News and Awards

IC2E 2018 Best Paper Award 

https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/events/ic2e-iotdi-2018-cloud-computing-internet-of-things

Getting good VIBEs from your computer with Dr. Mary Czerwinski 

Emotions are fundamental to human interaction, but in a world where humans are increasingly interacting with AI systems, Dr. Mary Czerwinski, Principal Researcher and Research Manager of the Visualization and Interaction for Business and Entertainment…

Why touch can be such a creepy sensation in VR 

There may be such a thing as ‘too realistic’ when it comes to virtual touch.

Shipping (some) HACL* 

In this second blog post I describe the process of integrating code from HACL*, a researchy crypto library, into NSS, a production library shipping to millions of people, running on a plethora of platforms. In…

Microsoft brings toys to life in Project Zanzibar‘ 

Developed by a team of Microsoft researchers, the new user interface features a flexible mat that can locate, sense and communicate with objects–and may just give a much-needed jolt to a struggling toys-to-life market.

Microsoft’s smart mat project could blend Lego and Minecraft together 

A team of researchers, with a love of toys, created the project at Microsoft’s research labs in the UK. The mat folds and combines sensing, near field communication (NFC), and multi-touch to imagine a future…

Microsoft’s Project Zanzibar could do for toys what multitouch did for smartphones 

Microsoft has detailed Project Zanzibar, a research effort involving the development of a smart mat that takes physical toys and presents them on a display, combining real-world and digital play into a single experience.

IEEE KOJI KOBAYASHI Computer and Communications Award 2018 

For contributions to broadband wireless systems.

Eric Horvitz elected to American Philosophical Society 

The American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States, was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin for the purpose of “promoting useful knowledge.” Eric J. Horvitz, Director, Technical Fellow, Microsoft Research Labs;…

Best Paper: Honorable Mention, CHI 2018