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  Microsoft - Microsoft Europe’s 10 biggest stories of 2018
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 12-22-2018, 03:29 PM - Forum: Windows - Replies (1)

Microsoft Europe’s 10 biggest stories of 2018

This year has been incredibly busy for Microsoft in Europe. We’ve launched new products, worked with customers and partners to deliver cutting-edge technology solutions, and worked towards our mission of helping every person and organisation achieve more.

We’ve rounded up ten of the biggest stories from the past year below, with the option to click on through to each one to read them in full. Thanks for reading, and have a Happy New Year!

Volkswagen’s future of connected, shareable cars


VW connected car concept

For German car manufacturer Volkswagen, the future of the car goes beyond a mere four-wheeled chauffer and errand-runner. Our cars will also integrate with our lives in ways never before thought possible. Earlier this year, the company revealed its plans for the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud – a platform which will create a seamless experience for drivers from the moment they enter, use, and leave their cars, ushering in a new era of truly connected vehicles.

Powered by Microsoft’s Azure cloud and IoT Edge platform, the Automotive Cloud will allow drivers to effortlessly remain in control of their professional and personal lives. From entering the car to the same music they were just listening to in their living room, to managing their appointments and carrying out work meetings via Skype, the car will evolve into an invaluable physical, and digital, assistant.

Read the full story

This time it’s personal: the financial industry is banking on AI to better serve customers


Brown wallet with cards

The financial services industry is undergoing a massive transformation. Financial technology companies (fintechs) are challenging traditional enterprises, while players from other sectors such as retail and technology are entering their turf. In addition, customers are increasingly demanding predictive, proactive and proximate services. Today’s financial institutions need to ensure that every customer interaction – no matter the channel – goes off without a hitch and delivers value if they want to be industry leaders tomorrow.

Microsoft EMEA President Michel van der Bel had the pleasure of discussing the transformation of the financial services industry with Spiros Margaris, venture capitalist, senior advisor, and international AI, blockchain and fintech influencer. Click below for their full discussion and insights.

Read the full story

The future of fashion and retail


Fashion designer sketching from above

Today’s successful retailers challenge the fundamental assumptions of commerce, from the ways in which physical spaces can be used to create unique customer experiences, to featuring products and services that one cannot find elsewhere to resurrecting the art of selling. The digital transformation of the retail (and indeed, any other) industry is no longer about simply managing costs and increasing efficiency. Rather, it enables companies to react to brutally competitive market forces with new service models, business practices, supply chains and more. At the heart of this retail revolution lies data, alongside the tools required to analyze it to help businesses continuously evolve, improve, and grow – all while creating and maintaining customer loyalty, and remaining competitive.

Read the full story

Medicine Man: How AI is bringing humanity back into healthcare


“When mistakes happen, patients die. I remember thinking to myself ‘What is going on here?’ We can do better. We should do better.”

When Simon Kos practiced critical care medicine in intensive care and anaesthesia early on in his career, digital technology was not well established. “I saw mistakes – avoidable mistakes – happen all around me,” he states. Now Chief Medical Officer at Microsoft, Kos is at the forefront of a medical revolution. His ambition is infectious, and his passion is fuelled by his first-hand experiences of the power that technological transformation, such as artificial intelligence (AI), can bring to our lives.

Read the full story

Knowledge is the best defence


keyboard, side view

If you were asked to pick the most vulnerable demographic to tech support scams, chances are your answer would lean towards the older generation. Traditionally, the elderly have less experience/knowledge of technology, and could therefore be more at risk of falling victim to these scams.

Microsoft’s survey results, however, show that Gen Z, millennials and males are the most vulnerable to tech support scams – a surprising revelation, given that the younger generation is, on the whole, more digitally savvy. This, however, appears to be the cause of their overconfidence and false sense of security – these groups are the most likely to lose money after continuing an interaction with scammers. These demographics, the results show, engage in riskier online behavior such as visiting torrent sites, have a greater familiarity with technology companies than older generations, and are potentially hurt by overconfidence in their device and web expertise.

