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Jan 15 2021

High-tech Babel fish: How the Timekettle WT2 Edge Translator breaks language barriers

Normal conversations are energetic and messy. You and your friends might talk over each other, interrupting each other with new ideas and clarifying questions. Which means that if you and your friend don’t speak the same language, a traditional translator would slow down your conversation to the speed of a walkie-talkie. Helpful, but not exactly a replacement for a fluid chat.

The Timekettle WT2 Edge is the first in-ear translator that preserves the nuances and flow of a natural conversation. The WT2 Edge are bi-directional simultaneous translation earbuds that translate in real-time as you speak and listen, delivering what you said to your listener’s ear in as little as 0.5 seconds with up to 95% accuracy in 40 languages and 93 accents. 

We sat down with the Timekettle team to learn more about how they made a working Babel fish and how they hope to foster more connections worldwide by breaking down language barriers.

Who are the team members of your project? What’s their story?

Timekettle was founded in 2016 by Leal Tian, who was named to the Forbes China 2018 30 Under 30 list. Over the past four years, the Timekettle team has acquired a number of rising stars: Doctor Liang Tian, who works in neural machine translation; Wei Shiei, one of the leading experts in the vector voice algorithm field; Yuman Wang, a software and hardware architect with over a decade of experience; and Alex Qin, a serial entrepreneur who has generated millions of dollars with his business successes. Timekettle has become an open and international start-up, and our staff includes specialists from Japan, the United States, France, and more.

How did it all begin?

We knew we could make a handheld translator faster than an in-ear style, but we believe the cross-language conversation is more than the translation itself. A face-to-face conversation involves exploring and enhancing a relationship from start to finish, and we knew that our design would determine whether our translator would push the conversation forward or hold it back. The in-ear translator seemed to be the best way to achieve our goals, but we lacked a technical solution to make the concept a reality. We re-rooted codes and architected the software and hardware. We spent more than one million dollars and worked on it for a year and a half, but we still failed. We thought about abandoning the in-ear concept and reverting to a handheld translator instead, but we believed in designing a product that made the conversation so natural, it was like the translator wasn’t there at all.

We were lucky: We broke through our technical bottleneck and created a wearable, in-ear translator in 2018. Timekettle WT2 series Translator earbuds are still the best experience translator in the world. We appreciate the backers who supported Timekettle’s product idea, and media outlets like Techcrunch who introduced our idea to the world. They inspire us to feel what we’re doing is worthy. We’re excited to help people break the language barrier in a new way.

How did backer feedback help you make this latest version of your earbuds?

Over the past year, more than 100,000 backers and users from 89 countries and regions have used the WT2 Plus Translator. We received thousands of emails with feedback on the product that helped us design new features. We’ve created a more intelligent voice pick-up capacity, and we also released a feature that allows people to chime in while the other person is still speaking. With other translators, speakers have to wait their turn to talk, but that isn’t how a real conversation happens. Simultaneous Mode lets people speak more naturally. It also enables people to use the Translator in places where there might be a lot of background noise, like streets, restaurants, shopping malls, and more. We’re excited to showcase these features with our new model, WT2 Edge.

Can you briefly explain what your product is? 

Timekettle WT2 Edge Translator Earbuds are the world’s first two-way translation earbuds, meaning you can speak and hear other people’s translations at the same time. The vector noise reduction and bi-directional simultaneous translation make our earbuds different from other existing translators. The WT2 Edge effectively prevents interruption from the external environment and improves translation accuracy significantly to give you a natural and fluent conversation with your friends around the world.

What are you raising funds for? What is the purpose of your campaign? 

It takes years to transform our ideas into a final product. Indiegogo is a global platform for innovative products from all over the world where we can receive feedback from backers around the world. Crowdfunding for the product allows us to continuously update the hardware and improve the software to bring our customers a refined user experience.

What inspired you to make your product? 

