More funding for Argo AI, shared costs between Ford and VW. Ford, Volkswagen and Argo AI made it official on Tuesday. VW has made an investment in the self-driving technology company, which charts a course for shared development costs for any autonomous vehicle technologies to come. It's unclear how deep VW reached into its wallet, but a previous report pegged a coming investment at $1.7 billion. At the time, Argo AI was reportedly valued at $4 billion, which would put VW's investment at nearly 50% of its value.

Google is using its speech recognition tech to help kids read. Google on Thursday shared early access to its Read Along app for Android, which is designed to help kids 5 years and older learn to read. The app provides verbal and visual feedback as children read stories aloud. Read Along is one of several online platforms meant to keep students engaged and learning as schools remain closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Read Along features an in-app reading buddy named Diya, who uses Google's text-to-speech and speech recognition technologies to determine if a child who's reading is struggling.

Apple wants to control every aspect of your life -- as long as you choose to let it. The company on Monday showed off the newest updates to the software running on its iPhones and iPads, Macs and Apple Watches. One of the key characteristics of Apple's operating system releases over the past couple years -- including iOS 9 and Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan revealed Monday at its developer conference -- is how well the software makes its devices work together. Last year's debut of Continuity and Handoff tied the iPhone and Mac computer more closely together, letting people start an email on their smartphone and finish it on their computer or even answer phone calls on their Macs. This year, Apple showed more ways it will extend its reach into our homes and cars, as well as how we listen to music and how we pay for goods.

The Cortana voice assistant is going a few steps further to ensure your next round of air travel goes as smoothly as possible. In a blog post Monday, Microsoft described several new ways that Cortana can help with almost every phase of your trip, from checking your flight-related emails to monitoring traffic on the way to the airport to figuring out how much you're spending if you travel abroad. The latest improvements come courtesy of an update to the software. Microsoft has grand ambitions for Cortana. Currently available only on Windows Phone 8.1, the voice assistant will expand to all Windows 10 devices -- PCs, tablets and phones -- in July.

At Apple's WWDC developers' conference keynote in San Francisco, the company's senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, highlighted a number of new tools coming to Apple's iOS 9 update. Some of these features include a native news aggregator (aptly called News); a refreshed user interface for the more "proactive" digital voice assistant Siri, and split-screen capabilities for the iPad. But similar to past WWDC events, Apple only spent time going through what it considered key upgrades. The other, less high-profile features were thrown onto a keynote slide and glossed over almost completely. Below are the 30 features Apple did not parse through during the presentation: One notable item on the list is "app thinning," which lets users download apps that are tailored to their iOS device.

During Apple's annual developers keynote at WWDC, Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi announced the company's latest mobile operating system, iOS 9. In addition to a refreshed user interface for the digital voice assistant Siri and a native News app, the update features a number of new tools specifically tailored for the iPad, Apple's tablet line. One notable change is the iPad's digital QuickType keyboard, which can now switch to a digital trackpad. Using a two-finger swipe, you can select, drag and paste large chunks of text more quickly and easily. Multitasking capabilities have also improved.

Apple's voice assistant, Siri, has a new look as well as a host of enhancements. At its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, Apple unveiled some key changes to its voice assistant. Siri boasts a new interface so it looks a bit more appealing. But perhaps most notably, Siri will be able to remind you of appointments and other events. That's a key enhancement as it's been one of the most unique features to Microsoft's Cortana voice assistant.

In two months, Microsoft will return the Start Menu to the world. Windows 10 is arriving for download on July 29 -- and it's a free download for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users. After July of 2016, Windows 7 users have to pay.) Watch CNET Update below to learn about the big highlights of Windows 10, including Cortana and new security protection perks. Also in Update: Google just put all privacy and security settings in one place, and Asus has a new smartwatch that may remind you of another well-known watch: CNET Update delivers the tech news you need in under three minutes.

Cortana is taking the war of words to Siri's home turf, Amazon amazes us with its tax return, and we find out why the record industry has a love-hate relationship with YouTube. Microsoft is challenging Apple's voice-activated personal assistant Siri by bringing its own voice control system Cortana to iPhones, not to mention Android devices too. It's all part of the build-up to Windows 10, but will iPhone owners switch allegiance? Amazon is changing the way it operates in Europe to pay more taxes in individual countries, ending its much-criticised wheeze of exploiting the tax haven of Luxembourg. Tax doesn't have to be taxing.

Microsoft's Cortana voice assistant is coming to IOS and Android. In a blog post published Tuesday, Joe Belfiore, head of Microsoft's Operating Systems Group, announced the upcoming launch of a Cortana app for Android phones and iPhones that will work as a companion to Cortana on your Windows 10 PC. The new Phone companion app will allow you to install and use Cortana for Android and iOS as part of Microsoft's goal to connect your Windows PC to whichever smartphone you own. Will Cortana for Android and iOS have the same capabilities as the version on your Windows Phone? You won't be able to use Cortana to open apps and change settings in the Android or iOS editions.