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Researchers built an AI that plays chess like a person, not a super computer
They trained Maia on millions of online games played by humans.
Microsoft came remarkably close to predicting all 24 Oscar winners
Cortana isn't the only part of Microsoft that's interested in predicting the future. David Rothschild, an economist with the company's New York research lab, was behind the team that successfully guessed six of last night's biggest Oscar winners, including the awards for best film, director, actor and actress. In fact, across all 24 categories they only slipped up on four -- original screenplay, original score, animated feature and film editing.
Microsoft's RoomAlive turns your living room into a holodeck
Microsoft's IllumiRoom project has expanded beyond a single-Kinect set-up and is now called "RoomAlive." RoomAlive turns an enclosed area into an interactive gaming space, with enemies and puzzles projected on walls, floors and objects for residents to take out with their hands, feet or peripherals. The new and improved RoomAlive uses multiple projectors and depth cameras to scan a room and all of its contents, and then it superimposes interactive environments on top of everything. "IllumiRoom was largely focused on display, extending traditional gaming experiences out of the TV," the Microsoft Research team writes. "RoomAlive instead focuses on interaction, and the new kinds of games that we can create with interactive projection mapping. RoomAlive looks farther into the future of projection mapping and asks, 'What new experiences will we have in the next few years?'"
Microsoft wants its smartphone screens to touch you back
While your fingers are in firmly in control of hand-held devices, they're guided strictly by your eyes -- and Microsoft thinks that's a waste of your sense of touch. Researcher Hong Tan found that using so-called haptics to add tactile sensations to screens can have some concrete benefits. For instance, by adding a keyboard-like "click" feeling to a Surface keyboard cover, one study showed that subjects could type faster and more accurately on it. Other potential uses include enhanced interfaces that let you feel resistance when you move a folder on the screen, or the ability to feel "textures" like rough cloth on a screen.
Microsoft's Blink Windows Phone app gets a redesign, lots of new features
The Blink app for Windows Phone 8 is already pretty good, and it's about to get even better. Microsoft Research has released a new version of its photography application, complete with a fresh look and a swath of new features. Aside from letting you create GIFs, Blink now makes it easier for you to lock on your subject, take more stable shots and quickly get to gallery view, where you can see the stuff you've captured. You can also see images show up on your Start screen, thanks to added Live Tile support. Plus, there's a new tutorial mode -- perfect for those who have yet to take the app for a spin. Either way, the revamped Blink is available now from the Windows Phone Store.
Microsoft's Socl social network gets iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8 apps
The Microsoft Research team launched Socl in beta form a little over a year ago -- and yes, it is still very much alive. Now, Redmond's experiment could potentially have a more extensive reach, thanks to newly launched applications on iOS, Android and, of course, Windows Phone 8. These mobile apps bring many features to the mix, including the ability to create/share collages and "funny memes," as well as being able to network with different people on the social site, among other things. For those unfamiliar with Socl, the service was known internally as Tulalip during its early days, a time in which Microsoft dubbed it as a project that was meant to help folks "find what you need and share what you know easier than ever." Eventually, Tulalip became what we now know as Socl, a search-based social network that relies heavily on images and videos you collect from across the internet. Don't think Socl is aiming to compete with the big players, however (at least not yet); Microsoft Research believes it is "actually quite complementary" to sites like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Pinterest. Either way, we'll leave you with all the necessary links below, just in case you're interested in getting involved with yet another sociable environment on the web.
Microsoft Research and University of Melbourne open center to study social natural interfaces
According to Microsoft this will be "the world's first joint research center dedicated to studying and perfecting the social applications of NUI [natural user interfaces]." That's about as incredibly specific as these sorts of claims get, but still, Redmond's new Australian facility is an intriguing one - particularly in light of the company's all-in Kinect investment in the wake of the Xbox One. Of course, the peripheral's applications have long gone beyond the world of gaming, a matter helped along by a seemingly endless parade of third-party hacks, the development of Kinect for the PC and a move toward gesture-based control in the home. The Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces has a long list of additional spaces it intends to study, including offices, classrooms, museums and healthcare. The research center is a joint project between MS Research and the University of Melbourne, with some help from the state government and Microsoft Australia.
