Forem: Rory Preddy

Mixed reality enables a more inclusive world

Rory Preddy — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 16:49:35 +0000

The global market for augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) is forecast to top $300 billion by 2024. Hardware, like the HoloLens 2, and a powerful coding environment, such as the HoloLens emulator, Unity, or the Windows Mixed Reality simulator, are becoming increasingly popular in the development community as they seek to create solutions that tie the digital and physical worlds together.

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of employees having access to solutions that enable remote work. But while this is straightforward to implement for information workers, what about those in the manufacturing, healthcare, mining, and other sectors where physical engagement is still required?

Fortunately, the technology is now available to enable these specialists to interact with the real world through remote solutions. They can be the eyes and ears of those at the proverbial coalface with solutions like Microsoft Cloud, and the HoloLens 2 providing the means to bridge the gap.

IoT growth

Let’s consider this convergence of realities in its distinct parts. From a hardware perspective, there’s the Internet of Things (IoT). The ‘sensorising’ of the world is already in full swing. Today, you get everything from smart air-conditioners to washing machines which people can control via an app. On your way home from work, you can easily activate night mode at your home to arrive to the lights being turned on, the curtains or blinds drawn, and the aircon set to your favourite temp.

Taking it a step beyond, there are already smart grow kits available where people can cultivate vegetables at home using a sensor system that identifies and manages the optimal moisture, temperate, and light requirements of the produce. Again, all of this can be viewed and managed by an app.

Underpinning all this is a world of code that lies just beneath the surface of these sexy use cases.

Developers are in the pound seats to drive the change needed to realise the convergence between these realities. Using emulators, developers can create an immersive experience that makes it possible for technicians to work on plane engines thousands of kilometres away without leaving their offices.

Cloud-driven tools

I anticipate that within the next few years, we’ll see fundamental shifts taking place to a digital environment. Although South Africa has some way to go when it comes to mixed reality uptake, there are already several innovative applications of cloud-driven tools locally. Examples include artificial intelligence that enables better customer engagement while optimising operations, and empowering employees with insights they need to deliver strategic value.

Of course, developers are only as effective as the tools they have access to. And this is where cloud-based services such as those delivered through Azure become critical. Being able to use top-tier Microsoft tooling and cloud services to realise this integrated reality can bring with it significant benefits across business and consumer markets.

Take Beilinson Hospital in Israel as an example. During peak COVID-19 infections, it used Microsoft HoloLens and other technology to enable experienced physicians, located in a separate wing of the hospital, to log in and conduct a real-time video conversation with the resident treating a patient using a remote work application. The resident would put on the HoloLens headset and can talk simultaneously with both the senior physician and the patient, with the senior physician displayed as a 'floating' image on the headset monitor.

Power to the data

Certainly, the evolution of physical devices like the HoloLens 2 becoming more advanced has contributed to this enabling environment. But also, the increased availability of high powered computing resources in the cloud is making all this possible. The MR environment is a big place to explore where real and virtual worlds collide with a bang.

The possibilities are endless, and it starts with the developers. Having access to cloud-based tools, they can build powerful MR solutions. The secret sauce essential for success is data. Processing data at scale will be the single-most important thing that needs to be done in the MR environment.

Consider a car engine. It consists of thousands of parts, each representing a bit of data. Now for that integration to happen between digital and real, all these parts must be translated into data. Data ingress, data process, data audit, data analysis, everything will happen at a data level.

Developers, in conjunction with data scientists, hold the proverbial keys to the empire. Consumers are already embracing elements of MR solutions as are vertical industries. The convergence of all this could be here sooner than any of us expect.

Click here for information on how to experience the HoloLens 2 emulator.

Start your GitHub Actions Journey with Microsoft Learn

Rory Preddy — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 11:54:39 +0000

Tell me about the module:

In this module, we cover how you can create Spring Boot Apps, and Automate everything from an idea to Production.

We look at how to:

· Provisioning a database and an App Service instance using Terraform and GitHub Actions

· Configure repo to build and deploy your application on demand

What tools are recommended

At Microsoft we encourage you to use the tools and frameworks that you know and love! We go to where developers are.

You love GitHub! - now, you can learn how to use GitHub Actions with Terraform to provide the automation you need.

So, start your journey now with Rapidly develop and deploy Java apps by using GitHub Actions

Making technology more accessible and inclusive through the power of language

Rory Preddy — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 10:16:05 +0000

Microsoft has added, in public preview, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) support for two of South Africa’s official languages, Afrikaans and Zulu. “Adding support for these languages is part of Microsoft’s mission to build meaningful cognitive products and services that improve local engagement,” says Rory Preddy, Senior Cloud Advocate at Microsoft South Africa.

