What’s new
Microsoft’s Dictate uses speech recognition to enable dictation in Office
Dictate is an add-in for Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint. According to Microsoft’s site for the app, Dictate uses the same speech-recognition technology as Cortana for converting speech to text, coupled with real-time translation. Dictate supports more than 20 languages for dictation, plus real-time translation to 60 languages. The app also allows users to say things like “new line” “stop dictation” or “period” and have the system recognize those commands.
You can read more here.
Twitch and Blizzard announce two-year worldwide collaboration
Twitch announced today that it has signed a partnership with Blizzard Entertainment that gives the video game streaming site two-year, third-party live-streaming rights to some of Blizzard’s biggest e-sports events in popular games like Overwatch, Starcraft, Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm. The deal doesn’t include total exclusivity for Twitch, just third-party streaming-platform rights, so Blizzard will still be able to offer a first-party stream through its own site.
More info are available here.
New products
ZTE Axon 7 Mini
The phone has a 5.2-inch Full HD display, 3 GB RAM and 32 GB of internal storage. It comes with a 16 MP primary camera and an 8MP secondary camera one.
More info here.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 has a Snapdragon 625 processor and 3GB of RAM. It comes with a 13 MP primary camera and 5 MP front one.
More info here.
You might want to know about this
IBM supercomputers will power global weather forecasting model
The Weather Company, an IBM business, is collaborating with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to develop sophisticated forecasting models. They’ll be optimized to run on IBM’s next generation POWER9-based systems, which are slated for commercial release at the end of this year.
You can read more here.
Lenovo laptop concept has a flexible screen that can be bended
Lenovo unveiled a concept for a flexible ThinkPad laptop at an event in New York. The device has a conjoined keyboard, stylus support, no hinge and folds in on itself. Lenovo’s flexible laptop will rely heavily on voice commands and be built using “advanced materials” and “new screen technologies”.
More info can be found here.
Fun stuff
Smartduvet developed a self-making bed that lets users control the temperature on each side
SmartDuvet, the company that first launched a self-making bed on Kickstarter, is now offering a second edition that lets two people adjust their preferred temperatures on their side of the bed. Smartduvet says the temperature controls will help users “avoid all future arguments about temperature”.
You can read more here.
