5 MAR 2019 · In this episode we discuss how code.org, Microsoft and others are striving to get girls interested in technology early on, so that it translates to more women in technology jobs.

1 MAR 2019 · In today's Twitter follower bonus podcast, we step away from our typical podcast format and focus on something a little different - how to approach your day to day duties in information technology.   It is human nature to enter a comfort zone. Most people don’t wake up one morning and make the conscious decision to be mediocre, it happens over time. In IT, this condition can be even easier to fall into. When you show up to the office, and fight the same issues, and put out the same fires, day in and day out, it can become daunting. Most people who have worked at least a few years in IT can relate to this, and it can be a vicious cycle. How does one fight to stay out or climb out of their comfort zone? Well, if you find yourself in that sort of situation, I believe that it is extremely important to have good friends and family that “call you on your bullshit.” I apologize for the profanity, but I don’t think the message hits as hard without it. Simply put, you need people in your life, that will always challenge you, which especially includes people comfortable enough to call you out. Surrounding yourself with those that challenge you, will keep you on your toes, and pushing you forward even when work is trying to keep you down. Think of these people, as your personal trainers for your career, screaming for you to do one more set on the bench press. When you have people comfortable enough with you to hold you accountable, it makes all the difference. Make goals and hold yourself accountable so that you have to."Those who build and perpetuate mediocrity... are motivated more by the fear of being left behind." - Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don'tWhy worry about the comfort zone? This may be an unpopular opinion, but if you work in Information Technology, you have a moral obligation to provide the best support that you can to your customers, while also doing everything in your power to protect their data and interests. Now, some may call that a reach, but I disagree on several counts. Just imagine how many people’s lives have been adversely affected due to failures in IT systems. How many businesses, and financial institutions have been wrecked due to outages, downtimes and hacks? How many billions of dollars are lost each year to preventable catastrophes? The hard truth is that lost revenue and downtime generally leads to loss of jobs, or at the very least lost business which can affect everything from stock prices, to employee bonuses. It may not happen immediately, but major issues within IT can and usually lead to long term damage that might not be felt immediately. Those jobs and pay are the life-force for an employee, who likely also has family dependent on them. For these reasons alone, you should always — DO THE RIGHT THING. Take ownership of the fact that even if your environment sucks, that your work matters, not just to the bottom line, but to people, and their lives. In IT, when you are in a comfort zone, you are not operating at your maximum potential, nor is your environment. Technology never sleeps, and it evolves daily, which means that you must strive further to keep pace. If you don’t, you are not only letting yourself down, but you are letting down the very people and customers that rely on the systems and services that you provide.Refuse to be Mediocre Many times, especially in junior roles, you may feel powerless in such situations. However, you are not. You can always rise above and set the tone, you can be the spark that ignites a firestorm of rejuvenation and improvements throughout your work environment. If you put in the extra effort, and lead the charge, your hard work may pay off with others following your lead. Be the first to dance! - Sasquatch music festival 2009 - Guy starts dance party Derek Silvers delivered a Ted Talk on “How to Start a Movement” and the key points are fantastic advice for those looking to change or revitalize their atrophied corporate IT departments. He says that a leader “needs guts to stand alone and look ridiculous,” and that surprisingly the turning point is just the second follower. The second follower, confirms to the rest of the pack that the movement started by the leader, and confirmed by the first follower, was truly worthwhile. The first follower, also shows leadership skills by taking the initiative to join the “first nut.” - How to start a movement, Derek SiversRemember the importance of nurturing your first few followers as equals… have the courage to follow, and show others how to follow.Fighting Mediocrity May Make You Unpopular Mediocrity also isn’t always your fault. Many times, you may receive push back when you try to raise above being mediocre. You may be told that you’re overstepping your bounds, or that you’re offending others with your initiative. One thing is certain, trying to rise above mediocrity, will likely make you unpopular — if not with management, then with some peers who are all too comfortable with the status quo. The only real advise I can provide here is, if your leadership doesn’t appreciate the work you do and the change your trying to drive — move on. Life is too short to work for a company that doesn’t support you or your vision, and you will no doubt come across resistance at some point in your career, and sometimes the best thing for all the parties involved would be for you to find another place to work. If you try to succeed, and are held back, you have to take control of your career. I sleep soundly at night when I am doing my best to insure my customers are provided with the absolute best service and support they can receive. I truly have a moral dilemma that affects my personal life when I know that there are critical issues that should be rectified yet remain due to internal politics. Atrophy accelerates as time goes on, so if things aren’t working out today and you can’t gain any momentum no matter how hard you try, they’ll likely be worse further down the line. It is up to you to decide if fighting against mediocrity or if moving on is the best for you long term.Trust the Process What you do with your career, is your choice — and while I can’t tell you what to do, I can tell you what has been great for me. For me, refusing to be mediocre while also being steadfast to my moral obligations and duties, have made me extremely happy with my career choices for nearly two decades. You spend at least one-third of your life at your job, so why not do your best to and make sure that you’re leading from the front? Gone are the days of working 20+ years for the same company, the future of business is evolving faster than ever thanks to technology and automation — so keep evolving along with it, and refuse to be mediocre, all while leading by example and taking charge of where you, and your team goes from here. Even if you aren’t a manager or team lead, you can lead by example, and all you need is that first follower to start your movement. So get to dancing!Follow or Subscribe to Microsoft Today Patreon Website Apple/iTunes Blubrry Breaker Facebook Google Play Google Podcasts Medium Omny Studio Pocket Cast PodBean RadioPublic RSS Spotify Stitcher TuneIn YouTube Support the show.

