Posted by Rob Knies The term “natural user interfaces” has been in vogue in recent months, generally invoked to describe different ways that humans can interact with computing devices beyond the longtime pairing of keyboard and mouse.Surface computing is…
By Janie Chang, Writer, Microsoft Research When an oil spill happens, are we annoyed, angry, or furious? When the jobless rate drops, are we relieved, happy, or ecstatic? If these topics are being discussed on Twitter, a new study from…
Posted by Rob Knies Fifty years ago, the Century 21 Exposition—the Seattle World’s Fair—provided visitors with a vision of the future. With its gleaming Monorail and its towering Space Needle, the fair trumpeted the advances made possible by science…
Posted by Rob Knies Distributed computing is critical for most modern, Internet-scale services, enabling high availability and the ability to scale to massive, worldwide audiences. The web as we now know it is unimaginable without advances achieved in distributed…
In the news | The Economist
Crowdsourcing is transforming the science of psychology.
For the past three days I’ve been at the NCWIT (National Center for Women & Information Technology) 2012 Summit on Women and IT, and what a three days it’s been! The annual NCWIT Summit is a celebration of girls and…
In the news | Popular Mechanics
Microsoft researchers have been developing a system called SoundWave that emits pulses in ultrasound ranges and detects Doppler-based changes to track human movements. Its creators hope their accidental discovery could improve gesture-based controls.
Posted by Rob Knies This spring, London’s Royal Court Theatre issued a most peculiar press release, announcing the forthcoming production of Ten Billion: An Exploration of the Future of Life on Earth, to debut July 12.“Scientist Stephen Emmott and director…
The weather is warm and balmy along Mexico’s renowned Riviera Maya, the venue for the 2012 Microsoft Research Latin American Faculty Summit. I’m sure my friends would tell me to get outside, walk along the beach, and think peaceful thoughts.…