The Daily Crunch 10/19/16

VP Cook or VP Gates would've been a real trip, and Microsoft's bot understands language better than you do. All that and more in The Daily Crunch for October 19, 2016. And if you can throw a Surface, maybe you have a chance in the NFL.

1. If I was making a potential VP list they'd probably be on there, too

Hillary Clinton's vice presidential shortlist included Apple's Tim Cook and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, according to documents included in a dump of leaked Clinton campaign managers. Putting the tech leaders on a list is a far cry from announcing them as running mates, of course, so please consider this basically on par with listing your dream crushes in high school. Except, you know, with one of the highest possible national service callings involved.

2. Microsoft's speech recognition AI is at least as accurate as you

Everyday brings new milestones in AI and machine learning, and Microsoft accomplished a doozy this week – the company now says its speech recognition system can transcribe with an error rate of only 5.9 percent in terms of mistaken words, which is on par with the best human transcription professionals.

Next stop is besting its human peers.

3. Tablet tossing is a new sideline sport

People don't universally love that the Microsoft Surface is the official sideline tech of the NFL. Patriots coach Bill Belichick has now announced he's done with the gadgets, following some incidents where he's tossed them around with violent aplomb.

4. China's longest human spaceflight is under way

It's no trip to the moon, but it is 30 days in spaceflight, which is twice as long as China's previous effort with human astronauts. Long-term spaceflight is a key step in the effort to reach beyond our local space proximity and out further into the stars, so watching this progress will be key.

5. Civil groups ask tech not to be creepy

Facial recognition tech is becoming a core component of policing, but a group of civil rights organizations is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to pump the brakes. Facial recognition systems tend to be less accurate with non-Caucasians, which means continued expansion of their use could be dangerous in terms of promoting a fair policing system.

6. Twitter's not so wonderful VR move

Twitter would do well to explore more VR and AR product moves, but the company's most recent hire in that realm is problematic, since it's the same guy who once penned a widely criticized Medium post excoriating San Francisco's homeless. He clearly has had some image improvement but it's not clear that it's had any really positive effect.

7. Glassdoor will tell you if your salary sucks

Employment review site Glassdoor has added a new tool that will tell you how much you should be making in your position, which should help confirm or deny that sneaking suspicion that you're underpaid/overvalued.