Microsoft Launcher beta for Android lets parents ask Cortana for the location of their kids via voice and more.

Microsoft is currently serving version 4.13 of its Launcher to beta users on Android and the new verion contains some useful features for parents who monitor their kids activities on their devices. From now on, parents will be able to ask Cortana for the location of their kids via voice with a simple command: "Where are my kids?". Cortana can also now read incoming SMS messages should the user choose to activate the feature. And Microsoft AI also gets the ability to speak Indian English.

This update also includes the following new features:

• Now you can drag and drop widgets to and from the Launcher Feed. Widgets also no longer have card headers when placed in the Feed.
• Updates to the calendar card let you add a new event with one click when you no longer have any more events for the day.
• Tuning fixes for the new app drawing.

This update is available to beta testers to download in Google Play Store.

WeChat introduces group voice and video call, group notices and group ownership transfer.

There are so many ways to stay connected with family and friends these days that it has become a debate on which platform to use. It was not easy agree on a common platform that works for everyone, but we eventually made it and the family are all on the same messaging platform. Some platforms, like WeChat, are very popular and the app has garnered more users in Asian countries. I was using it when brother lived in Hong Kong, he himself was using it because all his customers were using it. He shifted to WhatsApp after he moved to Europe. 

In today's update, WeChat introduces voice and video group chats, allowing users to invite up to 9 members to join in. It also makes it easy to switch between video and voice should your connection have trouble handling the group video calls.

The update also brings along Group Notices which as its name implies let the group creator send out notices or alerts to members. WeChat is also introducing the ability for the group creator to transfer ownership to other members.

If you use WeChat, this is an update you really want to download from Google Play Store.

Google Text-to-speech now supports Hindi and Indonesian.

Google Text-to-speech has been updated today with support for Hindi and Indonesian which will bring voice capability to millions of Android devices in India, Indonesia and beyond. If you don't know what Text-to-speech does, it simply reads text on your screen aloud. For example, it can be used with Google Play books to read aloud your favorite books or with Google Translation with the obvious advantage of also hearing the pronunciation of the translated word and there are even more usage on your device given the vast app trove that is Google Play. 

Besides support for Hindi and Indonesian, Google Text-to-speech also received some quality improvement. As per the change log, "our standard quality voices now surpass the quality of the high quality voices from our previous release."

This update brings Text-to-speech to version 3.5.6 and can be downloaded in Google Play store for free, of course.

Facebook Messenger gets voice support, reduces typing.

Tired of typing? The latest update to Facebook Messenger now lets you do more with your voice. Last week, Facebook published a similar update for the Facebook app for Android. Which brings me to ask why are there two apps for Android with the same feature? Why not get rid of the Facebook Messenger app? Anyone knows?

The update also includes the usual performance enhancements and bug fixes.

Download link.