App localization done right
Thursday, December 27, 2018 by Neal Thoms
Mobile devices are everywhere, and so are the apps that run on them. Vast numbers of smartphones mean vast numbers of users – and irrespective of the language they speak or where they live, these users demand a wide range of specialized applications.
If you’re a mobile app developer, you may have already considered adapting your product to other markets. ...
Scripts app gamifys language learning using finger swipes
Wednesday, November 14, 2018 by Christian Hargrave
Drops has launched Scripts for iOS and Android. With just a few swipes of a finger, users will be able to write Japanese Kana, Korean Hangul, and traditional Hanzi characters. In the coming months, Scripts will add simplified Hanzi, Thai, Kanji, Arabic, Hebrew, Russian Cyrillic, and Hindi.
In the past few years, Americans have expressed significant interest in learni...
Machine learning, crowdsourced data, and the birth of Gengo.ai
Wednesday, October 31, 2018 by Richard Harris
The glue that holds machine learning and artificial intelligence together is data. Without the data to create complex learning algorithms from, and to create those life-like AI experiences - neither of them are worth a brass farthing.
Charly Walther, the VP of product and growth at Gengo.ai, joined Gengo from Uber, where he was a product manager in Uber’s Advan...
AI digital voice assistants stops listening as much thanks to Sensory
Friday, September 28, 2018 by Richard Harris
Sensory announced that it has made significant upgrades to the embedded AI in its sixth generation of TrulyHandsfree, boosting the technology’s wake word performance and accuracy by more than 65 percent. Additionally, TrulyHandsfree boasts improved deep-neural network training that allows for even better near- and far-field speech recognition performance in all ro...
Voice to text in multiple languages for speechenabled apps
Monday, November 13, 2017 by Rebecca Ray
It seems that our fingertips will finally get some rest from the constant tap-tap-tap on keyboards that continue to shrink beyond recognition. Companies such as Amazon, Baidu, Google, and Microsoft are working to take us into a voice-activated future. Their speech-enabled platforms are designed to support natural language conversations with the devices, gadgets, sensors...
Turning Viral Apps into Sustainable Businesses
Wednesday, February 10, 2016 by Joao Filipe Santos
You just built your first viral app. It's shooting up the app store rankings and it's racking up downloads. But what comes next?Bridging the gap from app-of-the-moment to a truly sustainable app and business requires insight and strategy. With many viral apps, usage peaks quickly, then fades, giving developers a small window to engage users.Based in Beijing, China, Mome...
Localizing Apps: Start Early to Cut Complexity
Thursday, August 6, 2015 by Benoit Jurion
The mobile application marketplace is booming – by 2017 Portio Research estimates the number of mobile users will grow to 4.4 billion, half of whom will come from Asia. These numbers are staggering, and also speak to the necessity for localizing apps.Developers understand this need – in a survey of 274 developers conducted at Microsoft BUILD, an annual conference where ...
Learn How to Get Your App Noticed With the Type You Choose
Wednesday, July 8, 2015 by Stuart Parkerson
There are a myriad of design choices to be made when creating an app – from navigation and buttons to colors and layout. App designers and developers dance a delicate ballet mixing all of these elements together to create the perfect app, and oftentimes taking the time to find the perfect font to make their app stand out is lost in the shuffle. Imagining typefaces ...
Small Giant Games Hits It Big With Debut Title Hitting One Million Downloads in Six Days
Monday, May 25, 2015 by Richard Harris
Oddwings Escape, a debut mobile app game title by Finnish developer Small Giant Games, has hit the one million players mark globally since its launch in the App Store on Thursday May 14th. The game is available as a free download and has been topping the App Store charts around the world, reaching the top 10 iPhone games chart in 73 countries and the top 10 iPad games c...
Microsoft Releases First Windows 10 Technical Preview for Phones
Saturday, February 14, 2015 by Stuart Parkerson
Microsoft has announced its first build of Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones is now available for Windows Insiders. Windows 10 has the same core platform for PCs, tablets and phones, and participating in the program for phones will work much in the same way it has been working for PCs.Microsoft’s Gabe Aul says that this is the earliest publicly available preview t...
Home Hunting, App Edition: How to Effectively Launch Your Localized App
Friday, September 5, 2014 by Dawni Jacobs
In the previous installment of this series, your "baby" (localized app) was shepherded onto the path to success by passing through the right quality assurance process. It now looks good to the folks in its new locale, it speaks the right language, and it functions like a native (in fact, it is a native) app. All it needs now is to find a new home - ideally many, ma...
Sending the Baby on the Right Path: Quality Assurance as it Relates to Localization of Apps
Friday, August 22, 2014 by Tobias Scherf
Let's just admit it: at first glance, "quality assurance" doesn’t have a particularly sexy ring. It might even sound dry and tedious and repetitive. But in the localization world, we think QA is anything but dry and tedious. Sure, it might be a wee bit repetitive, but this is the stage when the localized app finally comes to life for us. After all the time spent on...
You Wanna Get Personal Speak To Me! Localization of Audio in Apps
Monday, August 11, 2014 by Dawni Jacobs
Human voices “get to us” like little else. Just ask the execs working at BMW in the 1990s, when the car company had to recall a line of BMWs because its male drivers were not willing to take directions from a female GPS voice.A trustworthy voice can immediately create a strong interpersonal connection - even with a machine, as anyone can attest who watched Joaquin Phoen...
Getting Your App World Ready
Thursday, July 17, 2014 by Dawni Jacobs
In a certain sense, "getting your app world-ready" sounds much more descriptive than "internationalizing your app," but they both refer to the same thing. Here is what it's about in a nutshell: Surely someone in your extended family is a passionate gardener. If you ask her what she does before she plants her flowers or vegetables, she'll give you a long (and most l...
Google makes Android 4.2 Jelly Bean SDK platform available
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 by Richard Harris
Google has released the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean SDK to the masses, letting anyone and everyone grab the latest software development kit. Available immediately, the API level 17 platform brings a number of new features and improvements to Android. A post on the Android blog reminds us of some of the standout changes.Performance: We’ve worked with our ...
