1
00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160
Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how

2
00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:13,680
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff.

3
00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,440
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer at

4
00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:19,119
Speaker 1: how Stuff Works in I Love all Things Tech, and

5
00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:22,480
Speaker 1: we are continuing our catch up episodes with Microsoft from

6
00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:26,200
Speaker 1: the listener Rob who asked that we follow up, and

7
00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:27,960
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about what the company has been

8
00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:31,520
Speaker 1: doing since. One thing I did not talk about in

9
00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:36,000
Speaker 1: the last episode was Microsoft's work in mixed reality. Mixed

10
00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,000
Speaker 1: reality is sort of a broad category of technologies that

11
00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:42,640
Speaker 1: merge the real world and the digital world in various ways,

12
00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:45,600
Speaker 1: and it's kind of like a spectrum. So if you

13
00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:48,440
Speaker 1: have a system that mostly relies on the real world

14
00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:51,480
Speaker 1: and it has a very light touch with digital information,

15
00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:55,040
Speaker 1: we would call that more of an augmented reality solution.

16
00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:58,000
Speaker 1: You're augmenting the experience of being in the real world

17
00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:01,120
Speaker 1: with some digital information. If you have one where most

18
00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,880
Speaker 1: of the information a user will encounter comes from a computer,

19
00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,800
Speaker 1: that would be virtual reality. The term mixed reality started

20
00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:10,560
Speaker 1: to pop up when it became clear that there's a

21
00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:14,600
Speaker 1: gradient between these extremes, and sometimes it's hard to classify

22
00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,880
Speaker 1: a particular piece of technology as being augmented versus virtual

23
00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:23,240
Speaker 1: or anything else, so we use mixed reality instead. Anyway.

24
00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,200
Speaker 1: We first heard about Microsoft's work in this field in

25
00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:31,160
Speaker 1: twenty with the introduction of the Windows Holographic later known

26
00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,920
Speaker 1: as the Windows Mixed Reality and the Hollow Lens. This

27
00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:38,520
Speaker 1: had the code name of Project Baraboo back when it

28
00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,280
Speaker 1: was in development, and a lead developer on the technology

29
00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,280
Speaker 1: was a guy named Alex Kipman, who had first proposed

30
00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:48,360
Speaker 1: ideas that would become intrinsic in the Hollow Lens platform

31
00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:51,360
Speaker 1: way back in two thousand seven or so. He worked

32
00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,680
Speaker 1: on the technology that would become the Connect. And while

33
00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:58,080
Speaker 1: the Connect, which was an Xbox peripheral, never really cut

34
00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:01,200
Speaker 1: on in a big way with gamers, the technology itself

35
00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:05,680
Speaker 1: was really impressive. It could sense depth through its camera systems,

36
00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:07,760
Speaker 1: one of which was an infrared camera. It had this

37
00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,560
Speaker 1: projector that would shoot out infrared dots, and by the

38
00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:17,160
Speaker 1: deformation of the the UH infrared spectrum, like seeing how

39
00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:19,639
Speaker 1: close or far away it was, it could determine how

40
00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,640
Speaker 1: how deep the scene was and thus if you started

41
00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,920
Speaker 1: walking toward it, then the Connect would detect that you

42
00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,000
Speaker 1: were actually approaching it. So it used this to uh

43
00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,200
Speaker 1: learn about just your controls, were to implement just your

44
00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,240
Speaker 1: control so you would program just your controls in your game,

45
00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:39,680
Speaker 1: and then through moving in front of this connect device

46
00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,120
Speaker 1: of the user could actually command his or her Xbox

47
00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:45,560
Speaker 1: and it could do some pretty cool stuff when paired

48
00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,560
Speaker 1: with the right software and hardware. Hackers loved the connect

49
00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:51,600
Speaker 1: because it let them do all sorts of stuff, like

50
00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:54,239
Speaker 1: they could make a three D scanner, so you could

51
00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:56,720
Speaker 1: put a real three dimensional object within view of the

52
00:02:56,720 --> 00:03:01,440
Speaker 1: connects camera, slowly rotate the object and scan the entire thing,

53
00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,480
Speaker 1: and then you would get a virtual representation of that object.

54
00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:07,079
Speaker 1: Paired with a three D printer, you could actually make

55
00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,360
Speaker 1: copies of stuff, or you can make a action figure

56
00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,079
Speaker 1: of yourself if you really wanted to. Or you could

57
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,880
Speaker 1: use the connect to give robots a source of optical

58
00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:19,840
Speaker 1: information helping with robotic vision. There were tons of different

59
00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:23,480
Speaker 1: potential applications for the connect Sadly, most of them did

60
00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:26,440
Speaker 1: not involve the Xbox, and since the connect was marketed

61
00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,640
Speaker 1: as a console peripheral and not a device meant for

62
00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,560
Speaker 1: makers and hackers, the company eventually withdrew all support for

63
00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:36,920
Speaker 1: the hardware, but Kitman's worked with the company would continue,

64
00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,960
Speaker 1: and he had been working seriously on the holographic goggles

65
00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,160
Speaker 1: that would evolve into the Hollow Lens for at least

66
00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,200
Speaker 1: five years. The vision Kitman has of augmented reality is

67
00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:51,200
Speaker 1: a truly transformative one. So imagine a device that allows

68
00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,600
Speaker 1: you to interact with the digital world through your interactions

69
00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:58,720
Speaker 1: in the physical world. You could potentially turn any surface

70
00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:02,440
Speaker 1: in the physical world into a computer display or an interface.

71
00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:06,240
Speaker 1: You can control software with gestures or with voice. You

72
00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,440
Speaker 1: can transform the world around you with digital overlays that

73
00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,680
Speaker 1: only you can see through your holographic goggles, which is

74
00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:16,880
Speaker 1: pretty phenomenal. The Hollow Lens demo video included doing things

75
00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:20,599
Speaker 1: like snapping a virtual video display to a physical wall.

