Jessica writes:
My friends are always surprised to hear how passionately I talk about Cloud technology, because I'm a hundred miles from being a programming whiz, but what excites me about this intelligent emerging tech is the astonishing implications it has for improving life.
For example Chris Bishop, Scientist and Lab Director at Microsoft Cambridge, announced some incredible revolutionary technology for oncologists that is able to accurately identify and define the boundaries of cancerous tumours non-invasively and in mere minutes instead of hours, the positives of which clearly speak for themselves.
As a linguist however, my absolute favourite announcement of the day was Microsoft Translator, which is due to launch at the end of this year.
This is voice recognition software that is as accurate as a human transcriber, and can accurately translate multiple spoken languages at once.
In the product demo, three presenters were chatting in different languages: French, German, and English. The messaging app on each speaker's phone displayed both the text they had written, and the real time translated version of what the other speakers were writing/saying in their own native language. i.e. Words spoken in French appeared on the relevant phones in German and English simultaneously.
Microsoft are aiming for the version of the app that will be released by the end of the year to be able to support 60 languages for text translations, and nine languages for spoken ones.
This in itself is pretty cool, but what impressed me the most about Microsoft Translator is how powerful the implications of this technology are for the wider world.
For example, let's imagine that a team in Cambridge is working on a high level scientific research project on a very specialist subject. How likely is it really that the best minds for the task are in Cambridge, or even that they speak English? It's entirely likely that there is someone in another country who could make a significant contribution to the project, but due to language and communication barriers, is unaware of the project or unable to get involved.
Using these voice recognition and live translation capabilities, teams will now be able to bring together the best minds from around the world, and effectively communicate and collaborate free from language barriers. Collaboration sans frontières if you will.
By connecting the world in this way, Microsoft are giving us the potential to solve problems faster, achieve goals sooner, and drive research and development forward through unified international teams.
On Tuesday, Toni Townes-Whitley introduced the "New Microsoft", with a compelling video emphasising their focus on empowering every person and organisation on the planet to achieve more, and I'm excited to see what else they're going to bring to the table in the next few years.
Business Cloud Integration Ltd offers Cloud, SharePoint and Office 365 consultancy in Cambridge, delivering solutions that increase company productivity, streamline and automate business processes, and simplify and enhance collaborative working.
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