*Meet the Force-sensitive fans who helped bring the Star Wars universe to life in “Kinect Star Wars,” the ultimate Jedi experience for Padawans of all ages.*
REDMOND, Wash. – Abby Lee walked into a Seattle toy store recently and purchased two LEGO Darth Vader alarm clocks, a Star Wars pop-up book, and a few LEGO speeder bikes. The bemused checkout clerk asked if she was going to a birthday party.
*As the proliferation of devices and cloud services expands the amount of data becoming available globally, Microsoft’s chief privacy officers have focused on developing policies, processes and technologies to help protect users’ personal information.*
REDMOND, Wash. — A mountain climber turned database whiz. A customer loyalty manager for one of the world’s largest banks. A quality assurance and risk management consultant.
The career arcs that led Richard Purcell, Peter Cullen and Brendon Lynch to Microsoft couldn’t have been more different. Yet, in their own unique way, each path was preparation for serving as the corporate privacy officer of one of the world’s largest software and services companies. (more…)
*First graders are using Kinect for Xbox 360 to get to places like Disneyland (on a map, at least), and high school students are graphing mathematical equations with their bodies.*
CRAIG, Colo. – March 6, 2012 – First-grade teacher Cheryl Arnett spent much of last summer playing Kinect for Xbox 360 with her grandkids.
For fun, yes, but the 19-year veteran teacher at Sunset Elementary School in Craig, Colo., also had an agenda. A longtime lover of technology, Arnett was looking for ways to teach with Microsoft’s controller-free device. When she brought Kinect to her classroom at the start of this school year, the reaction from her enthralled students was “over the top,” she said. (more…)
*Students from around the world talked with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Executive Vice President Brad Smith on Friday about removing obstacles that keep young people from starting their own businesses and nonprofits.*
Davos, Switzerland — Jan. 30, 2012 — When the world’s policymakers descend on Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Bill Gates can usually get their attention.
This year, in between discussing food sustainability and announcing a US$750 million donation to fight AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, Gates turned his attention to a few students who hope to make a similarly outsized humanitarian mark on the world. (more…)
*By Frank X. Shaw, Corporate Vice President, Corporate Communications*
Every year at this time there’s a glut of “year in review” and “best of” lists that come out. Last night I was reading the Rolling Stone “best songs/albums/movies” issue, and was gratified to note that some albums/artists/movies I saw and liked made the list. I feel relevant. 🙂
Of course, there also tends to be year in review lists about the tech industry as well. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don’t! This year, I thought I’d try my hand, and publish my own “Microsoft year in review” thoughts, and a slide show list of my favorite Microsoft moments of 2011. I was having trouble narrowing my slideshow down to a top-ten list, so on the advice of my old friend Nigel Tufnel, my slide show goes to 11. (more…)
REDMOND, Wash., and SAN MATEO, Calif. — Nov. 22, 2011 — Microsoft Corp. has announced the acquisition of California-based video discovery technology company VideoSurf Inc.
Founded in 2006, VideoSurf offers a back-end computer vision technology that “sees” frames inside videos to make discovering content fast, easy and accurate. Over time, Microsoft will integrate this technology across its entertainment platform to augment the Xbox 360 ecosystem and evolve search and discovery of entertainment content on Xbox LIVE. (more…)
*Microsoft BizSpark One startup aims to make animated movies as easy as typing.*
REDMOND, Wash. — Xtranormal’s tagline, “If you can type, you can make movies,” describes both the company’s mission and how to use its text-to-speech system to create animated movies. The Microsoft BizSpark One member is working to transform movie-making into an everyday activity, as simple and commonplace as composing a text message.
“We want to make animated movies ubiquitous,” says Graham Sharp, COO of Xtranormal. “I’d like to see people using the Xtranormal platform like they use Microsoft Word: just opening a document and starting to type.” (more…)
*In the year since Microsoft launched controller-free Kinect for Xbox 360, the device has taken on a life of its own. First Kinect became the fastest-selling consumer device in history and then it started showing up outside the living room in healthcare, education, and technology.*
REDMOND, Wash. – Oct. 31, 2011 – When it comes to technology and moon landings, there are small steps – and then there are leaps.
It’s been a year since Kinect for Xbox 360 jumped onto the scene, bringing with it a new era of controller-free, interactive gaming and entertainment for the living room.
“It’s been an amazing 12 months – it’s been absolutely inspiring,” says Alex Kipman, general manager of incubation for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. “When you have a great vision you expect it to do great things, but it’s humbling and inspiring to actually see it happen and exceed your expectations in terms of the ability – over a very short period of time – that you have affected the entire world.” (more…)
