In the spring of 2023, Career Communications Group launched a beta version of its digital library, Col-Lin, which is powered by artificial intelligence.
The library pays tribute to BEYA honorees Collin Paris and Linda Gooden. It is specifically designed to become the largest digital repository in the world, focusing on people in science and engineering.
Curated and developed by CCG, users can access volumes of magazines, seminar notes, and nominations.
One notable feature in development is voice search, which will enable users to find materials using vocal commands. A digital assistant will guide users, helping them locate information and understand it effectively.
With interactive lessons, high-quality video lectures, and three-dimensional experiences, learning becomes more engaging and enjoyable. The Col-Lin library will also host virtual classes that replicate the dynamics of a physical classroom, fostering connection and engagement among users.
By gamifying content, the library makes learning more interactive and enjoyable. It provides a platform for users to connect, collaborate, and share knowledge.
Col-Lin illuminates the significant contributions of minority engineers and serves as a testament to the vast potential and value that diversity brings to the engineering sector.
Additionally, the library offers exclusive material from CCG’s extensive archives, which are well-known for promoting people in engineering and science.
Last week, Microsoft officially launched exclusive AI features for Copilot+ PCs, including Recall, Click to Do, and Windows Search.
A new category of Windows PCs designed for AI, Copilot+ PCs, was announced in May 2024 at a special event at their new campus.
According to Microsoft, these PCs will feature new silicon capable of performing a trillion operations per second, have an all-day battery life, and have access to the most advanced AI models.
Copilot+ PCs will enable users to accomplish tasks not possible on any other PC, such as easily finding and remembering information with the Recall feature, generating and refining AI images in near real-time using Cocreator, and overcoming language barriers with Live Captions, which translates audio from 40+ languages into English.
These features were available on new devices from Microsoft Surface and OEM partners, including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung.
Microsoft’s press release mentioned that Recall will enter preview mode starting June 18, 2024.
This feature allowed users to access snapshots of their activity on their PC, making it feel like they have a photographic memory.
Copilot+ PCs organize information like how we think, based on relationships and associations unique to our experiences. This helps users quickly and intuitively find what they seek using the cues they remember.
However, to use Recall, users must opt to save snapshots, which are screenshots of their activity. These snapshots and the contextual information derived from them are stored on the user’s local hard drive.
Notably, Microsoft stated that Recall does not share these snapshots or associated data with Microsoft or third parties, nor does it share them between different Windows users on the same device.
Windows will ask for user permission before saving any snapshots, ensuring users maintain control over which apps and websites are saved.
Users can delete snapshots, pause, or turn off the feature anytime. Any future data-sharing options will require full consent from the user.
If users opt into Recall, snapshots of the active screen will be saved every few seconds or whenever the content in the active window changes.
These snapshots are protected with Windows Hello, ensuring that only the signed-in user can access their Recall content.
With Recall, users can search for content, including images and text, using the clues they remember. For example, suppose someone is trying to recollect the name of a sustainable restaurant they saw last week.
In that case, they can ask Recall, which will retrieve text and visual matches, automatically sorted by relevance. Recall even provides the option to return to the content previously viewed and resume from where the user left off.