind and low vision explore the world around them using a map delivered in 3D sound. Armed with a stereo headset and the Soundscape app, anyone with a visual impairment can experience a mobile voice-based map that helps empower by providing the independence to traverse your environment and the ability to choose how to get from place to another.

With the help of Bing Maps Local Search and Bing Maps Location Recognition APIs, Soundscape enables you to hear where landmarks are around you to orient yourself, build a richer awareness of your surroundings, and have the confidence to discover what’s around the next corner.

Read the full story at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/maps/customers/microsoft-soundscape.

Posted on December 5, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Microsoft Research Open Data Project: Evolving our standards for data access and reproducible research

Last summer we announced Microsoft Research Open Data—an Azure-based repository-as-a-service for sharing datasets—to encourage the reproducibility of research and make research data assets readily available in the cloud. Among other things, the project started a conversation between the community and Microsoft’s legal team about dataset licensing. Inspired by these conversations, our legal team developed a set of brand new data use agreements and released them for public comment on Github earlier this year.

Today we’re excited to announce that Microsoft Research Open Data will be adopting these data use agreements for several datasets that we offer.

Diving a bit deeper on the new data use agreements

The Open Use of Data Agreement (O-UDA) is intended for use by an individual or organization that is able to distribute data for unrestricted uses, and for which there is no privacy or confidentiality concern. It is not appropriate for datasets that include any data that might include materials subject to privacy laws (such as the GDPR or HIPAA) or other unlicensed third-party materials. The O-UDA meets the open definition: it does not impose any restriction with respect to the use or modiﬁcation of data other than ensuring that attribution and limitation of liability information is passed downstream. In the research context, this implies that users of the data need to cite the corresponding publication with which the data is associated. This aids in findability and reusability of data, an important tenet in the FAIR guiding principles for scientific data management and stewardship.

We also recognize that in certain cases, datasets useful for AI and research analysis may not be able to be fully “open” under the O-UDA. For example, they may contain third-party copyrighted materials, such as text snippets or images, from publicly available sources. The law permits their use for research, so following the principle that research data should be “as open as possible, as closed as necessary,” we developed the Computational Use of Data Agreement (C-UDA) to make data available for research while respecting other interests. We will prefer the O-UDA where possible, but we see the C-UDA as a useful tool for ensuring that researchers continue to have access to important and relevant datasets.

Datasets that reflect the goals of our project

The following examples reference datasets that have adopted the Open Use of Data Agreement (O-UDA).

Location data for geo-privacy research

Microsoft researcher John Krumm and collaborators collected GPS data from 21 people who carried a GPS receiver in the Seattle area. Users who provided their data agreed to it being shared as long as certain geographic regions were deleted. This work covers key research on privacy preservation of GPS data as evidenced in the corresponding paper, “Exploring End User Preferences for Location Obfuscation, Location-Based Services, and the Value of Location,” which was accepted at the Twelfth ACM International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp 2010). The paper has been cited 147 times, including for research that builds upon this work to further the field of preservation of geo-privacy for location-based services providers.

Hand gestures data for computer vision

Another example dataset is that of labeled hand images and video clips collected by researchers Eyal Krupka, Kfir Karmon, and others. The research addresses an important computer vision and machine learning problem that deals with developing a hand-gesture-based interface language. The data was recorded using depth cameras and has labels that cover joints and fingertips. The two datasets included are FingersData, which contains 3,500 labeled depth frames of various hand poses, and GestureClips, which contains 140 gesture clips (100 of these contain labeled hand gestures and 40 contain non-gesture activity). The research associated with this dataset is available in the paper “Toward Realistic Hands Gesture Interface: Keeping it Simple for Developers and Machines,” which was published in Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Question-Answer data for machine reading comprehension

Finally, the FigureQA dataset generated by researchers Samira Ebrahimi Kahou, Adam Atkinson, Adam Trischler, Yoshua Bengio and collaborators, introduces a visual reasoning task for research that is specific to graphical plots and figures. The dataset has 180,000 figures with 1.3 million question-answer pairs in the training set. More details about the dataset are available in the paper “FigureQA: An Annotated Figure Dataset for Visual Reasoning” and corresponding Microsoft Research Blog post. The dataset is pivotal to developing more powerful visual question answering and reasoning models, which potentially improve accuracy of AI systems that are involved in decision making based on charts and graphs.

The data agreements are a part of our larger goals

Microsoft Research Open Data project was conceived from the start to reflect Microsoft Research’s commitment to fostering open science and research and to achieve this without compromising the ethics of collecting and sharing data. Our goal is to make it easier for researchers to maintain provenance of data while having the ability to reference and build upon it.

