Trending December 2023 # Q&A: Microsoft Launches New Local Language Program To Further Enable Global Access To Technology # Suggested January 2024 # Top 18 Popular

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PressPass: What is the Local Language Program?

Wilderotter: For many years now, we’ve worked with communities and governments to provide people of the world with the tools they need to utilize the boundless resources of today’s technology in reaching their potential. The Local Language program is a new initiative designed to provide people with access to technology in a language that is familiar to them and which honors their cultural distinctions. Microsoft, in partnership with government and academic institutions worldwide, will concurrently develop 40 languages in the next 12 months for Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003. Our hope is that the LLP will better people’s personal lives and further develop the local information technology economies of their communities.

There are as many as 6,000 languages spoken in the world today, and perhaps another 5,000 dialects. Through the Local Language Program, we’re partnering with governments and local language specialists to extend the benefits of Microsoft technology to new users with interfaces in their own language. Participants in the program can localize both Windows XP and Office 2003 to a specific language interface through a Language Interface Pack (LIP) that may be downloaded free of charge. LIPs enable users to install a local language version as a “skin” on top of an existing installation of Windows and standard Microsoft Office applications — Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. Microsoft has found enthusiastic government support to further the development stages of the LIP technology.

Press Pass: One of the early LLP partners, the National Language Authority of Malaysia, recently completed its implementation of a Language Interface. What kind of impact will the Local Language Program have in your country, Mr. Deraman?

PressPass: Is the LLP expected to have a similar impact in other countries?

Wilderotter: Yes, this is a way to put very powerful tools in the hands of people who up until now could not bridge the language barrier. Microsoft is working closely with many regional and local governments and universities to increase opportunities for people in a wide range of regions, cultures and languages. This will bring the benefits of technology to their lives. Offering access to even very basic computer tasks will open up new worlds for many communities. In Iceland, for example, school children will be able to work on PCs in their native language. There will also be expanded opportunities for adult and continuing education. The LLP provides remarkable tools for teaching indigenous languages and preserving local cultures. We see this toolset enabling minority language groups to participate more fully in the civic life of their communities and to benefit from the economic growth associated with the expanding global IT economy.

In India, our collaboration with the language community has resulted in the localization of Hindi, and an additional 14 languages will be localized in the next 24 months. We’re partnering with the language authority in the new Canadian territory of Nunavut to preserve and promote the Inuktitut language, spoken by approximately 28,000 people. In Eastern Europe we’re working with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to produce a localization for the Ukrainian language. State-of-the-art IT is developing rapidly in the Ukraine, and we are very pleased that this partnership and the resulting language implementation will provide additional momentum for building the local IT economy.

PressPass: The Language Interface Pack (LIP) is a key technology and major component of the Local Language Program. How are the LIPs developed?

Wilderotter: Standardizing technical terminology is an important first step to developing a local IT industry. Each new Language Interface Pack is built using a glossary created by the Community Glossary Project, the other major component of the Local Language Program. This is a cooperative initiative with local governments, universities and other groups in smaller language communities worldwide. Using web tools, a project moderator and volunteer translators create and define technical terminology for their own language. The terminology is drawn from words used in the user interface of Windows and Office. The use of local volunteers to build the glossary allows technical IT terms to be standardized and agreed upon by that community. The volunteers contributing to the glossaries are helping to promote and preserve their languages while they acquire valuable technology experience that can be used to build the tech sector of their respective countries.

PressPass: So the LIPs are entirely a product of local community effort?

Wilderotter: That’s right. The group that is managing the glossary project, often a local government entity, selects the project moderator. The moderator sets the schedule for the glossary work, reviews submissions and monitors an online discussion room. At the date established by the moderator, all translation suggestions are reviewed for each term. Based on community input and with an eye toward maintaining linguistic excellence, the moderator selects the best suggestion, then locks that term. This work continues until all terms are locked and the glossary is complete.

Microsoft then completes the build and testing of the LIP, thereby finalizing its release. The whole process typically takes about three months. The new LIP is made available as a free download from the Microsoft Download Center and is easily installed on licensed copies of Windows XP and Office 2003. Third parties, such as governments, local language authorities, and universities, may also distribute the LIP. I think we’re going to see the capabilities of the Language Interface Packs allowing not only broad localization of our products, but also seeding independent software development. I encourage any third party interested in developing a LIP to contact their local Microsoft office.

PressPass: How will this program change the way governments and their citizens interact?

