{"id":10643,"date":"2018-05-07T15:28:52","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T15:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/?p=10643"},"modified":"2018-05-07T16:45:04","modified_gmt":"2018-05-07T16:45:04","slug":"microsoft-build-azure-powered-drones-another-go-with-kinect-and-other-key-announcements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/10643-microsoft-build-azure-powered-drones-another-go-with-kinect-and-other-key-announcements.html","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Build: Azure-powered Drones, another go with Kinect, and other key announcements"},"content":{"rendered":"

Microsoft Build is kicking off today in Seattle, and the company has made a ton of announcements.<\/p>\n

See here<\/a> for some background on Build and what is happening with Microsoft\u2019s platform.<\/p>\n

The most eye-catching announcement is a partnership with drone manufacturer DJI<\/a> which says it will make Azure its preferred cloud provider. Microsoft has announced an SDK. There is much obvious value in drones from a business perspective, for example examining pipes for damage. Sectors such as construction, agriculture and public safety are obvious candidates.<\/p>\n

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Microsoft\u2019s Kinect sensor was originally launched as a gaming accessory for Xbox 360 and then Xbox One. It has been a flop in gaming, but the technology has plenty of potential. Coming in 2019 is Project Kinect for Azure<\/strong>, a new device with upgraded sensors for connecting \u201cAI to the edge\u201d, in Microsoft\u2019s words. More here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Azure IoT Edge runtime is going open source<\/strong>. More cognitive services will now run directly on the runtime, in other words without depending on internet connectivity, including Custom Vision for image recognition (handy for drones, perhaps). A partnership with Qualcomm will support camera-powered cognitive services.<\/p>\n

AI for Accessibility<\/strong> is a new initiative to use AI to empower people via assistive technology, building on previous work such as the use of Cognitive Services to help a visually impaired person \u201csee\u201d the world around them.<\/p>\n

Project Brainwave<\/strong> is a new project<\/a> to accelerate AI by running calculations on an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) in partnership with Intel.<\/p>\n

On the Windows front, a new application called Microsoft Layout<\/strong> uses Mixed Reality to let customers design spaces in context, using 3D models.<\/p>\n

Windows Timeline<\/strong>, new in the April 2018 Windows 10 update, is coming to iOS and Android. On Android it is a separate application, while on iOS it is incorporated into the Edge browser.<\/p>\n

Amazon Alexa and Microsoft Cortana are getting integration (in limited preview) such that you can call up Cortana using an Amazon Echo, or summon Alexa within Cortana on Windows.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There is more to come, including AI updates to Visual Studio (not IntelliSense but IntelliCode), Visual Studio Live Share collaboration in preview, and a partnership with GitHub to integrate with App Center (DevOps for apps for mobile devices).<\/p>\n

And big .NET news at Build: .NET Core 3.0 in 2019 will run Windows desktop applications<\/a>, via frameworks including Windows Forms, Windows Presentation Framework (WPF), and UWP XAML. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Microsoft Build is kicking off today in Seattle, and the company has made a ton of announcements. See here for some background on Build and what is happening with Microsoft\u2019s platform. The most eye-catching announcement is a partnership with drone manufacturer DJI which says it will make Azure its preferred cloud provider. Microsoft has announced … Continue reading Microsoft Build: Azure-powered Drones, another go with Kinect, and other key announcements<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,1519],"tags":[131,225,267,586],"class_list":["post-10643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-microsoft","category-tech","tag-ai","tag-build","tag-cloud-computing","tag-microsoft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10643"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10655,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10643\/revisions\/10655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}