At the 26th ACM Annual Symposium on Operating Systems and Principles, better known as SOSP 2017, my colleagues described a new technology called CrystalNet - a high-fidelity, cloud-scale emulator that helps network engineers nearly eliminate network downtime related to routine maintenance and upgrades as well…
On August 15, the sixth annual Microsoft Beauty of Programming Challenge — a programming competition for college students in Asia — came to a close. This year's theme focused on artificial intelligence question and answer (Q&A) projects. The challenge asked each team to create a…
A few years ago, my group in Microsoft’s research organization began to experiment with tools that make it possible for kids to learn how to code in the context of Minecraft, the wildly popular game where players build fantastical virtual worlds out of digital…
At Microsoft Research, we are on the lookout for exceptional students to apply for our two-year PhD fellowship program. Our fellowships are for students in computer science, electrical engineering and mathematics, as well as interdisciplinary studies intersecting with those domains such as computational biology, social…
By Lily Sun, Research Program Manager of Microsoft Research Asia In February 2017, Microsoft and Cambridge University announced a DeepCoder algorithm that produces programs from problem inputs/outputs. DeepCoder, which operates on a novel yet greatly simplified programming language, cannot handle complex problems—general programming languages are…
By John Roach, Writer, Microsoft Research Within the next 5 to 10 years, tens of billions of things will be connected to the internet. They’ll monitor rainfall in rain forests and engine performance in airplanes, guide robotic teachers around classrooms and robotic aids around nursing…
By Yuanchao Shu, Associate Researcher, and Börje Karlsson, Sr. Research Dev Lead, Microsoft Research Mobile outdoor GPS navigation apps have proven to be lifesavers to countless people. With a smartphone in hand, it is easy to find your way to a destination, even in an…
By Nuno Lopes, Researcher, Microsoft Research Cambridge Think compilers cannot compromise the security of your application? Think twice! Compiler writers work around the clock to continuously deliver better compilers. They are driven by the ever-increasing importance of: Increasing performance (everyone wants their code to run…
By John Roach, Writer, Microsoft Research Charles P. Thacker, a visionary and hands-on electrical engineer who designed the first instances of key computing technologies that define modern life, died June 12 at his home in Palo Alto, California. He was 74. Bringing an idea to…
By Richard Stoakley, Microsoft Research It's hard to remember when our world wasn't full of cameras. They're in our phones and tablets, posted on street corners and in our buildings and cars. We rely on them not just to capture moments and memories, but for…
By Andrew Maimone, Researcher; Andreas Georgiou, Researcher; Joel Kollin, Principal Research Hardware Development Engineer Last week at the SCIEN Workshop on Augmented and Mixed Reality, a group of industry and academic researchers met to discuss the future of virtual and mixed reality (VR/MR). One goal was clear: we’d…
By Shaz Qadeer, Principal Researcher The complexity of emerging software applications requires new approaches to understanding and then efficiently building, testing and debugging these systems. Today’s software uses cloud resources, is often embedded in devices in the physical world and employs artificial intelligence techniques. These…