Read the full story

POLITICO Europe elects Microsoft technology to power its innovative new Elections Hub


EU flag

In collaboration with Microsoft, POLITICO Europe launched a new Elections hub to report on the upcoming 2019 European Parliamentary elections. One of the key features of the hub is a stunning interactive data visualization – built with Microsoft Power BI. The team at POLITICO Europe seeks to bring an unprecedented degree of education and insight to the European electorate as they navigate the complicated election process, which spans thousands of candidates and hundreds of parties across the EU’s 27 member nations. POLITICO Europe’s leaders worked with Microsoft to envision new ways of reporting likely outcomes of the election, and break down complex issues like coalition building, to show individual voters the impact of their vote, and draw new participants into the democratic process.

Read the full story

The secret of productivity


Office workers in a discussion

While there’s no doubt that moving data to the cloud, adopting Artificial Intelligence, and implementing remote working tools is helping businesses to scale and innovate like never before, the question on leaders’ minds is not if, but how, to digitally transform. Leaders must focus on how can technology empower their employees and drive growth.

To help businesses understand how to best empower their workforce, Microsoft spoke to more than 20,000 people working in medium and large companies, from a range of industries, in 21 different countries across Europe. Respondents were asked about the technology they use at work, and their attitudes towards their job and their job performance.

The findings clearly show that to compete in today’s cloud-first world, quality tools alone aren’t enough: for technology to be most effective, it needs to sit within a strong digital culture.

Read the full story

Girls in STEM: the importance of role models


Two children learning to code on a laptop

Research from Microsoft reveals that the number of girls interested in STEM across Europe, on average, almost doubles when they have a role model to inspire them. The findings from a Europe-wide study of girls and young women shows that in general, there is a clear link between role models and an increased passion for science, technology, engineering and maths subjects, with more interest in careers in these fields, and greater self-confidence.

Microsoft’s research stands alongside organisations such as UNESCO and Accenture in providing data and insights around the importance of role models in STEM, with the hope that educators, policy makers, NGOs and the private sector can all work together and invest towards bridging the digital skills gap of the future. With women only making up 30 percent of Europe’s ICT workforce and an expected shortage of up to 500,000 ICT workers by 2020, this is an issue we must all address today – and role models could help.

Read the full story

Healthcare with heart


Medical science continues to progress, allowing doctors to push the boundaries and always achieve more. One such example is the implantation of heart valves via the groin – a procedure which has reached full swing in recent years due to it shorter recovery period and less invasive nature. Some questions, however, are still asked. Are costly procedures such as this as successful as scientific studies are? Do these innovative techniques have the effect of reducing mortality? Are the results as good in one hospital as in the other?

“Such information is crucial for all members of our multidisciplinary team of doctors, carers and paramedics – they allow us to further improve the quality of our care,” says Dr Karl Dujardin, a cardiologist at Delta General Hospital, Roeselare, in Belgium. Although these questions seem simple, it was almost impossible, until recently to answer them, he states. While both Dr Dujardin and his colleagues kept records of their procedures, for example, they lacked an overall vision of the effectiveness of the treatment – and this is where technology comes in.

Read the full story

Transforming a thousand-year-old city into mixed reality


The island of Mont Saint Michel

In the 17th century, before the advent of drones, planes, or even balloons, the solution to creating accurate representations of areas was as time-consuming, as it was beautiful. Plan-relief maps (scale models of landscapes and buildings,) were hand-crafted in meticulous detail, recreating locations of interest in ways that no other means at the time could match.

Coveted by military leaders such as Napoleon and King Louis XIV, these plan-relief maps provided topographic details of landscapes, such as hills and harbours, in addition to showing off the layouts of cities and their fortifications. This is the story of the map of Mont-Saint-Michel—a rocky headland off the Normandy coast, with a stunning Benedictine abbey – and how it was recreated in Mixed Reality.

Read the full story

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  Mobile - Out Now: Final Edition 2018
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 12-22-2018, 03:29 PM - Forum: New Game Releases - No Replies

Out Now: Final Edition 2018

So, here we are – the final ‘Out Now’ of 2018. It’s been a surprisingly good week for releases, all things considered – Tropico and Rome: Total War‘s Android port being the highlights. Today also marks the final day of voting in our Reader’s Choice Game of the Year award – I’ll be closing the form later tonight, so make sure you have your say before it’s too late!

As far as the next couple of weeks go, we’re going to be operating a reduced content schedule until we’re back properly on January 2nd. We’ll be publishing articles on the following days:

  • Monday 24th
  • Wednesday 26th
  • Friday 28th
  • Monday 31st

We’ve got a couple of year in reviews, as well as Nick’s usual Boxing Day Gift Guide, and the results of the GOTY vote will go up on New Year’s Eve.

