As the search AI chatbot shindigs -- like Microsoft's Bing bot debut and Google's Bard launch -- wind down for now, who knew the hottest, trendiest party in generative AI would be … business productivity apps? After years of being relegated to nerdy, wallflower AI status while self-driving cars, robot dogs and the future of the AI-powered metaverse got the spotlight, generative AI's email-writing, blog-producing, copy-powering abilities are suddenly popular. And top companies from startups to Big Tech are developing tools to gain admittance to the generative AI bash. Follow VentureBeat's ongoing generative AI coverage Arriving fashionably late to this generative AI soiree is San Francisco-based Grammarly. The digital writing assistant with a browser extension is far from a newbie to the AI space, but today the company announced its GPT-powered, chatbot-style GrammarlyGo. The new offering will start rolling out to its 30 million daily customers in beta in early April, as well as 50,000 teams in Grammarly Business.

Over the last years, I've been developing a very intensive daily routine, trying to balance my personal life as a father-of-three-daughters and a relatively active and multitasking enterprise professional. And one thing that helps keep my productivity level up is leveraging the right technology to support me in every task. With this mindset, I've started to use dozens of applications, mostly mobile apps, that help me to get things done faster and with quality, allowing me to have more time in my day for the things I need and love to do. Also, I have been following different productivity philosophies, always thinking that I should not do more than I have to. After all, what I've concluded is that one of the best ways to increase my efficiency at work and in my personal life is to cut out things that don't need to be done in the first place. Therefore, in general, my advice is not to choose apps and tools only because they look fancy but choose those that can help you cut out everything unnecessary, allowing you to focus on solely what you need the most.

Looking at your humble laptop, you may not think it has the power to change your life. But there are so many amazing things you can do on a portable computer, and many of them can help you do more than you could ever imagine. In this article we'll look at some of the ways your trusty laptop can open new avenues in your life, from getting you that dream job to keeping your prized keepsakes safe for good. If you live far away from friends and family, that does not mean you cannot stay in touch. Thanks to your laptop's built-in webcam and an app like Skype, you can have a video call with loved ones wherever they are.

It was the middle of the second world war, Europe was under siege and while the allied forces were able to intercept radio traffic communication, they could not make any sense of the information, since it was encrypted. Germany had developed an ingenious device, called the Enigma, which allowed for millions of possible encryption combinations. Being able to decrypt that communication would no doubt be of tremendous value to the allied forces. One day, a man stepped into the offices of Britain's code breaking centre at Bletchley park. He claimed he would be able to build a machine that could decrypt the enemy's communication.

Microsoft is making some bold promises with Story Remix, its recently announced app for the Windows 10 Fall Creators update. Together with the company's deep learning technology, it can automatically craft your photos and videos into short films. Story Remix resembles Apple Clips and Google's Photo Assistant, but it goes a bit farther with the ability to analyze everything on a pixel level-basis to detect people, objects and the overall setting. If it works as advertised, it could be a transformational app for consumers fed up with their ever-growing libraries of digital media. It's the latest attempt by Microsoft to make your life easier by predicting what you want.

Google's G Suite, the new name for what was previously called Google Apps for Work, is getting a couple of small but nifty updates today. There isn't necessarily a common theme here, but for the most part, the new features focus on supporting more of the existing workflows in larger companies and bringing more of Google's smarts to these apps. If you work in the kind of company where people like to assign work to other people, then this first new feature will have you jumping up and down in joy like a kid on Christmas morning. When you type something like "Mathew to create a document with all the upcoming earnings," Docs will now automatically suggest that you create an action item and assign this to (hopefully) the right person. You can also create these action items manually, of course.

NEW YORK: Tech giant Microsoft and large equipment manufacturer Liebherr are collaborating on a new generation of smart refrigerators that would help in shopping and planning meals with intelligent food management. "As part of the Liebherr household appliances division's digital initiative, the duo would develop'SmartDeviceBox' -- a communication module which fits into refrigerators and freezers -- connecting them to the internet," T.J Hazen, Principal Data Scientist Manager at Microsoft, wrote. The system, which would utilise the same machine learning technology used in Microsoft's artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Cortana, is designed to have a long lifecycle. Microsoft gets big support in its fight for digital privacy with US Technology, media, pharmaceutical and other companies, along with major corporate lobbying groups, filed legal briefs on Friday in support of a Microsoft Corp lawsuit that aims to strike down a law preventing companies from telling customers the government is seeking their data. With this technology, modular units can be integrated and upgraded at any time in existing SmartDevice-ready appliances to create value and comfort for customers through new digital features and solutions, the post on Microsoft blog said.

Microsoft has picked up another productivity app -- announcing the acquisition of AI-powered scheduling tool Genee. In a blog post today the software giant said it will be plugging Genee into its cloud productivity suite, Office 365. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. "As we continue to build new Office 365 productivity capabilities and services our customers value, I'm confident the Genee team will help us further our ambition to bring intelligence into every digital experience," writes Rajesh Jha, CVP of Outlook and Office 365. Genee launched in public beta a year ago, offering an end-to-end scheduling tool that integrates with calendar apps and email providers to take the strain out of arranging meetings.