Jason Chee

The Microsoft Imagine Cup is back! Imagine Cup is Microsoft’s annual global student competition where you have a chance to get your tech project on the global stage for the chance to win free travel, cash prizes, networking opportunities, and expert mentorship. Find out more here. Submissions are now open until December 1st, 2019! Looking for a team? Want to improve your idea? Need tips and tricks to submit your best? Join the Microsoft Student Partners at the pre-competition bootcamp to get ready. Register today to save your seat! Event details below. ...

You’ve just hooked your PC up to OneDrive, and perhaps you’re trying to download a large folder (or everything) off it. Halfway through, you get an error: “OneDrive can’t transfer files right now”. This is actually caused by your PC hitting a local transfer limit (not server sided) of about 500GB. Generally, you can wait a day and it’ll eventually start syncing again. Chances are though, you’d like to fix it immediately. Here’s how: The fix is relatively simple. ...

The Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform is a very powerful enterprise cloud. It does many things, from running websites to Virtual Machines to Machine Learning. As a student, you get $100 of Azure credits annually – no credit card required. Additionally, get access to over 25 always free services – including hosting up to 10 websites via the Azure App Service or even the Azure Face API to do facial recognition. We’ll start small for now, showing you how to claim your Azure for Students account and get a website running. ...

Singapore to Explore Next-Generation Digital Government Services with Conversations as a Platform Proof-of-Concept SINGAPORE, 12 July 2016 – Singapore is partnering with Microsoft on its “Conversations as a Platform” to explore opportunities in co-creating next-generation digital government services for a Smart Nation. At this year’s World Cities Summit “Innovative Solutions for a Smart City” conference track, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister-In-Charge of the Smart Nation Initiative, announced that the Government will explore next-generation government services based on a shift towards conversational computing - specifically, the use of intelligent software programs known as chatbots for selected public services where appropriate. These chatbots will function as digital representatives, simulating human behaviour in order to make interactions simpler, more efficient, and more consistent. In the mobile-first and cloud-first world that we all live in, citizens and constituents want public and business services that can interact with their digital lives – intelligent services that respond, act and communicate in fundamentally new ways that can augment human abilities and experiences and do so in a trustworthy manner. The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) will explore with Microsoft on a new computing proof-of-concept (POC) that builds conversational intelligence into public services, with the aim of making them more anticipatory, accessible, engaging and inclusive for citizens and constituents. “I believe there are more intuitive ways for government services to be delivered to our citizens. Everybody expects responsive and personalised interactions in real time. The recent quantum improvement of natural language processing means that ‘conversations’ will be the new medium. This joint research project with Microsoft to demonstrate the utility of conversational computing for public services will be all the more pertinent,” said Dr Vivian Balakrishnan. Conversations as a Platform represents a fundamental shift where the power of human language, artificial intelligence and machine learning are applied pervasively through computing interface and interaction. Essentially, computing systems, their apps and services, are infused with intelligence and context that shows up in the form of a bot to enable productive human to machine interaction within a single conversation – whether spoken or text – rather than needing individuals to navigate through a sea of icons to find and use multiple applications or look through pages and pages of Websites to accomplish tasks. “As everything around us becomes more digitised, Conversations as a Platform is a new shift that applies the understanding of human language to computers and computing, which can transform every industry,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “We’re excited to partner with organisations like the Government of Singapore to help transform its engagements with citizens and businesses to seize the opportunities ahead.” “As part of a Digital Government, IDA continues to explore partnership opportunities with the industry to co-create digital solutions for citizens and businesses. We have done so with virtual assistant ‘Ask Jamie,’ which has been successfully rolled out to some government agencies including IDA. We are happy to work with more partners, including Microsoft, to test out POCs which may enhance the way citizens and businesses interact online with the Government,” said Jacqueline Poh, Managing Director of IDA. The POC, which will be implemented in three phases, will involve intelligent chatbots, where users are able to converse with and call upon any applications within a single website to complete tasks. It will also explore potential future scenarios, including services that cater to a multi-lingual and multi-generational population. ...

