Technology - Google News

Microsoft Build 2018: Livestream, start time, latest news
Microsoft delivers new edge-computing tools that use its speech, camera, AI technologies
Google partners with JBL for an Android TV-powered sound bar

Microsoft Build 2018: Livestream, start time, latest news

Posted: 07 May 2018 08:31 AM PDT

Developers conference season is upon us. Facebook's F8 kicked it off last week with dating, the Oculus Go and AI, AI, AI. Microsoft's Build 2018 is up next, starting today at 8:30 a.m. PT (11:30 a.m. ET, 4:30 p.m. UK) with its typical two-day keynotes; you can also catch Tuesday's stream at the same time.

You can watch the keynote livestreams here or on Microsoft's site (requires registration). And if you want to watch the next big developers conference, the Google I/O conference is also starting on Tuesday.

Here's the big news from Microsoft so far:

From our colleagues at ZDNet:

This post has been updated with breaking news from Build; the earlier version of the story appears below.

Last year's Build had some notable announcements for non-developers, and while we don't anticipate a lot of it this go-round, we do expect a dose of Microsoft's version of AI-in-everything and more about its Timeline cross-device handoff, which finally rolled out in the Windows April 2018 update.

We might hear progress reports on capabilities announced last year, such as its gradual rollout of the Fluent Design interface. Or its Windows Sets feature for grouping apps, data and sites in tabs that's been in beta since last year and was recently expanded in the latest Redstone 5 release of an upcoming version of Windows 10. And possibly about the delay of the long-awaited integration between Cortana and Amazon Alexa.

There have also been rumors about a Cloud Clipboard for cutting and pasting across devices spotted in that build, so perhaps we'll hear about that as well. But we doubt there will be any new Surface hardware.

The bulk of Build will really focus on Microsoft's tools for building business applications using its Azure cloud-computing platform and the whizzy new features Microsoft would like developers to take advantage of. If that's what floats your boat, our colleagues at ZDNet are all over it.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Microsoft delivers new edge-computing tools that use its speech, camera, AI technologies

Posted: 07 May 2018 08:30 AM PDT

Microsoft Build 2018

Microsoft is out to show that it can still be a player in the computing realm, even as it moves further away from its heritage as "the Windows company."

On the opening day of its annual Build developer conference -- the first since its reorg last month via which Windows was split up and integrated into other units at the company -- Microsoft is showing off the Internet of Things (IoT) and edge-computing tools and technologies it has to offer both hardware and software developers.

Last year at Build, Microsoft officials talked up the edge-computing piece of the company's evolving "intelligent cloud/intelligent edge" strategy. Microsoft defines the "edge" broadly as where users interact with the cloud. Edge devices can be anything from virtual-reality/mixed-reality headsets, to drones, to on-premises PCs and servers.

On May 7 at Build 2018, Microsoft officials are making a number of new edge announcements. The company is open sourcing the Azure IoT Edge Runtime to allow customers to modify and debug more easily.

Azure IoT Edge is Microsoft's cloud service that is designed to give users insights from the rapidly growing amount of data collected by simple sensors and computers situated at the edge of networks -- without having to send that data for central processing. The IoT Edge runtime is the piece that runs on each IoT Edge device and manages the modules deployed to each device.

Microsoft is enabling its Custom Vision cognitive service to run on Azure IoT Edge so that devices like drones and industrial equipment can perform vision-related activities even when not connected to the cloud. Microsoft execs said this is the first of its handful of Cognitive Services that will work on edge devices, with others coming "over the next several months."

Drone vendor DJI is working with Microsoft to build a software development kit for Windows 10 PCs. The kit, according to Microsoft will allow users to have full flight control and real-time data transfer to Windows 10 devices. The two companies also will work together on additional services that use Azure IoT Edge and Microsoft AI services for customers in the agriculture, construction, public safety and other vertical markets.

Microsoft also announced at Build a partnership with Qualcomm Technologies to create a vision AI developer kit that runs Azure IoT Edge. This kit will provide hardware and software required to develop camera-based IoT products, Microsoft officials said, and will give developers a way to build products using Azure Machine Learning services and take advantage of hardware acceleration using the Qualcom Vision Intelligence Platform and Qualcomm AI Engine. Services can be downloaded from the cloud and run locally on edge devices by using these products.

CNET:Microsoft's Nadella thinks AI can improve tech for the disability community | Kinect gets another shot at Microsoft Build | Microsoft's Project Brainwave brings fast-chip smarts to AI at Build conference

Microsoft is targeting makers of in-car and/or in-home assistants, smart speakers and other voice-enabled devices with a new Speech Devices software development kit (SDK) that is aimed at providing audio processing from multi-channel sources for more accurate speech recognition, far-field voice, noise cancellation and more.

On the futures front, Microsoft also is taking the wraps off "Project Kinect for Azure," which officials described as "a package of sensors from Microsoft that contains our unmatched time of flight depth camera, with onboard compute, in a small power-efficient form factor." I asked if the "next-generation depth camera" in this package is the same camera that will be in the next version of the HoloLens, but officials declined to say.

A spokesperson did tell me that "the Microsoft hardware implementing these sensors will be available in 2019. To learn more and to sign up so you can be one of the first developers to use Project Kinect for Azure, go to http://www.azure.com/."

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Google partners with JBL for an Android TV-powered sound bar

Posted: 07 May 2018 09:00 AM PDT

Google is partnering with JBL to develop a new hybrid device that blends a standard sound bar with a streaming set-top box. The new product, called the JBL Link Bar, will work as an audio hub for your living room, but it will also run Android TV and come with Google Assistant integration to enable voice search and control.

It's an interesting combination of home entertainment products, and it's sure to strike a little bit of a fear into Sonos, which is planning what sounds like a similar product to be unveiled on June 6th.

According to a recent FCC filing, Sonos is planning to introduce an update to its Playbar and Playbase line of sound bars, but with Alexa integration and a direct HDMI connection. That way, the new Sonos sound bar could more directly control your TV and enable voice control as well. An image attached to its June event invitation implies the company is working on something akin to a universal remote, so the new sound bar may possible run on Amazon's Fire TV platform or may be capable of controlling what you watch and listen to through your TV through some other method.

What is clear, however, is that Google and JBL may beat Sonos to the punch. Google is billing its product as the "first in a series of hybrid devices that delivers a full Assistant speaker and Android TV experience," so it's clear JBL is not going to be alone in this category and other partners may be announced soon, perhaps during the Google I/O keynote tomorrow.

More impressive is that — beyond using the "Hey Google" command to control media and YouTube content — you can use the Assistant-powered voice control to play music from the Link Bar even when the TV is off. According to Google, the device will also connect via HDMI, and it will enable input switching via voice so you can jump from TV and movies to a game console or other device.

We don't have pricing details yet, but Google says JBL will start selling the Link Bar later this fall.

Let's block ads! (Why?)