NewsCast reportedly uses Bing's text-to-speech program to read out blurbs that last 30 seconds each, though the voice isn't as organic as Cortana's. It allows you to save summaries for later and also has a feedback button that launches a three-question survey for testers. Curiously, the app that was on Azure was available only for iOS devices, though it's probably because a lot of Microsoft employees/testers use iPhones and iPads. As you can see, it's not quite identical to the breaking news app Facebook's reportedly developing, as well, but the two could very well be rivals in the future.

[Image credit: JeepersMedia/Flickr, Neowin]