Meet Sony’s new powerful shooters

Sony has new powerful cameras for both ɑ and RX fans. The new ɑ camera is the ɑ6500, which comes with the same 4D FOCUS system of the ɑ6300. Like the ɑ6300, this new interchangeable lens camera has 425 phase detection AF points and can shoot up to 11 frames per second with continuous autofocus and exposure tracking and up to 8fps in a live-view shooting mode. This model can shoot at high speeds for up to 307 frames. The ɑ6500 also has an in-camera 5-axis optical image stabilization, touchscreen AF, and 4K movie recording capabilities.  The ɑ6500 has an APS-C-sized 24.2-megapixel Exmor CMOS sensor with a BIONZ X image processor. This camera also comes with Wi-Fi, QR, and NFC compatibility and retails for $1,750.

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Duolingo introduces AI-powered chatbots

Free language-learning platform Duolingo is helping language learners practice their new skills with the use of chatbots. The service gets three language “tutors” in the iOS app that you can text back and forth for practice. There’s Renèe the Driver, Chef Roberto, and Officer Ada to help you practice French, Spanish, and German. Duolingo promises to add more languages in the future but that’ll depend on demand. And since these chatbots are powered by artificial intelligence, the more you use them, the smarter they get. Chatbots have been gaining popularity in the recent months but are far from being polished products yet. It’s good to see them being used in more and more services to hopefully stabilize and improve them.

Prince’s Paisley Park launches Social Media accounts

The Purple Rain room from Paisley Park - Photo courtesy of TodayBremer Trust, the special administrator for the Prince estate, announced today that new Paisley Park social media accounts will be launched on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for millions of Prince fans around the world, as Paisley Park prepares to open for its first day of public tours today, October 6.

The Facebook page Facebook.com/OfficialPaisleyPark, the Twitter account @PaisleyPark, and the Instagram account Instagram.com/OfficialPaisleyPark will be the online hub for fans worldwide, enabling fans to honor and celebrate Prince by sharing their memories, photos and videos. Fan artwork will have its own dedicated digital hub called “The Fence,” located on the Official Paisley Park Facebook page as a Facebook tab, which will showcase and memorialize extraordinary art created and shared by fans around the world. Fans can go to Facebook.com/OfficialPaisleyPark starting today to submit their own original artwork and to see artwork and tributes created by fans and admirers of one of the greatest and most beloved artists of all time.

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Samsung steps up Personal Assistant game with acquisition of VIV

“Viv was built with both consumers and developers in mind. This dual focus is also what attracted us to Viv as an ideal candidate to integrate with Samsung home appliances, wearables and more, as the paradigm of how we interact with technology shifts to intelligent interfaces and voice control.”

Artificial Intelligence and personal assistants are going to play a big part of our mobile future. Google's CEO Sundar Pichai said as much during his keynote early this week by stating that A.I.-first will be the future and this interface goes beyond displays and moves into the realm of voice assistants.

Apple was an innovator in this space with Siri and has slowly placed Siri beyond the iPhone and iPad and into the Apple TV, CarPlay and now on macOS Sierra. The company that created Siri spun off from Apple some time ago and created a new assistant called VIV who is more extensible than Siri and can work with more services and apps. Viv was just purchased by Samsung for an undisclosed amount.

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