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Articles by Suzanne Choney
Taste of success: FoodCloud uses technology to get surplus food to nonprofits more efficiently
At 89, Margaret Cappock still bicycles around her Dublin neighborhood. Her apartment is filled with the furniture her husband built, part of the family business she managed for 50 years. She may be retired, but she is not complacent. Like many, she’s concerned about the impacts of climate change on her three children and six grandchildren. “I’m very much aware,” she says.
How one of the world’s largest wind companies is using AI to capture more energy
In 1898, Hans Søren Hansen arrived in Lem, Denmark, a small farming town about 160 miles from Copenhagen. The 22-year-old was eager to make his way in business and bought a blacksmith shop. In time, he became known to those in the area for his innovative spirit. Hansen’s business went on to change with the times, morphing into building steel window frames.
Hoop dreams: Microsoft’s Kim Robins never stopped believing he would play basketball in the Paralympics
Kim Robins made the vow when he was 12. He and his parents had traveled more than 2,400 miles from their home in Perth, Australia east to Sydney to see the summer Paralympic games, held shortly after the Olympic games, as is tradition. The Paralympic games, for athletes who are disabled, are held after the winter and summer Olympics and in the same city. The trip across country in 2000 was a present from his parents before Kim faced yet another in a series of major surgeries.
An ADA anniversary - and the work that remains to be done
Angela Winfield was 6 years old when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law in on July 26, 1990. She was still too young to understand what the law meant, but not too young to be among the one in four Americans who live with a disability. At age 4, she was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, glaucoma, cataracts and uveitis, an inflammatory disease that destroys eye tissue.
Wheels up: Accessible cockpit for Flight Simulator takes wing
Yaniv Wanda is studying law and he’s certified to teach guided meditation at the program he participates in, House of Wheels, in Herzliya, Israel. He calls House of Wheels his “second home”– he’s a regular, there almost every day. The life skills center is a welcoming place for those who rely on their own wheels, as in wheelchairs – whether because of cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy or other physical disabilities.
Humana is working to end food insecurity – 14 meals at a time | Transform
Gwen gazed down at her last remaining dinner, a mug of chicken broth. Days had passed since she’d tasted a real bite of food. Her pantry was empty. Even worse, Gwen was stranded alone. She had no family near her Tennessee home. She couldn’t drive due to her failing eyesight. And she feared that catching a ride to the market with a friend would expose her to COVID-19. So she sipped broth. Then the phone rang. To Gwen, the call seemed out of the blue. It wasn’t, but the timing was perfect.
Before the next pandemic: Lessons learned, and those still to be absorbed
Medical student James E.K. Hildreth was on his first clinical rotation when he saw the patient, a Black woman in her early 20s who had just given birth. It was the early 1980s and AIDS was spreading, with no treatment for the virus. Both the mother and her baby did not make it. “There was nothing we could do except treat their symptoms and watch them die,” Dr. Hildreth says quietly.
U.S. Army to use HoloLens technology in high-tech headsets for soldiers
In 2019, as part of a new effort to develop advanced technologies to enhance situational awareness and capabilities for soldiers, the U.S. Army invited Microsoft engineers and other employees to a military base in North Carolina for a series of weeklong mini boot camps. The Microsoft team learned about navigating on the ground, maneuvering in the dark and communicating in the field.
Q&A: Peter Lee on the COVID-19 pandemic, societal resilience and crisis-response science
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended every aspect of society and, at the same time, the urgent need for a response has spurred collaboration, innovation and creativity. Microsoft has created a Resilience series to highlight some of the research projects, technologies and ideas that emerged from the pandemic and the people who made them possible. To understand how this pandemic has affected the research community, we talked with Peter Lee, head of Microsoft Research and Incubations.
