TOP STORIES #52
the Moblie Web Congress has now closed, and it was a crazy, weird and wonderful show. here are stories all over the internet about what was announced and shown off. Lenovo in particular scored a PR victory with it's transparent notebook. Of course all the big hardware vendors used MWC as the platform to launch their new AI PC's along with Intel announcing the new vPro platform for enterprise. There are many YouTube channels talking about MWC, but here is a nice summary of some of the mobile phone Highlights.
Because of MWC, this is a busy week, as many companies used the conference to make announcements.
The link to the previous TOP STORIES #51 is here.
If you would like to invite colleagues to Join, they can click here.
Hardware
Intel launches Core Ultra VPro Processors
These are the CPU's specially for enterprise customers that include servicability and management features. You can read more about the announcement here. vPro is also being introduced for 14th Gen Desktop processors. Here is a short video from Dell explaining what vPro is all about and more here.
For enterprise customers, if you have not already, It may be an idea to explore if VPro can be of value, by contacting your First Tech. AM to help get you in touch with the experts.
Dell Announces New computers with a focus on AI
Along with everybody else, Dell has also announced a big list of new Laptops and Workstations with Intel's new Meteor Lake AI CPU's. You can read more here.
1nm (10A) is now on the roadmap for 2027!
If Intel (and the rest of the World's Fab's) get to this, the computing capability that you get in 2027-2028 compared to now will be many magnitudes greater than anything we are seeing today. Intel is also saying that these factories will be fully autonomous.
Read more about this here. I suspect our roadmap is going to get a lot more exciting really fast!
Microsoft
Microsoft launches CoPilot Lab
Microsoft has finally launched a web site that puts some of it's CoPilot offerings in one place for you to understand what is available and gives you some examples on what you can do with it.
The landing page is here.
What you might find interesting is the section that shows you how CoPilot works in your everyday apps.
It is becoming increasingly important to start using CoPilot in some way as it becomes more prevalent across all of Microsoft's applications. To avoid being left behind, please refer to the information below on how to sign up for CoPilot workshops.
What is very important to recognise that it is still very early days for CoPilot, and for all it's flaws it is really important to start playing with it.
The milage is also different, for example, the benefits that CoPilot can bring you today in Teams is just amazing, and it is HIGHLY recommended that you experiment with it. Unfortunately, features that are available to you depend on what level of Teams you are using, for example one of the really cool features, called Intelligent Recap, is only available in Teams Premium.
Another section that is good to read through is "The Art of Prompting"
Warning about the the "New Outlook"
CoPilot only works in the "New Outlook" - and please be very careful switching to it as some things stop working including losing access to local PST's (Microsoft is promising to support in future), for now, it can also be slow, memory-hungry and is not getting great reviews - MS still has a way to go before it replaces our venerable old Outlook, but is on track to replace it in around 2 years time.
You can read about all this in detail in TOP STORIES #28.
Also, a very big deal is that the "New Outlook" will no longer support COM add-ins. You can read more about this here. It is really VERY important to connect with our First Digital division to unpack if this is an issue (or not) in your business.
Office Watch is advising that you steer clear of the New Outlook for now - read here.
However, Microsoft is continually improving the "New Outlook" and you can stay abreast of the changes here.
You can teach an old (Excel) dog new tricks! Checkboxes as Values.
Microsoft has been testing checkboxes in Excel since 2023 allowing you to visualise data to include TRUE and FALSE values - basically, you can use checkboxes as values. Here is a very interesting way to use this new feature for many different applications. You have to enrol on the insider program to get this.
Microsoft Announces AI Access Principles
Microsoft used the MWC as the platform to announce it's AI principles (which are not binding) that is an 11-point plan to govern how Microsft will Operate AI in it's infrastructure. You can read more here and more details here.
"Old Teams" gets a lifeline.
Even though the New Teams is a lot faster and less memory hungry, the Old version still has a strong following, enough for Microsoft to delay it's retirement. From now on no new features will be added to the Old Teams, with availability extended to 1 July 2024. You can read more about this here.
Windows 11 Moment 5 Update Announced
It is not a very big update, and is only expected to be rolled out in the April Patch Tuesday cycle, but still there are some changes that you can read about here.
Microsoft Forms gets CoPilot
Microsoft is adding CoPilot to forms to help generate forms which is expected to go live in the next few months. It could be quite handy if you work with forms - you can read more here.
Cloud & AI
Microsoft using AI to stop phone scammers
Spam calls can be really irritating, but what about the calls you actually answer? Can an AI warn you that the call is dodgy? Microsoft is now trialling this interesting use of AI. You can read more about this here.
Mistral releases new AI model to rival GPT-4, and Microsoft buys a stake
The world is changing faster than what I'm feeling is even remotely Ok for me to cope!
Only in May 2023 was Mistral incorporated and now they announce they are building an alternative to OpenAI and Anthropic, and on top of that even a year later we have Microsoft investing $16 Million in the startup!
You can read more about this here where you can sign in with your Azure subscription.
NVIDIA - Coding dead as a career -
This is quite a drama tic statement, and that it comes from the CEO of NVIDIA, it is good to pay attention to what he is saying. You can read more here.
It does make one think about the future. Look at what the Singapore Government has announced for it's citizens age 40 and above - note what he says about SORA. I really recommend you watch this!
Adobe enters the world of AI music
Adobe is getting into the business of generating background tracks. Want an orchestra to play a background to a movie script? Just prompt it. It's early days, but watch the demo here, and some more background on what is being developed here.
Security
Make Sure you are patched - always
This is a reminder that you can never EVER relax when it comes to security. Microsoft has patched a new flaw in the Applocker driver in the February release. Read more about the flaw here.
What's up at FTG
FTG is offering an M365 CoPilot Readiness Workshop to help you get ready. You can register here.
An Insider View of Microsoft Security CoPilot
BUI is excited to personally invite you and your team to an exclusive one-on-one demo session we are hosting featuring Microsoft Security Copilot. It's a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase this cutting-edge technology to you. Sign up here.
Movies
Now Playing: Jungle Bunch 2
Now Playing: Dune Part 2 (This is probably the biggest movie for the year)
8 March: The Bricklayer
8 March: Imaginary
8 March: # Love my Selfie
8 March: Cabrini
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