The Morning After: Elon Musk reportedly wanted to lay off most of Twitter's employees

According to a report from The Washington Post, Musk has told prospective investors he plans to axe 75 percent of Twitter's 7,500-member staff upon completion of the deal, a move that would likely kneecap its ability to moderate content and ensure users' security. Internal documents obtained by The Post reveal that, prior to the Musk deal, current company leadership planned to "pare the company's payroll" by around $800 million, a relatively modest 25 percent reduction. The company’s General Counsel Sean Edgett told staff that discussions about cost savings happened earlier this year, and they stopped "once the merger agreement was signed." Edgett added there have been no plans for company-wide layoffs since then.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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VanMoof's new A5 and S5 e-bikes are harder to steal and smoother to ride

You might barely feel the upgraded gear-shifting technology.

Engadget

VanMoof’s latest generation of premium e-bikes ushers in changes across the board. The company has tried to make most of the parts on its newest e-bikes. The most significant change might be the removal of the tube-based display of the company’s older bikes, swapping it for a duo of Halo Rings near the buttons on each side. The anti-theft technology in the S5 and A5 (both $3,498) includes an improved kick lock on the rear wheel. In addition, the bikes will automatically unlock if they detect the user’s phone nearby. And if you’re willing to pay an extra $398 for three years of coverage, your VanMoof ride will have support from a retinue of bike hunters – which still sounds cool.

Continue reading.

Amazon faces $1 billion lawsuit over claims it 'tricks' UK customers into paying more

The company is accused of using the Buy Box to favor its own logistics network.

The Guardian reports lawyers are filing a class action lawsuit with the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal over claims Amazon’s Buy Box "tricks" shoppers into paying more than they should. Consumer advocate Julie Hunter says the section favors either Amazon's own products or sellers who use the company's logistics, not the best price or quality of service.

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James Webb telescope captures 'knot' of galaxies in the early universe

The cluster could help scientists understand cosmic expansion.

NASA

Scientists have discovered a tightly packed "knot" of at least three galaxies forming around a quasar 11.5 billion years ago, just over two billion years after the Big Bang. The telescope's near-infrared spectrograph shows this is one of the densest known areas of early galaxy formation. The density is unusually high enough that lead researcher Dominika Wylezalek suggested there may even be two "halos" of dark matter merging.

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Apple Fitness+ comes to iPhone on October 24th

You won’t need an Apple Watch to use the service.

Apple’s Fitness+ will come to the iPhone, without the need for the company’s wearable, on October 24th. It’ll arrive alongside the iOS 16.1 update. You'll need the handset to sign up, but it will also be accessible through the iPad and Apple TV. You'll have access to the full range of workouts and meditations through the Fitness app. The main limitation is accuracy. Where Apple Watch owners can rely on constant heart rate monitoring to determine their calorie burn, iPhone users have to trust estimates.

Continue reading.

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Adobe's upcoming AI experiments include a powerful drag-and-drop composite tool

Adobe is working on a new feature that makes it possible to create composite images with just a few clicks. During its latest round of sneak peaks for experimental features, Adobe has showed off Project Clever Composites that uses AI and automation to quickly combine two images together. If you want a picture showing you standing in front of a tourist spot like the Eiffel Tower or the Leaning Tower of Pisa, you'd have to cut your photo out of an image and trim its edges. Then, after you paste it in front of the background you want, you still need to adjust the lighting, scale and color to make it blend seamlessly. Clever Composites can do all that on its own. 

Its AI can identify objects that can be used for composites, and it can automatically cut it out, as well as adjust its color and size, when you click the "Auto Compose" button. The AI can also automatically generate shadows for the object based on the background's lighting. There are also options to remove its "Auto Scale" and "Add Shadow" capabilities, though, if you want to do those on you own.

Another notable experimental feature is Project Blink, which can save you precious time when you're editing videos. The tool uses AI to make videos searchable using their transcripts, allowing you to look for "specific words, objects, sounds or even types of activities." After choosing the portion of the video you want to use, its AI will automatically create a new clip of that section. Blink is already in beta, and you can request for access on Adobe's website if you'd like to test it out. 

Meanwhile, Project All Of Me "un-crops" images by using AI to generate portions of the photo that aren't actually there. It simplifies creating bigger images out of smaller ones or generating the same photo from another angle. Adobe has also introduced a bunch of other features under development for videos and immersive content, including Project Artistic Scenes that uses AI to turn 2D artwork into 3D scenes. You can read about all of them on Adobe's blog or watch its MAX Sneaks event right here.

