Author: Microsoft Stories

Microsoft has created a very interesting free app called Fetch that demonstrates the company’s machine learning and image recognition capabilities. It can identify and classify dogs by breeds and tell what kind of human personality fits best with specific breeds. The app will even take an informed guess on what kind of dog user or user’s friends might be. This includes what human personality traits best complement a specific breed’s characteristics. As an added bonus the app can also tell a user what sort of dog he or she would be if they were themselves canine.

Sir Paul McCartney of famed music band The Beatles has helped Microsoft with the audio for its 10 new love-inspired ‘Mojis’. The new Valentine’s Day Mojis come as a part of the Skype app update that’s available for Windows, OS X, Android, and iOS. Some of the Mojis included in the update are Sumo Cupid, Excited Lover, In Love, Flirting, and Crush on you amongst others. Original Skype designs were coupled with unique musical compositions from Paul to help users express their love to friends and family around the world. McCartney said in a video that he had enjoyed giving his own music to the Mojis.

Microsoft released its second batch of security updates for this year, addressing a total of 36 flaws in Internet Explorer, Edge, Office, Windows and .NET Framework. The patches are covered in 12 security bulletins. There is also a thirteenth critical bulletin for Flash Player. Although it’s maintained by Adobe, Flash Player is included with Internet Explorer 11 and Edge, so Microsoft is distributing Adobe’s patches through Windows Update. The MS16-009 and MS16-011 for Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge respectively should come next because they fix critical vulnerabilities that can be exploited through Web pages.

Microsoft issued Office 2016 to Office 365 commercial subscribers who had adopted the slower release cadence, called “Current Branch for Business” by the company. These customers may begin downloading and installing the same Office 2016 client applications Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Word and others that debuted in September 2015.
“Current Branch for Business” has been relabeled “Deferred Channel,” while the faster “Current Branch” has been rebranded as “Current Channel.” Amesh Mansukhani, a Senior Program Manager on the Office 365 ProPlus team, said, “While this naming change may seem small, we believe it will make a big difference in helping customers understand the purpose and cadence of the different delivery vehicles.”

Microsoft has announced that it now has 74 Android hardware partners in 25 countries, with Acer recently joining the list. These OEMs either pre-install or will pre-install Microsoft apps on their Android smartphones and tablets. “Our strategic agreements with these partners, in which IP alignment is an important feature, demonstrate how Microsoft is leveraging the scale of the hardware ecosystem, and working with partners in new ways to deliver rich experiences to our customers,” wrote Nick Parker, Corporate Vice President, Original Equipment Manufacturer Division, Microsoft.

According to T-Hub’s Chief Executive Officer, Jay Krishnan, the platform is planning to set up four sector-specific accelerator programs, beginning with one for health tech startups from May this year. This Health Tech Innovation Accelerator, would be followed by three 90-day duration accelerator programs for startups in the Internet of Things, agritech and business-to-business solutions space over the next one year. T-Hub, considered to be the country’s largest technology incubator, currently operates from a 70,000-sft ‘Catalyst’ building located on the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-Hyderabad) campus.

Microsoft launched Surface Pro 4, the tablet-hybrid in India in January this year. The company released a Surface Pro 4, along with the Surface Type Cover Keyboard and the Surface Pen. The hardware has been quite heavily used for the last couple of weeks. The Surface Pro 4 is a sleek looking tablet with sharply angled edges and when the design is considered from a purely aesthetic perspective, it’s fantastic. Whether used with the keyboard or without it, users will face no problems at all with the functioning. A magnetized port, a kickstand at the back, a really effective Surface Pen and several other features makes it a really good investment.

Jeannette Wing, corporate vice-president of Microsoft Research, spoke on the applicability of computational thinking, the contribution of the Microsoft Research laboratory in India, and the need to encourage more girls to continue studying mathematics and science. She said, “The MSR lab in India is always on the lookout for quality talent, but regrettably the pool for women in technology is fairly small, which is also the situation globally. We need to encourage more girls to continue studying mathematics and science, and to take up these subjects in college and at the post-graduate level.”

Microsoft Corp. and Acer Inc. announced the expansion of their global partnership to bring Microsoft mobile productivity services to more consumers. Acer will begin pre-installing Microsoft services and apps on its portfolio of Android smartphones and tablets from the second half of 2016. Customers will benefit from the productivity tools including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype on select Acer Android smartphones and tablets. Nick Psyhogeos, President of Microsoft Technology Licensing, said, “We’re pleased that we have been able to enhance the already strong partnership that exists between Microsoft and Acer. Mutually beneficial and collaborative agreements such as this one promote innovation and lead to better products and experiences for consumers.”

Microsoft’s Visual Basic received the Technical Impact Award at the 19th D.I.C.E. Awards (#DICEAwards) ceremony as announced by The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Microsoft’s Visual Basic, first launched in 1991, was immediately recognized by the computer science engineering world as one of the most powerful programming languages ever created. “I am incredibly proud the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences is recognizing the Microsoft Visual Basic team with the Technical Impact Award not only for their contribution to the art and science of computer programing, but ultimately for their significant impact on the gaming industry as a whole,” said Phil Spencer, head of Xbox.