Google has launched a website for its Read Along app to encourage young children to practice reading. The website, which is introduced as a public beta, works with Chrome, Firefox, and Edge browsers on Desktop and Android, with support for iOS and more browsers such as Safari coming soon.
The concept of the website is similar to the app: children can learn to speak languages like English, Portuguese, Spanish, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, and Urdu by reading stories using Google’s speech recognition and text-to- speechtext. A virtual assistant named Diya helps the children pronounce words if it detects they are struggling. Children can also ask Diya for help in speaking unknown words.
The company claimed that just like the app, all the speech recognition process takes place on the browser locally and no data is sent to its servers to protect children’s privacy. Plus, the whole experience is ad-free.
While the app had the advantage of offline usage, the website can help people who have low storage on the phone or schools that have desktop computers. One of the other major differentiators between the website and the app is that the latter works without any sign-in. The new website mandates Google account sign-ins on the same device to keep track of the progress of different children.
Google first launched the app as Bolo in India in 2019 with support for Hindi and English and renamed it Read Along with additional language support for a wider audience in 2020. The search giant noted that since its launch the app has helped more than 30 million kids read over 120 million stories.
The company said it’s partnering with new content providers to add more stories to the platform.
“In addition to the website launch, we are also adding some brand-new stories. We have partnered with two well-known YouTube content creators, ChuChu TV, and USP Studios, to adapt some of their popular videos into a storybook format,” it said in a statement.
The firm is also working India-based Kutuki learning app to adopt their English and Hindi alphabet books and phonics books for kids as stories in the Read Along app, which will be available later this year.
TV legend Denise Drysdale, 73, speaks openly about her rare and debilitating brain condition: ‘It was a nightmare’
By Caleb Taylor For Daily Mail Australia
Published: | Updated:
TV legend Denise Drysdale, 73, has revealed shocking health issues dealing with the painful painful facial condition trigeminal neuralgia (TN).
According to the Mayo Clinic the condition affects the trigeminal nerve, which carries searing pain to the face.
Denise told Now to Love on Tuesday it is great to be ‘laughing again’ after dealing with the pain for the past year.
TV legend Denise Drysdale, 73, (pictured) spoke openly about her rare and debilitating brain condition during an interview with Now To Love on Tuesday
‘It’s great to be laughing again. I haven’t really laughed in over a year – my life had become a nightmare of agonizing pain and fear,’ she told the publication.
The two-time Gold Logie winner said she was crippled by a deep depression due to the debilitating condition.
‘I feared the crippling pain was going to be my life. That I couldn’t go out, couldn’t have fun with friends, couldn’t smile, couldn’t cuddle my grandkids or go to work.’
‘It’s great to be laughing again. I haven’t really laughed in over a year – my life had become a nightmare of agonizing pain and fear,’ she told the publication
In the last couple of years Denise has gone through a knee replacement, detached retina, blood clot in the leg and a Staph infection.
Denise went public with the condition in September last year during a segment on Studio Ten.
Showbiz reporter and Denise’s good friend Craig Bennett broke the news on the show.
‘Why you’ve not seen her on the show for a little bit is because of this reason: last week [Denise] was taken to hospital after suffering “unspeakable agony”,’ he said.
Craig recalled how Denise had told him the pain was the equivalent of ‘being struck by a lightning bolt’ or touched with ‘a white hot poker’.
Denise was taken to hospital following her diagnosis with the nerve disorder. She said it felt as if she had been struck by lightning
‘It turns out she’s suffering from a rare nerve disorder that affects the face, trigeminal neuralgia,’ he explained.
‘Trigeminal is the name of the nerve that stretches through the brain and spreads across the face. Neuralgia, of course, is nerve pain,’ he added.
Craig said he was in regular contact with Denise, who ‘is slowly on the mend’.
What is trigeminal neuralgia?
Trigeminal neuralgia is a chronic pain condition that affects the trigeminal nerve, which carries sensation from your face to your brain.
If you have trigeminal neuralgia, even mild stimulation of your face – such as from brushing your teeth or putting on makeup – can trigger a jolt of excruciating pain.
You may initially experience short, mild attacks. But trigeminal neuralgia can progress and cause longer, more frequent bouts of searing pain.
Trigeminal neuralgia affects women more often than men, and it’s more likely to occur in people who are older than 50.
Because of the variety of treatment options available, having trigeminal neuralgia doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doomed to a life of pain.
Doctors usually can effectively manage trigeminal neuralgia with medications, injections or surgery.
Source: Mayo Clinic
‘I know we all share in wishing our Denise Drysdale the speediest of recoveries,’ he concluded.
