Software : Microsoft demos 'near real-time' language translation for Skype voice calls |
- Microsoft demos 'near real-time' language translation for Skype voice calls
- Facebook shuts the door on auto-sharing all your activity
- Spotify recommends Android app update after single user's data snagged
- World Cup boost for Windows Phone fans as ITV Player lands in time for Rio
| Microsoft demos 'near real-time' language translation for Skype voice calls Posted:  Since the dawn of humanity our propensity to speak in different tongues has limited our ability to fully communicate with everyone we encounter, but Microsoft reckons it might have sorted all that. At the Code conference on Tuesday, the firm demonstrated 'near real-time' language translation for voice calls for Skype, which works just like having a real interpreter as part of the conversation. Amazingly, the English-to-German Skype Translator demo from CEO Satya Nadella wasn't just your average proof of concept envisioning the tech of tomorrow either. A beta app expected to land for Windows 8 users before the end of 2014, with a commercial roll out possible within a couple of years. Microsoft is also working on adding more languages and says the feature may come at a cost for users. Resolving the mismatchMicrosoft said the project required a number of breakthroughs from its Machine Translation Team and researchers and engineers across the company in speech recognition and translation. "The interesting thing about this project," project leader Arul Menezes says, "is we've got these two fairly complex technologies coming together for the first time to provide this end-to-end user experience." The key breakthrough came in 2010 when the team developed a system for real-time speech-to-text and speech-to-speech translation of voice calls. Since then the firm has been analysing conversational data, the way people speak on social media and the differences between how people write and talk in order to fine tune the technology. "That's one of the things over the last year that my team's been doing, resolving the mismatch between the way people talk and the way they write," Menezes added on the Microsoft Research blog. "If your translation system is focused on written text, it works very poorly with spoken language." The firm says its efforts over the last few years have come close to solving what it had previously considered "an impossible task." It's certainly an example of how Microsoft, with its vast resources and knowledge can take an established property like Skype and take it to unheard of levels. We're excited to give this a try. |
| Facebook shuts the door on auto-sharing all your activity Posted:  Facebook is changing everyone's News Feed to feature fewer auto-shared posts, including what Spotify songs their friends are listening to and images they like on Instagram. In a move to reduce auto-shared spam, the social network promises users' third party apps will post fewer stories on their behalf. Additionally, apps that auto-share your activity, such as Socialcam and Viddy, will need to prompt users with an option to opt out before apps can post the video to their timelines. However, Facebook isn't doing away with sharing from third-party apps completely. In a developer update, the social network wrote it's prioritizing explicitly shared stories over automated posts. By doing so, Facebook users should feel less confused by activity that shows up seemingly on its own. Meanwhile, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief knowing their News Feeds won't be flooded with "implicitly" shared posts all the time. This time it's personalAutomated sharing helped build Facebook into an aggregator that allowed users to post practically everything they saw and did online. However, in the last year the company has been trying to reinvent itself as a more mature and conscientious social network with revised privacy controls. By combing down the News Feed to promote explicitly shared content, Facebook wants to pull only the most interesting and personal stories from the web. "In general, we've found that people engage more with stories that are shared explicitly rather than implicitly, and often feel surprised or confused by stories that are shared implicitly or automatically," Facebook's Peter Yang said in a blog post. While auto-sharing helped Facebook grow as the internet's boombox, it's actually hurt the thumbs-up firm; Yang wrote that the number of implicitly shared stories has declined as people have come to associate these posts with spam.
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| Spotify recommends Android app update after single user's data snagged Posted:  Spotify has revealed it's the latest tech firm to fall victim to a security breach, with hackers accessing internal company systems and data. The streaming giant claims only one user's data was accessed during the incident, which didn't include any passwords or credit card information. Regardless of the minimal collateral damage, Spotify is logging everyone out at some point over the next few days and will ask them to re-enter their passwords. As an extra precaution, the Swedish company wants users of its Android app to update to a new version, which it will guide them towards this week. General precaution"We take these matters very seriously and as a general precaution will be asking certain Spotify users to re-enter their username and password to log in over the coming days," wrote Spotify CTO Oskar Stal in a blog post. "As an extra safety step, we are going to guide Android app users to upgrade over the next few days. If Spotify prompts you for an upgrade, please follow the instructions. At this time there is no action recommended for iOS and Windows Phone users." Stal also advised Android users may have to re-download their offline playlists once the app is installed, which is infinitely better than identify theft, but a nuisance nonetheless. The hack comes at an inopportune time for Spotify (not that there's a good time, of course) following the drama surrounding the much more substantial eBay security breach last week. |
| World Cup boost for Windows Phone fans as ITV Player lands in time for Rio Posted:  Rejoice, football-loving Windows Phone 8 users! The ITV Player app has just landed on your platform allowing you to leave the house more often during the World Cup. The catch-up app arrives just a couple of weeks before the tournament begins in Brazil, offering live streaming of ITV1 ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and CITV. That means users will be able to tune into ITVs live games from the tournament without being glued to their (or their local pub's) television set. As well as live content, users will also be able to catch up on the last 30 days of programming on demand. Full house for Windows PhoneThe arrival of ITV Player on Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 devices like Nokia's Lumia range now means users of Microsoft's mobile OS can access the full quota of catch up services from the UK's terrestrial broadcasts. BBC iPlayer, 4oD and Demand 5 were previously available. However, the platform is still without Sky Go and Virgin's TV Anywhere. Rumours the CITV portion of the ITV Player app may be streaming a special hosting a panel show featuring children analysing England's poor defending during the World Cup are yet to be confirmed. |
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