Using Mixed Reality and AI technology to power game changing experiences

Using Mixed Reality and AI technology to power game changing experiences

AI technology

Microsoft used its latest mixed reality capture technology to create an on stage human sized hologram. Well this isn’t new. What is new this time around is that the hologram from the demo below was speaking Japanese. A language Microsoft CVP, Azure Marketing doesn’t speak.

Using mixed reality and Azure AI services Microsoft was able to translate her speech into Japanese, training the hologram to speak and sound like her. This Microsoft says is “The magic of AI neural TTS and holograms”.

Watch Microsoft Demo AI technology and holographic experience on stage at Microsoft Inspire

Julia shares that to do this Microsoft used;

  • Mixed reality technology to create and render hologram
  • Azure speech-to-text capability in English transcription to get her speech
  • Azure translate to get her English speech into Japanese and then applied
  • Neural text-to-speech technology to make the Japanese sound like her.

What do you think about this ai technology? Getting ideas on other areas this can be used? Microsoft says the tech is here. Share your thoughts.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella celebrated Global launch of Windows 10 in Nanyuki, Kenya on this day four years ago

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella celebrated Global launch of Windows 10 in Nanyuki, Kenya on this day four years ago

Four years ago, on the 29th of July 2015, Microsoft globally launched Windows 10. The latest version of its operating system(OS) for users of Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and Window 8 Mobile. Introducing a much more user friendly OS with innovations, features and security capabilities. Satya Nadella who had been named new Microsoft CEO in February 2014 opted for an unusual mode of announcement. Deciding to join in the Windows 10 launch fans celebrations in Kenya.

Satya citied Microsoft’s core mission as well as wanting to go meet Microsoft’s global user base as reason for the decision. Read the full interview here.

I’m here in Kenya and in Nairobi to listen and learn. The core mission of Microsoft is to empower every person and organisation on the planet to achieve more.
I felt that in order to realize that mission with the Windows 10 launch we wanted to celebrate with our fans all over the world instead of going to a media-rich country
.
We wanted to go out there where our fans are because we are a truly global product and we have usage everywhere.”

Watch Satya Nadella talk about why he was in Kenya

Satya Helps students upgrade PCs to Windows 10

Windows 10 Launch Party

https://youtu.be/sciCLq4IReI

Satya Nadella Joins Window 10 fans celebrations in Nairobi

A solar powered mobile digital kiosk that empowers women across Rwanda

A solar powered mobile digital kiosk that empowers women across Rwanda

In Rwanda Microsoft is supporting African Renewable Energy Distributor (ARED), a technology for social good company. That provides a one stop shop – mobile digital kiosk – platform offering digital services and connectivity to customers in Rwanda. ARED CEO, Henri Nyakarundi says “our solar kiosk platform revolutionizes the way distribution network is built”.

mobile digital kiosk

A recipient of Microsoft’s affordable Access Initiative grant, ARED recieves support to grow and scale up. Hosting its ecosystem of solutions on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. The company is currently using cloud technology and internet of things to monitor what happens on the ground.

Microsoft’s partnership came in different areas.
We won’t be able to do this business without cloud technology.
Microsoft is helping us also find investors.

Henri Nyakarundi, CEO ARED

ARED recruits and trains women and people with disability to operate these kiosks to generate revenue by earning commissions. These vendors offer services like selling wifi, airtime, electricity prepaid, government services like Irembo and Rwanda Revenue Tax, etc..
The company understands that when low income people start business they don’t have the capital to do business. So they offer the vendors credit to sell these services and payback.

ARED has about 200 solar mobile digital kiosk and plans to have about 300 mobile digital kiosk around Rwanda soon.

Zimbabwe and Kenya Windows Insiders are winners of the Microsoft Insiders2Campus Contest

Zimbabwe and Kenya Windows Insiders are winners of the Microsoft Insiders2Campus Contest

Clint-Roy Muvirimi-Mukarakate, Zimbabwe and Joshua Ndemenge, Kenya are Insiders2Campus 2019 contest Winners. The Zimbabwe and Kenya Windows Insiders are part of 10 selected winners of the competition across the globe.