Meanwhile, in mobile gaming…

Out Now


Heroes of Flatlandia (iOS Universal & Android) – Full review coming soon!


We like to highlight things that haven potential in this column, and Heroes of Flatlandia on paper seems like it might fit the bill. A premium strategy game (such a rarity these days), this seems like a very modest, almost ‘lite’ turn-based tactics outing with some basic content for genre fans. Two races, 14 units and 4 heroes, the game also features hot-seat multiplayer and a “cunning AI”.


Tropico (iPad) (Review)


There’s not much more to add that wasn’t covered in Brittany’s steller review, but suffice to say Tropico on iPad is a bit of a triumph. There are still some interface issues that come with management/city-builder games on this platform, but Feral have managed to port Tropico 3 intact and with all its charm. This is one premium experience you won’t want to miss out on.


Rome: Total War (iOS Universal & Android) (Review)


Android users, rejoice! You can now purchase Feral Interactive’s other great strategy port, Rome: Total War, for your Google-powered device. Check out what Nick thought of the game back when it originally released. 


Perudo (iOS Universal & Android) – Full review coming soon!


You remember that dice game the fish-pirates played on the Flying Dutchman in the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie? I never quite understood how that game worked. Now I might have a chance to learn, thanks to Asmodee stealth releasing a digital port of the game on mobile. Perudo, one of many games derived from the public domain game Liar’s Dice, looks exactly like that game in POTC. Amongst other things, It features pass-and-play multiplayer functionality for up to six people (as well as online), making it an excellent party game candidate.


Sales


Where to begin! There’s quite a few sales going on, especially on iOS. We’re not able to give a complete sales breakdown this week sadly, but these are some of the highlights we’ve spotted that you may be interested in. Unfortunately, a lot of these deals seem iOS only for now – we’ve cross-checked a few, but if anyone spots any additional android deals, let us know!

  • ELOH
  • Kingdom Rush Frontiers
  • Kingdom Rush Origin
  • Motorsport Manager Mobile 3
  • Bastion
  • Lords of Waterdeep
  • Out There
  • Project Highrise
  • Crowntakers
  • Age of Rivals
  • Grimvalor  

There may be more, so make sure you keep an eye out if you’re looking to pick up some extra games for the holidays. If you’re someone who’s still not jumped onto Civilization VI on iOS, your frugal patience has been rewarded. From now until January 1st, the ‘Full Game Unlock’ IAP is now $14.99, making it as cheap what it is on PC currently (Steam Winter Sale). It’ such a good deal, I almost feel sorry for people who purchased it at the previous 50% discount entry point, or even full price! In addition to that, there’s a schedule for the scenario packs, which will rotate every 48 hours – the current ones, Vikings and Poland, are free, and the full schedule is as follows:

  • 12/20 – 12/22 Poland Civilization & Scenario Pack (Reg: $4.99)
  • 12/22 – 12/24 Vikings Scenario (Reg: $4.99)
  • 12/24 – 12/26 Australia Civilization & Scenario Pack (Reg: $4.99)
  • 12/26 – 12/28 Persia and Macedon Civilization & Scenario Pack (Reg: $8.99)
  • 12/28 – 12/30 Nubia Civilization & Scenario Pack (Reg: $4.99)
  • 12/30 – 1/1 Khmer and Indonesia Civilization & Scenario Pack (Reg: $8.99)

So you have until tomorrow to pick up those first two scenario packs if you don’t have them already.

That’s all we have time for this week – we hope everyone has a good holiday break, and The Weekender will return as normal on Friday, January 4th, 2019!

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  News - Xbox One Games With Gold For January 2019 Revealed
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 12-22-2018, 09:17 AM - Forum: Lounge - No Replies

Xbox One Games With Gold For January 2019 Revealed

With the end of December drawing near, Microsoft has announced the Xbox Games With Gold for January 2019. It's a solid lineup of Xbox One and Xbox 360 games that anyone with an Xbox Live Gold membership will be able to download for free during various times throughout the month. Let's take a look at the first games that will be available in the new year.

