Category: Mashtalk

Alexa Cortana Mashtalk Microsoft Podcast

Cortana’s big challenge: Catching up to Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant

sudshr47 June 22, 2018

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When Google wowed the tech world with its demo of Duplex — the tech that allows its digital Assistant make phone calls to perform mundane tasks like booking haircuts or making restaurant reservations — Microsoft’s Cortana chief was impressed, but not worried.

“The technologist in me had no choice but to feel impressed,” Javier Soltero, Microsoft corporate vice president of Cortana, told me in a far-ranging discussion about voice technology for Mashable’s MashTalk podcast. “The idea that a computer can generate a voice with the right processes, right inflection, all of the right things to mimic humans, is amazing to see in practice, but not entirely surprising.” Read more…

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Books gig economy Mashtalk Podcast Uber

Why the gig economy was doomed from the start

sudshr47 June 14, 2018

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For a while there, it seemed like “Uber for X” was the only pitch that mattered.

To many, the rapid rise of Uber wasn’t just a major tech success story — it signaled a wholesale change that was coming to how people thought of work. Traditional jobs, the thinking went, would soon become less and less common, with predictable, inefficient employment getting replaced by the flexibility of independent contract work. The “gig economy” was underway, and it was unstoppable.

Except that it stopped. In her new book, Gigged, reporter Sarah Kessler chronicles the ascent and decline of the gig economy, starting in the early 2010s, when it seemed every service — from grocery shopping to cleaning offices — could be “app-ified” to be done by easily scalable contract work, to the death of many of those services a few years later, when their models proved unsustainable. Read more…

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AI Google Google Assistant Mashtalk Podcast

Google Assistant’s new ability to call people creates some serious ethical issues

sudshr47 May 10, 2018

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It was possibly the most mind-blowing tech demo in years: During the opening keynote of the Google I/O developers conference, CEO Sundar Pichai showed the company’s AI-driven Assistant making a phone call to a business and carrying out a verbal conversation with the person who answered.

What made the demo of the feature, called Duplex, so amazing was the Assistant’s command of natural language – saying “um,” “mm-hmm,” and “ah” at various times – was so masterful that it was apparent the person on the other end had no idea he or she was talking to a machine. It was a very specific situation, but Google Assistant had effectively passed the Turing test. Read more…

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Facebook Mark Zuckerberg Mashtalk Podcast Social Media

Did Mark Zuckerberg just beat Congress?

sudshr47 April 12, 2018

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Mark Zuckerberg survived Congress. Now what?

That’s the big question now that the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have put Facebook under the microscope. 

After 10+ hours of testimony, plenty of clueless questions, and multiple promises that Facebook’s team would “follow up” with lawmakers, the public now has a chance to re-examine its fundamental relationship with the social network, and judge whether or not that “breach of trust” Zuckerberg has admitted will lead to fundamental change.

Zuckerberg has promised the company would atone for past sins through audits of former developers and changes in how it handles data. It’s also addressing the accusation that it enabled Russian operatives to manipulate its network in order to sway public opinion by implementing better detection tools and much greater transparency in its advertisers — a clear attempt to get ahead of new regulations, such as the Honest Ads Act, before they hit the social network like a speeding freight train. Read more…

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Apple Intel Mac Mashtalk Podcast

If Apple breaks from Intel, will Macs get cheaper?

sudshr47 April 6, 2018

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When Apple makes a move, it usually causes an earthquake.

The chip industry felt tremors upon the report that Apple would soon be turning away from Intel for the chips in its MacBooks. Or at least one MacBook. As early as 2020, we may see the first Mac to run on a chip designed and built by Apple — either one of its “A” processors or something new altogether.

Obviously, Intel shareholders weren’t happy about the news (the stock still hasn’t recovered four days later), but the big question is what this means for Apple and Mac users down the road: Will it be a single “hybrid” machine, a new line of Macs, or is Apple really looking to split entirely from Intel’s chips, at least in the long term? And what will the first non-Intel Mac in over a decade look like? Read more…

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Apple John Sculley Mashtalk Podcast Tech

The real story behind Steve Jobs ‘getting fired’ from Apple

sudshr47 February 2, 2018

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Every product here is independently selected by Mashable journalists. If you buy something featured, we may earn an affiliate commission which helps support our work.

It’s legend in the computer industry: In the mid ’80s, Steve Jobs was ousted from Apple, the company he co-founded and went on to eventually lead to worldwide dominance, after a boardroom battle with the CEO at the time, John Sculley.

Over the years, the story got altered and adapted — to the point where many assumed Jobs was fired, either by Sculley or Apple’s board, which wasn’t the case. Jobs did lose a boardroom showdown with Sculley (which actually played out over a week or so), one where Jobs’ plan of moving marketing dollars from the Apple II to Macintosh Office was rejected by the board. That led to Jobs being stripped of his leadership of the Macintosh team and pushed to leave the company. Read more…

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Mashtalk Mvno Podcast Republic Wireless Smartphones

Why it’s hard to get an iPhone on a budget wireless carrier

sudshr47 December 8, 2017

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Got a smartphone? Then you must also have a wireless plan, and if you live in the U.S., chances are it’s with one of the big four — Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, or Sprint.

However, there are a bunch of other carriers you may have seen around, carriers with names like Cricket, Jolt, metroPCS, and Virgin. These are MVNOs, or mobile virtual network operators, and they exist by leasing spectrum from the major carriers. They’re also often a better deal, thanks to selectively targeting demographics and relying heavily on Wi-Fi to support the network.

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Mashtalk Podcast Video Video Conferencing Workplace

Why the first 5 minutes of every video conference is, ‘Can you hear me?’

sudshr47 December 1, 2017

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The video conference is one of the least-liked parts of modern office culture.

Despite the plethora of video conferencing services — Google Hangouts, BlueJeans, Highfive, Skype, FaceTime, and dozens more — the first five minutes of every meeting tends to be a series of fruitless attempts to get everyone’s audio working correctly. And even when it does, dropped connections, poorly timed muting/unmuting, and quiet talkers often ruin the flow.

The truth is video conferencing is hard. Layering random internet services on top of ad hoc equipment on top of users with virtually no training means you get a grab-bag of results. Sure there are sleek corporate systems, but their cost often puts them out of range of most startups. Read more…

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