Microsoft Monday is a weekly column that focuses on updates about the Redmond giant. This week, Microsoft Monday includes details from the Build conference, the patching of a major Windows vulnerability, support for the original version of Windows 10 ending, Paul Allen's plan to help protect elephants, a holographic Cortana appliance, the "WannaCrypt" ransomware attack and much more!
Satya Nadella Discusses Importance Of Preventing Dystopian Scenarios
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella opened up the Build conference with a 1984-themed speech. According to Mashable, he started off by saying “with great technology comes great responsibility.”
"I do believe it's up to us to ensure that some of the more dystopian scenarios don't come true," added Nadella. "Building trust in technology is crucial. It starts with us taking accountability for the algorithms we make, the experiences we create, and ensuring there is more trust in technology with each day."
Microsoft Announces The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update
The next major update to Windows 10 is being called the “Fall Creators Update,” which will be released in September 2017. As you may have noticed, this is the same naming convention that Microsoft previously used. The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update emphasizes on bringing the Windows experience to iOS and Android devices. Four of the new features being added to the Fall Creators Update include: Timeline, Pick Up Where You Left Off, Clipboard and OneDrive Files On-Demand.
The Timeline feature shows a list of apps and workspaces that you were using in other devices within the Task View area. And the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update has a Pick Up Where You Left Off option that allows you to resume sessions on multiple devices including iOS and Android. The cloud clipboard feature works across iOS, Android and Windows where users can copy content from a PC and paste it on a phone back-and-forth. And Microsoft OneDrive Files On-Demand allows users to quickly grab files from OneDrive without needing to sync them or download folders. This helps users preserve storage space on a device.
The Fall Creators Update also has a new Fluent Design (previously known as Project Neon). And the Microsoft Fall Creators Update includes a visual “Timeline,” which shows users what they were working on at different times. And from there, users will be able to pull documents, apps and websites.
Windows Story Remix
Microsoft has introduced a new Universal Windows 10 app called Windows Story Remix. The app automatically combines photos and videos to create video collages complete with royalty-free music. Story Remix also supports 3D motion tracking. Here is a video demo of how it works:
iTunes/Apple Music And Linux Is Coming To The Windows Store
As you may remember from last week, the Windows 10 S operating system will only allow apps downloaded from the Windows Store to run. This means that the Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers cannot be used on Windows 10 S. And Bing will be the default search engine provider, which cannot be changed.
Interestingly, Apple will be adding iTunes/Apple Music to the Windows Store. And three versions of the Linux operating system will also be added to the Windows Store, including Ubuntu, Suse and Fedora. iTunes is not a surprise, but how the times have changed when it comes to seeing Linux being offered as a download on the Windows Store!
Microsoft Windows 10 Hits 500 Million Monthly Active Users
Microsoft has announced that it has hit 500 million monthly active users on Windows 10. This is up from 400 million as of September 2016.
This also means that Microsoft is halfway to reaching its goal in hitting 1 billion Windows 10-based devices by 2018. Even though the growth rate of Windows 10 seems to be slowing down since the time it was first introduced, Microsoft has been aggressively introducing new hardware like the Surface Studio, the Surface Book and the Surface Laptop with its latest operating system preinstalled.
Microsoft Cortana Hits 145 Million Users And Gets New Skills
Microsoft has announced that Cortana has hit over 145 million users and now the digital assistant has a new set of skills. Skills are essentially commands that the Cortana digital assistatn is able to follow, which can be created by third party developers the Cortana Skills Kit. Last week, Microsoft opened up the Cortana Skills Kit for public preview so that any developer can now access it.
New skills that have been added to Cortana includes Dark Sky and Domino’s Pizza. The Dark Sky skill allows you to ask Cortana weather-related queries. And the Domino’s skill on Cortana allows you to order pizza through the Cortana digital assistant (account required). Some of the other apps that utilize Cortana skills include OpenTable, Food Network, iHeartRadio and OpenTable.
