Introducing the Surface Studio your creative studio

Introducing the Surface Studio your creative studio

Surface Studio is Microsoft’s All-In-One (AIO) hardware that transforms from a workstation into a powerful digital canvas. The AIO PC is a revolutionary device made for creators and professionals. The device is to spur a new wave of creativity with Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update.
Surface Studio
At Microsoft’s October event we witnessed the announcement of a device no one was thinking of. Well not that AIO PC’s are new, but the idea and design of the product we saw, kinda.
Before i delve into this just check out the Surface Studio in this video.

Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President Devices,  Panos Panay introducing the device said we built this device for Creators, to transform how you create and think about creating.

Surface Studio comes in a 28″ PixelSense Display with 13.5 million pixels, basically more than 4K. The surface team calls the display pixels true-to-life color. The Display features 192 dpi resolution, 10 point multi-touch at 3:2 aspect ratio.
It’s powered by Intel’s 6th Generation Core processors. There a number of variant customizations powering the device ranging up to i7, 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GPU, 32BG RAM and 2TB storage.
Available ports on the device are 4 USB 3.0 (one high power port). A Full-size SD card reader (SDXC), compatible Mini DisplayPort. A 3.5 mm headset jack and 1 Gigabit Ethernet port. It also spots a 5.0 MP front camera with 1080p HD video with Windows hello face sign-in. A 802.11ac a/b/g/n for Wi-Fi wireless networking, Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology and Xbox Wireless built-in. The Surface Studio is Compatible with the Surface Dial for on screen interaction.

We built this device for Creators, to transform how you create and think about creating. – Panos Panay

” When the screen transitions from Desktop Mode to Studio Mode, it sits at a 20-degree angle, the same angle as a standard drafting board, making it ideal for sketching, writing and designing.
The 6th Generation Intel® Core™ processors accelerated by a discrete NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU deliver smooth and immersive graphics performance and the power to run professional programs such as Siemens’ NX™ software, taking people through their workflow from end to end. Now architects can sketch their ideas with the Surface Pen, put them into production using powerful 3-D modeling software, and review and mark up plans with a client, all on one device.

Surface Studio is a new class of device designed for how people naturally create and bring ideas to life. – Terry Myerson

surface studio

Here are the customization variants you can have:

  • i5 Intel 8GB: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 965M 2GB GDDR5 memory
  • i7 Intel 16GB: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 965M 2GB GDDR5 memory
  • i7 Intel 32GB: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 980M 4GB GDDR5 memory

The box comes packed with a Surface Studio, Surface Pen, Surface Keyboard, Surface Mouse,  Power cord with grip-release cable,  Quick start guide Safety and warranty guide Booklet.

It starts selling at $2,999 and ships early 2017, you can PRE-ORDER

 

GNPC Migrates to Office 365 with Microsoft FastTrack

GNPC Migrates to Office 365 with Microsoft FastTrack

GNPC in a bid to keep employees productive and connected on the go have chosen Microsoft’s Office 365. But this deployment has to happen without any kind of interruptions to service delivery, as such they turned to Microsoft Fast Track and Microsoft Premier Services Support to help with migration.

GNPC

Godfred Ofori-Som, IT manager of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), talks about the decision to use Microsoft Office 365, the adoption and migration process in a blog post.

In our bid to ensure that our employees stay constantly connected and equipped to work everywhere, including in the field, we decided to invest in a robust IT structure and in tools that support on-the-go connectivity. This is crucial to support timely communication internally as well as mission-critical email with partners, customers, suppliers and other key stakeholders.

Godfred talks about how the they were already using some Microsoft services like Windows server, Windows OS and had a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement. So based on that trust choosing office 365 was top and came natural to accomplish what they were looking for. Finding out about Microsoft’s Security support for hybrid and on premises deployments gave them a boost.

Our first step was to convince our management team that security and reliability wouldn’t be an issue. Once we established that Microsoft security capabilities are fully supported in hybrid and on-premises deployments alike, everyone was on board

The IT team had a challenge when it came to hybrid migration as they hadn’t deployed anything like this. Microsoft Fast Track and Microsoft Premier Services Support came in handy and helped assess their  IT infrastructure and environment, and created an adoption.