Our team was inspired by the Babel fish in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The Babel fish is small, yellow, and leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the universe. When the main character, Arthur Dent, puts it into his ear, it translates the universe’s languages for him and allows him to finish his exploration of the galaxy. 

We wanted to make a real-life Babel fish — something that made communication between people who speak different languages as easy as it was for Arthur Dent. We believe that communication is connection. Translation is about more than words: It’s expression, eye contact, and body language. The WT2 Edge expands on its predecessors to make connections even easier. 

Why did you choose to do crowdfunding? 

Language barriers have divided human beings for thousands of years. For most people, language translation is very expensive. Plus, it’s difficult to find a good interpreter. And learning a new language yourself is time-consuming and hard to do well.

In 2016, artificial intelligence technology was growing fast and neural machine translations were already being used in travel, social networks, business communications, and more. However, very few people were paying attention to the industry back then, and they didn’t realize that this new technology could be turned into a wearable device and bring consumers a cost-effective translation experience. We knew we wanted to launch our Translators through crowdfunding to find our early adopters.

Crowdfunding backers are engaged and supportive. They’re passionate about sharing their ideas for how to optimize products, and passionate about telling their friends and family about a product they backed. Through crowdfunding, we build the Timekttle brand together with our backers.

What have been your biggest challenges so far? 

2020 was an unstable year, and the pandemic has restricted most of our international travel. Timekettle is also a startup, and as a new company, our staff’s time is limited. While some companies were spending 2020 changing directions and putting their efforts into new businesses, our team was working hard to improve our translating system to create an accurate and stable technology that encompasses multi-lingual support. We believe in our mission because of the encouragement, love, and anticipation that we see in our backers all over the world. We made our Translators because we believe that language barriers should be overcome. 

Want to support Timekettle? Check out their campaign page to back their campaign today!

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Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: Crowdfunding · Tagged: 2020, algorithm, artificial-intelligence, Behind The Scenes, business, Businesses, chat, Chime, china, company, conversations, Crowdfunding, Design, entrepreneur, Environment, Family, four years, Global, hardware, html, human, ideas, intelligence, international, japan, Media, Model, more, other, pandemic, product, Products, said, Shopping, social, Software, startup, story, style, Success Stories, supported, TechCrunch, Technology, The Conversation, travel, United States, us, world

Jan 07 2021

Bullish crypto events of 2020 that will drive historic adoption

The year gone by had many ups and even more downs, mainly due to the global outbreak of a devastating virus that has crippled nations and killed millions. But for those in the crypto and blockchain community, 2020 finally showcased the true potential of the technology. 

There were, arguably, more developments last year that will have long-lasting positive effects on the industry than during the entire history of distributed ledger technology and Bitcoin (BTC). So, here are the top five developments of last year in the decentralized tech sector that will leave a lasting memory and a strong legacy for years to come.

BTC price breaks $20,000

Bitcoin price did a lot more than just break the $20,000 price mark that was originally set during the 2017–2018 bull run. First, the $20,000 mark fell. Soon after, so did $30,000. And now, even the $35,000 mark has been taken over.

Those seemingly wild predictions of a $45,000 Bitcoin price by the end of 2021 may not be so distant after all. What’s more is that the infamous stock-to-flow model developed by crypto trader PlanB, which predicts a $100,000 price for Bitcoin, is playing out as suggested.

So, yes, prices go up, but they can also go down. This has happened before and may happen again, right? In theory, however, many things have changed, not least the general perception of Bitcoin. This has been evidenced by the shift in demand from retail investors to institutional ones.

Bitcoin welcomed numerous high-profile companies that joined the industry for their own various needs, from firms choosing to hold BTC as a reserve, like Microstrategy, to the rise of crypto investment funds like Bitwise and Grayscale — and who knows which individuals are investing through those. All that is known is that they are willing to put billions into crypto. And then in late October, the real big news arrived…

PayPal launches crypto option

PayPal, a company that was originally founded with similar fundamental beliefs to Bitcoin itself, not only announced its foray into but actually entered the crypto space in 2020, at least in the United States. Additionally, it has been reported that PayPal is now one of the biggest buyers of Bitcoin as the company builds up reserves to satisfy customer demand.