76
00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:23,960
Speaker 1: So imagine you put on a headset, you know, special

77
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:27,280
Speaker 1: hollow goggles, and in this headset you can see this

78
00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:29,760
Speaker 1: virtual screen. It's floating in front of you, and you

79
00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:32,400
Speaker 1: can resize the screen however you like, so it takes

80
00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:34,320
Speaker 1: up as much or as little of your field of

81
00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,520
Speaker 1: view as you like. And you position the virtual screen

82
00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:41,919
Speaker 1: within the physical room that you are occupying, so you

83
00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:46,000
Speaker 1: can still see the room because you're looking through goggles, right,

84
00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,040
Speaker 1: You're not looking at a headset that has a closed

85
00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,200
Speaker 1: off section. Now you're still looking at the world around you,

86
00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:55,680
Speaker 1: but this pair of goggles can also generate images itself,

87
00:04:56,080 --> 00:05:00,760
Speaker 1: creating things that appear to be in your room but aren't.

88
00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,599
Speaker 1: Like that video screen. So you choose to place the

89
00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:06,960
Speaker 1: screen on a wall in front of you. Right, you're

90
00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:09,680
Speaker 1: looking at a blank wall. You put this virtual screen

91
00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:13,080
Speaker 1: on that wall. It locks into place, and you look

92
00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:15,080
Speaker 1: away to something else, like to your right or to

93
00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:17,880
Speaker 1: your left. The screen stays put. It stays where you

94
00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:21,280
Speaker 1: locked it in the physical location. So it's acting like

95
00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:24,040
Speaker 1: it's a physical television screen that's been mounted to the

96
00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:28,440
Speaker 1: wall and maintains persistence even when it's not inside your

97
00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:31,200
Speaker 1: frame of you. So if you started playing a video

98
00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:33,800
Speaker 1: on that screen and then you are to look away,

99
00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:37,200
Speaker 1: the video continues just as it would on a physical television,

100
00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:39,279
Speaker 1: and if you glance back at the wall, you would

101
00:05:39,279 --> 00:05:42,760
Speaker 1: see the video still playing out on that virtual screen. Now,

102
00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:45,480
Speaker 1: let's say you want to lie down and you decide

103
00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:47,080
Speaker 1: for the heck of it that you're gonna move the

104
00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:50,160
Speaker 1: screen from the wall to your ceiling, so you lock

105
00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:52,440
Speaker 1: it into place into your ceiling overhead. So now you're

106
00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:55,000
Speaker 1: laying on your back and you're watching the video playing

107
00:05:55,000 --> 00:06:00,000
Speaker 1: out directly above you. That's a simple implementation of augmented reality,

108
00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:02,760
Speaker 1: which is pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things,

109
00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:05,160
Speaker 1: but it gives you an idea of what was possible.

110
00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:10,200
Speaker 1: Other applications could be much more serious. Imagine putting on

111
00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:12,680
Speaker 1: a pair of these goggles and looking at a complicated

112
00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:16,360
Speaker 1: piece of machinery that has broken down, and the goggles,

113
00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,200
Speaker 1: which have external cameras on them so it can see

114
00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,880
Speaker 1: what you are seeing, can process all the information that

115
00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:25,520
Speaker 1: they're taking in. They can identify the machinery based on

116
00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:30,080
Speaker 1: the shape and the configuration. They know what the problem

117
00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:32,440
Speaker 1: is because they can see if there's a missing piece

118
00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:35,880
Speaker 1: or whatever that might be, and then it can display

119
00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:39,279
Speaker 1: instructions on top of your field of view to guide

120
00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,120
Speaker 1: you step by step on how to remove or replace

121
00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,600
Speaker 1: pieces and what you need to avoid doing. It highlights

122
00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:48,000
Speaker 1: the relevant parts of the machine for every step. So

123
00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:50,400
Speaker 1: let's say that there's a particular gear that you need

124
00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,680
Speaker 1: to remove. It actually creates a highlight on top of

125
00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:57,000
Speaker 1: the physical gear you're looking at, so that way you know, oh,

126
00:06:57,160 --> 00:06:58,960
Speaker 1: this is the piece I need to take off next.

127
00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:02,360
Speaker 1: It's kind of like an expert guide you the entire time.

128
00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,400
Speaker 1: The implementation for augmented reality I would love to see

129
00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:09,160
Speaker 1: would involve having the chance to view an area as

130
00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,720
Speaker 1: if it were a different era of history. So imagine

131
00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:15,760
Speaker 1: that you are walking down the streets of London and

132
00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:18,040
Speaker 1: then you take a virtual look at what the city

133
00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:20,760
Speaker 1: would have looked like back in the time of Henry

134
00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:24,360
Speaker 1: the Eighth or Oliver Cromwell. But then, I'm a history geek,

135
00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:27,160
Speaker 1: so that's not necessarily something that everybody wants. It's just

136
00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:30,000
Speaker 1: the version that I always think about. The Hollow Lens

137
00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:34,480
Speaker 1: had three different processing units. You had your typical CPU,

138
00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:37,600
Speaker 1: your central processing unit. You had your graphics processing unit

139
00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:41,520
Speaker 1: or GPU, but then you also had the HPU or

140
00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:45,520
Speaker 1: holographic processing unit. The original Hollow Lens got a lot

141
00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:49,000
Speaker 1: of positive press coverage, but it never came out for consumers.

142
00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:53,040
Speaker 1: Microsoft had determined the device was important, but wanted to

143
00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:57,920
Speaker 1: keep refining it before trying to enter a consumer marketplace

144
00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:00,600
Speaker 1: with it, because users would need the vice to be

145
00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,200
Speaker 1: incredibly intuitive so that they could learn how to use

146
00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:07,200
Speaker 1: it and interact with it in a seamless way, and

147
00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,320
Speaker 1: it would need a lot of content as well, you know,

148
00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,880
Speaker 1: stuff to do. Once you bought it without applications, it

149
00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:15,520
Speaker 1: would just be a nifty piece of hardware, a very

150
00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:17,880
Speaker 1: expensive one, and you would just put it on your

151
00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:20,720
Speaker 1: head and that would be it. So instead, Microsoft chose

152
00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:24,520
Speaker 1: to focus primarily on enterprise uses of the Hollow Lens,

153
00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:28,640
Speaker 1: which created a much more narrowly focused set of parameters

154
00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:31,440
Speaker 1: for the goggles, and that meant developers didn't have to

155
00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:33,920
Speaker 1: worry about all the crazy stuff that happens out in

156
00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,040
Speaker 1: the wide world in general. They could concentrate on specific

157
00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:41,360
Speaker 1: use cases, like in manufacturing or in medicine. If you

158
00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:45,920
Speaker 1: reduce your variables, it becomes way easier to develop software applications.

