Translation of bird conversations and the world's largest drone quadcopter: what's new in the IT sector over the past week

We are sharing with you the most interesting news from the IT sphere.

Microsoft Word turns 40

The legendary Microsoft Word software, one of the oldest applications for Windows, has turned 40. To celebrate this important milestone, Microsoft published a timeline demonstrating the history of the application's development and shared information about how Word will evolve in the future.

On October 25, 1983, Microsoft introduced Word as a WYSIWYG text editor. According to other sources, the company released Word for MS-DOS on September 29, 1983, and from that same day, its free demo copy was available to subscribers of The PC World Software Review.

Source: habr.com

Gmail to get a voice dictation feature for emails

The Gmail service will soon introduce a "voice compose" feature that will allow users to create messages using only their voice, while artificial intelligence will refine and complete the email before sending. This new addition will be part of the "Help me write" tool, which is included in the Duet AI platform.

Source: habr.com

The world's largest drone quadcopter completes a test flight

Engineers at the University of Manchester have built and launched the world's largest drone quadcopter. The drone, made from foam cardboard, weighs 24.5 kilograms, and its length from corner to corner is 6.4 meters. It has no practical purpose, but the university hopes it will inspire students to take a creative approach to UAV design using alternative, eco-friendly, and inexpensive materials instead of plastic.

Source: habr.com

NASA conducts aerodynamic tests of the Dragonfly drone model, designed to study Titan

Researchers from NASA, led by scientists from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, conducted the first tests of the Dragonfly model, a nuclear-powered drone designed to study Titan. The model was tested in a wind tunnel to understand how its future larger version will operate in Titan's unique liquid environment.

Source: habr.com

AI model Cluck talk translates bird conversations

Startup Coop has presented the smart chicken coop Albert Eggstein, which allows for comfortable housing of domestic birds and provides them with everything they need. The built-in AI model Cluck talk can determine the mood and desires of the birds based on their clucking.

The smart chicken coop is equipped with two video cameras that provide 24/7 monitoring of its inhabitants and transmit video to the owner's smartphone.

The system measures the volume and characteristics of the clucking, analyzes them, and provides a conclusion about the mood of the birds — whether they are happy, hungry, sense the presence of predators, or are unable to share a favorite perch.

Source: er10.kz