Nuance

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s Chain-Gang All-Stars comes to publication freighted with hype because of its stark envisioning of American death row prisoners forced to fight one another to the bloody end, with the bouts televised. The prisoners are mainly Black and they become stars in the entertainment industry on the “outside”, with gimmicky names and basic, almost caveman-like signature weapons. Instead of the Norse god Thor’s hammer Mjölnir, here there’s a hammer called Hass Omaha, a scythe named LoveGuile and a mace…

Tom Grennan is a hard sell in a world as cynical as this. As family photos scroll on giant screens he climbs into the syrupy Here, having dedicated the song to his mum and dad, who are in the building. “When the sky turns black, I’ll be the light you need,” he sings. It makes a change from saying that dreams can come true, at least.When the final chorus hits, confetti rains down in a flash of arena pomp that should be enough to scour away his everyman mask. Instead, it does the opposite: it feels like watching your mate…

What would you do if you suspected your teenager was a deadly threat to the students and staff at his school? Would you take the law into your own hands if your young daughter was sexually assaulted and the assailant hadn’t been apprehended yet? What if a newborn’s parents appeared unfit — would you be justified in kidnapping the baby?These questions and more are posed in Fox’s episodic anthology “Accused,” an anticipated addition to television’s plethora of courtroom dramas and crime stories true and false. The hourlong…

Microsoft is in advanced talks to acquire speech recognition company Nuance Communications , a person familiar with the discussions tells CNBC . The operation could be announced this Monday, the source points out. The plans illustrate Microsoft’s recent efforts to expand through deals. Microsoft considered buying the US operations of video-sharing app TikTok last year, and last month completed the $7.5 billion acquisition of video game maker Zenimax. Nuance would be more aligned with the part of Microsoft’s…

Whose emotions are these, anyway? Cass McCombs’s 10th album is an easy, rolling record that grapples with inner complexity, telling stories about musicians and soldiers, lovers and seekers. Even as this seasoned US singer-songwriter butts up against philosophical quandaries or quotes from Sufism, he never loses track of the everyday. When he isn’t making singular records, McCombs has worked in demolition and crashed on couches; his is a landscape of fast-food restaurants and karaoke machines, where vans break down, people…

It’s been a week of people trying to make sense of what’s happening in tech. If you’ve been compartmentalizing: Cheers! Now let me walk you through what’s been going on. On Monday, WeWork founder Adam Neumann raised a seed round from Andreessen Horowitz for a new real estate company, reportedly at an over $1 billion valuation. Neumann’s return, flush with the biggest check that one of the best-known firms has ever written, was met with a range of reactions given his tumultuous leadership at WeWork. A few days…

Credit: MicrosoftMicrosoft officials have been talking up plans for a digital contact center offering featuring Teams, Dynamics 365 and Nuance AI for the past several months. Officials re-announced plans for this product with some additional details on Day 1 of Microsoft's annual partner conference, Inspire. Microsoft finalized its acquisition of Nuance Communications in March 2022. For $19.7 billion, Microsoft got a company best known for its work in healthcare, but with products in voice recognition and related…

Welcome to Startups Weekly, a fresh human-first take on this week’s startup news and trends. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. From black swan memos and heart-to-hearts to not-so-subtle emails asking for on-the-record confirmations that your startup does, indeed, have revenue, investors have a lot to say about the downturn. Yet, it’s a quieter and more realistic truth that has landed my attention as of late: For diverse founders, the downturn is nothing new. Some investors, largely those who focus on backing…