Recent News – Page 181

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

Evolution of Windows IoT: The foundation for your intelligent edge

It began more than 20 years ago, in the days before sensors monitored soil health, before smart shelves managed product levels, before artificial intelligence and IoT-enabled cameras reduced violent crime.

Before the term “Internet of Things” had been coined, Microsoft Windows was there—but not just on our PCs. It was quietly running on the smallest, embedded devices—the precursors to the intelligent, connected devices of today.

In fact, Windows IoT is more than two decades in the making, and now, Windows IoT is helping businesses of all sizes achieve digital transformation and delight customers with secure, modern experiences that bridge the physical and digital worlds.

Read on to discover how Windows IoT has evolved into one of the most trusted IoT platforms—and learn about the groundbreaking capabilities that are coming soon.

Windows IoT Core: a history of innovation

Since the 1990s, we’ve been innovating our popular Windows OS to meet the needs of device manufacturers, providing a familiar, cost-effective, and secure platform. We were already optimizing Windows for small, single-purpose embedded devices ranging from toys to telephones through our Windows CE and Windows NT Embedded products. Over the years, we have continued to build on this groundbreaking work.

Back when Windows IoT Core was introduced, it was the first time you could run the Windows OS on tiny computers, such as the Raspberry Pi. Designed for device makers, our initial focus was on development kits and building a community of Windows IoT developers. From there, we expanded to meet the needs of commercial customers who wanted long-term support, including a high-quality development environment.

Today, Windows 10 IoT Core is a mature product that enables manufacturers to go to market quickly with small-footprint devices that are secure, low cost, and built for the intelligent edge. Windows IoT Core provides a royalty-free OS for prototyping, developing and testing IoT devices.

Providing security and maintenance for a multitude of devices in the field can be extremely challenging, so one of the biggest additions we’ve made recently is Windows 10 IoT Core Services. Windows 10 IoT Core Services ensures long-term OS support and services for managing device updates and device health. Benefits include reduced operating costs with over-the air-updates for OS, apps, and drivers—plus 10 years of OS system support and enhanced security.

Additionally, with the release of Windows 10 IoT Core on NXP i.MX 6, 7 and now 8M series of application processors, we have support for industrial grade silicon. Meanwhile, we continue to work behind the scenes on products that haven’t been announced yet.

The evolution of Windows IoT Enterprise

For customers wanting the full power of Windows 10, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise provides a locked down, full version of Windows 10 that delivers enterprise manageability and security to IoT solutions across multiple industries. It shares all the benefits of the worldwide Windows ecosystem, including the same familiar application compatibility, development and management tools as client PCs and laptops.

Licensed for fixed-purpose, smart devices, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise features advanced capabilities that make it much easier to configure and lock down mission critical devices. This means that developers can spend more time creating outstanding solutions, without worrying about the nuts and bolts.

Like Windows 10 IoT Core Services, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise includes long-term support. With the critical nature of security, being able to get security updates over the course of ten years without having significant changes in the OS is of enormous value.

Both Windows 10 IoT Core and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise offer easy integration with the Microsoft Azure platform, simplifying scale and device management, as well as the implementation of advanced features like hardware-assisted machine learning inferencing and containers.

Bringing it all together with Azure IoT Edge

Azure IoT Edge extends cloud intelligence and analytics to edge devices, providing a secure and easy way for developers to move cloud and custom workloads to the edge and tap the power of Windows 10 IoT. Azure IoT Edge enables seamless deployment of AI and advanced analytics capabilities, and the Azure IoT Device Agent for Windows makes it easy for operators to remotely configure, update and monitor edge devices.

IoT Edge modules, implemented as Docker-compatible containers, enables management of device updates and the deployment of business logic at the edge. Multiple modules can be configured to communicate with each other, and custom modules can be developed to provide insights offline and at the edge. Again, 10 years of ongoing support, security and patch management add to the ROI as well as customer confidence.

The future of Windows IoT

In late February, we announced the availability of Windows Server IoT 2019, which can securely handle the largest edge computing workloads. Windows Server IoT 2019 brings the power of high-availability and high-performance storage and networking to the edge, addressing latency and connectivity requirements and enabling customers to maintain data on-premises while securely storing and analyzing large amounts of data.

Additionally, we’ve got some thrilling product advancements lined up over the course of the next 12 to 18 months, focusing on end-to-end security, simplicity and cost-effectiveness. We are working with OEMs to bring existing devices onto a new, modern OS—and helping them connect to the cloud. Microsoft is making substantial investments in cloud connectivity and using the power of Windows to accelerate our customers’ journeys to the cloud and the intelligent edge.

From a developer perspective, we are focused on efficiency and making Windows a great place for machine learning through innovations like AI at the edgeWinML allows developers to harness the capabilities of any Windows 10 device to use pre-trained machine learning models—both custom and off-the-shelf—making it immensely powerful and ideally suited to intelligent edge devices. WinML accelerates the evaluation of deep learning models on Direct X12-capable devices. It also evaluates on local hardware, enabling low latency and high performance for quick results.