Between January 1-31, Xbox One owners can download Celeste. This pixelated platformer is all about jumping and dashing through expertly designed (but seriously challenging) obstacles as you make your way to the peak of a mountain. It has simple, tight controls that you'll need to master in order to make it through terrain riddled with things like pits, spikes, bounce pads, and toxic black goo. Thankfully, the checkpoint system is forgiving enough that you're never put too far back after your many inevitable deaths.

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The other Xbox One freebie is the racing game WRC 6 FIA World Rally Championship. This realistic rally game puts you face to face with all manner of challenges, including mud, fog, darkness, and ice, plus car troubles like engine breakdowns and punctured tires. If you're up for it, you can grab WRC 6 between January 16 and February 15.

The Xbox 360 Games with Gold for January are acclaimed titles as well, and thanks to backwards compatibility, you can play them both on Xbox One. You can pick up the two-player action/puzzle game Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light from January 1-15. And between January 16-31 you can grab Far Cry 2, an open-world shooter some fans consider superior to its numerous sequels.

That's what's coming in January. Right now it's not too late to download some of December's Games with Gold, including QUBE 2, Never Alone, and Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction.

Games With Gold January 2019

Xbox One

Xbox 360

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  News - Suda51 Would “Love” To Bring Killer7 To Switch, But It’s All Up To Capcom
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 12-22-2018, 09:17 AM - Forum: Nintendo Discussion - No Replies

Suda51 Would “Love” To Bring Killer7 To Switch, But It’s All Up To Capcom

Killer7

With Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes getting ever closer to release, series director Suda51 is no doubt busier than ever in his efforts to get the word out about the new game. He’s been popping up all over the place just recently, talking about a potential No More Heroes 3 and hosting a recent Travis Strikes Again presentation, but now he’s taken a moment out of the busy schedule to discuss Killer7.

For those who don’t know, Killer7 is a visually striking action-adventure developed by Suda51’s development company, Grasshopper Manufacture. It was originally released on the GameCube and PlayStation 2 back in 2005, but a remaster appeared on Steam just last month.

In an interview with Fandom, Suda was asked about the possibility of the game coming to Switch one day, especially considering the recent Steam port. As you might expect, he’s completely open to the idea, but ultimately it isn’t his decision to make.

“I’d love to bring Killer7 to Switch. However, Capcom owns 100% of the rights to that game, it’s really thanks to them that the PC version came out at all just because they OK’d it and a publisher came along to help distribute it, which is really great. But I’d have to talk to them again to see if it’s possible to get the ball rolling on Switch. The thing about Killer7 is that it really was a sudden release, we weren’t able to do much promotion for it before it came out, so I really feel like I have a duty to make sure that people are even aware that it exists.”

Do you have any memories of playing this on GameCube? Would you like it to come to Switch? Let us know in the comments below.

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  Microsoft - Mixed reality year in review — and what’s to come in 2019
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 12-22-2018, 09:17 AM - Forum: Windows - No Replies

Mixed reality year in review — and what’s to come in 2019

Hi everyone!

I hope this month’s blog finds you well. Before we dive in, I wanted to take a quick moment to wish you all a happy holiday season and a great end to 2018. May the next few weeks bring you an abundance of joy and time well spent with those closest to you.

As we come to the end of 2018, I’ve been reflecting on what an incredible year it’s been for mixed reality. Not just for the team at Microsoft, but for the developers, customers, and partners who have joined us on this journey.

The next year is going to be a big one for mixed reality—and below I will share some of what’s on my mind as we get ready for 2019. But first, let’s take a quick look back on 2018 and the year that was!

We ❤ MR


  • Dynamics 365 and MR have come together: Earlier this year, we shared a broad vision for business applications at Microsoft. As part of that, we focused quite a bit on why mixed reality has joined the Dynamics 365 family. Customers are at the center of Dynamics 365, and we see them reimagining their businesses to remove silos and leverage the vast amounts of data available across their organization in new, powerful ways. Mixed reality provides unique value because it helps employees visualize this powerful data in the context of their jobs, so they can produce greater impact for their organizations.
  • We launched Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Dynamics 365 Layout: I am very proud of our team for building and launching our first two mixed reality business applications! These two applications provide out-of-the-box value for our customers using Microsoft HoloLens and help address some of the unmet needs of Firstline Workers. Firstline Workers represent more than two billion people who are in roles that make them the first points of contact between a company and the world it serves. They are often the first to engage, the first to represent a company’s brand, and the first on the scene to address a problem. These two mixed reality solutions help our customers use technology to understand data in context to solve problems and make decisions more quickly.
  • HoloLens expanded to 41 markets and is available to rent: We made it easier to get your hands on HoloLens by expanding into the United Arab Emirates and Singapore, as well as making it available to rent in the US and Canada so companies can evaluate prior to purchase or temporarily increase their inventory to support tradeshows or events. We’re thrilled to work with many more customers and partners around the world!