The single word that sums up this development is “adoption.” Some 28 million merchants and over 361 million users all around the world will now be exposed to the “baby” version of owning and using crypto. According to the company, it is the custodian and is essentially just selling shares in its BTC holding. In doing so, it’s not following the traditional way of how people own crypto, and that’s fine.

To the average user, crypto is way too difficult to comprehend — all the cold and hot wallets, the passcodes, the 12-word recovery phrases, etc. PayPal is offering an easy-to-use way to get into the ecosystem, and once that happens, some may actually go the full way to discover more about how this technology should be utilized.

The halving

The Bitcoin halving was touted to be the big make-or-break moment for the crypto industry. It took place, yet not much actually happened. Various commentators expected BTC’s price to pump then crash, while others foresaw a drop-off in the network hash rate. Although those things did happen to a certain extent, it was nowhere near as dramatic as expected, and that was a very good thing.

The Bitcoin mining reward halving is an event that happens roughly every four years and cuts in half the amount of BTC that miners earn for discovering a block. This is a hard rule coded into the blockchain that limits the supply to just 21 million BTC and, in doing so, mimics gold’s finite supply.

Ultimately, the fact that Bitcoin’s price and fundamentals remained almost unaffected has led some to believe that the industry has reached a certain level of maturity. Perhaps this resilience was what ultimately led some of the biggest corporations, economists and investors to reconsider their stance on cryptocurrencies in general. The fact that the supply of Bitcoin is running out became even more apparent as the year went on.

Coinbase IPO

It’s now in fashion for companies to go public, so it’s great to see that some crypto-native companies such as Coinbase are also joining in on the fun. It was half expected that such a move would come soon due to the overall regulation-open approach employed by the company, which was clearly set to appease U.S. regulators when the time was right.

What the move means, in essence, is that traditional investors will be able to sink millions into Coinbase equity — as much as $28 billion, in fact, according to Messari. The draft of the listing was also carefully timed with the jump in the price of top cryptocurrencies, and this will hopefully play into the exchange’s hands as it will no doubt face intense scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Ultimately, Coinbase can shine light into a dark alleyway leading up to mass adoption by investors and users alike. Other so-called “unicorns” may follow its example in 2021, so in a way, Coinbase is sticking its neck out. But it may pay off if they are granted the initial public offering and become the first truly major crypto company to do so.

Ethereum and DeFi

Bitcoin has investors, and Ethereum has its users, and the latter certainly stepped up in 2020 to make the decentralized finance boom a reality, finding use cases for all those decentralized applications that had been touted to change the game for some time.

All was calm before the month of July when it was announced that a highly anticipated project by the name of Compound launched its own token, COMP. It proved to be an instant hit, securing numerous listings on high-profile exchanges and establishing a new trend in DeFi.

The basic methodology behind Compound is simple: The platform acts as a decentralized lending protocol that pays interest to users that add their crypto to the pool. However, once funds are added to the pool, the platform issues an equivalent amount of cTokens that can be used as collateral on a loan, meaning that one token of any kind can be used twice.

As COMP’s price started to pump, it wasn’t long before other projects caught on to this new trend and began to unveil competing protocols or projects that supported the ecosystem. Just over one month later, Yearn.finance was launched and took the yield farming phenomenon to a whole new level.

Then came the decentralized exchange Uniswap, which also joined in on the action by opening up its own pools, and with its open listing policy, countless DeFi projects flocked in to list their tokens on the exchange. However, it also made an impact through its use of automated market makers, an idea developed in 2017 by Bancor. 2020 was really the year that AMAs took off through driving users to make transactions in tokens that are built upon the Ethereum blockchain. This ultimately brought thousands of active users onto the Ethereum network.

