Posts Tagged ‘microsoft’

Microsoft BrightBytes DataSense

Microsoft Takes a Bite Out of BrightBytes, Acquiring Its DataSense Platform and Team

Tony Wan     Feb 5, 2019

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-02-04-microsoft-takes-a-bite-out-of-brightbytes-acquires-its-datasense-platform-and-team

From launching new tablets to virtual-reality curriculum, Microsoft has added plenty to its educational offerings

DataSense, a data management platform developed by Brightbytes.

DataSense is a set of professional services that work with K-12 districts to collect data from different data systems, translate them into unified formats and aggregate that information into a unified dashboard for reporting purposes.

DataSense traces its origins to Authentica Solutions, an education data management company founded in 2013.

A month later, BrightBytes acquired Authentica. The deal was hailed as a “major milestone in the industry” and appeared to be a complement to BrightBytes’ flagship offering, Clarity, a suite of data analytics tools that help educators understand the impact of technology spending and usage on student outcomes.

Of the “Big Five” technology giants, Microsoft has become the most acqui-hungry as of late in the learning and training space. In recent years it purchased several consumer brand names whose services reach into education, including LinkedIn (which owns Lynda.com, now a part of the LinkedIn Learning suite), Minecraft (which has been adapted for use in the classroom) and Github (which released an education bundle).

Last year, Microsoft also acquired a couple of smaller education tools, including Flipgrid, a video-discussion platform popular among teachers, and Chalkup, whose services have been rolled into Microsoft Teams, its competitor to Slack.

Google China

Alphabet’s Plans for a China Comeback Go Beyond Google Search

Google has faced sharp criticism, including from its own employees, for its efforts to rebuild an internet search presence in Chinaafter quitting the country eight years ago over censorship issues.

for Google’s corporate parent, Alphabet, the opportunities in the world’s largest internet market may be too good to resist. And the full scope of the company’s interest in China now appears to be broader than just internet search.

The latest hint came from Waymo, the driverless-car company that was spun out of Google in 2016. Chinese media noticed this week that the business had quietly registered a Shanghai subsidiary in May, suggesting that it wants a piece of an industry that the Chinese government has made a priority.

Unlike Google, Apple runs its own app store in China, heeding government directives about the kinds of apps that can be available to Chinese users. Microsoft and Amazon offer cloud computing services, working with local partners and following strict controls on how customers’ data is stored.

Baidu, maker of the country’s leading search engine, has made its autonomous-vehicle software platform available to dozens of local and foreign companies. SAIC Motor, China’s largest carmaker, is working with the e-commerce titan Alibaba. BMW and Daimler have received permission in China to test their own self-driving vehicles.

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more on Google and China in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=google+china

Microsoft patch for Meltdown and Spectre

Microsoft withdraws Spectre and Meltdown patch that’s borking AMD machines

As we look forward to the ‘Skyfall’ and ‘Casino Royale’ vulnerabilities

Chris Merriman 09 January 2018

https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3024061/microsofts-withdraws-spectre-and-meltdown-patch-thats-borking-amd-machines

If your computer runs on AMD processor (instead of Intel) and has Windows 10, you might want to delay the anti-virus installation. 

MICROSOFT HAS POINTED the finger of blame in the direction of AMD after update designed to protect against the recent Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities started bricking machines using the company’s processors.

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more on Meltdown and Spectre in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=spectre

VR headset future

VR’s future depends on you buying a dorky headset

Oculus, the VR company that Mark Zuckerberg bought for more than $2 billion, has a problem: It’s struggling to convince people to buy its gear.

https://www.cnet.com/news/vr-virtual-reality-future-depends-on-you-buying-a-dorky-headset-oculus-zuckerberg-playstation-vive/

Oculus Connect, starting Wednesday in San Jose, California. Facebook’s Oculus VR division promises discussions on how health care, movies and video games are adapting to this still nascent technology. One panel will explore how the disability community can benefit from VR gear and presentations.

Facebook chief competitors, Sony and HTC, followed suit. The PlayStation VR dropped to $400 from $500, and the Vive dropped to $599 from $799 all in the past three months.

Survios made Raw Data more widely available for Oculus, Vive and PlayStation VR. Survios is also looking beyond VR for customers, redesigning Raw Data to work in arcades as well.

Over the summer, Apple and Google announced new technologies called ARKit and ARCore, respectively, that are designed to help iPhones and iPads or any device powered by Google’s Android software marry computer-generated images with the real world.

A $2.99 app, Star Guide AR, highlights stars and constellations in the sky once you point your phone at them. Another, Ikea Place, previews furniture in your home with a tap. Walk around your living room and you can see the furniture you placed while looking through the screen on your phone. So far, both are available only for the iPhone.

App developers I spoke with say they’re excited by augmented reality and believe it may help spur people to buy VR systems as well.

