Reading
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Microsoft's tool for AI reading lessons is now a standalone app
Microsoft is rolling out Reading Coach as a standalone app, which will expand its tools for educators in Microsoft Teams.
'Attack on Titan' publisher Kodansha is launching its own Manga app
K Manga will offer 400 titles at launch.
Google's learn-to-read app for kids is now available on the web
Google can now help your kids learn to read on the web.
Substack's new iOS reading app helps you follow subscriptions
Substack has launched its first reading app for iOS, giving you an easier way to find and follow subscriptions.
Google Play Books update brings audio narration to kids titles
Google is adding new audio resource tools to children's ebooks on Play Books including a kid-friendly dictionary and a bigger selection of audiobooks.
Google's learn-to-read app is now available in 180 countries
Read Along gives youngsters encouragement as they read stories aloud.
Oprah’s Book Club is coming to Apple TV+
Oprah Winfrey is one of the A-list celebrities Apple has enlisted for Apple TV+. Winfrey has already signed on for a series with Prince Harry on mental health, and she's expected to release another documentary, Toxic Labor, about workplace harassment. Today, we learned that Oprah's Book Club will get a place on the streaming platform, too.
Samsung crams 100 layers and more speed into its latest SSD
Samsung has started mass production on solid state drives (SSDs) that feature the company's sixth-generation 256GB three-bit vertical NAND memory. This means the drives come with an industry first 100 layers of NAND cells, a writing speed of 450 microseconds and a reading response time of 45 microseconds. Compared to Samsung's previous 90-layer SSDs, performance is up 10 percent and power consumption down 15 percent, according to the company.
Microsoft wants to make 'Minecraft' easier for kids to read
Microsoft is bringing its Immersive Reader to Minecraft: Education Edition. The tool will let users expand the text in character dialogue, settings and boards. Immersive Reader will dictate each word as it is highlighted, so users can follow along, and it will add Minecraft-specific images for words like "Creeper" and "Mooshroom."
Google's experimental Rivet app helps kids learn to read
Far too many kids struggle to read at an age-appropriate level, but Google is betting that technology could help them get up to speed. The company's experimental Area 120 unit has released Rivet, an app for Android and iOS that aims to make reading practice both accessible and rewarding. It offers more than 2,000 books ranked by difficulty, and uses speech technology to coach kids on their pronunciation. Rivet can read words or whole pages, highlighting words as it goes along, but it can also listen to a child's own reading and offer feedback on the words they didn't get right.
North Carolina elementary teachers will get iPads to bolster reading
Apple's renewed push for iPads in schools appears to be paying dividends. North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson has unfurled plans to give the state's K-3 teachers iPads to help improve and track student reading. Educators will use the tablets to "reduce burdens" and boost interaction as kids advance their reading levels. Johnson didn't outline the cost per tablet, but the state will pay $6 million out of a $15 million pool of unused money from previous budget years.
Tennis legend Andre Agassi is building tech to help with dyslexia
Andre Agassi, the legendary American tennis player, made an appearance at SXSW 2018 to announce a partnership with Square Panda, a startup that makes educational apps for kids. Through his Early Childhood Neuroscience Foundation, Agassi and Square Panda are creating Readvolution, an initiative that aims to develop the "first-ever" free dyslexia-assessment game. To make this happen, the plan is to get help from scientists in a number of universities in the US, such as the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and the Weill Institute of for Neurosciences.
The best ways to track your TV, music and reading habits
We've all done it: browsed friends' bookshelves, riffled through their vinyl collection or peeked through a stack of video games left in front of their TV. You can learn a lot about people based on what media they consume and leave lying around their house. And perhaps you're familiar with what director John Waters said you shouldn't do if someone doesn't have books in their house? Unfortunately, the modern streaming age means that we aren't collecting music or movies the way we used to -- we might put a few tomes on our coffee table as decoration, but stacks of books or CDs aren't practical anymore. So how do we remember everything we've listened to lately? How do we show off what we've read? Indeed, there are quite a few apps dedicated to showcasing the media experiences we've "collected." We've gathered some of the better ones so you can easily keep track of -- and brag about -- what you're watching, listening to, playing and reading in this digital age.
Alibaba and Microsoft AI beat human scores on Stanford reading test
20 years ago, IBM's Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in a game of chess and the practice of pitting human against computer continues to this day. Google's AI was the first to beat a Go champion a couple of years back (and it continues to teach itself how to play other games, too). Now Bloomberg reports that Alibaba and Microsoft have both developed AI that scores better than humans on a Stanford University reading test.
Kobo's latest waterproof e-reader is sized for poolside reading
Kobo's Aura One e-reader was potentially the dream device for anyone who likes to read in the bath or at the beach, but it had some catches. Its big 7.8-inch screen didn't make it the most portable device around, and that $229 price could be off-putting if you just wanted to read a novel now and then. Enter the just-introduced Aura H2O -- the new e-reader is still as waterproof as the One, and shares the same smart lighting that reduces blue light at night (in theory, to help you sleep). Its 6.8-inch touchscreen is decidedly easier to hold during longer siestas, while the $180 price (£150 in the UK) might simplify your purchasing decision.
Amazon's new reading app for kids combines humor and text messages
Amazon has been obsessed with the act of reading for years, and now it's trying (again) to get kids obsessed with it too. That's why the company spent the last year building Amazon Rapids, a reading app launching today meant to help youngsters understand the joy of reading. So, what does $2.99 a month actually get you? A surprisingly fun, focused way to experience stories.
Amazon Japan's manga-ready Kindle has 8 times the storage
Amazon Japan has an unusual challenge with the Kindle: it not only has to cater to your typical bookworm, but to a local fondness for image-heavy (and thus storage-intensive) manga books. What it's going to do? Release a special model just for those readers, apparently. The company has introduced a manga version of the Kindle Paperwhite with 32GB of storage, or eight times as much space as the run-of-the-mill 4GB model. You could cram every single volume of Asari-chan, Kochikame and Naruto into this e-reader, Amazon says. On top of that, a 33 percent faster page turning speed promises to keep you engrossed in your comics.
The VR reading library Oculus hid at its developer conference
Oculus' annual developer conference serves as a touchstone for its community; a time to see how far virtual reality has come in the last year and to inspire, motivate and help developers build the VR experiences of tomorrow. Most of that comes in the form of announcements, panels and software showcases, but in the media demo rooms, the VR company hid dense sources for inspiration in plain sight. Stacked just above the TV in at each demo station was a small collection of books -- all of them about either games, game development or the effect of virtual reality on our culture.
Google wants to help find your next book to read
It doesn't matter if you've got the biggest or best shop in the world if you can't connect people to the things that they want. It's an issue that Google is hoping to address in its electronic bookstore with the launch of Discover, a new way to show people stuff they want to read. The service is designed to replace the human booksellers you used to find in Barnes & Noble, offering up recommendations and reviews for stuff you should read.
Amazon Singles Classics brings stories from magazines to Kindle
If you're looking for some new reading material on your Kindle or inside Amazon's reading app, you're in luck. The online retailer announced Singles Classics: a collection of essays and stories from "well-known authors" that were published in "top magazines and periodicals." In fact, some of the selections will be available digitally for the first time. The articles are priced at $0.99 and up, but Kindle Unlimited subscribers are privy to the content at no extra charge.
