Posted by Anne GavinDirector, U.S. State Government Affairs, Microsoft
Microsoft and the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) held a Technology Town Hall Forum featuring Virginia Senate Candidates George Allen and Tim Kaine at our Microsoft Technology Center in Reston, Va., on Thursday.
Co-sponsored by the Virginia Public Access Project, the Loudon County Chamber of Commerce and the Prince William County Chamber of Commerce, the town hall provided an opportunity for the candidates to lay out their views related to technology and business policy to more than 130 attendees.
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Posted by Dan BrossSenior Director, Corporate Citizenship, Microsoft
One of the great things about working at Microsoft is having access to an incredible array of technologies that help us get work done. One of my favorite applications is the Local Impact Map, an online storytelling tool that we’re making available to commercial organizations who want a compelling way to share the impact of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs online.
Microsoft has Citizenship programs underway in more than one hundred countries around the world. One of the problems we face is this: how do we bring the scale, reach and impact of our programs to life? Well that’s exactly why we developed the Local Impact Map. It’s a beautiful, easy-to-use tool that provides the perfect platform for showcasing community programs.
Posted by Jacqueline BeauchereDirector, Trustworthy Computing Communications, Microsoft
We’ve all heard the horrific tales: teasing, meanness or bullying that starts on the playground or at school follows kids home only to continue on mobile and gaming devices and on social networks. Severe cases, though few in number, drive some to extremes, and it’s these instances that make headlines. No wonder kids around the world are worried they’ll be bullied online.
To better understand the issue globally, Microsoft commissioned and today releases survey results of a range of online behaviors among youth – from “meanness” (least severe) to online bullying or cruelty (most severe), and everything in between. Data show 54 percent of children age eight to 17 in 25 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Morocco, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Spain, Singapore, Turkey, UAE, the United Kingdom and the U.S.) express concern that they will be bullied online; four in 10 say someone was mean to them online, and nearly one-quarter (24 percent) admit to having bullied someone else online at one time or another.
Posted by Frank McCoskerGeneral Manager, Microsoft Global Strategic Accounts
Since 2004, I’ve been working closely with more than 40 international organizations, including UN organizations, regional development banks and bilateral aid agencies – cultivating long-term and rewarding public-private partnerships. At Microsoft, we have worked hard to prioritize these relationships to see how technology can help achieve shared sustainable development goals and achieve real impact amongst underserved communities.
This week I’m in Rio de Janeiro with several colleagues for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20. We believe technology has an important part to play in the discussions at the highest level at Rio+20, and that technology is a crucial component of supporting sustainable development.We’re also here presenting one of the most exciting and game changing technologies in recent memory: Super Wi-Fi. For several years now, Microsoft Research, in collaboration with industry and government partners, has been working on a technology that is commonly referred to as Super Wi-Fi. The technology uses unused, or inefficiently used, TV spectrum, and it does so without disrupting existing TV broadcasts, with far reaching applications for sustainable development. Super Wi-Fi has a few advantages over existing Wi-Fi technologies – it can cover between three and 10 times more distance and has the ability to transmit through walls and other barriers that normally stop Wi-Fi. This technology has the potential to help deliver on the goal many development experts and policy makers have of providing broadband access for all.
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Mr. Alexander Aleinikoff, the Deputy High Commissioner for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Every year on June 20th, the United Nations, along with countries and communities worldwide, mark World Refugee Day to raise awareness and support for the world’s 34 million forcibly displaced and stateless people. In support, MSN is running a special ‘Causes’ campaign on the plight of refugees.
This year, World Refugee Day takes place during Rio+20, the major UN summit in Brazil that brings together world leaders from a wide range of international organizations, governments, NGOs and the private sector to further debate on reducing global poverty, advancing social equity and ensuring environmental protection and sustainable development. UNHCR, led by High Commissioner António Guterres, is in Rio to advocate for the rights and interests of the world’s refugees and other displaced persons in the summit’s deliberations and outcomes.