PR Newswire's Business Technology Round-up, 3rd December 2012

LONDON, December 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Microsoft makes major NGO donation, Skills Connect scores Red Herring prize and Tipard updates MXF software

Microsoft has further developed its charitable activities, after making a $75million investment in non-profit non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that provide deprived children and educators in developing nations with access to technology. 

The new donation comes in addition to the renewal of a $250million, five-year investment plan for the "Microsoft Partners in Learning" program, which helps hundreds of thousands of people in deprived areas to access technology-based learning on a day-to-day basis. Six NGOs will help to allocate the funds, with a number of national, international and religious groups helping to determine the areas that are most in need of help. 

Africa is set to be a major focus of the additional funds this year, with the leader of one NGO noting that "digital skills development can be vital in securing economic growth" for developing nations. The vast majority of the funds will be used to develop the existing capabilities of educational establishments across the world. 

Skills Connect, an innovative cloud based recruitment firm, has won the 2012 Red Herring 100 Global Award, recognising its place at the forefront of the digital recruitment market. 

The award was given based on an extensive investigation into the company's achievements across a number of fields, including financial performance and technological innovation; it swiftly follows a similar award given to the company in Asia.

Skills Connect was recognised as leading the way in providing cutting edge solutions for the corporate headhunting market, with Red Herring pointing out the "dramatic impact" that the company has had on the recruitment landscape. According to CEO Bradley Birchall, "it's a fantastic achievement to be recognised as a global leader by industry peers in such a competitive business and technology environment". 

Tipard Studio, a Chinese-based multimedia software development company, has announced the launch of its updated MXF Converter software, improving the speed and widening the ability of video decoders. 

The new release enables those who take video on a number of high-end digital cameras and camcorders to convert their MXF files into a more easily editable format, allowing users to edit their film with the more popular Windows Movie Maker and Adobe Premiere. The software also adds the capability of converting files into those suitable for playback across a number of portable devices, including the Apple iPad and Kindle Fire.

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