AP | Portugal Tech Language Solutions' content curation not only aims to disseminate knowledge, by embracing this important role, we also take the selection of the best and most valid content in multiple areas very seriously.
Information remains a powerful weapon, even more, in the circumstances around the world these days.
First up, Santa Claus
It’s going to be a unique Christmas this year, and Santa Claus is adjusting accordingly. Professional Santas across the United States have shifted their holiday work season to accommodate the Covid-19 restrictions that have held 2020 in their grip. Some still greet children in stores, from behind plexiglass or in an enclosed snow globe.
But many Clauses have had to personally come up with pandemic-fitted solutions, or risk losing a whole season of earnings. And often those bearded bearers of Christmas joy have relied on what we all have in past months: Zoom calls.
Stephen Arnold, the president of the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas, a non-profit professional group, has been dressing as Santa Claus for decades, setting up at department stores, malls, and other businesses while kids waited in line for hours to talk to him. This year, he found himself suiting up to sit behind a camera.
Zoom is lifting limits on the free version
Zoom is lifting limits on the free version of its videoconferencing software over the festive season to help families around the world socialise safely in the midst of the pandemic.
Normally, free accounts are limited to 40-minute-long calls, which abruptly end at the time limit. Zoom has announced that those limits will be removed on specific days including the last day of Hanukah, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Zoom is not the only option for a socially distanced Christmas. Google Meet is free for all users until 31 March, and a number of other services including Facebook Messenger, Apple’s FaceTime and Epic’s Houseparty have always been free for all users.
Interpreters can be replaced by technology?
When it comes to services like remote simultaneous interpretation there are a number of common misconceptions.
Interpreters can be replaced by technology? Bill Woods, interpreting technology pioneer, disagrees. He states that "Interpreters will be replaced by interpreters using technology.”
Technology-assisted interpreting like Interprefy is increasingly welcomed. To stay competitive in the industry, leading providers are adopting technology that is best suited to their customers. As the need for interpretation services increases, smartphones, tablets, and online dictionaries become of greater use to the public. Machine interpretation is in its earliest stages of development, but there is no telling what the future will bring.
AI is hard to understand
AI is hard to understand—and hard to implement. Nearly all organizations have faced challenges in implementing AI and advanced analytics initiatives, according to research from Ericsson IndustryLab.
AI tools and technologies are still rapidly evolving compared with other IT products and services, but the AI adoption challenge isn't simply about waiting for a new version of an algorithm or a powerful new cloud service to reach the market. Adopting AI and advanced analytics is as much about installing a new piece of software as it is about the human beings who use it.
According to the Ericsson report, 87% of respondents said that facing challenges with people/culture was more difficult with regard to AI adoption than challenges presented by technology or their organization. Of the top 10 critical AI implementation challenges, seven are related to people, culture, and the organization's budget and staffing.
What you need to know about 5G
5G is, as the name suggests, the fifth major generation of mobile cellular networks, following in the footsteps of 3G and 4G/LTE. 5G is being deployed by wireless carriers around the world and is available to a limited degree in many major cities (though it will take several years for the system to be fully deployed and widely available).
One of the more confusing aspects of 5G is that it's not broadcast on a single frequency. Instead, there are several frequencies used by 5G networks for different applications.
At its highest speeds, 5G should be able to reach as much as about 2 gigabits per second (Gbps) — two orders of magnitude faster than LTE, which tops out around 35 megabits per second (Mbps).
To get that speed, 5G networks rely on much higher operating frequencies than existing cellular networks, reaching into what is called the millimeter wave band. But because high frequencies have shorter range than lower frequencies, 5G uses a mix of network frequency bands, generally classified as high, medium, and low.
How will we know when life can go back to normal?
Starting a mass vaccination programme is an important first step towards ending this pandemic. And it has come relatively quickly. Producing an effective vaccine against an infectious disease is a long process that in the past has usually taken many years.
The development of the COVID-19 vaccine this year, on the other hand, has been extraordinarily fast. It has shown how quickly scientific development can be achieved via collaborative hard work, and how much the will can produce the means.
During 2020, 61 vaccines have been developed, with a number of these in clinical trials, and some reporting a more than 90% efficacy rate against COVID-19. There is no doubt that it has been a year of remarkable progress.
We should all be excited at the prospect of an effective vaccine, but we should also be wary of the fact that we are not there yet. And until we get there, we need to follow the COVID-19 safety measures to protect ourselves and others.
What would happen if all positive effects of agglomeration disappear?
Lockdown shows us it is not work that attracts us to big cities – but the social life. COVID’s effect on the social lives of city dwellers – being able to meet at the pub, restaurants or theatre – may be more relevant for the future of cities than its impact on work.
Actually, the quality of life effect is much greater than the productivity effect which reflects that big cities are – or used to be – attractive places to live in.
Eliminating the benefits of social and economic interaction would result in negative effects on big and small cities, but the effects on big cities would be much larger according to our model.
Yet the effects on big cities are not nearly as devastating as in a conventional spatial model with perfect mobility. If we increase mobility threefold by assuming away many of the idiosyncratic reasons that tie people to particular cities, we would see nearly twice as many workers relocating from large to small LLMs.
Last but not least
An article recommended by Mário Júnior, CEO of AP | PORTUGAL Tech Language Solutions >> Torchlit processions, fireworks, lasers, concerts, cannons and ceilidhs … Edinburgh’s annual new year celebrations are some of the biggest in the world. They span several crowded, fun-packed days and nights and draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city’s streets for a series of giant parties. This year, however, Hogmanay is going online for the first time and a new virtual programme will feature one of the UK’s largest-ever drone shows.
This text was not written by a native English speaker, but by a language lover. However, all our language services are always provided by native speakers.
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