Microsoft’s focusing on both AR and VR. In an October update to its Windows 10 software for PCs, the company is partnering with device makers like Lenovo, Dell, HP, Acer and Samsung to create headsets based on its designs. They’ll sell for as little as $300 each when they begin hitting store shelves Oct. 17.

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more on virtual reality in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=virtual+reality

VR and ER tech developments

A New World: VR and AR Tech Developments

Authors: by Emory Craig and Maya Georgieva Monday, July 17, 2017

http://er.educause.edu/blogs/2017/7/a-new-world-vr-and-ar-tech-developments

device available on campus

We’re now seeing a move toward mid-range, standalone VR headsets with everything built into the device. Some include their own processors, while others, like the forthcoming Microsoft headset, will work with current desktops. Microsoft’s device claims to do both VR and a modified version of mixed reality

The low end of the VR spectrum has been dominated by Google Cardboard, with over 10 million distributed

headsets

Augmented Reality

AR burst into the public’s consciousness with the Pokemon Go craze in 2016. And Snap (formerly Snapchat) expanded the range of their social media platform with the release of Spectacles, their wearable glasses and World Lens filters that add digital objects to your environment. A second version of Spectacles may include far more extensive AR capabilities.

At Facebook’s spring F8 conference, Mark Zuckerberg made the case that our mobile cameras will be the first popular AR platform. Apple just announced ARKit for iOS at their June WWDC developers conference.

Mixed Reality

Meta Glasses has been developing its own mixed reality unit that offers a wider field of view than the 40° of HoloLens. And Intel’s Project Alloy promises a “Merged Reality” headset prototype combining both VR and AR by the end of this year.

Kickstarter Projects

Aryzon which is creating a Google Cardboard-like device for simple AR experiences. Another is the NOLO Project, which offers an HTC Vive-like experience with full freedom of movement using only a plastic headset and your phone.

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Google Glass 2.0
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/07/19/google-brings-back-much-maligned-google-glass-headset/

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/nevkgb/google-glass-adopters-on-glass-enterprise

https://www.wired.com/story/google-glass-2-is-here/

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Top 5 Vendors in Global AR Education Market

https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/07/14/report-top-5-vendors-in-global-ar-education-market.aspx

Market research firm Technavio has identified the top five vendors in the global augmented reality (AR) in education market. The companies are EON Reality, DAQRI, GAMOOZ, Magic Leap and QuiverVision, according to a newly published report.

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more on VR in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=virtual+reality

VR trends

6 VR Trends to Watch in Education

By Sri Ravipati  05/16/17

https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/05/16/6-vr-trends-to-watch-in-education.aspx

VR devices are expected to increase 85 percent by 2020, with gaming and educational applications driving most of that growth.

Maya Georgieva, an ed tech strategist, author and speaker with more than 15 years of experience in higher education and global education. Georgieva is co-founder of Digital Bodies, a consulting group that provides news and analysis of VR, AR and wearables in education

Emory Craig,  currently the director of e-learning at the College of New Rochelle,

six areas with promising developments for educators.

1) More Affordable Headsets

the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, which I really like, you’re talking close to $2,000 per setup. the 2017 SXSWedu conference,

Microsoft has been collaborating with its partners, such as HP, Acer, Dell and Lenovo, to develop VR headsets that will work with lower-end desktops. Later this year, the companies will debut headsets for $299, “which is much more affordable compared to HoloLens

many Kickstarter crowdfunding efforts are bound to make high-end headsets more accessible for teaching.

the NOLO project. The NOLO system is meant for mobile VR headsets and gives users that “6 degrees of freedom” (or 6 DoF) motion tracking that is currently only found in high-end headsets.

2) Hand Controllers That Will Bring Increased Interactivity

Google Daydream  Samsung has also implemented its own hand controller for Gear VR

Microsoft  new motion controllers at Microsoft Build

zSpace, with their stylus and AR glasses, continue to develop their immersive applications

3) Easy-to-Use Content Creation Platforms

Game engines like Unity and Unreal are often a starting point for creating simulations.

Labster, which creates virtual chemistry labs — will become important in specialized subjects

ThingLink, for example, recently introduced a school-specific editor for creating 360-degree and VR content. Lifeliqe, Aurasma and Adobe are also working on more interactive tools.

5) 360-Degree Cameras

6) Social VR Spaces

AltspaceVR h uses avatars and supports multiplayer sessions that allow for socialization and user interaction.

Facebook has been continuing to develop its own VR platform, Facebook Spaces, which is in beta and will be out later this year. LectureVR is a similar platform on the horizon.