NUS and Microsoft Collaborate on Data Science Education and Research New Memorandum of Understanding aims to accelerate innovation and skills for a Smart N__ation SINGAPORE, 27 May 2016 – The National University of Singapore (NUS) and Microsoft inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on data science education and research. As part of this collaboration, Microsoft also becomes the first industry partner of the newly-launched NUS Institute of Data Science, which will be the focal point for all data science research and translation, education and related activities at NUS. As Singapore continues on the journey to realise its Smart Nation vision, the demand for skilled individuals who understand how technology can be deployed effectively and efficiently to achieve productive and inclusive growth as a nation will only increase. Moreover, with vast amounts of data being collected through the nationwide network of sensors, the ability to make sense of and analyse huge amounts of complex data will enable Singapore to fully harness the power of technology to create solutions that can improve the lives of citizens, and create greater opportunities for businesses. [caption id=“attachment_21928” align=“aligncenter” width=“2272”] Professor Ho Teck Hua, Deputy President (Research & Technology) of NUS and Jessica Tan, Managing Director of Microsoft Singapore, sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on data science and research, witnessed by (from left) Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, President of NUS, Wong Ngit Liong, Chairman of NUS Board of Trustees, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft and Cesar Cernuda, President of Microsoft Asia Pacific.[/caption] The MoU, which established a private-public collaboration to enable research and tools development for data science, was signed by Professor Ho Teck Hua, Deputy President (Research & Technology) of NUS, and Jessica Tan, Managing Director of Microsoft Singapore. The signing ceremony was also witnessed by Wong Ngit Liong, Chairman of NUS Board of Trustees, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, President of NUS, Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, and Cesar Cernuda, President of Microsoft Asia Pacific, along with faculty members, students and guests. The collaboration provides a framework for both parties to work collectively on data science research, and translate the research into tools and methodologies that can be used by the industry and academia in Singapore and the Asia Pacific. The framework will also pave the way for both parties to collaborate on capability and talent development in the fields of analytics and research, with the aim of fostering a pool of skilled individuals equipped with a strong understanding of data analytics and data science, to support Singapore’s Smart Nation vision. Specifically, Microsoft will provide its Cortana Intelligence Suite Education Programme to help NUS faculties and schools create an optimal environment for data science labs and projects, as well as its Advanced Analytics Process and Technology (ADAPT) to enable the building and deploying of predictive models at NUS. The Cortana Intelligence Suite Education Programme will provide the following benefits to support the data science talent requirements in Singapore: ...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Affirms Commitment to Singapore Developers at Microsoft Developer Day Event Attended by over 1,700 students and developers, Microsoft underscored the role of developers in enabling the digital transformation, and in fostering a people-centric Smart Nation SINGAPORE, 27 May 2016 — Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reaffirmed the company’s commitment to empower the developer community in Singapore, to support the Smart Nation vision. He was speaking at the Microsoft Developer Day event, held at the National University of Singapore (NUS) where he highlighted the need for local developers to harness technology to the fullest, in order to be able to create opportunities, improve the lives of citizens, and build stronger communities for a people-centric Smart Nation. Over 1,700 students and developers attended the event, while an additional 3,000 followed the proceedings via live stream. [caption id=“attachment_21921” align=“aligncenter” width=“2272”] Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella delivering his keynote address at Microsoft Developer Day 2016 in Singapore.[/caption] During his keynote, Nadella underscored the role of the cloud and integrated technologies in helping businesses evolve and grow for the future, especially in today’s mobile-first, cloud-first world. He also highlighted that developers are expected to play a key role in enabling organisations to embrace digital transformation, and Microsoft is providing the resources and support to empower them to do so. “At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “If we’re going to achieve this mission, we must empower every developer in Singapore with the technology and platforms to express their creativity and change the world.” [caption id=“attachment_21923” align=“aligncenter” width=“2272”] Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella chats with students and developers over breakfast on their innovations and how they can leverage Microsoft platforms to power new innovations.[/caption] He shared the example of how young startups such as Overdrive is leveraging the intelligent cloud to provide a true Internet-of-Things (IoT) platform targeting smart devices and sensors on the move. Through the platform, this young startup uses IoT sensors and Azure IoT Suite to provide pre-emptive logistics management and optimisation to fleet owners. In addition to the over 1,000 vehicles they currently support, they have expanded their technology to other areas such as using IoT to provide concerned parents the location of their children to ensure that they arrive home safely. “Microsoft has been working closely with the local developer community over the years. Through our various programmes, we have been empowering them with the tools and support to innovate, to help themselves and others achieve more. With a growing set of intelligent tools and resources that we are making available for developers to leverage, we hope that this will pave the way for them to unlock new opportunities, and to make a greater impact for a smarter and more inclusive Singapore,” said Jessica Tan, Managing Director, Microsoft Singapore. [caption id=“attachment_21922” align=“aligncenter” width=“2272”] Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaking to developers about the importance of the ability to harness the power of data.[/caption] In his keynote, Nadella also highlighted how Astoria Solutions, which provides software solutions to companies in the marine and oil & gas industries, and noted how Astoria has grown from being a Microsoft BizSpark startup to Microsoft’s ISV Partner of the Year in a few short years. Astoria Solutions has since helped numerous companies increase revenue, boost efficiency and improve workplace safety with their solutions, and is now in the midst of expanding their business operations to Houston, USA, and the Middle East this year with Microsoft’s support. In closing, Nadella noted how Microsoft is also committed to nurturing the next generation of innovators to support Singapore’s Smart Nation vision, through a new collaboration with NUS on data science and research. This collaboration will enable the parties to work collectively on data science research with the aim of translating it into tools and methodologies that can be used by the industry and academia; and allow them to cooperate on capability and talent development in analytics and research, with the aim of fostering a pool of skilled individuals equipped with a strong understanding of data analytics and data science. [caption id=“attachment_21924” align=“aligncenter” width=“2272”] Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella meeting Ruth, an innovative social robot designed by student developers from Nanyang Polytechnic to assist the elderly as a personal assistant.[/caption] The Microsoft Developer Day event builds on the momentum from Build 2016 held in San Francisco in March, where Microsoft outlined how it would help developers embrace the new era of conversational intelligence and create more personal computing for every customer, industry and business. With Microsoft tools and services, developers can build on, and reach every platform, so they can code the way they want and reach as many customers as possible. Microsoft is also helping developers to build applications for the cloud realities of today, and the cloud evolution of tomorrow. The company is in a unique position to do this, as the only cloud provider that supports every organisation and developer, from core infrastructure services, to platform services and tools, to Software-as-a-Service, with the flexibility to build and run apps in any language across any platform.

