Not only is it possible to have a fairly realistic holographic replica of yourself, but Microsoft has just shown that it is also possible to have that same replica speak in different languages, too.
According to The Verge, on Wednesday, July 17, Microsoft provided a demo of this latest innovation during its keynote speech at the Microsoft Inspire partner conference in Las Vegas. Tom Warren of The Verge posted a video clip on YouTube of Microsoft’s demonstration of the hologram’s language translation capabilities.
Microsoft’s demonstration of the technology included Azure executive Julia White, a HoloLens 2 headset, and White’s hologram. White’s hologram began as a small green outline of a hologram that White could hold in her hand, but as soon as she uttered two simple words, “render keynote,” the small hologram grew into a fully rendered, human-sized replica of White and immediately began delivering the keynote speech in Japanese, in a voice that still matched White’s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCseYtBd5_4
According to the keynote, this new language translation technology was made possible by “artificial intelligence technology called Neural Text to Speech or Neural TTS.” As The Verge notes, “a personalized voice signature” was developed from recordings of White’s voice. This voice signature is what allows White’s hologram to sound like she speaks fluent Japanese even though, as she readily admitted in the keynote speech, White doesn’t actually speak Japanese.
While it’s unlikely that this latest development in Microsoft’s hologram tech will be commercially available anytime soon, the possibilities for its use are intriguing as it could have far-reaching effects on communications, travel, and international business. In addition, it also appears — at least according to a website Microsoft has devoted to promoting the device — that the HoloLens 2 itself may be geared primarily for businesses, as many of the apps and solutions developed for the headset are designed for use in workplaces rather than at home.
For example, each of the three Dynamics 365 apps described as being “business-ready” for HoloLens 2 serves a different workplace function: Remote Assist allows for remote work and collaboration, Guides helps train employees, and Layout allows for the design of new spaces and walking through them “at real-world scale.”
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.