This weekend, flight VS011 from Heathrow to Boston took on a distinctly festive feel as teams from Microsoft and Virgin Atlantic injected a taste of Christmas, enabled via some very cool technology. As well as putting a few smiles on faces, the aim was to show passengers what could be possible on future flights as digital technologies play an ever more important role in delivering a great experience.

So with a little help from Santa, Microsoft and Virgin Atlantic set out to put the magic back into flying. Passengers were greeted with a special gift of a Windows tablet on arrival. Especially for the younger passengers (as well as some of the bigger kids) on the flight, the tablets played an important role in tracking Santa’s journey from the comfort of their seats via the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Track Santa service.

Near the coast of Greenland, Santa’s reindeer caught up with the Virgin Atlantic 787 Dreamliner to ‘meet’ passengers on board. Via a series of projections on to the cabin ceiling, passengers watched the sleigh land on the aircraft before then walking down the aisles, delighting children and taking selfie’s with surprised passengers. The passengers were then able to watch Santa prepare his crew for departure before heading off into the night sky.

Debbie Hulme, Head of Customer Experience at Virgin Atlantic commented: “We wanted to offer something extra special for the families flying with us this Christmas and who better to spread the Christmas cheer than Santa himself? We decided to partner with Microsoft as it was the only provider that could offer the breadth of cool technology that Virgin Atlantic passengers expect from us.

Hulme continued: “Microsoft is also providing us with the analytics to look at how passengers interacted with the technology so we can work out what they enjoyed the most. This will enable us to continually improve and innovate. Expect to see more from Virgin Atlantic and Microsoft in 2015.”

Fred Warren, Creative Director, Microsoft Connected Digital Services added: “Through this experience we are looking to explore how the aircraft can be brought to life in different ways via the use of digital technologies to amplify the amazing service that is offered to customers today and how passengers engage after the flight. We were able to give passengers a glimpse of what is possible from more immersive flight experiences.”

To see more and get an idea for this yourself please watch our video below or go to Facebook.

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron is leading a global charge to stamp out child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online, dedicating funding, resources and a personal passion to the effort.

Last week in London, the prime minister held the first-ever global summit entitled “#WePROTECT Children Online,” designed to seek coordinated global action, explore technological solutions and create an international network to protect children from online sexual exploitation. The Summit brought together representatives from more than 50 countries, 26 technology companies, 10 non-governmental organizations and a host of law enforcement agencies to pledge their ongoing support.

“[A] global gathering like this is long overdue,” the prime minister said in his keynote address. “We have international summits to stamp out drug dealing, to beat modern-day slavery, and this is another major international crime of our age.”

Concrete, tangible outcomes were demanded, and the U.K. government stepped up to lead and deliver on that mandate in a big way. To assist with the plight of child victims, the U.K. government is putting 50 million pounds, over the course of five years, into a new fund to be managed by UNICEF. The fund will help identify, rescue and aid child victims as they seek to rebuild their lives following unspeakable physical, mental and emotional trauma. In a separate 10 million pound effort, the U.K. government will increase the number of specialist crimefighters within the U.K.’s National Crime Agency, being that law enforcement resources and highly trained personnel have long been in short supply to combat these particularly heinous crimes. The prime minister also announced pending changes to U.K. law that would make it a criminal offense to send a sexual communication to a child.

“If you ask a child to take their clothes off and send you a picture, you are as guilty as if you did that in person,” Cameron said. “Just as it is illegal to produce and possess images of child abuse, now we’re making it illegal for an adult to send a sexual communication to a child. This law will make it clear this is a crime and you will be arrested and prosecuted if you take part in it.”

I had the honor of representing Microsoft at the global summit and delivering an address that summarized the company’s ongoing and longstanding commitment to protecting children — and, indeed, all individuals — as they live out their digital lives. I noted that Microsoft approaches online safety and child online protection with four key areas in mind: technology, self-governance, education and partnerships.

