Microsoft, Facebook - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: Facebook

Explanation:
Social media site Facebook is collaborating with the Election Commission of India in 5 states going to polls next year to run a voter registration drive to encourage youth to participate in the democratic process.

• FB is partnering ECI and office of Chief Electoral Officers in UP, Goa, Punjab, Manipur and Uttarakhand
• Close to 155 million Indians are on FB
• The register to vote button is designed to encourage citizens to exercise their votes in the coming elections
• From Oct 6 to 9, FB users in Goa, Punjab, UP, Manipur and Uttarakhand who are 18 or above will receive a News Feed reminder to register for the vote
• Clicking on the register now button will direct people to the National Voters’ Services Portal which in turn will guide them towards the registration process
• Feature will be available at the following dates:
• Oct 6: Punjab
• Oct 7: Manipur
• Oct 8: UP and Uttarakhand
• Oct 9: Goa
• The page will disseminate election related information and develop a live interaction platform in the near future

ANSWER: Facebook

Explanation:

• Social networking giant Facebook has introduced tools and educational resources to help people in India who may be struggling with self-injury or experiencing suicidal thoughts. These tools are already available in countries like the US, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
• Vulnerable users will then be encouraged to connect to the AASRA India helpline or the Live Love Laugh Foundation or a friend or seek self-help advice from resources and tips provided on how they can work through these feelings.
• Facebook has also introduced 'Help a Friend in Need' guide to help people identify when someone is distressed and what steps to take to get help. The guide also offers suggestions on how to approach their friend, what to say, how to react and what to avoid.
• It gives people the skills to reach out without fear of making the situation worse. The guide will be available in English, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Sinhalese, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and Marathi.

ANSWER: Disaster Response Summit

Explanation:
Facebook Inc. rolled out Disaster Maps for India to help communities across the country recover and rebuild from natural disasters faster by sharing critical pieces of data sets with humanitarian agencies in a timely manner.

The new product was launched at the company's first Disaster Response Summit in India along with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to improve disaster response and disaster management in India.

According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) data, India is the third-worst affected country by natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, landslides, cyclones and drought.

Moreover, the response time during and after these crises is often slow and it takes significant time and resources to understand where help is needed most.

Disaster Maps, powered by Facebook's technology and intensive research, will address this critical gap in data that government organizations face when responding to a crisis.

Disaster Maps, which was introduced globally in June, uses aggregated, de-identified Facebook data to help organizations address the critical gap in information they often face when responding to natural disasters.

Facebook provides multiple types of maps during disaster response efforts, which include aggregated location information people have chosen to share with Facebook.

This helps NGOs and relief agencies get a clearer picture of where affected people are located so they can determine where resources-like food, water and medical supplies-are needed.

Types of Facebook Maps

Facebook researchers have built three kinds of maps:

• Location density maps: These show where people are located before, during and after a disaster. We can compare this information to historical records, like population estimates based on satellite images.
  Comparing these data sets can help response organizations understand areas impacted by a natural disaster.
• Movement maps: These illustrate patterns of movement between different neighbourhoods or cities over a period of several hours.
  By understanding these patterns, response organizations can better predict where resources will be needed, gain insight into patterns of evacuation, or predict where traffic will be most congested.
• Safety Check: These maps are based on locations where our community uses Safety Check to notify their friends and family that they are safe during a disaster.
  We are using this de-identified data in aggregate to show where more or fewer people check in safe, which may help organizations understand where people are most vulnerable and where help is needed.

• While globally Facebook has partnered with organizations like the Red Cross, in India, initially it will join hands with two organizations: the NDMA and SEEDS (Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society).
• Facebook has 2 billion-plus users globally and according to a media report, its users in India have crossed the 240 million mark, making it the largest audience country for the social media company.
• Facebook has developed a number of crisis response tools.
• It activated the Safety Check feature in 2014 and launched Community Help in 2015, which allows the Facebook community to find and give help such as food, shelter and transportation.

ANSWER: Project Brainwave

Explanation:
In a bid to make artificial intelligence more accessible all-round, Microsoft has kicked off a new project which delivers real-time AI via the cloud.

It is utilizing some nifty technology from Intel.

Project Brainwave is described by Microsoft as a deep learning acceleration platform which employs Intel’s Stratix 10 FPGA (field programmable gate array) hardware accelerator to run AI.