The addition of the new data agreements to Microsoft Research Open Data’s feature set is an exciting step in furthering our mission.

Acknowledgements: This work would not have been possible without the substantial team effort by — Dave Green, Justin Colannino, Gretchen Deo, Sarah Kim, Emily McReynolds, Mario Madden, Emily Schlesinger, Elaine Peterson, Leila Stevenson, Dave Baskin, and Sergio Loscialo.

Posted on December 5, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Can AI help save penguins? How Gramener is building tools to protect species from extinction

Working on Microsoft Azure platform, Mohanty and his colleagues used a Convolutional Neural Network model to come up with a solution that can identify and count penguins with a high degree of accuracy. The model can potentially help researchers speed up their studies around the status of penguin populations.

The team is now working on the classification, identification and counting of other species using similar deep learning techniques.

Building AI to save the planet

A long-time Microsoft partner headquartered in Hyderabad in India, Gramener is not new to leveraging AI for social good using Microsoft Azure. It was one of the earliest partners for Microsoft’s AI for Earth program announced in 2017.

“I believe that AI can help make the world a better place by accelerating biodiversity conservation and help solve the biggest environmental challenges we face today. When we came to know about Microsoft’s AI for Earth program over two years ago, we reached out to Microsoft as we wanted to find ways to partner and help with our expertise,” says Kesari.

While the program was still in its infancy, the teams from Gramener and Microsoft worked jointly to come up with quick projects to showcase what’s possible with AI and inspire those out there in the field. They started with a proof of concept for identifying flora and fauna species in a photograph.

“We worked more like an experimentation arm working with the team led by Lucas Joppa (Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Officer, and founder of AI for Earth). We built a model, using data available from iNaturalist, that could classify thousands of different species with 80 percent accuracy,” Kesari reveals.

Another proof of concept revolved around camera traps that are used for biodiversity studies in forests. The camera traps take multiple images whenever they detect motion, which leads to a large number of photos that had to be scanned manually.

Soumya Ranjan Mohanty, Lead Data Scientist, Gramener

“Most camera trap photos are blank as they don’t have any animal in the frame. Even in the frames that do, often the animal is too close to be identified or the photo is blurry,” says Mohanty, who also leads the AI for Earth partnership from Gramener.

The team came up with a two-step solution that first weeds out unusable images and then uses a deep learning model to classify images that have an animal in them. This solution too was converted by the Microsoft team into what is now the Camera Trap API that AI for Earth grantees or anyone can freely use.

“AI is critical to conservation because we simply don’t have time to wait for humans to annotate millions of images before we can answer wildlife population questions. For the same reason, we need to rapidly prototype AI applications for conservation, and it’s been fantastic to have Gramener on board as our ‘advanced development team’,” says Dan Morris, principal scientist and program director for Microsoft’s AI for Earth program.

Anticipating the needs of grantees, Gramener and Microsoft have also worked on creating other APIs, like the Land Cover Mapping API that leverages machine learning to provide high-resolution land cover information. These APIs are now part of the public technical resources available for AI for Earth grantees or anyone to use, to accelerate their projects without having to build the base model themselves.

Posted on December 5, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

KPMG’s digital shift fuels AI-empowered audits and more, reducing risk across every industry

Envision this: It’s another frenetic morning in the stock market as an army of traders at one company chat with their clients by phone – counseling and cautioning, buying and selling.

The outcomes of those calls and transactions carry no guarantees, of course. There will be some winners, some losers. But before the closing bell rings, the traders’ company – an advisory client of KPMG – is sure of one outcome: the engagements were analyzed and potential risks surfaced.

How can the company be so certain? It deployed KPMG’s trader-risk-analytics platform, a solution that applies Azure Cognitive Services to help reduce risk and meet rising regulatory requirements within the financial services industry.

The platform is just one example of a solution jointly developed in the KPMG and Microsoft Digital Solution Hub, and a testament to KPMG’s drive to digitize its customer offerings across advisory, tax and audit by implementing Microsoft’s intelligent cloud.

En employee walks through a hallway at KPMG. — An employee at KPMG.

To accelerate KPMG’s move to the cloud, KPMG and Microsoft have signed a five-year agreement that will allow KPMG and its clients to benefit from Microsoft innovations, including a strong focus on AI, risk and cyber security.

As one of the “Big Four” organizations, KPMG’s services and solutions encompass all industries – from government to banking to health care. That wide-ranging impact means KPMG also provides a potent business case for the potential of Microsoft technology to enhance and revitalize customers’ businesses across every sector, says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

“Together with KPMG, we’re accelerating digital transformation across industries by bringing the latest advances in cloud, AI and security to highly regulated workloads in audit, tax and advisory,” Nadella says.

