The Microsoft AI for Accessibility program is calling for project proposals that advance access to assistive technology for people with disabilities, especially in low- and middle-income communities.
Microsoft says the use of artificial intelligence (AI) is optional for project submissions in this round. The company also urges Universities, non-profits, for-profit companies, startups, and other organizations to apply.
In this Request for Proposals (RFP) Microsoft is prioritizing scalable solutions in three categories. These are Access to affordable devices, Relevant and localized software and Awareness, upskilling and community.
The RFP is open to applicants from any country or region. This round will focus on innovations that empower people with disabilities outside of the US.
The deadline to submit the Microsoft AI for Accessibility Grant application is 11:59 PM PST on January 12, 2022 (7:59 AM GMT on January 13 2022). Selected finalists will be invited to pitch to a review panel in February and award decisions will be finalized in March.
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Etihad Airways plans to meet net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and is looking to use Microsoft technology. The national carrier of the United Arab Emirates is announcing a new partnership with Microsoft to leverage its tools and technologies to advance its sustainability goals.
The companies will work together to use advanced analytics and AI to measure and benchmark Etihad’s environmental footprint. This will allow the business to implement and assess carbon efficiency savings across its business operations. The collaboration will focus on the implementation of technologies that will turn data into actionable insights. Unlocking scenarios and use cases that will help Etihad reduce its carbon footprint and meet the net-zero goal.
“Innovation and sustainability are at the core of our business. Our continued partnership with Microsoft will support us in meeting our sustainability goals to reduce carbon emissions. Both in the air through operational efficiencies, and on the ground. Through improvements in our back-office processes and technology infrastructure,” said Tony Douglas, Group CEO, Etihad Aviation Group.
“Etihad is aligned with the UAE’s mission to conserve and preserve our environment for generations to come and we have made significant progress over the last two years towards our ‘net-zero carbon emissions by 2050’ goal with our sustainability portfolio. We look forward to working closely with Microsoft to enhance these developments.”
Tony Douglas
Etihad and Microsoft have also committed to jointly identifying opportunities for collaboration. To achieve both organisations’ sustainability goals while building thought-leadership and further partnerships with organisations in the UAE and the region. This will further drive the national sustainability agenda and build a supportive technology ecosystem. That will allow organisations of all sizes to take carbon reduction measures based on data-driven insights.
“We are aligned with the UAE’s long-term sustainability goals and practices to accelerate growth responsibly. While fulfilling the nation’s ambitious objectives,” said Sayed Hashish, General Manager, Microsoft UAE.
“For more than a decade, Microsoft has been investing to reduce environmental impact while supporting the digital transformation of organisations around the world through cloud services. The commitments and investments we make are important steps in reducing our own environmental impact. But we recognize that the opportunity for positive change is greatest by empowering customers and partners to achieve their own sustainability goals. Therefore, this partnership with Etihad is incredibly exciting. By empowering more and more organizations with the right insights, we will be able to reach critical mass to reduce carbon emissions on a significant scale.”
Microsoft and Etihad Airways announced the first-ever in-house AI Academy in the Middle East earlier this year. The Etihad AI academy powered by Microsoft will look to revolutionise the way the airline serves its customers
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Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI) and Viasat Inc. are announcing the launch of the first Real-Time Earth (RTE) facility in Africa. The partnership hopes to bring new space opportunities and jobs to the region. And expand Viasat’s ability to deliver critical earth observation and remote sensing data on-demand around the world.
Viasat’s RTE satellite ground station facility is co-located at the Ghana Radio Astronomy Observatory, Kuntunse. It includes a Viasat full-motion 7.3M S/X/Ka-band antenna and associated infrastructure. The antenna is currently ready to provide global satellite operators with the ability to perform Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C) capabilities as well as rapidly download, stream and/or disseminate valuable satellite-based data in a timely and secure manner.
Viasat worked in partnership with the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI), a government-based institution under Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), focused on coordinating all space, science, technology and related activities in Ghana. The new facility hopes to contribute to Africa’s Technology and Space Growth Initiatives. By promoting new space opportunities and local job creation through ongoing site management and maintenance. With this new station, Viasat’s RTE global network is now active in five continents.
Eric Aggrey, research scientist and project manager of Ghana Radio Astronomy Project, GSSTI said, “The development of Viasat’s new antenna site has been an extremely positive opportunity for the people and economy of Ghana. We have positively grown our presence in the global space and technology sector and look forward to expanding our relationship with Viasat to bring additional new space opportunities, technologies and skillsets to Africa.”
“We knew we wanted to grow the network to cover Western Africa, and it was clear right away GSSTI was the best partner for us. It is a very professional organization that brings years of experience and expertise in antenna systems. We were evaluating several different locations in Ghana because it was an area that our customers identified as a gap in coverage — not just for RTE but for almost every ground-service provider. The Ghana site provides equatorial coverage and fills that gap in coverage for satellite operators looking to downlink imagery in a timely manner in this critical region of the world.”