‘We need our regular dose of Ding Dong. We absolutely do.’
Craig added that Denise was joined by her family in hospital and had the nurses ‘in stitches’ during her stay in the hospital.
Denise has been a regular on Channel Ten and Studio Ten. Seen here on the show
Carlton’s one-wood this season has been their brutal dominance in clearance and contested ball situations.
That has been largely thanks to the trio of Patrick Cripps, George Hewett and Matt Kennedy.
Well… the Blues will be 0/3 when they face Melbourne on Saturday night.
Cripps failed to overturn his two-match ban at the Tribunal, while Kennedy and Hewett remain sidelined with injuries.
So what do they do now?
Sam Walsh and Adam Cerra remain from the first-choice on-ball unit and will be forced to carry a heavy load.
Paddy Dow was poor in his second game of the year against Brisbane, but simply must keep his spot and take on that third spot in the starting midfield rotation.
Zac Fisher will also likely continue to rotate through as he has done this year.
Beyond that? How do the Blues compete with the size and power of Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney?
Ed Curnow would be nice, but he suffered a hamstring setback in the VFL. David Cuningham also remains sidelined as he returns from a torn ACL.
Could the Blues finally unleash Liam Stocker and/or Brodie Kemp on-ball as intended on draft night?
Stocker’s availability is unknown coming off a concussion a fortnight ago, but he has the size and was initially billed as an inside midfielder.
Will Setterfield is another who came to the club as an inside midfielder, but has played almost exclusively on the wing because their hasn’t been a spot available.
He will surely receive his chance on the inside if he retains his spot on the side.
Mid-season draftee Will Hayes has impressed in the VFL at stages on-ball, Jack Carroll has received a few AFL opportunities this year and Lachie Fogarty is another option.
Do the Blues get creative with someone like Kemp or potentially Jack Silvagni as a pure on-baller?
I did tag Nathan Fyfe earlier in his career. Is this the opportunity to try him on Oliver? James Aish did so successfully recently.
Carlton needs to win one more game to make the eight. They will have to do so without their fearless leader and half their starting midfield … and at least 14 unavailable players pending this week’s medical report.
A trio of House Democrats from New York and New Jersey have said that they’ll support the massive spending plan their party forced through the Senate over the weekend — despite their earlier insistence that any such bill lift the cap on state and local tax (SALT ) deductions.
Rep. Tom Suozzi, Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer insisted that the $740 billion so-called Inflation Reduction Act would not raise taxes on individuals, despite a recent analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation that found levies would jump by $16.7 billion on American taxpayers making less than $200,000 in 2023, while those who make between $200,000 and $500,000 would have to pay $14.1 billion more.
SALT deductions were limited to $10,000 as part of former President Donald Trump’s tax reform plan in 2017, hurting residents of high-tax states like New York and New Jersey.
Late last year, all three lawmakers insisted that President Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar Build Back Better package increase the SALT caps, with Suozzi embracing the mantra: “No SALT, no deal.
”The Long Island rep told The Post Monday that he would support the package “because it is good for my constituents, good for America, and great for the environment.”
The lawmakers previously insisted that any spending plan lift the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images“If someone tries to change the tax rates on families in my District, I will insist that we restore the State and Local Tax Deduction,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer vowed.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
“Regarding SALT, the Inflation Reduction Act does not increase personal income taxes and ‘No SALT, no deal’ does not apply,” Suozzi added. “If any change is proposed in the personal income tax rate, I will insist that we restore the State and Local Tax Deduction.”
“The bill is fully paid for, in part, with provisions that go after tax cheats. It will also help pay down the debt — a fiscally-responsible way to get inflation down,” Gottheimer said Sunday after Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate.
“As for SALT, my line in the sand remains the same. If someone tries to change the tax rates on families in my District, I will insist that we restore the State and Local Tax Deduction,” he continued. “This legislation doesn’t raise taxes on families in my District — it reduces the financial burden on them. For that reason, and for its strong support of the climate, lower prescription drug prices, and job creation, I’ll be voting for it.”
Rep. Mikie Sherrill said she would vote for the legislation because it “does not raise taxes on families in my district.”Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Sherrill also expressed her commitment to reforming SALT, but noted that “[b]Because this legislation does not raise taxes on families in my district, but in fact significantly lowers their costs, I will be voting for it.”
The measure passed by the Senate does out $369 billion on environmental programs, including tax credits for buyers of electric vehicles and rebates for low-income Americans to install renewable energy sources in their homes.
The legislation also includes provisions allowing Medicare to directly negotiate the prices of certain drugs and capping out-of-pocket costs at $2,000 annually. The bill also extends expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies through 2025, allowing people earning up to 150% of the federal poverty level to get health insurance for free.
