Amazon today announced a new program that gives developers a way to earn money for their Alexa skills – the voice apps that run on smart speakers like the Echo, and other Alexa-powered devices. According to the company, developers will be compensated for top-performing and “engaging” voice apps across over a half-dozen categories, including games, […]
Microsoft announced a new product in its Azure line-up in preview today that will make it easier for developers to build event-based applications. The Azure Event Grid makes events (like uploading a picture or video, clicking a button, updating a database, etc.) first-class Azure objects. Event Grid complements Azure Functions and Azure Logic Apps, Microsoft’s […]
Roughly 1 in 30 Facebook users tells someone Happy Birthday each day, showing Facebook’s first major emergent behavior is still going strong. Now Facebook is equipping the 45 million people sending birthday wishes each day with some new features. Now instead of just posting a soulless “HBD” or “Happy Birthday!” on someone’s wall with no […]
Microsoft wants to build autonomous tech for aircraft that require little to no power to fly. It just completed tests in the Nevada desert of gliders equipped with self-guidance systems that help them track regions of rising hot air and predict their movement, with the aim of staying up in the air for as long […]
Ever since he first started listening to KISS on his 2XL robot tape player, former AOL executive Mike Macadaan, knew that voice commands would be the future for computer interactions. That obsession stuck with Macadaan through his long years as a technology executive focused on user interfaces and then again as a co-founder of the […]
The team behind Pattern, a two-year-old, Redwood City, Calif.- based startup, has been quietly acquired by Workday, the financial management and HR software vendor that went public in 2012 as now boasts a market cap of $20.9 billion. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Pattern CEO Derek Draper, who announced the acquisition to his network […]
Google’s Lunar Xprize competition, which seeks to reward privately funded missions to the Moon, is adding some incentive for participants, and tweaking the deadline to give teams a bit more time. Eligibility for the top prize now includes only the caveat that they must complete their mission by March 31, 2018 – gone is the […]
The events that unfolded this weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia have sparked reactions from all corners of the internet. But one Twitter user, former President Barack Obama, had a response that resonated with millions. Last night, this tweet from Obama became the most-liked tweet on the platform ever, with more than 3 million likes at the […]
The joint effort by Mobileye, Intel and BMW to develop an autonomous driving platform that can be used by other automakers has a new partner: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). FCA and the group signed a memorandum of understanding to work together, which opens the door for FCA to contribute to the progress the team has […]
Apple’s ambitions around creating original content seem set to grow: The Wall Street Journal reports that it has a budget of around $1 billion to spend on creating its own programming next year. That’s a budget that begins to approach those of dedicated content creators like HBO, which spent just around twice that last year […]