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TikTok denies that ByteDance planned to use the app to track individuals in the US

TikTok said it does not collect precise GPS location information from users in the US, which means it cannot be used to monitor people "in the way [Forbes] suggested." The app's communications team has tweeted that in response to a Forbes article claiming that a China-based team from its parent company, ByteDance, had planned to use the app to track "the personal location of some specific American citizens." It's unclear if information about those individuals had actually been collected.

Forbes reported that the team behind the monitoring project is part of ByteDance's Internal Audit and Risk Control department. The division is typically in charge of looking into potential misconduct by current and former company employees. But the publication said that the group intended to use TikTok to collect data about the location of a US citizen that had never been employed by the company in at least two cases. 

TikTok has fired back against the publication's allegations, accusing Forbes of omitting the part of its statement where it said that it doesn't collect precise GPS location. That portion "disproved the feasibility of [the piece's] core allegation," it explained. In addition, TikTok stressed that it has never been used to target members of the US government, public figures, activists and journalists and that it doesn't serve them content different from other users. In its report, Forbes wrote that TikTok "did not answer questions" about whether the internal audit team at ByteDance targeted members of those groups. 

2/ Specifically, Forbes chose not to include the portion of our statement that disproved the feasibility of its core allegation: TikTok does not collect precise GPS location information from US users, meaning TikTok could not monitor US users in the way the article suggested.

— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) October 20, 2022

As Forbes notes, TikTok previously made promises to American authorities and lawmakers in an effort to assuage their concerns that China could use the app against US citizens. In June, TikTok announced that it "changed the default storage location of US user data" to "Oracle cloud servers located in the US." The service made the announcement just as BuzzFeed News published a report about China-based ByteDance employees repeatedly accessing nonpublic data on TikTok users in the US. That report was based on hours of internal meetings that were leaked to the publication. 

A couple of weeks later, TikTok detailed its plans on how to ensure the security of US users' data in a letter sent to to lawmakers. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew assured them that the company will "delete US users' protected data from [its] own systems and fully pivot to Oracle cloud servers located in the US." Forbes talked to an Oracle spokesperson who said that while TikTok is currently using its cloud services, Oracle has no insight on what it's doing and that the service still has full control of all its information.

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Texas AG sues Google over its facial data collection practices

The office of Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Thursday that it has filed a lawsuit against Google over the company's alleged years-long practices to capture and use of biometric data from, "millions of Texans without properly obtaining their informed consent to do so." This is allegedly a violation of the state's Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act of 2009. 

The AG argues that Google used features in its Photos and Assistant apps, as well as through Nest Hub Max hardware, to scan and store the facial and voice data without first acquiring user consent. Furthermore, Paxton alleges, Google then leveraged that data for commercial gain by using it to train the company's machine learning algorithms.

“Google’s indiscriminate collection of the personal information of Texans, including very sensitive information like biometric identifiers, will not be tolerated,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in the Thursday press release. “I will continue to fight Big Tech to ensure the privacy and security of all Texans.”

This is far from the first time that Paxton, who is up for re-election in November, has targeted Alphabet and its subsidiaries. His office filed a suit in January, "for engaging in false and misleading practices in violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices—Consumer Protection Act," and then again less than a week later for, "systematically misleading and deceiving Texas consumers in violation of Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act."

Paxton's office is asking the court for a permanent injunction in the case. This would prohibit Google from "capturing, maintaining, or using in any way the biometric identifiers captured in Texas" or "performing voice or facial recognition in Texas" without the informed consent of the relevant individual as well as invoke a $25,000-per-infraction fine against the search company. Google did not respond to a request for comment.

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VanMoof's new A5 and S5 e-bikes are harder to steal and smoother to ride

It was a breezy three-kilometer ride on VanMoof’s A5 e-bike around Battersea Park in London. Starting from VanMoof’s flagship London store, the company’s CEO, Ties Carlier, took the lead. He shot off on the more typically framed S5 ($3,498), while I got to grips with the boost and controls on the VanMoof’s new, shorter A5 (also $3,498). A few seconds later, I caught up. I hadn’t broken a sweat. My brief test ride around the neighborhood was almost too easy.