A great example of the benefits WinML brings to IoT solutions is IoT-PREDICT. This predictive maintenance solution from ActionPoint runs on Windows 10 IoT Enterprise and uses machine learning, as well as data analytics and advanced capabilities, to help manufacturers reduce equipment downtime, save money and drive operational efficiency.

Windows Embedded and now Windows IoT have provided device builders and developers innovative products that offer security, simplicity and flexibility, backed-up with commercial grade support, including 10 years of support with our Long Term Servicing Channel. Windows IoT is accelerating digital transformation and enabling customers to build secure, connected products and modern experiences that delight customers.

We’re proud of how we have helped reshape the business landscape through IoT and the intelligent edge. And we’re thrilled about the road ahead. Stay tuned to see how we continue to lead global IoT innovation.

Meanwhile, be sure to tune into the IoT in Action on-demand webinar, Windows IoT: Business Transformation, to discover how Windows 10 IoT can help you get up and running quickly. You’ll learn how, with a platform that spans cloud, OS and devices, Microsoft IoT technology is uniquely positioned to simplify the IoT journey.

You can also watch the Windows IoT in Manufacturing webinar to hear how our partners are empowering device manufacturers to build secure, connected enterprise and consumer devices with Windows 10 IoT. Watch and discover how you can create trusted, connected solutions that improve business and customer experiences – regardless of company size, technical expertise, budget, or industry.

Posted on April 2, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Microsoft and BMW Group launch Open Manufacturing Platform, allowing companies to team up to speed production

With the expansion of IoT across all industries data is becoming the currency of innovation. Organizations have both an opportunity and a business imperative to adopt technologies quickly, build digital competencies, and offer new value-added services that will serve their broader ecosystem.

Manufacturing is an industry where IoT is having a transformational impact, yet which also requires many companies to come together for IoT to be effective. We see several challenges that slow down innovation in manufacturing, such as proprietary data structures from legacy industrial assets and closed industrial solutions. These closed structures foster data silos and limit productivity, hindering production and profitability. It takes more than new software to drive transformation—it takes a new approach to open standards, an ecosystem mindset, the ability to break out of the “walled garden” for data as well as new technology.

This is why Microsoft has invested heavily in making Azure work seamlessly with OPC UA. In fact, we are the leading contributor of open source software to the OPC Foundation. To further this open platform approach, we have collaborated with world-leading manufacturers to accelerate innovation in industrial IoT to shorten time to value. But we feel we need to do more, not just directly between Microsoft and our partners but across the industry and between the partners themselves. It’s not about what any one company can deliver within their operations – it’s about what they can share with others across the sector to help everyone achieve at new levels. It’s clearly a much bigger task than any one organization can take on, and today, I’m pleased to share more about the investments we are making to advance innovation in the manufacturing space by enabling open platforms.

Announcing the Open Manufacturing Platform

Today at Hannover Messe 2019, we are launching the Open Manufacturing Platform (OMP) together with the BMW Group, our partner on this initiative. Built on the Microsoft Azure Industrial IoT cloud platform, the OMP will provide a reference architecture and open data model framework for community members who will both contribute to and learn from others around industrial IoT projects. We’ve set up an initial approach and are actively working to bring new community members on board. BMW has an initial use case focused on their IoT platform, built on Microsoft Azure, in the second generation of autonomous transport systems in one of their sites, greatly simplifying their logistics processes and creating greater efficiency. More information about this and the partnership can be found here.

The OMP provides a single open platform architecture that liberates data from legacy industrial assets, standardizes data models for more efficient data correlation, and most importantly, enables manufacturers to share their data with ecosystem partners in a controlled and secure way, allowing others to benefit from their insights. With pre-built industrial use cases and reference designs, community members will work together to address common industrial challenges while maintaining ownership over their own data. Our news release, shared jointly with the BMW Group this morning, can be found here.

A rising tide that lifts all boats

The recognition of the need for an open approach is taking hold across the industry, as evidenced by SAP’s announcement today of the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance. This alliance – focused on factories, plants and warehouses – between SAP and a number of European manufacturing leaders will help create an open ecosystem for the operation of highly automated factories.

OMP and the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance are complementary visions. Both recognize the need for an open platform for the cloud and intelligent edge on the ground in the factory. Both highlight an open data model and standards-based data exchange mechanisms that allow for cross-company collaboration.

We’ve been working closely with SAP on efforts like the Open Data Initiative and across the industry on a wide range of initiatives including the Industrial Internet Consortium, the Plattform Industrie 4.0 and the OPC Foundation. We look forward to continuing this fruitful partnership and working to align OMP and the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance. Collaboration is the lifeblood of future manufacturing and the more we work together, the more we can accomplish.

