Microsoft building app that will read news to you

Tech giant Microsoft is reportedly testing an app that curates best news stories from the web and uses text-to-speech technology to read out article summaries.

NewsCast will initially be available for iOS users only.

According to the Engadget, the app makes a playlist of news story summaries and reads them to the users. Users will also be able to save articles for reading later and the app will feature a built-in browser for reading full text of any news article. The app showed up on the Microsoft Azure cloud-based site, an apparent hiccup on the part of the Redmond-based company as 1-there’s been no official word on the app, and 2-the link to it has now been removed. While news addicts behind the wheel can always get their fix from the radio instead of engaging with their handset, Microsoft is apparently hoping to offer a compromise of sorts that reads you snippets of news from sites across the Web.

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.

The report further added that the app can be downloaded by iOS users from here and is not present on the App Store.

A representative for Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a first-of-its-kind pilot, Microsoft, DOT, DEITY and ERNET are working with the government of Andhra Pradesh to bring low-cost broadband internet connectivity to four educational institutions in the district of Srikakulam which had no internet connectivity earlier.