Meta’s AI-powered audio codec makes files ten times smaller than MP3
Meta announced EnCodec, an AI-powered audio compression method that has the ability to make audio up to ten times smaller than MP3 without compromising on quality.
Meta said its technology enhances the sound quality of speech on low-bandwidth connections, such as cellphone calls in suboptimal ne... Read more
Google’s AI update will improve the quality of search result snippets
Google says it is implementing an under-the-hood modification that will enhance consumers' responses in the snippets box at the top of search results pages.
If you've ever Googled something and received a little information box showcasing the top result, you've come across one of Google's 'featu... Read more
‘Virtual assistant Alexa gives hazardous advice’
A recent incident reveals that Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa can encourage users to perform dangerous actions. According to The Verge, Alexa encouraged a child to hold a coin against the exposed contacts of a powered phone charger after being asked to cite a 'fun challenge'.
After the child i... Read more
Google fined in France over misleading rating system for hotels
Google has been fined €1.1 million over misleading star ratings for hotels in France. The company has agreed to pay the fine after it had been applying its own algorithm-driven system of ratings for hotels applied on its search engine and Google Maps.
However, back in 2019, several complaints ... Read more
‘Microsoft faces immense challenge if it partially acquires TikTok’
The potential acquisition of elements of TikTok by Microsoft will be difficult. The social network shares a lot of resources with other applications of TikTok's parent company ByteDance.
Microsoft plans on purchasing only part of the social network: the United States, Canada, Australia and New Z... Read more
Researchers create an algorithm for forecasting COVID-19 outbreaks
A team of researchers has come up with an algorithm that can be used to analyse Google searches and tweets to forecast COVID-19 outbreaks.
The team, steered by Harvard scientists Nicole Kogan and Mauricio Santillana, presented the algorithm in a journal submitted last Thursday to the arXiv scien... Read more
Microsoft makes important algorithm behind search engine Bing open source
Microsoft has made one of the algorithms from the core of its search engine Bing open source. In this way, the company hopes to help developers create faster and easier to navigate applications.
This is the Space Partition Tree And Graph (SPTAG) algorithm, which is now available under the MIT Licen... Read more