21st Century Innovative Technologies and Developments as also discoveries, curiosity ( insolite)...

Microsoft is buying AI speech tech firm Nuance for $19.7 billion, bolstering the Redmond, Washington-based tech giant’s prowess in voice recognition and giving it further leverage in the health care market, where Nuance sells many products. Microsoft will pay $56 per share for Nuance, a 23 percent premium over the company’s closing price last Friday.

Nuance is best known for its Dragon software, which uses deep learning to transcribe speech and improves its accuracy over time by adapting to a user’s voice. Nuance has licensed this tech for many services and applications, including, most famously, Apple’s digital assistant Siri. (Though to what degree Siri currently relies on Dragon to answer users’ queries is unclear.) Dragon is an industry leader in terms of transcription accuracy.

The $19.7 billion acquisition of Nuance is Microsoft’s second-largest behind its purchase of LinkedIn in 2016 for $26 billion. It comes at a time when speech tech is improving rapidly, thanks to the deep learning boom in AI, and there are simultaneously more opportunities for its use.

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Microsoft is acquiring IoT security vendor CyberX for an undisclosed amount, the two companies announced on June 22. Microsoft plans to integrate CyberX's products and technologies with its existing set of IoT security products, officials said.

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Microsoft has acquired cloud-migration provider Movere for an undisclosed amount. Movere, formerly known as Unified Logic, was founded in 2008 and is based in Bellevue, Wash.

According to Microsoft's September 4 blog post about the acquisition, Movere will fit in with Microsoft's strategy to migrate existing applications and infrastructure to Azure. The company's discovery and assessment capabilities "will complement Azure Migrate and our integrated partner solutions, making migration an easier process for our customers," said Jeremy Winter, partner director of Azure Management, in that blog post.

Movere officials describe the company as a software as a service (SaaS) platform "that increases business intelligence by accurately presenting entire IT environments within a single day,providing enterprises with the confidence they need to have visibility and control of their environments regardless of platform, application or geography as organizations grow, change and digitally optimize."

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Microsoft today announced three new services that all aim to simplify the process of machine learning. These range from a new interface for a tool that completely automates the process of creating models, to a new no-code visual interface for building, training and deploying models, all the way to hosted Jupyter-style notebooks for advanced users. […]

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Microsoft has acquired Flipgrid, a social education app that utilizes short video clips to create collaborative lesson plans. The Minneapolis-based startup, which began life as Vidku, has had strong growth for an experience that has been alternatively described as Instagram and Snapchat for the cla…

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Windows 10 : Microsoft veut mettre le machine learning au service des développeurs

Technologie : Microsoft a annoncé l’arrivée d’une nouvelle plateforme baptisée Windows ML. Celle-ci devrait être intégrée au sein de la prochaine mise à jour Redstone 4 de Windows 10 et offrir aux développeurs la possibilité d’utiliser au sein de leurs applications les modèles de machines learning déjà développés par Microsoft.

Depuis plusieurs années, Microsoft infuse ses outils à l’intelligence artificielle et au machine learning. Mais l’éditeur souhaite maintenant mettre ses jouets au service des développeurs et annonce l’arrivée prochaine d’une plateforme baptisée Windows ML. 

Celle-ci sera proposée avec la prochaine version de Windows 10, Redstone 4, attendue pour le printemps 2018. L’annonce a été faite à l’occasion du Windows Developer Day, un événement qui rassemble les annonces de Microsoft destinées aux développeurs de son écosystème.

Il était déjà possible d’accéder aux modèles de machine learning en passant par le cloud Azure. L’idée de la plateforme Windows ML est d’offrir les mêmes fonctionnalités en local, afin de permettre aux utilisateurs de réduire les coûts et le temps d’accès nécessaire aux ressources situées dans le cloud, en s’appuyant entièrement sur la puissance de la machine pour avoir recours aux modèles de machine learning préconçus par Microsoft.

La plateforme sera conçue pour fonctionner sur les différentes machines fonctionnant sous Windows, ainsi que sur d’autres types d’appareils tels que le casque de réalité augmentée Hololens. Microsoft annonce avoir noué plusieurs partenariats avec des fabricants de processeurs afin que la plateforme Windows ML puisse tirer parti des technologies développées pour l’occasion par les fondeurs.

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Microsoft übernimmt Altspace VR

Es ist eine Mischung aus Virtual-Reality-Facebook und Second Life, und nach finanziellen Schwierigkeiten hat es einen neuen Eigner: Altspace VR gehört künftig zu Microsoft.

Für einen nicht genannten Betrag will Microsoft das kalifornische Unternehmen Altspace VR und damit auch dessen gleichnamiges Onlineportal kaufen. Über Altspace VR können sich Anwender ähnlich wie bei einem sozialen Netzwerk miteinander verbinden - allerdings normalerweise nicht über 2D-Bildschirme, sondern über Virtual-Reality-Geräte.

