Weekend Reading – DigiGirlz, Elevate America and Windows Phone KIN

It looks like summer might finally have arrived here in Seattle.  It seems like everyone has left to start the weekend a little early and who can blame them.  Rain or shine, here’s your helpful roundup of the things you might have missed this week.  Something we call Weekend Reading:

DigiGirlz:  Many of us here know first-hand how fulfilling careers in the tech industry can be, and how important the tech industry is to future economic success.  We also know that women are under-represented in professions like computer science.  DigiGirlz is an amazing program that aims to inspire young women to pursue careers in technology.  The Microsoft program turned 10 this week and you can read more about the program and the participants, as well as watching videos and slide shows on this special package on the Microsoft News Center.

Elevate America for Veterans:  We’re working on a range of efforts to help people get ahead in the current challenging job market. One great example is Elevate America, which helps working adults learn new, valuable skills. This past week we invited organizations to submit proposals for the Elevate America Veterans Initiative, which is designed to give veterans and their spouses the training and skills that can make them a success. Over the next two years, we plan to provide $2 million in cash and $6 million in software and other resources to support this important program.

Windows Phone KIN:  Our new KIN phones are now available on the Verizon Wireless network. We first showed these phones a month ago, but this week marked the point when they actually went on sale. The two KIN phones are designed to make it easy to capture, share and stay connected to the people you care most about.  And they have the complete Zune experience on board.  One of my favorite features is KIN Studio an powerful online companion to your KIN Phone.

Cyber Security:  On a slightly darker note, cybersecurity is something we take seriously. This week, Scott Charney, our corporate vice president for Trustworthy Computing, put up blog post with his recent thinking on the topic. He also spoke this week at the Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit in Dallas on a plan to help businesses, government, and individuals deal with international digital crime.

And here are a couple of articles we enjoyed reading about some of the work our friends and colleagues have been doing:

• On Thursday, for instance, we hosted a Microsoft Research Silicon Valley TechFair, where we showed valley denizens some of our latest research. Among the items that got attention: A “translating telephone” that can translate one language to another in real time. We also showed how better data processing can make it possible to pick up tiny clues in what determines the success of salmon breeding, a project underway in California’s Russian River.

• We’ve all been using the soon to be released Microsoft Office 2010 for a little while now.  We like it a lot, and are pleased to see that others do as well. This review sings its praises in a way we could not say better ourselves. Another great productivity tool is SharePoint 2010, which also is earning strong reviews.

Have a great weekend.

 

Posted by Dominic Carr
Director, Microsoft News Center.

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