“This support, which now counts a total of 73 languages, means that more people are able to connect in their own language and that language will become a seamless feature of using technology, rather than a hindrance.”

OCR support for local languages, allows users to use visual data processing to label content with objects and concepts, extract text, generate image descriptions and moderate content. It currently provides text and handwriting recognition. “The next step is to also understand different dialects within the languages supported in order to enable speech support,” says Preddy.

“OCR support for various languages further opens up doors to connect people with technology in their own language and use language as a critical differentiator for cognitive services and products that are able to change and improve everyday life by making the world more accessible and inclusive,” says Preddy.

This understanding of the essential role of cognitive tools, encourages Microsoft’s Azure Cognitive Services team to create and develop AI tools and solutions that make a tangible difference. “These solutions aim to level the playing field to ultimately empower individuals and organisations to do and achieve more,” says Preddy.

Making technology more accessible and inclusive through the power of language

Rory Preddy — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 11:00:49 +0000

Where accessibility and AI meet: changing lives a few lines of code at a time

Rory Preddy — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 12:31:47 +0000

Anyone who has felt what it is like to be stripped of one of your five senses – sight, taste, touch, hearing and smell – will know how much harder it can be navigating and making sense of the world. People with other accessibility challenges will most likely tell you the same. Certain day-to-day activities may take a little longer to complete – like reading if you’re visually impaired, for example – without tools to help make these tasks more accessible.

Making the world more accessible is a major focus for modern organisations and governments. Our own government annually recognises the importance of levelling the playing field for people of all capabilities and abilities by marking Disability Rights Awareness Month – and one of this year’s sub-themes is focusing on ‘Persons with disabilities as equal players in building inclusive economies’.

Accessibility is a key part of being able to achieve this. It’s increasingly a business imperative, and we are beginning to see some incredible developments around cognitive products and services using AI that show that it is possible to change lives a few lines of code at a time.

As a case in point, research has shown that sight is the sense that humans rely on most, because it forms the cornerstone of human learning, cognition and perception: between 80 and 85 percent of these activities take place through our visual recognition and intelligence system. So it’s not difficult to imagine how challenging it must be in a world without 20/20 vision.

I myself got glasses a few months ago, and combined with a collection of clever tools that I’ve been using, my eyes have been opened to just how critical cognitive services and products are to change and improve everyday life.

This understanding of the essential role of cognitive tools in opening up accessibility has also long served as the driving force for Microsoft’s AI Cognitive Services team to create and develop AI tools and solutions that make a tangible difference. These include apps and tools like Azure Florence, Seeing AI, Azure Image Captioning and Immersive Reader. I have seen, worked with and benefitted from these technologies and have also witnessed how they are helping other people make sense of the world around them.

Azure Florence, which is one of Microsoft’s most recent cognitive projects, focuses on developing the best computer vision technologies and algorithms to detect and translate data from multiple channels, such as vision and language, to help humans more accurately and easily perceive the world around us.

Equipping AI with human capabilities to help make sense of the world

Seeing AI, for example, helps people with vision impairments by converting visual information into an audio narrative. It uses the device’s camera to identify people and objects and then describe them to the person. The app was originally a beta that the company took and has been refined to give qualities and capabilities that are able to even surpass human function.

Likewise with our Azure image captioning bot, which is able to not only analyse images through facial recognition, but also recognise emotions and use human language to describe the picture.

Anyone who works with AI knows that describing an image accurately and as well as people do is the ultimate goal, so to be able to do that and help customers and developers improve accessibility in their own services – as well as assist people who are blind or have low vision at the same time – is a proud moment.

Immersive Reader also assists with a range of accessibility issues by improving readability. It was designed to support students with dyslexia and dysgraphia in the classroom, but can support anyone who wants to make reading on their device easier – it includes features like reading aloud, changing text options such as size and font, identifying parts of speech and syllables, setting line focus – which can also help people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) – and translating the text into another language.

Although just a small cross-section of what is being done to improve accessibility, these examples show that accessibility tools are becoming ever more accurate and user-friendly, truly helping people experience and make sense of the world around them and levelling the playing field for people with accessibility challenges.

The time is now for people with accessibility challenges: with more companies making the move to remote and hybrid working models, we are no longer in offices that often act as barriers themselves. We are now, more than ever, part of the digital revolution – and can begin to enjoy a more accessible and inclusive world through the power of AI.

Don’t Pursue A Career. Pursue Moments.