First and foremost, we’re a technology company, and we have a responsibility to seek to create software, devices and services that have safety features, functionality and considerations built in from the outset. In addition, we devise and implement internal online safety policies, standards and procedures that extend beyond pure legal requirements in an effort to self-govern product development and operations. We also have a responsibility to stay abreast of the risks that individuals and families may face online; alert consumers to such developments and educate them about how they can help protect themselves and their families. Perhaps most importantly, we embrace a “multi-stakeholder” model, and partner with others because no one entity or organization can successfully tackle these significant and nuanced issues alone.

I recounted that Microsoft first came to understand the magnitude of the online horror that is child sexual exploitation (sometimes misguidedly referred to as “child pornography”) in 2003, when a lead detective with the Toronto Police Department sent an email to our then-CEO Bill Gates. The detective asked for help from technology to track down purveyors of child sexual abuse material and for assistance with his goal of rescuing child victims. After years of witnessing and experiencing the challenges that child advocates, law enforcement and the technology industry faced in their efforts to stem the online flow of CSAM, Microsoft was privileged to work with the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Dartmouth College to help address the problem. In 2009, Microsoft and Dartmouth developed PhotoDNA, a technology that aids in finding and removing from the Internet some of the “worst of the worst” of these images. We donated PhotoDNA to NCMEC that same year, and now license it for free to 45 international organizations — all playing a role in helping to rid the Web of this vile imagery.

I also hinted at some upcoming developments with respect to technology, an ongoing technology partnership pilot, research and awareness-raising. More on these in due course.

As I did in my formal remarks at the event, I thank and applaud the U.K. government for shining a bright, global spotlight on a dark and serious issue and for highlighting the gravity of not just online child exploitation, but the need for the online protection of children and our global society at large. We need to continue to work together to find new and inventive ways to bring attention to these issues; to stop the spread of this abhorrent content; to rescue child victims and to prosecute perpetrators.

For more on Microsoft’s work in Online Safety and Child Online Protection, visit our Safety & Security Center; “like” us on Facebook; follow us on Twitter, and look for my “point of view” following the #MSFTCOSO hashtag.

About the Author

Jacqueline Beauchere

Chief Online Safety Officer, Microsoft

Jacqueline F. Beauchere is the Chief Online Safety Officer at Microsoft. In this role, Ms. Beauchere is responsible for all aspects of Microsoft’s online safety strategy, including cross-company policy creation and implementation, influence over consumer safety features and functionality, and communications to and engagement with a variety of external audiences. She also currently serves as the chair of the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) Board of directors, and is Microsoft’s representative to the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) board, as well as INHOPE’s Advisory Board. Ms. Beauchere has spent almost 15 years at Microsoft leading various groups and efforts that evangelize the company's commitment to help create a safer, more trusted Internet experience for people of all ages and abilities. Before joining Microsoft in December 1999, Ms. Beauchere was an attorney in private practice in New Jersey, New York and Washington, D.C. A second-career lawyer, she spent 12 years as a real-time financial news correspondent and Editor in Charge, most recently with Reuters America Inc. in New York.

Microsoft has got a myriad of gifts to suit all members of the family and all budgets this Christmas. Whether you’re looking to splurge with the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 or save with colourful accessories there’s a Microsoft gift for everyone this year.

Splurge

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (From RRP £639) is the tablet that can replace your laptop. Complete with multiple position kickstand, optional click-in keyboard and beautiful hi-res 12-inch screen, this tablet delivers the power, portability and productivity to take you from your office desk to the comfort of your sofa. Users can install the full Microsoft Office suite to maximise commuting time. While the Surface Pen can be used for portraits of cheeky kids with the art apps.

Xbox One - This Christmas, Xbox One has the best console and games bundles.

Save

A great range of Windows tablets, phones and accessories for under £100

And for the person that has everything? Give a Windows Store card (from £15) or Xbox gift card (from £10) so they can have fun choosing the apps, games, movies, TV shows and music they want this Christmas. (Include Store logo)

Don’t forget…

• Every member of the family can have their own Microsoft account which means everyone can access the same tablet whilst keeping their own personal settings
  

• Each tablet includes one year’s subscription to Office 365 Personal allowing you and your family to save and share important documents like Christmas lists from anywhere, on any device
  

• You can save around 2,000,000 photos with the terabyte of storage available on OneDrive
  

• Parents can ensure the kids are safe by using the great parental controls in Windows 8 and Xbox
  

…and have a very merry Christmas!