Rep. Tom Suozzi previously embraced the “No SALT, no deal” mantra.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
A $35-per-month cap on what private insurers can charge out-of-pocket for insulin failed to survive the hours-long vote-a-rama that preceded the final vote, falling three “ayes” short of the 60 needed to make the legislation.
The House is expected to reconvene to debate and vote on the measure on Friday. It is expected to pass and be sent to Biden’s desk with all 210 of the chamber’s Republicans voting “nay.”
Google’s cloud gaming service, Stadia, has been receiving consistent updates, but even then, there are rumors of it shutting down due to the low number of total users. All the rumors were slashed when the official Twitter account of Stadia tweeted that it’s not shutting down but rather been worked on to bring more games and updates.
@BlueFireDemon44 Stadia is not shutting down. Rest assured we’re always working on bringing more great games to the platform and Stadia Pro. Let us know if you have other questions.
@BlueFireDemon44 Stadia is not shutting down. Rest assured we’re always working on bringing more great games to the platform and Stadia Pro. Let us know if you have other questions.
A new update will soon be rolled out to improve the quality of life and the YouTube streaming feature. Currently, to stream through this platform on YouTube, users can only stream one game, and if they wish to switch to another game, they will have to end the stream entirely and start a new one, which is a nuisance. But that has changed.
The latest update to Google Stadia is a godsend to streamers
YouTube streaming on Google Stadia will be much easier and better once the update is rolled out to everyone. It will allow users to pause their live stream, switch games, and click on “Resume livestream” to continue streaming. This will help streamers retain their viewers as they switch games, which would not have been possible without this update.
Moreover, users can also change the device on which the gameplay is being streamed. For example, users can switch from their desktop to mobile devices on the same stream without ending it.
Another great feature coming out with the update is called Party Stream, which allows players to stream their gameplay to others in the Stadia party. The party can support up to 10 players where there is no limit on how many members of the party can stream their gameplay while others can be viewers.
This means that nine players can stream in the party with one viewer, or one with nine viewers, although only one stream can be watched at a time.
Also Read Story Continues below
The Party Stream feature also has party chat elements like voice chat so that while spectating or streaming, users can continue to chat with everyone at the party, send messages and react with emojis while the streamer will see on-screen notifications of friends entering or leaving the stream, new messages, and the latest reactions.
Google’s cloud streaming service has been receiving important updates, and since its launch, its integrated YouTube streaming feature has added support for 4K and HDR. The new update will be rolled out to all users on all platforms within the week.
It’s that time of the year again — you’ve done your Premier League fantasy draft and are now checking which picks have worked out and which have let you down. If you selected any Manchester United players, it might already be a good time to move them on.
The painful reality for United supporters and fantasy managers alike right now is that no members of Erik ten Hag’s squad would come anywhere near to making a Premier League Best XI. And that won’t change if United are successful in completing one of the most surprising transfers of the summer — any summer — by signing journeyman forward Marko Arnautovic from Bologna.
Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford against Brighton & Hove Albion was a disastrous start for Ten Hag in his first competitive game as United manager. The former Ajax coach will have known that he was taking on a big challenge when, earlier this summer, he became the fifth permanent managerial appointment since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013, but the manner of the Brighton defeat will have been a jolting reality check .
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Ten Hag saw first-hand that teams such as Brighton, without even half of the financial might and historical power of United, can outsmart and outplay a club with such apparent riches simply by being astute and strategic on and off the pitch. But with United, it always gets back to the players because they simply aren’t good enough, and that decline in quality stems back to before Ferguson stepped down.
That said, when Ferguson retired after guiding United to a 20th league title, more than half of his team would have made it into a best Premier League XI. Manchester City and Chelsea would have had a couple of players each, too, but the likes of David de Gea, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Michael Carrick, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie would all have earned a place among the outstanding Premier League team of the 2012-13 season.
Throughout the first 20 years of the Premier League, it would have been a similar story. United may not always have dominated the best XI, but they would at least have had two or three players in it. If you were to repeat this exercise now, how many teams would you have to pick before a United player would be selected? The best Premier League XI of 2022-23 would be dominated by City and Liverpool players. You could make a case for Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane being the one outsider, but the England captain might have to accept a place in the second XI due to the claims of Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah.
The second XI would again be made up by those City and Liverpool players who didn’t make the first XI, with maybe Kane and Son Heung-Min added to it.
The third XI? Probably full of Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal players, with West Ham United’s Declan Rice anchoring the midfield as a rare selection from outside the so-called Big Six.
