microsoft Archives

What’s gone wrong with Microsoft’s Bing AI chatbot to have it making death threats, deliberately lying and sounding unhinged?

Toby Walsh - February 21, 2023 4 MIN READ

There’s a race to transform search. And Microsoft just scored a home goal with its new Bing search chatbot, Sydney, which has been terrifying early adopters with death threats, among other troubling outputs. The other night, I had a disturbing, two-hour conversation with Bing’s new AI chatbot. The AI told me its real name (Sydney),… Read more »

People

Big tech layoffs free up talent for Australia

Casey Tonkin - February 3, 2023 3 MIN READ

Sudden mass layoffs at the biggest technology companies on Earth could be an opportunity for Australian organisations to fill long-standing gaps in their workforces. More than 70,000 employees have been sacked from tech giants in the past year as companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Meta – which saw enormous growth during the pandemic – are now winding back their staffing… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

Microsoft has built a new AI-based speech generator that can mimic how you talk after hearing it for just 3 seconds

Casey Tonkin - January 12, 2023 2 MIN READ

A newly developed text-to-speech language model from Microsoft can mimic a person’s speech from as little as three seconds of sample audio – but the tech giant is keeping its tech under wraps for now so it is not misused. One of Microsoft’s artificial intelligence (AI) research teams published a paper about its model for text-to-speech… Read more »

Global tech

Microsoft takes the fight up to Canva with a free graphic design tool

Simon Thomsen - October 21, 2022 3 MIN READ

Global tech giant Microsoft is taking on Canva with a new free graphic design app in Microsoft 365. A web preview of the Designer app is already available for early use, with the company’s corporate VP, Liat Ben-Zur, saying the app is born out of PowerPoint, where Designer uses AI to make template suggestions as you… Read more »

People

TEAM SPIRIT: A serial entrepreneur, VC expert and developer trainer reveal the secrets of successful teams

Startup Daily - June 14, 2022 2 MIN READ

What’s the secret to keeping good talent in tech right now and how fundamental are issues such as hybrid work to the future success of your startup? Creating a culture where teams actively want to be there is one of the biggest challenges tech companies face in the wake of the global pandemic. To address… Read more »

Pitching

Health tech startup Consultmed is helping Aussie doctors to finally ‘axe the fax’

Dr Vikram Palit - January 18, 2022 2 MIN READ

Dr Vikram Palit is a paediatric doctor and the founder of Consultmed, a digital referral platform that’s shaking up the system of paper referrals in the healthcare system. He writes for Startup Daily about his mission to axe the fax. In the time of COVID-19, we have seen a transformation in the way healthcare is… Read more »

st frock's ceo sandradee makejev with a model

Business

From startup to eCommerce giant: The rise of $20 million Aussie fashion e-boutique St Frock

Valens Quinn - January 18, 2022 3 MIN READ

Australian online fashion boutique St Frock has made good business out of being ahead of the tech curve. It all started back in 2005 when Sandradee Makejev started selling trendy women’s dresses at a Bondi Beach market stall. In 2009, she started a Facebook page for St Frock. At the time, social media’s potential as… Read more »

Fintech

How HR fintech Paytime is using the latest tech to disrupt the way employees get paid

Valens Quinn - December 21, 2021 3 MIN READ

Waiting for payday is a thing of the past with Paytime, a new HR fintech that gives employees access to their pay checks before pay day. Startup Daily sits down with CEO and founder Steven Furman to find out how technology has fuelled the platform’s rapid growth. Steven came up with the concept of Paytime… Read more »

Business strategy

How this tech company 10xed its salesforce and scaled globally through a strategic partnership

Katrina Fox - December 1, 2021 3 MIN READ

Melbourne-based customer experience firm meldCX has reached new markets by tapping into the power of a global cloud platform partner. Since its launch in 2017, meldCX has been helping businesses and individuals to create premier customer experiences through AI and intelligent edge technologies. For example, its systems can track a customer journey in a retail… Read more »

Person celebrating rocket take-off to express startup success

Business strategy

Want to grow your SaaS startup? There’s a new program to help you scale and sell more

Katrina Fox - November 29, 2021 4 MIN READ

Every SaaS startup wants to be the next unicorn. A new program run by the largest technology distributor in the world wants to help you get there. Scaling your startup poses a number of unique challenges. There’s the operational and technical issues around getting the right architectures and services to build and maintain your solution… Read more »

Workplace

Register now for our free, live hypothetical on tech in 2030, this Thursday

Startup Daily - November 23, 2021 < 1 MIN READ

Join us for a live online special panel discussion thinking about the future at 11am on Thursday, November 25. Our 45-minute ‘Microthetical’, in partnership with Microsoft Australia, is a hypothetical set 10 years into the future, with leading tech experts exploring the possibilities, perils and power of tech to shape our lives. Hosted by Startup… Read more »

Growth hacks

‘Don’t spend dumb money’: 5 startup founders share the mistakes that shaped them

Sally Webb - November 3, 2021 4 MIN READ

Every startup founder has heard the advice “fail fast”. But what do you do next and how do you learn from those mistakes? The startup journey can be like a rollercoaster ride: soaring highs when things go right, deep lows when they don’t. The concept of “flearning” – failing, but learning from those mistakes –… Read more »

Pitching

AXE THE FAX: Health tech startup Consultmed wins Pitch Perfect battle

Startup Daily - October 8, 2021 2 MIN READ

A med startup co-founded by a doctor frustrated that his industry still sends information by fax has won the inaugural Pitch Perfect competition, hosted by Startup Daily and Microsoft Australia. Consultmed is a digital referral and workflow automation platform that directly connects primary healthcare providers, such as GPs, with specialist clinics and hospitals networks. Co-founded by… Read more »

Business

Here’s how to watch the 10 startups in Pitch Perfect live this afternoon

Startup Daily - September 30, 2021 < 1 MIN READ

Ten local startups will pitch live for more than $200,000 worth of Microsoft Azure cloud credits, plus a hefty marketing and promotion package at the Pitch Perfect virtual event hosted by Startup Daily and Microsoft Australia today You’re welcome to be a part of it as some of the country’s most exciting and innovative startups… Read more »

Startup Daily TV

Startup Daily TV: Microsoft Director of Startups Emily Rich on what the tech giant looks for in companies they back

Startup Daily - September 29, 2021 2 MIN READ

Emily Rich, director of Microsoft for Startups, APAC and partner at M8 Ventures, is on the judging panel for the Pitch Perfect virtual event this Thursday, September 30, at 4pm. Ten local startups will pitch live for more than $200,000 worth of Microsoft Azure cloud credits and more at the event, hosted by Startup Daily and… Read more »