KEEP CALM and CARRY ON - Translated Machine Speech (Beta)

What a time to launch a beta! Right in the middle of a lock-down from a global pandemic. Even while we are all indoors grappling and making adjustments to the current situation, we need to live and work as normally as we can. Our team had a long chat about this and decided that we must press on, including innovation. 

The objective of this beta is rather simple - To convert a video into multiple languages using machine speech. 

Perhaps you have read my COVID-19 message a couple of weeks ago, here's the short version in Hindi (with machine speech). Or you can listen to the same message in 9 different languages HERE

The video is based on my original English version, but I have no idea how accurate it is since I don't understand Hindi. However, to improve accuracy, users can edit both the original and target language text before finalizing the audio. 

There is a story to this beta. The idea came from a client about a year ago. They needed to overcome the language barrier so to spread their message to different countries and communities. While subtitling helps, but it's just not the same as speech. We were too engaged with other work then to do anything about it, but it has always been on the back of my mind. So fast forward one year, the beta is born. 

Translated Machine Speech is available in 45 languages. Some languages are available in both male and female voices. 

We think this can solve some real world problems. It is particularly useful for global engagements, speeches, announcements, lessons, training, sermons, news, etc. But we are limited by what we know. Thus, we would love to work with some real world scenarios and shape this into something useful. 

If you can think of a scenario, please write to me! Or forward this to someone whom you think might be useful. Please note that my COVID-19 message applies. 

Stay indoors! Stay safe! Stay healthy! But most importantly, stay positive!

Yours sincerely,

Alex Chan
CEO, Babbobox

Babbobox co-sells through Microsoft to fuel global expansion

Babbobox is leveraging the co-selling capabilities of Microsoft to fuel growth, innovation and expansion plans globally.

The Singapore-based Video Search Engine expert is tapping on the tech giant’s internal channel changes in the form of One Commercial Partner (OCP) to transform into an international player.

“Babbobox’s relationship with Microsoft did not happen overnight, we believe that it is a strong and one that can stand the test of time,” said Alex Chan, Babbobox CEO.

“We have received tremendous support from numerous Microsoft’s local and international teams, industry specialists, product engineering and product business group teams, working with them on a wide range of joint initiatives locally and around the world.”

Specific to co-selling, “This partnership allows us to continue to capitalise on innovations from Microsoft before they are available in the market. We have experienced significant benefits from greater access to innovation and expertise through Microsoft.” Alex added.

As Babbobox partnership with Microsoft deepens, we are looking to continue to expand geographically beyond our offices in Singapore and Malaysia. With this program, we will also look to enlist the support of Microsoft’s network of partners, distributors and resellers in various verticals globally. 

“We have an ambitious roadmap globally, innovating A.I. infused products that will keep Babbobox on the cutting edge of modern technological trends. We have come a long way, but this is only the start of our global journey” Alex said.

Video Big Data (Part 2) - What kind of Video Data?

In the last installment, we explained:

• Why Video Big Data will absolutely dwarf current Big Data
• How Video is the most difficult medium to extract data from

Which explains why Video Big Data remains a largely unexplored field. But also means the intense opportunities available because we have not even scrap the tip of this huge data iceberg.

In this installment, we will examine the kind of data elements that we can extract from videos. 

1. Speech
In a hour of video, a person can say up to 9,000 words. So imagine the amount of data just from speech alone. However, the process of transcribing speech is filled with problems and we are currently only starting to get an acceptable level of accuracy.

2. Text
Besides speech, text is probably the second most important element inside videos. For example, in a presentation or lecture, besides speech the speaker would augment the session with a set of slides. Or news tickers appearing during a news broadcast. 

3. Objects
There are thousands of objects inside a video within different timeframe. Therefore, it can be quite challenging to identity what objects are in the video content and in which scene they appear in. 

4. Activities
The difference between video and still images is motion. Different video scenes contain complex activities, such as “running in a group” or “driving a car”. Ability to extract activities will give a lot of insight what the videos are about. This includes offensive content that might contain nudity and profanity.

5. Motion
Detecting motion enables you to efficiently identify sections of interest within an otherwise long and uneventful video. That might sound simple, but what if you have 10,000 hours of videos to review every night? That’s a near impossible task to eyeball every video minute.

6. Faces
Detecting faces from videos adds face detection ability to any survelliance or CCTV system. This will be useful to analyze human traffic within a mall, street or even a restaurant or café. When we include facial recognition, it opens up another data dimension.

7. Emotion
Emotion detection is an extension of the Face Detection that returns analysis on multiple emotional attributes from the faces detected. With emotion detection, one can gauge audience emotional response over a period of time.

This list of video data is certainly not exhaustive but is a definitely a good starting point to the field of Video Big Data. In the next installment, we will examine some of the techniques used to extract these video data. 