27 FEB 2019 · Welcome to this bonus episode of the Microsoft Today Podcast. Today we're stepping away from focusing on Microsoft or technology, and discussing something more along the lines of life, education, and personal development.

25 FEB 2019 · In today's episode of the Microsoft Today podcast, we discuss Microsoft's live event at MWC19, including the new HoloLens 2 Mixed Reality device, and the Azure Kinect IoT Edge device.

21 FEB 2019 · The AI for Good initiatives by Microsoft were created to foster development and support for AI solutions that seek to benefit all of mankind. The initiatives are AI for Accessibility, AI for Earth, and AI for Humanitarian Action. In today's episode of the Microsoft Today Podcast, we're going discuss all of these fantastic initiatives and how you can get involved for the great good.  AI for Accessibility Microsoft's goal for AI for Accessibility is to amplify human capability, as they believe that AI can empower people with disabilities with tools that support independence and productivity, as technology rapidly changes the way we live, learn, and work. Microsoft does through grants, investments of technology, and expertise.  AI for Accessibility Projects Soundscape - Using sound, to give sight to the blind Eye Control - Windows 10 APIs for controlling PCs via eye movements Swiftkey Symbols - Allows simplified communication for non-verbal users Immersive Reader - Reads text out loud, break it into syllables, and increase spacing between lines and letters Microsoft Translator - Empowers the deaf and or hearing impaired Helpicto - Helps autistic individuals communicate via pictograms Seeing AI - Is a talking camera app that allows the visually impaired to access the visual world   Microsoft Build: AI for Accessibility  AI for Accessibility & Grantees Zyrobotics ReadAble Storiez is a reading fluency solution based on STEM and aimed at improving early education literacy skills for young children with varying abilities Received a $25 million grant from Microsoft iTherapy is improving communication skills for people with autism, among other cognitive learning disabilities by enhancing their app, InnerVoice, with new capabilities to help people develop their language expression skills and assign meaning to dialogue via naturalized social interactions Researchers at the University of Iowa are developing an intelligent application for people who are blind or with low vision to independently walk or jog around a 400-meter track, which can determine if someone is veering from their lane, and delivers real-time feedback to help them stay on track The Frist Center for Autism and Innovation at Vanderbilt University is developing conversational tools that provide people with autism job interview training through meaningful interactions  AI for Accessibility Grants Microsoft is looking for individuals or teams who are not only passionate about making the world more inclusive, but also firmly rooted in the communities they intend to benefit Microsoft wants to invest in ideas that are developed by or with people with disabilities AI for Accessibility is a call to action for developers, NGO’s, academics, researchers, and inventors to accelerate their work for people with disabilities This is a global program, grant applications from all countries in the world are eligible For academic institutions, the grants can be distributed as unrestricted gifts to academic institutions to support a project’s objective  AI for Earth AI for Earth is a five-year, $50 million Microsoft initiative that supports, and partners with, environmental groups and researchers while also providing grants. The goal: helping to save the planet with data science. Many of the initiatives are also heavily dependent on the ever-expanding world of Windows IoT (Internet of Things). Microsoft's AI for Earth has four areas of focus: Climate - The changing climate threatens human health, infrastructure, and natural systems. AI can give people more accurate climate predictions to help reduce the potential impacts Agriculture - By 2050, farmers must produce more food, on less arable land, and with less environmental impact to feed the world’s increasing population. AI can help people monitor the health of farms in real time Biodiversity - Species are going extinct at an alarming rate. AI can help people accelerate the discovery, monitoring, and protection of biodiversity across our planet Water - In the next two decades, demand for fresh water is predicted to dramatically outpace supply. AI can help people model Earth’s