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Microsoft's ebook store is finally coming in April — here's what it looks like

microsoft ebook store news
Apple and Google have long offered electronic book stores for users of their services, and it looks like Microsoft is finally making a similar move. The company started building an ebook store for Microsoft 10 last year, but now we have a look at what that store could actually look like.

Images of the new feature were obtained by MSPowerUser through an internal build of Windows 10 Mobile, but the feature will be available on PC as well. The ebook store won’t be it’s own app, but will rather live inside the Windows Store as a new section, where you’ll be able to buy ebooks and manage the ones you already own.

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Buying an ebook through the store should be pretty easy, and it will work just like buying anything else — simply find a book you like, then hit the buy button.

The service will also integrate with Microsoft Edge, Microsoft’s web browser. Once you buy a book, you’ll be able to open it up and read it straight from Microsoft Edge. In fact, Edge itself will get a new dedicated book section, and in that section you’ll be able to browse through all the books that you’ve purchased. Edge also supports the EPUB ebook format, so if you have ebooks from other stores you’ll be able to read them, bookmark them, and view the table of contents.

Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait a few months before we’ll get to make use of the new feature — it will be added to the Windows 10 Creators Update, which isn’t scheduled to arrive until sometime in April. As mentioned it will be available on both Windows 10 Mobile, and Windows 10 on the PC. Also as part of the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft will sell Windows themes, which will also be available through the Windows Store.

Christian de Looper
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
You can now video chat with a ChatGPT AI — here’s what it looks like
Call Annie ChatGPT app on an iPhone.

Showing up to a videoconference as your digital avatar can be quite fun. Apple lets you do just that with Memojis during FaceTime. If you want something more ambitious on a different platform, Avatarify will turn into Albert Einstien or Mona Lisa for Zoom calls. But what if you could bring an AI conversation to life? Say, by talking to ChatGPT as if OpenAI’s AI was a CGI person talking to you on a video call?
Well, that’s now possible. Call Annie is an app that turns ChatGPT into Annie, a talking female avatar that doesn’t look like a glitchy visual mess. Developed by Animato.Ai, the app is currently exclusive to iOS 16, but you can also use it on macOS 13 machines with an M-series processor inside.

A ChatGPT-powered video call in action
https://twitter.com/frantzfries/status/1651316031762071553?s=20
Another limitation is that you need at least the iPhone 12 or a later model to start a video call with Annie because the real-time conversion of linguistic prompts into visual cues draws power from Apple’s Neural Engine.
The app’s makers claim that talking to Annie “face-to-face in real time time feels more natural and faster than typing and reading text.” So far, the sample videos we have seen on social media, like the one above, show a fairly convincing video call interface.
Right now, Annie appears to be pretty good at holding a fluent conversation, even though the voice sounds robotic, and the phrase pausing could also use some work. The answers, however, are typical of the answers you would get while texting back-and-forth with ChatGPT. And given enough time and improved voice training, Call Annie interactions can become a lot more natural-sounding.
It all brings back memories of the sci-fi flick Her, in which Joaquin Phoenix’s character falls in love with one such AI. One user asked on Reddit whether Annie can have a “memory” system that will turn it into a smarter “friend,” to which the app developers replied with “soon.”
https://twitter.com/jakedahn/status/1651285054591750144
This is only the beginning for Annie
Users who have tried the app note that it occasionally flubs the pronunciation of words, but once corrected, it also learns right away. One user described this experience as “scary stuff.”Another issue it has is with pronouncing words in languages other than English, something that the developers are trying to fix.
Thanks to its ChatGPT smarts, the app’s developers say it can help you with everything from learning and web searches to serving as a tour guide or even a virtual companion. We don’t know if it’s as smart as other virtual partner apps like Replika, but considering the fact that Annie is based on ChatGPT (and its vast data training model), you can have a significantly deeper and fact-driven conversation with Annie.
Animato’s App Store description notes that the AI keeps all conversations “confidential” but hasn’t specified what kind of security measures have been put in place and whether it uses the user conversations for training and refining Annie’s systems.

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Even Microsoft thinks ChatGPT needs to be regulated — here’s why
A MacBook Pro on a desk with ChatGPT's website showing on its display.

Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have been taking the world by storm, with the capabilities of Microsoft’s ChatGPT causing wonderment and fear in almost equal measure. But in an intriguing twist, even Microsoft is now calling on governments to take action and regulate AI before things spin dangerously out of control.

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HP Envy x360 15.6 media mode showing display and pen.

HP's Envy line is an interesting mix of midrange pricing and premium design. It sits between the budget-oriented Pavilion and the ultra-premium Spectre, offering some of the best attributes of both. This year's upgrades introduced to the Envy x360 convertible 2-in-1 lineup include a very affordable Envy x360 14 and an Envy x360 15.6 that offers the first IMAX-certified multimedia experience.

Starting at just $850, the Envy x360 14 might be the most interesting of the three new machines, which also include the Envy x360 17.3. Its combination of design, components, and likely build quality make it a compelling budget option. And media consumers will appreciate the upgraded experience offered by the Envy x360 15.6.
Envy x360 14

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