We recently concluded the Microsoft Student Partners 2016 registration exercise, but what most people didn’t catch is that the website was full of Easter eggs and puzzles. Let me walk you through the backstage. For this year’s MSP recruitment, Microsoft reached out to a much larger student audience than we’ve ever handled. That meant we needed to implement some form of “noob filter”, taking the form of the 4 main questions: ...

It has been one amazing year for the Singapore Microsoft Student Partners - one abundant with firsts and achievements. At the MSP15 Graduation Dinner on 22nd April, Microsoft Singapore’s Senior Leadership Team and Education Team sat down with the graduating MSPs as well as faculty members from various institutions. Jessica Tan, Managing Director for Microsoft Singapore thanked the MSPs for their hard work throughout the year. Dave Miller, Director of DX in APAC talked about working at Microsoft. Finally, Cheng Lei, University Recruiter gave advise to MSPs on moving from an MSP to securing a role at Microsoft. [caption id=“attachment_21833” align=“alignleft” width=“300”] Campus Surprise at NP[/caption] Since the 2015 batch of MSPs started in April 2015, there have been numerous workshops and hackathons across all campuses, celebrating and evangelizing Microsoft technology. Between October and November, for example, the MSPs ran Campus Surprise, a consolidated effort to bring Microsoft to Polytechnics and Universities that reached over 50,000 students who represent the next generation of innovators and creators – for Windows 10, DreamSpark, Azure, and Office 365. Aside from reaching their fellow schoolmates, the MSPs have also made an impact on their faculty staff and educators, helping them better understand and collaborate more closely Microsoft. [caption id=“attachment_21831” align=“alignright” width=“300”] MSP Volunteers at Code for Change[/caption] Through Microsoft’s Code for Change, We Tech Care, and TechFemme events, MSPs played key roles in teaching younger children how to code, and raised awareness for Computer Science. Through such events in support of Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative, MSPs also encouraged young women to take up careers in Infocomm media. MSP15 comprised of 21% female, an encouraging number compared to the previous year’s 6%. Diversity and inclusion is something that Microsoft is passionate about and deeply committed to, and this is a number we hope will grow as time passes. [caption id=“attachment_21832” align=“alignleft” width=“300”] Imagine Cup Singapore Finals 2016[/caption] Several MSPs attained notable achievements as well - the inaugural Microsoft Student Partner of the Year title, IT Youth Award finalists, Imagine Cup champions, and representing Singapore in Microsoft Office Specialist World Championships and Adobe Certified Associate World Champions are just the tip of the iceberg. With the new relationships built with many faculty members in the past year - bringing SUTD, SIM, and SIT on board the MSP programme, MSP16 is no doubt something to look forward to as we calibrate every part of Microsoft to deliver on our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

