Microsoft app will read out news

New York, Aug 16:

Do you remember reading important news stories out to your ailing grandfather or illiterate neighbour in your childhood days to earn some pocket money? Well, an app is going to do this for you now.

Microsoft is reportedly testing an app that will sort out the best news stories from the web and use text-to-speech technology to read out article summaries to the users.

Users can save articles for reading later and view the full text of any article the app — called NewsCast pulls in using a built-in browser or a distraction-free reading view, PCWorld.com reported.

It has been designed to keep users up to date with the latest news while they are commuting and do not have time to look at smartphones.

According to a publicly-accessible webpage for the app, NewsCast is a proof-of-concept product from the Bing News and Speech teams and seems to only be built for testing inside Microsoft.

Collecting feedback from users is a major focus of the app-developing team.

A feedback button in the app opens an email that includes a three-question survey about what users like, dislike and want from it in the future.

NewsCast will first be available for Apple users. (IANS)