We worked with Microsoft Premier Services Support, and together, FastTrack and Premier not only helped us deploy Office 365, but also developed a high-level view—a cloud strategy for the whole business. This included providing advice on how to migrate our other apps over time and get the most out of the capabilities and components of Office 365.

Microsoft FastTrack includes resources, tools and experts that help you rollout Office 365. The Microsoft FastTrack  team believe a successful Office 365 rollout focuses on driving adoption and helping everyone understand the benefits of working in a new way.

Microsoft Premier Support services provides continuous hands-on assistance and immediate escalation for urgent issues, which speeds resolution and helps you keep your mission-critical systems up and running.

With the help of these Microsoft products and services, GNPC has moved their apps to the cloud.

Our employees are already changing the way they work. Managers can now share data with each other and access it even while they’re traveling—a new best practice—rather than store data on their computers. Employee communication and engagement have also been improved. Employees can connect on Yammer by posting photos, videos and more. Our Corporate Affairs department shares quick updates with staff on Yammer, which further drives collaboration among the teams within the business.

 

More Info: Microsoft Office

Windows 10 Creators Update Coming Spring 2017 for Free

Windows 10 Creators Update Coming Spring 2017 for Free

Creators Update is the name of Microsoft’s next Windows 10 major update. The update is scheduled to arrive early spring 2017 and for free.

creators update

Microsoft announced at the October Microsoft Event what Windows 10 users can expect in the next Update of the OS. The Update is geared towards a generation that want to create.

Microsoft’s Executive Vice President of the Windows and Devices Group, Terry Myerson, speaking out at the event about the update outlined 3 major updates Windows 10 users can look forward to.

Terry’s highlights on the Windows 10 Creators Update include:

Coming as a free update early next year to the more than 400 million devices running Windows 10 and available to Windows Insiders this week.

creators update

  • Expanding vision for mixed reality. Virtual, Augmented reality and holographic computing with 3D for every one. Create share and experience 3D in mixed reality. 

3D helps to bring your ideas to life. With 3D in the Windows 10 Creators Update you can capture, create, view and share in 3D. Microsoft says “See how amazing the world is when you unleash your imagination in a new dimension”.

Creators Update

 

  • Gamers can experience best in 4K gaming and in game broadcasting. 
The Windows 10 Creators Update will allow gamers to easily broadcast their gameplay and create their own tournaments. Integration of new stream service Beam, built into the game play. So you can share or watch live game streams and interact in real time with broadcasters as well. Read more from the Xbox wire.

creators update

  • A faster way to connect and share with the people who matter most, family, friends, collaborators and fellow gamers.
 Microsoft wants to put the people who matter and you care about in the middle of your Windows 10 experience. How do they achieve this? Well, there’s a new feature called MyPeople.
Your most important friends, family, and co-workers will be instantly accessible. With Windows MyPeople, you can pin your favorite contacts to the Windows task bar and easily drag and drop any document, photo or video right on top of the contact for easy sharing. You can receive unique notifications, Shoulder Taps, and easily view and open emails, IMs, shared documents and more, all in one place. The Windows MyPeople experience is also integrated across universal Windows apps for easy sharing.
 Windows 10 still growing!

Current Windows 10 user statistics; Over 400 million people using Windows 10. That’s over 600 people who choose Windows 10 every minute of every hour of every day for the last year. Spent 200 billon hours of lives on Windows 10. 500% increase in gaming. 3 times as many developers building Windows 10 apps.

Just like the other major Windows 10 update, I expect this to arrive in April 2017. You can also trial out these update before their release by becoming a Windows Insider. There are may more features coming in the update. Check out more details of the Windows 10 Creators Update from our friends at Windows Central.

What do you think about the OS update announcement? A step in the right direction, a new set of disruptive helpful tools? share with the community. We’ll like to know hat you think.

Source: Microsoft

 

2017 Imagine Cup Registration Opens with $100,000 Top Prize

2017 Imagine Cup Registration Opens with $100,000 Top Prize

Microsoft has announced the launch of the 2017 Imagine Cup Competition. The global student technology competition also enters it’s 15th year since it’s launch.
 