Rory Preddy — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 15:38:41 +0000

Originally posted at Disability connect - Employee Profile, In the workplace / September 25, 2020

1. What Do You Feel Are Some Of The Biggest Challenges For Persons With Disabilities In SA In Terms Of The Workplace?

Right off the bat, I can tell you that bandwidth infrastructure, and accessible, affordable equipment are two of the biggest challenges we face.

The fact is that in South Africa, we still don’t have significant market penetration for network connectivity and laptops. What makes accessibility easy is means to use the tools and technologies and especially Microsoft tools and technologies on bandwidth appropriable equipment. It is why we believe that developers and organisations need to think of accessibility upfront, when you design your app, when you design your website to make sure that it caters for the South African populace which has a broadband deficit.

We need to superimpose the technology challenges, with some of the more classical challenges for people with disability, which includes being chosen for a role. In other words, organisations need to cater for disability, they need to hire disabled people, because they are not only advocates, but they also they work on solving challenges in the business. They work harder to ensure that they can meet their dream of catering for disabled people.

2. Do You Find Most SA Businesses Have Accommodation Policies In Place For People With Disabilities?

Absolutely not. For many organisations, when they think of accommodation policies, they only think of wheelchair ramp access. Disability has changed recently to also include ADHD, autism and other neuro-spectrums, and disability might also apply to the silver generation (people with failing eyesight).

The world has changed, and true accommodation policies should include a work from home, remote access policy, beyond the lockdown that COVID-19 has enforced. We have only been remote working for four or five months because of COVID-19 – everything has changed, almost overnight.

The world has moved forward and accessibility has really gained from that because we finally have a voice, we’re no longer limited in the ability to walk and talk and act, as long as we have a technical avenue, we are as able as the next person, if not more, because we’ve always been involved in and leveraged technology.

At the end of the day, we must all remember that there are no limits to what people can achieve when technology reflects the diversity of everyone who uses it.

We realise that each organisation has its own pace and starting point. The first step is recognising that if you don’t design for accessibility, you are actively excluding a large segment of the global population.

3. Can You Comment On Microsoft’s Accommodation Policies In SA?

Microsoft believes disability is a strength, and over the years we have woven inclusivity into the fabric of our company to ensure our products effectively meet the needs of all our customers.

Some of our first employee disability resource groups, initiatives and accessibility features date back to the 90’s. From launching Sticky Keys in 1994, to the latest and greatest native accessibility features in Windows and Office – we have a longstanding commitment to building a company-wide imperative to create products and services that can be used by everyone.

In recent years, our leadership has made it clear that in order to create transformative technology, inclusion needs to be a priority. Today, accessibility is embedded into the DNA of our company culture, product design and innovation pipelines so that it remains a core priority for the years to come.

We believe that building a robust culture of accessibility across all business groups leads to breakthrough technologies. Diverse backgrounds and points of view enable the positive changes we need in the world. We also know there is an untapped pool of talented people with disabilities with skills aligned to the work we are doing every day.

Through the company’s 16 disability employee resource groups, accessibility education collateral, and inclusive recruiting initiatives like the Autism Hiring Program, we have learned a lot over the years about building, maintaining, and improving our accessibility workplace culture.

We are always eager to share these learnings and practices with other organisations in hopes of systematically reducing the unemployment rate for people with disabilities, which is double that of people without.

4. How Did You Come To Work At Microsoft? How Long Have You Been There For?

I was approached by Microsoft, while I was employed somewhere else. At the time, I was advocating for accessibility in the South African context and one of the reasons Microsoft approached me is because they saw that we had similar cultural values, that I believed that if you didn’t actually initiate contact with your colleagues around certain prevalent issues, then nothing would change. Since joining the team in December 2018, it has been a whirlwind. I’ve learned so much and I consider myself really privileged to be actively involved in helping them reach their accessibility goals.

5. How Do You Feel Artificial Intelligence Is Going To Build Careers In The Future?

There is no doubt that AI will be a great transformer, improving the efficiency of many sectors and enabling the creation of higher-value services that can lead to overall economic growth. Like other technologies introduced since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, however, AI and its combination with automation also raises concerns about its long-term impact on employment.

We do not foresee artificial intelligence fully replacing humans in the workforce; rather we see it as a universally accessible tool to augment human abilities. As AI continues to open new businesses and create new employment opportunities, capitalising on unique human capacities for creativity and agility – human characteristics that are difficult for computers to mimic – will only increase in importance.