Vision quest: How Now Optics is delivering virtual eye care to millions of patients
At first, she had doubts. But when it comes to her health, Jensie Caguimbal is always cautious. She has good reason. Last October, Caguimbal, 51, was diagnosed with a brain disease that’s deteriorating her vision, causing her to seek increasingly stronger eyeglasses every six months. In November, she visited a Northern California optical shop. There, she hoped to find a better way to fill her ever-changing prescription. “I wasn’t sure,” she recalls. Jensie Caguimbal.
Azure Arc helps companies get a handle on hybrid IT management
As a growing number of companies embrace cloud technology and turn to smart IoT devices, their computing needs have grown far more complicated. In the past, businesses ran workloads and apps exclusively in their own on-premises data centers. Now, they run hundreds to thousands of apps on diverse hardware and multiple clouds. Many businesses must also maintain some operations on premises for regulatory or other reasons.
Hospital to home: Automated oxygen solution looks to help patients breathe easier
It takes Lisbet Thobo-Carlsen several hours to get dressed and ready to leave her house. But then, she doesn’t leave her house that often. Diagnosed with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) four years ago, she relies on a near-constant supply of supplemental oxygen to help her breathe. “With this illness, I have isolated myself quite a bit because everything goes in slow motion for me,” says Thobo-Carlsen, 62.
Essential IT: How Duval County Public Schools shifted to remote learning – in just three days | Transform
This is the third in a series profiling IT executives who helped guide their organizations through the COVID-19 pandemic and toward recovery. In Florida, spring break was nearly over, and Jim Culbert hadn’t slept much for days. Unfortunately for Culbert, chief information officer at Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, that exhausting stretch was anything but a beach party.
Essential IT: How Providence uses data to care for COVID-19 patients
This is the second in a series profiling IT executives who helped guide their organizations through the COVID-19 pandemic and toward recovery. B.J. Moore knew he had to stick to his gut. He had just made a crucial choice as the new chief information officer at Providence, one of the nation’s largest health systems, spanning 51 hospitals and 1,085 clinics in seven Western states. But his choice was getting some pushback.
Essential IT: How Unilever embraced risk to cultivate a remote workforce – and cleaner hands | Transform
This is the first in a series profiling IT executives who helped guide their organizations through the COVID-19 pandemic and toward recovery. Bobby Ford holds a very serious job, in a very serious time. He protects the data at Unilever, a company that employs 155,000 people and produces hundreds of iconic brands, including Vaseline, Dove and Ben & Jerry’s.
Progressive gives voice to Flo’s chatbot, and it’s as no-nonsense and reassuring as she is
The usually sunny Flo is perturbed with Mara (yet again) during a work-from-home Progressive Insurance staff meeting over video. While seated at the computer, Mara is busy talking to someone at home. “Mara, you know you’re not on mute, right?” says Flo. “Oh, there’s a mute button?” the laconic Mara replies with genuine surprise. During these months of work-from-home meetings, we all can relate. And Flo, of course, makes everything more relatable.
Obama gets to keep his BlackBerry
Barack Obama gets to keep his beloved BlackBerry with him in the White House for personal use, a victory for the man considered the country's first high-tech president. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said today that "a pretty small group of people" — some senior staffers and personal friends — will be permitted to have the e-mail address that reaches Obama's smartphone.
New data analytics tools aim to help deliver speedier packages, better patient care and more
When Microsoft unveiled Azure Synapse Analytics a year ago, the company promised to put data and the power of analytics at people’s fingertips – anywhere in an organization – while freeing up skilled tech workers to focus on higher-value tasks than managing data infrastructure.
‘All hands on deck’: How Duke University and AI for Health raced to create a COVID-19 solution for patients
The 7-month-old was crying. Amanda Randles picked her up, held her and continued talking on the video meeting call from home. Nearby, her other 7-month-old baby started to wail. Randles put one baby down, picked up the second and cradled him as he quieted down. The rotation of the crying twins continued during the meeting.
