Microsoft

Apple said to join Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Facebook in AI best practices group

Written by

From the partnership page:

In support of the mission to benefit people and society, the Partnership on AI intends to conduct research, organize discussions, share insights, provide thought leadership, consult with relevant third parties, respond to questions from the public and media, and create educational material that advance the understanding of AI technologies including machine perception, learning, and automated reasoning.

As much as we’ve learned about artificial intelligence, we’re still on the steepest part of the learning curve. We’re still working out the mechanics, just barely touching on the important philosophical issues.

Glad to hear news that Apple looks to be joining this group. Keep an eye on the partner page. You’ll know this is a done deal when Apple’s name joins the list.

Microsoft’s OS supremacy over Apple to end in 2017

Written by

Gregg Keizer, Computerworld:

Apple will steal a march on Microsoft this year when for the first time this century shipments of devices powered by its operating systems outnumber those running Windows, research firm Gartner said today.

In 2017, Apple’s combination of iOS and macOS — the former on iPhones and iPads, the latter on Macs — will take second place from Windows on the devices shipped during the year. The gap between the two will widen in 2018 and 2019, with Apple ahead of Microsoft both years.

Not terribly surprising, given the rise of mobile and Apple’s dominance in that space. But still, just a little bit satisfying.

Not clear from the article but, presumably, first place is held by Android.

Microsoft’s new, tin-eared anti-Mac Surface Pro 4 ad

Written by

[VIDEO] Below is an ad that dropped yesterday, a direct comparison between the Surface Pro 4 and what appears to be a MacBook Air. This ad just doesn’t do it for me. I’m not a fan of the song, and the points are vague, soft. The phrase “lighter than air” seems (maybe) directed at the MacBook Air. But it might not be. It’s all just a klunky jumble.

Microsoft’s iPhone keyboard takes aim at Google with new built-in search

Written by

Verge:

Microsoft has released a big update for its Word Flow keyboard on the iPhone this week. The biggest addition is a new search interface that lets you find GIFs, emoji, images, contacts, and anything from Bing search results without leaving the keyboard. Microsoft’s GIF search feature copies the animated pictures into your clipboard, allowing you to paste them in. Word Flow will even pick out GIFs from words you type, so if you say “deal with it” in a message you’ll get a GIF icon that brings up the relevant image.

Interesting to see the keyboard as a point of search competition between Google and Bing.

Microsoft: What’s a computer? Just ask Cortana.

Written by

[VIDEO] A few weeks ago, Apple put out this iPad Pro commercial, notably asking the question, “What’s a Computer?”

Microsoft has an answer, a new commercial (shown in the main post) that reminds me of the “I’m a Mac. And I’m a PC” ads of a decade ago, though this time with the roles reversed.

64-bit Office 2016 for Mac is coming

Written by

From the official Microsoft blog:

We have released the first drop of a fully 64-bit version of Office 2016 for Mac to the Insider Fast channel! The update number is 15.25 (160630). I do encourage Insider Fast users to install this update and give it a test. We want to know about any problems you encounter as soon as possible, so that we can make sure we address them before the official release.

My original take on this was amazement that a 64-bit Office was just now emerging in beta. After all, the ability to produce 64-bit apps has been around since OS X 10.4 Tiger, which shipped in 2005.

But this Office team has had to overcome some significant hurdles to bring this new product to life. So many hurdles, that it might be more appropriate to be amazed that they were able to accomplish what turned out to be a Herculean task.

Google creep

Written by

Google, don’t make it jarring to move from one app to another. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb.

Microsoft drops consumer smartphone business

Written by

From the Microsoft press release announcing this “streamlining”:

Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday announced plans to streamline the company’s smartphone hardware business, which will impact up to 1,850 jobs.

Oy.

Weather forecast interrupted by Windows 10 upgrade prompt

Written by

I can definitely relate.

My wife and I have a Windows laptop in our kitchen. First we were asked politely if we were interested in upgrading to Windows 10. Then we were reminded repeatedly. And, ultimately, we woke up one morning to see our machine taking matters into its own hands, whistling silently, while it upgraded us to what it knew we really needed.

And the copying

Written by

Watch the new Microsoft ad, then go watch this old MacBook Pro ad. Notice anything similar about the music?

Siri and Microsoft’s new Windows vs Mac campaign

Written by

Microsoft has launched a series of ads focusing on login via face recognition, Cortana (Windows equivalent of Siri), and touchscreens, three features on modern Windows machines that are not found on the Mac. Interesting timing with the recent Siri rumor. Connection there?

How Microsoft plans to make the Xbox great again

Written by

Chris Plante, writing for The Verge:

In theory, the Xbox One was an improvement on everything fans loved about the Xbox 360: a more powerful Kinect, new hardware that merged the console with your cable box, and lots of talk about the cloud. Microsoft only forgot one thing: the games.

This is a great read.

Why are Apple MacBooks more reliable?

Written by

There’s nothing like controlling the design and build of both the hardware and the software from top to bottom. This piece has some interesting conclusions.