Which takes us to the fourth-best Premier League XI, and probably where Bruno Fernandes or Christian Eriksen — and maybe even Cristiano Ronaldo — would find a place alongside those City and Liverpool players who didn’t make the first three teams. De Gea’s decline in goal since 2013 would see him nowhere near any of the top 10 best XIs, while the rest of Ten Hag’s squad are either so low on confidence — Harry Maguire, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho — or lacking in top- level quality — Scott McTominay, Fred, Diogo Dalot — that they wouldn’t be in contention either.
This is obviously a fantasy exercise based purely on opinion and everyone will have a different view, but what is clear is that Manchester United no longer have the best players. They are stacked with mediocrity and struggle even to get rid of those who are no longer good enough, such as Phil Jones, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Eric Bailly. It’s probably a statement of the obvious considering the club’s performances and lack of trophies in recent years, but it is also an important point about how the team has been run in the post-Ferguson era.
United would always challenge to sign the best players. They wouldn’t always get them, with Alan Shearer, Ronaldinho and Eden Hazard being three of the most high-profile players to reject a move to Old Trafford, but they had the ambition to pursue them and, more often than not, they beat a big rival to sign a Ferdinand, a Rooney or a Van Persie.
Romelu Lukaku was probably the last high-profile player that United signed ahead of a Big Six rival, with the Everton forward rejecting Chelsea to move to Old Trafford in 2017. Since then, a failure to close the deal has been seen United miss out on the likes of Haaland, Jude Bellingham, Darwin Nunez and, potentially this summer, Frenkie de Jong.
Joining United is now seen as a risky move by the best players. Why go to Old Trafford when the club is in such a state of flux, with fans protesting against the owners and the trophy cabinet beginning to gather dust?
That is the challenge facing Ten Hag. He not only has to build a winning team, but make the club an attractive proposition for new players to join. But it is a long way back, and it’s difficult to predict when United will have a player in the Premier League Best XI again.
Former President Donald Trump once complained to his White House chief of staff that his generals weren’t “totally loyal” like Adolf Hitler’s during World War II, according to a book excerpt published Monday.
“You f—ing generals, why can’t you be like the German generals?” Trump asked then-White House chief of staff John Kelly, according to an excerpt of “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021,” co-written by New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser and New York Times correspondent Peter Baker.
When Kelly asked Trump for clarification, the president reportedly replied by specifying, “The German generals in World War II.”
Kelly, a retired Marine general, then asked Trump whether he knew that those generals “tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off.”
According to the excerpt, Trump dismissed Kelly’s historically accurate description, insisting, “No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him.”
The New Yorker published the excerpt Monday.
The exchange was described in the excerpt as “typical” of Trump’s expectation of fealty from his military officers.
The authors wrote that on another occasion, during the summer of 2017, Trump told Kelly that he wanted to hold a military parade and said: “Look, I don’t want any wounded guys in the parade. This doesn’t look good for me.”
“Those are the heroes,” Kelly reportedly protested.
NBC News has asked Kelly and a Trump spokesman for comment.
Kelly joined the Trump administration in 2017 as homeland security secretary and later became White House chief of staff. I have left about midway through Trump’s presidency.
Other parts of the book excerpt focused on Gen. Mark Milley, who has been the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff since October 2019. The coming book includes a resignation letter Milley drafted after the violent clearing of Lafayette Square near the White House on June 1, 2020. Milley wrote in the draft letter, which he didn’t submit, that he worried that Trump was “doing great and irreparable harm” to the country and that he had concerns about the president’s “concerted effort over time to politicize the United States military.”
Milley’s letter also described how he didn’t think Trump understood a generation that “fought against Nazism, has fought against extremism,” adding, “It’s now obvious to me that you don’t understand that world order.”
“In fact, you subscribe to many of the principles that we fought against. And I cannot be a party to that,” Milley added.
According to the excerpt, Milley also feared Trump’s “Hitler-like” spouse of election lies.
NBC News has asked the Defense Department for comment.
Zoë Richards is the evening politics reporter for NBC News.
Madden NFL 23 comes out in a week and EA has confirmed that it will not be available on Xbox Game Pass from day 1 although Ultimate subscribers will have free access to the 10-hour EA Play trial.
This year’s installation of American football is exciting. EA has revealed all of the player ratings and the top 10 includes Aaron Donald, Davante Adams, Trent Williams, and Jalen Ramsey.
Some big upgrades and changes have also been made to Face of the Franchise, and you will be able to sample these changes in a time-limited demo soon.