How a cloud-based solution is transforming care for people with cystic fibrosis
Sitting beside their son during one of his weeks-long hospital stays over the Christmas holidays a few years ago, David and Kirsty Hill had plenty of time to worry and think.
Research collaboration COVID-19 cloud testing platform has potential to help beyond pandemic
The Stanford Clinical Virology Laboratory will provide testing for a pilot use of Vera with the CATCH study. Credit: Steve Fisch A population-level disease monitoring system that employs at-home self-swab kits is being expanded today, at no cost to participants, as part of an infection prevalence study in the San Francisco Bay Area. The system could have broader impact on testing not only for COVID-19, but for other diseases as well.
Predicting epidemics like the weather: How Microsoft Premonition can help in the global fight against disease
An area of the Microsoft Premonition Proving Ground in Redmond, Washington Credit: Microsoft "What's the weather like outside?" It's a simple question that we don't think twice about. Our smart assistants, phones or a simple internet search can answer it. But it actually takes a global sensor network of weather stations, advanced data analytics and modern supercomputers to make these predictions.
Predicting epidemics like the weather: How Microsoft Premonition can help in the global fight against disease outbreaks
“What’s the weather like outside?” It’s a simple question, that we don’t think twice about. Our smart assistants, phones or a simple internet search can answer it. But it actually takes a global sensor network of weather stations, advanced data analytics and modern supercomputers to make these predictions. Microsoft Premonition envisions doing the same for predicting the distribution and evolution of microbes, viruses and disease-carrying animals in the Earth’s biome, or the life around us.
How T-Mobile used Power Apps to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic — and define a new path forward | Transform
As the novel coronavirus swept the United States this past spring, a frantic new reality took hold — one where phrases like “shelter in place” and “6 feet away” became commonplace. Many companies – even those deemed “essential” — were suddenly scrambling for a game plan to respond to the pandemic. But T-Mobile — the third largest wireless carrier in the U.S. — was among the rare crop of companies galvanized by not only a quickly developed plan, but the infrastructure with which to execute it.
How Microsoft customers and partners in Europe are bringing health care home
In recent weeks, the world has been on a steep learning curve when it comes to remote health care. What can we learn from those who have been managing patients remotely for some time? For the one-third of Europeans living with a chronic illness, frequent trips to the doctor are simply a part of daily life.
Building responsible and trustworthy conversational AI
From financial robo-advisors to virtual health assistants, enterprises across every industry are leveraging virtual assistants to create outstanding customer experiences and help employees maximize their time. As artificial intelligence technology continues to advance, virtual assistants will handle more and more mundane and repetitive tasks, freeing people to devote more time and energy to more productive and creative endeavors.
Superheroes, puppies, hippos – and AI – are helping children with disabilities bridge language gaps - AI for Business
How did you learn to talk? Probably something like this: Your infant brain, a hotbed of neurological activity, picked up on your parents’ speech tones and facial expressions. You started to mimic their sounds, interpret their emotions and identify relatives from strangers. And one day, about a year into life, you pointed and started saying a few meaningful words with slobbery glee. But many children, particularly those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, acquire language in different ways.
Hot 44 years ago
From the archives 0 By Eleanor Widmer, Gale Fox, Suzanne Choney, Anne Hutchison, Kitty Morse, Jan.
How long do wireless carriers keep your data?
Have you wondered how long your wireless carrier keeps text messages, call logs and your phone's Web surfing records? There are some answers to that, from a Justice Department document prepared for law enforcement with those details. The information was obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina via a Freedom of Information Act request, and shared with Wired.com. "The document, entitled, 'Retention Periods of Major Cellular Providers,' was produced in 2010 ...
Digital innovation on wheels: How Renault Sport Formula One Team races for success
With sleek cars reaching 220 miles per hour, Formula One racing is a pinnacle of aerodynamics and engineering finesse. In recent years, the global event has also become a sport of computing prowess, an essential shift to process the vast amounts of data generated in building, testing and racing high-speed machines. Among this season’s 10 teams, Renault Sport Formula One Team stood out as a rising star with big goals.
