New Microsoft Browser Features for Educators

TLDR

*Translate PDFs in your browser
*Auto-compose in your browser
*Learn about images in your browser
*Find video moments in your browser
*Synch browser data between your phone, iPad, and computer

I woke up early this morning to work on the debate tournament I’m running this weekend and opened my Microsoft Edge browser (I’ve started using this more since the ChatGPT4 integration into Bing) and Microsoft informed me they updated it.

I don’t remember that browser updates have been automatic before, but perhaps I agreed to that at some point. And, well, even if I didn’t, it’s nice to have it done automatically.

The initial features it offered me are quite useful.

I don’t have any desire to generate an image of a dog (or any image) this morning but it’s nice that this popular new fun thing to do is there.

And it’s nice that if I forgot to save some of my tabs before I closed those can re-open.

Of course, like everything else these days, it will help me write. And it will help me write more than a social media post :)

What else does it have?

Well, I can easily upload screenshots (or any image) right in the browser and ask about the image.

Users have been able to do that for a while in both chat.openai.com (ChatGPT) and Bard (now Gemini (gemini.google.com)), but here I can do it right in the browser.

This will be helpful to students who have to write papers analyzing photos and other artifacts. And “everyday” users who are just looking to learn about something they see can take a picture of the item, upload it in the browser, and ask about it. I just used it yesterday in ChatGPT to make sure I understood the RAG system diagram Allie Miller emailed out.

It also lets you find any exact moment in a video, which helps prepare for class (I watch too many podcasts) and do related research.

Although most web content is written in English, sometimes I’ve come across a PDF in another language I wish I could read. Now I can just upload it to Edge and get a translation.

This will be really helpful to students when working on their language homework.

Of course, like all the tools, it wants to “help” me write — everything from a paragraph to an email, to a blog post. Now I can get that assistance right in the browser (that’s been here for a while, just harder to find).

And if I have the Edge app on my browser, it will sync to my desktop. This is perfect for the student or teacher on the go (get a little work done on the subway, in the Uber, etc.) and have it auto-synch.

Of course, as I work on my tournament it’s right there by my side (you can close this feature) in case I need any help.

I haven’t ditched Chrome, as there are many useful browser extensions, and I’m sure some of these features will be there soon, but this is a good demonstration of emerging browser capabilities.

And don’t forget Arc, now partnered with Perplexity.ai, which is leading internet search away from the pile of blue (often sponsored) links to semantic search. I can’t imagine doing debate and academic research without it.