water supply to help us conserve and protect fresh water  AI for Earth Projects and APIs FarmBeats - Through sensors, drones, data analytics, AI and connectivity solutions, Microsoft is enabling precision agriculture to improve yield while reducing resource consumption Land Cover Mapping - Land cover maps help us visualize everything that covers the Earth. The Microsoft AI platform and ArcGIS spatial mapping software enable precision conservation Geo AI Data Science VM - Delivers geospatial analytics capabilities that improve the gathering, managing, and analyzing of geographic data in today’s IoT-driven world Project Premonition - Robotic insect traps, paired with cloud-scale genomics and machine learning algorithms, enable biodiversity insights. It aims to detect pathogens before they cause outbreaks   Enabling precision agriculture with AI - Microsoft's FarmBeats Program In this video you hear from the following: Sean Stratman - Farmer Ranveer Chandra - Principal Research at Microsoft  AI for Humanitarian Action Was announced by Microsoft in September of 2018, where Microsoft feels that their AI can provide a major impact in four typical areas - Disaster Response - AI can help agencies improve their response when catastrophic events occur Needs of Children - Every 3 minutes a child is born with a cleft lip or palate Refugees and Displaced People - Millions of displayed refugee youth need help building job skills Human Rights - Empowering organizations to help reduce human rights abuses  While technology is important, it's what we do with it that truly matters. - Muhammad Yunus (Nobel winner for his work with Microcredit and Microfinance)   Microsoft Ignite: AI For Humanitarian Action  In this video you hear from the following: Marlene Urscheler - UN Human Rights Officer Zeid Ra'al Al Hussein - Former UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Bai Yanbing - Postdoctoral Researcher Tohoku University (Japan) Dr. Ruben Ayala - Chief Medical Officer of Operation Smile Michael Tjalve - Principal AI Architect at Microsoft  Leading by ExampleWe will support specific nonprofit and humanitarian organizations through financial grants, partnerships, and technology investments in addition to technical expertise. We will work together with organizations to create efficient solutions and help accelerate the pace of innovation.  Example of AI for Humanitarian Action Microsoft's PhotoDNA is a free tool developed by Microsoft since 2009 with Dartmouth College that is used by more than 200 organizations around the world and has assisted in the detection, disruption, and reporting of millions of child exploitation images and videos PhotoDNA is Free to use for law enforcement and tool providers, including the PhotoDNA Cloud Service powered by Microsoft Azure To date, PhotoDNA has also enabled content providers to remove millions of illegal photographs from the internet; helped convict child sexual predators; and, in some cases, helped law enforcement rescue potential victims before they were physically harmed  AI for Good Resources AI for Accessibility AI for Accessibility Grants AI for Earth AI for Earth Grants AI for Earth APIs AI for Humanitarian Action Using AI to Help Save Lives  #TemplatesForHumanity #TempaltesForHumanity is a grassroots initiative kickstarted by Keith Whatling, a Digital Inclusion Advocate and @PowerApps evangelist based in the UK. Keith was inspired after seeing the AI for Humanity video from Microsoft Ignite and spurred into action after seeing humanitarian app efforts at a recent Hack4Good event in London.   I came across Keith's #TemplatesForHumanity tweet, and noticed the great feedback, conversation and Microsoft Power Platform templates it helped ignite and thought it would be a great thing to share. Brian Dang from the PowerApps team lead by example, and quickly published the first of what I assume will be many #TemplatesForHumanity submissions to the PowerApps Community Gallery - Volunteer Pledge App.   Another #TemplateForHumanity for a Disease Monitoring App was submitted earlier today by Mariano Gomez Bent who said, "Hopefully, it can be of help to #NGOs and #NFPs helping out in emergency zones around the world." If you're interested in knowing more, you can follow the #TemplatesForHumanity tag at the PowerApps Community to keep track of future submissions.   Don't just sit there, share your #TemplatesForHumanity today!  #TemplatesForHumanity Resources Templates for Humanity by Keith Whatling #TemplatesForHumanity Twitter Search PowerApps Community Apps Gallery Support the show.