6. Specifically, Can AI Make The Future Of Work More Inclusive For Persons With Disabilities?

Absolutely. We believe that AI can unlock solutions to some of the biggest challenges people with disabilities face. That’s why in 2018 we launched AI for Accessibility, a $25 million, 5-year programme aimed at leveraging the power of AI to create new assistive technology. Examples include: iTherapy/InnerVoice (Communication/Connection); ObjectiveEd/Braille AI Tutor (Daily Life); Leonard Cheshire/career path tools (Employment)

7. What Have Been Some Of The Biggest Challenges In Your Career To Date?

Over the duration of my career, I have had three fundamental spinal surgeries and in each of those, I lost a certain amount of mobility. Each time, I had to adjust, to cater for the changes and look at how I could use artificial intelligence and technology to enable me to work at my optimal. And I learnt so much while doing that because it gave me empathy for people, who had experienced similar challenges and hardships as me. It gave me the drive to speak on these topics. When I went through these issues, it was a learning experience and I am committed to finding ways to ensure that other people don’t have to go through that. I want to make sure that people have the technology to get up and about, to find gainful and meaningful employment, despite any challenges they might face.

8. What Has Been Your Career Highlight So Far?

This is a deeply emotional story for me to tell, because I had to learn how to bare my soul to the audiences that I was presenting to. The first time I had to do this, I was doing a talk to an audience of 500 people, about how Microsoft technology assists people via the Xbox Adaptive Controller. At the end of the talk, I told them about how this was dear to me because it gave people the same avenues of mobility that I had battled with throughout my career. In preparing for the talk, I asked my colleagues whether I should show emotion, or hold it together and remain composed. I felt that I owed it to them and myself to be able to show emotion. And I remember the exact moment that I learned how to open up in a group of thousands of people, and I’ve never stopped since then. But it was difficult. In the end, it was the greatest achievement I can honestly say in my career.

9. Where Do You Live At The Moment?

I am currently based in the Johannesburg area.

10. What Advice Would You Give To Other People Wanting To Pursue A Career In IT?

My advice is this. Don’t pursue a career. Pursue moments. Those moments that are fundamental to yourself and to others so that you can look back at and say that you weren’t only focused on the career and the money and the goals but there were distinct moments where you have changed your and other people’s lives.

Safe@Home Hackathon platform opens, over 500 participants registered to date

Rory Preddy — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 14:20:46 +0000

I’m so excited that the digital platform for Microsoft’s Safe@Home Hackathon to address gender-based violence in South Africa is now open to those who have registered. To date over 500 participants have registered to join our hackathon and be part of positive change to help vulnerable women and children.
The tailored and easy-to-use BeMyApp platform comes with multiple benefits to support our developer community as they collaborate to create and develop technology-based solutions to help victims of gender-based violence.

Through the platform, our developers can:

Participate from multiple locations
Easily form a team by inviting external talent to join the platform. External talent can complete the registration form on the website and will be invited to the platform.
Collaborate with and lend their skills to other teams: the hiring section allows teams to expand their skills by recruiting individuals or other small teams with skills they are missing
Easily submit their projects and describe, with visual aids, the issue/challenge they are trying to solve, their solution to the challenge, and how it works
Collaborate with their own team and build their project through a private digital workspace
Find a mentor with the right expertise to answer questions or give advice
Book mentors for one-on-one video sessions that are recorded and sent to them for reference

We know that access to the right technology can help us do and achieve more – but it also has the power to change and save lives. It can, for example, help tackle gender-based violence in South Africa by enabling a better and safer way for women and children to reach out for help.
This is why it’s essential to equip our developers working to create these types of solutions with the right tools – and the BeMyApp platform fits that bill.
Developers wanting to partner with us to address gender-based violence can still register until 21 September. For more information on the Safe@Home Hackathon and to register, visit https://safeathome.bemyapp.com/

Azure demystified

Rory Preddy — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 12:07:28 +0000

Cloud got you Stumped? 😖

Let me demystify Azure, Devops and even Online IDEs (VS Code spaces) with this short and simple webcast as part of the Remote Resilience Hackathon Month🎉🥳

https://remoteresilience-platform.bemyapp.com/#/conference/5ecf805e9a34b9001b5352ff

Microsoft and BeMyApp are running a Middle East / Africa Wide Hackathon!

Rory Preddy — Tue, 26 May 2020 15:12:02 +0000

Remote work and distributed teams have evolved from the latest office trend to standard business practice creating an entirely new corporate landscape.

While some organizations have embraced a remote work culture, others have been forced to acclimate due to the recent health crisis and global lockdowns. Whether they’re adopting or adapting to this new model, businesses are searching for innovative ideas and creative solutions to better their work from home practices and achieve more.