To grasp the scope and reach of KPMG’s digital evolution, take a closer look at one of the platforms it has launched for a core business line – audit. Better yet, just meet KPMG Clara.

KPMG is bolstering audit quality by infusing the process with data analytics, AI and Azure Cognitive Services, allowing audit professionals to use company data to bring more relevance to their audit findings and continue to meet increasing regulatory requirements and standards. KPMG uses Azure Cognitive Services to provide more continuous, holistic and deeper insights and value on audit-relevant data.

The company’s smart audit platform, KPMG Clara, is automated, agile, intelligent and scalable – ushering in what KPMG calls a new era for the audit. KPMG is deploying KPMG Clara globally, allowing clients access to real-time information arising from the audit process and communication with the audit team.

A KPMG building is shown from outside with grass in the foreground. — A KPMG building.

In addition, KPMG Clara will integrate with Microsoft Teams, providing a platform for audit professionals to work together on a project, centrally managing and securely sharing audit files, tracking audit-related activities and communicating using chat, voice and video meetings. This will simplify the auditors’ workflow, enabling them to stay in sync throughout the entire process and drive continuous communication with the client.

“Technology is disrupting organizations across the globe,” says Bill Thomas, global chairman of KPMG International. “Clients are turning to us like never before to help them implement, manage and optimize the digital transformation of their organizations.”

In fact, 65% of CEOs believe that AI will create more jobs than it eliminates, according to a survey of 1,300 CEOs conducted by KPMG for its 2019 “Global CEO Outlook” report.

The survey also found that 50% of CEOs expect to see significant a return on their AI investments in three to five years, while 100% have piloted or implemented AI to automate processes.

Through its tech expansion, KPMG’s clients will benefit from “consistent global service delivery, greater speed of deployment and industry-leading security standards to safeguard their data,” the company says.

At the same time, KPMG professionals will gain access to an arsenal of cloud-based tools to build business solutions and managed services that are embedded with AI and machine learning capabilities.

And with robotic process automation (RPA), they can utilize AI-infused software that completes the types of high-volume, repeatable tasks that once drained hours from their work weeks.

Two people inside a KPMG building enter a stairwell. — Two people entering a KPMG member firm.

“Technology and data-driven business models are disrupting the business landscape,” says KPMG global chairman Thomas. “Our multi-year investment in digital leadership will help us remain at the forefront of this shift and further strengthen our position as the digital transformation partner of choice for our clients.”

KPMG also is modernizing its workplace for 207,000 employees across 153 member firms, using the Microsoft 365 suite of cloud-based collaboration and productivity tools, including Microsoft Teams.

KPMG deployed Dynamics 365 for more than 30,000 of their professionals across 17 member firms. This equips them with modern customer-relationship applications to quickly and efficiently manage both client requests and client demand.

Says Nadella: “KPMG’s deep industry and process expertise, combined with the power of our trusted cloud – spanning Azure, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 – will bring the best of both organizations together to help customers around the world become more agile in an increasingly complex business environment.”

Top photo: Two people sitting in a KPMG lobby. (All photos courtesy of KPMG)

Posted on December 5, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

KPMG expects to invest US$5 billion in digital strategy and expand Microsoft alliance to accelerate professional services transformation

New innovations built on Microsoft cloud and AI technologies help clients achieve greater accuracy and decision-making capabilities, increased productivity, and cost efficiencies.

AMSTELVEEN, Netherlands and REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 5, 2019 — KPMG and Microsoft Corp. are strengthening their global relationship through a five-year agreement to accelerate digital transformation for KPMG member firms and mutual clients. As part of its announcement to significantly invest in technology, people and innovation,, KPMG is modernizing its workplace using the Microsoft 365 suite of cloud-based collaboration and productivity tools, including Microsoft Teams. KPMG is also utilizing Microsoft Azure and its AI capabilities as the backbone for a new common, global cloud-based platform. The platform will strengthen KPMG’s range of digital offerings with new innovations in cloud-based audit capabilities, tax solutions and risk management. Clients in all sectors, including those in highly regulated industries, benefit from globally consistent and continuous service delivery that enables greater speed of deployment while adhering to industry-leading compliance and security standards.

“Together with KPMG, we’re accelerating digital transformation across industries by bringing the latest advances in cloud, AI and security to highly regulated workloads in tax, audit and advisory,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “KPMG’s deep industry and process expertise, combined with the power of our trusted cloud — spanning Azure, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 — will bring the best of both organizations together to help customers around the world become more agile in an increasingly complex business environment.”

