Posted by Rob Knies “Carefully hits to the forehead” instead of "Watch your head"? Well, I’m sure I’ve written things like that on occasion myself, and perhaps you have, too. Still, it’s not exactly the king’s English, is it?In China, such usages are referred to…
Posted by Rob Knies This morning, at the Seaport Hotel in Boston, Jennifer Tour Chayes, Microsoft distinguished scientist and managing director of Microsoft Research New England, became one of six recipients of the Leading Women Awards, bestowed by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts. “It’s…
Posted by Rob Knies Imagine that you carry a small device that can make any nearby surface interactive—and that those surfaces can be manipulated via multitouch gestures and can store data.“Wouldn’t that be cool?”The enthusiasm belongs to David Molyneaux, and he is one of several…
Posted by Rob Knies In 1780, the nascent United States of America was still in the midst of the Revolutionary War. American pride suffused the former colonies’ scholar-patriots, and one result was the founding of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among the…
The Microsoft Biology Foundation (MBF) has undergone a significant transformation since it was first released. Over time, it’s become clear that a new name was also in order. So today, I am pleased to announce that MBF will now be known as .NET Bio. In…
Computers are everywhere, controlling everything from phones and traffic lights to airplanes and buildings. And inside each computer is software: line after line of complex code that tells the program, and any attached hardware, what to do. It’s amazing how the world has come to…
I’m thrilled to be part of a new phase of the partnership between Dean Kamen’s FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) organization and Microsoft (including the Microsoft Research Connections group). Last week, FIRST announced that Microsoft’s Kinect for Xbox 360 sensor and…
The Kinect for Windows SDK beta was honored as one of the “10 Most Innovative Tech Products of 2011” earlier this week at the 2011 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards ceremony held at the Hearst Tower in New York City. Gavin Jancke, general manager of Engineering…
Posted by Rob Knies Have you heard of Colonel Blotto? Me, neither—at least not until a few days ago, when I ran into my friend and colleague Thore Graepel in the atrium of Building 99 on Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., campus, worldwide headquarters of Microsoft Research.…
On October 5, 2011, on the stately campus of the University of Edinburgh, Sir Tim O’Shea, principal of the University of Edinburgh, and Rick Rashid, chief research officer of Microsoft Research, officially inaugurated a significant joint initiative in informatics. It was standing room only in…
Posted by Rob Knies Given the great strides taken in e-commerce over the past decade, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that such transactions are still in their infancy. Hence the need for the Academic Research Center for E-Commerce Technologies, announced Oct. 9…
Astronomy is rapidly becoming exponentially data rich, with data management, data exploration, and knowledge discovering becoming central to the research enterprise. This has brought about great opportunity for growth and discovery in both astronomy and computational science. It has also created many technical and methodological…