Xbox One's Kinect to use 'time-of-flight' for more exact measurements
A recent Microsoft blog explored the technology behind the Xbox One's Kinect hardware and how "time-of-flight" is expected to be a significant improvement on the Xbox 360's version of Kinect. The tech "emits light signals and then measures how long it takes them to return," which Microsoft said needs to be "accurate to 1/10,000,000,000 of a second." The blog included two videos, the first demonstrating how the Xbox One's Kinect uses time-of-flight to track the 3D orientation of players as well as calculate force exerted by different muscles. The second video, seen after the break, shows off the camera's infrared sensors and ability to pick up movement while players are in the dark. Microsoft's blog described the development process behind the next-gen camera and how assistants from Microsoft Research had to overcome issues such as motion blur. Sunil Acharya, senior director of engineering for Microsoft's Architecture and Silicon Management team, said that "the time-of-flight camera uses global shutter, which has helped reduce motion blur significantly - from 65 milliseconds in the original Kinect to fewer than 14 milliseconds now."
Microsoft IllumiRoom unlikely to get public demo until July
Microsoft's view-expanding IllumiRoom technology looks doubtful to appear at the next-gen Xbox reveal in May. Speaking to our tech pals at Engadget, Microsoft Research's Hrvoje Benko and Brett Jones said a public demo isn't likely until July's SIGGRAPH conference.In addition, Microsoft Research says "IllumiRoom remains in the prototype stage, with much additional research left to be done before it could be made available broadly, but the progress thus far has been gratifying, and the possibilities are intriguing."Following the info published yesterday, which earmarked the Kinect-incorporating coffee-table projector for next-gen hardware, Microsoft Research talked further about IllumiRoom at the CHI 2013 conference in Paris. In the presentation, Microsoft Research said it's only "scratched the surface of what is possible with IllumiRoom" so far.The team wants to introduce more illusory effects around what it's calling "augmented gaming," and implement it around more genres; demonstrations to date tended to focus on first-person shooters and racing games.
Microsoft Research crafts wrist-worn device that tracks hand gestures in 3D space (video)
A team led by researchers at Microsoft's UK-based R&D lab has crafted a system that tracks the full 3D pose of a user's hand without the need for a pesky glove. Dubbed Digits, the Kinect-inspired rig latches onto a user's wrist and utilizes a diffuse infrared light, IR laser, camera and inertial measurement unit to track fingertips and just five key points of a hand. Leveraging a pair of mathematical models developed in-house after studying the mechanics of the human hand, the group uses the captured data to extrapolate the position of a user's paw. The team envisions the solution as a supplement to touch-based interfaces, a method for eyes-free control of mobile devices and as a gaming controller that could work in conjunction with Kinect or similar systems. In its current state, the device is composed of off-the-shelf parts and needs to be tethered to a laptop, but the ultimate goal is to create a mobile, self contained unit the size of a wrist watch. Hit the break to catch a video of the setup in action or tap the second source link below for more details in the group's academic paper.
Microsoft applies for high-performance touchscreen patent
Remember when Microsoft got us all salivating with a proof-of-concept demo that took touchscreen lag from 100ms to 1ms? Well, Redmond is protecting the product of its tireless research by applying for a patent. The claim focuses heavily on the use of a predictive system that takes an educated guess as to where you're going to move next, and does some serious preprocessing to minimize lag. The result is a smooth moving UI, so long as you don't surprise the predictive algorithms. Do something completely unanticipated and all those preloaded animations must be flushed, resulting in some graphical stutter. We wouldn't get too excited just yet, though, the broad patent, seems like it's a long way out from landing in a smartphone or tablet. The clip we saw in March (embedded after the break) is little more than a white splotch that follows your finger. But, if even some of this tech makes into future Windows products, expect your touchscreen experience to be a much smoother one.
