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| Microsoft - Bringing mixed reality and Dynamics 365 together |
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Posted by: xSicKxBot - 11-07-2018, 08:44 AM - Forum: Windows
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Bringing mixed reality and Dynamics 365 together
Hey everyone!
I hope this note finds you well. For those who have been following and participating in our mixed reality journey, welcome to our new home in the Dynamics 365 blog! For those new to us, on behalf of everyone who works on mixed reality business applications at Microsoft it is our pleasure to meet you.
My name is Lorraine Bardeen, and I am the general manager of engineering for Mixed Reality Business Applications at Microsoft. I have the pleasure of working for James Phillips in the Business Applications Group and the privilege to lead a world-class team of engineers working to bring mixed reality to people and organizations across the globe.
I have been working on the mixed reality business for over six years and I still show up at work every day excited to work with customers, partners and developers to innovate and solve real problems using mixed reality. With mixed reality, we can understand data in context and simplify workflows to extend human ability. When this happens workers feel more effective, businesses see more progress and everyone has a chance to participate in the modern workplace.
Today marks an important day for all of us on the mixed reality business applications team. Today, we officially mark general availability of our first Dynamics 365 business applications: Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Dynamics 365 Layout.
To celebrate this important milestone I wanted to write this post and share more about why mixed reality and Dynamics 365 have come together, what people can expect from these first mixed reality business applications, and how they are already being used and deployed.
Why mixed reality and Dynamics 365 have come together
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak to press and analysts in San Francisco about mixed reality business applications at Microsoft. As part of that moment in time, Alysa Taylor talked about our vision for business applications and I had the chance to talk specifically about mixed reality. In particular I talked about why mixed reality and Dynamics 365 have come together and I wanted to share some of that with you here as well.
With Dynamics 365, customers are reimagining their business processes by leveraging modern, unified, intelligent and adaptable solutions that bring together the vast amounts of data across their organization to empower their employees with new tools to help them feel more effective at work. Factory and field service worker. Patient and provider. Storefront and supply chain. No silos — just customers, products, employees and data more closely connected than ever before. Mixed reality represents a totally new part of this solution because of the capabilities it provides.
We recognize that these employees need information in context to apply their knowledge and craft. Not only on a 2-D screen — but information and data in context, at the right place, and at the right time, that they can use hands-free so employees can produce even greater impact for their organizations. We’ve focused on integrating these mixed reailty business applications with the common data service that underlies Dynamics 365 so that companies get the full value of high-value data connecting the full workflow.
Introducing the general availability of Dynamics 365 Remote Assist
With today’s release of Dynamics 365 Remote Assist we are taking an important step forward in helping address some of the current, unmet needs of Firstline Workers. Firstline Workers represent more than 2 billion people in roles that make them the first points of contact between a company and the world it serves, between a company and its products. They are often the first to engage, the first to represent a company’s brand, the first on the scene to address a problem.
With Dynamics 365 Remote Assist we can enable technicians and remote experts to solve problems in real time with heads-up, hands-free video calling, annotations, and file sharing. By identifying and addressing issues accurately we can also eliminate the need for costly travel expenses while improving operational efficiency.
Organizations will be able to communicate securely with industry-leading identity and security measures, including Azure Active Directory. In addition, they will be able to leverage work order data from Dynamics 365 Field Service on-site using the common data service.
For business decision-makers looking for new ways to empower their employees and create more collaborative ways of problem-solving, this is pretty exciting stuff! But enough talking about it — here is Microsoft Dynamics 365 Remote Assist in action.
Introducing the general availability of Dynamics 365 Layout
Lastly, with today’s release of Dynamics 365 Layout we are now providing our customers and partners with a way to visualize room layouts in real-world scale. The ability to walk through proposed layouts in physical space or virtual reality. Review and make changes with stakeholders in real time, saving time and money. Move, resize and rotate 3-D models to edit layouts on the spot. Here is a peek at Dynamics 365 Layout in action.
Mixed reality business applications being deployed
About four months ago we released the public preview of our two mixed reality business applications. During that time, we had the chance to work with and learn from many great companies, and I wanted to take a moment to spotlight a couple of them here.