These skills work on Cortana for Windows, iOS and Android. And it also works on the new Cortana-powered smart-home speaker called Invoke. Other manufacturers are planning to build smart-home speakers powered by Cortana in the near future as well.
Microsoft Bot Framework Now Being Used By Over 130,000 Developers
Microsoft's Bot Framework is now being used by over 130,000 developers, up from 45,000 developers as of September 2016. At the Build event, Microsoft also revealed a number of new features for the Bot framework such as the ability to make payments inside bots and a way to publish bots to Skype for Business, Bing and Cortana. And Microsoft introduced Adaptive Cards, which allows cards presented in bots to be used in multiple apps.
29 Cognitive Services Are Now Available
Microsoft said that it now offers 29 Cognitive Services for developers to use in its apps. All of these Cognitive Services makes it easy to tap into artificial intelligence with only a few lines of code. Four of the newest Cognitive Services are Bing Custom Search, Custom Vision Service, Custom Decision Service and Video Indexer. And developers will be able to contribute to the Cognitive Services through a new Labs program.
Microsoft Emma Watch Helps People With Parkinson’s Deal With Tremors
Microsoft Research Innovation Director Haiyan Zhang spent around six months prototyping a wearable device that would help her graphic designer friend Emma Lawton. Lawton was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2013. The device that Zhang prototyped is now known as the Emma Watch, which sends vibrations to get Lawton’s brain to focus on her right wrist. And this reduces the extra signals that cause muscle tremors.
“It’s still a surprise to me when my handwriting comes out the other side of it,” said Lawton via the Microsoft blog. “The device doesn’t stop my tremor. It gives me some control there. The writing, it’s not going to be perfect. But, my God, it’s better.”
The Emma Watch connects to a Windows 10 tablet, which controls the vibration speed. Through the app, rhythmic vibrations and random rhythms can be set up.
“I’ve been chatting with Emma, Parkinson’s researchers and experts to put together a deeper piece of research on how AI and wearables can better support people with Parkinson’s to manage their symptoms and medication intake,” added Zhang. “This would be an extension of the original Emma Watch project but could be quite an impactful piece of work. At the moment, it’s still only in the proposal stage.”
Microsoft Presentation Translator Can Now Translate Presentations In Real Time
Microsoft also showed a preview of an add-in for PowerPoint known as the Presentation Translator. The Presentation Translator automatically translates the text of a PowerPoint presentation in real-time without changing the original formatting. Currently, the service supports Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. And this add-in can be used to caption presentations for audience members that are deaf or have a hard time hearing. Currently, the Presentation Translator is in closed preview, but you can sign up for early access.
Microsoft Announces Azure Cosmos DB
At the Build developer conference, Microsoft announced the Azure Cosmos DB. Azure Cosmos DB is a globally distributed multi-model database that allows users to elastically scale throughput and storage across any number of Azure's geographic regions. Azure Cosmos DB allows you to choose between five consistency models including strong, bounded staleness, session, consistent prefix and eventual. The retailer Jet.com is already using Azure Cosmos DB.
“It offers throughput, latency, availability, and consistency guarantees with comprehensive service level agreements (SLAs), something no other database service can offer,” says Microsoft in a blog post. “Azure Cosmos DB is the next big leap in the evolution of DocumentDB and we are now making it available for you to use. As a part of this release of Azure Cosmos DB, DocumentDB customers (with their data) are automatically Azure Cosmos DB customers. The transition is seamless and they now have access to a broader range of new capabilities offered by Azure Cosmos DB.”
Microsoft Adds Azure Cloud Shell To Azure Portal
Microsoft also announced a new Azure Cloud Shell feature for the Azure Portal, which is the dashboard for managing apps that run on Azure. The Azure Cloud Shell adds a full Bash shell to the Azure portal. And support for Microsoft PowerShell will be coming soon. You will also be able to access the shell in the Azure mobile apps.