Intellectual Ventures' Nathan Myhrvold defends patent trolling, calls tech industry immature
Intellectual Ventures' CEO and founder Nathan Myhrvold, who previously spent some 14 years at Microsoft Research, took the stage here at D10, and as predicted, his interview with Walt Mossberg was quite the invigorating one. You may know the man and his company for its vicious patent trolling -- or, what appears to be patent trolling. In essence, a lot of its business comes from acquiring patent portfolios, and then licensing and / or suing companies to "enforce" them. Naturally, Nathan has a radically different perspective than most sane individuals on the matter, insisting that the system isn't necessarily broken, and that "making money from enforcing patents is no more wrong than investing in preferred stock." The talk centered predominantly around how Intellectual Ventures operates, what it does, and if its CEO feels that the "rat's nest of lawsuits" -- as Walt put it -- was getting out of control. Despite saying that his company has hundreds of people working on new inventions to help deliver medicines in Africa (in response to a question from the crowd on whether his outfit was truly helping people), he confessed that suing to enforce patents was simply another method of capitalism working. Care to take a ride on the crazy train? Head on past the break for a few choice quotes from the interview.
Microsoft Research team shatters data sorting record, wrenches trophy from Yahoo
Bruise inducing high-fives, anyone? They're handing them out in Redmond, according to one mildly injured researcher, after breaking a data sorting record Yahoo set in 2009. The ruckus surrounds a benchmark called MinuteSort, which measures how much data can be sorted in 60 seconds. Microsoft's Distributed Systems group utilized a new file system architecture, dubbed Flat Datacenter Storage, over a full bisection bandwidth network to burn through the competition. Not only did the nine-person crew best the old record nearly by a factor of three, it gave itself a handicap -- sorting 1,401 GB of data at 2 GB/s over a remote file system, forcing the system to crunch data at a slower speed than the technique is capable of. It's not all about bragging rights, however, Bing has its eye on the newfangled file system in hopes of boosting its RPM. Microsoft suspects the tech could also pick up the pace of machine learning and churn through large data sets in a jiffy. You can catch Microsoft Research's detailed explanation in all its glory at the source. Update: Commenter Mark Streich points out that while 2 GB/s may sound fast, it's certainly not speedy enough to sort 1,401 gigabytes in a single minute. To achieve that performance, simultaneous input and output speeds could hit 2GB/s on each computer used.
Microsoft Research's MirageTable brings some augmented reality to your tabletop
We got a look at a holographic telepresence project from Microsoft Research earlier this week, but that's far from the only Kinect-enhanced rig it's working on these days. This setup dubbed a MirageTable was also shown off at the Computer-Human Interaction conference in Austin, Texas this week, offering a glimpse of one possible future where two people can interact with virtual objects on a table as if they were sitting across from each other (or simply do so on their own). To make that happen, the setup relies on a ceiling-mounted 3D projector to display the images on a curved surface, while a Kinect on each end of the connection both captures the person's image and tracks their gaze to ensure images are displayed with the proper perspective. You can check it out in action after the break, although some of the effect is lost without 3D glasses.
Microsoft Research wants to automate your house, introduces HomeOS
Ever wondered if you could control your house's climate, security, and appliances -- along with your PCs and peripherals -- using Microsoft software? That day may soon dawn, as its Research arm has started testing its home automation software, called HomeOS, in twelve domiciles over the past few months. The budding system views smartphones, printers and air conditioners as network peripherals, controlled by a dedicated gateway computer. The project even has a handful of apps in play, which perform functions like energy monitoring, remote surveillance and face-recognition. This growing list of applications, available through a portal called "HomeStore", will allow users to easily expand their system's capabilities. So how does it all work out in the real world? Head past the break, and let Redmond's research team give you the skinny.
The Distro Interview: Microsoft Principal Researcher Bill Buxton
Bill Buxton has spent most of his career getting between humans and computers. While his initial focus was on music and digital instruments, that eventually led to an interest in human-computer interaction, and pioneering work with multitouch systems and other user interfaces. He worked with the famed hotbed of innovation Xerox PARC in the late 1980s and early 90s, and was later Chief Scientist for software firm Alias Wavefront before claiming the same title at SGI Inc. when that company acquired the former in 1995. After a time running his own Toronto-based design and consulting firm, he moved on to Microsoft Research in 2005, where he continues to serve as the organization's Principal Researcher. We recently had a chance to pick his brain and get his thoughts on a range of issues, including state of design at Microsoft, the future of natural user interfaces, and whether we're really entering a "post-PC" era.