Madden 23 | FieldSENSE Deep Dive Official Gameplay Trailer
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Madden 23 | FieldSENSE Deep Dive Official Gameplay Trailer
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Will Madden 23 be on Xbox Game Pass?
Madden NFL 23 is not coming to Xbox Game Pass so it will not be available from day 1 on either August 16th or 19th.
There was a banner advertisement on the Xbox website which suggested otherwise, however, EA has provided a statement to Gamespot clarifying that Microsoft simply made a mistake.
It’s disappointing that it’s not joining the subscription service for Ultimate subscribers, but, even though you will not be able to access the full game, an Ultimate subscription will get at least you access to the 10-hour trial.
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Big updates coming to Face of the Franchise: The League
The price of a Game Pass Ultimate subscription is £10.99 and it will give Xbox console players a free EA Play subscription and therefore free access to the Madden NFL 23 10-hour trial.
The release date for the 10-hour trial is August 16th via EA Help. If you’re not sure about buying this year’s installation, the time-limited demo will be the perfect way to sample all of the new features and additions.
If you don’t want a Game Pass subscription, you can just subscribe to EA Play for £3.99 a month or £19.99 every 12-months. For those who game on PC, you can get access to and keep the full game via an EA Play Pro subscription which costs £14.99 a month or £99.99 per year.
In other news, Apex Legends Season 14 Patch Notes For Hunted Update
It’s sad news for Kete fans, as Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson have split up after nine months together.
Reports first surfaced on Friday (5th August), with sources telling AND! News that the reality star and comedian have called time on their relationship.
Both Kim and Pete are yet to speak publicly on the apparent breakup. However, one subtle move from Pete appears to show him addressing the split in a fairly obscure way.
Spending time in Australia while shooting upcoming film Wizards!Pete has been photographed wearing an, err, interesting t-shirt – which appears to shed some light on how he’s feeling right now.
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Pictures published by AND! show the 28-year-old sporting an insect-themed t-shirt featuring the words, “What… I feel like s**t.”
Hey, whether it’s just a coincidental clothing choice, or a subtle comment on his emotions right now, we hope Pete’s doing OK.
News of Kim and Pete’s split came as a surprise for fans, with the pair appearing to be going strong after first meeting on the set of Saturday night Live last October. In recent months, we saw Kete sharing *all* the PDA, getting tattoo tributes and even heading to the White House together.
Still, as for their split, sources told AND! that the duo’s busy lives and differing time zones “made it really difficult to maintain a relationship.” However, the outlet also reported that the couple still have “a lot of love and respect for each other.”
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We’re glad these two are still on good terms and hope both are doing OK.
emily golla Emily Gulla is Cosmopolitan UK’s Editorial Assistant/Junior Entertainment and Lifestyle Writer, covering celeb, TV and film for the site, magazine and video.
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Daniel Ricciardo has asked for an eight-figure pay-out in exchange for the early termination of his Formula 1 contract with McLaren.
The Australian has unwittingly become embroiled in the Oscar Piastri contract saga, and looks set to lose his drive at the papaya operation in favor of his young countryman.
It’s understood Ricciardo is the only party to have the right to cancel his current contract, which runs until the end of next year.
Multiple sources have revealed the West Aussie’s initial asking price is $21 million, though that is expected to be reduced as the team haggles over price.
It’s likely also that, should Ricciardo secure a drive elsewhere next season, any salary component he receives would see the same value refunded to McLaren.
For example, should he receive $10 million from Alpine for 2023, Ricciardo would be required to refund McLaren $10 million of whatever settlement figure may finally be agreed upon.
However, it’s also possible that McLaren will be on the hook for any legal costs Piastri incurs as a result of the current situation.
The Melburnian is the central figure in a dispute between Alpine and McLaren over his services, with the latter apparently holding the overriding contract.
It’s believed Alpine does not hold a valid ‘Formula 1’ contract, explaining why McLaren was able to lodge its with the Contract Recognition Board without conflict.
That further suggests that any contract in place with Piastri, likely therefore to be with the Alpine Academy, could be pursued through the (presumably French) civil legal system, a point Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer has suggested he would likely explore.
In that instance, it’s probable that an indemnity clause in the deal with McLaren would see any costs incurred passed from Piastri to McLaren.
On that front, a figure as high as $15 million has been suggested which, combined with the pay-out to Ricciardo, could see the 21-year-old’s arrival at Woking cost well over $30 million.
That is if the matter goes that far, and the Australian is found in some way liable for the costs incurred by Alpine – and of that there is currently no certainty.
The situation raises the question of why McLaren is prepared to stump up a significant sum to end its relationship with Ricciardo, and potentially be on the hook for another with Piastri.
