With the metaverse presumably looming around the corner, there’s one question we’ve seen: what language will it use?
For those who have 24/7 access to the internet and speak highly-covered languages (e.g. English, Russian, French, German), keeping up with a world that relies heavily on technology is easy. The problem? While highly-covered language speakers have benefited from advancements in machine translation, much of the world remains isolated as tech continues to evolve.
Despite only a quarter of internet users speaking the language, most websites are in English. In an effort to combat the issues of linguistic discrimination, FAIR (Facebook AI Research) launched a new AI model that translates between 200 different languages. No Language Left Behind (NLB) is a human-centered project that addresses the growing gap between highly-covered and less-covered language speakers. Researchers kicked off the project by interviewing native speakers of less-covered languages to understand their needs for translation support. From there, they developed a new “ universal speech translator,” a first of its kind. If you speak Python, the code is open-source and available on Github.
Meta’s new system won’t eradicate language barriers overnight. With the metaverse expanding, this new system allows Meta to extend the reach of its own products to less-covered- language speakers, too. It also raises questions about what’s next for existing translation services. Google Translate has long been a popular tool amongst Google users, and software like DeepL and Mate Translate have both provided innovative solutions.
Whether or not other companies follow suit, NBL is likely a crucial next step for Meta. Zuckerberg has pretty much put all his eggs in that basket — renaming the company and spending $10 million on the metaverse in 2021. We hope to see more projects that use tech for good with that chunk of money.
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Herding Cats helps you make plans with people. It allows you to build simple invitations, share them privately or in a group chat, track responses, and keep them updated, all in one place.
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Bobby automatically backs up your Google Docs and converts them to useable formats so you can access them locally.
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FilmNoir helps you discover movies and TV shows, keep track of what you’ve already watched, and see where to stream.
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The Developer DAO FM lets you “listen to Lofi music while building cool stuff.”
Reddit’s joining the NFT party with Collectible Avatars, a new marketplace for limited-edition NFTs designed by some of Reddit’s most passionate visual artists.
According to the Reddit team, you won’t need cryptocurrency to purchase these avatars. Each avatar has been priced at a fixed amount and is purchasable with fiat (government-issued currencies). Proceeds are also going to the artists who designed them.