I had briefly ridden VanMoof’s e-bikes before, but its latest generation of e-bikes usher in changes across the board. The company has tried to make most of the parts on its newest e-bikes itself. The most significant change might be the removal of the tube-based display of the S3 and X3 bikes, swapping it for a duo of Halo Rings near the buttons on each side. (One rings the digital cute bell, while the other controls boost.) In addition to indicating battery life, it also shows how much the bike’s motor is working, along with the bike’s lock status.

Anti-theft technology (and a team of bike hunters)

E-bike security is a significant selling point for VanMoof’s bikes. Carlier explains that deterring theft is one of the biggest challenges to making “the perfect city bike," which has been the company’s aim long before it even started designing its first electric bike.

“A good bike – a good ride – requires more money,” he said. “With an e-bike, that’s even more true.” He added that whatever solution companies like VanMoof come up with, thieves will get smarter. The threat of it getting stolen has put me off from investing substantial money into bikes, and has deterred me from e-bikes entirely.

The anti-theft technology in the S5 and A5 (both priced at $3,498) includes an improved kick lock on the rear wheel. In addition, the bikes will automatically unlock if they detect the user’s phone nearby, and riders can otherwise unlock it with a numerical code that you can tap into the left handlebar – another instance where the new Halo Rings come into use.

Mat Smith/Engadget

If someone does manage to steal the S5/A5, tampering (or breaking) – which is integrated into the e-bike’s computer within the tube – the lock will first sound an alarm and, a short while later, immobilize the e-bike functions. For the thieves, then, it’s just a heavier push bike with a mildly distinctive frame and built-in lights that won’t work.

And if you’re willing to pay an extra $398 for three years of coverage (and that’s a fraction of the cost of replacing these $3,000-plus bikes), your VanMoof ride will come with support from a retinue of bike hunters – which still sounds cool. The e-bike transmits its location over 3G and the hunters are equipped with more fine-grain Bluetooth signal detectors to sniff out stolen bikes. If your bike goes missing, you can mark it as stolen on the VanMoof app, and if the hunters can’t find it within two weeks, the company will replace the bike for you.

It’s peace of mind, for sure, but it’s also yet another subscription. The S5 and A5 are even more expensive than their predecessors, which cost just less than $2,500. VanMoof’s latest rides each cost $3,498 – a $500 increase since they were first revealed. The company has also added support for Apple’s Find My network, but that’s more likely to help you locate your bike in a parking lot, not track down a thief.

Mat Smith/Engadget

VanMoof’s new stepover A5

The A5 model has a lowered step-in, meaning the bike is smaller and VanMoof believes it gives riders a feeling of being closer to the road. VanMoof’s premium-priced e-bikes don’t look like typical electric bikes – there’s no visible battery to begin with – but I like the unusually low-profile A5. When I use a bike, it’s multiple short trips, with several stops. This step-through model felt easier to ride. It was more of my thing.

The S5 and A5 come with 487 Wh and 463 Wh batteries, respectively. With the included charger, both take roughly six and a half hours to charge. VanMoof teased a fast charger too, but pricing is still TBC. On a full charge, the A5 can hit around 34 miles on full power, or 87 miles on economy power mode. Meanwhile, the S5 has a 37 mile-range on full power, which can be stretched to 93 miles on economy power mode. If VanMoof’s claims are accurate, both bikes should be able to handle plenty of short trips before needing to be plugged in overnight. The company also plans to offer a battery expansion pack that should double the bikes’ range.

A smoother ride

Mat Smith/Engadget

Both of the new bikes have upgraded gear shift tech as well. I tried a friend’s VanMoof S3 bike and could tell the newer rides had smoother gear transitioning. The motor has plenty of pep, but the A5 swaps around three gears incredibly gently. It’s hard to forget this was a premium e-bike.

While you can’t adjust gears yourself, it keeps the bike “interface” (can I call it that?) simple. That’s part of the plan. VanMoof’s Carlier says the company is targeting people who might not consider themselves bike people. The challenge is convincing them to invest in an e-bike. (At these prices, I’d call it an investment.) And if you’re waiting on the company’s even pricier high-speed e-bike, the VanMoof V, expect to wait a little longer. Due to supply issues, production has been delayed from fall 2022 to late 2023.

We plan to test out VanMoof’s latest bikes more extensively soon. Both the A5 and S5 are available to order directly from the company, with delivery dates currently estimated to be around January and February 2023.