Yours sincerely,

The VideoSpace Team

Video Big Data (Part I) - An Introduction

Fact: YouTube sees more than 300 hours of videos uploaded every minute. That's 18,000 years worth of videos in a year. And that's just YouTube ONLY! If we add all other videos in the public domain, we wouldn't even know where to start with the numbers. 

However, the even bigger numbers are actually hidden in the private domain from sources like broadcasters, media companies, CCTVs, GoPros, bodycams, smart devices, etc. We are recording videos at an unprecedented pace and scale. 

There is one word to describe this - BIG!

Which brings us to Video Big Data. Or should I say the lack of it. Even the term "Video Big Data" is rarely heard of. The reason is pretty simple - this stems from the inability to extract video data and making sense of it. But there is so much information embedded inside videos that is waiting to be discovered, it's an absolute goldmine! 

So the real question is... how can we extract value from videos?

However, the problem with video is that it is the most difficult medium to work with. There are a few reasons why: 

• There are so many elements inside a video (speech, text, faces, objects, etc)
• It is not static.
• It is very difficult to extract the various elements of video data. 
• Each video element requires a different data extraction technique.
• It is very difficult to make sense of video data because of its unstructured nature.
• It's expensive to extract data at scale

These problems are real and is preventing the arrival of Age of Video Big Data. But there is hope yet. With substantial use of Artificial Intelligence, VideoSpace is beginning to crack this enigma. 

In the next segment of this "Video Big Data" Series, we will examine how we can tackle these problems and extract value from videos. 

Thank you Birmingham... Hello Washington!

Finally, 2 intensive days of MS Tech Summit in Birmingham... done and dusted. Absolutely the right decision to come to UK to do this. Massive event! Exactly the right platform to showcase our Video Search technologies. 

Caught up with Scott Guthrie. Held so many in-depth discussion with so many UK enterprises, universities, government agencies, etc. If we have our way, our stuff might even end up in Scotland Yard! So let's see... 

Good-bye Birmingham... Next stop, Trump-capital Washington in March! I'm excited already...

Microsoft recognizes Babbobox as key global partner for Media Services

We are delighted to be listed as a key Microsoft global partner for Azure Media Services on http://amslabs.azurewebsites.net/. (Please scroll down)

This is in recognition of Babbobox's pioneering Unified Search Engine and Video-Search-as-a-Service where both services are World's First. 

"We are honoured to be invited by Microsoft to be part of this exclusive club of partners." said Alex Chan, Babbobox's CEO, "Considering Babbobox is still a relatively new entrant in comparison to other partners, to be invited into this elite group shows that Microsoft recognizes the huge potential in the things that we are doing. That Babbobox is pushing the boundaries and transforming the way we search in future."

Find out more about Babbobox Search Engine.
Watch this space for more updates!

Announcement: VideoSpace to add Japanese Speech Recognition support to Video.Search and Video-Search-as-a-Service

VideoSpace is happy to announce the release of Japanese language speech recognition to its Video.Search capabilities. This release will also be added to Video-Search-as-a-Service (VSaaS). This release will increase the total number of languages supported to nine. These nine languages are:

• English
• Chinese
• Spanish
• French
• German
• Italian
• Portuguese (Brazilian)
• Arabic (Egyptian)
• Japanese

 "We are excited about this new release because this means Japanese enterprises can now benefit from VideoSpace's unique value proposition" says Babbobox CEO, Alex Chan. "Search is a fundamental need for humankind. Adding a new language means making more native knowledge discoverable via our Video Search. This explains our excitement every time a new language is added"

Japanese language support on VideoSpace is now available! For further enquiries, please write to contact us. 

ANNOUNCEMENT: VideoSpace to launch Video Translation service with 50+ supported languages

There are many translation services out there. Some of the best are even free. However, they are all text-to-text translation. However, what we offer is Video-to-Text translation service. 

In other words, what makes our Video Translation service unique is that we can take your video, machine-transcribe speech-to-text and then translate it to over 50+ languages. After which, we are able to use these translated text for Video Subtitles (Caption) in Multiple Languages.

Our Video.Translation Engine allows publishers to add subtitles in up to 50+ language to their web video delivering a rich contextual multimedia experience. We also allow your viewer to choose which  subtitle language to watch content directly from the video.

Video.Translation is ideal for:
- foreign language viewers and users who prefer to watch your videos without sound.
- enabling your content to reach for hard of hearing and the deaf community with the ability of subtitled content. 

"We are excited about this new development and service." said Alex Chan, Babbobox CEO "We believe that our Video.Translation service will deliver the cutting edge for VideoSpace. Most importantly, delivering value to clients whom may not be able to afford traditional professional services fees."