The digital revolution is here. In the years to come, everyone is going to need to know how to code. Jobs of the future are going to require a solid understanding of computer science, and none of us can underestimate the importance of even a basic knowledge of coding.

Millions of people of all ages across the world have already joined the revolution. Over 65 million people worldwide in fact. Have you? It’s not too late – visit http://code.org/educate/hoc to get started.

During Computer Science Education Week this week, Microsoft offices all over the UK have been buzzing with activity as hundreds of employees gathered to complete their Hour of Code. In the last five days alone, over 1,000 Microsoft employees in the UK have taken part, and mostly those with non-technical roles.

Trish a Watson, Public Sector Marketing Lead, Microsoft UK , completed her Hour of Code this week. She explains why she got involved, even though her job currently doesn’t require knowledge of computer science:

“Coding is such an important skill for the future, for all of us. I did my Hour of Code this week because I was intrigued and liked the idea of being part of a global initiative. It’s exciting to learn something new, which everyone is talking about and which will help all of us in the future. It’ll make our lives easier, make tech easier to consume and prepare us for how our jobs will evolve in the future.”

Dani Schuchman, Business Program Manager, Microsoft UK, did the same, and encouraged his team to join in too:

“We are living in a digital world where aspects of IT and Computer Sciences are part of our everyday life – controlling heating in our home, programs we use at work, ordering online and even how we interact with TV shows. I think that Hour of Code is a great initiative to raise awareness of Computer Sciences and showing how much fun this can be. I enjoyed taking time out of my daily routine to learn something new in a fun environment that thousands of others like me were participating in. I think it is important for everyone to get involved because coding is important to all aspects of life and education - sitting alongside reading, writing and arithmetic.”

As part of the coding celebrations this week, Microsoft hosted an Hour of Codathon to drive as many employees as possible to complete their Hour of Code together. Employees were encouraged to capture their coding experience to share with their colleagues and persuade others to get involved by sharing selfies during their Hour of Code. A winner was picked at the end of the week, and Chris Speer, Technical Solutions Specialist, won the competition for his picture, in front of hundreds of first time coders.

“The Hour of Code is a creative and easy way to bring coding to the masses, more specifically to the youngest students and those new to coding,” says Chris. “It was wonderful to feel part of this campaign – the Hour of Code really captures the concept of coding and is a brilliant way to get younger generations feeling more passionate about Computer Science. This is a much better way of teaching coding than the way I learnt – it’s great to see so many companies working hard to make learning to code more engaging and interesting.”

As many people across the world have already discovered this week, coding is a vital skill which we will all need in the future. In the UK, our economy depends on us being able to compete in a digital world and learning these skills with secure our success.

Hayley Shaw is Social Media Community Manager at Microsoft and is now an advocate of the wider benefits of learning to code: “I completed the Hour of Code as it is a fantastic opportunity to prove that everyone has the ability to get involved with coding and that it can actually be a lot of fun! I expected it to be really challenging as I haven’t tried coding before but it wasn’t at all. It was fun to work out the different puzzles and was a real achievement to get to the end. It definitely developed my problem-solving and analytical skills which are transferable to my day-to-day role.”

This week, Microsoft also launched Microsoft Imagine to help everyone to continue their coding journey into 2015 and beyond. This new programme easily connects students of all ages and skill levels with the tools and knowledge they need to create, code and develop ideas. This launch marks an exciting new opportunity for students of all skill levels, and we urge you to see what it has to offer.

“Whether it’s a 10-year-old making her first game or a university senior building skills and projects for their first job application, aspiring developers can access age and skill-appropriate courses, competitions and communities that can help turn their ideas into reality and support them on their educational journey,” comments Steve Guggenheimer, corporate vice president and chief evangelist, DX, Microsoft.

To find out more about how Microsoft can help you get to grips with coding, visit http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/en-us/youthspark/youthsparkhub/hourofcode/