Visualizing the news: Introducing the winners of our data journalism grant program

The dissemination of news and information has always been the machinery that powers our democracy. Our society relies on stalwart reporters and news organizations to pursue the truth and hold the powerful accountable, even as the industry faces daunting challenges from political retaliation to economic viability.

In support of these efforts, we are proud to announce the two recipients of the first phase of our grant program, in partnership with the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ): Josh Landis of Nexus Media News (Washington, D.C.) and Verah Okeyo of The Nation (Kenya).

An award-winning journalist, Landis is the founder and director of Nexus Media News, a nonprofit science, tech and environmental news service that has partnered with outlets such as Popular Science, Fast Company, Quartz, Huffington Post, PBS and National Geographic Voices to report on stories about our environment. The news service is part of Climate Nexus, which has been changing the conversation on climate change and clean energy “from an argument to a constructive search for solutions” since 2011. With the grant, Landis plans to use data visualization to show how climate is transforming residential and commercial real estate markets, and the possible impact that “climate gentrification” might have on communities in the coming years.

More than 7,000 miles away, Verah Okeyo works as a global health reporter at The Nation, the largest daily independent newspaper in Kenya and part of the Nation Media Group, which also operates in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. A 2012 graduate of Maseno University, Okeyo proposes to use demographic health surveys, studies and research to track Kenya’s child mortality since 1965. Rather than selecting a county or a set of circumstances from the outset, the investigation will follow a meaningful analysis of the available data and plans to showcase the findings across multiple mediums, including print, online and television.

Each candidate will receive $7,500 and hands-on data visualization training using Microsoft Power BI. To supplement their analytics and help ground their stories in fact, Landis and Okeyo will also conduct field investigations, going where the stories – and the numbers – take them.

Today we’re also kickstarting the second phase of the grant program, which focuses on immersive storytelling projects. Whether it is in-the-trenches livestreams with multi-language captions, augmented reality that allows real-life exploration or interactive visuals powered by numbers, immersive storytelling can communicate human experiences with great intimacy.

We’re honored to work side by side with newsrooms and journalists to help deliver impactful stories. We’re keenly aware that not every journalist has the same resources, which is why we work both on the individual and industry level. Our collaborations have run the gamut from our local KING5 broadcast station’s investigation into state vaccination rates to POLITICO Europe’s ambitious undertaking to educate the European electorate on how country-level politics shapes continental governance.

Supporting the goals of people like Landis and Okeyo to convey complicated stories in a way that speaks to audiences, reinforces our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We look forward to introducing you to more journalists who are doing the hard work of telling the story of their communities to the world.

Please visit ICFJ to learn more about the program and all their great work.

Posted on April 2, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Visual Studio 2019 now available: Download today to code faster, work smarter and create the future

John

April 2nd, 2019

Visual Studio 2019 is generally available today and available for download. With Visual Studio 2019, you and your teams will become more productive in building current and future projects as you benefit from the innovation in the IDE that makes every keystroke count.

As we’ve shared earlier, Visual Studio 2019 improves on Visual Studio 2017 in a few areas. It helps you get into your code more quickly by making it simpler to clone a Git repo or to open an existing project or folder. It also introduces improvements to the template selection screen to make it easier to start a new project. While you’re coding, you’ll notice that Visual Studio 2019 improves code navigation and adds many refactorings, as well as a document health indicator and one-click code clean-up to apply multiple refactoring rules. There are also improvements to the debugging experience, including data breakpoints for .NET Core apps that help you break only on value changes you’re looking for. It also includes get AI-assisted code completion with Visual Studio IntelliCode.

These capabilities work with both your existing project and new projects – from cross-platform C++ applications, to .NET mobile apps for Android and iOS written using Xamarin, to cloud-native applications using Azure services. The goal with Visual Studio 2019 is to support these projects from development, through testing, debugging, and even deployment, all while minimizing the need for you to switch between different applications, portals, and websites.

Check out the launch event

Be sure to tune in to the Visual Studio 2019 Launch Event today at launch.visualstudio.com, or watch it on-demand later, where we’ll go into a lot more depth on these features and many others. During the launch event, we’ll discuss and demo Visual Studio 2019. We’ll also share content on Visual Studio 2019 for Mac and Visual Studio Live Share, both of which are also releasing today. There are also almost 70 local launch events around the world you can join today and over 200 between now and end of June. Thank you for your enthusiasm about our best release yet.

To help kick-start your experience with Visual Studio 2019, we’ve partnered with Pluralsight and LinkedIn Learning to bring you new training content. Pluralsight has a new, free, Visual Studio 2019 course (available until April 22, 2019). A path and skill assessment are also available, so you can dive right in. On LinkedIn Learning you’ll find a new course (free until May 2^nd) covering the highlights in Visual Studio 2019. Of course, you can always head over to VisualStudio.com and our docs to find out what’s new, or dig into the release notes for all the details.