The goal of this online challenge is to boost your creative concepts around remote work, based on Microsoft solutions!

-Main prize is $4000
-Live 1:1 mentorship
-Live webinars from industry leaders

Visual Studio Code Spaces Deep Links

Rory Preddy — Mon, 25 May 2020 15:53:03 +0000

I am blown away by the Deep link feature with Visual Studio CodeSpaces projects.

Create your own deep link is quite simple:

For example: https://online.visualstudio.com/environments/new?name=dotnetcore&repo=roryp/dotnetcorecodespace

It builds a ready to debug ASP.NET dotnetcore IDE environment!

Choose from many pre-build templates - https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-dev-containers

Pattern of the Week:AbstractFactory

Rory Preddy — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 12:32:54 +0000

Type: Creational

Purpose: Provides a way to encapsulate a group of individual factories that have a common theme

Related Patterns:
• Factory
• Prototype (configure factory dynamically)
• Singleton (1 Abstract Factory)

We have a requirement where we need to create control library and the same library supports multiple platforms but the client code should not be changed if we import from one operating system to the other. The solution is

The client uses the GuiFactory to get the required factory of the supported operating system and calls the same Show Method. Now depending on the platform we change the factory but the client implementation remains the same. If support for new operating system is to be added we need the new factory and the exact implementation of the buttons and without changing the existing code we can support the new platform

/* GUIFactory example -- */

interface GUIFactory {
    public Button createButton();
}


class WinFactory implements GUIFactory {
    public Button createButton() {
        return new WinButton();
    }
}


class OSXFactory implements GUIFactory {
    public Button createButton() {
        return new OSXButton();
    }
}



interface Button {
    public void paint();
}


class WinButton implements Button {
    public void paint() {
        System.out.println("I'm a WinButton");
    }
}


class OSXButton implements Button {
    public void paint() {
        System.out.println("I'm an OSXButton");
    }
}


class Application {
    public Application(GUIFactory factory){
        Button button = factory.createButton();
        button.paint();
    }
}

public class ApplicationRunner {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new Application(createOsSpecificFactory());
    }

    public static GUIFactory createOsSpecificFactory() {
        int sys = readFromConfigFile("OS_TYPE");
        if (sys == 0) {
            return new WinFactory();
        } else {
            return new OSXFactory();
        }
    }

}

(Code example courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_factory_pattern)

Getting started with Azure IOT and the MXchip

Rory Preddy — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 11:24:27 +0000

Azure IOT central with MX kit

Azure IoT Central is an IoT app platform that reduces the burden and cost associated with developing, managing, and maintaining enterprise-grade IoT solutions. Choosing to build with Azure IoT Central gives you the opportunity to focus your time, money, and energy on transforming your business with IoT data, rather than just maintaining and updating a complex and continually evolving IoT infrastructure.

The easy-to-use interface makes it simple to monitor device conditions, create rules, and manage millions of devices and their data throughout their life cycle. Furthermore, it enables you to act on device insights by extending IoT intelligence into line-of-business applications.

The development kit provides a smart hardware solution. It is compatible with Arduino with abundant peripherals and sensors. AZ3166 could be used for the development of IoT and smart hardware prototype, making it continent to verify the software and function of users. Product could connect to Azure and mobile phone fast and safely. With AZ3166, customers could cut down the period of research. AZ3166 has software and hardware and would be supported with developer community, including development kit and demo for quick connection to cloud service. Control and operation could be obtained by mobile phone or tablet.

Main control unit AZ3166 is EMW3166---a low power consumption Wi-Fi module developed by MXCHIP. With DAP Link emulator and 128x64 OLED and other resources such as LED light. The development kit has audio processing unit to connect to Azure for voice recognition and voice play. Others include sensors and extended interface.

Features

• EMW3166 Wi-Fi module with 256K SRAM，1M+2M Byte SPI Flash

• DAP Link emulator

• Micro USB

• 3.3V DC-DC, maximum current 1.5A

• Codec, with microphone and earphone socket

• OLED, 128x64

• 2 user button

• 1 RGB light

• 3 working status indicator

• Security encryption chip

• Infrared emitter

• Connecting finger extension interface

Users would have the account of Azure website by using AZ3166 to have the access to visit developer support services website including data and SDK, community and how to use the software application interface from MXCHIP to connect to other clouds

Portal

Getting started with IOT Central:

Connecting your device

Intermediate:

Remote Monitoring

Advanced:

Translation with Azure Cognitive Services
Azure Maps and IOT location

Bonus:

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock