Redmond software giant Microsoft Corporation said on Thursday it is considering offering Web-based, ad-supported versions of its word processing and spreadsheet applications for free to turn entry level users on to Microsoft’s applications and technologies, as the company considers how to compete with the growing slate of free applications being offered by rival Google.
Microsoft has never been keen on giving away version of its flagship productivity applications, but Google’s free online applications offerings—including word processing, spreadsheet, calendar, and other tools—offer enough power to keep entry level and basic users satisfied. So, Redmond is beginning to ponder offering ad-supported, online versions of some of its core tools—like its Microsoft Works application suite—possibly under the Windows Live brand. Offering free, web-based versions of its applications might let Microsoft tap into customers who would not otherwise purchase Microsoft applications, as well as supplement the company’s growing efforts to increase revenue through online advertising.
Currently, Microsoft’s Office application suite accounts for roughly a quarter of the company’s revenue. Microsoft Works, a stripped down application suite with basic word processing, spreadsheet, and communications functions, retails for about $50 and is shipped as a pre-loaded application on many new computers.
In 1950, Alan Turing asked whether machines can think. Rather than argue over definitions, he turned the question into a party game, where an interrogator trades typed messages with hidden players and tries to work out who is who. Since then, chatbots have gotten so good that they have already fooled humans in modern versions of the test.
So, four researchers from Paris Cité University asked the obvious follow-up question in a new study published in Computers in Human Behavior Reports: can AI at least catch its own kind?
Mozilla is giving Firefox’s Smart Window two new tricks. If you haven’t tried it yet, Smart Window is an optional AI mode in Firefox with a built-in chat that helps you get things done while you browse. With this update, it can fill out online forms using details from your tabs and keep an eye on websites for you.
Tired of typing the same details into every form?
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.