Author: Microsoft Stories

Microsoft-owned Skype has now made it easier for you to interact with people all over the nation and the world. Now, to stay relevant in the tech world amidst rising giants, Skype is trying to expand its features. The translator functions as a real-time translation feature, which will not be able to integrate with calls made to phones and landline numbers. But as of now, people are needed to do a few things to access the tool. You must be a member of the free Windows Insider Program and have the new beta app of Skype, called the Skype Preview. Additionally, you need to have some paid Skype credits.

In a bid to digitally transform the Indian manufacturing industry, Microsoft showcased three Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. The three solutions powered by Microsoft Azure Cloud are offered by three startups: Precimetrix, Teramatrix and Covacsis Technologies to help manufacturing industries develop digital and predictive insights. “Our complete suite of technology solutions including Azure Machine Learning, Cortana Intelligence Suite and IoT solutions suite as well as our partners are capable of supporting any manufacturer of any size transform digitally,” said Narendra Bhandari, General Manager, Developer Experience, Microsoft.

Cloud services traditionally come with two standard interfaces. There’s either a web-based graphical interface or a command line terminal interface. The new Microsoft Azure Cloud Console comes with an integrated workflow that allows users to build applications on Azure using graphical interface or command line tools. The shell is integrated into the portal so users can quickly drop into a command line experience, while simultaneously viewing their cloud resources in the graphical web interface.

Three computer scientists at Microsoft Research India were named as 2016 Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) along with 50 others from all over the world for fueling advances that are transforming science and society. They are Ravi Kannan for his work in theoretical computers science, Venkata N. Padmanabhan for networked and mobile computing systems, and Ganesan Ramalingam for static program analysis.

Microsoft has released R Server 9.0 to bring machine learning close to servers. The new update includes some cutting-edge algorithms within an all new MicrosoftML package to make server technologies smarter than ever before. “With this latest release, you have access to a powerful tool, one that supports popular operating systems and a variety of data sources, helps you create sophisticated analytics models and deploy them in the real world, efficiently and at scale,” said Nagesh Pabbisetty, partner Director of program management, Microsoft, in a statement.

Microsoft wants to encourage more children to develop an interest in coding. Try an hour-long online coding tutorial developed by the team behind the popular game Minecraft. The free online tutorial, called Minecraft Designer, allows a user to program their own Minecraft game in a visual drag-and-drop workspace, where they learn basic concepts such as debugging and repeat loops. After launching the tutorial, users navigate through a series of tasks – the first couple of tasks make chickens move around a Minecraft map.

Microsoft is offering new Azure skill training and certification to channel partners to help support their growth. The company believes that channel partners across the world need to upgrade their skills to meet the changing needs of customers, who are increasingly deploying digital technologies and practices. Gavriella Schuster, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft, mentioned in the company blog post that “the new Azure training opportunities is aimed at helping partners respond to the surging demand, realize positive returns, and grow their market opportunity.”

Chip manufacturer Qualcomm and Microsoft have teamed up to support Windows 10 on mobile computing devices powered by Snapdragon processors. “Bringing Windows 10 to life with a range of thin, light, power-efficient and always-connected devices, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform, is the next step in delivering the innovations our customers love,” added Terry Myerson, Executive Vice President, Windows and Devices Group, Microsoft.

Advancing its commitment to increase access to computer science education to all youth, Microsoft and Code.org are co-organizing Hour of Code, an annual global campaign in 15 states across the country during the Computer Science Education Week from December 5 to 11. Speaking about this initiative, Manju Dhasmana, Lead Philanthropies and CSR, Microsoft India, said, “At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. We are committed to helping the young generation to realize their full potential, by equipping them with future-ready skills. In today’s technology-driven world, coding along with computer science education at an early stage is crucial to develop computational, critical thinking, and problem solving skills, among today’s youth.”

In an interview, Peter Gartenberg, General Manager, Enterprise and Partner Group, Microsoft India, said, “India is an important market for us and to support our customers’ digital transformation, cloud services offered through local datacenters will be pivotal to our continued growth. We announced the availability of our commercial cloud services from three local data centers in India at the end of September 2015. Our global cloud infrastructure currently includes more than 100 datacenters located in over 40 countries and we are rapidly building capacity to serve our customers worldwide. Today, we operate more than 100 datacenters including both owned and leased facilities.”