Our partners ❤ MR!


  • Trimble’s Hard Hat Solution and Trimble Connect: Our long-term partner, Trimble, announced Trimble Connect for HoloLens and a new hard hat solution for HoloLens that improves the utility of mixed reality for practical field applications. Trimble has paid close attention to supporting HoloLens as a high-value tool for Firstline Workers and continues to increase their impact on the market.
  • CAE, Visual3D, TeraRecon, Pearson, and others deliver game-changing mixed reality healthcare solutions: From more insightful ultrasounds and new ways of learning to performing live surgeries using mixed reality, many healthcare companies are embracing mixed reality to transform the way they innovate and support and help others.
  • PTC and BAE use mixed reality to change the way employees learn: BAE Systems makes the electric propulsion systems for HybriDrive® buses. BAE is working with PTC, a Microsoft Mixed Reality Partner, using their ThingWorx Studio to create mixed reality solutions that dramatically improve the efficiency of Firstline Workers. BAE and PTC used ThingWorx Studio to easily create a guided, step-by-step training solution for HoloLens to teach workers how to assemble a green energy bus battery. Using these tools, BAE can now create guides for Firstline Workers in just a few hours at a tenth of the cost, training new people 30–40 percent more efficiently.

Our customers ❤ MR!


  • Chevron: Chevron is already achieving real, measurable results with its global HoloLens deployment. Previously they were required to fly in an inspector from Houston to a facility in Singapore once a month to inspect equipment. Using Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, they can now put any inspector or expert anywhere in the world in under a minute.
  • ZF: A great way to see Remote Assist and Layout in action is through the work of ZF Group, a German car parts manufacturer headquartered in Friedrichshafen and an early partner on our journey. We have worked closely with ZF Group to ensure their valuable insight from Firstline Workers using Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Dynamics 365 Layout are built directly into the product. In developing these apps with customers, we are not only looking to make great software—we’re looking to empower the Firstline Workers using the apps.
  • Toyota: With their mixed reality solution, Toyota can now take their existing 3D CAD data used in the vehicle design process and project it directly onto the vehicle for measurements, optimizing existing processes, and minimizing errors. This has transformed a process which previously took one to two days and multiple people to execute into a task requiring four hours and one person.
  • Mae Jemison and Defying Gravity: Women in Space: This year, Microsoft, Dr. Jemison, and Smithsonian Magazine joined forces with the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum to sound a rallying cry for representation and inclusion on Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day. They came together to create Defying Gravity: Women in Space, a mixed reality experience at the Intrepid that shares the stories of previously unsung women who’ve made critical contributions to the US space program.

What the future holds


Wow! What a year! As we look to 2019, I see so much opportunity for us to work with all of you to continue to define what the future of computing looks like with mixed reality. There are opportunities to reshape the way we work, learn, and visualize our world. Here are a few areas I am particularly excited about:

  • For many of our customers, equipment and processes are mission critical, and any downtime can have an enormous impact on their business, so ensuring employees are working safely and efficiently is paramount. With Microsoft HoloLens, employees can experience realistic 3D training at scale, and integrated with their existing productivity tools. This provides companies the flexibility to train their employees at lower costs but with high-quality results. This is an urgent area for customers as their workforce shifts, and we see huge opportunity with mixed reality.
  • Beyond Microsoft, the growth of mixed reality as a category this year has truly been inspiring. There are now more end points that allow people to visualize data in the context of the real world, whether that be through a headset or a mobile device. With Dynamics 365, we deeply understand a customer’s workflow and believe there are contextual mixed reality solutions that are relevant across all the devices they use in their work – and we’re going to make sure we’re ready to help.
  • Through the insights we’ve learned from our customers and partners about their industries and workflows, it’s clear to us that there’s an incredible opportunity to better connect their physical space into their business applications. We believe that our customers will benefit from real-time insights from sensors, IoT devices, and computer vision enabled devices. More to come here as we learn about the highest value scenarios.