Microsoft Announces Batch AI Training
Microsoft also announced Azure Batch AI Training at the Build developer conference. What is Azure Batch AI Training? “Azure Batch AI Training is a new Azure offering, available in private preview only, that will allow developers and data scientists to configure an environment with parameters and run their models against multiple CPUs, multiple GPUs and eventually field-programmable gate arrays,” said Microsoft in a press release. According to TechCrunch, Microsoft said Azure Batch AI Training will support frameworks like Google TensorFlow and Microsoft Caffe.
Edge And IE Browser To Block Websites Signed With SHA-1 Certs
Microsoft is going to drop support for HTTPS certificates with the SHA-1 hashing algorithm. And Microsoft will warn users about a security problem on websites that have the SHA-1 hashing algorithm. Google Chrome also dropped support for the SHA-1 hashing algorithm in January followed by Firefox in February and Apple iOS/macOS in March.
Microsoft Maluuba Is Improving AI By Teaching Machines To Ask Informative Questions
One of the best ways to learn something is by asking informative questions. And now Microsoft’s Maluuba team is applying that logic to machine learning. We have become too accustomed to asking Siri, Google Assistant and Cortana questions. But these systems can be improved by asking questions and learning from the answers. Microsoft acquired Maluuba back in January 2017.
Microsoft Launches Azure IoT Edge
At the Build conference, Microsoft announced the launch of the Azure IoT Edge preview. IoT Edge makes it easier for IoT devices to run cloud services closer to the sources of data rather than having to move between data centers. IoT Edge can run on devices with Windows and Linux on devices as small as the Raspberry Pi.
“Azure IoT Edge enables IoT devices to run cloud services, process data in near real-time, and communicate with sensors and other devices connected to them, even with intermittent cloud connectivity. By enabling processing, analytics and action to happen closer to the source of the data, Azure IoT Edge empowers you to make faster and smarter decisions, while reducing bandwidth costs by sending only critical information to the cloud for further analysis. You and your organization can decide what IoT data to capture and send to the cloud by programming your edge device to process data locally. Then, send only the data you need to store and analyze in the cloud. By reducing the amount of data you transmit from device to cloud, you’ll reduce bandwidth costs and costs associated with storing and analyzing data in other business applications—but still benefit from enhanced insights,” wrote Microsoft Partner Director of Azure IoT Sam George in a blog post.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 For Mac Is Now In General Availability
Microsoft's Visual Studio 2017 for Mac, one of the most popular Integrated Development Environments (IDE), is now available in general availability. You will need to have OS X El Capitan 10.11 or higher for it to work. Visual Studio for Mac originally arrived in Preview mode in November 2016. Through Xamarin, Visual Studio for Mac supports native Android, iOS and Mac development. And Visual Studio for Mac can also be used to create tvOS and watchOS apps.
“Developers get a great IDE and a single environment to not only work on end-to-end solutions — from mobile and web apps to games — but also to integrate with and deploy to Azure,” said Microsoft Cloud and Enterprise group EVP Scott Guthrie in a statement. “Whether you use C#, F#, .NET Core, ASP.NET Core, Xamarin or Unity, you’ll get a best-in-class development environment, natively designed for the Mac.”
And Microsoft is also releasing a preview of its .NET Core 2.0 cross-platform runtime technology. The general availability version of .NET Core 2.0 will be available in Q3 2017. Plus ASP.NET Core 2.0 for server-side developers is also available in preview.
Developers Can Now Publish Apps On Microsoft Teams
At the Build conference, Microsoft said that developers can publish apps for Microsoft Teams through the Office Store. Microsoft also announced several new Teams features like tab support, Cortana integration and a mobile app.
Microsoft Teams has been integrated with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, SharePoint and Power BI. Plus it works with around 150 other third-party services like Hootsuite, Zendesk and Asana.
And there are two new features that have been added in the Developer Preview of Teams, which include compose extensions and third-party notifications in the activity feed. Compose extensions allows users to issue commands and pull in information from another app without having to switch screens. And developers will be able to alert users of updates from Teams in the activity feed.