ZF Group
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. An early partner on our journey, ZF Group has been working with us over the past few months to help ensure these apps, even in preview, are crafted with insights from those who will be using them daily to get their work done. 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.
Learn more about how ZF Group uses Microsoft mixed reality tools.
Chevron
Chevron is already achieving real, measurable results with its global HoloLens deployment. Previously it was required to fly in an inspector from Houston to a facility in Singapore once a month to inspect equipment. Now it has in-time inspection using Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and can identify issues or provide approvals immediately. In addition, remote collaboration and assistance have helped the company operate more safely in a better work environment, serving as a connection point between firstline workers and remote experts, as well as cutting down on travel and eliminating risks associated with employee travel. Learn how Chevron is deploying Microsoft Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Microsoft HoloLens.
This is just the beginning! We will have a lot more to share in the months ahead, and I am looking forward to sharing more then.
As always, I’m available on Twitter (@lorrainebardeen) and eager to hear about what you’re doing with mixed reality.
Learn more
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| AppleInsider - Qualcomm must license modem tech to rivals like Intel, court rules |
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Posted by: xSicKxBot - 11-07-2018, 08:44 AM - Forum: Apples Mac and OS X
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Qualcomm must license modem tech to rivals like Intel, court rules
By Roger Fingas
Tuesday, November 06, 2018, 01:50 pm PT (04:50 pm ET)
Denying a motion to delay court proceedings while settlement talks are ongoing, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh on Tuesday issued a preliminary ruling against Qualcomm in the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit.
Qualcomm must license some of the patents it holds for smartphone modems to firms like Intel, Koh ruled according to Reuters. The company is accused of forcing companies like Apple to buy its wireless chips in exchange for better patent royalty rates.
In fact Apple was in an exclusive modem supply arrangement with Qualcomm for several years, but started mixing in Intel chips with 2016’s iPhone 7, and is now Intel-only with the iPhone XS and XR.
The FTC case is related to an Apple action dating back to January 2017. Apple filed a $1 billion lawsuit shortly thereafter, marking the beginning of a global legal war, compounded by actions from various government bodies and Qualcomm accusations that Apple handed trade secrets to Intel to improve chip performance.
In August, Qualcomm reached a settlement with Taiwanese antitrust regulators, avoiding a $773 million fine in exchange for paying $93 million and investing $700 million in the country over the course of five years. It has also made deals with parties like Samsung, which like Apple is a major phone customer.
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| Advance Your Open Source Skills with These Essential Articles, Videos, and More |
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Posted by: xSicKxBot - 11-07-2018, 05:29 AM - Forum: Linux, FreeBSD, and Unix types
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Advance Your Open Source Skills with These Essential Articles, Videos, and More
Recent industsry events have underscored the strength of open source in today’s computing landscape. With billions of dollars being spent, the power of open source development, collaboration, and organization seems unstoppable.
Toward that end, we recently provided an array of articles, videos, and other resources to meet you where you are on your open source journey and help you master the basics, improve your skills, or explore the broader ecosystem. Let’s take a look.
To start, we provided some Linux basics in our two-part series exploring Linux links:
Then, we covered some basic tools for open source logging and monitoring:
We also took an in-depth look at the Introduction to Open Source, Git, and Linux training course from The Linux Foundation. This course presents a comprehensive learning path focused on development, Linux systems, and the Git revision control system. The $299 course is self-paced and comes with extensive and easily referenced learning materials. Get a preview of the course curriculum in this four-part series by Sam Dean:
As the default compiler for the Linux kernel, the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) delivers trusted, stable performance along with the additional extensions needed to correctly build the kernel. We took a closer look at this vital tool in this whitepaper:
Security is another vital component of Linux. In this video interview, Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman provides a glimpse into how the kernel community deals with vulnerabilities.
Along with all these articles, we also recently published videos from some of our October events. Follow the links below to watch complete keynote and technical session presentations from Open Source Summit, Linux Security Summit, and Open FinTech Forum.
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Check out 90+ sessions from Open Source Summit Europe & ELC + OpenIoT Summit Europe.