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Apple Fitness+ comes to iPhone on October 24th

Apple isn't just updating iPad and Mac software next week. The company has revealed that Fitness+ will come to the iPhone on October 24th in tandem with required software updates, including iOS 16.1. You'll need the handset to sign up, but it will also be accessible through the iPad and Apple TV. You also won't need an Apple TV to put vital stats on the big screen — Roku players with AirPlay will display metrics as of November.

You'll have access to the full range of workouts and meditations through the relevant tab in the Fitness app. The main limitation, as you might guess, is accuracy. Where Apple Watch owners can rely on constant heart rate monitoring to determine their calorie burn, iPhone users have to trust estimates. You may still want Apple's smartwatch if you insist on personalized performance data. The wristwear is also useful if you want to listen to Time to Walk or Time to Run workouts without bringing your iPhone.

There are added incentives to give the service a try, too. You now get three free months of Fitness+ if you buy an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV, not just an Apple Watch as before. 

iOS 16.1 will include a number of changes beyond Fitness+ support. You can expect an improved battery life icon, Live Activities like sports scores, iCloud Shared Photo Library, per-app copy-and-paste permissions and clean energy charging. Simply speaking, many of Apple's OS update promises will become reality in a matter of days, regardless of which device you're using.

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Instagram's new anti-abuse features include DM 'kindness reminders'

Instagram is expanding its efforts to fight abuse, and that includes not-so-subtle encouragement to stay civil. The company is introducing DM "kindness reminders" that ask you to "keep Instagram a supportive place" when you message a creator. This probably won't deter committed trolls when it arrives in the "coming weeks," but the social network clearly hopes it will give pause to people who'd otherwise hurl insults in a fit of rage. You'll see similar prompts when replying to potentially offensive comments.

Filters should also be more useful. Instagram is testing an approach that would enable Hidden Words comment and DM filtering by default for creator accounts. You wouldn't have to switch it on to keep toxic language out of discussions. All users can now use Hidden Words to screen Story replies (they'll sit in the Hidden Requests folder), and the company will soon begin filtering English DM requests involving scams and spam.

You may also have an easier time blocking elusive abusers. On top of the existing power to automatically block new accounts someone creates, you can now auto-block accounts that user already has. A harasser can't just switch to an alternate account to make your life miserable.

The additions come as Instagram faces pressure from the Senate, UK regulators and others to curb abuse and privacy violations, particularly for teens. That's in addition to the continued fallout from whistleblower Frances Haugen's allegations that parent company Meta knowingly pushes anger-inducing content. Updates like this theoretically show that Instagram wants to calm things down.

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'Alan Wake Remastered' is now available on the Switch

The remastered version of Alan Wake is now available on the Nintendo eShop, just in time for Halloween. It was initially released for Windows, PS4 and PS5, as well as Xbox One and Xbox X|S in October 2021. But in May this year, Remedy Entertainment’s creative director Sam Lake revealed that the cult classic will also be making its way to the Switch. Alan Wake Remastered, with all its DLCs, will set you back $30 / €30 / £25 on the eShop, but it's currently being sold with a launch discount of 20 percent. 

The game is a story-driven action adventure that follows a thriller novelist whose wife disappeared during a vacation in a small town. While he witnesses his wife being dragged into the lake by an unknown force, he loses consciousness and only wakes up a week after the incident. Wake then finds a manuscript he appears to have written, but which he has no memory of, with events that were coming true. Events, such as townspeople getting taken or possess by supernatural forces. 

The horror game will only be available as a digital download for the Switch, and the developer told us that it will not be releasing physical copies for the console. Remedy is also working on a sequel for the game, which will be released for the PC, Xbox Series X/S and the PS5 in 2023. The developer has yet to reveal its exact plot, but it released a teaser late last year that will give you a glimpse of the sequel's creepy setting.

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The Morning After: The Silent Hill universe is expanding, with help from J.J. Abrams

Konami today dropped a ton of news about the future of its iconic horror franchise. Aside from confirming that remake of Silent Hill 2, the studio revealed three new games. Townfall comes from Annapurna Interactive and No Code, a Glasgow studio known for strong narrative titles like Observation and Stories Untold. The short teaser for Townfall looks to be the most traditional Silent Hill game of the trio.

Ascension, due out in 2023, is the least game-like installment, but it will feature the influence of J.J. Abrams. It's an interactive streaming series with the tagline: Face Your Trauma Together. Ascension comes from Abrams' studio, Bad Robot, and Genvid, a company that produces interactive live shows.

