5 Windows 10 Tips that will keep you Productive

5 Windows 10 Tips that will keep you Productive

Here are five tips to help make you a pro at your desk and probably save time or do more.

 

tips

Windows 10 has some nifty hidden gems that when unlocked are awesome. This can save you time, help you achieve more in a sitting, or get on to finish other things. The little things surely add up to much. 

Let’s move right up into it as I share a few things I’ve been using and doing that helps me a lot. 

Tip 1: Touchpad Gestures

Scroll: Place two fingers on the touchpad and slide horizontally or vertically.
Zoom in or out: Place two fingers on the touchpad and pinch in or stretch out.
Right-click: Tap the touchpad with two fingers, or press in the lower-right corner.
See all open windows: Place three fingers on the touchpad and swipe them away from you.
Show the desktop: Place three fingers on the touchpad and swipe them towards yourself.
Switch between open windows: Place three fingers on the touchpad and swipe right or left.
Open Cortana: Tap three fingers on the touchpad.
Open action center: Tap four fingers on the touchpad.
Switch virtual desktops: Place four fingers on the touchpad and swipe right or left. 

NB: Some of these gestures will only work with precision touchpads, so don’t fret if a move won’t work for you. 

 

Tip 2: Return to past activities in your timeline  

With the Windows 10 April 2018 Update you can easily resume what you had been working on. Get back to something you were doing recently by finding it in your timeline. Timeline list your recent activities in a tile mode making it easy to find and jump right into what you had been doing.
To open your timeline, select Task View on the taskbar, or press Windows logo key + Tab.
Scroll down until you find the thing you want to return to, and then click it to pick up right where you left off.

tips

Tip 3: Use Emojis 

Have you been typing an email, document, blog post, etc. and wanted to really express yourself with an emoji? Well, good news. Microsoft has an emoji keyboard but doesn’t pop up till you trigger it.

You can express yourself however and wherever you want. Just press the Windows logo key + period (.) to open an emoji panel and voila you are good to emoji, lol ????. 

 

Tip 4: Stick it to the screen with a Sticky Note 

Ever had to write some details down? Maybe a telephone number, an address or name of a person or place? Don’t get off your PC to find a pen or notepad. Just open the sticky note app and note it down. 

Go to Start or the Windows Ink Workspace, select Sticky Notes and create reminders for yourself. To make a new note, select Add Note, then use the pen to jot it down or type it down. It’s also interactive and works with your calendar and mail. 

 

Tip 5: Share a file with a Nearby PC 

For this, you’ll need to be running the Windows 10 April 2018 Update (1803). This update brings with it the nearby sharing feature using Bluetooth or Wifi to transfer files between PCs. You must make sure the nearby sharing feature is turned on at the notifications icons.

Here is an example say you want to share a photo. Open Photos and select the picture you want to share. Select Share, then select the PC you want to share it to. On the other PC, select Save & Open when the notification appears. Et voila, bye, bye to looking for pen drive to transfer files. 

 

Did you know about these tips? Are there others you’ve unlocked? Share with us. 

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Microsoft supports 3 South African Organizations with $1M in cash and technology grants

Microsoft supports 3 South African Organizations with $1M in cash and technology grants

Microsoft Philanthropies announce $1M in cash and technology grants to three innovative non-profit South African organisations to drive greater impact through digital transformation

 
South African  

Recipients of the grants are Youth Empowerment Services (YES), Peace Parks Foundation and the Sunflower Fund. Microsoft believes this “will bolster their work to respectively create employment opportunities for youth. It’ll combat wildlife crime and support conservation work. As well as advance healthcare solutions for those with Leukaemia and other life-threatening blood diseases”.

Since 2016 Microsoft philanthropies has given over $25 million in grants out to more than 2,300 South African non profits. 

Microsoft’s Technology for Good

 
Microsoft’s Technology for Social Impact (TSI) group general manager Justin Spelhaug, shared on Microsoft’s plan. A plan to empower non-profits to achieve more through digital transformation. He said non-profits currently operate in a world of highly constrained resources. They are doing more with less and this requires changing how they work. Technology can help accelerate their missions in many ways.