159
00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:50,200
Speaker 1: As it turns out, but Microsoft is reportedly working on

160
00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:53,360
Speaker 1: the successor to the Hollow lens. Reports have leaked that

161
00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:56,640
Speaker 1: the Hollow lens too, will have a better battery life

162
00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:59,920
Speaker 1: and improved features, as well as being lighter and cheaper

163
00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:04,080
Speaker 1: than the original Hollow lens. I'm recording this episode in June,

164
00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:06,800
Speaker 1: and later this year the company is likely to give

165
00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:10,000
Speaker 1: more details about the successor of the Hollow lens. The

166
00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:14,840
Speaker 1: code name for it is the Sydney, like the Australian city.

167
00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:17,720
Speaker 1: I know that it's gonna be less expensive than the

168
00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:20,480
Speaker 1: original Hollow lens, at least according to all the rumors.

169
00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:23,680
Speaker 1: But I suspect it's still not going to be marketed

170
00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:26,080
Speaker 1: to the average consumer just yet. I think it's still

171
00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,640
Speaker 1: going to be an enterprise level device, not something that

172
00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:32,240
Speaker 1: the average person would go out and buy. And while

173
00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:35,800
Speaker 1: the Hollow Lens was not offered up to consumers, Microsoft

174
00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:39,720
Speaker 1: did partner with a lot of hardware manufacturers to provide

175
00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:43,560
Speaker 1: the platform for mixed reality applications, which was that Windows

176
00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:47,200
Speaker 1: Mixed Reality originally called Windows Holographic. It's part of the

177
00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:51,200
Speaker 1: Windows TIN operating system, and it's compatible with head mounted displays,

178
00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:54,040
Speaker 1: so you can go out and buy one of a

179
00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:58,080
Speaker 1: half dozen or so headsets that run on Windows Mixed Reality.

180
00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:01,400
Speaker 1: Those headsets range and price from about two hundred dollars

181
00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:05,080
Speaker 1: to about five dollars, and they require a connection to

182
00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:08,360
Speaker 1: a PC that's running Windows tents, So the Hollow Lens

183
00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:11,720
Speaker 1: itself is its own computer. You don't need a separate

184
00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:14,520
Speaker 1: computer to run the Hollow lens, which is why it's

185
00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:18,560
Speaker 1: incredibly expensive. The developer kit version of the Hollow Lens

186
00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:23,079
Speaker 1: cost about three thousand dollars, but the headsets that you

187
00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:25,720
Speaker 1: can go out and buy those would be tethered to

188
00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:29,800
Speaker 1: a PC, which limits their usefulness because you can't just

189
00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:32,760
Speaker 1: go out into the world wearing these things and have

190
00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:36,160
Speaker 1: an augmented experience everywhere you go. I've got a lot

191
00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:38,400
Speaker 1: more to say about what Microsoft has been up to

192
00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:40,520
Speaker 1: over the last few years, but first let's take a

193
00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:50,680
Speaker 1: quick break to thank our sponsor. So while we're on

194
00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:53,240
Speaker 1: the subject of mixed reality, I should also mention that

195
00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:56,600
Speaker 1: Microsoft has backed off of plans that it had made

196
00:10:56,640 --> 00:11:01,040
Speaker 1: to create VR support on the Xbox platform. Back in sixteen,

197
00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:05,480
Speaker 1: Phil Spencer, the chief of Microsoft's Xbox division, had said

198
00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:09,880
Speaker 1: that the code named Project Scorpio Xbox platform would end

199
00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:13,520
Speaker 1: up supporting high end virtual reality experiences similar to what

200
00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:17,400
Speaker 1: you could get with a PC. Since then, Microsoft has

201
00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:20,360
Speaker 1: seemed to kind of reconsider this, and I don't really

202
00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:23,720
Speaker 1: blame the company, because virtual reality has not taken off

203
00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:26,560
Speaker 1: in the consumer space like people thought that it might.

204
00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:29,560
Speaker 1: Part of that is probably due to a very high

205
00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:32,439
Speaker 1: cost of entry into the platform, because you have to

206
00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:34,840
Speaker 1: have a pretty good PC, and then you have to

207
00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:37,520
Speaker 1: have the headset, and then there's all the applications or

208
00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:41,000
Speaker 1: software for it. It gets really expensive, really fast. Another

209
00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:43,199
Speaker 1: good reason might be that there's there's a lack of

210
00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:47,520
Speaker 1: compelling content and experiences out there. Now. There are several

211
00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:51,319
Speaker 1: developers who have created really fun or really interesting VR

212
00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:55,520
Speaker 1: games and other applications, but there's not a very large

213
00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:59,320
Speaker 1: library that is convincing enough to enough people to buy

214
00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:03,600
Speaker 1: into the tech anology. Mike Nichols, the chief marketing officer

215
00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:06,480
Speaker 1: of Gaming, said in a two thousand eighteen interview that

216
00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:11,200
Speaker 1: the company has no plans specific to Xbox consoles in

217
00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:15,920
Speaker 1: virtual reality or mixed reality, so we're looking at pure

218
00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:18,760
Speaker 1: PC experience for that sort of stuff. Now. I'm recording

219
00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:22,439
Speaker 1: this episode a little less than a month after E Threeen,

220
00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,880
Speaker 1: the big video game industry event that happens every June

221
00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:29,840
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, California, and during that event, Microsoft announced

222
00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:33,000
Speaker 1: a few things about its future in the world of gaming,

223
00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:36,760
Speaker 1: specifically console gaming. It sounds like the next generation of

224
00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:39,760
Speaker 1: Xbox will have at least a couple of different versions

225
00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:43,880
Speaker 1: upon launch. Phil Spencer referred to consoles in the plural,

226
00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:49,000
Speaker 1: and other company communications seem to indicate that the successor

227
00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:52,360
Speaker 1: to the Xbox One will likely have more than one version,

228
00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:55,280
Speaker 1: so there might be an entry level and then maybe

229
00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:58,119
Speaker 1: a more expensive one with more bells and whistles on it.