Konami

And then there's Silent Hill f, coming from Ryūkishi07, a creator known for crafting acclaimed visual novels with psychological horror and supernatural mysteries at their core. The teaser for f is incredibly gruesome, featuring a young woman as she's consumed from the inside-out by the tentacles of a flesh-eating plant. A YouTube description for the teaser says the game is “set in 1960s Japan featuring a beautiful, yet horrifying world.” There's no word yet on a release date.

Oh, and of course, there’s a new Silent Hill movie, too. Happy Halloween, everyone.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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Microsoft wants to build an Xbox-branded mobile game store

The Activision Blizzard merger would play a key role.

A company filing with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has revealed plans to build a "next generation" Xbox store that's available on mobile devices, not just consoles and PCs. The shop would unsurprisingly lean heavily on content from the proposed Activision Blizzard merger. Call of Duty Mobile and King's more casual mobile games (think Candy Crush) represent more than half of Activision's revenue.

Continue reading.

The best portable Bluetooth speakers for 2022

There are good options in each price range.

Engadget

We’ve tested out some of the most popular Bluetooth speakers in different price ranges, focusing a bit more on audio quality and dynamic range, while considering factors like utility and price. Ultimately, there isn't one best Bluetooth speaker out there, but we've found plenty of good options for a range of uses and price points.

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James Webb telescope captures Pillars of Creation in unprecedented detail

Featuring lots of young stars.

NASA

Researchers have captured their most detailed image yet of the Pillars of Creation, a star-forming nursery in the Eagle Nebula roughly 6,500 light-years away. The near-infrared picture shows even more detail than Hubble's 2014 snapshot, with an abundance of stars (particularly newborns) – there isn't even a galaxy in sight. The new stars are the bright red points of light and are estimated to be 'just' a few hundred thousand years old.

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Meta's AI translator can interpret unwritten languages

It currently translates between English and Hokkien.

Nearly half of the world’s roughly 7,000 known languages lack a written component. These unwritten languages pose a unique problem for machine learning translation systems, but one that Meta is trying to tackle with its Universal Speech Translator (UST) program. As part of this project, Meta researchers looked at Hokkien, an unwritten language spoken throughout Asia’s diaspora and one of Taiwan’s official languages.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained: “We leveraged Mandarin as an intermediate language to build pseudo-labels, where we first translated English (or Hokkien) speech to Mandarin text, and we then translated to Hokkien (or English) and added it to training data.” Currently, the system allows for someone who speaks Hokkien to converse with someone who speaks English, stiltedly.

Continue reading.

Google's iOS 16 lock screen widgets are now available

Gmail, Maps and other apps are now in closer reach.

Google’s new iOS 16 widgets give you at-a-glance info and shortcuts for some of the company's core apps. Gmail shows your new message counts, and Maps provides links to your favorite trips (like your commute home). The widgets run the gamut of Google apps, though with diminishing usefulness: Google News shows the latest headlines, while Drive takes you to suggested and starred cloud files. YouTube and YouTube Music also have home screen widgets, so you can jump to your video subscriptions or search for a song on YouTube Music.

Continue reading.

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Blackmagic's powerful DaVinci Resolve video editor is coming to iPad

Blackmagic Design is bringing it's popular DaVinci Resolve video editing app to the iPad, promising support for RAW, cloud collaboration and more, the company announced on Twitter. It won't be a full version of the PC/Mac app, as it will initially feature just the Cut and Color pages. Otherwise, though, "it will be similar to the desktop version," Blackmagic said.

The iPad app will support file formats including H.264, H.265, Apple ProRes and Blackmagic RAW, with clips available from the "iPad Pro internal storage and Photos library, externally connected iCloud or USB-C media disks," the company wrote on Facebook. 

In addition, you'll be able to open desktop projects on the iPad version, including shared collaborative projects via Blackmagic Cloud. "This means DaVinci Resolve for iPad is the same professional tool, and the same codebase as used on major Hollywood feature films," Blackmagic pointed out. 

There are some changes to the UI because of the screen size, as the menu bar will be removed, for instance. In addition, there's no plan to bring the Edit page to the iPad version, as it's essentially designed for a keyboard and mouse. "This makes it very difficult to move to the iPad without changing it in a way that would cause problems for professional editors who rely on the edit page for their work," the company said. Because of that, the Cut page will gain new features, including "enhanced audio support, key framing , split edits and more." 

