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Microsoft Excel is about to get a lot smarter. Microsoft Excel users rejoice. Your favorite spreadsheet is about to get a lot smarter, thanks to the help of machine learning and a better connection to the outside world. As Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s general manager for Office, and Rob Howard, the company’s director of Office 3. Ignite conference today, Excel will soon be able to understand more about your inputs and then pull additional information from the internet as necessary.“We’re pleased to introduce new data types,” Spataro explained.

· In a video out of North Carolina State University and Duke, five tiny cubes float freely under a microscope. Suddenly two pairs snap together, before all.

That doesn’t sound all that interesting and we had this interesting discussion about what we’d name these things, but at the end of the day we realized that if you’re really an Excel wonk, the thing that you’re going to get is that there’s new data types.”This isn’t just a feature for Excel wonks, though. In today’s demo, Spataro showed me how you will soon be able to tag a list of company names as — well — company names, for example. Once you’ve done that, Excel can pull in more information about the company from Microsoft’s Bing API, including stock data and market cap, for example.

Back in July, the German website for Volvo slipped and accidentally released a partial image of the 2018 Volvo XC40. Today, thanks to another leak, we now have a full.

Back in August of last year, Bloomberg reported that the median price of a home in the Palo Alto area had risen to $2.5 million. That’s thirteen times the national. Good morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need.

Excel can even automatically detect that a list of names is indeed a list of company names or a list of cities, for example, which then allows you to pull in population data, among other things.“Historically, Excel has always been good at numbers and you can enter in text and use conditional formatting and things like that,” Spataro said. We are adding the idea that Excel can now recognize data types that are richer than those two.”In addition, the Office team is also launching a new built- in tool for Excel that will automatically try to pull the most interesting data from a spreadsheet and visualize it. Insights,” as the company is currently calling it, is modeled on a very similar feature in the Power BI data visualization and analysis tool, and it’s worth noting that Google Sheets also offers a comparable tool. It is meant to take any list of data and then start to generate insights,” Spataro said. It will look at combinations, charts, pivot tables and it will recognize those that are most interesting by looking at outliers, looking at trends in the data, looking at things that represent changes.” If you like one of the graphs the service generates, you can easily import those into your Excel sheets and manipulate them to your heart’s content. As Microsoft also announced earlier this week, Excel will soon be able to pull in machine learning models that a company’s data scientists have created to analyze information in Excel, and you can also now use Java.

Script to write more complex scripts for manipulating data or pulling in data from virtually any third- party service with an API. The new data types will launch early next year. Insights will arrive in a spreadsheet near you in early 2. As Spataro also noted, these kind of connections to third- party service are what differentiates Office 3.

Office. “Services breathe new life into these applications,” he said. We think these apps still have a lot of life in them for just working on your content, but we do believe that these connections just makes it magical.”If you do want a perpetual license for Office, though, and not pay a subscription fee, you are in luck, because as the company also announced today, the next perpetual version of Office will launch in the second half of 2. Office 2. 01. 9.“Cloud- powered innovation is a major theme at Ignite this week. But we recognize that moving to the cloud is a journey with many considerations along the way,” Spataro writes in today’s announcement. Office 2. 01. 9 will be a valuable upgrade for customers who feel that they need to keep some or all of their apps and servers on- premises, and we look forward to sharing more details about the release in the coming months.”.

All Of That ‘American Made’ Stuff Is Even Catching On With The Japanese Automakers. Good morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know. Gear: Get Ready For Some American- Made Japanese Cars.

After reports came out Thursday that Toyota and Mazda would team up to build a $1. U. S. assembly plant, the two announced it Friday morning. Reuters reports that in addition to it, Toyota will take a 5- percent stake in Mazda and Mazda, the smaller of the two, will take a . Toyota. Toyota announced in January that its plans to spend $1. U. S. over the next five years weren’t in response to President Donald Trump’s pressure to relocate back to America, CNBC reported at the time. It’s just that pure, sweet American Dream.

American made, friends, that’s what makes auto manufacturers great again. Totally. From Reuters: The plant, something of a surprise at a time of overcapacity in the U. S. market, will be a boost to U. S. President Donald Trump .. The plant will be capable of producing 3. It will start operating in 2.

The electric vehicles cooperation, meanwhile, comes as the tightening of global emissions regulations prompts more automakers to develop battery powered cars, as the industry struggles with hefty research costs and intense competition from technology companies over technology like self- driving cars. As part of the agreement, Toyota and Mazda will also work together to develop in- car information technologies and automated driving functions. Whether it was his pressure or not, Donald is very happy. He probably won’t block Toyota or Mazda on Twitter in the near future. Not sad! 2nd Gear: Here’s Hoping That Your Car Doesn’t Break Down In Chicago.

Nearly 2,0. 00 Chicago- area mechanics went on strike Tuesday, with Automotive News reporting that it affects about 1. The strike was still going on Thursday.

Most of the debate centers around scheduling and work hours, which unionized mechanics aren’t thrilled about. Rather than offering, you know, a change in work scheduling, Automotive News reports that a committee representing area dealerships proposed a three- year contract that promised wage increases of 5 percent annually. That got rejected by the mechanics.

