IBM has added five new beta services to its Watson Developer Cloud, a cognitive computing platform that has a collection of APIs and SDKs for developers to build applications integrated with the processing capabilities of IBM’s Watson artificial intelligence. Building upon eight existing services, the Watson Developer Cloud’s five new services include speech-to-text translation, text-to-speech … continue reading
Oculus VR, the virtual reality startup acquired by Facebook for US$2 billion, is developing cinematic experiences specifically for its Oculus Rift VR headset. At the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, the new Oculus Story Studio, led by creative director and former Pixar animator Saschka Unseld, premiered its first short film, entitled “Lost.” Unseld, who created … continue reading
IBM has announced that a team of students from the University of Texas at Austin has won first place in the company’s Watson University Competition. The competition was held as part of IBM’s cognitive computing academic initiative to strengthen students’ skills and prepare them for in-demand jobs. “The opportunities to apply Watson are endless,” said … continue reading
Microsoft isn’t happy about Google’s disclosure of a zero-day vulnerability in Windows 8.1, and the company has publicly voiced its displeasure. In a blog post entitled “A Call for Better Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure,” senior director of Microsoft’s Security Response Center Chris Betz admonished Google for disclosing the vulnerability only two days before Microsoft was scheduled … continue reading
This was the last year in which Big Data was an off-the-street term. As the year ended, Hortonworks was preparing to go public, with Cloudera preparing for the same outcome. Big Data will officially transition into being a big business this year. Thus, 2014 was the year when pilot projects went into production, or when … continue reading
In 2014, “mobile” evolved into a more widely unified and interconnected concept. The last several years have seen smartphones, tablets and mobile apps take control of how we consume and compute information, redefining how we communicate with each other. A train with that much momentum doesn’t stop when the market reaches its peak; it barrels … continue reading
IBM has released the IBM Design Language, a shared vocabulary, framework and collection of resources for software design. The IBM Design Language website is a set of living guidelines for IBM’s software product design. The framework encompasses experience, visual, interaction and front-end sections, and the site includes resources such as a type scale calculator, icon … continue reading
iRobot has unveiled a new robot designed for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Based off the company’s Roomba, Create 2 features a preassembled robot platform to give educators, students and developers an affordable source to learn the fundamentals of robotics, computer science and engineering. “As a global leader in robotics technology, iRobot believes … continue reading
Microsoft has laid out plans for the open-source release of .NET Core, and how it fits into .NET 2015 and the company’s overall strategy. .NET Framework program manager Immo Landwerth explained the strategy in a blog post, giving an overview of .NET Core, how it will be released open-source and what role .NET Core will … continue reading
After two years of gathering hype and bringing attention to long-neglected Linux containers, Docker announced today in Amsterdam that it will offer Docker Hub Enterprise, its first commercial product offering, in February of 2015. Docker Hub Enterprise is an on-site version of the company’s popular online repository for Docker images. That repository currently weighs in … continue reading
Four years have passed since the project to create an open-source IT stack began between NASA and Rackspace. Two years have passed since the creation of the OpenStack Foundation, the governing body behind the large ecosystem of open-source projects that make up OpenStack. The here and now of OpenStack resembles much of what was promised … continue reading
Microsoft announces more Azure updates at TechEd Europe Little more than a week following its Azure press event, Microsoft introduced new services including Azure Batch, Azure Operational Insights and Azure Automation at theTechEd Europe conference in Barcelona, Spain. According to a blog post from Microsoft Azure product marketing director Vibhor Kapoor, Azure Batch delivers job … continue reading