230
00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:01,200
Speaker 1: It may, but it's not. It's not definitive. But it

231
00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:05,079
Speaker 1: may support backwards compatibility, which is something Microsoft has been

232
00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,360
Speaker 1: trying to do with its various consoles. That means that

233
00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:11,120
Speaker 1: you should be able to run older Xbox games on

234
00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:14,760
Speaker 1: the new hardware, which may mean that the new hardware

235
00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:18,599
Speaker 1: will have similar chip architecture to the existing consoles, or

236
00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:22,160
Speaker 1: it could mean that it will run a virtual console

237
00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:26,360
Speaker 1: to emulate the older hardware. Microsoft also hinted at a

238
00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:31,200
Speaker 1: future video game streaming service. This service would let you

239
00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:34,480
Speaker 1: access video games over a device running a thin client,

240
00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:38,880
Speaker 1: meaning the device itself is not doing the heavy lifting. Instead,

241
00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:43,200
Speaker 1: Microsoft's computers would run all the games and stream the

242
00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,600
Speaker 1: experience to you. So technically, I mean, from a very

243
00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:49,079
Speaker 1: high level, what is going on is when you press

244
00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:51,719
Speaker 1: a button on your controller or your mouth or your

245
00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:54,920
Speaker 1: phone or whatever it may be, the command shoots through

246
00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:59,200
Speaker 1: the Internet, gets to Microsoft's hardware that then executes that command,

247
00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:02,640
Speaker 1: and then that shoots the results back to you. So

248
00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:05,200
Speaker 1: let's say you're playing a game where a is jump,

249
00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:07,520
Speaker 1: you press a the command goes through the Internet to

250
00:14:07,559 --> 00:14:11,439
Speaker 1: the machine, the machine executes the command to jump, The

251
00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:13,760
Speaker 1: result gets shot back to you, and you see your

252
00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:17,600
Speaker 1: little character jump, hopefully with very little latency, or else

253
00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:20,760
Speaker 1: you're gonna feel like there's something lagging every time you play.

254
00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,400
Speaker 1: This is not the first time anyone's tried to do this.

255
00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:27,040
Speaker 1: Lots of companies have tried this, but very few have

256
00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,360
Speaker 1: managed to make it succeed. On Live, which is no

257
00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:33,000
Speaker 1: longer a thing. Tried to do this years ago. But

258
00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:36,120
Speaker 1: Microsoft's goal is to create a streaming experience that will

259
00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:38,200
Speaker 1: let you play a video game on a lot of

260
00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:41,560
Speaker 1: different potential platforms without having to worry about having the

261
00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:44,840
Speaker 1: latest hardware to run the game. So you could potentially

262
00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:47,680
Speaker 1: run this on a PC, on a console, maybe even

263
00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:52,240
Speaker 1: on a phone. So Microsoft might not jump head first

264
00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,000
Speaker 1: back into the mobile market, but it may make a

265
00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:59,400
Speaker 1: service that runs on smartphone platforms and brings console style

266
00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:03,280
Speaker 1: gaming two phones. Something else Microsoft has been backing away

267
00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:07,600
Speaker 1: from is supporting the Windows seven build of its operating system.

268
00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:10,880
Speaker 1: Windows seven launched in July two thousand nine, so we're

269
00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:14,600
Speaker 1: coming up on its ninth anniversary. Microsoft has committed to

270
00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:19,560
Speaker 1: providing extended support for the operating system until twenty twenty,

271
00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:23,640
Speaker 1: but the company recently announced that Microsoft staffers would no

272
00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:28,600
Speaker 1: longer be answering Microsoft Community forum questions about Windows seven.

273
00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:32,040
Speaker 1: And you might think, Hey, that operating system is nine

274
00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:35,640
Speaker 1: years old. Why should we expect Microsoft to spend time

275
00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:40,760
Speaker 1: answering questions about an antiquated operating system. Well, first, the

276
00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:45,400
Speaker 1: company's commitment to supporting the OS until January would be

277
00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:48,160
Speaker 1: one reason. If you say you're gonna do something, you

278
00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:52,120
Speaker 1: should probably do it. But another is that Windows seven

279
00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:56,040
Speaker 1: is still a very popular operating system. In fact, according

280
00:15:56,080 --> 00:16:00,720
Speaker 1: to stat Counter in May, Windows seven an accounted for

281
00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:06,320
Speaker 1: nearly forty percent of all Windows based machines worldwide. Windows ten,

282
00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:10,040
Speaker 1: which is the current operating system from Microsoft, makes up

283
00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:15,720
Speaker 1: So in other words, Windows seven, just two versions back,

284
00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,720
Speaker 1: is on almost as many machines as the current operating

285
00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:24,040
Speaker 1: system as for Windows eight, which is sandwiched between Windows

286
00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:27,400
Speaker 1: seven and Windows ten, it only makes up a little

287
00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:30,320
Speaker 1: less than eight percent of the market share of all

288
00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:34,800
Speaker 1: Windows machines. And I'll remind you there is no Windows nine.

289
00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,400
Speaker 1: They went from eight to ten. So with Windows seven

290
00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,880
Speaker 1: being second place only to Windows ten and still having

291
00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:44,160
Speaker 1: a year and a half left of support on its

292
00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:48,360
Speaker 1: agreement with Microsoft, or Microsoft's agreement with the public. I

293
00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:52,280
Speaker 1: should say it seems premature to me to pull staffers

294
00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,600
Speaker 1: from answering questions about the platform. If you know that

295
00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:59,440
Speaker 1: almost half of your users are still on Windows seven

296
00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:02,240
Speaker 1: and that you've said you're going to continue supporting until

297
00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:06,200
Speaker 1: twenty I think it's a little weird to pull staffers

298
00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:09,400
Speaker 1: from answering those questions. On While I'm on the subject, Yep,

299
00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:12,960
Speaker 1: there are still people out there running Windows XP as

300
00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:16,760
Speaker 1: their operating system. Windows XP came out in two thousand

301
00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:20,760
Speaker 1: one and its last service pack was released in two

302
00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:24,000
Speaker 1: thousand eight, so that was a decade ago. Stat Counter

303
00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:27,480
Speaker 1: estimates that nearly three percent of all Windows machines out

304
00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,560
Speaker 1: there are running Windows XP, which sounds like it's a

305
00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:33,560
Speaker 1: small amount, but when you think three percent of all

306
00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:37,119
Speaker 1: the Windows machines out there and there are millions of them,

307
00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:39,399
Speaker 1: that's a lot. It's amazing to me that there are

308
00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:43,760
Speaker 1: still people running Windows XP. Recently, Microsoft announced that it