Thank you for your ongoing feedback

We could not have made this happen without you. Ever since we released Preview 1 of Visual Studio 2019 in December, we’ve received an incredible amount of feedback from you, both on what you like and what you want to see improved. As always, you can continue to use the Report a Problem tool in Visual Studio or head over to the Visual Studio Developer Community to track your issue or suggest a feature. We’ve made many tweaks and improvements along the way to address your feedback, rest assured that we will continue doing so in minor releases going forward.

We want to sincerely thank you for taking the time to provide the feedback that we use to shape Visual Studio 2019 into the best developer environment for you. We can’t wait to see what you’ll create with Visual Studio 2019.

Download Visual Studio 2019

Posted on April 2, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Sharing our learnings on World Autism Awareness Day

By Neil Barnett, Director of Inclusive Hiring and Accessibility at Microsoft

Autism @ Work Playbook, a guide for HR professionals and organizations to create employment opportunities for individuals on the autism spectrum.

Being inclusive is not something we simply do, but rather it stands for who we are. The value proposition for diversity and inclusion within Microsoft is increasingly clear — a diverse and inclusive workforce will yield better products and solutions for our customers, and better experiences for our employees. We all need to do our part to encourage new and different perspectives, solutions, and innovative ideas to surface from all our employees.

Four years ago, on World Autism Awareness Day, we announced Microsoft’s Autism Hiring Program. Given that 80% of individuals on the autism spectrum are unemployed or underemployed, we knew there was an untapped pool of talented people who have the skills aligned to the work we are doing every day at Microsoft. Over the years, we have learned a lot about inclusive hiring and actively share our learnings with other employers interested in evolving their hiring programs.

As an outcome of working with organizations across industries, we are proud to be a founding member of the Autism @ Work Employer Roundtable. About 18 months ago, Disability:IN brought together a group of employers to create the Roundtable, where the main goal is to expand employment opportunities for individuals on the autism spectrum. Today, the Roundtable consists of 16 organizations who all have robust autism hiring programs. As part of the Roundtable, we regularly receive questions about how to get started. In response, we came together and collaborated with the University Washington Information School to publish the “Autism @ Work Playbook,” a resource for employers who are interested in beginning or expanding their inclusive hiring journey. The playbook covers topics from building your business case, recruiting and sourcing talent, going through the interview process, to training, on-boarding, and career development. This is a great resource for every organization, so please take a moment to read and share the playbook.

Throughout the year, Roundtable members along with 250 other employers, academics, service providers, and government agencies, get together at events across the U.S. to share best practices and talk about how we can work together to make an impact on changing the unemployment rate for individuals on the autism spectrum. This year we are happy to announce there will be two upcoming summits sponsored by the Autism @ Work Employer Roundtable to bring this group together. The Autism at Work Summit in May will be hosted by Microsoft at our Redmond campus followed by another summit hosted by SAP in the Fall.

Over the years, we have continued to learn, evolve, and grow our own Autism Hiring Program. We changed our approach from a traditional interview to a cohort model where candidates come to our campus for a week-long experience to demonstrate their skills, gain feedback, and meet with hiring managers. Based on interest in the program from across the company, we have also seen an expansion of the types of roles where candidates are being hired. For example, we have grown from hiring mainly technical roles, like software engineers or data scientists, to more non-technical roles like customer support. In addition, we have recently expanded the program outside of Redmond, WA, with new pilot programs at our campuses in Fargo, ND and Vancouver, BC. These are important regions for Microsoft – we have a large campus in Fargo and it’s one of our TechSpark regions, and an ongoing vision for greater cross-border collaboration throughout the Cascadia Innovation Corridor in Vancouver. We look forward to seeing the program grow in these regions and continue to expand.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrvBAMHbzmk?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

Our approach to inclusive hiring is not limited to just one event, program, or initiative. We host various career fairs throughout the year, and on April 23, we will host our next Virtual Career Fair in partnership with 14 other leading companies including, Fidelity, Deloitte, Travelers, Ford and more. If you know someone that is looking for a new opportunity, please make sure to share the event, which provides opportunities to connect with recruiters, learn about open positions and submit resumes. We also fund an annual scholarship for high school students interested in technology and offer broad inclusive hiring efforts and events. If we bring organizations together to focus on inclusive hiring, we can accelerate progress towards breaking down barriers and changing the unemployment rate for individuals on the autism spectrum.

We look forward to continuing to partner with others in the near future to truly make a difference in the employment landscape, educational, and working opportunities for all individuals on the spectrum. If you or someone you know is interested in a career at Microsoft, please send resumes to msautism@microsoft.com and learn more about our inclusive hiring efforts at www.microsoft.com/inclusivehiring. We look forward to hearing from you!

Autism at Work Virtual Career Fair featuring companies, Cintas, Deloitte, EY, Fidelity, Ford, IBM, JP Morgan Chase &Co., Merck, Microsoft, PwC, SAP, Travelers, Ultra Testing, and Willis Towers Watson.

