>> Hello World, and Welcome to Microsoft Unboxed.
[MUSIC]
>> My name is Colleen O'Brien and I'm here
with my co-host Sonia Dara.
>> Hello.
>> Every week we're going to be taking a look at the stories of
Microsoft technology and the people behind that technology.
Sonia and I are each going to have secret stories.
Sonia will have some stories that only she has read.
I will have some stories that I have read.
>> You'll share your stories and then I'll share mine.
>> Excellent.
>> I'll synergize.
>> I love a good buzzword.
>> Other buzzwords.
>> Yes.
>> Our hope is that these stories really inspire you but
also gives you some great talking points to be the star,
a water cooler conversation,
those places where people might notice if you're a good chat.
>> You want to be a good chat.
Is that part of your new year's resolution.
>> It's an aspiration.
>> To be a good chat.
>> I always noticed when people are good chat like,
"Oh, that person's a good chat."
>> So they're not a good chatter,
they're are just a good chat.
Is that the terminology? Am I getting that?
>> Yeah. Maybe my grammar is a little off here,
but I think in my head,
that person's a good chat.
>> That's good.
>> Yeah.
>> You can all be good chats,
plural I guess, in the end of this episode and this series.
Let's start with the first one.
Well, what's our first topic, Colleen?
>> The theme of our episode today is mixed reality.
So, Sonia and I are going to be sharing stories of
how mixed reality is showing up in different workplaces.
>> Okay. So, there's VR, AR, MR.
Virtual reality is when you can't see anything.
So, like Oculus. It would
be that you are fully immersed in a new world.
>> Augmented reality is taking user interfaces,
or the apps that you use.
>> Jarvis, from Iron Man.
Jarvis has all the chat raised, so augmented.
>> Exactly.
>> So, you're wearing some headset and you can see
this information that's pasted on the world around you.
>> Yes.
>> Mixed reality is really taking the best of both worlds.
>> You're invited to this. I'm having
a bar crawl '90s theme for my birthday.
I'm '90s baby. I'm dressing up as Ms. Frizzle.
Yeah. So, I had to buy some extra swag for it,
and one of them is the lizard, like you
have to get loosed, the wizard.
Normally I'd be used to seeing the images of where it be placed
in a setting here whenever someone taking that stock photography.
Instead, it said, "Place it
in your room," and I was like, "What is this?"
So, I clicked the button and actually it
was Windows mixed reality where you could place
it in your room or on
a table and it actually adjust the size of the lizard.
>> Are you looking at a screen?
>> On my phone.
>> Okay.
>> Like literally on my phone. So, I would drop down on
the floor and I was like, okay it's small.
Now, I know my outfit fit perfectly and my wig is also coming.
[inaudible]
>> Do you ever buy something and it's so
much larger than you thought it was going to be.
>> It's so much smaller.
It's people try to buy a shirt,
and then it turns out it's a shirt for a cat.
>> Is never happened to me.
>> Is plenty on.
>> I'm going to be telling a story about
Mercedes-Benz global training, specifically two gentlemen.
>> Okay.
>> Walter Bach and Ralph Krieger.
I want you to think about Walter as
maybe he's using a really old cell phone.
>> Like this is flip phone, maybe? No?
>> Precisely.
>> Okay.
>> Not necessarily technology's best friend.
Ralph Krieger.
Ralph always has the latest and greatest technology he loves.
He's like a tech hobbyists.
So, these two together,
they are a bit of an odd couple, you might say.
>> Not a lot of synergy.
Yet, they meet each other at
a Mercedes Benz global training program,
where they decide they're going to team up.
Walter has all of
this great knowledge and history of the business.
He's an incredibly thoughtful person if not the most cutting edge.
Then, Ralph is bringing that technology to the table.
>> Yeah. He's got some fire.
>> Yeah.
>> They decide to use these HoloLens devices
in their global training program.
So, say you're a customer service person who's joining the team,
you might run into Walter and Ralph in this training facility,
and they'll tell you, "Put on this HoloLens.
We're going to walk around the car and it's going to
show you all of the ins and outs,
all of the intricacies of the transmission of the engine."
You have this HoloLens on your head,
you're walking around the car,
what's the first place that you're going to look?
>> I don't know why I thought trunk,
for instance, the last place I would love.
Probably the engine or the driver's seat.
>> To be honest, I thought glove compartment.
>> Why?
>> I don't know. Like a snack.
>> My plan though is put caffeine pills.
Those only thing exciting in there.
For long drives, caffeine pills.
>> Oh, my God.
>> It's not that weird. Is it weird?
>> So, our friends here,
they're still using HoloLens on the job.
They have 100 HoloLenses at each of their training locations,
but he has really dove into
the experience and where's it when he's making salads at home.
>> What?
>> He, yeah. He's [inaudible]
I can't wait to buy my first car
through a HoloLens experience.
I think that would be very cool.
>> You're going to buy a car?
>> I might.
>> Now, then you know that you [inaudible].
>> Now, that I know that I can use a HoloLens to do it.
>> That's awesome. So, my first story
also actually really it's a HoloLens,
and an equally exciting industry as cars.
Elevators. As the world's first Mixed Reality stair lift solution.