7 FEB 2019 · Welcome to another episode of the Microsoft Today Podcast. Today's episode is covering a flurry of Microsoft news and announcements, including: Microsoft's Quarterly Earnings, Skype, AI, A Microsoft Education Acquisition, Keeping Kids Safe, A Programming Contest, Azure, A Plethora of Xbox News And More

3 JAN 2019 · The application of machines to tasks once performed by human beings or, increasingly, to tasks that would otherwise be impossible. Although the term mechanization is often used to refer to the simple replacement of human labour by machines, automation generally implies the integration of machines into a self-governing system. Automation has revolutionized those areas in which it has been introduced, and there is scarcely an aspect of modern life that has been unaffected by it. — Britannica The term “automation” was first used by Ford employee D.S. Harder in 1946 Automation isn’t changing the world, it has been changing the world Machine learning is simply accelerating the progress at a compounding rate In short, the machines are teaching themselves to automate faster The more computing power we throw at it, the faster it works Also according to Britannica:Machine learning discipline concerned with the implementation of computer software that can learn autonomously.Expert systems and data mining programs are the most common applications for improving algorithms through the use of machine learning. Among the most common approaches are the use of artificial neural networks (weighted decision paths) and genetic algorithms (symbols “bred” and culled by algorithms to produce successively fitter programs).History Automation is not a new concept Cotton gin Steam engine Industrial revolution Computers Quantum computing and nanotechnology Bill Gates is often attributed with a quote:I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it. As a Bill Gates fan, I’ve never been able to substantiate the attribution, but it seems to be similar to a quote from a 1920 article in “Popular Science Monthly” Bill probably didn’t say that, but it doesn’t make it a bad quote. Humans have always looked for easier ways to do hard jobs. Which brings us to, CGP Grey’s 2014 YouTube film, Human’s Need Not Apply.Humans Need Not Apply In the film by CGP Grey he brilliantly and succinctly outlines how humans have allows innovated an easier (or lazier) way of doing things — and modern automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence is no different. We’re trying to unlock “easy mode” for complex problems. At its core, there is absolutely nothing inherently wrong about mankind’s evolution into machine reliance, but at the foundation of it all is there is the serious threat to our society as we know it — and that is economics. As machines can do more jobs, that will mean fewer jobs for people.(0:46–1:03) Some people have been specialized to be programmers … whose job it is to build mechanical minds Like their “dumb” mechanical forefathers, “Mechanical Minds” are making “Mechanical Brains” in less demand.(1:50–2:16) General purpose is a big deal. Think computers … when cheap-ish personal computers appeared they quickly became vital to everything General purpose is a big deal, as machines can do more than one job investments in them will grow exponentially(3:13–31) We think of technological change as the fancy new expensive stuff, but the real change comes from last decade stuff becoming cheaper and faster… Again, as product improvements iterate faster over time, costs drop exponentially lowering the barrier for entry more and more. He then goes on to discuss horses, and the fact that their population peaked in 1915, just and quickly went into a free fall due to the proliferation of the automobile. There is a correlation between horses and humans in this regard, because like horses who were “workers” for centuries before the automobile, they became obsolete not that long afterward… and the important part is, they didn’t find “new jobs” when it happened. “Mechanical Minds” will eventually send humans the way of the horse, if we do not prepare.(4:26–4:59) As mechanical horses pushed horses out of the economy, mechanical minds will do the same to humans… so now does the car show us the shape of things to come.” I’m sure you can likely predict where this is going…(5:01–5:08) … The question is not if they will replace cars, but how quickly. They don’t need to be perfect, they just need to be better than us… The tipping point for the transportation world being thrown on its head will come down to insurance… the moment insurance costs for automated vehicles is cheaper than human driven vehicles, is the moment that every single company in the transportation industry will being making the change to autonomous vehicles.(5:53–7:03) The transportation industry in the United States employs about 3 million people, which worldwide is 70 million jobs at a minimum… economics always wins… That is an enormous economic hit(7:04–9:08) Software bots are coming for white color jobs Machine learning can teach software bots faster than human programmers ever could. Algorithmic trading is a big area at the forefront of this technological revolution.Investment banking But it doesn’t stop there. Professional and specialized positions are being challenged by bots as well, doing everything from providing legal and medical advice, to creating artistic works of art, music and even completely unique and lifelike people… that’s right, Nvidia’s GANs or Generative Adversarial Networks AI can develop completely life-like 3D renders of people who don’t exist. Their GANs are based on a machine learning research paper released by Ian J. Goodfellow in just 