Latest From Science, Technology And Medicine [11.27.14]

Smart City
Green City

• China’s Future City : China has put political muscle and technology into Tianjin Eco-City (MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW)

Smart City

• Cities Find Rewards in Cheap Technologies (MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW)

"Mobile apps, sensors, and other technologies help cities handle growing challenges."

• Smart Cities Will Take Many Forms  (MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW)

"Technology can make cities increasingly machine-like or more social and creative, says author Anthony Townsend. Both models can work."

Microsoft

• “We want to empower people and organizations to get things done and make things happen." : Satya Nadella (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

"Microsoft’s employees now get to experience the pros and cons of rival products and feel firsthand the nuances that emerge over time. They also get to see how Microsoft’s applications run on non-Microsoft devices. 

 “We think of productivity as the core driver of the use of technology to create fulfillment in individual lives and drive economic gain for organizations and entire economies." 

 it’s Word making it easy to knock out a document. But it’s also the Revolv app compiling dossiers on people ahead of a meeting, Xbox Fitness pushing you during a workout, the Cortana assistant rearranging meetings so you can get to a son’s soccer game, and Skype translating a call with China on the fly.   

Microsoft demonstrated an upcoming product called Sway. It’s an online service that lets people take images, text, and videos and display them in a rich, modern way like you might find on something like Medium. Templates guide the user through the process and work well enough that you can assemble a Sway on a smartphone, producing a glossy presentation or a spectacular diary in a few minutes. 

Microsoft is also in the midst of merging Skype with its corporate messaging service Lync to create a single Skype product that—should you so choose—can unite personal and work contacts in one place. Other new products include GroupMe, a group messaging app that has become popular on college campuses, and Delve, an app that figures out subject matter experts within a company. 

At each turn, Microsoft is blending consumer and corporate technology. It’s coming out with surprising, delightful apps that lean on its artificial intelligence technology."