New business-critical solutions

As organizations expand to new geographies, develop new products and recruit new talent, processes can become increasingly complex and harder to scale. Market forces, such as evolving data protection laws, currency fluctuations and geopolitical tensions, increase the complexity and require a greater responsiveness for systems and tools.

The strong portfolio of KPMG and Microsoft alliance offerings can help address these challenges more quickly by building applications on demand, automating manual processes, and continuously analyzing information to minimize the risk of errors and increase the ability to make smart decisions.

“Our alliance with Microsoft has become a critical component in helping us deliver industry-leading solutions and services to clients. Our significant multiyear investment continues to empower our people to work more efficiently and collaboratively while maximizing the power of a workforce that blends people and technology,” said Bill Thomas, Global Chairman, KPMG International. “By harnessing Microsoft’s intelligent and trusted cloud, we aim to help clients be at the forefront of change and better prepared for a digital-first future.”

Combining industry expertise with advanced technology

Through a jointly funded incubator, KPMG and Microsoft are co-developing a robust portfolio of solutions and managed services in the areas of cloud business transformation, intelligent business applications and smart workplace solutions.

For example, KPMG in the U.S. and Microsoft are working together to bring the power of Azure to the healthcare and life sciences industries. This collaboration is enabling organizations within this highly regulated sector to maximize their clinical, operational and financial performance with an easily scalable solution that helps improve deployment speed, accelerate ROI and increase data-driven insights.

In addition, KPMG in the Netherlands has developed risk management, compliance and internal audit solutions that leverage discovery tools to enable the digitization of risk and compliance processes across domains such as finance, legal and IT. Designed by KPMG and built on Microsoft Azure, the solutions provide seamless and cost-efficient policy and controls automation, putting smart analytics directly in the hands of business and IT operators so they can make timely, corrective actions when deviations occur.

Smart audit platform

KPMG, with the launch of its smart audit platform KPMG Clara in 2017, became the first of the Big Four to take its audit workflow to the cloud. Based on Microsoft Azure, KPMG Clara is an automated, agile, intelligent and scalable platform that allows KPMG professionals to work smarter, bringing powerful data and analytics capabilities into one interface, while allowing clients to interact on a real-time basis with the audit process.

By enriching the audit mandate with AI, KPMG enables its professionals to make decisions based on real-time data. This further reinforces KPMG’s commitment to maintaining and enhancing audit quality and building a future where technology continually enriches the audit through the introduction of new digital advancements.

KPMG Clara will integrate with Microsoft Teams, providing a platform for audit professionals to centrally manage and securely share audit files, track audit-related activities, and communicate using chat, voice and video meetings. This helps simplify the auditors’ workflow, enabling them to stay in sync throughout the entire process and drive continuous communication with the client.

Empowering workforce transformation

Through its common, global cloud platform, KPMG will create a set of cloud-based capabilities ranging from hosting infrastructure based on Microsoft Azure to more than 50 advanced solutions, such as AI, cyber and robotic process automation (RPA). KPMG will further empower its global workforce of over 207,000 employees across 153 countries with Microsoft 365, including Teams, to better meet the needs of clients through increased collaboration, improved productivity and data-driven insights. In addition, more than 30,000 KPMG professionals across 17 member firms have been equipped with Dynamics 365, a suite of powerful customer relationship applications.

To read more about the KPMG and Microsoft alliance, visit the Microsoft Transform blog.

About KPMG International

KPMG is a global network of professional services firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services. We operate in 153 countries and territories and have 207,000 people working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such.

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

For more information, press only:
Microsoft Media Relations, WE Communications for Microsoft, (425) 638-7777,
rrt@we-worldwide.com
Mark Walters, KPMG International, (646) 943-2115, mgwalters@kpmg.com

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://news.microsoft.com. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-public-relations-contacts.

Posted on December 4, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Computer Science Education Week begins Dec. 9: Here’s how to teach students to code with Minecraft

Computer Science Education Week is almost here, and we’re more excited than ever about teaching students to code with Minecraft. Schools, nonprofits, and Microsoft Stores around the world are running Hour of Code events as people of all ages learn the basics of coding. The new Minecraft Hour of Code lesson aligns with this year’s theme, Computer Science for Good. Learn how coding can help build a better world—in just one hour!

For the first time, the Minecraft Hour of Code is available for free in Minecraft: Education Edition in more than 20 languages. Students will explore coding and artificial intelligence as they protect a village from forest fires in an immersive Minecraft world. The lesson is based on a real-world example of AI used for conservation, inspired by a Microsoft AI for Earth project.

