Text-To-Speech Alexa researchers find text-to-speech models trained on multiple speakers beat single-speaker systemsVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersWith the advent of sophisticated natural language processing, text-to-speech (TTS) systems — software programs designed to verbalize text — have become increasingly efficient. Take Google’s Tacotron 2,
Google Play Google Assistant on Android and iOS gets narrated children’s storiesVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersHave you heard? This Saturday is Tell a Story Day in the U.S. and U.K., an unofficial holiday dedicated to conjuring up tales and reading books together with friends, family, and loved ones of all ages.
Coursera Coursera raises $103 million to prepare online learners for the ‘fourth industrial revolution’VentureBeat - Paul SawersOnline education giant Coursera has raised $103 million in a series E round of fudning led by Seek Group, with participation from Future Fund and NEA. A spokesperson confirmed to VentureBeat that it’s
3D Modeling Hover raises $25 million to turn pictures of homes into 3D modelsVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersHover, a startup developing AI-imbued apps that create customizable 3D models of homes from smartphone photos, today announced that it has raised $25 million in series C funding from Menlo Ventures, with
Apple Apple recalls AC wall plug parts for Hong Kong, Singapore, and the U.K.VentureBeat - Jeremy HorwitzApple has just announced a recall, and it’s not the most obvious of items — MacBooks with problematic keyboards and display cables — but rather wall plug adapters designed for use in Hong Kong, Singapore,
Verizon Verizon sets Galaxy S10 5G date and names 20 cities, kills cheap 5G planVentureBeat - Jeremy HorwitzVerizon today officially set the first U.S. release date for Samsung’s Galaxy S10 5G phone — May 16, 2019 — and named 20 additional 5G cities, while also announcing changes to its 5G data plans. The standout
Time-lapse Photography Google Earth Timelapse lands on mobile to show you the planet’s evolution since 1984VentureBeat - Paul SawersGoogle has announced a handful of updates to the Google Earth Timelapse tool — including its long-overdue arrival on mobile phones. By way of a quick recap, Google announced a partnership with the U.S.
Google Home Chatterbox is a DIY smart speaker for kids that puts privacy firstVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersAs Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, and Microsoft’s Cortana see usage climbing around the world, it’s hardly surprising that some folks are expressing misgivings about the always-on voice
Softbank SoftBank unveils solar-powered internet drone, invests $125 million in Alphabet’s LoonVentureBeat - Paul SawersSoftBank subsidiary HapsMobile, a joint venture established in 2017 by SoftBank and U.S. aerospace company Aerovironment, has announced a partnership with Loon, an Alphabet unit developing a network of
Nintendo Switch Nintendo slightly misses earnings and Switch sales forecasts, won’t introduce new consoleVentureBeat - Dean TakahashiNintendo spread a little disappointment with its latest earnings post for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019. The company’s earnings fell slightly below analyst estimates and, reversing expectations
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Super Smash Bros. Ultimate punches out 13.8 million copiesVentureBeat - Dean TakahashiNintendo reported today that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was a smash hit of the holiday season, with 13.81 million units sold to date on the Nintendo Switch hybrid game console. But Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch hits 34.74 million consoles sold, growth slowingVentureBeat - Dean TakahashiNintendo reported that the Nintendo Switch hybrid game console has sold 34.74 million hardware units to date, along with 187.52 million copies of software. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019,
Hong Kong AWS opens Hong Kong datacenter regionVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersAmazon Web Services (AWS), the Amazon subsidiary that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms, apps, and services to “millions” of customers globally, today announced a further expansion into China
Facebook Facebook beats Q1 2019 profit estimates, sets aside $3 billion for privacy penaltyVentureBeat - Reuters(Reuters) — Facebook on Wednesday blew away Wall Street profit estimates in the first quarter as it kept a lid on the costs of making its social networks safer, and set aside $3 billion to cover a settlement
Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat 11 has franchise’s most successful launch ever, ‘years of content’ plannedVentureBeat - Giancarlo ValdesDespite being almost three decades old, the Mortal Kombat series is more popular than ever. David Haddad, the president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, announced that Mortal Kombat 11 has had
