Live from Cloud City Seattle, this.Just.in. This new Microsoft Reactor series is for developers, entrepreneurs and passionate technologists that want to build tech that’s game-changing, useful or just plain interesting

Episode 5:
It’s hard to believe that Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality have been around in concept for over 50 years. This Mixed Reality encapsulates so much next-gen tech and sci-fi movie plotlines that sometimes it can be difficult to know where to start. The promise of new user input modalities (head-tracking, voice-control, gesture) can, well, get mixed up with MR-specific terminology (degrees of freedom, untethered, holographic processing unit). And the range of new devices from cardboard to glasses to headsets can also make it hard chose the MR experience best for you. Even your new phone is AR-enabled! So what’s new? Why should you care now? Are you a developer looking to decide whether to build games for MR? Or an aerospace engineer looking to better visualize your next rocket ship? Or a passionate technologist that just wants to know where you start? Well we think MR is just emerging from its first wave of hype; in fact, we’re just the beginning of a significant shift in the way humanity interacts through technology…all enabled by a new wave of cloud-powered compute and tools! Join Microsoft Cloud Advocates Justin Garrett, April Speight and Thomas Lewis as we share what we’ve learned, what’s new and invite you into a conversation about the future of MR.

Who is it aimed at?
- Founders / Entrepreneurs
- Business leaders & decision-makers
- Software developers looking to experiment with Mixed Reality
- Students or learning professionals interested in getting a pulse on this emerging space

Why should I attend?
- Learn from Cloud Advocates that are contributing to Mixed Reality experiences
- Share your thoughts on the future of MS; what’s got real potential and what’s hype
- Network with other professionals interested in Mixed Reality

More learning / prerequisites:
- https://aka.ms/IntrotoMR
- Learn about https://aka.ms/LearnaboutMesh and https://aka.ms/WindowsMR-tji

Speakers:
Justin Garrett is host of this.Just.in and a Principal Cloud Advocate in Cloud + AI Engineering at Microsoft. Justin works closely with learner communities to help address the skills gap in cloud native dev and manages a team of Cloud Advocates from around the world that do likewise. You’ll find him leading workshops at Microsoft Reactors, mentoring Student Ambassadors, and helping improve our dev stack like Azure and Visual Studio. Justin’s career at Microsoft also spans 16 years across Windows, Bing, Edge and Web Platform. In his spare time, he enjoys coaching his son’s soccer team, gardening, and is an avid Pacific Northwest mountaineer. Follow him on <a href=https://www.linkedin.com/in/justgar/>LinkedIN</a> and <a href=https://twitter.com/justgar>Twitter</a>

April Speight is a developer, speaker, and educator who believes that creating for XR should be accessible for all. She leads the Spatial Computing technology team at Microsoft within Cloud Advocacy. In addition, she is also the Director of Community and Education for the CyberXR Coalition - an organization formed to address the global necessity of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the cybersecurity and XR domain. Follow her on <a href= https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilspeight/>LinkedIN</a> and <a href= https://twitter.com/vogueandcode>Twitter</a>

Thomas Lewis is a Spatial Computing Cloud Advocate Lead in Microsoft’s Developer Relations. Thomas has worked in a variety of roles and geographies at Microsoft for over 21 years. He’s currently advocating on behalf of developers, designers, creators, and builders of Mixed Reality experiences. After putting on a Mixed Reality headset, he knew that he had experienced a taste of the future and sees the beauty, sadness, and hope that it can bring to humans.