Anyone with a Windows device, Mac, or iPad can download the app and try coding in Minecraft—no license required. If you’re licensed through Office 365, you can sign in with your school account. If you haven’t had access to Minecraft: Education Edition in the past, this is a simple and fun way to give it a try!

HOW TO RUN AN HOUR OF CODE

Here are some helpful resources we’ve assembled to make sure your experience goes smoothly:

For new users: Download Minecraft: Education Edition. When you open the app, start the demo lesson to enter the Hour of Code world and start coding!
For licensed users: If you’re already updated to the latest version of Minecraft: Education Edition, the lesson will be in your in-game library. But if you’d like help making sure you’re using the right version of the game or your IT admin has questions, check out this helpful support article.
Lesson plan: Once you’re all set up, head to the Hour of Code lesson page to find the lesson plan in more than 20 languages and a solutions guide. Watch the walkthrough video for a full tour of the lesson.
Further support: For further support, here’s a step-by-step guide to the entire experience of accessing and playing the Hour of code lesson. To answer any lingering questions, take a look at our FAQ.

There are lots of ways you can get involved in Computer Science Education Week in addition to facilitating an Hour of Code in your classroom or community:

CODING LESSONS & CURRICULUM

It’s important that we create opportunities for students to explore Computer Science—not only because future jobs will require these skills, but also to ensure students don’t get left behind when it comes to STEM education. Minecraft engages students of all ages in STEM, and the Code Builder tool allows learners to use block-based coding and JavaScript, then see their code come to life in-game.

Minecraft: Education Edition offers tons of resources to help teachers and students get started with computer science, from free lessons and teacher training to 50 hours of CSTA-based curriculum. Discover how you can teach coding across the curriculum and inspire students to go beyond an Hour of Code in Minecraft.

We can’t wait for a week of learning, exploration, and inspiring students to build a better world with the power of code!

The post Code with Minecraft for Computer Science Education Week appeared first on Minecraft: Education Edition.

This post was originally published on this site.

Posted on December 4, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Microsoft holds annual shareholders meeting

Editor’s note – Dec. 4, 2019 – The percentage that all director nominees received a vote of from all votes cast was updated after initial publication.

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 4, 2019 — Speaking to shareholders at Microsoft Corp.’s annual meeting on Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella outlined Microsoft’s opportunity and responsibility: to help its customers and partners thrive in a world where every company is a technology company and to create technology that benefits everyone on the planet, including the planet itself.

“I am proud of how we are helping organizations across industries innovate and thrive using our platforms and tools,” Nadella said. “Every day, we work alongside our customers to help them build their own digital capability — innovating with them, creating new businesses with them, and earning their trust.”

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Amy Hood, reported that Microsoft executed well in fiscal year 2019 and reported a strong start to the current fiscal year. Hood noted that Microsoft’s innovation road map and ability to capture expanding market opportunities position the company well for continued growth and to deliver shareholder value.

The following proposals were acted on by the company’s shareholders at the meeting:

Re-elected 12 directors and elected one new director: Emma Walmsley, chief executive officer of GSK, to serve until the next annual meeting of shareholders. All director nominees received a vote of over 98 percent of votes cast.
Approved, on a nonbinding advisory basis, the company’s named executive officer compensation. The advisory measure received more than 76 percent of votes cast.
Ratified the selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the company’s independent auditor for fiscal year 2020, with over 96 percent of votes cast.
Rejected a shareholder proposal submitted by NorthStar Asset Management, to prepare a report on employee representation on the board of directors; the proposal received less than 5 percent of votes cast.
Rejected a shareholder proposal submitted by Arjuna Capital, to report on gender pay gap; the proposal received approximately less than 30 percent of votes cast.

Microsoft’s board of directors consists of John W. Thompson, Microsoft independent board chair; William H. Gates III, Microsoft co-founder and technology advisor; Reid G. Hoffman, partner at Greylock Partners; Hugh F. Johnston, vice chairman and chief financial officer of PepsiCo; Teri L. List-Stoll, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Gap Inc.; Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft; Sandra E. Peterson, operating partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice; Penny S. Pritzker, founder and chairman of PSP Partners; Charles W. Scharf, president and chief executive officer of Wells Fargo & Company; Arne M. Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott International Inc.; John W. Stanton, chairman of Trilogy Partnerships; Emma N. Walmsley, chief executive officer of GlaxoSmithKline; and Padmasree Warrior, founder, president and CEO, Fable Group Inc.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://news.microsoft.com. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at the time of publication but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Media Relations Team or other appropriate contacts listed at https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-public-relations-contacts.