Aaron Hawkins, Viasat RTE business manager
Viasat RTE provides Ground-Station-as-a-Service (GSaaS) capabilities in support of environmental, insurance, shipping, energy and government operations. It is a fully-managed, affordable ground network that supports next-generation and legacy geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO), medium earth orbit (MEO) and low earth orbit (LEO) satellites using the S-, X-, and Ka-bands, enabling operators to meet current and future data requirements.
“The new RTE ground station, located in Ghana, is part of Viasat’s strategic growth plan for a global RTE ground service network, with prior operations already located in North America, South America, Australia and Europe,” said John Williams, vice president, Real-Time Earth at Viasat. “By working in partnership with GSSTI, we have opened a state-of-the-art RTE facility, bringing jobs and economic growth to the region, while further differentiating Viasat’s service through our ability to provide satellite operators access to world-class antenna systems for high-speed RTE connectivity of payload data across a secure network.”
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Lucid, provider of visual collaboration software, announces integration of its virtual whiteboard, Lucidspark, with Microsoft Teams. The Lucidspark integration with Teams will connect distributed teams by bringing collaboration right into their existing workflows.
The new integration feature will allow users to collaborate and interact with a Lucidspark board directly within a Teams meeting. By sharing it to the meeting stage. Providing the full experience of an in-person whiteboarding session without ever leaving Teams. Thereby making it easier for hybrid teams to collaborate, align and move into action.
“One of the key ways we help teams see and build the future is by providing integrations and solutions that work wherever teams work,” says Sable Petersen, senior director of product marketing for Lucid.
“Through our continued collaboration with Microsoft Teams, this new integration experience will enable our users to more effectively and seamlessly collaborate right within their existing workflows, providing seamless collaboration in today’s hybrid environment.”
Sable Petersen
“We’re pleased to continue our relationship with Lucid and improve collaboration to better enable and support today’s hybrid teams,” says Ben Summers, director, Teams Platform Marketing at Microsoft.
“This updated integration experience brings powerful solutions right to where teams already work, allowing distributed team members to innovate and drive the business forward even more efficiently.”
Ben Summers
Team members can contribute in real-time while also taking collaboration to the next level with Lucidspark features like emoji reactions, collaborator colors, notes and timers, voting sessions and automatically organizing and prioritizing ideas into action plans with intelligent data synthesis. These capabilities allow distributed and hybrid teams to stay connected while centralizing conversations and turning those into action through visual brainstorms.
The updated Lucidspark integration builds on existing features, including the ability to share boards quickly and easily within Teams. To bring everyone together and add boards directly to team channels for later reference or asynchronous collaboration.
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ASUS introduces the latest addition to the Vivobook family with the announcement of the ASUS Vivobook 13 Slate OLED (T3300). It is a 2-in-1 device with a 13.3″ OLED touch display and powered by an Intel quad-core CPU. The device has a similar form factor and design to the Microsoft Surface Pro device. But unlike the Surface Pro it has a detachable keyboard, cover stand and pen that comes bundled with the price. The least device configuration of 4GB RAM and 128GB storage starts at $599 in the US. ASUS is targeting people who use two devices for work and play, saying one can do the job. The devices will be available worldwide starting this month and you can buy them from ASUS stores.
Watch the announcement below.
ASUS Vivobook 13 Slate OLED (T3300) full device specifications
Dimensions
309.9 x 190 x 8.2 mm (12.20″ x 7.48″ x 0.32″ ~ 0.32″) 309.9 x 190 x 8.2 mm (12.20″ x 7.48″ x 0.32″ ~ 0.31″) 309.9 x 190 x 7.9 mm (12.20″ x 7.48″ x 0.31″ ~ 0.31″)
Weight
0.80 kg (1.76 lbs) 0.78 kg (1.72 lbs)
OS
Windows 11 S/ Home/ Pro
CPU
Intel® Pentium® Silver N6000 Processor 1.1 GHz (4M Cache, up to 3.3 GHz, 4 cores)
Graphics
Intel® UHD Graphics
Display
13.3-inch, FHD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 aspect ratio, 400nits, 550nits peak brightness, 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, PANTONE Validated, Glossy display, Touch screen, With stylus support, Screen-to-body ratio: 93％
Connectivity
Wi-Fi 6(802.11ax) + Bluetooth 5.2 (Dual band) 2*2
Color
Black
Memory
4GB LPDDR4X, 8GB LPDDR4X on board, Memory Max Up to:8GB
Storage
128G eMMC 256GB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
Camera
Front: 5MP camera Rear: 13MP camera
Power supply
TYPE-C, 65W AC Adapter, Output: 20V DC, 3.25A, 65W, Input: 100-240V AC 50/60GHz universal
Battery
50WHrs, 3S1P, 3-cell Li-ion
Port
2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C with display / Power Delivery support 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack Micro SD card reader
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