309
00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:47,320
Speaker 1: intended to acquire the company get hub. So what is

310
00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,840
Speaker 1: get hub. Well, it's a hosting service for get g

311
00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:53,840
Speaker 1: I T, which is probably not that helpful if you're

312
00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:57,080
Speaker 1: not familiar with what get is. So here goes get

313
00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:00,960
Speaker 1: is a way to keep track of changes in files

314
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:04,280
Speaker 1: in an effort to make collaboration and coordination not become

315
00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:08,000
Speaker 1: nightmare fuel because if you've got a team of developers

316
00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,760
Speaker 1: working on code, then you've got people making changes to

317
00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:15,360
Speaker 1: this code and you need to track that. But digital

318
00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:18,120
Speaker 1: files are really tricksy because you can make copies of them,

319
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:20,879
Speaker 1: and then you can end up with conflicting versions, or

320
00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:23,040
Speaker 1: you might find that some changes you made in one

321
00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:26,399
Speaker 1: version are breaking the code somewhere. So maybe something that

322
00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:29,840
Speaker 1: was working in a previous build is no longer working,

323
00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:32,520
Speaker 1: and you may need to work backward and find a

324
00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:35,560
Speaker 1: version of the software that was working just fine before

325
00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:39,000
Speaker 1: you implemented changes, and then see what happened so that

326
00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:41,360
Speaker 1: you can try to repair it or maybe build out

327
00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:44,920
Speaker 1: the new code without breaking the older stuff. Now, keeping

328
00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,960
Speaker 1: track of these different versions is incredibly important, but it's

329
00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:52,080
Speaker 1: also time consuming it's not much fun. So get is

330
00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:54,920
Speaker 1: a system that does the tracking on behalf of developers,

331
00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:58,560
Speaker 1: and it's frequently used to manage source code, although not

332
00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:02,960
Speaker 1: exclusively anyway. Get hub is a hosting service with the

333
00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:06,439
Speaker 1: functionality of get, along with some other additional features like

334
00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:09,800
Speaker 1: access control, so you can make certain that only people

335
00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:13,560
Speaker 1: who are authorized to access a particular type of code

336
00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:17,000
Speaker 1: can do that. The service has millions of users, some

337
00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:19,920
Speaker 1: of whom are working on open source projects on public

338
00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:24,960
Speaker 1: project pages, so anyone can go in there and see

339
00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:27,960
Speaker 1: the source code and make changes to it and that way.

340
00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:30,480
Speaker 1: You know, again, tracking those changes is very important, So

341
00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:34,600
Speaker 1: you know what has happened. Microsoft's announcement prompted a mixed

342
00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:38,200
Speaker 1: reaction from developers, which is to be expected. Some worry

343
00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:40,280
Speaker 1: that Microsoft is going to change things up in a

344
00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:43,720
Speaker 1: way that will discourage open source code development. Others see

345
00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:46,119
Speaker 1: it as a positive event and that Microsoft will bring

346
00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:49,920
Speaker 1: support and development to the hub as a whole. Nat Friedman,

347
00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:52,760
Speaker 1: who will head up get hub under the Microsoft deal,

348
00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:55,440
Speaker 1: has said that the company intends to operate get hub

349
00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:57,960
Speaker 1: as its own entity, helping it do what it does

350
00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:01,359
Speaker 1: on an even larger scale, and possible lee actually using

351
00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:03,440
Speaker 1: get hub as something of a model for the rest

352
00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:06,760
Speaker 1: of Microsoft rather than the other way around. Microsoft has

353
00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:10,520
Speaker 1: also been working on uh more serious moves into the

354
00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:14,399
Speaker 1: world of artificial intelligence. AI has been a big area

355
00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:16,760
Speaker 1: of research and development for more than a decade, but

356
00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:19,480
Speaker 1: we're starting to see a growing number of implementations and

357
00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,520
Speaker 1: stuff that the average person actually has a chance of

358
00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:26,200
Speaker 1: encountering in day to day life. Because for years, AI

359
00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:31,120
Speaker 1: applications were largely the realm of research labs and industrial applications.

360
00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:33,960
Speaker 1: It wasn't something that the average consumer typically would encounter.

361
00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:37,600
Speaker 1: But today we see AI, or at least aspects of

362
00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:42,440
Speaker 1: AI narrow AI incorporated into stuff like thermostats, personal assistants

363
00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:45,960
Speaker 1: like Siri or Alexa, and car systems, among other things.

364
00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:50,800
Speaker 1: So in twenty sixteen, Microsoft created an Artificial Intelligence and

365
00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:54,239
Speaker 1: Research Group, employing around five thousand people in fields like

366
00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:57,720
Speaker 1: computer science and engineering to work on AI developments and

367
00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:03,439
Speaker 1: practical applications like their own AI assistant, also known as Cortana. Today,

368
00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:06,600
Speaker 1: more than eight thousand people work in that same area

369
00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:10,800
Speaker 1: at Microsoft and investors investors are are watching with interest

370
00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:15,919
Speaker 1: because AI could help transform Microsoft yet again. More on

371
00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:18,359
Speaker 1: how that could happen in just a second, but first

372
00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:28,800
Speaker 1: let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. So

373
00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:33,000
Speaker 1: Microsoft is incorporating AI into products like Office three sixty five,

374
00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:36,200
Speaker 1: which is the cloud based suite of productivity software the

375
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,920
Speaker 1: company offers. There's a feature called inc analysis, which can

376
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:42,760
Speaker 1: look at handwritten notes in something like a power point

377
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:46,399
Speaker 1: presentation and interpret it, converting it into text. Or you

378
00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,159
Speaker 1: could use the Stylus input device to write in the

379
00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,240
Speaker 1: margins of a virtual document and the AI could interpret

380
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,040
Speaker 1: those notes and incorporate them into the document itself, or

381
00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:59,480
Speaker 1: possibly even make the change using natural language processing, which

382
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:03,719
Speaker 1: is a very simple phrase that describes the fiendishly complicated

383
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:07,120
Speaker 1: task of teaching computers what we mean when we speak plainly.

384
00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:11,359
Speaker 1: Microsoft uses this to analyze information and an effort to

385
00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:14,760
Speaker 1: create greater value for users, though this can also get

386
00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:17,640
Speaker 1: a little creepy at times. It's similar to what companies

387
00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:20,440
Speaker 1: like Google and Apple are doing, and that these companies

388
00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:24,239
Speaker 1: are creating AI processes that can analyze your work and

389
00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:27,600
Speaker 1: your email messages in an effort to proactively make things

390
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,480
Speaker 1: easier for you. So and a simple example might be.