Posted on December 4, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Coming soon to Xbox Game Pass for Console: Halo: Reach, Tom Clancy’s The Division and more

As a kid, I would park myself in front of the TV to play games,
usually close enough that I could reach out and put my grubby hands on the screen.
My father, probably frustrated that he couldn‘t watch TV for dads, like extreme
professional lawn mowing tournaments or something, always said that when I grew
into an adult, I wouldn’t care about playing games anymore. How very wrong he
was.

I’m sure you’re with me. Not only do I still play games, I still
love to play some of the same ones I did back then (Halo: Reach anybody? Age of
Empires II?). I play games based on cartoons; I make Spotify playlists of
best video game soundtracks (which – reminder! You can get 6 months of Spotify
Premium, and 1 month of EA Access and 3 months of Discord Nitro with your Xbox
Game Pass Ultimate membership right now), and I still sometimes put my grubby
hands on the screen.

Enough with
memory lane, let’s get to the games!

December 5

My Friend Pedro (ID@Xbox)
A violent ballet about friendship, imagination, and one man’s struggle to obliterate anyone in his path at the command of a conscious banana. The strategic use of split aiming, slow motion, and the stylish window breach create one sensational action sequence after another in an explosive battle through the criminal underworld.

Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker
The Naruto franchise is back with a brand-new experience in Naruto to Boruto: Shiobi Striker! This new game lets gamers battle as a team of four to compete against other teams online! Shinobi Striker is built from the ground up in a completely new graphic style. Lead your team and fight online to see who the best ninjas are!

December 6

Demon’s Tilt (ID@Xbox Day One Launch)
A tribute to ‘90s video pinball games, featuring modern effects and mechanics—including bosses, secrets, and unprecedented depth to please video gamers and hardcore pinball enthusiasts alike. Now with bigger sprites, more baddies, more secrets, and more bullets! Demon’s Tilt pushes the limits of the video pinball genre with Shmup & Hack N’ Slash elements.

Wandersong (ID@Xbox Day One Launch)
A musical platforming adventure with an emotional story. Play as a silly bard and use music to interact with everything on a journey around the world. Along the way you’ll explore, solve puzzles, and meet a huge cast of characters.

December 12

eFootball PES 2020
Experience the most realistic and authentic soccer game with eFootball PES 2020! Play with the biggest teams in world soccer, featuring Spanish champions FC Barcelona, global giants Manchester United, German champions FC Bayern München, and Italian champions Juventus — featured exclusively in PES!

Overcooked! 2 (ID@Xbox)
Overcooked returns with a brand-new helping of chaotic cooking action! Journey back to the Onion Kingdom and assemble your team of chefs in classic couch co-op or online play for up to four players. Hold onto your aprons … it’s time to save the world (again!)

Pathologic 2 (ID@Xbox Day One Launch)
A narrative-driven dramatic thriller about fighting a deadly outbreak in a secluded rural town. Face the realities of a collapsing society as you make difficult choices in seemingly lose-lose situations in this groundbreaking open-world horror RPG.

Tom Clancy’s The Division
A revolutionary next-gen experience that brings the RPG into a modern military setting for the first time. In the wake of a devastating pandemic that sweeps through New York City, basic services fail one by one, and without access to food or water the city descends into chaos. As an agent of The Division, you’ll specialize, modify, and level up your gear, weapons, and skills to take back New York.

In Case You Missed It: Even More Games

Coming as a complete shock to no one, we added more games earlier this month too! You might have missed it between the absolute monster bucket of games we announced at X019, and now. Here’s our latest drop:

November 19

Munchkin: Quacked Quest (ID@Xbox Day One Launch)
A dungeon crawler with all the humor, puns, and ducks from the hit card game Munchkin by Steve Jackson. Take down your enemies and your “allies” while gathering gold and get to the top by sacrificing foes (and friends) in pits. Grab your Rat-on-a-Stick or a Flare Gun and prepare for the rampaging hordes of monsters and friends you may have just thrown into a sacrifice pit.

November 26

The Escapists 2 (ID@Xbox)
Craft, steal, brawl, and escape! It’s time to bust out of the toughest prisons in the world as you return to the life of an inmate in The Escapists 2. Explore the biggest prisons yet with multiple floors, roofs, vents, and underground tunnels. Live by the prison rules, attending roll call, doing prison jobs and following strict routines, all the while secretly engineering your bid for freedom!

