Microsoft is suspending all new sales of its products and services in Russia following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is after the company said it was providing technical advice to the Ukrainian government on steps to prevent destructive malware operations it had identified in systems belonging to multiple Ukrainian government agencies and organizations.
Microsoft President and Vice-Chair, Brad Smith, noted the company will continue to mobilize resources to help the people in Ukraine. It is taking steps to avoid the spread of disinformation and promote instead independent and trusted content. As well as matching employee contributions and providing technology support to first responders to provide help.
Microsoft’s announcement comes after Apple and Google also took actions in response to the Russian invasion. Apple stopped all exports into the sales channel in the country and is limiting Apple Pay and other services. Google, Snapchat and Twitter are all pausing ads and blocking monetizing of content.
Here is the full statement about suspension in Russia
Like the rest of the world, we are horrified, angered and saddened by the images and news coming from the war in Ukraine and condemn this unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion by Russia.
We are announcing today that we will suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia.
In addition, we are coordinating closely and working in lockstep with the governments of the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, and we are stopping many aspects of our business in Russia in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions.
Our single most impactful area of work almost certainly is the protection of Ukraine’s cybersecurity. We continue to work proactively to help cybersecurity officials in Ukraine defend against Russian attacks, including most recently a cyberattack against a major Ukrainian broadcaster.
Since the war began, we have acted against Russian positioning, destructive or disruptive measures against more than 20 Ukrainian government, IT and financial sector organizations. We have also acted against cyberattacks targeting several additional civilian sites. We have publicly raised our concerns that these attacks against civilians violate the Geneva Convention.
We are also continuing to mobilize our resources to help the people in Ukraine. Our Microsoft Philanthropies and UN Affairs teams are working closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and multiple UN agencies to help refugees by providing technology and financial support for key NGOs and, where needed, we are defending these groups from ongoing cyberattacks.
As a company, we are committed to the safety of our employees in Ukraine and we are in constant contact with them to offer support in many forms, including those who have needed to flee for their lives or safety.
Like so many others, we stand with Ukraine in calling for the restoration of peace, respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and the protection of its people.
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Dubber Corporation Limited is announcing the ability to capture video recordings and perform advanced recording controls on Microsoft Teams. Dubber video recording for Microsoft Teams will deliver recording on a single platform with real-time search, keyword analytics, and AI-enriched insights.
The advanced recording controls for Microsoft Teams will give users flexibility and control when recording voice or video calls. The features include the ability to pause and resume recordings, record on-demand or selectively manage which types of calls or meetings are recorded.
James Slaney, COO, Dubber: “Businesses increasingly recognise default and basic recording solutions fail to meet their enterprise-grade requirements for security, compliance and data sovereignty. No other company offers the completeness, scalability and robustness of Dubber’s unified call recording and conversational intelligence capability as a Microsoft Teams certified service“.
“Capturing video recordings adds critical context to knowing what was said, particularly as video has become a primary communications medium for every business driven by hybrid work”.
“For example, every customer presentation captured, attached and connected to a CRM significantly improves revenue forecasting, sales coaching, training and more. For compliance intelligence, capturing video completes the requirement to know your customer and employees. The release of advanced recording controls provides flexibility and practical control for administrators and end-users to select the types of calls that are recorded and additionally to record on-demand or pause and resume recording”.
“We are addressing the critical need for any service provider or reseller of Microsoft Teams to differentiate, drive revenue and increase retention,” added Slaney.
Feature release details:
Video call recording: Capture and unify all your video calls, meetings and voice recording on Microsoft Teams in Dubber’s infinitely scalable Voice Intelligence Cloud. Affordable and flexible plan options start as low as $39.95 (USD) per user/month, with 100GB of storage included.
AI-powered video: Enrich video recordings with AI to unlock best of breed Dubber AI capabilities such as intelligent keyword search, transcriptions, analytics, sentiment plus tone analysis and real-time notification and alerts.
Pause-resume: Users can effectively pause and resume voice and video calls on mobile and desktop. When initiated, it results in the same consistent experience across the native app as well as calls using Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency codes (DTMF).
On-demand: Once configured, when a call/meeting begins, it gets recorded only when the user presses the “record” button in Dubber’s app.
Selective recording: Allows Administrator users to select which type of calls/meetings are recorded. The following call types will be supported at launch, including the ability to record all call types.
Record external parties (determined by users’ tenancy) only
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Tecnotree announces the launch of a digital multi-experience platform, Tecnotree Moments, in collaboration with MTN Nigeria. Tecnotree Moments is a gateway of digital services and lifestyle bundling products. It will launch with e-sports content such as PUBG Mobile Daily, FIFA Daily, Rocket League Daily, Fortnite Monthly, and Fantasy Football. Moments will also contain the complete Nigerian JSSCE, SSSCE, and IGCSE syllabus in the form of interactive and immersive content and live classes.
The multi-experience partner ecosystem offering aims to create lifestyle bundles of content, applications, and connectivity. Through a pre-integrated digital partner ecosystem for global, local and glocal high-demand and hyper-growth sectors. The platform will attract leading partners across different sectors such as education, entertainment, gaming, sports, health, and wellness to enter Nigeria and use direct customer billing to convert ecosystem partners into instant revenue generators.
