In the News

Microsoft has announced a new platform “Simplygon Cloud” that will support all major 3D Mixed Reality (MR) platforms, including Windows Mixed Reality, iOS and Android. Microsoft acquired Simplygon, a leader in 3D model optimization based in southern Sweden, earlier this year. “Simplygon Cloud” is now available in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace.

In order to help India eradicate tuberculosis (TB), Microsoft researchers enabled a technology project called ’99 DOTS’ which focuses on patient adherence to anti-tuberculosis drugs. With 99 DOTS, patients can communicate to their care providers and be tracked without traveling to a clinic. Currently, the Indian government is using 99 DOTS for every patient who is co-infected with TB and HIV. The other technology project is Project Mélange, which seeks to understand uses of code-mixing, and building tools to improve machine learning and translation of code-mixed text. This research work will eventually be able to create better translators and language detection software in order to improve the algorithms over time and eventually lead to machines that can speak to humans on a more personal and relatable level.

The global industry is increasingly leaning towards Platform as a Service (PaaS), which has advanced considerably over time. Microsoft Toolsets provides an easy way to deploy applications that are built on a platform like Java and .NET. Its services are available in 36 regions around the world, with plans announced for four additional regions and can be used to group different resources such as Microsoft Azure App Services, SQL databases, and storage accounts available in Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft’s cloud storage service called OneDrive received a new and revamped look on its Android platform. The new update has made the app look much more modernized than what it was earlier. Among the things that have been changed in the app is the introduction of a bottom bar where files, photos, recent and shared folders are demarcated, which makes the UI a lot cleaner.

Peter Gartenberg, General Manager, Enterprise Partner Group, Microsoft India, shared his insights at a recent event on how digital, technology and media have joined hands to build a business model, which has the ability to be agile, adaptable and is designed to thrive to be future ready. The session was moderated by Vikram Chandra, Consulting Editor, NDTV. Talking about technology trends, Gartenberg spoke about how Microsoft has been working on Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, SVG and all kinds of different formats.

Microsoft and the Telangana government sponsored the launch of India’s first UAV hackathon called “Hackadrone 2018”. The hackathon, which is open for registration, is welcoming developers, start-ups, and tech students that want to develop commercial and industrial solutions using drone technology to participate.

Power BI is Microsoft’s interactive data visualization and analytics tool for business intelligence. Microsoft’s Power BI service can visualize a lot more than chart data–from asking questions to analyzing the services you use. You can use it to pull data from a wide range of systems in the cloud and on premises and create dashboards that track the metrics you care about the most, or drill in and ask questions about your data. You can create rich reports or embed dashboards.

The Bluetooth-enabled Surface Precision Mouse by Microsoft is very comfortable while still looking elegant. It’s got six customizable buttons, a rechargeable battery, a thumb rest, and a scroll wheel that can be switched from smooth and fast vertical scrolling to granular line-by-line scrolling. It can be used with up to three PCs at the same time.

Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 is now running on more than 600 million active devices. The list of devices includes desktops, tablets, Xbox One consoles, HoloLens headsets, and Surface Hub devices. The team led by Nadella has developed features such as an AirDrop-like Near Share, native app tabbing with Sets, and visualizing history with Timeline. All these features are likely to persuade users to start using the latest Windows platform in the coming future.

Microsoft has elected four new members to its board of directors, bringing the total to 14. Nine of those 14 have been appointed since Satya Nadella became the company’s third CEO in February 2014. The new members had all been previously announced, but were officially elected by shareholders in the company’s annual meeting. Nadella and founder Bill Gates are also on the board.