Courtesy of, and I'm totally going to butcher their name.
The Dutch company.
>> All of the elevators you [inaudible].
>> Did you know how to pronounce it before this? Okay.
>> I'm an elevator aficionado.
>> How do you spell it.
>> T-H-Y-S-S-E-N-K-R-U-P-P.
>> What? How did you know that?
During the spelling bee in Amsterdam?
>> To be honest, I lost
the spelling bee when I was in fifth grade.
>> To what word?
>> Permanent. Is it permanant or permanent?
>> I misspelled in the first grade, fragile.
>> Fragile.
>> I put a J. Thyssenkrupp, the elevator company.
They're partnering up with Microsoft HoloLens,
and they're creating the first fully digitized sales process
for the stair lift industry.
Back in the day, it used to
take 40-70 days for someone to come in,
map out this schematic of
someone's house and or if it's a building,
and what the stair would be to then actually create
the proper system for a chairlift, or stairway.
>> Fourty to 70 days?
>> Fourty to 70 days from the time
a person for shows up from the time that
they get the manufacturer on hold the sales rep, everything.
It's pretty urgent matter if someone
might not be able to go upstairs,
for instance if their bedrooms
upstairs and like it's kind of a bummer.
So, now by using HoloLens,
they can have someone coming with a HoloLens,
build out the schematic basically and link the blueprint of it.
Get into manufacturing.
So, then you can actually be implemented within 14 days.
>> So, say I'm this person wearing a HoloLens,
what's the process? What happens?
>> So, they would go to their stairs.
>> Yeah.
>> I'm assuming they're really
asking for this if they have stairs.
Basically by using the HoloLens,
they're able to take accurate measurements
essentially of the entire staircase.
They would be able to pull in a little bit more of
what the infrastructure would be required,
if it's mounted on the wall versus something more on the floor.
Basically, they're able to get all that information much quicker.
Then, the cams are paperless that it gets so much quicker to send
all those initial measurements to the backend team.
>> Right.
>> That's able to actually then build up and
mock-up what the solution would be and applied to manufacturing.
>> Because it's not a list of measurements or list of numbers,
it's a physical map.
>> It's more accurate. I think it's pretty cool.
They're actually digitizing, and it's like
it just a different use case scenario for mixed reality.
You have Mercedes Benz which is pretty cool,
but elevators, a lot cooler.
I think it's just really awesome to see us helping people out.
>> Don't be down on yourself, more people
are riding in elevators than
riding in Mercedes Benz. Your story was relevant.
>> That's true. Thanks.
>> Mixed reality is really changing the workplace.
>> Yeah, and day-to-day life.
Like from my retail purchases to elevators,
I pointed there because there's an elevator behind you.
>> Yeah, I'm not [inaudible].
>> We have learned a lot from our stories,
but there's a little bit
more that I think we can learn here today.
We're going to transition now to outside
the box where will finally
bring in our third character here. This box.
>> He thought it was just a prop. Didn't you, guys?
>> I'm going to read a question.
[inaudible] up as we go.
You have 30 seconds to answer.
So, get those. Is it okay that I'm opening this?
>> I don't expect your hand to be that skinny to.
Okay, let's now talk about the weight of my hand.
>> No. You think your hand can get through this?
>> All right. Ready? What's the strangest family tradition
in your family?
>> Oh. Okay, we have a couple of weird ones.
We can't cut our nails on Tuesdays or Fridays.
>> Why?
>> I don't know. Since we can't
cut our nails on Tuesdays and Fridays, or your hair.
>> It's a superstition?
>> I think so. It's weird.
Oh, that's not necessarily tradition. Is it?
>> I mean, it's a tradition you celebrate every week.
>> Okay, weirdest tradition?
We don't put up a Christmas tree.
>> Okay, the nail-cutting one is weirder.
Okay, now you can ask me a different. Same question?
>> Different question.
>> Different question. It's not
going to be both public or be funnier.
>> Don't take the box.
[inaudible] Coleen's question.
30 seconds on the clock please.
What was the first concert you ever went to?
>> The first concert that I ever went to was Green Day,
the American Idiot Tour.
>> That's a good one.
>> Yeah, I went in Manchester, New Hampshire,
lovingly referred to as
ManchVegas because I grew up north of Boston in Woburn,
Massachusetts, and it wasn't
too far to like drive over to New Hampshire.
>> Mine was La Bouche.
You guys know what La Bouche is.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah, I went with my parents in random.
I was probably like eight years old.
>> Your parents were cool for bringing you the La Bouche.
>> I tell them that every time I see them.
>> Right now the box is pretty empty.
So, we're looking for questions that you might have for us.
If you want to send us a question,
just feel free to send it to the email
below and we'll get it into the box for our next show.
>> Finally, please subscribe to this channel,
to the Microsoft channel if you haven't already,
please subscribe and we'll be here every week.
So, please tune in and we'll see you then.
>> Bye.
>> Hey everyone. If you can't get enough of us,
I would highly recommend subscribing to our podcast,
Women in Business and Technology, available right here.
>> You can follow us on Twitter and
Instagram at our social handles. Right here.
[MUSIC]