Deraman: My government is rapidly moving toward e-government programs, and our business community is introducing e-banking and other commercial products. The Ministry of Women and Family Development in Malaysia recently launched the eWanita Teleworking Center aimed at empowering single mothers and housewives in rural areas to earn a living using technology. And the government has launched a program called MySchoolNet, which aims to connect all the schools in Malaysia through a broadband infrastructure. The Local Language Program will do much in Malaysia to provide our students, and eventually most of our citizens, a shared technology experience through an interface that is both familiar and friendly.

Wilderotter: There’s tremendous empowerment in working in your own language — especially as the information revolution has made sweeping changes in the way governments communicate with and serve their citizens.

The opportunities are endless. With the LLP and a localized interface for its citizens, governments can pursue a digital access strategy where previously it did not make sense — opening new opportunities to increase online document access, form submission, and other means of making government more efficient and responsive.

PressPass: How do you see the LLP contributing to the development of Malaysia’s economy?

Deraman: The development of the Bahasa Melayu LIP now enables local companies to provide technology solutions, particularly for small businesses and cottage industries, in the national language. We’re excited about the potential of our local IT companies developing more products or services that are Bahasa Melayu-enabled, such as handwriting recognition software and even speech recognition programs. The next steps will be led by the market. I believe certain quarters like education, government and perhaps telecommunications will push for IT products or services in the national language.

PressPass: What about benefits to education?

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Android Q Beta 3: What’S Coming On Which Phones

Android Q Beta 3: what’s coming on which phones

It may be a seldom-used letter but Android Q belies the importance of the release. More than just the tenth (public) version of the biggest mobile platform in the world, Android Q is piling up the improvements and new features across the board. Some may find them groundbreaking while others have already yawned at what has been revealed. We have already talked about its focus on privacy and 5G so here are the other highlights in the third beta that will be available for testing on as much as 21 phones.

There isn’t a big change in the overall user interface in Android Q but the small changes might make or break it for some users. Google seems to have really gone all out on gesture navigation and is banishing the Back button once and for all. The Back action is still there, of course, but you just have to swipe from the left or right edge instead.

Google also talks about new phone experiences and nothing can be newer than foldable phones. Given Samsung’s indefinite delay and the Huawei Mate X’s still upcoming availability, who knows when this new experience will finally be in people’s hands. Developers, however, can already try out Android Q’s new screen continuity via the canary (development) version of Android Studio 3.5.

Android Q will also be making phones more usable and accessible to all kinds of users. Smart Replies will include actions to open the appropriate app, like Google Maps when receiving a street address from a chat app, to minimize the copying and pasting required. There’s also a new Live Caption feature that brings real-time captions to media played on your phone, without any preparation beforehand.

And, of course, there’s a dark theme at long last. Users can finally activate a system-wide dark theme manually and apps that have dark themes will switch automatically as well. For apps that don’t have their own dark theme, Google is giving developers the option to have the system create a dark theme for them on the fly. They call it, Force Dark, probably without any subtle reference to Star Wars.

Not all changes are visible, however. Sometimes the most significant ones happen in the background. Android Q will introduce a new Project Mainline that stems from Android Oreo’s Project Treble efforts. With Mainline, specific components of the OS can be updated piece by piece without requiring a full system update and all the processes that involve. Those components can be updated through Google Play like any other app. Unlike app updates, however, it seems that the changes will actually be applied only after the phone is rebooted, but on the user’s own time instead of a forced one.

More than just these features, Google is also particularly proud of its new beta program. For Android P, it got 7 partners to have the betas available on 8 devices. This time, 12 brands have come together to make Android Q Beta 3 available on 21 devices. These include:

• ASUS ZenFone 5Z

• Essential PH-1

• Huawei Mate 20 Pro

• LG G8 ThinQ

• Nokia 8.1

• OnePlus 6T

• OPPO Reno

• realme 3 Pro

• Sony Xperia XZ3

• TECNO SPARK 3 Pro

• Vivo X27

• Vivo NEX S

• Vivo NEX A

• Xiaomi Mi 9

• Xiaomi Mi MiX 3 5G

• Google Pixel 3

• Google Pixel 3 XL

• Google Pixel 2

• Google Pixel 2 XL

• Google Pixel

• Google Pixel XL

Of course, six of those are from the three Pixel generations (not including the Pixel 3a and 3a XL) so that’s not much of a surprise. But having 15 phones participate in a beta program is still a notable milestone for Google and Android and hopefully means these devices and manufacturers will roll out Android Q sooner when it goes gold. Unsurprisingly, Samsung isn’t on that list and might have its own beta program towards the end of the year.