391
00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:33,439
Speaker 1: Let's say you purchase tickets to go to a sporting event,

392
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:36,479
Speaker 1: and you buy them online. You get an email about it.

393
00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:41,280
Speaker 1: The AI identifies the email. It identifies that the email

394
00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:45,600
Speaker 1: is about these this sporting event. It looks at the ticket,

395
00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:48,240
Speaker 1: It knows when the sporting event happens, it knows where

396
00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:50,840
Speaker 1: it happens. It knows where that is in relation to

397
00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:53,280
Speaker 1: where you are because you're holding some sort of device

398
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:57,520
Speaker 1: that has your GPS coordinates as part of it. There's

399
00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:01,320
Speaker 1: a location element to this, and so on the day

400
00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:03,600
Speaker 1: of the sporting event, you get a notification and it

401
00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:06,800
Speaker 1: tells you, hey, traffic is unusually heavy today and based

402
00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:09,520
Speaker 1: upon where you are and where the sporting arena is,

403
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:12,080
Speaker 1: you need to leave in the next forty five minutes

404
00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:14,400
Speaker 1: in order to make it on time. That's the sort

405
00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:16,920
Speaker 1: of stuff that AI can do, and like I said,

406
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:19,199
Speaker 1: it can get really a little creepy if you think

407
00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:22,320
Speaker 1: about it too much. Um it can be helpful, but

408
00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:27,800
Speaker 1: there's also very real concerns about privacy issues and safety. Clearly,

409
00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:30,480
Speaker 1: it has to be implemented in a responsible way. And

410
00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:33,280
Speaker 1: AI has tons of other narrow use cases. I've only

411
00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:36,720
Speaker 1: given a tiny, tiny glimpse into it. You can see

412
00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:41,360
Speaker 1: stuff like image recognition or machine learning, or pulling relevant

413
00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 1: information from enormous data sets. These are all different aspects

414
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:50,080
Speaker 1: of artificial intelligence. Recently, Microsoft signed a deal with Britain's

415
00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:53,800
Speaker 1: Marks and Spencer retailer to test and AI implementation in

416
00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:58,440
Speaker 1: stores and corporate operations. But that's about all the information

417
00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,800
Speaker 1: I have on this partnership right now. I'm not certain

418
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,360
Speaker 1: how the AI is going to be incorporated or what

419
00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,000
Speaker 1: it will be meant to do right now, but it

420
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,560
Speaker 1: is another example of how Microsoft is moving ahead with

421
00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,520
Speaker 1: its work in AI. And another technology that has a

422
00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:15,359
Speaker 1: lot of buzz around it I wish it would stop

423
00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:19,240
Speaker 1: getting exhausting is blockchain. And I've talked about blockchain a

424
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:21,480
Speaker 1: lot over the last year, but here's a quick refresher.

425
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,359
Speaker 1: Blockchain is a process that groups together bundles of records

426
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:30,000
Speaker 1: into blocks. So those records could be transactions of some sort,

427
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:33,320
Speaker 1: but it puts these all into a block, and then

428
00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 1: the blocks form a chain, so you've got a linear

429
00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:40,600
Speaker 1: block or linear chain of blocks. I should say. That's

430
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,800
Speaker 1: where it gets his name blockchain. So each block in

431
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:47,360
Speaker 1: the chain contains a history of all the previous blocks

432
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:49,600
Speaker 1: in the chain, so not just the blocks, but the

433
00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:53,440
Speaker 1: actual transactions that have happened to create those blocks. They

434
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 1: become part of the shared history. So it's kind of

435
00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:01,359
Speaker 1: like looking almost like a fan only tree, being able

436
00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:04,440
Speaker 1: to trace ancestry from one person all the way back,

437
00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,000
Speaker 1: say twelve generations. Same sort of thing is that we're

438
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:12,040
Speaker 1: talking about an actual record of transactions. Uh, when someone

439
00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:16,160
Speaker 1: updates a record that updated record joins a new block,

440
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:19,520
Speaker 1: and all future blocks will have a history of that update,

441
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,240
Speaker 1: but they'll also have the history of the versions of

442
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:25,760
Speaker 1: the record before the update happened. Blockchain is most frequently

443
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:29,639
Speaker 1: associated with the digital currency Bitcoin in the media because

444
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:34,040
Speaker 1: Bitcoin relies upon blockchain technology to track and verify all

445
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 1: transactions that use the currency, which keeps anyone from trying

446
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:41,240
Speaker 1: to spend a virtual unit of currency twice. Because the

447
00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:44,879
Speaker 1: entire bitcoin community has access to the shared ledger of

448
00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,160
Speaker 1: transactions and they can see when a unit has been spent.

449
00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,720
Speaker 1: It's also how new bitcoins are distributed. But never mind,

450
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:53,720
Speaker 1: I've talked about bitcoin in another episode, so we're not

451
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:55,760
Speaker 1: going to go into it here. The important thing is

452
00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:59,000
Speaker 1: blockchain can be used for all sorts of applications, not

453
00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,960
Speaker 1: just currency. Microsoft has partnered with a firm called Ernst

454
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,280
Speaker 1: and Young to launch a blockchain system that would track

455
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:11,160
Speaker 1: content rights and royalties management for creators, with video game

456
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:13,520
Speaker 1: creators being among the first to take advantage of it.