The Microsoft Windows Insiders2Campus Contest awards Windows 10 Insider Program fans with an exclusive experience at Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond. A Microsoft campus tour and an opportunity to see cool stuff still in development. This year Insider2Campus winners will join Microsoft employees and interns for their global Hackathon. Which will include hearing from Microsoft leaders including CEO Satya Nadella.

Watch the contest videos made by the Zimbabwe and Kenya Windows Insiders

Clint-Roy Muvirimi-Mukarakate, Zimbabwe

Joshua Ndemenge, Kenya

Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, Microsoft AI for Earth Innovation Grant for projects that use AI for global environmental impact in the Middle East and Africa

Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, Microsoft AI for Earth Innovation Grant for projects that use AI for global environmental impact in the Middle East and Africa

Microsoft is awarding new grants to fellow pioneers in the Middle East and Africa through a new partnership with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and the National Geographic Society

Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF) aims to create a world where both nature and humanity coexist in harmony. Over the past twenty years, LDF has awarded over $100 million in grants, funding 200+ high-impact projects in 50 countries across Asia, the Americas, Africa, the Arctic, Antarctica, and all five oceans.

LDF has achieved this success through active collaboration with a broad network of effective organizations to find and support the best, results-driven projects in the world’s most wild and threatened ecosystems.

Microsoft’s AI for Earth program supports organizations who are working to solve global environmental challenges using artificial intelligence.

To further their missions, LDF and Microsoft are collaborating on the AI for Earth innovation grant to support applicants in creating and deploying open source machine learning models, algorithms, and data sets that directly tackle environmental problems faced by the world today.

AI for Earth Innovation Grant Priorities:

With the latest IPCC Special Report outlining the level and urgency of broad action required to prevent global temperatures from exceeding 1.5 degrees, we would like to request a call for proposals that can deliver impactful solutions to immediate matters in the following four categories:

· Climate change
· Biodiversity conservation
· Agriculture
· Water

Applications that also include the following will be prioritized for review:

· Demonstration that the work will lead to implementation of proposed solution (whether directly by applicant or in collaboration with others);

· Solutions that are developed in and/or will be implemented in developing countries or underserved geographies;

· Solutions that demonstrate ability to rapidly scale and create lasting impact.

Details:

Proposal requests can be up to $100,000, for support over one year only. In addition to financial support, successful proposals will receive free access to AI for Earth API’s, applications, tools, and tutorials, and support for their computational work on Microsoft Azure. Applicants must demonstrate a plan for continued support of the work beyond the grant period.

Applicants must consider how to utilize AI for global environmental impact in at least one of the following core categories:  

Biodiversity conservation: Species are going extinct at alarming rates, and our planet’s oceans and last wild places need protection. We would like to see how AI can help, particularly in the following areas:

· Protected area identification, management and restoration
· Sustainable supply chain management
· Illegal trade and poaching control Wildlife tracking and ecosystem health monitoring
· Realizing natural capital (including valuing natural capital, species identification)

Climate change: Extreme weather events, rising sea levels, higher global temperatures, and increased ocean acidity threaten human health, infrastructure, and the natural systems we rely on for life itself. We would like to see how AI can help, particularly in the following areas

· Climate resilience
· Extreme weather and climate modeling
· Measuring carbon sequestration through natural climate solutions
· Pollution monitoring and reporting on air quality
· More efficient energy and transportation systems

Agriculture: To feed the world’s rapidly growing population, farmers must produce more food on less arable land, and with lower environmental impact. We would like to see how AI can help, particularly in the following areas

· Sustainable land use planning and management
· Natural resource conservation
· Sustainable, closed loop food systems
· Climate-resilient, regenerative agriculture
· Food recovery

Water: In the next two decades, demand for fresh water—for human consumption, agriculture, and hygiene, as well as for the well-being of natural systems and species—is predicted to dramatically outpace supply. We would like to see how AI can help, particularly in the following areas

· Beneficial water supply strategies for human and natural systems
· Water quality and sanitation
· Water source monitoring
· Water use efficiency
· Extreme-event (droughts, floods, disasters, etc.) water management

For more examples of projects, refer to Microsoft AI for Earth APIs and applications.