This is through the cloud and still deliver near-instant results.

The system is capable of processing and transmitting data with ‘ultra-low latency’, delivering results as fast as that data comes in, and so effectively operating in real-time.

And that’s a clear boon for the sort of applications that need this, from digital assistants through to the likes of autonomous driving.

The system has already shown that Intel’s Stratix 10 tech can exceed 39 Teraflops in terms of performance on a single request.

Microsoft engineer Doug Burger notes that at that level of performance, the Brainwave architecture sustains execution of over 130,000 compute operations per cycle.

It is driven by one macro-instruction being issued each 10 cycles.

Running on Stratix 10, Project Brainwave thus achieves unprecedented levels of demonstrated real-time AI performance on extremely challenging models.

And further gains are expected as Microsoft hones the system over the next year or so.

Project Brainwave supports deep learning frameworks including Microsoft’s own Cognitive Toolkit and Google’s Tensorflow, and the firm is planning to bring it to Azure customers as well.

Powerful real-time AI processing capabilities on tap will be another major string to Azure’s bow.

ANSWER: Facebook

Explanation:
Social media giant Facebook will monitor the growth of the MSMEs in Odisha after imparting training to them in next one year.

The social networking giant has partnered the Odisha’s MSME department and Project Mission Shakti to train 25,000 entrepreneurs by the end of 2018.

The state government has plans to organise hands-on workshops for MSME entrepreneurs and women SHGs on 'Digital Marketing Skills'.
Facebook will prepare a data base through registrations in which they will take the email ids and mobile numbers of entrepreneurs in all the workshops.

After sometime either through personal conversations or through email, they can find out what is the difference Facebook has made in the business turnover or profits.

Facebook launched its SheMeansBusiness programme in Bhubaneswar, which was attended by about 1,100 women entrepreneurs of the state. The programme of Facebook is launched in 16 countries around the world including India.

It is designed to reach out to aspiring and established women entrepreneurs to help them build and grow their business online.
As per Facebook, it is the largest congregation globally under SheMeansBusiness programme.

More than 150 entrepreneurs today created their pages and uploaded their products on their profile.

CM Naveen Patnaik stressed on the use of the three Ts - technology, teamwork and transparency - to bring about transformation in the lives of people.

This is amply demonstrated today in the partnership of the government with Facebook - a partnership aimed to reduce the digital divide and empower nearly 25,000 entrepreneurs and SHGs over the next one year.

ANSWER: Rachel Whetstone

Explanation:
Facebook has hired Uber’s former top public relations executive as vice-president of communications for its multiple platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.

Rachel Whetstone, who has worked for some of the Britain’s most powerful Conservative politicians, stepped down as head of public policy and communications at Uber in April following a string of corporate scandals.

Whetstone in her new role at Facebook will oversee communications for Instagram and WhatsApp, which are both owned by Facebook.

Whetstone worked at Google as the head of communications and public policy prior to Uber.

Whetstone left Uber earlier this year amid a number of public relations crises after a former employee’s accusation of sexual harassment stirred a major controversy, surrounding claims of rampant sexism and discrimination within the company.

Ms. Whetstone has not commented on the scandals since she left Uber.

She is a friend of David Cameron and George Osborne.

She served as Howard’s political secretary and was a major player in Conservative politics when the party was up against Tony Blair’s Labour government.

ANSWER: Dubai

Explanation:
Dubai has become the first city in the world to have its own Microsoft font.

The font will have typeface both in Latin and Arabic script.

It will be made available in 23 languages - Afrikaans, Arabic, Basque, Britannic, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Norwegian, Farsi, Portuguese, Sami, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish and Urdu.

The Microsoft font was launched by the Crown Prince of Dubai Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The font will be used by UAE’s government bodies and also by 100 million Office 365 users around the world.

UAE has launched the ‘Dubai Font’ in line with its vision of becoming a regional and global leader in innovation.

The country views the launch as a part of its continuous efforts to be ranked first in the digital world.

The country expects the new font and its unique specifications to become popular online and in smart technologies across the world.

The launch of new font is expected to boost the emirate’s competitiveness in smart technology.

Dubai: Know More

• Dubai is the largest city in UAE.
• It has the world’s tallest tower, Burj Khalifa.
• Dubai has been taking a series of initiatives to broaden its appeal by investing in technology and culture.
• Dubai will play host to the six-month Expo 2020 under the themes of sustainability and mobility.