457
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,160
Speaker 1: It's supposed to streamline the process of tracking and collecting

458
00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:20,240
Speaker 1: royalties payments, something that traditionally has involved a lot of

459
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:24,280
Speaker 1: third parties and middlemen, so video games present a particularly

460
00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:27,960
Speaker 1: complicated problem for royalties. Take a game like Grand Theft

461
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:31,440
Speaker 1: Auto five, because it's not just the game. That game

462
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:34,480
Speaker 1: happens to have a lot of licensed music in it,

463
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:39,040
Speaker 1: and some of those licenses that have been agreed upon

464
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:42,879
Speaker 1: might also involve paying royalties to the copyright holders of

465
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,800
Speaker 1: the songs that were included in the game, So royalty

466
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:49,959
Speaker 1: payments may not just go to the software developer. They

467
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,439
Speaker 1: also might have to go to the copyright holders of

468
00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:56,359
Speaker 1: various songs. And sometimes one entity will buy the rights

469
00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:59,840
Speaker 1: to a piece of content, so royalty payments should go

470
00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:03,000
Speaker 1: to them instead of to the original holder of the rights,

471
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,280
Speaker 1: because now the rights have shifted, and then that person

472
00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:07,480
Speaker 1: might end up selling the rights later on. This makes

473
00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:10,639
Speaker 1: the process of figuring out who you owe money to

474
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:15,400
Speaker 1: really complicated, so the idea is that the blockchain approach

475
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:18,840
Speaker 1: would simplify this. However, this is not the first time

476
00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:21,879
Speaker 1: someone has tried to use blockchain for this specific purpose,

477
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:25,560
Speaker 1: and one of the big challenges of blockchain is that's

478
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:30,720
Speaker 1: difficult to scale up to larger too larger scales, so

479
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:34,080
Speaker 1: there's some question as to whether or not Ernst and

480
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,160
Speaker 1: Young and Microsoft can pull this off. So it's too

481
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:40,119
Speaker 1: early to say at the moment, one future product that

482
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:42,920
Speaker 1: will come out of Microsoft is the Surface Hub too.

483
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:48,120
Speaker 1: I mentioned the surface earlier in the last episode. Microsoft's

484
00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,679
Speaker 1: touch and gesture controlled smart white board is the hub.

485
00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:56,240
Speaker 1: So the Surface Hub to you, is something you can

486
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:58,439
Speaker 1: mount on a wall and it has a base that

487
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:02,080
Speaker 1: allows you to rotate the board from portrait mode into

488
00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:04,719
Speaker 1: landscape mode, so you can turn it ninety degrees just

489
00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:06,600
Speaker 1: like you would with a phone. Like if you're holding

490
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:09,359
Speaker 1: a phone upright and then turn it to its side,

491
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:11,920
Speaker 1: you can switch from portrait to landscape. Same sort of

492
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,119
Speaker 1: thing with this. It's so it's much much larger. The

493
00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:17,280
Speaker 1: screen of the Hub two is fifty and a half

494
00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:20,160
Speaker 1: inches on the diagonal. It's got a three to two

495
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:24,080
Speaker 1: aspect ratio, and the rate the resolution on this is

496
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:28,159
Speaker 1: greater than four K. It's higher resolution than four K.

497
00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:31,320
Speaker 1: It also comes with a four K webcam that plugs

498
00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:35,880
Speaker 1: in via USBC that allows for video conferencing. UH. There's

499
00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:38,360
Speaker 1: a concept video of this thing that shows people using

500
00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:41,200
Speaker 1: the video chat while working with shared documents on the

501
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:44,600
Speaker 1: same screen, using touch controls to send commands and make

502
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 1: changes in real time. In addition, you can link up

503
00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:49,680
Speaker 1: to four of the hubs together, plugging them in through

504
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:53,400
Speaker 1: this USBC approach and putting them side by side and

505
00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:57,440
Speaker 1: create a truly enormous display. There's no telling right now

506
00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:00,000
Speaker 1: how much it's gonna cost when it debuts. The original

507
00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,400
Speaker 1: fifty five in surface hub whiteboard would set you back

508
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:06,560
Speaker 1: a cool nine thousand dollars or so. Today an eighty

509
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 1: four inch one, the really big one would cost more

510
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:13,040
Speaker 1: like seventeen thousand dollars. So this is not something I

511
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:16,120
Speaker 1: would expect to see in the average home. Microsoft has

512
00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:17,960
Speaker 1: also been trying to make a bigger move into the

513
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:21,320
Speaker 1: educational world. It recently acquired a startup company called flip

514
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:25,400
Speaker 1: Grid that's a video app company. They create an app

515
00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:29,320
Speaker 1: that let's let's students record and share educational videos with

516
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:32,520
Speaker 1: each other. Microsoft had been working with flip grid for

517
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:36,200
Speaker 1: more than a year before they made this acquisition. Google

518
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:39,120
Speaker 1: has been dominating in the educational space, largely due to

519
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:42,560
Speaker 1: the relatively low cost of Google Chromebook devices compared to

520
00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:46,400
Speaker 1: Windows based computers, and Microsoft has recently contributed money to

521
00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:49,920
Speaker 1: a group that is fighting against a California proposal called

522
00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:54,040
Speaker 1: the California Consumer Privacy Act. Now the act would require

523
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:58,239
Speaker 1: companies to reveal what data they collect from users and

524
00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:01,880
Speaker 1: how they make use of that data, specifically in using

525
00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:06,480
Speaker 1: that data to sell to people to make money from ads,

526
00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:09,080
Speaker 1: and it would require those companies to allow users to

527
00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:14,480
Speaker 1: opt out of having their information sold. Several companies, including Microsoft,

528
00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,040
Speaker 1: do not like this idea at all, and have paid

529
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:21,320
Speaker 1: money into lobbying against it and to make a campaign

530
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:27,120
Speaker 1: against the policy. Other companies that have also contributed include Uber, Google, Amazon,

531
00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:30,560
Speaker 1: and for a while Facebook, although Facebook has since withdrawn

532
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:34,880
Speaker 1: its support from the group. Supporters of the proposal argue

533
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:37,400
Speaker 1: that people should have a say in how their information

534
00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,840
Speaker 1: is used. The opposition, however, mostly in the form of

535
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:45,080
Speaker 1: company statements, argue that the proposal itself is flawed and

536
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:48,760
Speaker 1: that while reputable companies should always treat customer privacy as

537
00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:52,680
Speaker 1: a top priority, the the implementation of the proposal as

538
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:56,680
Speaker 1: it is written would hinder innovation. How true is that?