Here’s what’s been going on for the past few days, from Automotive News: The union is mainly pushing for a guaranteed 4. Chicago Automobile Trade Association presiden David] Sloan said could eliminate the current system, which rewards a dealership’s most productive technicians with more hours. Dealerships have “draconian pay structures prohibiting our ability to attract young, aspiring mechanics to enter the auto repair profession,” according to a statement released by the union. Unattractive pay rates coupled with the inability to progress or achieve a long- term profession in the field are drivers of mechanic frustration, said Sam Cicinelli, Local 7.

The dealer committee said big repairs could be affected by the strike, but small things like oil changes could go on. A former mechanic himself, Cicinelli spoke to the Chicago Tribune and said there’s “nobody that’s in there to do oil changes or anything of the sort.”3rd Gear: It Must Pay To Be Rich And Well Known.

Volkswagen executive Oliver Schmidt has a court date Friday morning, and the Detroit Free Press reports that he’s expected to plead guilty in the manufacturer’s giant diesel cheating scandal. But, naturally, this rich and well- known executive will be pleading guilty to far lesser charges than we originally thought. Schmidt was originally charged with 1.

Dieselgate scandal, but now, the Detroit Free Press reports that he’s down to two charges—conspiracy and violating the Clean Air Act—and possibly no prison time. Sounds just peachy, Oliver. From the Detroit Free Press: The most serious charge, conspiracy, carries a possible sentence of up to five years in prison and/or a $2. Schmidt, who worked at Volkswagen’s research and development center in Auburn Hills, is not accused of creating the software that helped cheat emissions tests, but the government said he took part in the cover- up. Watch Dark Skies Online Hulu on this page.

He was arrested Jan. Miami. .. In February, The New York Times reported that Schmidt’s lawyers said he “merely did what Volkswagen lawyers told him to do” during meetings with regulators. Schmidt sure will have fun dodging all of that prison time in the next few hours.

Go forth and help secretively pollute our earth, friend. Gear: Investors Sure Do Trust This Dude Who Wants To Dig Huge Tunnels. Tesla’s stock is soaring just like its Model 3 reservations, because investors have a lot of faith in the guy who wants to dig a giant hole from Washington, D. C. to the middle of New York City when he’s not working in the car business. The stock jumped more than 6 percent Thursday to nearly $3. Tesla opened lower on Friday, down 4. ET. But as of Thursday, Reuters reports that Tesla’s stock was up 6.

Wall Street’s confidence in Musk.”Seriously, y’all, this dude wants to build tunnels everywhere as a side gig and will almost certainly move to Mars when the artificial intelligence- powered machines take over Earth and kill the human population. Let’s be a little less sheep- like toward this shepherd. Anyway, here’s what Reuters had to say: The Palo Alto, California company late on Wednesday reported quarterly results that beat average analyst estimates, and said it received more than 1,8. Model 3 since its launch last week. Tesla had $3 billion in cash on hand at the end of the June quarter, reassuring investors who were worried after Musk warned on Friday that the automaker would face six months of “manufacturing hell” in ramping up production of the Model 3. Tesla’s cash burn, expected to top $2 billion this year, has prompted short- sellers like Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn to bet against the company .. Musk said investors should have “zero concern” Tesla would fail to reach its production target of 1.

Totally. Don’t be concerned at all, Wall Street. Gear: The Great Ferrari, The Non- Conformer, Will Not Go To Formula EFerrari won’t make autonomous cars. Boss Sergio Marchionne said you’d have to shoot him first.

Ferrari also won’t make an SUV. But, actually, Ferrari will. Ferrari is a non- conformer. You can’t make Ferrari sell you a car, and you can’t make Ferrari do the things that the other automakers are doing.

That includes entering the all- electric FIA Formula E Championship. From Motorsport. com: Only last week, Mercedes dropped a bombshell when it announced that it would be quitting the DTM at the end of 2. FE the following season. A few days later Porsche announced it own FE move as it pulled the plug on its LMP1 project in WEC. Ferrari has long hinted about getting involved in FE, because of the growing momentum towards electric road cars. However, Marchionne thinks that any bid to join the electric racing series would not be with Ferrari but instead with one of the other brands within the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) group – which includes Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Fiat, Dodge and Chrysler. Alright, Ferrari, we get it.

You’re cool and you don’t do the things other people do. Thanks for the reminder. Reverse: Bee Glad You Weren’t In Tarrytown, New York On This Day In 1. On Aug. 4, 1. 99. New York Times reported that the flatbed on a truck carrying 2. New York highway.

The truck was on its way to Florida, but the whole bee accident happened near Tarrytown, New York. The New York Times reported that drivers were backed up for miles while police told them all to keep their windows rolled up. Fun! Neutral: Has The Chicago Mechanic Strike Affected Anyone You Know? Is this big ordeal making the impact mechanics say it is? Do you know anyone who’s been out of a car repair over the past few days? Correction: We originally attributed the Chicago Tribune quote above to just a mechanic.

The person who said it, Sam Cicinelli, is a former mechanic and the union’s business representative.