Looking forward to working with you all in 2019!

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  PS4 - Marvel's Spider-Man: Silver Lining
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 12-22-2018, 04:45 AM - Forum: New Game Releases - No Replies

Marvel's Spider-Man: Silver Lining



The conclusion of the three-part DLC series.

Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Release Date: Dec 21, 2018

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  PC - The Sims 4: Get Famous
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 12-22-2018, 04:45 AM - Forum: New Game Releases - No Replies

The Sims 4: Get Famous



Now your Sims can live out their wildest dreams of fame and Fortune.
Be your own muse and direct your Sim toward a brilliant acting Career
Join the glitz and glamour of Del sol Valley, a new world where your Sims are the Talk of the town. Get noticed around town in chic Street wear or dress the part with glamorous outfits on set.

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Release Date: Nov 16, 2018

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  PC - Jurassic World Evolution: The Secrets of Dr. Wu
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 12-22-2018, 04:45 AM - Forum: New Game Releases - No Replies

Jurassic World Evolution: The Secrets of Dr. Wu



Face your toughest challenge yet! Hidden within Las Cinco Muertes is an intriguing new storyline featuring campaign missions from Dr. Henry Wu, who remains dedicated to his research with hybrid dinosaurs.

As the story unfolds, you will learn that Dr. Wu has access to previously unseen locations, including his hidden hybrid development facility, kept secret even from the Hammond Foundation. These facilities will be based on two new locations on Isla Muerta and Isla Tacano.

Work alongside the Divisions, while secretly answering to Dr. Wu. Earn his trust to gain access to new dig sites and bring to life five new dinosaurs, three of them being Dr. Wu?s hybrids. These exciting new discoveries will bring chaos caused by conflicts of interest as well as the dinosaurs themselves.

Publisher: Frontier Developments

Release Date: Nov 20, 2018

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  Microsoft - The biggest IoT stories of 2018
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 12-22-2018, 03:08 AM - Forum: Windows - No Replies

The biggest IoT stories of 2018

This blog post was authored by Peter Cooper, Senior Product Manager, Microsoft IoT.

Back in April, we announced our intention to invest $5 billion in the Internet of Things (IoT) over the next five years. The importance of this commitment has become even clearer since, as technology has already evolved, customers have innovated, and possibilities have grown. As 2018 draws to a close, here’s a look back at the topics that drove the most interest and excitement here on our blog—and a window into what’s coming for this technology in the near future.

Smart spaces


The spaces around us are coming alive with the power of data. In our post, “Smart buildings, built on Azure IoT,” we talked about how IoT and AI are helping those who own, manage, and use buildings increase efficiency to reduce cost and improve productivity. With announcements of products such as Azure Sphere and Azure Digital Twins, we empowered our partners and customers to explore new possibilities for managing and improving the built environment responsively, in real time.

Over the past year, we’ve also seen customers expand their vision of what smart spaces can do. Traditionally, these projects were heavily focused on operational aspects of building management such as infrastructure maintenance, water, and power usage. This is still the foundational use case and justification for IoT-enabled buildings, but people are increasingly excited about the transformative capabilities of smart spaces. Customers are exploring how they can use analytics to understand and optimize how people use the spaces they inhabit. Furthermore, they’re designing smart building solutions with the potential to dramatically influence day-to-day productivity and increase positive interactions.

For example, Steelcase showed how they’re creating smart and connected workplaces. As Scott Sadler, Steelcase Smart + Connected manager said, “By embedding technology into the work environment, we are enabling people to tell organizations what spaces are successful and why. We can measure and identify patterns in how and where people are working.” The ease of obtaining these insights will only increase in the coming year, and we’re thrilled to see where this field is headed. As smart space initiatives expand beyond the workplace to encompass stadiums, schools, hospitals, banks, and more—and as edge and cloud technologies connect them to the larger built environment—truly transformative possibilities are bound to emerge. 

The intelligent edge


As with smart buildings, we’ve been inspired by the visionary scope our partners and customers have for edge computing and look forward to big things in 2019. IT departments are using edge computing to solve infrastructure and security challenges to make IoT a reality. Hardware vendors are expanding the intelligence of their devices to take advantage of new functionalities. A diverse and vibrant ecosystem is arising that will push what’s possible at the edge.

