Posted by Rob Knies Unlocking the future—that was the theme Rick Rashid , Microsoft chief research officer, used to close his opening remarks April 23 during the first day of the Microsoft Research Machine Learning Summit 2013 . The event, held at Microsoft’s Le Campus site in Issy...

Posted by Eric Horvitz and Yi-Min Wang, managing co-directors of Microsoft Research Redmond As we look back on the year at Microsoft Research Redmond , a flood of creative efforts and achievements come to mind. These include mission-focused pursuits aimed at solving urgent challenges, the pursuit...

Posted by Rob Knies Eight sentences. That’s all it took for Rick Rashid , worldwide head of Microsoft Research, to electrify a crowd of 2,000 students and faculty members in Tianjin, China, on Oct. 25 during the 14th annual Computing in the 21st Century Conference . Why did those in attendance...

Posted by Rob Knies First, there was Kinect . You’ve probably heard of that one. Next, it was KinectFusion , which uses live data from Kinect for Windows to create high-quality, 3-D models of a room and its contents. KinectFusion made a splash in 2011 during the 38th International Conference...

Posted by Rob Knies The term “natural user interfaces” has been in vogue in recent months, generally invoked to describe different ways that humans can interact with computing devices beyond the longtime pairing of keyboard and mouse. Surface computing is one example with its roots...

Posted by Rob Knies Fifty years ago, the Century 21 Exposition—the Seattle World’s Fair—provided visitors with a vision of the future. With its gleaming Monorail and its towering Space Needle, the fair trumpeted the advances made possible by science and space travel, thereby extending...

Posted by Kevin Schofield There is much discussion these days of the role of touch-based systems in interface design. But this week at Techfest, Helena Mentis and her teammates in the Socio-Digital Systems group in Microsoft Research Cambridge were showing two projects exploring interfaces where the...

Posted by Peter Lee, managing director of Microsoft Research Redmond The last in a series of posts from the directors of Microsoft Research’s labs worldwide, this one from Peter Lee of Microsoft Research Redmond . Given that this was my first full calendar year at the Redmond lab of Microsoft...

Posted by Roy Levin, managing director of Microsoft Research Silicon Valley The latest in a series of posts from the directors of Microsoft Research’s labs worldwide, this one from Roy Levin of Microsoft Research Silicon Valley . Microsoft Research (MSR) recently celebrated its 20th anniversary...

Posted by Adi Diamant, director of Advanced Technology Labs Israel The latest in a series of posts from the directors of Microsoft Research’s labs worldwide, this one from Adi Diamant of Advanced Technology Labs Israel . Advanced Technology Labs Israel (ATL Israel), our newest addition...

Posted by Hsiao-Wuen Hon, managing director of Microsoft Research Asia As 2012 approaches, the directors of Microsoft Research facilities worldwide were offered an opportunity to discuss their labs’ 2011 accomplishments. This contribution, by Hsiao-Wuen Hon of Microsoft Research Asia , is...

Posted by Rob Knies If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re already familiar with HoloDesk, research from the Sensors and Devices team at Microsoft Research Cambridge that my colleague Steve Clayton posted on the Next at Microsoft blog a few weeks ago. The work took...

Posted by Rob Knies Over the last few months, I’ve published a series of feature stories to outline the contributions Microsoft Research has made to the groundbreaking Kinect for Xbox 360 product, which Guinness World Records has dubbed the fastest-selling consumer electronic device ever...

Posted by Rob Knies Imagine that you carry a small device that can make any nearby surface interactive—and that those surfaces can be manipulated via multitouch gestures and can store data. “Wouldn’t that be cool?” The enthusiasm belongs to David Molyneaux, and he is one of...

Posted by Rob Knies A scintillating portion of Microsoft Research Cambridge ’s Sept. 27 event supporting the 20th anniversary of Microsoft Research came during a late-afternoon panel discussion entitled Old World, NUI World: The Future of Digital Interaction. The panel included Shahram Izadi...

Posted by Rob Knies Welcome to Inside Microsoft Research , a new blog that provides news and insights into research conducted at our 12 facilities around the world. We are privileged to inaugurate the blog by detailing the events being held around the globe on Sept. 27 to mark the 20th anniversary...