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These 21 videos from Linux Security Summit Europe provide an overview of recent kernel development.
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The 9 keynote videos from Open FinTech Forum cover cutting-edge open source technologies including AI, blockchain, and Kubernetes.
Stay tuned for more event coverage and essential open source resources.
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| PC - Cities: Skylines - Industries |
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Posted by: xSicKxBot - 11-07-2018, 02:30 AM - Forum: New Game Releases
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Cities: Skylines - Industries
In one of the most in-depth expansions in Cities: Skylines history, Industry becomes a larger and more meaningful part of the game with this expansion. Players can customize their industrial areas with supply chains for the four different resource types and unique factories. Well managed industry areas will level up and become more efficient. Aside from production chains, there is a new city service for handling mail and the cargo airport eases import and export of factory goods. There are FIVE new maps, new policies, new city services, new buildings (including resource extractors, manufacturers, warehouses and unique factories) and more. Publisher: Paradox Interactive Release Date: Oct 23, 2018
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| PC - Party Hard 2 |
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Posted by: xSicKxBot - 11-07-2018, 02:30 AM - Forum: New Game Releases
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Party Hard 2
It's 3am and you just want to get some sleep. Welcome back to Party Hard! Stop parties using hundreds of new ways, incidentally destroy a drug syndicate, and save the Earth from an alien invasion. May the chickens be with you!
Publisher: tinyBuild Release Date: Oct 25, 2018
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| News - Castlevania Season 2: Why It Took So Long To Hear Music From The Games |
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Posted by: xSicKxBot - 11-07-2018, 02:30 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Castlevania Season 2: Why It Took So Long To Hear Music From The Games
The Castlevania games are well known for a few specific things, like elaborate levels, cheesy dialogue, and atmospheric design. Music ranks high among those characteristics, which made it extremely weird when the first season of Netflix's Castlevania show included exactly zero music from the Castlevania games. Fans hoped showrunner Adi Shankar would correct that in Castlevania Season 2, and those who watched all the way to Episode 7 weren't disappointed. Why did it take so long for the Castlevania show to finally use some of the games' iconic music? We asked Shankar during a recent interview. "It is a process," Shankar said. "I'm not making a commentary of how difficult of a process, but I'm just saying, yeah, it is a process." The Castlevania franchise is owned by Konami, a Japanese company that famously has not seemed particularly interested in catering to what fans of its games want in recent years. Bloody Tears, the song used in Episode 7's impressive and game reference-heavy battle, was originally composed by Kenichi Matsubara and was first heard in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, a NES game released more than three decades ago. Needless to say, the licensing process for it and similar tracks may be more complex than fans assume. But aside from that, Shankar didn't want to turn Castlevania into the kind of show that buys fans off with endless fan service. "It was good to build to it, because it makes the use of it more meaningful," he said. The same went for Trevor's whip, which the character upgraded to the famous Morning Star during Castlevania Season 2: "There's a version of the show out there where literally every episode Trevor is getting an upgrade," Shankar said, and he didn't want to fall into that trap. "At a certain point these things kind of lose their impact and meaning," he said, emphasizing that using the song there wasn't intended as some kind of cheap surprise. It's a moment of pay-off to things that have been building throughout Season 1 and 2, not simply a wink toward fans. "Ultimately what we're trying to do here--with any kind of entertainment--is to evoke, provoke, make you feel a broad spectrum of emotions," Shankar said. "This is one of the notes we were able to hit--no pun intended. It's that--I don't want to say the nostalgia note, but it is a note we were able to hit, and it's one of those notes that has diminishing returns if you hit it too many times." The music isn't the only thing Castlevania fans get nostalgic for. The show's three protagonists--Trevor, Alucard, and Sypha--are all playable characters from Castlevania III. The show also took inspiration from other Castlevania games, including Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness. Shankar said he likes to take characters and other elements from these games and flesh them out beyond the relatively basic characteristics present in their original incarnations--but in a way that makes sense to fans. "Those early games were not able to communicate the subtle characterizations, the subtle nuances, because early games didn't have a way to communicate that," he