Windows Phone OS mod speeds up app load times, knows you'll play Monopoly on your break (video)
Microsoft Research has revealed some of its latest work into mobile app optimization -- and it's called the contextual solution, Falcon. Fast App Launching with Context aims to improve "key OS services" including memory management, scheduling and security. It does this by using location and sci-fi-sounding "temporal access patterns" -- when you use the app -- to pre-load programs before you've even decided to use them, which dramatically reduces perceived loading delay. A learning algorithm baked into the Windows Phone OS mod also improves its behavior and predictive powers as you use it. In the project's own tests, users were apparently saving up to 35 seconds on a single app launch. There's no news on whether the developmental mod will find its way into future Windows Phone iterations, but if our phone just knew to pre-load Kinectimals each morning -- the only thing that gets us through those 7am commutes-- we'd be more than willing to give it a go.
Microsoft kicks off Kinect Accelerator program to take 11 Kinect-centric start-ups to the next level
Microsoft unwittingly created quite the hacking cottage industry when it first introduced Kinect. Though it took awhile for the company to come to grips with the amazing inventions enabled by its sensor bar, Redmond eventually released Kinect for Windows. Now, the Kinect Accelerator program is here to take Kinect development even further. Kinect Accelerator is a three-month long incubator of sorts for folks with Kinect-basted start-ups. It works by providing the chosen ones with mentors from Microsoft Research, Microsoft Studios, Kinect for Windows and the Xbox team to provide support and knowledge to refine and improve their Kinect apps. Additionally, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs will be available to give advice help the teams craft business plans to help them become profitable. We had the opportunity to chat with Craig Eisler -- who heads up the Kinect for Windows team and is heavily involved with Kinect Accelerator -- about this new venture. Eisler told us that Microsoft's been planning the program since last summer after witnessing all the Kinect innovations that have been percolating organically. So, the Accelerator gives Microsoft the opportunity to find some of the best ideas and speed up their development. Microsoft wound up receiving almost 500 applicants to the program, and winnowing it down to a final 11 was no easy task -- the final 50 ideas were apparently all quite good, and the initial plan was to only take ten into the program. The 11 who made the cut hail from across the globe (US, Canada, Argentina, France, and Germany), and will receive $20,000 and office space, plus Kinect hardware and development software to get their ideas off the ground. Unfortunately, we couldn't get Eisler to tell us exactly what each team is working on, but he did say they'll benefit the medical, retail, fashion, and even farm industries when all is said and done. Specifics about the inventions will come later, once the mentors have worked their magic and the apps are closer to their final forms, so stay tuned. You can learn more about the Kinect Accelerator and the chosen teams at the source link below and PR after the break.
Microsoft demos vocal translator at TechFest 2012, uses your own dulcet tones (video)
Microsoft has demonstrated new software that can pull together real-time multilingual vocal translations using your own voice. Monolingual TTS currently handles 26 different languages, although it's not instant just yet -- it takes about an hour of training to get the experimental software acquainted with your own utterances. Demonstrated at Microsoft's TechFest 2012 showcase, the software can even mix up foreign language pronunciation of place names with directions in your native tongue. It also complements those efforts with a 3D image of your head, animating your lips along to the foreign words you'd otherwise butcher. See how an algorithm-educated floating head handles Mandarin -- and how it's all done -- right after the break.
Microsoft cuts touchscreen lag to 1ms, makes other panels look silly (video)
Have you ever noticed that there is a serious amount of lag between when you move your finger on a touchscreen and when it actually registers that input? Perhaps you haven't, but most panels and controllers out there suffer from about a 100ms delay. For taps and slow swipes that's not an issue but, as you wing your finger around the screen faster and faster (say, while quickly doodling in a painting app), the lag becomes quite apparent. The powerful minds over at Microsoft Research have figured out a way to get that delay down to a measly 1ms. Of course, there's no guarantee this tech will ever make it into a product, and the video after the break shows little more than a glowing box following a finger. Still, it's always enjoyable to see where we are now versus where we could be.