Playstation Project Q Release Date, Pricing & Specs Rumours

Nintendo’s Switch was the only realistic option for a while, but it’s since been joined by alternatives from the likes of Valve (Steam Deck), Asus (ROG Ally) and Logitech (G Cloud).

Sony is no stranger to handhelds, but its upcoming Project Q console will be the company’s first attempt in well over a decade. It’s also taking quite a different approach to rivals – here’s everything you need to know.

When will the PlayStation Project Q be released?

Sony officially announced the Project Q device at its PlayStation Showcase on 24 May 2023.

At the event, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan said it will be launching “later this year”. The official announcement tweet doesn’t give much away either, simply stating that there will be “more details to come in the months ahead”.

Insider Gaming – a site that had correctly leaked details about the handheld prior to its announcement – reports that the hardware is “currently scheduled to release mid-late November 2023.”

Is Project Q the final name?

Probably not. Sony likes to tease its hardware before it’s finished with branding, so it’s almost certain that the name will change before it actually launches.

What it will actually called, we don’t know. PlayStation Portable has already been done – will it be something direct like PlayStation Stream?

How much will Sony’s Project Q Cost?

As you might expect, pricing is something Sony isn’t willing to disclose yet.

According to Tom Henderson at Insider Gaming (appearing on the Iron Lords podcast), it may cost around $200. That would significantly undercut its most obvious rival, the Logitech G Cloud, which will set you back $349.99 when paying full price. UK prices are unlikely to be direct conversions.

However, to use Project Q, you’ll also need a PS5. If you don’t already own one, prices start at $399/£389. Learn more in our separate article on where to buy the PS5.

Sony

What about Sony Project Q’s design and specs?

The first key thing to note is that Project Q won’t be a standalone console. Instead, it’ll allow you to stream games from your PS5 using Sony’s existing Remote Play feature.

While not explicitly stated, it’s expected to only support Wi-Fi. There’s a small chance of cellular support, but the main intent here seems to be an extra screen so that you can continue gaming at home while someone else takes over the TV.

The design of the device itself is relatively straightforward. Essentially, you’re looking at an 8in display with one half of the DualSense controller on either side – including the adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, and other unique features of the regular DualSense.

It’s an LCD panel with an HD resolution, and Sony says it’ll be capable of running 1080p games at up to 60fps.

Here’s a look at what you can expect:

All PS5 games will be supported, aside from VR titles designed for the PlayStation VR2. All you’ll need to do is make sure they’re installed on the main console.

As you might have noticed in the video above, Sony will also be launching its first ever PlayStation Earbuds. These are wireless and likely to be compatible with Project Q, so the handheld will almost certainly support Bluetooth.

But other key details about Project Q are yet to be revealed. The teaser video didn’t reveal which ports it includes, while battery life and charging speeds also remain unknown.

Of course, to get an idea of what the Project Q experience will be like, you don’t have to wait for the device itself to launch. Remote Play has been around for years, and is compatible with most smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs.

Netgear Arlo Q Review: An Indoor Security Camera That Doesn’t Blink

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The Netgear Arlo Q is $200 for a single camera or $350 for a pair. Netgear

The Arlo Q is an indoor security camera that helps you monitor your home for motion and sound when you’re not around. Like the rest of Netgear’s Arlo suite of security cameras, the Q offers a full seven days of video and audio event backup for free, as well as plenty of custom detection options with its companion app to set it apart from its competition.

Testing

Like most in-home security cameras, the Q is simple to setup. After downloading the Arlo app, you choose the Wi-Fi network you want the camera to use and then place a large QR code your phone generates in front of it. A chime sounds to let you know the two have been paired. After that, it’s just a matter of fiddling around in the app to tweak the camera’s audio/video sensitivity and set your own personal alert modes.

You do need to plug the camera into an outlet, but with a cord that measures over eight feet, that shouldn’t limit your placement options much. We set our Q on the same bookshelf we’ve been using to evaluate all indoor connected cameras, one that looks out onto our entire living room.

The Arlo Q’s stand can also be mounted to the wall for a different orientation. Netgear

Observations

We recently reviewed the Arlo Pro, Netgear’s outdoor-focused wireless security camera and found reliability issues that seriously hamper its performance. Happily, that trait doesn’t seem to run in the family. The Q was dependable and consistently performed well throughout the two weeks we tested it.

Like the other Arlo cameras you control with the app, you get a wide range of modes to choose between, from geofencing, which turns the camera on and off based on whether you’re in your house or not, to regular time-based schedules. You can also tell the camera to detect either motion or sound or both as well as customize its sensitivity to those things.