Technology is a powerful tool to help solve the world’s most challenging issues.
In the same way Microsoft takes our corporate clients on the digital transformation journey, we are working with NPOs in South Africa to help them implement long-term, sustainable change in their communities.
Digital technology powered by Azure has helped NPOs make smarter decisions, be more productive and communicate with one another more effectively.
In the future, AI will enable NGOs to harness vast amounts of data and make breakthrough advances in areas like healthcare, agriculture, education and transportation. We’re already seeing how AI-bolstered computing can help doctors reduce medical mistakes, farmers improve yields, teachers customise instruction and researchers unlock solutions to protect our planet.” – Justin Spelhaug

Here is a closer look at what these South African Organizations are working on

 

Youth Empowerment Services (YES)

Microsoft and YES have partnered to bring cloud technology and access to the latest software to South African youths. Launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa on March 2018, YES is a business-led partnership with government, labour and civil society. YES aims to empower one million young South Africans by offering paid quality work experiences over the next three years.

Microsoft is investing $825,450 in a strategic software grant to equip 100 community hubs (YES centres of excellence). This comes with Office and other applications to boost employee productivity and skills development of young people. Microsoft will provide training to empower employees who will utilise Office for non-profits. They’ll also work on adapting more technologies as well as apps and service. 

Peace Parks Foundation

Microsoft Philanthropies is providing the anti-poaching solutions organization a grant for its move to the cloud. Microsoft AI for Earth is also providing three grants to support various aspects of the Peace park Foundation work. These include a grant to further their Smart Parks system, using Microsoft’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) functionality to enable the transformation and integration of anti-poaching interventions. Microsoft’s artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities have been deployed to analyse images from a network of connected camera traps to enable autonomous poacher detection. There are two additional grants. One to support new work on conservation-minded agriculture, to deliver best practices via an app for farmers. That has the potential to improve yields with minimal habitat impact, speaking closely to the Foundation’s community development work. The third grant has been secured for the Tracker Academy affiliated to the SA College of Tourism. A project that aims to pair AI with indigenous knowledge of animal tracking and behaviour to train the next generation of trackers.  

Sunflower Fund

The Sunflower Fund plays a critical role in recruiting blood stem cell donors to fight Leukaemia and other life-threatening blood diseases. They are leveraging the power of Microsoft’s intelligent cloud (Azure), a mobile app and AI to better engage with donors and recipients.

Justin Spelhaug says in just 18 months we reached our goal. By helping more than 90,000 nonprofit organizations digitally scale their impact and serve the public good. Our goal over the next 3 years is to reach over 300,000 nonprofits by the year 2020.

Microsoft’s cloud for public good and philanthropy grants are available to help any non profit achieve more. Read more about Microsoft’s Technology for Social Impact group and how you can benefit from the value they bring to the non-profit community.

Ibrahim Youssry to head Microsoft’s new Middle East and Africa Multi Country Cluster subsidiary

Ibrahim Youssry to head Microsoft’s new Middle East and Africa Multi Country Cluster subsidiary

Press Release: Microsoft has appointed Ibrahim Youssry as Regional General Manager of Microsoft MEA Multi Country Cluster (MCC). 

Ibrahim Youssry

This new subsidiary spans the full African continent (except for South Africa and Egypt), the Indian Ocean Islands, as well as Levant and Pakistan.

Youssry brings over thirty years of professional experience and industry knowledge to the role. He joined Microsoft in 2007 in the server and tools business, which he managed across most of Africa and Levant. In 2008, he became the General Manager of Microsoft West Central Africa.
During his four-year tenure, he led growth across the region, overseeing every aspect of Microsoft’s business and being awarded the Microsoft global “General Manager of the Year” award in 2009. In 2011, Youssry moved to Microsoft France, leading an extensive government business covering ministries, social and administrative entities and large public-private accounts.
In November 2013, Youssry moved back to the MEA region and joined Microsoft Gulf as the Public Sector lead. Over the past four years, Youssry has made an enormous impact in the market supporting government and education organisations to accelerate their digital transformation agendas and growing the Microsoft public-sector business significantly.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Youssry spent many years working in multinational organisations across different sectors including Aramco, GUPCO and Schlumberger in the oil and gas industry, Gemalto and Orascom “Djezzy” in the Telco space.

Ibrahim Youssry holds a Bachelor of Science-Geophysics degree and a Masters in International Business Management.
Samer Abu-Ltaif, Area Vice President, Microsoft Middle East and Africa welcomed Youssry’s appointment and added, “The establishment of MCC under Ibrahim’s leadership, allows us to more closely align across growth markets to further deliver on our vision of digital transformation, while enabling partners. I look forward to working with Ibrahim and the MCC team, not only to drive our customer’s success but also to invest in digital skills building and youth upliftment.