 

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more on augmented reality in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=augmented

CIA hacks

WikiLeaks: Here’s how the CIA hacks your phones, TVs and PCs

The organization released thousands of documents it claims show how the US spy agency can crack open devices from Apple, Samsung, Google and Microsoft.

  https://www.cnet.com/news/wikileaks-cia-hacking-tools-phones-apple-samsung-microsoft-google/

This debate took off when the US Department of Justice sought to require Apple to help it open an encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters. After Apple fought back in court, the FBI said it had obtained another way to access the phone.

Apple, Google and Motorola declined to comment on WikiLeaks’ claims. Samsung didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“The CIA/Wikileaks story today is about getting malware onto phones, none of the exploits are in Signal or break Signal Protocol encryption,” said Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of Signal. “This story isn’t about Signal or WhatsApp, but to the extent that it is, we see it as confirmation that what we’re doing is working.”

Telegram said on its website that the problem lies with operating systems and not encrypted messaging apps and that naming specific encrypted services is “misleading.” WhatsApp declined to comment.

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more on surveillance in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=surveillance

Virtual Augmented Mixed Reality

11 Ed Tech Trends to Watch in 2017
Five higher ed leaders analyze the hottest trends in education technology this year.

http://pdf.101com.com/CampusTech/2017/701921020/CAM_1702DG.pdf

new forms of human-computer interaction (HCI) such as augmented reality (AR),virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR).
p. 21
combining AR/VR/MR with cognitive computing and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies (such as machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing and chatbots).
Some thought-provoking questions include:
  • Will remote workers be able to be seen and interacted with via their holograms (i.e., attending their meetings virtually)? What would this mean for remote learners?
  • Will our smartphones increasingly allow us to see information overlaid on the real world? (Think Pokémon Go, but putting that sort of technology into a vast array of different applications, many of which could be educational in nature)
  • How do/will these new forms of HCI impact how we design our learning spaces?
  • Will students be able to pick their preferred learning setting (i.e., studying by a brook or stream or in a virtual Starbucks-like atmosphere)?
  • Will more devices/platforms be developed that combine the power of AI with VR/AR/MR-related experiences? For example, will students be able to issue a verbal question or command to be able to see and experience walking around ancient Rome?
  • Will there be many new types of learning experiences,like what Microsoft was able to achieve in its collaboration with Case Western Reserve University [OH]? Its HoloLens product transforms the way human anatomy can be taught.

p. 22 Extensive costs for VR design and development drive the need for collaborative efforts.

Case Western Reserve University, demonstrates a collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic and Microsoft to create active multi-dimensional learning using holography.

the development of more affordable high-quality virtual reality solutions.

AR game developed by the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences [Austria] (http://www.fh-salzburg.ac.at/en/) that teaches  about sustainability, the environment and living green.
Whether using AR for a gamified course or to acclimate new students to campus, the trend will continue into 2017.

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15 Tech Tool Favorites From ISTE 2016

list of resources that can help educators find what they need

Google Expeditions
This virtual reality field trip tool works in conjunction with Google Cardboard and has just been officially released. The app allows teachers to guide students through an exploration of 200 (and growing) historical sites and natural resources in an immersive, three-dimensional experience. The app only works on Android devices and is free.

Flippity
This app works in conjunction with Google Sheets and allows teachers to easily make a Jeopardy-style game.

Google Science Journal
This Android app allows users to do science experiments with mobile phones. Students can use sensors in the phone or connect external sensors to collect data, but can also take notes on observations, analyze and annotate within the app.

Google Cast
This simple app solves issues of disparate devices in the classroom. When students download the app, they can project from their devices onto the screen at the front of the room easily. “You don’t have to have specific hardware, you just have to have Wi-Fi,”

Constitute
This site hosts a database of constitutions from around the world. Anything digitally available has been aggregated here. It is searchable by topic and will pull out specific excerpts related to search terms like “freedom of speech.”

YouTube
a database of YouTube Channels by subject to help educators with discoverability (hint subjects are by tab along the bottom of the document).

Zygote Body
This freemium tool has a lot of functionality in the free version, allowing students to view different parts of human anatomy and dig into how various body systems work.
Pixlr
This app has less power than Photoshop, but is free and fairly sophisticated. It works directly with Google accounts, so students can store files there.
uild With Chrome
This extension to the Chrome browser lets kids play with digital blocks like Legos. Based on the computer’s IP address, the software assigns users a plot of land on which to build nearby. There’s a Build Academy to learn how to use the various tools within the program, but then students can make whatever they want.
Google CS First
Built on Scratch’s programming language, this easy tool gives step-by-step instructions to get started and is great for the hesitant teacher who is just beginning to dip a toe into coding.
several posters about Google Apps For Education that are available to anyone for free

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More on VR in this IMS bloghttps://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=virtual+reality

Microsoft IMB deal

Microsoft just made a deal with IBM — and Apple should be nervous

LinkedIn acquired by Microsoft

Microsoft to buy LinkedIn for $26.2B in cash, makes big move into enterprise social media

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