Coding comes to ITE College West with Microsoft Code for Change More than 700 students across specialisations introduced to basic app creation and computational thinking SINGAPORE – 11 April 2016 – Microsoft today conducted coding workshops for some 700 ITE College West students under its Code for Change programme, introducing them to the basics of coding for app creation and computational thinking. Held over two sessions for students across the four schools at the College – the School of Electronics & Info-Comm Technology, School of Hospitality, School of Engineering and School of Business & Services – the workshops provided students across various fields of study with the opportunity to learn and share the experience of coding alongside their peers. The activity also marks the first large-scale on-campus training for post-secondary students under the Code for Change programme. Launched in July 2015, Code for Change is a three-year nationwide initiative spearheaded by Microsoft, supported by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and the Science Centre Singapore, to boost next-generation talent development in support of Singapore’s Smart Nation vision. Through Code for Change, Microsoft is leading specific programmes to help young talents nationwide develop computational thinking skills. Defined as the ability to dissect problems and formulate solutions in a way that computers can understand and evaluate, computational thinking is an increasingly important skillset in the technology-permeated landscape. During the workshops held today, the ITE College West students tried their hand at building apps through Touch Develop, an interactive programming environment developed by Microsoft Research. Using their mobile phones or laptops, the students were exposed to how they can easily code on familiar everyday devices in a fun and accessible manner. [caption id=“attachment_21809” align=“alignleft” width=“300”] A Microsoft instructor shows ITE College West students how to build apps through Touch Develop, an interactive programming environment developed by Microsoft Research[/caption] The workshops were designed to allow all students, regardless of knowledge of coding or course of study, to create their own app by the end of the session. Besides those enrolled in the four courses from the School of Electronics & Info-Comm Technology (Higher Nitec in Information Technology, Higher Nitec in Cyber and Network Security, Higher Nitec in Electronics Engineering and Higher Nitec in Security System Integration), ITE College West students who participated in the training also come from other fields of study including the Higher Nitec in Hospitality Operations course from the School of Hospitality, the Nitec in Automotive Technology (Light Vehicles) and Nitec in Automotive Technology (Heavy Vehicles) courses from the School of Engineering and the Higher Nitec in Leisure & Travel Operations and Higher Nitec in Service Management courses from the School of Business & Services. “As Singapore transforms into a Smart Nation, it is important for the workforce of tomorrow to understand how technology works and how it can be used to improve the way we work, live and play. Coding and computational thinking are no longer areas that are important only to those in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. In fact, computational thinking is also embraced for its wide applicability to solve everyday problems. We are proud to be able to work closely with partners, schools and institutions such as the ITE to introduce coding to even more students and equip young talents with the necessary skillsets to become innovators of the future. Through Code for Change and our other initiatives, Microsoft will continue to get more people started on their coding journey and contribute towards the development of computational thinking as a national capability,” said Nobuhiro Ito, Director, Developer Experience & Evangelism, Microsoft Singapore. “As we prepare our students to be ready for their careers, we hope this coding workshop will help them develop computational thinking skills such as analytical and problem solving skills, creativity and logical thinking. These skills are transferable assets across industries and will certainly allow them to contribute more in their future jobs,” said Tan Kay Chuan, Director, School of Electronics & Info-Comm Technology, ITE College West. [caption id=“attachment_21810” align=“alignright” width=“300”] Students from ITE College West creating their own apps at Microsoft’s Code for Change workshop[/caption] Since its launch last year, Code for Change has reached over 147,000 learners and youths through various coding programmes such as learning experiences through on and off-campus curricula, events and competitions that impart the fundamental concepts of programming for software, applications and websites. Examples include Kodu coding workshops for lower primary students, Hour of Code programmes for upper primary and lower secondary students, Touch Develop and Project Spark workshops for secondary school, post-secondary and junior college students, and the Microsoft Imagine Cup Competition for institutes of higher learning. Microsoft and Science Centre Singapore also joined hands to achieve a record-breaking feat that made its way into the Singapore Book of Records for the Largest Number of People Wearing Illuminated LED TShirts. The event saw over 180 students from 17 schools across Singapore, as well as participants from Microsoft and Science Centre Singapore, come together to design and code individual LED T-Shirts, which lit up in unison to complete the record-breaking milestone. In addition, Microsoft has leveraged its partner network to conduct coding workshops for students and adults at Science Centre Singapore, and support Science Centre Singapore’s efforts in fostering widespread interest in the STEM fields. Code for Change events are running throughout the year and upcoming events opened to the public include: ...

Singapore Polytechnic and Nanyang Polytechnic Students Crowned Champions at the Microsoft Imagine Cup Singapore 2016 Standing out with innovative projects that demonstrated potential to influence gaming, healthcare and customer care fields, three teams now stand a chance to represent Singapore at the Imagine Cup 2016 World Finals in Seattle, Washington, USA SINGAPORE, 1 April 2016 — Microsoft Singapore today crowned three outstanding student teams from Singapore Polytechnic and Nanyang Polytechnic as the Games, Innovation and World Citizenship champions of Microsoft Imagine Cup Singapore 2016. Centred upon the theme “Creating with Code”, this year’s Imagine Cup competition saw a total of 65 project entries from 150 tertiary students, presenting a wide range of innovative applications, games and solutions that have the potential to influence gaming, healthcare, education, environment and customer care fields. Into its 14th edition this year, Microsoft’s premier student technology competition has inspired countless students over the years to dream and build original solutions that can change the world. This year, the winning projects – Imagine by Team Holy Trinity from Singapore Polytechnic, NYX by Team Natural Conquistadors from Singapore Polytechnic and Ruth by Team Yuuy from Nanyang Polytechnic outshone their competitors with their innovation and soundness of ideas, to emerge as victors in the Microsoft Imagine Cup Singapore 2016 Finals. ...