It will offer Africa’s top-played games, with fresh games being updated regularly. With dynamic ecosystem partners, the platform is uniquely positioned to cater for the convergence in education and gaming content around the globe that fosters social and emotional learning, imperative for personalized and adaptive experiences.
The MTN-Moments partnership will look at providing Massive Online Open Curriculum (MOOC) for career development and progression. Facilitating the acquisition of soft and technical skills. The platform will be launched first in Nigeria, with plans to launch these services to other MTN OpCos in Africa.
‘MTN is constantly seeking partnerships to build platforms that provide a superior service to our customers. We have always been deliberate about giving our customers the very best in digital content. This partnership with Tecnotree is a reinforcement of that commitment. The platform will provide enormous quality content that cuts across education and entertainment for our customers.’ said Aisha Mumuni, MTN’s Acting Chief Digital Officer.
Padma Ravichander, CEO of Tecnotree Corporation said, ‘Our Vision is to empower digitally connected communities, narrow the digital divide and create digital inclusion for various diasporas of the Nigerian population. We are very excited to partner with MTN Nigeria to launch our Tecnotree Moments platform that will support the Nigerian community with true digital services and products through our global partners. MTN’s commitment to making Africa a truly digital economy is a powerful purpose and Tecnotree is proud to be its digital partner in the cause.’
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OPPO is introducing new flagship devices with the launch of the OPPO Find X5, X5 Pro and X5 Lite. The devices come with the company’s MariSilicon X imaging NPU which makes it easy to capture clear 4K Ultra Video at night. It also features two 50 MP Sony IMX766 camera sensors, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and ColorOs 12.1 OS. A new Multi-Screen Connect feature promises to make it easy to work across a Windows PC and the phone. Is the Find X5 able to give the iPhone a competition?
The high-end Find X5 Pro sports a 6.7″ ultra-clear curved AMOLED screen with WQHD+ resolution. It is powered by a multicore Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. The X5 Pro has a 5000mAh battery and the new battery health engine gives twice as many (1600) charging cycles. Its 80W SUPERVOOC flash charging technology charges it from zero to 50% in 12 minutes. While the 50W AIRVOOC powers it up to 100% wirelessly in 47 minutes. It will be available in ceramic white and glaze back colors.
The Find X5 has an ultra-premium finish, with frosted, matte glass and fingerprint-resistant chassis. It includes a dual 50MP Sony IMX766 camera system just like the Pro, powered by MariSilicon X. It sports a 6.5” 120Hz billion-colour display. Also has support for 80W SUPERVOOC charging and 30W AIRVOOC wireless charging. It will be available in Black or White colors.
The OPPO Find X5 Pro and OPPO Find X5 will be available from March 14 retailing at €1299 and €999 respectively. The entry-level OPPO X5 Lite will retail at €480 and be available later this year.
Below are the full device specifications of the new OPPO Find X5 series smartphones.
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Microsoft Africa Development Center is organizing a free virtual event as part of its ADC’s user group series themed Azure Developers Connect for Developers and Software Engineers in Africa scheduled to hold on the 24th of February, 2022. Time 3 PM GMT, 4 PM WAT, 5 PM SAT, 6 PM EAT.
The event which would be held virtually is targeted at Azure user groups & communities, developers, engineers, working professionals; Tech communities in West Africa and Kenya in a bid to expose them to the many capabilities of Azure for building next-gen apps and driving global transformation as a developer or software engineer in Africa.
Developers and software engineers would enjoy practical sessions with Top Azure experts, as well as get insights into existing cloud features, they never knew were in existence. Speakers at the event will include Scott Hunter (VP DIR Program Management, Azure Applications, Microsoft), Matt Soucoup (Senior Cloud Advocate, Microsoft), Donald Okafor (Principal Software Engineering Lead, Microsoft ADC), Kehinde Ladipo (Software engineer, Microsoft ADC).
Panel discussions will also feature Adora Nwodo (Software Engineer, Microsoft ADC), Olaitan Adeboye (Software Engineer, Microsoft ADC), Samuel Adranyi (Senior Software Engineer, Mekorma), Frank Odoom (Software Consultant, Accede) and other Microsoft ADC software Engineers.
Topics: – 5 career paths you can explore as an Azure Software Engineer, – How to become a software engineer at the Microsoft ADC, – Leveraging Azure for continuous deployment & integration.
Microsoft Azure is Microsoft’s public cloud computing platform that provides a wide range of cloud services such as computing, analytics, networking, and storage. Microsoft Azure helps developers and software engineers to develop new applications or even upscale existing applications with its various cloud services. The public cloud computing platform is flexible and open which makes it globally recognized to developers and software engineers due to its reliability.
The Azure developers connect event will also serve as a great way for developers and software engineers to network with other Azure professionals in the field.
Developers and Software Engineers in Africa can book their seat by registering with the link https://aka.ms/AzureDevelopersConnect to get in-depth knowledge about exploring the Microsoft Azure Platform and its existing features whilst they prepare to build next-gen apps that would drive global transformations.
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