2014… and now they have already revolutionized machine learning and AI!Where Does Microsoft Fit Into all of This? Microsoft is quite literally developing and supporting AI everywhere it can: Microsoft Research Project Brainwave Microsoft AI - Deep Neural Network, Bing Decision Engine Azure Datacenters (Intel FPGA) Azure Machine Learning Azure Logic Apps Workflow Definition Language Microsoft Flow PowerApps SharePoint Microsoft Bot Framework Zo AI — Zo Social Bot, Skype (and Xbox), Instagram, Group Me, Facebook Office 365 Microsoft Teams Data Connectors and APIs Windows 10 IoT Cortana Cortana is not in trouble, she has always been powered by the Bing Decision Engine Cortana has just been the "face" of the AI Which is now part of the Deep Neural Network of Microsoft AI Microsoft partnering with Amazon for Alexa was a brilliant move, as they now have the data from all of the devices where Alexa is used… That's because… Microsoft partnering with Amazon for Alexa was a brilliant move, as they now have the data from all of the devices where Alexa is used... that’s because… Machine learning is all about data, and no company in the world has as much real-world data and user metrics than Microsoft. Just think of the 100+ million users of Office 365 and OneDrive, and the tens of millions of daily users of Skype and Xbox Live, and the more than 1 billion Windows users worldwide. Throw on top of that the countless computations that take place at their Azure data centers which house the systems for all of those services. This is also why we’ve seen a massive shit by Microsoft to not only fully embrace open source, but to be a thought leader and visionary with it. Microsoft now has its own BSD Unix operating system, supports Ubuntu as a subsystem on Windows 10, and recently open-sourced the Xamarin software development kit… when you think of all of that, the GitHub acquisition is a no-brainer. Now that we’ve discussed the future, and the groundwork Microsoft has laid to build it, in the next episode we will discuss what we can do to prepare ourselves for our machine overlords. Thanks so much for tuning in, and for the tremendous support we’ve received so far. I can’t wait to see where this journey takes us over the coming months, and I am truly excited to have many of you on to share as well. Until next time…Follow or Subscribe to Microsoft Today Patreon  Website Apple/iTunes Blubrry Breaker Facebook Google Podcasts Pocket Cast PodBean RadioPublic Spotify Stitcher YouTube Support the show.

2 JAN 2019 · Happy New Year and welcome everyone. My name is Brad Groux and this is Microsoft Today, a podcast and web community dedicated to Microsoft, technology and the impending automated world. This is our first ever episode which is being recorded on January 1st, 2019 — and in this episode we’ll cover my vision for he podcast, who I am and my background — and where we’re going from here. So stayed tuned as we discuss all of that and more, next!   What is MSFT Today? In short, MSFT Today is a podcast and web community dedicated to Microsoft, technology and our impending automated world. Why Microsoft? Microsoft is an often misunderstood global corporation with massive influence and a product strategy like no other technology company in the world. For this reason, the media, bloggers and consumers tend to misunderstand or misrepresent what Microsoft, their products, services and people. When is the Podcast? New episodes are released every Tuesday and Thursday, where you can join Brad Groux, a Microsoft enterprise expert, as he guides you through the countless products, services, initiatives and brilliant minds at One Microsoft Way. There are also Patreon exclusive podcasts! Who is the Podcast For? If you’re interested in technology, automation, business, education and/or setting yourself up for future success, then the MSFT Today community and podcast is for you. This is not your typical technology podcast, we not only discuss Microsoft and their products and services, but we discuss how they can improve your life while they are changing the world - and enabling you to change the world right along with them. What Makes You a Microsoft Expert? I’ve spent nearly 20 years in global enterprise IT environments, and I worked at Microsoft for nearly four year as a Premier Field Engineer. In that role, I supported and was invited into over 100 of Microsoft’s enterprise customers infrastructures, which gives me a unique inside perspective into enterprise IT.   There are only a handful of people with the varied and vast work experience that I have, and you may view my LinkedIn profile for more information. I’m not saying I know more than anyone, just that I’ve seen and experienced far more than most. This is the reason I've been on countless podcasts and news panels as a Microsoft Expert, including BBC World News. Why a Community? I’ve been running online communities for nearly 20 years, including the first ever Xbox Achievements website which I sold in 2008. I then went on to blog for more than four years at a now defunct Microsoft Blog that I had to scuttle when I joined Microsoft. I love being part of an online community, and sharing with and learning from like-minded individuals.   I believe that you for you to truly know Microsoft, you must know enterprises and the only possible way to know enterprises, is to learn and discuss from others… because every environment is different and dynamic, and Microsoft somehow successfully navigate that seemingly impossible landscape.Follow or Subscribe to Microsoft Today Patreon  Website Apple/iTunes Blubrry Breaker Facebook Google Podcasts Pocket Cast PodBean RadioPublic Spotify Stitcher YouTube Support the show.