Most of the dings against the Q have to do less with the camera and more with the Arlo app. We like the fact that you can use your fingerprint to log in on both Android and iOS phones, but there are clearly some issues that still need to be ironed out on Android. Occasionally, the app would spit out “recover token failed” or “account not found” messages and require us to log back in manually with a username and password. Then, after two or three successful fingerprint logins, the same thing would happen again. As was the case with the Arlo Pro, you’ll also see some exceptionally long buffer times (about 30 seconds) when trying to use the camera’s live view. These were ultimately small annoyances though, and they didn’t persist.

At $200, the Arlo Q is in the upper price range of what you can expect to pay for this type of device, but pricing can be deceiving with security cameras. You have to factor in the price other companies charge for even basic video/audio event cloud storage when considering a camera’s overall value.

Side view of the Netgear Arlo Q security camera. Netgear

For instance, a Nest Cam is barely useful as a recording device unless you opt for the $10/month (or $100/year) Nest Aware subscription. That buys you 10 days of continuously recorded video for one camera. It’s also the only way to make use of some of the fancy algorithms the camera uses for face detection and depth sensing. Without a Nest Aware subscription, all you get are snapshot stills of triggered video/audio events from the past 24 hours.

The Arlo Q, on the other hand, comes with seven days of cloud storage for all your triggered video and audio events for free. Those videos are easy to download directly from the app, too, if you want save them on another device. And if you want the option of continuous video recording, you can pay $10/month (or $99/year) for 14 days of it for one camera. The point here is the Arlo Q is actually pretty good deal if you want your security camera to actually function like a security camera.

Conclusion

The Arlo Q is one of the best indoor security cameras we’ve tested so far. It’s reliable, produces sharp, clear images during the day and at night, and it’s free seven-day cloud storage remains one the better values you’ll find.

Details

Price: $200

Video resolution: 1080p HD 30fps

Video format: H.264

Field of view: 130°

Night vision: Yes, up to 25 ft

Range: Adjustable up to 50 feet

Overall Grade: 4.5/5

Official Site

How To Integrate An Interactive Whiteboard In The Classroom: Q&A With Matt Miller

Interactive whiteboards aren’t new to the education world, but they are gaining popularity. But for teachers who haven’t used them before, they can feel intimidating.

We talked to education technology teacher and author Matt Miller to learn how teachers can implement interactive displays in their classrooms to supplement lessons and improve student engagement.

Q: How is technology changing our schools and classrooms?

MM: For one, technology gives us all access to information that we didn’t have before.

Technology has democratized access to information. Everybody has access to videos, text and audio. The struggle now isn’t so much getting access, it’s trying to figure out how to make sense of everything that we have access to. It opens up new competencies and skills that students will have to know, such as curation and how to figure out if sources are reliable.

Read the definitive guide on interactive displays

See how educators can create an inclusive learning environment with the right technology. Download Now

It also changes the way we do our work. We used to carry around notebooks that we would write essays in and fill in worksheets. Now, instead of writing something in an essay, it’s just as easy to record it in a video, make a little podcast episode or create an infographic.

Even though the products change, even though the access changes, we’re still focusing on good pedagogy and teaching practices. Technology may change the way it looks, but the inherent practices of learning stay rooted in those fundamentals.

Q: How important is it for teachers to adopt technology and digital solutions?

MM: It’s extremely important. That’s where our students are living, and that’s how they’re interacting with the world. It would be silly for us to force some antiquated version of the world that doesn’t relate to their future on them just because that’s the way school’s always been.

And related to that future, a lot of the work that is going to be done in the future is increasingly digital.

Not all of it, of course.

While it is important to adopt technology and digital solutions, we also have to know when not to use it. There are some things that technology can empower us to do, but we also need to be able to look somebody in the eye and have a conversation with them and experience things with our five senses instead of through a screen.

Whenever teachers shun digital technology because of fears, they also lose perspective on helping students make this crucial decision that they’re going to have to continually make throughout their lives: When do I put the phone and technology down, and when do I just use myself?

Q: What makes interactive displays such a great tool for integrating technology in the classroom?

So many teachers have a whiteboard or chalkboard in their classrooms currently. It’s been one of our go-to tools in traditional classrooms for more than a century. If you use a digital whiteboard, it feels an awful lot like those older boards.