said. "All of us felt--Warren Ellis, myself, Kevin [Kolde], my partner on the show--that it was really important to expand the world of the show." He compared it to the Marvel universe, which spans comics, games, movies, TV shows, and more, all with their own continuities that run in parallel, and each medium with its own strengths and focuses. "In all these different universes, some events play out exactly the same, some things play out slightly differently," he said. "Some characters show up in slightly different timelines and slightly different forms. Sometimes the power balance is different, right? That's very much the same deal with Castlevania. Our show takes place in a parallel timeline--a parallel universe--to that of the games." "Which, by the way, the games also have multiple timelines in and of themselves," he added. By Season 2's conclusion, many of the storylines begun in the show are wrapped up neatly. But it also leaves our heroes in a position to have more adventures--and several villains remain in the mix as well. Netflix recently confirmed that Castlevania Season 3 is a go, and Shankar said they already have plans in place. "I'm trying to think of what I can and can't say," he teased. "We have Season 3 mapped out. A big thing about this show is none of us want to be just making it up as we go along...Every single time, we take a look at how much time we have to tell the story and how many resources we have to tell it. But there's a plan in place. There's an arc in place. When Season 3 comes out you will see that Season 2 set up the events of Season 3. There's still this cast of nefarious characters out there." "And don't forget this is also a massive world," he continued. "The world of Castlevania, of the--let's call it the Castlevania cinematic universe for our discussion--in that cinematic universe is this massive landscape, and what we saw [in Seasons 1 and 2] is a story on that board. But there are far reaching ramifications for all the events that transpired in Season 1 and Season 2." What's his overall goal for Castlevania Season 3? "An Emmy nomination--that would be pretty tight," Shankar said. He'll have our vote whenever Castlevania returns to Netflix, which will hopefully happen sooner rather than later. You can catch Season 1 and 2 streaming on Netflix now.
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| Microsoft - Bringing our October 2018 release to life at Ignite |
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Posted by: xSicKxBot - 11-07-2018, 02:30 AM - Forum: Windows
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Bringing our October 2018 release to life at Ignite
As we continue our momentum and investments in Microsoft business applications, I’m excited to highlight some of the new capabilities in the October 2018 release of Dynamics 365 and the Power platform at Ignite 2018 today.
In my keynote at the event with Alysa Taylor, we are featuring two customers, Polaris Industries and Northwell Health. These customers exemplify companies that are using Dynamics 365 and the Power platform to fundamentally reimagine how they engage with their customers, use data to optimize their operations, empower their employees and transform their products.
You’ll see how Polaris is transforming their customer engagement processes and manufacturing operations through connected products, using Dynamics 365. And we’ll show some pretty amazing applications of mixed reality as we demonstrate HoloLens used in a field service engagement.
You’ll also hear from Northwell Health about how they are changing patient engagement with Dynamics 365, the Power platform, Office 365 and Azure. One of my favorite parts of their story is about a PowerApp which gives physicians and nurses visibility into each other’s teams – developed by one of their doctors! These business applications are helping teams at Northwell collaborate more effectively and provide even better patient care that is truly transformational.
And this all comes on top up some phenomenal feedback we received from the market following our introduction of new Dynamics 365 AI and Mixed Reality applications last week. And we are incredibly excited to build on all this momentum with the announcement from Satya today on the Open Data Initiative with Adobe and SAP, which represents the next step in our journey to deliver unmatched value to our customers.
In addition, the October release is packed with hundreds of new capabilities across all Dynamics 365 applications and the Power platform, including new connected field service capabilities and deeper integrations with Office 365, Teams, and LinkedIn. Get the full details of this release through our release notes.
And watch my keynote at Ignite, here.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
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| 17 Fun Linux Commands to Run in the Terminal |
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Posted by: xSicKxBot - 11-06-2018, 09:39 PM - Forum: Linux, FreeBSD, and Unix types
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17 Fun Linux Commands to Run in the Terminal
The terminal is a very powerful tool, and it’s probably the most interesting part in Unix. Among the plethora of useful commands and scripts you can use, some seem less practical, if not completely useless. Here are some Bash commands that are fun, and some of them are useful as well.