December 3

Halo: Reach (Console and PC)
Halo: Reach for Halo: The Master Chief Collection comes to the Xbox One and for the first time ever: Windows 10 PC. Looking better than ever Halo: Reach includes up to 4K UHD resolution and HDR on Xbox One X consoles. Experience the tragic and heroic story of Noble Team, who through great sacrifice and courage saved countless lives in the face of impossible odds. Enjoy iconic Halo multiplayer experiences with generation-defining player customization, unforgettable maps and classic game modes.

Member Benefits & Game Updates

EA Access,
Discord Nitro, and Spotify Premium Codes available
for new and eligible current members that sign up
for just $1 for the first 3 months. Terms and conditions apply.
Sea
of Thieves:
Seabound Soul This free update features new lore-based
tales with Captain Pendragon, the Ashen Dragon, and firebombs! Who doesn’t like
putting fiery panic in the hearts of your opposing crews in Adventure and in
the Arena?
Dead by Daylight: Cursed Legacy update released on
December 3, including free map and more.
Gears
5 eSports supporter pack is available for
purchase now and is eligible for the exclusive Xbox Game Pass discount. Get
ready for the next
eSports event on December 6.

Xbox Game Pass Quests

You were going to play the games anyways, time to get some extra points for it. You can open the Microsoft Rewards app and you’ll see a green checkmark with any Quest you’ve completed. Here’s what is on deck for your next quests:

Elf Quest
- Complete any Game Pass Quest between December 2 and 15 and get a rental of Elf on us!

Game Pass Quests from December 2 through January 6 include

Biggest Games of 2019
- Earn any achievement from our Biggest Games of the Year collection and get 100 points. See eligible games here.
Rage 2
- Complete 2 achievements in RAGE 2 to earn 200 points.
Subnautica
- Complete 2 achievements in Subnautica to earn 200 points.
ID@Xbox
- Earn 3 achievements in any ID@Xbox game and get 300 points. See eligible games here.
Play Something New
- Earn 1 achievement in any of these new games released and get 100 points. See eligible games here.

Leaving Soon

It’s sad to see games go as we bring in new ones, we know. If you love these games and aren’t ready to say goodbye, you can buy any game that’s leaving soon before they leave on December 13 at up to 20% off.

Ashen
Life is Strange:
Before the Storm
Life is Strange
Season 1
Pro Evolution Soccer
2019

In
closing: A bucket of games coming soon to our library (many you can play right now
by using the Xbox app to download from
wherever you are for both console and PC), discounts on games, free updates to
others, and quests to earn points in games you were probably going to play
anyways (might as well get some rewards out of it). Anything not in that list,
we’ll make a meme of it on Twitter or Instagram.

If
you’re not a member yet, but want to check out the these great games, try your first three months of Xbox Game Pass
Ultimate for just $1. Good luck getting through all these games!

Posted on December 3, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

New Realms Plus monthly subscription service now available for Minecraft multiplayers

Are you familiar with Minecraft Realms? It was our monthly subscription service that let you and up to ten friends play online Minecraft multiplayer together in your own private server! And as of today, it’s GONE FOREVER 🙁

But the good news is, we’re replacing it with something better, Realms Plus! With this new monthly subscription service, you still get your own private server for you and your friends to enjoy, plus you get over fifty pieces of Minecraft Marketplace content. All for the same price!

So if you’re currently subscribed to Minecraft Realms, you’ll be upgraded to Realms Plus for free. If you’re not currently subscribed to Minecraft Realms, you won’t be upgraded to Realms Plus for free, because we had accounting run the numbers and apparently that’s not a great business model for us. Sorry! Take solace in the fact that you can try your first month of Realms Plus for free.

Let’s enjoy the launch trailer:

Posted on December 3, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Microsoft Security—a Leader in 5 Gartner Magic Quadrants

Gartner has named Microsoft Security a Leader in five Magic Quadrants. This is exciting news that we believe speaks to the breadth and depth of our security offerings. Gartner places vendors as Leaders who demonstrate balanced progress and effort in all execution and vision categories. This means that Leaders not only have the people and capabilities to deliver strong solutions today, they also understand the market and have a strategy for meeting customer needs in the future. Microsoft was identified as a Leader in the following five security areas:

Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) solutions¹
Access Management²
Enterprise Information Archiving³
Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) tools⁴
Endpoint Protection Platforms⁵

Given this, Microsoft Security doesn’t just deliver strong security products in five crucial security areas only. We provide a comprehensive set of security solutions that are built to work together, from identity and access management to threat protection to information protection and cloud security.

Our products integrate easily and share intelligence from the trillions of signals generated daily on the Microsoft Intelligent Security Graph. And they work with non-Microsoft solutions too. You can monitor and safeguard your assets across clouds—whether you use Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Slack, Salesforce, or all the above.