Posted on April 2, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Microsoft Graph Security Hackathon winners announced

Bringing together information from multiple disconnected security systems to solve today’s security challenges is complex. We recently asked Microsoft Graph Security Hackathon participants to come up with innovative solutions using the Microsoft Graph Security API, and they did not disappoint.

We were excited to get a diverse set of submissions that covered real world security use cases, including security operations, user risk management, alerts enrichment, incident response, and analytics. It was truly inspiring to see the effort and creativity that teams and individuals put into their applications.

With that, please join us in congratulating the winners of the Microsoft Graph Security Hackathon.

First place: Microsoft User Security Evaluation Reporter

The Microsoft User Security Evaluation Reporter (MS-USER), from Darren Robinson, helps service desks and cybersecurity leads get instant visibility into their organization’s user security posture. Leveraging the Graph Security API and Microsoft Secure Score, the MS-USER app pulls together user and event information and includes recommended actions for remediating risks. The application also checks against the Have I Been Pwned database to give administrators and service desk personnel additional context on a user’s password security. This solution makes it easy to reach out to users and give them simple, actionable advice to improve their security, and as a result, the security of the rest of the organization. Darren will be joining us at our session at the Microsoft Build conference in Seattle, Washington, May 6-8, 2019. Definitely take a moment to check out his app today at devpost.com/software/microsoft-user-security-evaluation-reporter.

Runner up: Microsoft Graph Security—Security Alerts Enrichment

The Security Alerts Enrichments solution, submitted by Josh Rickard, is based on the Swimlane platform and ties together alerts with threat indicators and actions. The team created two applications that use Graph Security alerts to automate the creation of a threat intelligence feed, which can then be used to automate remediation of threats in the customer’s on-premises firewall appliance, which in this case is the Palo Alto Panorama Firewall. The second application ties in five different threat intelligence sources for enrichment. This is a great example of the power of a Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR) solution. We encourage you to check it out at devpost.com/software/microsoft-graph-security-security-alerts-enrichment.

Popular choice: OneGraph

The OneGraph application, from Abhishek Joshi, enables organizations to quickly investigate, analyze, and respond to security threats. The application allows users can get a quick view of all their alerts and statuses, and easily drill down into things like specific threats, users affected, and alerts from specific providers. We really liked the tie-in with Microsoft Planner that allows for alerts to get assigned to specific people or groups. The integration with Microsoft Teams was a great use case that enables quick response. We hope you take a moment to look at this app at devpost.com/software/onegraph.

Again, congratulations to the winners and a huge thank you to all participants in the hackathon. We also wanted to take a moment to thank our all-star panel of judges for taking time out of their busy schedules to review and provide feedback on all the submissions. Many thanks for the support to Ann Johnson, Rich Howard, Scott Hanselman, Mark Russinovich, Troy Hunt, and Olli Vanhoja.

Finally, if any of this has inspired to you develop your own security app or solution, here are some resources to get you started:

Posted on April 1, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Meet the 2019 Imagine Cup Americas regional finalists

Our last group of finalists competing in 2019 Imagine Cup Regional events have been announced! 12 student developer teams from countries across the Americas have been selected to travel to Seattle this May and pitch their projects at the Americas Regional Final. They will compete for USD15,000 and the chance to win the last spot in the World Championship at Microsoft Build.

Microsoft’s Imagine Cup empowers student developers with the tools and resources to turn their technology ideas into reality. We believe that the next great thing could come from anyone, at any time. Now in its 17^th year with nearly 2 million competitors across the globe, Imagine Cup combines the chance to develop key business and technology skills through hands-on competition, plus the opportunity to win mentoring, travel, cash, and more.

Students this year were challenged to develop an original idea built on Azure in teams of up to three and submit a project proposal and video pitch for the chance to advance in the competition. Hundreds of students submitted projects to the Americas Online Semifinal, and we are excited to introduce the teams who will be moving forward to the Americas Regional Finals in Seattle this May! Follow along with their competition journey on Twitter and Instagram.

Meet our Americas Finalists!

Easy2Pet

Brazil

Easy 2 Pet – Share Love, Sow Life: Easy 2 Pet is an IoT project which, through the partnership of socially responsible companies, aims to feed street animals using a system of Convolutional Neural Network and Azure Storage Services.

Speex

Brazil

Speex: The team’s project helps the user improve their presentations through mixed reality. The user can empower themselves, while acquiring experience and confidence in speaking to their audience.

SafeTrip

Canada

SafeTrip: SafeTrip is a reactive car-accident app that tracks the eyes of a driver to monitor if they are impaired; alerting first responders of the exact location of the driver if they are deemed inattentive.

Accutrack

Canada

AccuTrack: The team created an IoT device for tracking and improving the ergonomic efficiency of blue-collar workers.

nekoTap

Canada

nekoTap: nekoTap is an easy-to-use solution to help patients better engage their medication therapy. Pharmacists can record counselling sessions and attach them to the prescription bottles through NFC tags. At home, patients can review the recordings.