Skip the hold music and meet Premera Scout, a chatbot that helps you with health care
When dealing with health care, sometimes you don’t want to wade through a web site or app, and you really don’t want to make a call and hear, “Please continue to hold.” You just want to type a question and get an answer. To the rescue: Premera Scout, a new chatbot created by Premera Blue Cross, the largest health plan in the Pacific Northwest.
London College of Fashion: Nurturing designers with bespoke tailoring and artificial intelligence
Imagine shopping in a mixed-reality boutique full of luxurious clothes but no physical store. Or updating your clothes with a digital style assistant that knows your wardrobe and tells you what to buy. Or wearing a trackable shirt that helps designers follow the garment’s life cycle to create more sustainable products. These ideas address real-world problems in fashion, from brick-and-mortar retail woes to sustainability in clothing production.
How PhotoDNA for Video is being used to fight online child exploitation
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. In the meantime, though, the volume of child sexual exploitation material being shared in videos instead of still images has ballooned.
Insight’s Matt Jackson on the exciting potential of an AI-filled future
Matt Jackson has always been passionate about building things: forts as a kid, video games in high school, then software in his early career. Now, as vice president of digital innovation at Insight, he helps others build up their companies. Every day, he and his team construct innovative technology solutions so Insight’s clients and their employees can be more productive, whether that’s a chatbot to update customers on their stock portfolios or an algorithm to help a hospital with staffing.
Land O’Lakes: How innovation can feed the world
You probably know Land O Lakes as a famous brand of butter. What you may not know is that Land O’Lakes is a $13 billion company that includes our Land O Lakes dairy foods business, our Purina animal feed business and our WinField business, which focuses on crop inputs (such as seeds and nutrition) for precision agriculture. Our cooperative includes more than 4,000 member-owners, including direct agriculture and dairy producers and independently owned and operated ag retailers.
8-character passwords just got a lot easier to crack
A password expert has shown that passwords can be cracked by brute force four times faster than was previously thought possible. It's no magician's trick. Jeremi Gosney of the Stricture Consulting Group shared the findings at the recent Passwords^12 conference in Norway, where researchers do nothing but focus on passwords and PIN numbers.
PGA TOUR launches a new solution that gives golf fans more personalized content experiences
This intelligent solution powered by the Microsoft cloud carries the burden of finding patterns, giving production staff a filtered list of options so they can do what they do best: tell stories that engage more fans. “Say a player has shot from a bunker to win a tournament, and it looks like they’re about to do it again,” says Evans. “Some producers might remember footage of that previous win or the great fan reaction that went with it, but there’s only so much a producer can keep in his head.
It’s almost time! Imagine Cup 2018 Championship judges and special guest announced
Last October, I announced the 16th annual Imagine Cup competition, which gives college and university students the opportunity to test their intellectual, creative and teamwork skills while using technology to change the world. Forty-nine teams who have won their National Finals are now well underway in getting their solutions ready to compete at the World Finals, which will be held July 23-25 at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington.
Microsoft and Flipgrid unite to bring social learning to students around the world |
On Monday, Microsoft announced the acquisition of video-based social learning platform Flipgrid, used in 180 countries by more than 20 million pre-kindergarten to Ph.D.-level educators, students and families. Like Office 365 Education software, Microsoft will also be making Flipgrid free for schools so it’s easy for any school to utilize the software. Customers who’ve purchased a subscription from Flipgrid will receive a prorated refund.
Driving opportunity for device partners in the era of the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge
Nick Parker, Microsoft corporate vice president of Consumer and Device Sales, and Roanne Sones, Microsoft corporate vice president of Platforms, onstage at Computex 2018 with the new the 70” Windows Collaboration Display from Sharp.