ANSWER: Andhra Pradesh

Explanation:
Government of Andhra has entered into an agreement with technology giant Microsoft to use Microsoft Azure Stack for AP government state data centre.

The chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella signed an MoU during an event called ‘Microsoft Future Decoded’ in Mumbai on 22nd Feb 2017.

Under the MoU, Microsoft Azure Stack for the first time in the world will be used to migrate live applications currently hosted in Hyderabad State Data Centre (SDC) to Vizag data centre.

Government of India helped erstwhile Andhra Pradesh to build a state data centre in Hyderabad with the funding of INR 400 crore.

However, after bifurcation of the state into residual Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, both the states have bifurcated servers and data but they are using the same data centre in Hyderabad.

As per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, AP has 10 years rights on the data centre but state is gradually planning to move all applications hosted in Hyderabad SDC to Vizag and Vijayawada data centres.

The US-based company has tested this Microsoft Azure Stack in its lab but it has not been physically delivered or commercially used anywhere in the world.

For the first time, Microsoft is doing proof of concept (POC) with Government of Andhra Pradesh to prove its capability.

Currently more than 340 applications of Andhra Pradesh including eSeva, MeeSeva, Core Dash Board are running in Hyderabad SDC.

Under the PoC agreement, state will migrate 15 applications to Vizag data centre.

To migrate, part of the applications will be taken to cloud and from cloud it will be transmitted onto the Azure Stack.

In this process, live applications will move from Hyderabad to Vizag.

Once the box is with government Microsoft will not have access to the data but they will have access to data in the cloud.

The security of the data and application at this stage resides with the Microsoft.

What is Azure Stack?

• A data centre basically has three important components - server, applications and storage.
• The hardware for all three components are different and they are controlled by software also knows as controller.
• For migration of the data centre from one location to other, generally private companies put on-premise data centre into the cloud and then to different location or it remains in the cloud.
• However, governments are highly conscious of data security because they deal with personal data of citizens.
• So, they usually avoid going to cloud and prefer data to be within their boundaries.
• Microsoft Azure Stack which encompasses three key components of the data centre - application, server, and the storage - into one physical box and delivers to the client, ensures 100% control over the box.
• Technically, it is a cloud software that is binding the entire stack together in one environment.

ANSWER: Hugo Barra

Explanation:
Hugo Barra, vice-president at Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is to join Facebook.

He will lead the company’s virtual reality efforts, including the Oculus VR team as per the CEO of the social networking giant Mark Zuckerberg.

Barra, who has also worked with Google previously, had announced his exit from Xiaomi.

He indicated that he wanted to return to Silicon Valley.

Barra said it had been his dream to work in virtual reality.

In a separate post on his profile, Mr. Barra said he was returning to Silicon Valley in a couple of months and will be joining Facebook as VP of virtual reality (VPVR) and lead the Oculus team.

Mr. Barra was instrumental in Xiaomi expanding outside of its home market to geographies such as India, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia.

More recently, under his efforts Xiaomi expanded to 20 other markets, including Russia, Mexico, and Poland.

The top job at Oculus has been vacant since 2016, when its CEO Brendan Iribe stepped down to run one of the other divisions.

Facebook had acquired Oculus in 2014.

Oculus: Know More

• CEO: Brendan Iribe (since 2012)
• Founded: 2012, Irvine, California, United States
• Headquarters: Menlo Park
• Acquisition date: March 25, 2014
• Founders: Brendan Iribe, Palmer Luckey
• Parent organization: Facebook, Inc.

ANSWER: EY

Explanation:
Global leader in advisory services EY and Microsoft on 24th Jan 2017 announced partnership for innovative high-performance intelligence and analytics advisory.

These services will address the requirements of various industry sectors.

This includes financial, life sciences, retail, consumer and packaged goods and government and public sector.

The services will be powered by Microsoft's comprehensive digital and cloud technologies, including:

• Azure Analysis Services,
• Machine Learning,
• Microsoft Power BI and
• Microsoft Cortana Intelligence Suite.

• Developer: Microsoft
• Initial release: April 2, 2014
• Operating system: Windows, iOS, Android, Xbox OS
• Available in 8 Languages.
• Type: Intelligent personal assistant
• License: Proprietary