Surface

Golf’s green jacket, a Special Olympics tech makeover and a Q&A about ‘deep learning’ – Weekend Reading: April 7 edition

- Susanna Ray

Golf fans have a big weekend ahead, with all eyes on Augusta, Georgia, for one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year. If the weather’s nice and you’re itching to get off the couch and play a round yourself, take Bing along as your virtual caddy to keep an eye on the pros and see who will win the coveted green jacket on Sunday. Bing will provide round-by-round scores, … Read more »

Virtual Valentine’s Day cards, trustworthy AI and French electro-pop – Weekend Reading: Feb. 10 edition

- Susanna Ray

Valentine’s Day is coming up, and if ostentatious displays of affection aren’t your thing – or even if they are – new Skype Mojis and emoticons will help you spread a little love to friends and family. You can even a record a special Valentine’s message with floating hearts to share with your loved ones over social networks. Valentine’s Day also means candy, and that’s something for which the century-old, … Read more »

Advancing artificial intelligence, transforming retail and creating a musical VR experience from the desert: Weekend Reading — Jan. 20

- Vanessa Ho
artificial intelligence illustration

The new year is in full swing, and so was Microsoft this week, with transformative work in artificial intelligence, retail, music, virtual reality and social good. Microsoft advanced its artificial intelligence efforts with plans to acquire Montreal-based Maluuba, one of the world’s most impressive, deep-learning research labs for natural language understanding. Microsoft announced it will double the size of the lab in the next two years and give $6 million … Read more »

A hackathon winner crowned, an entrepreneur’s heartfelt motivation and some inspiring careers — Weekend Reading: Aug. 12 edition

- Tracy Ith
Five members of the InstaFact team pose on bright green chairs.

An innovative idea that takes the tedium out of organizing facts, an entrepreneur who risked bankruptcy to help save the woman he loves, and a man’s difficult journey to a career at Microsoft — it’s been a week of inspiring news around Microsoft. We’ve rounded up the highlights for this latest edition of Weekend Reading. On Tuesday, a team of Microsoft employees was crowned grand prize winner of this year’s … Read more »

Windows 10 coming to 4 million Department of Defense devices, Skype group video calls and new Microsoft Translator features – Weekend Reading: Feb. 19 edition

- Vanessa Ho

This week at Microsoft saw some big Windows 10 news, more ways to connect with Skype and powerful new features for Microsoft Translator apps. Pretty busy for a week that began with a holiday. The U.S. Department of Defense, one of the largest enterprises anywhere, plans to deploy 4 million seats of Windows 10 within a year, an upgrade unprecedented in speed for a customer of that size and complexity, … Read more »

Music, a medical breakthrough and employee generosity – Weekend Reading: Feb. 12 edition

- Suzanne Choney - Microsoft News Center Staff
WR, StaffPad, Surface, music

There was a lot to love this week at Microsoft, timely with Valentine’s Day on Sunday. We watched an amazing 11-year-old composer from McKinney, Texas, who now has an easier way to notate his award-winning creations, thanks to an app especially designed for Surface. We learned that Sir Paul McCartney created an exclusive set of love-inspired musical creations for Mojis on Skype. We saw how Kinect is being used to … Read more »

Bing’s NFL playoff picks, Skype’s big milestone and the new Microsoft Envision event — Weekend Reading: Jan. 15 edition

- Tracy Ith

Bing’s sports predictions, beautiful murals around the world and a photographer’s Great Barrier Reef adventure are just a few reasons to take a look back at the week’s news at Microsoft. We’ve rounded up some of the highlights in this latest edition of Weekend Reading. If you’re settling in to watch some football this weekend, you may want to first check out which teams Bing Predicts expects to win. Seattle … Read more »

Celebrating women in tech, new Windows 10 devices and Microsoft’s giving effort — Weekend Reading, Oct. 16 edition

- Tracy Ith

From the world’s largest gathering of women in tech to a huge Microsoft effort to help countless people in need, there was no shortage of inspiring news this week. We’ve rounded up some of the highlights in this latest edition of Weekend Reading. More than 800 Microsoft employees headed to the annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, which began Wednesday in Houston. Marie Margishvili and Moriah Baxevane-Connell were … Read more »

Microsoft unveils new era of Windows 10 devices at event in NYC

- Athima Chansanchai

In New York Tuesday morning, Microsoft unveiled a new era of Windows 10 devices, including new Surface, Lumia and Band devices. “Our approach to hardware is to create and reinvent categories – like we did with Xbox and Xbox Live, with Surface being the tablet that can replace your laptop, with Lumia and Continuum, with Surface Hub, and of course with HoloLens being the only platform enabling you to mix … Read more »

Microsoft expands computer science education, partnership with Salesforce and your mind with Hacking Mars design challenge — Weekend Reading, Sept. 18 edition

- Suzanne Choney - Microsoft News Center Staff
TEALS, education, computer science, YouthSpark

The universe expanded in new ways, yet got more personal, this week at Microsoft. For one thing, CEO Satya Nadella announced a new commitment of $75 million to help young people around the world study computer science. Also announced: Microsoft’s strategic partnership with Salesforce will grow. And if you’re ready to help “The Martian’s” stranded astronaut Mark Watney get off the Red Planet, the Hacking Mars design challenge is your … Read more »