Calendars Slack introduces channel calendars for teams and message reply via emailVentureBeat - Khari JohnsonSlack, the teams communication app with 10 million daily active users, today announced several new features in the pipeline to help users get things done at work, including the ability to respond to messages
Technology Slack launches Workflow Builder for businesses to make apps without codeVentureBeat - Khari JohnsonSlack today introduced Workflow Builder, a new way to help employees of all skill levels build apps for their organizations inside the team collaboration app. “What we’re doing with Workflow Builder is
Google Drive Google Drive on the web gains a shortcut to offline mode (updated)VentureBeat - Kyle WiggersWhen you’re facing flaky coffee shop connectivity or a flight without Wi-Fi, Google Drive’s offline mode is a great browser-based solution — it lets you edit any spreadsheet, word doc, or slideshow you’ve
Microsoft Microsoft reports $30.6 billion in Q3 2019 revenue: Azure up 73%, Surface up 21%, and LinkedIn up 27%VentureBeat - Emil ProtalinskiMicrosoft today reported earnings for its third fiscal quarter of 2019, including revenue of $30.6 billion, net income of $8.8 billion, and earnings per share of $1.14 (compared to revenue of $26.8 billion,
Play buttonNetflix How French digital animation studio TAT has grown in the shadows of Netflix and DisneyVentureBeat - Chris O'BrienThe digital entertainment revolution often feels like a clash of the titans. But somewhere between Disney and Netflix sits independent French animation studio TAT Productions, which so far has successfully
Google Cloud Platform Google open-sources AI image segmentation models optimized for Cloud TPUsVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersGoogle’s custom tensor processing unit (TPU) chips, the latest generation of which became available to Google Cloud Platform customers last year, are tailor-made for AI inferencing and training tasks image
Qualcomm Apple documents reveal multi-year plot to pressure and hurt QualcommVentureBeat - Jeremy HorwitzApple filed a billion-dollar lawsuit against Qualcomm in early 2017, but recently released documents suggest it spent years quietly undermining its partner and “creating evidence” to hurt it in court,
Overwatch Overwatch’s new Workshop will let players make their own game modesVentureBeat - Mike MinottiBlizzard Entertainment announced Workshop for Overwatch today, a new feature will let players create their own game modes. Overwatch launched for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in 2016. The team-based
AI identifies skiing techniques through pole dataVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersAI has lots of useful applications. Take video game design, for example — machine learning systems can generate 3D environments in seconds from a handful of variables. In the civil engineering realm, algorithms
Google Photos How Google treats Meredith Whittaker is important to potential AI whistleblowersVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersIn a co-written letter, Meredith Whittaker — one of two Google employees who claim they’ve faced retaliation for organizing protests against their employer’s treatment of sexual harassment — alleged that
Bots VentureBeat is looking for a Head of AI Events ContentVentureBeat - Matt MarshallVentureBeat is seeking a leader to head up content for our events focused on artificial intelligence. The Head of AI Events Content will report directly to the CEO and will oversee speaker recruitment
Brave rolls out its own ads that pay users a 70% cutVentureBeat - Emil ProtalinskiBrave today rolled out Brave Ads, its digital advertising model, to desktop users in Canada, France, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S. That’s right — the ad-blocking browser is getting ads. Brave users now
PlayStation Vue raises $17 million for AI-driven retail productsVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersAI in commerce is a fast-growing — and highly lucrative — industry. A recent report published by Juniper Research predicts that global retail spending on AI and machine learning will reach $7.3 billion
A transgender AI researcher’s nightmare scenarios for facial recognition softwareVentureBeat - Khari JohnsonFor International Women’s Day last month in Berlin, some ticket machines used automatic gender recognition, a form of facial recognition software, to give female riders discounts on their tickets. As as
GV (Google Ventures) FullStory raises $32 million to track and analyze digital customer experiencesVentureBeat - Kyle WiggersFullStory, an Atlanta, Georgia-based software company developing a code analytics suite for digital customer experiences, today announced that it’s raised $32 million in series C funding led by growth