Smart Eyes

Canada

Smart Eyes: Smart Eyes is a mobile application that uses video processing and object detection to inform the visually impaired or legally blind users of their surroundings using audio feedback.

EasyGlucose

United States

EasyGlucose: EasyGlucose is a low-cost, non-invasive, painless blood glucose level monitor for diabetics using deep learning and smartphone-based ophthalmic imaging.

EcoSort

United States

EcoSort: EcoSort is a smart waste-disposal container. The hardware uses Microsoft cloud tools to predict which item is tossed into the bin. Based on the response, the machine knows how to sort the item.

Packop

United States

Packop: Packop is developed for solving package theft issues. Packop is a service that not only monitors suspicious activities outside the home, but also actively engages in monitored situations by detecting and recognizing people and packages.

Solar fund/strong>

United States

Solar Fund: Built on blockchain and IoT, the team’s project showcases a new and innovative financial model. Built ground up for financing rooftop solar power projects, it not only makes the investment in solar projects more viable, but also more flexible.

SpeakEasy

United States

SpeakEasy: SpeakEasy is an intelligent and personalized public speaking trainer. SpeakEasy takes advantage of speech and gesture recognition to provide detailed feedback on each user’s presentation skills.

Vocapture

United States

Vocapture: The team developed a mobile application that enables users to identify objects around them, quickly and intuitively see the objects’ translations, and practice their foreign language skills with handwriting recognition.

Don’t miss the chance to see who will move forward to the World Championship at Microsoft Build to compete against Team Caeli from India and Team Finderr from the UK. Who will take home the trophy and USD100,000? Sign up for updates to follow the 2019 competition action.

Posted on March 29, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Health in your hands: how data and AI are empowering patients

The Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden has a very fitting example of extra attention being paid to patients – a friendly robot is being used to significantly reduce the stress of children suffering from cancer.

The robot itself doesn’t add any medical procedures to the existing treatment, but its friendly demeanour and in-built screen with games designed to inform children of their treatment procedure ahead of time, has proven to be a great help in reducing the fear of these young patients. In addition, the robot also helps reduce the stress of parents, and saves healthcare experts both time and money, by reducing the amount of time and people required per treatment session.

Lisa Karin Bergström, practitioner, nursing manager and project lead states that “We can’t always see cancer coming, or stop it, but we can control the stress children feel, and help them feel happier and more in control.”

Healthcare in your hands
Putting patients first should provide them with newer tools to not only make their lives easier, but to also provide a more personalised level of care. Virtual hospitals provide a convenient, easy to use experience which allows patients to track their health and communicate with health professionals remotely, from the comfort of their own homes. This saves patients time, and travel, which is particularly beneficial for the elderly.

In Finland, Helsinki University Hospital’s Virtual Health Village is a prime example of bringing healthcare directly into the hands of its patients. The online cloud service, based on the Microsoft Azure and Dynamics 365, provides information and support including medical care for patients, and tools for healthcare professionals. Patients have access to virtual buildings dedicated to different life situations and symptoms, such as pain management, rehabilitation, mental health, and weight management.

Virpi Rauta, PhD, eMBA, Doctor in nephrology who is involved with the kidney-damage section of the Virtual Health Village states that “We have to get rid of old habits when we adopt these new tools. It’s multidisciplinary work – clinicians, IT workers, nurses and patients all worked together to help create our kidney app.”

Empowering patients and putting their own healthcare within their control, is key. The kidney disease app in the Virtual Health Hospital shares real patient experiences and how they are coping with their treatment, to help other patients feel that their disease is manageable. Patients are more likely to listen to people going through the same experiences, and this genuine relatability helps morale, while increasing the chances of them correctly following their treatment plan.

In Scotland, technology is bringing personalised care to patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) – a condition which affects 1.2 million people in the UK, and is the second most common cause of emergency hospital admissions. Without treatment, the symptoms (which include breathlessness, chest infections and a persistent cough) get worse, but a new trial brings an easier way to manage the illness to patients, from the comfort of their own homes.

Patients use wearable devices combined with Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to remotely monitor their breathing. AI algorithms, based on machine learning, are then used to monitor results, and automatically detect and predict issues, so that healthcare experts can vary their treatment accordingly, based on their individual needs.

This not only saves patients from making regular trips to the hospital, it also means that if their condition gets worse, their healthcare providers will automatically be alerted, allowing timely treatment, and a better quality of life.

Chris Carlin, a Consultant Respiratory Physician involved in the trial, states that “It’s about delivering treatment earlier by using data. If we can empower patients to self-manage their condition, we can significantly reduce hospital admissions. That self-management might be helping them with their breathing, escalating their existing treatment, recommending new treatment or reaching out to the community respiratory team.”

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In another corner of the world, one of the oldest diseases known to mankind – leprosy – is being treated with AI. The Novartis Foundation and Microsoft are developing an AI-enabled digital health tool and a Leprosy Intelligent Image Atlas to help the early detection of leprosy.