2017 imagine cup
 
Microsoft’s Global student developer competition, Imagine Cup, open to Microsoft Student Partners (MSP) around the world has been launched. The 2017 edition is special in two ways. First the completion turns 15 years. Secondly to celebrate the milestone the usual award price of $ 50,000 gets doubled to $ 100,000.
 

 
Last year four teams from Africa represented at the finals with team Night’s Watch placing second in the World Citizenship category. I’m really looking forward to seeing more teams from Africa present at the finals in 2017.
 
The have been some changes to categorization in 2017’s competition. The focus will be more apps and solutions oriented, which should allow more innovations to be included.
 
First, as cloud technologies become more and more pervasive, we feel it’s paramount that Imagine Cup help student developers prepare for their futures by building skills using today’s premier cloud platforms. To that end, we highly encourage all Imagine Cup projects to showcase one or more Microsoft Azure services within their solutions.
Also, we’re changing the way we judge projects. For the 2017 Imagine Cup competition, we’re placing greater emphasis on each project’s underlying technology. What that means is that Imagine Cup will be on the lookout for deep technology integration in fully formed apps, services and games with the potential to be viable in the commercial marketplace.
 
Finally, we’ve decided to forego categories in favor of opening the competition up to apps and solutions that might not have neatly fit into one of those categories in past years . . . in other words, all big ideas are welcome in Imagine Cup.
 
Looking forward to the 2017 Imagine Cup Competition? Join a Microsoft Student Partners (MSP) group in your institution and you could be on your way. Currently there are MSP groups in Ghana Telecom University, University of Cape Coast, Ghana Institute of Journalism, University of Ghana, GIMPA.
 
Visit the registration page and get started.
 
Source : Microsoft
Microsoft Ghana Partners to Empower SME’s grow in the Tigo Business SME Empowerment Roadshow

Microsoft Ghana Partners to Empower SME’s grow in the Tigo Business SME Empowerment Roadshow

Microsoft Ghana has partnered with Tigo Business (Tigo Ghana), Lenovo Africa, ITWORX and ZEPTO. The partnership is to empower small and medium enterprise businesses in Ghana. Through the Tigo Business SME Empowerment Roadshow program.

tigo

Photo Credit : ModernGhana.com

Tigo Ghana’s enterprise division, Tigo Business is taking with it a host of partners on it’s SME Empowerment Roadshow. They get joined by Microsoft Ghana, Lenovo Africa,  ITWORX and ZEPTO.  Each partner will contribute a package to make small to medium enterprises benefit from the program.

Microsoft Ghana will contribute through it’s Biz4Afrika initiative. Biz4Afrika is an online hub for African small and medium enterprises under the Microsoft 4Afrika program.

Biz4Afrika is an Africa-wide network of SMEs designed to enable a sustainable and connected community of entrepreneurs that will have a meaningful impact on job creation, global competitiveness and wealth creation in the long run.

Mr. Derek Appiah,  Country Manager for Microsoft in Ghana on the partnership said;

Microsoft’s goal is to enable SME’s in Africa to start, grow and accelerate their businesses through affordable access to technology, world-class skills and innovation.
We aim to help this sector sustain their growth, reach their full potential and turn their ideas into reality via initiatives such as Biz4Afrika – an online hub for SMEs in Africa

Modern Ghana shares on how the partnership will work,

The partnership brings together an ecosystem of business solution providers ranging from content, connectivity, devices, software and financial expertise to help businesses build solid processes at world class standards and give them a competitive edge both locally and in the sub-region.

Each partner brings an array of expertise to the table. Microsoft will provide access to email, domain names, and basic book keeping tools under the Office 365 services. Through its subsidiary partners; ITworx, will provide a rich portfolio of enterprise productivity solutions, while Zepto will provide tablets with keyboards for easy use in stores, POS terminals and software solutions specifically designed for the enterprise space by ITWorx.

 

To register to be part of the program, visit the TIGO BUSINESS EMPOWERMENT ROADSHOW

 

Source: Modern Ghana