Interactive whiteboards also give us the ability to level up. You have the ability to save your canvas on a roll, for example. Similar to a big roll of butcher paper, you’re able to scroll back on that roll and pull things up. Before we had to write the word “Save” on the whiteboard and hope that someone would see the word and not erase it.

In my class, if we did a storytelling session in Spanish and the doodles on the board were meaningful to the students, or if we captured ideas really well on the board, they might ask to take a picture of it. But students don’t have a good, easy way of filing that. Most of the time it gets stuck in their camera roll.

Interactive displays give teachers the power to categorize and store and recall all their ideas.

There are other tools within the interactive whiteboards, too. You have browsers and the ability to connect your computer or mirror your students’ devices. The more you explore those tools, the more powerful it is.

Q: What opportunities do interactive whiteboards open up?

MM: There’s a lot, really. But I think we have to break away from our traditional way of thinking about interactive whiteboards to really get at the best opportunities.

A lot of times we think of an interactive whiteboard, or interactive flat panel, as a device that the teacher uses. The teacher is the one that brings up the slides and draws on them to illustrate ideas to the class. However, all of the best teaching practices point to us making it less teacher-centric and more student-centered. We want to put learning in the hands of the students.

One of my favorite ways to do that is through station rotation or centers. Students have a variety of tasks they do all around the room, and they rotate from station to station.

Whenever students are doing that kind of work, the teacher is generally not at the front of the room teaching, which means students could go up to the interactive display and use it on their own.

Students can draw on the whiteboard, or students can use the built-in web browser to pull up an interactive map or an interactive educational app.

Whenever students get to lay hands on these devices, they can create. Samsung Interactive Displays have brush mode, and brush mode makes it feel like they’re using watercolors. Suddenly, students have all of these creative, artistic tools at their disposal.

Teachers can also use the mirroring capability. The Samsung Interactive Display has Smart View+ where you can pull student devices onto the screen and see what students have created. When you do this, the students are being represented in learning instead of just the teachers.

Anything that takes learning out of the hands of the teacher and puts it into the hands of the students, those are some of the best opportunities you get.

Q: How do teachers and students benefit from interactive whiteboards in the classroom?

MM: Just about anything you do on an interactive whiteboard is going to be more visual than it might if you’re just reading out of a textbook or reading an article on the web. On the interactive display, you can pull up an interactive website and drag things around.

Anything that starts to pull more visuals in gives students a better chance to be able to remember.

There’s all sorts of research that points to the power of images and visuals. We can also make our thinking visible for teachers and students. Interactive whiteboards give us the opportunity to peer into our students’ brains and see how they see the world and how they see and process what they’re learning.

Instead of saying, “What do you think about this?” we say, “How did you come to that conclusion?” And we start to see their processes visualized.

Q: What tips do you have for teachers who are starting to use an interactive whiteboard?

MM: I would encourage teachers to not be afraid to draw on it. When you turn on an interactive whiteboard, the whiteboard is the first thing that pops up — and that’s the easiest way to just start using it. You don’t have to push any buttons.

The other thing is to be willing to go beyond showing videos and slides. I think we’re still sort of stuck in that mindset that this great big screen in the front of my room is for showing slides and videos, but it doesn’t have to be. When you have an interactive display, you have all these tools and features that let you go beyond that.

Try to come up with other ways that you can use it instead of using your web browser to show a video. What if you bring up an interactive map like Google Earth and you start interacting with that instead?

Q: When integrating tech in the classroom, what are teachers’ biggest fears? What helps calm those fears?

MM: It’s really fear of the unknown, and that is a fair fear.

“I don’t know how it works,” or “I don’t know if it’s going to be hard or not.” I think they also don’t want to feel foolish. They’re worried about what happens if this fails.

I think part of that fear also is that people think they have to have the identity of a technology-focused person. Teachers are always telling me, “I’m not a techie.”

You don’t have to see yourself and your identity as someone who loves integrating technology. It’s really about finding ways that it can help make your life better, or your students’ lives better, or finding ways that it can help learning be more effective.

Push all of the buttons and figure out what they do. You’re not going to break it. If it doesn’t make sense at first, ignore that one and move on to something else.

It’s really not that hard when you start to give yourself some grace. All you need to do is find something you can do and then once you’re comfortable with it, find a way to make it just a little bit better.

Learn more about how simple, scalable and secure display solutions empower educators to take control of curriculum in this free guide. And discover the full range of Samsung interactive displays, including the latest display with Windows OS, which is compatible with Android-based devices and offers split screen and multi window mode for maximum collaboration.

Q&A: Microsoft Launches New Local Language Program To Further Enable Global Access To Technology