Microsoft has rolled out a suite of new features to help its Teams software compete with workplace communication competitors Slack and Zoom.
Video conferencing tools have surged since the COVID-19 pandemic began. As companies shifted to all-remote setups, in order to avoid in-office interaction, they began to employ tools like Teams to maintain face-to-face communication.
"We believe that the future of work is being shaped right now," Jared Spataro, a corporate vice president of Microsoft 365, told Cheddar on Thursday.
Courtesy of Microsoft
Spataro says that while some of the new Teams features incorporate emojis and Microsoft's AI voice assistant Cortana, the headline add-on is "Together Mode." It gives users the ability to hold meetings in virtual rooms — that actually look like rooms
"It essentially takes AI technology and allows you to cut out people who are in a meeting and put them into the same background," Spataro said. "Our research shows us that even though that sounds very simple, it actually makes a really big difference when it comes to meeting fatigue."
While the only available setting now is a simple auditorium, Spataro says Microsoft is working on building different environments like conference rooms and even a 'virtual cafe.'
Cheddar's own Chloe Aiello takes a tour of the ARTECHOUSE to see its latest exhibit "Beyond the Light," which features images from the James Webb Space Telescope.
U.S. and British cybersecurity officials warned Wednesday that a Russian cyber-extortion gang's hack of a file-transfer program popular with corporations could have widespread global impact. Initial data-theft victims include the BBC, British Airways and Nova Scotia's government.
Apple recently acquired augmented reality company Mira following its launch of the Vision Pro headset. Cheddar News explains how Apple is looking to tap into the AR market long dominated by Meta.
NJR Clean Energy Ventures built a vast array of solar panels, linked them together, and placed them on the surface of the water at Canoe Brook Reservoir.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau laid out a number of concerns about the growing use of chatbots by banks to handle routine customer service requests.
With concerns about misinformation spreading online, European Union officials want to more closely regulate artificial intelligence, and they're asking the world's biggest tech companies for help.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ron Wyden, Ed Markey, and Mazie Hirono sent a letter to top officials at Twitter expressing their concerns over the platform's privacy policy.
The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao are accused of misusing investor funds, operating as an unregistered exchange and violating a slew of U.S. securities laws in a lawsuit filed by the SEC.
Apple on Monday unveiled a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world, while also testing the technology trendsetter's ability to popularize new-fangled devices after others failed to capture the public's imagination.
