Weekend Reading, Aug. 10: Pulse on the Web, Xbox 360 Tops Again, and Partnering with the NYPD

Pulse Comes to the Web and Shines in IE10. Some of you may be familiar with Pulse, a great mobile app for browsing and reading news. The team at Pulse has just released a Web-based version of Pulsethat looks fantastic in IE10. It’s built using HTML5, which allowed the team to create a very rich, immersive and fluid UI. It’s a great example of how the notion of an “app” vs. a web site are being blurred by the work of many creative companies and developers today.

Xbox Tops NPD Console Sale Numbers Again. For the 19th straight month, the Xbox 360 is the top-selling console in the U.S., according to data from The NPD Group. Xbox 360 sold 203,000 units in July, more units than any gaming hardware, and held 49 percent share of current-generation console sales in the U.S.

NYPD & Microsoft Team Up to Fight Crime.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks during a news conference in New York, joined by New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly (left) and Microsoft Vice President of Americas Services Mike McDuffie (right).

On Wednesday, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly announced a partnership with Microsoft Corp. designed to bring the latest crime prevention and counterterrorism technology capabilities to worldwide law enforcement, public safety and intelligence agencies, among others.  The NYPD teamed with Microsoft to develop the Domain Awareness System (DAS), a sophisticated law enforcement technology solution that aggregates and analyzes public safety data in real time, providing NYPD investigators and analysts with a comprehensive view of potential threats and criminal activity.


The year so far on NEXT.
The NEXT blog is a great way to hear about some of the most interesting and cutting-edge work going on at Microsoft. Steve Clayton has put together a nice post looking back at the first three months of 2012. As he says, it’s a good reminder at how fast things move around here…

Reviews for the new Office Are In. A few weeks ago, Microsoft unveiled the customer preview of the new Office, a redesigned version of the entire suite of Office applications that is optimized for touch, stylus, mouse and keyboard. So far, the response to the customer preview has been very positive. You can check out some of the reviews, and better yet, try it out for yourself.

Tampa to Benefit From New Digital Education Initiative. With the goal of preparing local students for the opportunities of tomorrow’s economy, Microsoft Corp. is working with the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) to implement a strategic digital education initiative across the region. Through Microsoft’s long-term work with the people and organizations of the Tampa Bay region, a number of training, education and community programs are surfacing, which include these:

  • A pilot program that will feature the use of Kinect consoles in a dozen HCPS classrooms which will establish the use of interactive, gesture-based learning.
  • The DigiGirlz education program will provide local middle and high school girls with the opportunity to learn about careers in technology, connect with Microsoft employees, and participate in hands-on computer and technology workshops. Over the past 12 years, DigiGirlz has reached 19,000 girls in more than 20 states and 17 countries.
  • Kodu programming and game-development technology will be incorporated into the HCPS curriculum, helping students develop IT skills by creating games on the PC and Xbox using the simple, visual programming language designed for use by children. 

Girls Supporting Girls in Tech. Recently, the Microsoft Citizenship team had the opportunity to participate in the Millennial Impact Conference, joining the Case Foundation for a chat along with two youth beneficiaries of Microsoft programs entitled, “Creating International Opportunities for Action”. One of the youth participants in the chat, Genevieve L’Esperance, a participant in a number of Microsoft programs including Innovate4Good, has expanded on the ideas she in the chat in a blog post that’s well worth reading if you’re interested in how someone like her thinks about creating opportunities for girls in the technology industry and why it matters so much to her.

Skype Cards in Mexico. With the launch of a new payment option for the Mexico market, Skype users in Mexico now have all the benefits of Skype products at their fingertips, including Skype’s incredibly low rates on calls to family members and friends in over 170 countries worldwide.

 

Tags: , ,