What’s more is that the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade was finally initiated after several lengthy delays. The combination of Eth2, the recently renewed interest in altcoins and the DeFi boom has certainly brought back interest in Ethereum and the Ether (ETH) token itself, propelling it to well over $1,200, a level not seen in almost two years, and close to its all-time high of around $1,450. Now, just seven days into the new year, some are certain that $2,000 will be coming fairly soon.

Bullish crypto events of 2020 that will drive historic adoption

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Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: cryptocurrency · Tagged: 2017, 2020, 2021, Adoption, altcoins, bitcoin, Bitcoin mining, blockchain, btc, coinbase, Community, company, crypto, cryptocurrencies, Currencies, dark, decentralized, Decentralized Applications, Decentralized Exchange, decentralized finance, defi, digital, Digital Currencies, distributed ledger technology, ether, ethereum, Ethereum network, Event, events, exchange, Exchanges, finance, four years, game, Global, Go, Grayscale, initial public offering, Investing, investment, Ledger, lending, market, Merchants, miners, mining, Model, more, new year's special, news, other, outbreak, PayPal, retail, reward, securities, Securities and Exchange Commission, shares, Space, supported, tech, Technology, token, tokens, Transactions, u.s., Wallets, word, world, Yearn

Dec 26 2020

Digital Banking: Fintech Unicorn Revolut’s Customers Spent 2.6x More on Online E-Commerce than On In-Store Purchases

Digital bank Revolut notes in its end of year review that “it goes without saying that 2020 has been a year like no other.” It has definitely impacted all our lives, including how we spend our money and the way we save, the Fintech firm confirmed.

While most people have had to remain indoors a lot more than they might have expected to or liked, staying home also has its benefits, according to Revolut. Many people might have saved a lot of money they’d normally spend while dining out or other costs related to commuting to work and other physical business locations.

As mentioned in a blog post by Revolut, the way we’ve all spent our funds has been “a little different too – we’ve supported our local businesses more, ordered our groceries online and sent digital cash gifts to friends and family across the country and the world.”

A Revolut user spent “on average £561 this year on travel, which is less compared to an average of £997 in 2019.” The digital bank’s customers spent “on average £338 this year on transport, which is less compared to an average of £458 in 2019.”

The Revolut team further noted that the bank’s clients “on average made 3.3 times more transactions on groceries than restaurants this year.” While sharing more details on consumer behavior and spending, the digital bank revealed that its customers “on average spent 2.6 more times on online shopping than on in-store purchases this year.”

As noted by the Fintech firm, its clients spent “on average £287 with top takeaway vendors (Deliveroo, Just Eat, Uber eats, Wolt, Glovo, takeaway.com) this year, up from an average of £182 per user in 2019.”

While sharing other updates, the Revolut team confirmed:

“From January 1, 2021, new regulations will come into effect across Europe which require most types of Internet payments to be made with an extra security layer called 3D Secure (or 3DS). These same regulations will also require card issuers to decline certain payments if they weren’t processed using this extra security layer.”

What these changes mean for consumers is that large online payments without the merchant asking customers to complete 3DS will be declined by Revolut as part of its “regulatory obligations.”

As explained by the Revolut team, 3DS adds additional security to card payments made via the Internet. The bank does this by asking its customers to verify their payments in the Revolut app before they approve it with the merchant.

So even if a bad actor or fraudster gains access to a customer’s card details, they won’t be  able to use them to conduct digital payments “where 3DS is involved.” The card holders would receive an alert asking them to verify the payment and can reject it with just a tap in their Revolut app. (Note: to learn more about this update, check here.)

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Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: Crowdfunding · Tagged: actor, Banking, blog, business, Businesses, Cash, consumer behavior, Deliveroo, digital, digital bank, digital banking, digital commerce, digital payments, e-commerce, end of year update, Europe, Family, fintech, gains, Global, Internet, money, more, note, online payments, online shopping, other, payment, payments, Revolut, security, Shopping, supported, travel, Uber, uk, unicorn, united-kingdom, work, world

Dec 17 2020

UK Chancellor Extends COVID Loan Schemes, Over 1.5 million UK Businesses Supported So Far

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has extended the government-guaranteed Covid-19 business loan schemes until the end of March. The announcement was joined by confirmation that the furlough scheme has been extended until the end of April 2021.