Microsoft Releases Xamarin Live Player For iPhone And iPad
The new Microsoft Xamarin Live Player is a tool that allows PC users to test and debug iOS apps without requiring a Mac. Apps to be submitted to the Apple App Store still requires the Mac-only Xcode software. In the past, Xamarin required developers running Windows to be on the same Wi-Fi network as a Mac running on Xcode to test iOS apps. And now the Xamarin Live Player makes it easy to pair a PC and an iOS device through a quick QR code scan. Xamarin Live Player is available on the App Store now.
Microsoft Announces New Mixed Reality Headsets And Motion Controllers
At the Build conference, Microsoft announced mixed reality partner devices that would compete against the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. And new motion controllers will be bundled into kits with the new mixed reality headsets.
Acer will be shipping its Mixed Reality Developer Edition headsets this summer for $299 for only the headset and $399 for the headset and controllers. And HP will be selling mixed reality developer kit for $329 with only the headset this summer.
What will make the new motion controllers even more sophisticated is that it will track the position of the user and any real-world objects without requiring any markers. The controllers are known as 6DOF (six degrees of freedom).
Microsoft Quickly Patches A Major Windows Vulnerability
Recently, Google Project Zero researchers Natalie Silvanovich and Tavis Ormandy discovered a security vulnerability in the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine (MsMpEng) -- which could have allowed remote control of a PC by a hacker that simply sends an email to that user as reported by Forbes security and privacy reporter Thomas Fox-Brewster. Worst of all, the email did not even have to be opened for the vulnerability to be exploited. “I think @natashenka and I just discovered the worst Windows remote code exec in recent memory. This is crazy bad. Report on the way,” said Ormandy in a tweet after discovering the vulnerability.
Microsoft quickly patched the bug and users do not have to download anything to fix it. The fix is automatically pushed out. And the malware protection engine is enabled by default in Windows 8 and up.
The problem had to do with NScript, a part of the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine that runs through filesystems and network activity, that appears like it is JavaScript. However, NScript was not properly validating the information it was running. So an attacker could hide malicious code in content that is scanned by software like emails or files in a website.
“On workstations, attackers can access mpengine by sending emails to users (reading the email or opening attachments is not necessary), visiting links in a web browser, instant messaging and so on. This level of accessibility is possible because MsMpEng uses a filesystem minifilter to intercept and inspect all system filesystem activity, so writing controlled contents to anywhere on disk (e.g. caches, temporary internet files, downloads (even unconfirmed downloads), attachments, etc) is enough to access functionality in mpengine. MIME types and file extensions are not relevant to this vulnerability, as MsMpEng uses it's own content identification system,” wrote the Google researchers in a bug report. “Vulnerabilities in MsMpEng are among the most severe possible in Windows, due to the privilege, accessibility, and ubiquity of the service.”
Microsoft pointed out that there have not been any reports of the issue being exploited.
Support For Original Version Of Windows 10 Ends
Ever since Microsoft released the original version of Windows 10 back in July 2015, three major updates have been rolled out: November Update, Anniversary Update and Creators Update. And Microsoft plans to update two Current Branch for Business (CBB) versions of Windows 10 at a time. So Microsoft will stop updating the original Windows 10 release known as 1507. Microsoft was previously planning to stop supporting 1507 on March 26th, but support was extended until this month.
The original Windows 10 can still be used by businesses now, but updates will not be provided. To receive updates, users would have to upgrade to a newer version of Windows 10.
How Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Is Planning To Protecting Elephants
According to Bloomberg, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is planning to protectlephants from poaching threats. The project is known as the Domain Awareness System (DAS). Allen is funding this project through Vulcan.
The idea behind the Domain Awareness System project is to study the movement of endangered animals to get ahead of the poachers. Currently, local rangers and armed guards spend a lot of time protecting the elephant herds and horned rhinos.
“By nature, I am attracted to tough problems—problems that, by definition, require innovative and dramatic solutions,” said Allen via Bloomberg. “[The DAS project] is the ideal combination of two of my interests—technology and the preservation of [the savannah elephant,] one of Africa’s most iconic species.”