Oneko
This command adds some spice to your terminal by adding a cat to your screen which will chase after your (mouse) cursor. Install it by running this script:
Type oneko to display the cat.
figlet
Figlet is a command for those who love to write in ASCII art. It greatly simplifies this task as it automatically transforms any given string. It comes with a bunch of fonts by default at “/usr/share/figlet/fonts/,” and you can of course add your own.
figlet [-f path to the font] [string]
Read more at MakeTechEasier
Click Here!
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| News - Game Of Thrones Prequel Series Name Carries Big Story Implications |
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Posted by: xSicKxBot - 11-06-2018, 06:50 PM - Forum: Lounge
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Game Of Thrones Prequel Series Name Carries Big Story Implications
New details have slowly trickled out about HBO's first Game of Thrones spin-off series, even as we're finally learning something about the hit fantasy epic's last season. The biggest reveal about the Game of Thrones prequel series so far is its name: The Long Night. Author George RR Martin, who penned the "A Song of Ice and Fire" books on which Game of Thrones is based, revealed the title on his blog following news that Naomi Watts had been cast as the lead of the new show, which is being run by Kingsman and Kick-Ass writer and producer Jane Goldman. For Game of Thrones fans, the name provides a huge piece of information that had previously been the subject of speculation, because it suggests the prequel will hinge on a very specific, and very terrifying, moment in the history of Westeros. The Long Night refers to a time around 8,000 years before the current events of the show, during what's known in Game of Thrones lore as the Age of Heroes. It was specifically a very long winter--the world of Game of Thrones has weird seasons that can last years, and the Long Night lasted a generation. It was so bad that, according to the Starks' servant Old Nan, "There came a night that lasted a generation, and kings shivered and died in their castles even as the swineherds in their hovels. Women smothered their children rather than see them starve, and cried, and felt their tears freeze on their cheeks." What was extra awful about the Long Night was the arrival of the Others, or White Walkers, for the first time in Westeros. Descending from the North, the White Walkers led an army of the dead that, Nan says, routed armies, swept through castles and towns, and showed no mercy. According to Westerosi legend, it was only when an unknown figure called the Last Hero sought out and allied with the magical folk called the Children of the Forest that the White Walkers were defeated. So it definitely seems that The Long Night is going to cover a lot of that legendary ground, likely upending fan expectations by showing a truer version than the stories that were passed down around Westeros. From previous rundowns from HBO, we also know that The Long Night will deal with a few legendary figures, specifically Bran the Builder, the founder of House Stark (who also built Winterfell and the Wall), and Lann the Clever, the founder of House Lannister. There's also the Children of the Forest, who we know from Game of Thrones were the original creators of the White Walkers. The Children of the Forest made the first of the undead creatures in response to the original humans to settle Westeros, the First Men, basically kicking them off their land and cutting down their forests. The Long Night creates an uneasy truce in the wake of that conflict. Finally, there's likely to be some interesting things going on across the Narrow Sea in The Long Night, as well. The generation-long winter didn't just befall Westeros, it impacted the entire world, and the eastern civilizations have their own legend about what happened. That's the story of Azor Ahai, the hero in the Lord of Light religion, who used the glowing sword Lightbringer to battle "the darkness." It's not clear what exactly that means, or whether Azor Ahai and the Last Hero are one and the same. Martin didn't reveal any other information about the show, but he did write that there still are other Game of Thrones prequels in "active development." Without revealing any potential stories for the other shows, he mentioned that "the readers among you might want to grab a copy of Fire & Blood," his upcoming book, when it's released on November 20. That story is also a Game of Thrones prequel, but goes back through the 300 years before the original books to detail the history of the Targaryen family--another fascinating time in Martin's world, filled with intrigue, war, and dragons. Meanwhile, we do know that Season 8 of Game of Thrones made at least one cast member cry, and that it'll have the biggest and most brutal battle in the series' history. There was also a least a short time when showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss were considering trying to make three standalone movies out of the final season. And while there aren't too many details out there about what to expect from the end of Game of Thrones, a recently released tie-in video game might hold some clues.
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