The Chancellor said:

“Our package of support for businesses and workers continues to be one of the most generous and effective in the world – helping our economy to recover and protecting livelihoods across the country.”

Businesses will be given until the end of March to access the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), and the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS). These programs had been due to close at the end of January.

The schemes have already provided over £68 billion in guaranteed loans helping to keep COVID impacted businesses afloat.

The government reported that over 34,500 small and micro businesses have accessed BBLS over the past month, with more than 1.4 million enterprises receiving finance through the scheme since it launched in May. This total includes more than 62,000 businesses that have opted to ‘top-up’ their Bounce Back Loans to the full £50,000, or a maximum of 25 per cent of their turnover if lower, available through the scheme.

Over 82,000 businesses have now secured facilities through CBILS, while the CLBILS has enabled 675 larger firms to access almost £5 billion worth of support.

There are 28 lenders accredited to the BBL scheme and 113 lenders are now accredited to the CBIL scheme. Multiple UK Fintechs are supporting the program.

Stephen Pegge, Managing Director of Commercial Finance at UK Finance, commented on the news:

“The UK’s banking and finance industry continues to support businesses of all sizes across the country to help them through these challenging times. As this year draws to a close, over 1.5 million businesses are supported by a government-guaranteed loan scheme with funds totaling over £68 billion, demonstrating the unprecedented level of assistance provided to UK enterprises. Over the past nine months, bank staff have worked hard to process applications to meet extremely high levels of demand, while ensuring that the necessary anti-fraud and money laundering checks are carried out on all applications. As the impact of the pandemic continues to be felt by businesses across the country and particularly in areas facing greater restrictions, the chancellor’s announcement today that the application deadline for the schemes is being extended to the end of March 2021 will give more time for firms to access the finance they need. In addition, SMEs can also ‘top-up’ their Bounce Back Loan to the maximum value of £50,000, or 25 per cent of their turnover if lower and businesses are encouraged to contact their lender if they wish to access these additional funds from their existing loan.”

The schemes are supported by the British Business Bank.

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Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: Crowdfunding · Tagged: Banking, bbls, bounce back loan scheme, british business bank, business, Businesses, cbils, clbils, commercial, coronavirus, coronavirus business interruption loan scheme, covid-19, economy, finance, General News, Global, government, hm treasury, money, Money Laundering, more, news, pandemic, Politics, Legal & Regulation, rushi sunki, said, SMEs, stephen pegge, supported, uk, uk finance, united-kingdom, world

Dec 14 2020

A Day in the Life of Michelle Fno, Founder of Aromeo Diffuser

Running your own business is no easy feat. It takes a healthy dose of passion, discipline, and commitment. Ever wonder what a day in the life of a small business owner and founder is like? We’re here to give you a glimpse!

This week, we’re talking with Michelle Fno, the founder and CEO of Aroma Diffuser, the only sleep aid and stress reliever in the world that uses the combined power aroma, light, and sound therapy. Michelle is running an Indiegogo campaign to bring the Aromeo to an international audience.

But enough with exposition — here are the details of a typical day for Michelle, and as well as a brief Q&A to get to know her better and get inspired!

6 A.M. I wake up just before the sun rises so that I can catch sunrise. I love the tranquility that sunrise gives me, and it really sets the tone for the day.

7 A.M. ‘Me time’, which includes meditation and mindful drinking of warm green tea with some writing.

8 A.M. Mindful walking. Workout at the gym near the office. Mindful eating.

9 A.M. Plan my thoughts about key issues at work. I do this either by writing on the whiteboard or in my journal.

10 A.M. Daily scrum meeting with the team. Each of us talks about the status of what we have been doing, and what we plan to do for the day. 