The DAS technology will use ranger radios, animal tracker tags, camera traps and satellites to track the movements of the herds. And the data is sent back to a centralized computer system on large screens in a closed circuit security room. If a poacher trespasses, then a geofence sensor would notify a ranger and flag micro-chipped elephants. This should help “save one of 352,271 estimated remaining elephants, or one of 30,000 surviving rhinoceroses.” The population of the savannah elephants declined 30% in the past seven years largely due to ivory poaching.
The DAS was first implemented by Vulcan lead program manager Ted Schmitt in October 2016. Schmitt and the team deployed DAS at the Lewa Conservancy in Kenya at that time. And then it was implemented at the Odzala National Park in the Congo soon after that. Due to the success of the program, it was then integrated at six other African conservation sites through partnerships with Save the Elephants, African Parks Network, the Wildlife Conservation Society and luxury safari company Singita.
Halo Fan Creates A Holographic Cortana Appliance
Jarem Archer, a creative Florida-based software developer, has built a holographic Cortana appliance based on the Halo character that the digital assistant is named after.
“This is a concept Cortana appliance I've built. It's basically what I imagined Microsoft's version of Alexa or Google Home would be like if they were to use the holographic AI sidekick from the Halo franchise. While still a work in progress, I just wanted to show how it's coming along,” said Archer in a blog post.
The animations were created with a Unity 3D app and the platform lights are controlled by a built-in Arduino. The platform also has real-time face tracking with the front-facing camera that moves the rendered camera perspective relative to the head position of the viewer. Very nifty!
Bing Now Highlights Bots In Search Results
The Microsoft Bing search engine now highlights thousands of bots including Facebook Messenger, Slack, Skype and Telegram, according to VentureBeat. The results appear when users search for queries like “messaging bots” and “travel bots.” Each of the bots will have an option to add it to your preferred platform. And at the Build event last week, Microsoft announced that Skype bots can be found in Bing search results
Windows XP Patched To Squash “WannaCrypt” Malware Attack
Microsoft ended support for Windows XP three years ago, but the Redmond giant decided to take the”unusual step” to deploy a patch for the “WannaCrypt” ransomware. If you are running Windows XP, Windows 8 or Windows Server 2003, then you can download it from this link.
“Seeing businesses and individuals affected by cyberattacks, such as the ones reported today, was painful. Microsoft worked throughout the day to ensure we understood the attack and were taking all possible actions to protect our customers,” said Microsoft Security Response Center Principal Security Group Manager Phillip Misner on a blog post. “Additionally, we are taking the highly unusual step of providing a security update for all customers to protect Windows platforms that are in custom support only, including Windows XP, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2003.”
About 75,000 computers in 99 countries were affected by the WannaCry ransomware. Essentially WannaCry encrypts a computer and demands a $300 ransom to unlock it. Multiple hospitals and businesses were affected by the ransomware in the UK and Spain. And the malware spread due to vulnerabilities in old versions of Windows that were used by the NSA to hack into PCs.
36,000 detections of #WannaCry (aka #WanaCypt0r aka #WCry) #ransomware so far. Russia, Ukraine, and Taiwan leading. This is huge. pic.twitter.com/EaZcaxPta4
— Jakub Kroustek (@JakubKroustek) May 12, 2017
Fortunately, a 22-year-old based out of southwest England that works for LA-based Kryptos logic known as "MalwareTech" announced that he found a kill switch in the code of the ransomware. The kill switch was in the form of a single domain name -- which would prevent infections if it was registered. As the ransomware begins infecting a new computer, it checks the web address iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea.com to see if it registered. If the domain name is not registered, then the infection would proceed forward and encrypt the hard drive of the computer and lock it up until the ransom is paid.
So “MalwareTech” registered the domain name, he noticed that the installation process abruptly stopped. The computers were will still vulnerable to attacks, but the kill switch stopped it from users asking for a ransom.
