Gadgetory

microsoft is working on something smarter than Cirie I'm Bridget Carey and this is your cnet update microsoft is planning to have smart assistant technology in all windows devices and it's codenamed cortana after the intelligent computer named cortana in the halo video game series Cortana is getting buzz in the news lately as Windows Phone gears up for a software upgrade but a Microsoft executive told CNET that an Apple Siri or Google now competitor would only be launched when the technology is revolutionary rather than simply an evolutionary step forward that might take another two years microsoft CEO steve ballmer did hint at something like this in previous statements he said there would be a system that could do more than just answer voice commands it would learn and adapt over time to people in the world and even anticipate what is needed before the user asks for it Roku the streaming video set-top box is adding a new feature that works like Google's chromecast owners can stream content to the televisions straight from apps on a smartphone now Roku already has an app for Apple and Android that turns a smartphone into a basic remote control but this would take it a step further with users able to pull up a video from another company zap likes a netflix or even the cnet app and then click on a shortcut button to start playing that video on a TV it sounds cool but there was no word on when this technology would be available next year Samsung televisions may run on samsung's operating system called Tizen Samsung has been working on making its own open-source operating system instead of only depending on Android Samsung's co-ceo says Tizen based TVs could hit the market next year in 2014 and the goal is to connect all of Samsung's devices with a common operating system but I think it'll be a while before people want to buy a Tyson phone over an android phone so between cortana roku and Tizen these are all things that are in store for the future but if you want something that you can try today head on over to Google Plus on a Google Chrome web browser and you'll find new photo editing tools google has been continuously improving phone O'Toole's on google+ you may be familiar with the auto awesome feature it automatically color enhances photos and makes animations from photos that are taking in a quick sequence but these changes give users on chrome more fine-tuned control for example you might only want to enhance the color of one part of the photo google also added new filters and cropping and rotating tools the major web giants are fighting to be your home for uploading photos Google is hoping to lure you in with free editing tools like this that's your tech news update but you can get more details on these stories at cnet com / update or follow along on Twitter from our studios in New York I'm Bridget Carey