11 A.M. Check product development status and sales status.

12 P.M. Team lunch. It’s part of our company culture to share a meal together and have some warm conversations about what’s been going on in our lives, what new hobbies we’re picking up, or cool ideas we want to try.

1 P.M. Answer emails, engage with backers and followers on social media.

2 P.M – 6 P.M. Focus sessions: each session is centered on one topic at a time with different team members. For example, industrial design focus session, or customer experience focus session.

Aromeo aims to boost productivity through the power of aromatherapy.

7 P.M. Wrap up work, update status and jot down to-dos for the next day.

8 P.M. Travel back home, mindful cooking. Mindful eating the nutritious meal I prepared for myself.

9 P.M. Call home and self-care (read: skincare) time 😉 

10 P.M. Get ready for bed, ending the day with a total body relaxation and light reading.

Michelle shows off the Aromeo Diffuser at a trade show earlier this year.

Now that you’ve gotten a glimpse of what her day is like, get more inspiration in our exclusive Q&A with Michelle Fno below!

INDIEGOGO: How and why did you become an entrepreneur? Was it something you always intended for yourself? 

MICHELLE FNO: I grew up in a plastics factory that my grandmother built from scratch; she was an immigrant child who grew up trading scrap plastics, and she created a plastics factory to provide a livelihood for her community. As a kid I looked at how the factory created many products that end up creating value to the customers, and how the workers would come every Saturday, collecting their week’s pay and sharing stories about what’s happening in their lives. This is why I want to become an entrepreneur, because I believe an entrepreneur can really make an impact in this world – by creating better products that create value in the society, and by providing livelihood and a sense of community for its stakeholders. 

INDIEGOGO: What makes your Indiegogo project unique? 

MICHELLE: Aromeo Sense is unique because it’s the only sleep aid and stress buster in the world that uses aroma, light, and sound therapy. In 2015, I struggled with anxiety and chronic stress. Through natural therapy, I discovered my peace and became a stronger person.  Now, I want others to be happier and healthier too, especially in this challenging time. From this, the concept of Aromeo Sense was born. Our team designed this device to have aroma, light, and sound therapy because our sense of smell, vision, and hearing are the main instruments that we use to gather information about the world around us. By affecting these faculties, we can shift our mood into a more desirable state, and promote better sleep.

INDIEGOGO: What’s your biggest piece of advice for women who want to start their own business?

MICHELLE: If you have decided to start a business, then do it as early as possible. Because your business and skills need time to grow. Doing it early will give more time for you to grow a fan base, develop your intuition, and learn from the parts that you may be lacking.

INDIEGOGO: What tools (gadgets, apps, books, podcasts) would you recommend to anyone starting their own business, crowdfunding campaign, or project? 

MICHELLE: Gadgets – Aromeo Sense to manage my time and make sure I do one thing at a time and dedicate 100% of my focus onto it.

Apps – For work I use Slack (team communication), Notion (task management), Figma (design), and of course Zoom. For meditation I use the Calm app, and I think it would be cool to integrate it with Aromeo Sense. For writing I use the Bear app. 

Books – For work: The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, Sprint by Jake Knapp. For life: You Are Here by Thich Nhat Hanh, What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey.

INDIEGOGO: What’s your favorite Indiegogo campaign, or a campaign you’ve recently supported?

MICHELLE: NeoRhythm – I think it’s a great idea to control your mood using a headband. I think it could be used together with Aromeo Sense for a synergy effect – Aromeo Sense can provide the multi-sensory stimuli using aroma, light and sound, while NeoRhythm can provide stimulation through vibrations.

Form and function blend seamlessly in the Aromeo Diffuser.

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Written by bizbuildermike · Categorized: Crowdfunding · Tagged: a day in the life, Apps, books, business, ceo, Community, company, conversations, Crowdfunding, Culture, Design, entrepreneur, founder, gadgets, going, green, ideas, IGG, information, Media, more, product, productivity, Products, slack, small-business, social, Social Media, Society, Success Stories, Sun, supported, trade, trading, us, work, world

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