Letztlich erinnert das Ganze entfernt an eine VR-Version von Second Life, in der es neben Minispielen auch Übertragungen von politischen Debatten und Stand-up-Comedy gibt.

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Samsung unveils Windows Mixed Reality headset, AltSpaceVR joins Microsoft, SteamVR catalog coming to Windows Mixed Reality this holiday.

Mixed reality will unleash the creativity of every person and every organization on the planet. Our journey has been filled with key moments in time that have shown us what is possible as we enter this next era of computing, the era of mixed reality. 

From the introduction of Microsoft HoloLens, the world’s first fully self-contained holographic computer in January 2015, to the welcoming of enterprise partners like Ford Motor Company, the inspiration and creativity we have seen customers and modern workplaces continues to inspire us and drive us forward.

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Microsoft is to update its flagship operating system next month so that the latest generation of Windows 10 hardware devices and software can tap into augmented and virtual reality technologies, executives said on Friday.

Mixed reality is the term Microsoft uses to describe software that covers both augmented and virtual reality.

Augmented reality overlays text, sounds, graphics and video on real-world images that users actually see in front of them, while virtual reality creates entirely computer-generated worlds.

The multimedia content can be viewed on computers, TV displays, smartphones, tablets or, in the case of virtual reality, on dedicated goggles. Microsoft plans to target these features first at advanced video game players using VR headsets, with business applications to follow, officials said.

Microsoft’s push comes as the U.S. tech giants - Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook, along with China’s Baidu - increasingly battle to make augmented reality, together with artificial intelligence and cloud-based services, into the next computer platform.

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Microsoft today announced that it has acquired Cycle Computing, a twelve-year-old Connecticut-based company that focuses on helping enterprises orchestrate...

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Mit Microsofts App Seeing AI sollen es Blinde im Alltag einfacher haben: Die App erkennt unter anderem Text, Objekte und sogar Szenen und liest das Gesehene vor. Dafür muss der Nutzer lediglich ein Foto schießen.

Eine neue, experimentelle App von Microsoft soll es Blinden ermöglichen, ihre Umgebung besser wahrzunehmen. Seeing AI erkennt auf einem Foto, das der Nutzer von seiner Umgebung macht, Objekte, Personen, Text oder auch Bargeld.

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Enjoy the videos...

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Microsoft today announced that it has acquired Simplygon, a company that develops 3D-optimization solutions for game developers and other industries that need to visualize 3D data.

Simplygon’s SDK is used by many major game development studios and the company recently expanded into the AR/VR market, too. Given Microsoft’s push into AR with its Hololens project and VR with Windows Holographic, it’s clear where Simplygon’s technology fits into Microsoft’s own roadmap.

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Microsoft might have failed to get a piece of TikTok during the recent scramble for a US partner, but it just secured a much more valuable prize: ZeniMax. The company has agreed to pay $7.5 billion in cash to buy the game publisher, which comes with Bethesda Softworks and its raft of popular game franchises like Doom, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls (pictured, top). You might want to reevaluate your next-gen console decisions. 

Bethesda is the biggest name included in the deal, but it’s not the only jewel in the ZeniMax crown. Microsoft will also snag id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios. This isn’t the first time Microsoft has spent big to acquire a developer at the top of its game. In 2014, Microsoft spent $2.5 billion on Mojang developer Minecraft. Microsoft has also managed not to ruin Minecraft after six years, so that gives us some hope. 

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Microsoft und das Start-up OpenAI verkünden eine neue Partnerschaft. Rund eine Milliarde US-Dollar investieren die Redmonder in das junge Unternehmen. Gemeinsam wolle man KI so weiterentwickeln, dass sie die großen Probleme der Menschheit lösen kann.

Sam Altman (li.), CEO von OpenAI, mit Microsoft-CEO Satya Nadella.
(Quelle: Microsoft )Microsoft investiert eine Milliarde US-Dollar in das Start-up OpenAI. Das junge Unternehmenhat es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) so zu entwickeln, dass sie der gesamten Menschheit zugutekommt. Mit dem Investment unterstützt nun Microsoft dieses Vorhaben.
Geplant ist der Aufbau einer neuen Infrastruktur auf Azure für KI-Supercomputing. Diese soll auch für das Training und die Ausführung von fortgeschrittenen KI-Modellen herangezogen werden können. Außerdem will Microsoft die Technologie auch anderen KI-Entwicklern zur Verfügung stellen.

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After a week of rumors, Microsoft today confirmed that it has acquired GitHub, the popular Git-based code sharing and collaboration service. The price of the acquisition was $7.5 billion in Microsoft stock. GitHub raised $350 million and we know that the company was valued at about $2 billion in 2015.