With surgery and modern technology, Operation Smile gives hope and dignity to children
The nonprofit wants to accelerate evaluations even more by exploring artificial intelligence to analyze photos with a facial modeling algorithm and possibly the AI-powered Microsoft Pix camera app. And it wants to double the number of surgeries it can provide. “Scaling at this level is not just about doubling our staff,” Bryant says of Operation Smile’s 300 global employees. “We have to be smarter in how we execute missions, fundraise and utilize resources.
In luminous color: how glassybaby helps people heal with handblown glass
Lee Rhodes was a mother of three toddlers when she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1998. During that grueling, years-long time of her life, she often lit a candle in a handmade glass cup at night – a small gesture that provided enormous hope. “It changed how I felt at the end of every day, having this colorful, bright, dancing light,” Rhodes says.
Bringing our accessibility awareness game today and every day
Retired U.S. Army Capt. Mike Luckett works for Warfighter Engaged, a nonprofit organization that provides gaming equipment to wounded vets, and helped test the new Xbox Adaptive Controller. Today we celebrate the seventh annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day and announce new technology and resources for people with disabilities. The goal of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about accessibility.
‘Heritage activists’ preserve global landmarks ruined in war, threatened by time
“We really feel like a team of heritage activists,” Chemla says. “We want to show different cultures that exist on the planet, existed through time, so people understand the world we know today is a combination of cultures that preceded us.” Advanced algorithms and the computing power of Microsoft AI enable Iconem to quickly stitch thousands of photos into high-resolution 3D models that help experts assess damage.
PwC: Seizing cloud security in a cyberthreat world
Cyberthreats are intensifying. For many businesses, the cloud has become a security imperative when it comes to locking down data and blocking breaches. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is working with Microsoft to develop and deliver custom-built cybersecurity tools that help customers safely unleash their digital transformation. The two companies announced a cyber-alliance Monday at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.
Classified ad site Backpage in crosshairs over child sex ads
Search for "Backpage.com" on the FBI's main website and up pops eight whole pages of press releases and public announcements naming the classified advertising site as a tool for sex criminals, particularly those selling children, sex and prostitution. And in fact, Backpage was named as one of the sources law enforcement used to help gather evidence needed to coordinate a 70-city raid last weekend that resulted in the rescue of 105 teenagers and the arrest of 159 pimps.
Step inside Tangiblee’s digital fitting rooms
About 25 percent of visitors to ZGallerie.com click into the Tangiblee tool. For those who do, the conversion rate on purchases is about 30 to 40 percent higher compared to customers who don’t use the sizing service, Gall says. Rebecca Minkoff, meanwhile, reports that among its online customers who interact with Tangiblee, the conversation rate on handbag purchases is four times higher when compared to shoppers who bypass the tool.
Daring to dream: Global Innovation Exchange crosses borders as it builds bridges to the future
GIX has begun with a cohort of 42 graduate students in their 20s and 30s who hail from 11 countries, including China, Russia, India and the United States. Their backgrounds reflect the diversity of their interests: computer science and electrical engineering, as well as photomedia, design, social entrepreneurship, business and physics.
Outsmarting winter: How Alaska fights snow and ice to prevent another ‘Icepocalypse’
When it comes to winter, Alaskans scoff at snow and cold as they deal with minus 40 degrees in Fairbanks or 300 annual inches of snow in the city of Valdez. But ice and rain are a different story. In 2010, a three-day ice storm paralyzed the Fairbanks region in central Alaska and encrusted roads with treacherous ice that lasted until spring.
Anand Eswaran: Tech may change how we work, but we’ll still have work
Artificial intelligence has captured our collective imagination for decades. But now that the science fiction has evolved into real science, we have begun to wonder what impact technology like AI and machine learning will have on our lives – and especially our jobs. How will we adapt to a workplace shaped by the digital economy? If you’re worried that your skills (or those within your organization) might not remain relevant, you’re not alone.
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