Over 200,000 people are diagnosed with leprosy every year, with Brazil, India, and Indonesia accounting for about 80 percent of new cases. The disease is made more complicated by the fact that it can be difficult to diagnose, and if left untreated, can cause other disabilities and spread to others.

Microsoft and the Novartis Foundation are collaborating with local investigators from Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) in Brazil to develop a machine learning algorithm which examines anonymized images before automatically detecting if a patient has leprosy.

To save patients (who are often in remote rural areas) from travelling long distances to hospitals, they are able to instead visit local businesses and have their photos taken there, before the shots are examined by the AI programme. The imagery and AI code are planned to be made publicly accessible at a later stage to empower leprosy researchers to accelerate research excellence in this field, leading to better outcomes.

Dr. Ann Aerts, Head of Novartis Foundation states that “Bundling expertise from the health and tech sectors to pioneer innovative digital health solutions such as this one, can make it possible to reimagine the way we fight leprosy. Early detection and prompt treatment of patients remains the best way to interrupt leprosy transmission. Together with Microsoft we are pioneering an innovative digital tool to accelerate leprosy detection, to make this ancient disease history once and for all.”

Posted on March 29, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Join Skype in the Classroom in celebrating Earth Day 2019

Skype in the Classroom will celebrate Earth Day throughout the month of April to build awareness and inspire the next generation of sustainable leaders to take action.

Look no further for exciting lessons to captivate your students’ imaginations, deepen their understanding of the environmental threats our planet faces, and empower them to take action. Use our resources to lead your students through interactive virtual field trips to parks, zoos, aquariums and connect live with experts to learn about climate change, conservation, sustainability, recycling and more.

“Environmental literacy is more important than ever, and with Skype virtual field trips, we have an opportunity to educate kids and raise awareness. After a Skype session, students realize the importance of protecting the forests, the oceans and all the amazing creatures trying to survive on the planet we all live in,” says Manuela Correia, a school teacher from Portugal.

And that’s not all for this month of celebration! Skype in the Classroom partnered with the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots program for a broadcast and live chat with Dr. Jane Goodall. There will be two more live broadcasts for classrooms and families to hear from Dr. Jane Goodall on how every individual’s actions can make a big impact on our planet.

The broadcasts will air on April 2^nd at 12:30 ET/17:30 UTC and April 9^th at 9:00 ET/14:00 UTC and each will be followed by a 30-minute live chat with Dr. Jane Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute Roots & Shoots team.

You can register for free at aka.ms/janegoodall. Be sure to use the classroom preparation materials to get your students ready for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

To add to the Earth Day fun, Skype launched a collection of emoticons that you can use before, during and after your Skype sessions this month to get students excited while celebrating and learning about our planet.

The Skype team also created a Dr. Jane Goodall emoticon in honor of her Skype in the Classroom broadcasts and all the amazing work she has done to make the world a better place!

So, open your Skype, type (janegoodall) and start sharing this emoticon with your friends!

Additionally, Skype in the Classroom has collaborated with the World Wildlife Fund to launch Our Planet Live—a collection of expert speakers and virtual field trips available via Skype. These free classroom activities are designed to build on the themes of Our Planet, the new ground-breaking nature documentary series voiced by Sir David Attenborough streaming on Netflix from April 5th. Our Planet is the story of the one place we all call home, and this collection of live classroom experiences will teach students about the different biomes and species on Earth through Skype lessons with experts from around the world. Request your session here.

We hope that you join us in celebrating Earth Day 2019 by getting involved with one or more of our activities that will bring the curriculum to life and make learning fun for your students!

And as always, share your favorite moments with our global community on Twitter (@SkypeClassroom) with #Skype2Learn #MicrosoftEDU to inspire others to connect and bring the world to their classrooms.

Ok, I am in! Are there any resources to help me get started?

Once you register for the broadcast event with Dr. Jane Goodall, download our step-by-step activity plan with ideas on how to prepare your class for the event.
If you are joining the event, don’t forget to download the student’s certificate signed by Dr. Jane Goodall herself!
Explore and register for one of our environmental-related Virtual Field Trips at ms/SITCearthday.
Download our Earth Day activity plan—full of ideas and suggestions on how to organize your Skype sessions—to guide your classroom’s celebration all month long.

How can I expand the Skype learning experiences for my students for Earth Month?

Explore the Flipgrid Disco Library topics featuring Dr. Jane Goodall.
Discover FREE hands-on Hacking STEM lessons that you can use during Earth Month to bring more environmental themed activities in your class!

Posted on March 29, 2019 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Alysa Taylor: Transforming manufacturing with intelligent business applications

Manufacturing has been a driving force for industrial and societal transformation for centuries. Next week, at Hannover Messe—the world’s leading trade show for industrial technology—decades of industrial technology innovation at Microsoft is intersecting with Industry 4.0. As Industry 4.0 ushers in new technological advances to improve operations, competition and customer demands are keeping pace. Customers expect exceptional products and services, without exception, driving a need for greater innovation.

