The paper outlines an approach that works despite background noise in the original recording and can work even if the speaker is emotional. Next to previous techniques, Microsoft’s should be able to produce results that are less flat and more accurate. To do so, the team proposes “an explicit audio representation learning framework that disentangles audio sequences into various factors such as phonetic content, emotional tone, background noise, and others”....

Microsoft is looking to change that with its SeeingVR toolkit, which is designed to help Unity devs build more inclusive apps. The tool lets users implement a total of 14 filters to aid vision, with lenses, magnifiers, depth measurements, edge enhancements, text-to-speech, and brightness/contrast adjustments. The beauty of the tool is its ability to help a wide range of users. Those with severe vision impairments will certainly be a target, but it could simply yet people ditch glasses for a while....

Alongside the new model, Microsoft announced DeepSpeed is now open source. This is a platform that is designed to make it significantly easier to train large models. Looking more closely at Turing NLG, it boasts 17 billion parameters, making it twice as large as Nvidia’s Megatron, which was the previous largest Transformer-based language generation model. Compared to OpenAI’s GPT-2, Microsoft’s creation has 10 times as many parameters. If you’re unfamiliar with language generation models based on Transformer architecture, they are built to predict language....

Just like last year, users on Windows 10 are rejecting the new-look Skype experience. As MSpoweruser reports, Windows 10 Insiders are unhappy with the new application. Many of them are making their feelings known and some a threatening to leave the service completely: “Designers shouldn’t compromise the desktop client look and feel to deal with the limitations of a phone. Desktop people want a desktop experience. Slower unintuitive interfaces with less[sic] features is not the way forward....

Game Pass was announced in February as a subscription-based service. It gives gamers unlimited access to over 100 games for $9.99 per month. The titles include Xbox One games and those available from Xbox 360 Backward Compatibility. One of the most interesting aspects of Game Pass is it offers “continuous full-fidelity gameplay”. This essentially means gamers can play without having to worry about stream strength or quality. Sony’s PlayStation Now cannot offer this....

The tablet market is in a funk, sales seem to be on a terminal decline and even industry leader Apple has seen its iPad sales plummet. However, there is one area of the slate market that is doing well and growing, the hybrid market, which includes devices that are both laptop and tablet. The Surface 3, Surface Book, and Surface Pro 4 occupy this category and according to research carried out by 1010data, Microsoft’s hybrids are doing well....

With Acronyms, Microsoft Search uses intelligent models to pick words and definitions from internal organizational websites. Microsoft points out around 2.3% of all internal searchers within a company are for acronyms. If you’re unfamiliar with Microsoft Search, it leverages the power of Microsoft Graph, the new search experience will work across all core apps, including Bing, Office, Windows 10, and Microsoft Edge, Yammer, and SharePoint. Organizations with acronyms across Microsoft services like Yammer, Teams, and SharePoint can use the new search tool to find information....

Admittedly, it’s not all that much to look at. The chunky design of the chip pretty much matches what we saw last year, aside from the copper body. That has the Series X’s code-name, Project Scarlett, emblazoned in the bottom-right corner. Meanwhile, its left features an 8K symbol, setting in stone Microsoft’s target for the next generation. In the left-center is a QR code, which is unfortunately unscannable, while the top left holds a very faint Xbox logo....

You may remember the company allowed customers to buy their Surface Pro over a two-year period. This was achieved through the so-called Klarna Financing plans. Working as an upgrade program, users would be able to trade in their existing Surface for a new model after 18 months. We have seen other companies take this approach, most notably Apple. Microsoft did not explain why it decided to end Surface Plus, although the obvious explanation would be a lack of consumer interest....

This means once Insider features leave preview, they will come to Skype Preview. The app will become the de facto Skype experience for Android. Skype Preview was launched by Microsoft in November. It was part of the company’s Universal Windows Platform (UWP) strategy, which arrived with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update in August. It is worth noting that the Android app is currently in beta. Users wanting to use it need to opt in to be a tester before downloading....

In a statement to The Verge, Microsoft says it will keep its Microsoft Store locations closed and will see how the situation develops: “Our approach for re-opening Microsoft Store locations is measured and cautious, guided by monitoring global data, listening to public health and safety experts, and tracking local government restrictions,” a spokesperson said. “We are prioritizing the health and safety of our employees and customers and have no new updates on store re-openings to share at this time....

With the new Compact mode, Microsoft Teams users will see 50 percent more messages on their desktop. Needless to say, this is a fantastic update for users who do a lot of messaging in Teams or have laptops with smaller screens. Microsoft announced the new feature on the Microsoft 365 Admin Center and says it will start rolling out to Teams desktop in the middle of February. While the feature works in chats, it will not be available for Channel messages....

Elsewhere, Microsoft Teams is also getting separate windows for calls and meetings. At the moment, it seems the update will be limited to the desktop version of Teams on Windows and Mac. With the large gallery view, users can see all meeting participants in calls or meetings over 10 people, with up to 49 available. This is available through the settings and “Larger gallery”. Together Mode is a new feature that works in a similar way to large gallery but provides a separate box for each person....

Figures from October put Slack at 12 million, and have not been updated since. With the sheer rate of growth of Teams, which was at 7 million in July, it’s fair to say it’s the dominant enterprise chat app. “What’s clear from the data is that the future of workplace collaboration won’t be defined by any one technology,” said Jared Spataro, CVP of Microsoft 365, in a blog post. “Instead, successful teams need collaboration tools that combine a wide range of technologies in new and innovative ways....

Skype Room Systems is Microsoft’s series of devices built by partner OEMs for meeting rooms and videoconferencing. In a blog post today, the company said it is not just simple changing the name of the range. Instead, Microsoft Teams Rooms devices come with some new features. For example, devices will now allow meetings to begin with a single touch, a feature Microsoft calls “One Touch Join”. Elsewhere, using Microsoft Teams, hardware will be able to detect open conference spaces....

Like other similar agreements, the arrangement will allow the two companies to use each other’s technology. This means Microsoft can use Toyota’s in-car developments in development of its own, and vice versa. In the press release, Microsoft says that intellectual property (IP) is important for a healthy tech and innovation environment. The company says it has set over 1,200 licensing agreements since it formed the IP licensing program in 2003....

The report suggests Microsoft will stop manufacturing the Kinect but will continue to support the device on Xbox. Manufacturing will cease, and Kinect will not be sold once current inventory has been exhausted. In terms of raw numbers, Kinect has been a success. Since 2010, the motion capture sensor has sold 35 million users, which is impressive. However, it is worth noting that many of these shipments came as part of the Kindle bundled with an Xbox....

Most notable are the visual changes, which include frameless graphics and new, bold color themes. Like all good design tweaks, though, it also streamlines the interaction experience. The new reminder interface lets users create notes with a couple of taps, using AI suggestions for faster completion. Increased Responsiveness Meanwhile, a new profile page gives faster access to essential settings like app preferences. It’s a definite improvement over previous iterations and collects more information under single UI elements....

One of the main changes is Conversations – Outlook’s fast, interactive email experience. Small tweaks such as showing more of each message and opening to the first unread one make things instantly faster. You can also reply to everyone with a quick tap in the quick reply box, viewing the rest of the conversation as you reply. To reduce clutter, actions like forwarding are now found under a triple dot menu....

Thanks to the latest update, you can now edit Sways that other users have shared with you. That way, users who create Sways together will have an improved collaboration experience. In addition, the new update brings improved navigation to the app. From now on, users can jump to any section while playing a Sway just by using the Navigation menu. Finally, the way to preview a Sway is improved for a better preview experience....