The Fusion effects and Fairlight audio tools aren't available yet either, "because their software code has not yet been redesigned for the iPad." However, the company plans to work on those pages and include them in a future release. 

DaVinci Resolve is a popular app with professional editors, in part because of its powerful color correction tools — making Engadget's list of the best editing apps. In addition, there's a powerful free version of the app and the paid version costs just $300, with all future updates free. That has proven tempting for editors who don't want to pay a monthly fee to use Adobe's Premiere, After Effects and Audition tools. 

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Google launches its News Showcase program in France

Google has launched News Showcase in France, and it has teamed up with over 65 publishers representing over 130 publications for the program's expansion in the country. Now, users in France will see panels populated by articles from participating publications when they navigate to the News tab on Android, iOS or the web and in Discover on the mobile platforms. The tech giant says its partners include not just national outlets, but also regional and local ones, including 20 minutes, La Dépêche, L’Equipe, L'Express, Le Figaro, La Provence, Le Monde, Les Echos, Groupe EBRA and Le Parisien. 

In addition to showing a curated selection of headlines from partner outlets, Google is also making "a limited amount" of their paywalled content available to readers for free. The company is paying them for those paywalled articles as part of their licensing agreement. And since the deal would put the publications' content in front of more people, it could gain them more potential subscribers.

While Google's program partners praised News Showcase for helping them disseminate good and truthful information, the company didn't always have a great relationship with the media in France. In 2020, French regulators forced the tech giant to pay publishers for showing snippers their articles in search results after the company implemented the EU's new "Copyright Directive" law. Authorities said back then that the company "caused a serious and immediate harm to the press sector." Google initially removed news previews as a response, but it backtracked and started working with publishers instead. Earlier this year, the tech giant inked deals with over 300 publications across Europe to publish snippets of their stories in search.

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Meta's AI translator can interpret unwritten languages

Nearly half of the world’s roughly 7,000 known languages four in ten of them exist without an accompanying written component. These unwritten languages pose a unique problem for modern machine learning translation systems, as they typically need to convert verbal speech to written words before translating to the new language and reverting the text back to speech, but one that Meta has reportedly addressed with its latest open-source language AI advancement.

As part of Meta’s Universal Speech Translator (UST) program which is working to develop real-time speech-to-speech translation so that Metaverse denizens can more easily interact (read: sexually harass one another). As part of this project, Meta researchers looked at Hokkien, an unwritten language spoken throughout Asia’s diaspora and one of Taiwan’s official languages.

Machine learning translation systems typically require extensive labelable examples of the language, both written and spoken, to train on — precisely what unwritten languages like Hokkien don’t have. To get around that, “we used speech-to-unit translation (S2UT) to convert input speech to a sequence of acoustic units directly in the path previously pioneered by Meta,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained in a Wednesday blog post. “Then, we generated waveforms from the units. In addition, UnitY was adopted for a two-pass decoding mechanism where the first-pass decoder generates text in a related language (Mandarin), and the second-pass decoder creates units.”

“We leveraged Mandarin as an intermediate language to build pseudo-labels, where we first translated English (or Hokkien) speech to Mandarin text, and we then translated to Hokkien (or English) and added it to training data,” he continued. Currently, the system allows for someone who speaks Hokkien to converse with someone who speaks English, albeit stiltedly. The model can only translate one full sentence at a time but Zuckerberg is confident that the technique can eventually be applied to more languages and will improve to the point of offering real-time translation.

In addition to the models and training data that Meta is already open-sourcing from this project, the company is also releasing a first-of-its-kind speech-to-speech translation benchmarking system based on a Hokkien speech corpus called Taiwanese Across Taiwan, as well as “the speech matrix, a large corpus of speech-to-speech translations mined with Meta’s innovative data mining technique called LASER,” Zuckerberg announced. This system will empower researchers to create speech-to-speech translation (S2ST) systems of their own.

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Published on YouTube: 24 Gadgets That Will Change Your Life Forever! | Best Tech Gadgets

24 Gadgets That Will Change Your Life Forever! | Best Tech Gadgets
24 Gadgets That Will Change Your Life Forever! | Best Tech Gadgets Welcome Back To WorldWide Tech! We all love the arrival of ...
via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU0cde6Zklg WorldWideTech