We are joined at the event by dozens of global manufacturers representing industries from automotive to consumer electronics and construction equipment, all using Microsoft Business Applications as a competitive differentiator; intelligent technologies that help transform the entire connected manufacturing ecosystem.

Optimize manufacturing operations and deliver new services

At Hannover Messe, we are showcasing how we empower manufacturers to connect Internet of Things (IoT) sensors on key business-critical assets to business transactions in Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations. It’s a transformative solution to manage production and stock in real-time and proactively resolve issues, optimize manufacturing operations, maximize the value of assets, and take business performance and customer satisfaction to new heights. Read more about the solution here.

Annata, a leading Microsoft Partner for automotive, heavy equipment, and industrial machinery industries, helped Iceland’s largest vehicle importer and distributor, Brimborg, rapidly expand into the commercial fleet rental market in response to the 2008-11 Icelandic financial crisis. Booth visitors will learn how Annata first unified Brimborg’s business of importing, distributing, selling and servicing cars and construction equipment, with a solution that could cover their entire business with Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations along with the Annata 365 solution.

When the crises hit, Brimborg deployed the extensive Rental module that enabled them to manage this new part of their business. Brimborg is using IoT data flowing from its rental cars with the service scheduling capabilities of the Annata solution to optimize and ensure timely servicing of the fleet. All rental cars are automatically called in for service and inspections, which is highly important for keeping the fleet healthy. Brimborg is continuing to automate and innovate using IoT, Dynamics 365, and the Annata solution to run its business more efficiently, but also to open new business models and opportunities with customers in other areas of its business. Targeting four-minute car deliveries and 30-second customer returns—and planning new innovative business models based on Microsoft and Annata solutions.

Make the leap to intelligent, connected field service

Attendees at Hannover Messe are getting a glimpse into the future of field service for manufacturers, powered by Microsoft IoT Central, Dynamics 365 for Field Service, and Dynamics 365 Mixed Reality for HoloLens and mobile devices.

Dynamics 365 Connected Field Service transforms field service organizations with solutions to detect and resolve issues remotely before the customer knows of an issue, and drive efficiency and cut costs in the business cost center. The solution leverages connected devices and machine learning capabilities to combine remote monitoring, digital services, and predictive maintenance.

As recently announced, Dynamics 365 Remote Assist for mobile devices brings the HoloLens experience to mobile devices, allowing floor operators and field technicians to collaborate with remote experts and troubleshoot issues in context, without leaving the job site. Dynamics 365 Guides is a new mixed reality tool that allows employees to learn by doing, with interactive, step-by-step guidance presented on heads-up, hands-free displays in real work situations.

Toyota’s North America Production Engineering team uses Dynamics 365 Layout and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist on Microsoft HoloLens in their North America manufacturing centers. Dynamics 365 Layout can improve business processes in valuable ways, such as the layout of digital twins of equipment on the manufacturing floor for safety and process verification, and creating innovative AR training practices through the use of holographic equipment instead of physical equipment in space. Dynamics 365 Remote Assist is in the early phases of being used to improve safety and reduce costs through the use of remote experts for equipment verification and incident response.

At Hannover Messe, Microsoft Partner Hitachi Solutions will showcase how they are helping global organizations create outcome-driven, connected field services with IoT and mixed reality to support maintenance work by field workers to increase uptime and service continuity.

Empower Your Changing Workforce

Start a conversation about Industry 4.0, and inevitably the topic lands on the workforce problem.

As a generation of highly-skilled, specialized workers eye retirement, manufacturers are in a bind to recruit young engineers and operators with the right skillset while adjusting to a new workforce, challenging traditional work culture.

Dynamics 365 for Talent helps HR teams at manufacturing organizations to solve the skills gap, offering intelligent tools to find, attract, and onboard skilled candidates. By automating many manual, time-consuming HR processes, Dynamics 365 for Talent lets HR professionals spend less time on the mundane, and more time on strategic initiatives that grow the business.

New this month, Dynamics 365 Guides allows employees to learn by doing with step-by-step instructions that guide employees to the tools and parts they need and how to use them in real work situations. Guides represents a new way to improve workflow efficiency. Now employees can learn while staying hands-on with their work. With the accompanying PC app, it’s possible for managers and frontline workers to create interactive training content by attaching photos, videos, and 3D models to information cards that stay with them while they work. When employees use Guides, information is collected to help managers understand how they’re doing and where they need help, further allowing people to improve the process.

Check out the video below to learn how PACCAR is exploring Guides and HoloLens to improve productivity and employee onboarding.

Get the full story at Hannover Messe

These solutions and customer stories are just a peek at how Microsoft Business Applications are helping transform manufacturing. If you are attending Hannover Messe, visit our booth to experience Dynamics 365 and Mixed Reality solutions firsthand, as well as chat with customers and partners.

Find more information about our location and sessions in this schedule, and be sure to check out the resources below.