Former Xamarin CEO Nat Friedman (and now Microsoft corporate vice president) will become GitHub’s CEO. GitHub funder and former CEO Chris Wanstrath will become a Microsoft technical fellow and work on strategic software initiatives. Wanstrath had retaken his CEO role after his co-founder Tom Preston-Werner resigned following a harassment investigation in 2014.

GitHub says that as of March 2018, there were 28 million developers in its community, and 85 million code repositories, making it the largest host of source code globally and a cornerstone of how many in the tech world build software.

But despite its popularity with enterprise users, individual developers and open source projects, GitHub has never turned a profit and chances are that the company decided that an acquisition was preferable over trying to IPO.

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Q# kommt für MacOS, Linux und mit Python-Unterstützung
Auf Basis von Nutzer-Feedback hat Microsoft seine Quantenprogrammiersprache Q# weiter ausgebaut. Sie soll jetzt auch außerhalb von Windows genutzt werden können. Außerdem ist sie mit Python kompatibel. Die Leistung des Quantensimulators wurde deutlich gesteigert.

Microsoft plant, seine Quantum-Entwicklungswerkzeuge auf die Betriebssysteme MacOS und Linux zu portieren. Außerdem werden Bibliotheken und Beispielcode quelloffen zur Verfügung gestellt. Das berichtet Microsoft in einem Blogeintrag. Die Entwicklungswerkzeuge beinhalten sowohl den Quantensimulator als auch die Programmiersprache für Quantenberechnungen Q#. Die Bibliotheken der Sprache stellt Microsoft auf dem Entwicklerportal Github zur Verfügung.

Cela fait plusieurs mois que la prochaine mise à jour majeure de Windows 10 se prépare. Parmi les nouveautés Microsoft met en avant la réalité mixte avec plusieurs partenariats concernant la fabrication des casques mais aussi un réseau social spécialisé dans la réalité augmentée.

A quelques jours de l'arrivée de Windows 10 1709 en version finale Microsoft fait le point sur la réalité mixte sur son blog. L'éditeur décrit les possibilités offertes par la réalité mixte et indique que 20 000 applications relatives à cette technologie seront disponibles dans le Windows Store. Le partenariat qui était pressenti avec Samsung est officialisé, le fabricant proposera son propre casque baptisé Samsung HMD Odyssey.

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DeepL heißt ein neues Übersetzungstool. Es will besser als die Übersetzungsdienste von Google und Microsoft sein. In Stichproben war Golem.de von den Ergebnissen sehr angetan.

Besser als Google und Microsoft - dieses Ziel setzt sich das deutsche Unternehmen DeepL zumindest bei Übersetzungsdiensten. DeepL verwendet eine neuartige Architektur neuronaler Netzwerke und setzt auf einen Supercomputer mit 5,1 Petaflops. Vom gleichen Unternehmen stammt der Dienst Linguee, der sich mit Übersetzungen einzelner Wörter oder Wortgruppen bereits einen Namen gemacht hat. Dabei werden von Menschen übersetzte Texte für Übersetzungen herangezogen, um bessere Ergebnisse zu liefern.

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Microsoft hast just launched Seeing AI, a free iOS app that it appropriately describes as a 'talking camera for the blind'.

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Under CEO Satya Nadella's leadership, Microsoft continues to focus on the enterprise productivity market with its flagship service, Office 365. By emphasizing the need for a modern workforce to collaborate across geographies, departments, disciplines, and even organizations, Microsoft has given Office 365 users a plethora of tools and applications that enable cooperation and collaboration like never before.

But Microsoft is not done developing its collaboration tools just yet. In April 2017, the company announced it was acquiring Intentional Software for an undisclosed amount. Intentional Software is led by former Microsoft executive and Office product development guru Charles Simonyi, who once led the team that created Microsoft products like Word and Excel.

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Researchers in Oslo have been working for years on turning 2D medical imagery into 3D but now they've used Microsoft's HoloLens to give surgeons more precision in operations.

The project by researchers at the Intervention Centre at Oslo University Hospital, working with developers at IT consultancy Sopra Steria, was recently awarded a Microsoft Health Innovation Award.

The data that the 3D models use comes from the hospital's various image-generating scanning CT and MR machines. These scanners provide detailed views of the human body, but present these images in the form of two-dimensional picture 'slices'.

When planning surgical procedures, the surgeons have to flip back and forth through a potentially large number of these slices, when using them directly from the scanning machines.

The Intervention Centre has been working on combining data from such 2D slices into a 3D model for more than a decade. Using a method called picture segmentation, the relevant sections are extracted from the scans and used to form a 3D model of, for instance, a liver with a tumor and its surrounding blood vessels.

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