Although the idea of onscreen browsers for print publications isn’t new,Microsoft and the New York Times have begun showing a prototype of Times Reader, a new online and offline interface to The New York Times based on Windows Vista the companies say will be available for download in “coming months.”
The Times Reader aims to enhance the onscreen reading experience using advanced display technology built into Vista: the Times Reader displays text in columns and formats to fit any screen. Users can also select any desired text size, and have content prioritized according to relevance to user’s preferences. The Times Reader also uses the same styles as the printed edition, helping “extend” the New York Times’ brand identity.
“The Times Reader is a powerful example of how companies can use software to forge new types of customer connections that span beyond the browser to the desktop and mobile devices,” said Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft. “The New York Times is setting a standard not only for media organizations, but for all companies looking for new ways to interact with consumers through software.”
The Times Reader also provides for continuous updating of content when online, and provides for multimedia display and hyperlinks to related material. users can also clip and annotate items, display a slideshow of all the images in a particular issue, and keep a one-week local archive of New York Times content.
And, of course, the Times Reader carries ads which provide “the high-impact nature of print with the interactivity and metrics associated with the Web.” In other words: if you click, they know.
The companies said they plan to release the tools used to create Times Reader to other publishers so they can develop similar applications.
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.