 

Microsoft joins initiative on boosting digital skills and employability of Africa youth

Microsoft joins initiative on boosting digital skills and employability of Africa youth

Microsoft among partners sealing Africa youth digital skills gap 

digital skills

Microsoft has joined other partners in the Coding for Employment program – an initiative seeking to bridge the digital skills divide among the youth in Africa. Under the program by African Development Bank (ADB), the youth will be equipped with demand-driven Information and Communications Technology (ICT) skills that match demands of potential ICT employers. Other partners taking part in the initiative that was unveiled at the African Innovation Summit in Kigali, Rwanda include The Rockefeller Foundation and Facebook.

The ADB reckons the world is moving towards a fourth industrial revolution where demand for digitization across health, education and other sectors is set to rise. The Bank notes that digital innovations not only hold the key to solving the development challenges in Africa, but also the potential to generate new job opportunities. 

The youth population is rapidly growing and by 2050, is expected to double to over 830 million. Yet, the digital divide in Africa persists and critical skills gaps pose serious challenges to youth securing quality and decent work in a rapidly changing workforce,” says ADB 

Coding for Employment program hopes to bridge digital skills divide

The Coding for Employment program targets to create over 9 million jobs and reach 32 million youth and women across Africa. The initiative is set for roll out in Senegal, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Rwanda which will see establishment of 130 centers of excellence. Partners under the Coding for Employment program have committed to help bridge the skills gap in order to accelerate development and maximize job creation among the youth.

Microsoft will provide locally relevant curricula that adapts to each country’s specific needs and context. The focus will be on providing basic to intermediate digital skills training, as well as soft and employability skills. In efforts to do this sustainably, Microsoft will identify partners capable of training university staff, as well as youth and community volunteers on digital skills in select universities and Centers of Excellence across the continent. The trainers will also be supported to become tech entrepreneurs who develop new locally-relevant products and services.

Microsoft’s Director of Philanthropies for the Middle East and Africa, Ghada Khalifa, says even though digital skills are essential for the jobs of today and tomorrow, they are beyond the reach of too many young Africans. 

Together with our partners like the African Development Bank, we are working to change that. The partnership between Microsoft and the African Development Bank will continue to focus on increasing the participation of underserved youth and women while equipping youth across Africa with the skills needed to fill jobs now and, in the future,” she said. 

Under the Coding for Employment initiative, Microsoft will register the graduates on a web portal for monitoring and evaluation, as well as an employment portal where they can be matched with relevant job openings. Graduates will receive certification following their successful completion of the curriculum.

Microsoft Bridging the Digital Skills Gap with 4Afrika  initiatives 

Over the past few years, Microsoft has played an active role in bridging the digital skill gap as is demonstrated with introduction of the 4Afrika initiative.
A key focus under the 4Afrika initiative is developing skilled workforces in the continent and investing in local technology solutions. Currently Microsoft says over the last three years through its Philanthropies Digital Skills program it has upskilled 2.6 million underserved youth in Africa. It has also generated over 50,000 employment and 2,680 internship opportunities, while enabling over 2,000 aspiring entrepreneurs to establish their own businesses. Thus touching the lives of over 8 million youths in Africa. On its skills bridging initiative across the continent, Microsoft currently has 16 AppFactories across Africa. Microsoft 4Afrika Academy dean, Lutz Ziob shared why it’s critical to bridge this gap.

?: AIS | ADB

Microsoft Lumia 950 still takes amazing Photos

Microsoft Lumia 950 still takes amazing Photos

This 2 year old Lumia phone from Microsoft still takes amazing photos 

 

We all know Microsoft isn’t making mobile handsets anymore. They sold off that division and it’s been acquired by a group that has decided to resurrect the Nokia brand and boy, how many phones do they have out now? 

Also there are some faithful Lumia and Microsoft fans who are kinda excited by the rumored Andromeda pocketable device. Unfortunately after a surge of hype it seems to be squashed with news of it being killed or pushed further along. So question what device are you using these days? Did you already move on to either IOS or Android? I will like to know as i’m still undecided on the path to take. 

So I started out by using the Lumia 950 XL when the devices were launched. Two years on, hmm almost three actually I’ve switched to the Microsoft Lumia 950. I’ve been using it as my main device and my ultimate photography device. Truth be told the Lumia 950 and 950 XL packed some great specifications and had unique camera technologies that made it stand out. Pureview, Zeiss optics, HDR, advanced optical image stabilization amongst others. 

It might be old and i’m really thinking about a new device – (advice on what you moved on might help, kindly share why) – but it still takes amazing photos. 

I’m sharing a few of them here. Check out more from my Instagram collection don’t forget to follow for more and share yours with us as well.  

A parked Kenya Airways airplane 

Looking into the India Ocean 

Hakuna Matata Jambo

 

These are a few from my Instagram collection don’t forget to check out more.  What device do you use and does it take amazing photos?