Weekend Reading: May 23rd Edition – Surface Pro 3 unveiled and 8 million students in Thailand get Office 365 for Education

Weekend warriors, you’ve made it! In addition to the unofficial start to summer, and all of the backyard barbecues and beach picnics you’ve got on tap, this weekend promises an extra day to take in none other than Weekend Reading. Enjoy.

On Tuesday, Microsoft unveiled the Surface Pro 3. Envisioned as the tablet that can replace your laptop, this iteration of the Surface features a 12-inch full HD display, 4th-generation Intel® Core™ processor options and a multi-position kickstand that goes from movie mode to working mode to writing mode — all in a package that’s 30 percent thinner than an 11-inch MacBook Air.

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If a new Surface wasn’t excitement enough, also in the news last week: 8 million students in Thailand and 400,000 teachers are getting access to Microsoft Office 365 for Education. The deal, the largest Microsoft cloud education initiative yet, will allow students and teachers to create, connect and collaborate on a safe and secure platform, wrote Anthony Salcito, on The Official Microsoft Blog.

Speaking of summer, time to dial in those travel plans. From deciding where to go to finding lodging and airfare and documenting your trip, these apps from the Windows Store and Windows Phone Store, have you covered. If Alaska is your airline of choice, e-booking and boarding just got easier with the Alaska Airlines app, now available in the Windows Phone Store. If your kids could use some new summer clothes for the trip, check out Moxie Jean, a hip, digital consignment shop featuring all of the top designer brands.

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The “Microsoft Cookbook” has done it again, winning its third Gourmand World Cookbook award, this year in the Corporate category. Microsoft China collected the award, Tuesday, in Beijing. Volume four of the cookbook, focused on health and wellness, and comprised of recipes from Microsoft employees around the world, is due out this fall.

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Also, in the category of high art, Han-Yi Shaw, design manager for Office for iPad gives a behind-the-scenes look at the creative journey the design team took as they “reimagined Office from the ground up for iPad.” There have been more than 27 million downloads of Office for iPad since its launch almost two months ago.

Also, on the Official Microsoft Blog, Susan Hauser, Corporate Vice President of the Enterprise and Partner Group gave businesses her “top 10” list of benefits a company can realize by adopting a strategy for Internet of Things. (Spoiler alert: they include greater efficiencies and deeper customer connections.)

This week on the Microsoft Facebook page, we profiled Emmett Lalish. 3D printing used to be his hobby, now it’s his job at Microsoft.

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Finally, Microsoft Stories launched Snaps, a digital photo album of must-see Microsoft images from around the world. Weekend Reading is excited to bring you a new Snap each week. We’re kicking it off with this one of Panos Panay, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for Surface Computing, taken by Brian Smale, behind the scenes at a rehearsal for Tuesday’s release event.

Enjoy the longer days and the extra-long weekend. Don’t forget sunscreen. We’ll see you back here next week!

Posted by Aimee Riordan
Microsoft News Center Staff

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