Today’s top tech news: Google’s grooming, Facebook’s looming and a kite-powered drone might be in the works
Google is going local by grooming Indian content providers
The Google logo is pictured at the entrance to the Google offices in London (Source: Reuters)
Google’s Webmaster Conference — a revamped version the Google Search Conference conference from last year — will kick off on June 7. The event is aimed at grooming Indian content creators to develop their portals using local languages.
Why you should care:
The fact that Google is working so hard to optimise its ecosystem for local languages signals the importance of localisation. Website owners, publishers and even bloggers in India can sign up to learn more about not only how to publish their content in local languages but also curate content for Google Search and Adsense.
Alphabet’s DeepMind AI can beat humans at multiplayer games — with ‘team spirit’
DeepMind's AI is capable of adapting to changes in game maps (Source: DeepMind)
It’s not uncommon to hear stories about bots being able to beat out humans when it comes to online gaming, but that only ever the case when you’re talking about games that go one-on-one. DeepMind, Google’s sister company, has developed artificial intelligence (AI) that can beat humans even when it comes to multiplayer games.
Why you should care:
For one, no more waiting around for enough people to be online before a game can kick off. Also, for players looking to level up, AI agents can provide training that is superior to that of playing against human opponents. In DeepMind’s case, even when the AI’s efficiency was lowered to match human standards — the AI still won.
Microsoft might be working on a new operating system set to release in 2020
Microsoft's team on stage at Computex (Source: Microsoft)
Microsoft is reportedly working on a ‘Lite’ version of Windows 10 that’s set to roll out in 2020. There’s also a ‘modern OS’ in the works according to the company’s Vice President of Consumer and Device Sales at Computex in Taipei.
Why you should care:
The last version of Windows 10 rolled out to users in 2015. Ever since, Windows hasn’t introduced a new operating system though it did roll out updates. Four years have passed and Windows users might finally have something new to look forward to.