We highlighted five ways edge will transform business, including reduced IoT solution costs, improved security, lower latency, greater reliability, and interoperability with legacy devices. Enabling this goodness requires a strong technology foundation, which is why the Azure IoT Edge platform garnered so much attention from the industry. Since then, the solution has moved into general availability, enabling any business to deliver cloud intelligence locally on cross-platform IoT devices.

Edge computing has depth, fueling growth in both infrastructure and IoT, which allows data processing, analytics, and advanced functionality on connected devices whether they’re connected to the cloud or not.

These innovations are many and varied. With a consistent deployment model, companies can code and test edge capabilities on any platform and launch them seamlessly. For example, some are training data models using cloud-scale machine learning engines, and then deploying those models as-is to edge devices. Others are using edge as a way to aggregate and preprocess information so that only relevant data is delivered to the cloud. Edge computing also makes it possible to build IoT solutions that are offline for extended periods of time yet deliver powerful predictive capabilities based on local data. It all adds up to more efficient, effective use of data to improve everyday lives around the world. 

Open standards and interoperability


Interoperability is a hot topic, especially in the manufacturing space, where businesses are looking for simple, comprehensive solutions that allow them to enable the connected factory with a mix of IoT-ready and legacy equipment. Our April post on OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) highlighted how manufacturers are using the standard to enable openness and interoperability while maintaining high standards of security.

In fact, this past year could be considered “the year of OPC UA,” with ABB, Rockwell, and Schneider Electric joining the OPC Foundation board members, alongside SIEMENS, SAP, Yokogava, Iconics, Ascolab, and, of course, Microsoft.

National industry initiatives have also continued deepening their commitment to interoperability. Germany’s Industrie 4.0 has released new testbeds and specifications based on the standard, and the China 2025 initiative has made a similar all-in commitment to OPC UA. We’ve made our own contributions to the world of OPC UA with new and updated products. Discrete manufacturing is also getting in on the interoperability act, with the German machine tool association VDW announcing the open universal machine tool interface (umati) initiative, which incorporates OPC UA into its architecture.

Looking ahead


The big lesson from all this energetic activity? IoT is a catalyst for digital transformation across traditional boundaries. We’re seeing new ecosystems and solutions emerge that unify data and insights from multiple places to enable new possibilities. As smart cities, vehicles, buildings, spaces, energy, and more converge, the opportunities grow—and so do needs for end-to-end manageability and security. We are committed to solving these challenges with built-in connectivity, real-time performance, and security innovation at the intelligent edge. Learn more about how Microsoft is helping build the connected future.

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  News - Fallout 76 Outlines Updates For Early 2019
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 12-21-2018, 09:07 PM - Forum: Lounge - No Replies

Fallout 76 Outlines Updates For Early 2019

Bethesda has closed out the year by laying out a roadmap of what we can expect the beginning of 2019 to bring to Fallout 76. The studio outlined a few details of patches coming in January, and promised more info to come early next year.

In the blog post, the studio noted that a mid-January patch will fix the lever-action rifle reload animation, some perk cards, and the crowds at Whitespring. The studio promised that going forward in 2019, patch notes will be accompanied by a brief explanation from developers detailing the rationale behind balance changes and adjustments. It's also working on a new mode without PVP restrictions, allowing you a little more flexibility in how you play. That will be coming in the first quarter of 2019.

It's fair to say that Fallout 76 has had a rocky launch. The game itself released in a buggy state, leading to a poor reception including in GameSpot's own review, which scored it a 4/10. It's been a series of mishaps since then, from an investigation into a PC refund policy to a bait-and-switch with canvas bags in the Collector's Edition, and finally a personal data leak. For its part Bethesda has continued to support the game with patches and has promised to listen to community feedback going forward.

"Bethesda has stated it intends to continue supporting the game for a long time, but at launch, Fallout 76 is a poor experience," wrote critic Edmond Tran. "There are echoes of the series' admirable qualities, but look past that facade, past the cute Vault Boy animations, past the familiar radio tracks, and you'll find no heart--just an inconsequential wasteland doomed to be nuked over and over again."

Despite its issues, it seems to have had a solid launch, selling decently well in physical copies according to data tracking firm NPD.

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