By unifying security tools, you get visibility into your entire environment across on-premises and the cloud, to better protect all your users, data, devices, and applications. Today, we’ll review the five areas where Microsoft is recognized as a Leader in security.

A Leader in CASB

Our cloud security solutions provide cross-cloud protection, whether you use Amazon Web Services, Azure, Google Cloud Platform—or all three. We also help you safeguard your data in third-party apps like Salesforce and Slack.

Gartner named Microsoft a Leader in CASB based on the ability to execute and completeness of vision. Cloud App Security provides rich visibility into your shadow IT, enables you to identify and remediate cloud native attacks, and allows you to control how your data travels across all your cloud apps—whether they’re from Microsoft or third-party applications.

As Gartner says in the CASB Magic Quadrant, “platforms from leading CASB vendors were born in the cloud and designed for the cloud. They have a deeper understanding of users, devices, applications, transactions, and sensitive data than CASB functions designed to be extensions of traditional network security and SWG security technologies.”

We work closely with customer to improve our products, which is one of the reasons our customer base for Cloud App Security continues to grow.

A Leader in Access Management

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is a universal identity and access management platform that provides the right people the right access to the right resources. It safeguards identities and simplifies access for users. Users sign in once with a single identity to access all the apps they need—whether they’re on-premises apps, Microsoft apps, or third-party cloud apps. Microsoft was recognized for high scores in market understanding and customer experience.

Gartner says, “Vendors that have developed Access Management as a service have risen in popularity. Gartner estimates that 90 percent or more of clients based in North America and approximately 65 percent in Europe and the Asia/Pacific region countries are also seeking SaaS-delivered models for new Access Management purchases. This demonstrates a preference for agility, quicker time to new features, elimination of continual software upgrades, reduction of supported infrastructure and other SaaS versus software benefits demonstrated in the market.”

A Leader in Enterprise Information Archiving

Enterprise information archiving solutions help organizations archive emails, instant messages, SMS, and social media content. Gartner recognized us as a Leader in this Magic Quadrant based on ability to execute and completeness of vision.

Gartner estimates, “By 2023, 45 percent of enterprise customers will adopt an enterprise information archiving (EIA) solution to meet new requirements driven by data privacy regulations; this is a major increase from five percent in 2019.”

A Leader in Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)

Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) solutions provide a comprehensive solution to manage mobile devices and traditional endpoints, like PCs and Macs. Microsoft’s solution, Microsoft Intune, lets you securely support company-provided devices and bring your own device policies. You can even protect company apps and data on unmanaged devices. We have seen rapid growth in Intune deployments and expect that growth to continue.

Gartner noted that, “Leaders are identified as those vendors with strong execution and vision scores with products that exemplify the suite of functions that assist organizations in managing a diverse field of mobile and traditional endpoints. Leaders provide tools that catalyze the migration of PCs from legacy CMT management tools to modern, UEM-based management.”

Intune is built to work with other Microsoft 365 security solutions, such as Cloud App Security and Azure AD to unify your security approach across all your clouds and devices. As Gartner writes, “Achieving a truly simplified, single-console approach to endpoint management promises many operational benefits.”

A Leader in Endpoint Protection Platforms

Our threat protection solutions provide tools to identify, investigate, and respond to threats across all your endpoints. Gartner named Microsoft a Leader for Endpoint Protection Platforms, recognizing our products and our strengths and ability to execute and completeness of vision. Azure Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) detects and investigates advanced attacks on-premises and in the cloud. Windows Defender Antivirus protects PCs against software threats like viruses, malware, and spyware across email, apps, the cloud, and the web.

Gartner says, “A Leader in this category will have broad capabilities in advanced malware protection, and proven management capabilities for large-enterprise accounts.”

Learn more

Microsoft is committed to helping our customers digitally transform while providing the security solutions that enable them to focus on what they do best. Learn more about our comprehensive security solutions across identity and access management, cloud security, information protection, threat protection, and universal endpoint management by visiting our website.

¹Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Cloud Access Security Brokers,” by Steve Riley, Craig Lawson, October 2019

²Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Access Management,” by Michael Kelley, Abhyuday Data, Henrique, Teixeira, August 2019

³Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Information Archiving,” by Julian Tirsu, Michael Hoech, November 2019

⁴Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Unified Endpoint Management Tools,” by Chris Silva, Manjunath Bhat, Rich Doheny, Rob Smith, August 2019

⁵Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms,” by Peter Firstbrook, Dionisio Zumerle, Prateek Bhajanka, Lawrence Pingree, Paul Webber, August 2019

These graphics were published by Gartner, Inc. as part of larger research documents and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner documents are available upon request from Microsoft. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product, or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.