539
00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 1: I don't know? I do know that companies do not

540
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:03,840
Speaker 1: want to their business models impacted by having this policy

541
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:08,640
Speaker 1: UH brought to fruition because it would mean that an

542
00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:12,800
Speaker 1: extremely lucrative stream of revenue could potentially get cut off,

543
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:16,040
Speaker 1: and that is terrifying to these companies. I keep telling

544
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:19,080
Speaker 1: people Google is not a search company. Google is an

545
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:22,520
Speaker 1: advertising company, and we are the product. It is. It

546
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:26,320
Speaker 1: is you and I generating the information that Google can

547
00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:31,479
Speaker 1: then use to sell stuff to advertisers. So if that

548
00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:34,960
Speaker 1: were changed through this law, if this law got enacted

549
00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:39,080
Speaker 1: and then people could opt out, it could severely hinder

550
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:42,360
Speaker 1: the way Google makes money, at least in California. And

551
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,160
Speaker 1: depending upon how Google has been built out its systems,

552
00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:47,760
Speaker 1: and this is true for all these companies, not just Google,

553
00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:51,520
Speaker 1: but Amazon, Microsoft, Uber, depending on how they've built out

554
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 1: their systems, it might mean that they would have to

555
00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:58,160
Speaker 1: completely rebuild their systems in such a way that it

556
00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:02,040
Speaker 1: did not gather that in for nation, Um, it's not.

557
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:07,040
Speaker 1: You could just argue, just don't sell it. But anyway,

558
00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:10,920
Speaker 1: it looks like it's gonna be an ugly fight in California.

559
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:14,360
Speaker 1: Microsoft has been the news recently in the United States

560
00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:18,520
Speaker 1: because well by recently, I mean June two, eighteen, because

561
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 1: the companies work with the United States Immigration and Customs

562
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:27,520
Speaker 1: Enforcement Division or ICE. In ICE became famous for being

563
00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:31,280
Speaker 1: responsible for separating migrant families as they attempted to enter

564
00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:34,760
Speaker 1: the United States, even those that were seeking asylum and

565
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:39,800
Speaker 1: particularly famous for placing children in separate camps from their parents.

566
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:44,280
Speaker 1: The practice was widely called out as being inhumane and cruel,

567
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:47,640
Speaker 1: and this had a ripple effect on companies that had

568
00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:51,840
Speaker 1: accepted contracts from ICE to provide various services in hardware,

569
00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:56,280
Speaker 1: including Microsoft. There were calls for Microsoft to cancel those

570
00:32:56,320 --> 00:33:00,160
Speaker 1: contracts that came from both internal and external sources. Is

571
00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:04,840
Speaker 1: Late in June two eighteen, Donald Trump signed an executive

572
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:08,880
Speaker 1: order calling for an end to the separation policy, though

573
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:12,160
Speaker 1: by that time thousands of families had already been affected,

574
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,120
Speaker 1: with no immediate solution as to how to reunite them.

575
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:21,880
Speaker 1: So Microsoft CEO Nadella said that they were absolutely opposed

576
00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,960
Speaker 1: to the the process of separating families. He said it

577
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:30,440
Speaker 1: was abhorrent. However, he also said Microsoft's contracts in no

578
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:34,200
Speaker 1: way related to the practice of separating families. Rather, they

579
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,960
Speaker 1: were for stuff like handling email service, or messaging systems

580
00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:42,720
Speaker 1: or document management. I don't know that that necessarily satisfied

581
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:46,000
Speaker 1: the critics who said you shouldn't do business with this

582
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:49,960
Speaker 1: group at all, but it seemed to be his approach

583
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:53,760
Speaker 1: to saying, look, we're not responsible for tearing those families apart.

584
00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:57,680
Speaker 1: While not saying out loud, that's a big contract and

585
00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:02,600
Speaker 1: it's a lot of money, So your mileage may vary

586
00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:06,600
Speaker 1: on how you view that particular approach. One final bit

587
00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:10,160
Speaker 1: of information, I don't want to end on that particularly

588
00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:14,080
Speaker 1: distasteful notes. So on June twenty, geek wire published an

589
00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:17,920
Speaker 1: article stating that Microsoft had bought an office complex in Washington,

590
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:21,920
Speaker 1: not too far from its headquarters campus, and they spent

591
00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:25,840
Speaker 1: two hundred fifty million dollars buying this thing. In addition,

592
00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:28,600
Speaker 1: the company is in the process of renovating its home

593
00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:32,400
Speaker 1: campus and replacing old buildings with new, larger ones, and

594
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:35,600
Speaker 1: the new layout will allow for eight thousand additional employees.

595
00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:38,040
Speaker 1: So it looks like Microsoft is gearing up to grow

596
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:42,040
Speaker 1: some more, which might be encouraging news after hearing about

597
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:44,080
Speaker 1: all those layoffs that it had been doing over the

598
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:48,719
Speaker 1: past several years. Now, where's Microsoft going next? It's hard

599
00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:50,960
Speaker 1: to say. I imagine I'm going to see a lot

600
00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:55,520
Speaker 1: more information about cloud services and artificial intelligence. And it

601
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:59,320
Speaker 1: is really interesting to think of the fact that maybe

602
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:03,359
Speaker 1: in five year years when you say the company name Microsoft,

603
00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:06,239
Speaker 1: you'll be thinking of a very different company than the

604
00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:10,280
Speaker 1: one that was creating, operating systems and productivity software suites.

605
00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:15,480
Speaker 1: That's the company I always associate with the name Microsoft.

606
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:18,200
Speaker 1: I think of ms DOSS, I think of Windows, I

607
00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:21,640
Speaker 1: think of Word and Excel and power Point. But in

608
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:25,120
Speaker 1: another five years we might be thinking about artificial intelligence,

609
00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:28,160
Speaker 1: and we might be thinking of blockchain. If they can

610
00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 1: get that working properly for their various applications, it may

611
00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:35,040
Speaker 1: be a very different world. I'm excited to see. And

612
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,239
Speaker 1: besides which that means that in five years I can

613
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:40,400
Speaker 1: do another update episode, So that's something to look forward to.

614
00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:43,640
Speaker 1: If you guys have any suggestions for future episodes of

615
00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 1: tech Stuff, why not write me and let me know

616
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:47,640
Speaker 1: about them, because otherwise I'm just gonna pick what I

617
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:50,799
Speaker 1: want and we all know where that goes. So send

618
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,560
Speaker 1: me an email the addresses tech Stuff at how stuffworks

619
00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:56,000
Speaker 1: dot com or draw me a line on Facebook or Twitter.

620
00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:58,440
Speaker 1: The handle it both of those is tech Stuff hs W.

621
00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:02,040
Speaker 1: Don't forget. You can follow me on Instagram and I'll

622
00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:10,600
Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon for more on this

623
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:13,319
Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics. Because at how stuff works

624
00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:23,480
Speaker 1: dot Com,