Project Requirements:

All models supported through this grant must be open source, and grant recipients must be willing to share their models for use by other environmental researchers and innovators. More specifically: 

(1) Grant recipients must make their solutions available for publication on the AI for Earth website through a designated open source license; 

(2) Grant recipients must make the training data on which their solutions are developed publicly available in standard digital format; 

(3) Grant recipients must include with their solutions a standard description template, including information on the machine learning data on which the solution was trained, summary statistics about solution performance, example use cases, and a disclaimer about the prototype nature of the solution; and 

(4) Grant recipients must implement and deploy their solutions on Microsoft Azure.

Applicant Qualifications:

Applicants must be nonprofit organizations or academic institutions. We recommend that the main applicant has a demonstrated background in environmental science and/or technology, and we require that at least one member of the team has strong enough technical skills (such as machine learning, statistical data analysis, scientific modeling, software development, and/or remote sensing) to complete the proposed project successfully.

Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation believe great ideas spring from a diversity of experiences, and thus encourage applications from all over the world.

Timelines:

The AI for Earth innovators grant will begin accepting applications beginning May 21, 2019. The application period will close on July 31 2019 at 11:59pm PST. Only applications received during this period will be accepted.

Applicants will be reviewed and awarded within 2-3 months of application close. It is anticipated that the selected projects will commence on January 1, 2020 and will be completed by December 31, 2020.

Please note this RFP application, deadline, and anticipated project timeline is different from other LDF grant programs.

Click to apply.

Johannesburg, Dubai, Tel Aviv; Microsoft will host Ignite The Tour in these MEA cities

Johannesburg, Dubai, Tel Aviv; Microsoft will host Ignite The Tour in these MEA cities

Microsoft Ignite The Tour will take place in Johannesburg, Tel Aviv and Dubai in 2020.

Ignite The Tour

Microsoft’s annual technical training for developers and IT professionals conference, Ignite, will be hitting the roads again. Microsoft Ignite is going global and will be in a city near you next year. This will be after the main Ignite conference takes place November 4th to 8th 2019 in Orlando, Florida.

Like last year Microsoft promises to bring the same vibe to you during a two day event on this tour. Get to learn ways to build solutions as well as migrate and manage your infrastructure. Meet people in software development, security, architecture and IT. Get hands-on and deep dive experiences in areas such as security, cloud and hybrid infrastructure and development.

In the Microsoft Middle East and Africa region the events will take place in Johannesburg, Dubai and Tel Aviv.
The Johannesburg, South Africa event is scheduled to take place January 30-31, 2020. Dubai, United Arab Emirates, February 10-11, 2020 and April 22-23, 2020 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Promising over 100 sessions the event will help you grow your skills, explore new technology and connect with Microsoft engineers. If you are planning to attend there will be so many topics and sessions you’ll need to tailor the experience to what you want to leave with.

Again I echo, dear Microsoft can we have some of these events across West, North and East Africa? Thank You. I think I have spoken the mind of a lot of developers and IT Pros in the region. Also with the launch of the Africa Development Center this should be a thing.

Head over to the Microsoft Ignite The Tour event pages of each city.

Registration links aren’t live yet for Dubai and Tel Aviv. We will update this post once this happens. Update: Links for Johannesburg and Dubai are live, click to register.

Johannesburg, South Africa 

Dubai, United Arab Emirates 

Tel Aviv, Israel

Have you had an experience at any Microsoft developer or IT Pro event? Share your experience with us. Looking forward to attending? Share your thoughts with us.