Why was a kill switch included? There is a chance that the creator included a kill switch to shut it down remotely just in case. Or there may be another reason…
“I believe they were trying to query an intentionally unregistered domain which would appear registered in certain sandbox environments, then once they see the domain responding, they know they’re in a sandbox the malware exits to prevent further analysis. This technique isn’t unprecedented and is actually used by the Necurs trojan (they will query 5 totally random domains and if they all return the same IP, it will exit); however, because WannaCrypt used a single hardcoded domain, my registartion of it caused all infections globally to believe they were inside a sandbox and exit…thus we initially unintentionally prevented the spread (and) further ransoming of computers infected with this malware. Of course now that we are aware of this, we will continue to host the domain to prevent any further infections from this sample,” added MalwareTech.
Microsoft Criticizes NSA And CIA For “Stockpiling Of Vulnerabilities”
Following the “WannaCry” ransomware attack, Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith wrote a blog post criticizing U.S. government agencies for the “stockpiling of vulnerabilities.” In the blog post, Smith said that an equivalent scenario with weapons would be the U.S. military having its missiles stolen. Here is what Smith wrote in the blog post:
"This attack provides yet another example of why the stockpiling of vulnerabilities by governments is such a problem. This is an emerging pattern in 2017. We have seen vulnerabilities stored by the CIA show up on WikiLeaks, and now this vulnerability stolen from the NSA has affected customers around the world. Repeatedly, exploits in the hands of governments have leaked into the public domain and caused widespread damage. An equivalent scenario with conventional weapons would be the U.S. military having some of its Tomahawk missiles stolen. And this most recent attack represents a completely unintended but disconcerting link between the two most serious forms of cybersecurity threats in the world today – nation-state action and organized criminal action."
Bill Gates Tweets Advice To New College Grads
Today Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and the richest man in the world, wrote fourteen tweets with advice to new college grads. In the tweets, he reflects on what he wish he had known when he was younger. Embedded below are all of the tweets, which are definitely worth reading:
1/ New college grads often ask me for career advice. At the risk of sounding like this guy…https://t.co/C68mjJ5g44
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
2/ AI, energy, and biosciences are promising fields where you can make a huge impact. It's what I would do if starting out today.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
3/ Looking back on when I left college, there are some things I wish I had known.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
4/ E.g. Intelligence takes many different forms. It is not one-dimensional. And not as important as I used to think.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
5/ I also have one big regret: When I left school, I knew little about the world’s worst inequities. Took me decades to learn.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
6/ You know more than I did when I was your age. You can start fighting inequity, whether down the street or around the world, sooner.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
7/ Meanwhile, surround yourself with people who challenge you, teach you, and push you to be your best self. As @MelindaGates does for me.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
.@melindagates 8/ Like @WarrenBuffett I measure my happiness by whether people close to me are happy and love me, & by the difference I make for others.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
.@melindagates @WarrenBuffett 9/ If I could give each of you a graduation present, it would be this--the most inspiring book I've ever read. pic.twitter.com/P67BuvpELJ
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
.@melindagates @WarrenBuffett 10/ @SAPinker shows how the world is getting better. Sounds crazy, but it’s true. This is the most peaceful time in human history.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
.@melindagates @WarrenBuffett @sapinker 11/ That matters because if you think the world is getting better, you want to spread the progress to more people and places.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
.@melindagates @WarrenBuffett @sapinker 12/ It doesn’t mean you ignore the serious problems we face. It just means you believe they can be solved.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
.@melindagates @WarrenBuffett @sapinker 13/ This is the core of my worldview. It sustains me in tough times and is the reason I love my work. I think it can do same for you.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
.@melindagates @WarrenBuffett @sapinker 14/ This is an amazing time to be alive. I hope you make the most of it.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) May 15, 2017
Microsoft Monday includes seven days worth of updates from the Redmond-based software giant. What are your thoughts about the “Microsoft Monday” news from this week? Please leave a comment!
