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Otter's artificial intelligence absorbs recorded conversations and churns out transcripts that identify speakers, suggest keywords and offer text search.

Watch this: Otter's app makes free voice transcriptions easy and...

If you don't hate transcribing, it's probably just because you don't have to do it very much.

Otter, a new, free mobile app from a team of vets from Google and speech-recognition company Nuance, aims to make voice transcriptions become as easy and accessible as typing into a Google Doc.

Voice is an obsession of tech giants right now. But companies like Amazon, Google and Apple are mostly zeroed in voice-command assistants like Alexa or Siri, premised on the bet that voice interaction will become the next stage of computing. Getting less attention, though, are voice transcriptions -- tech that takes a recording of people talking and turns it in to text -- even though that kind of technology could be transformative for people across different needs and professions.

Most transcription apps or services fall into two buckets. If they're free, they're not often accurate. And those that give you clean transcript are usually expensive. That's because voice-to-text is technologically tricky, and most services that provide you with accurate transcripts usually need a human to review the recording.

Otter, which debuted this week at Mobile World Congress, aims to make transcripts not only free and accurate but also smart.

Otter is a free mobile app aiming to make transcription simple and easy. Mark Licea/CNET

"This is a perfect time," said Sam Liang, the CEO and founder of AISense, the company behind Otter. "With A.I. tech and deep in the last few years, the accuracy for speech recognition has improved dramatically. A few years ago, this system wouldn't be usable."

To use Otter, you tap a microphone icon to begin a recording, and almost immediately, a live raw transcript of what you're saying begins to unspool in front of you. It's after that recording ends that Otter's artificial intelligence can really do its work. After processing, the cleaned-up transcript separates speakers as they take turns to talk. As part of your sign-up process, Otter takes a "voiceprint" of you by asking you to read a five-paragraph statement so it can learn your voice and specifically identify you next to the passages you spoke.

Otter's transcripts also are searchable, not only within one transcript but across all your stored recordings. It automatically generate keywords that you can tap to search. You can form teams in Otter, and content can be shared within the Otter app with individuals or team members. You can also send anyone a link to a transcript viewable on the web.

In one neat feature, the text and audio are synchronized when you playback the recording, so if you tap on any part of the transcript, the audio will jump right to that place for quick accuracy checks. The app also highlights each word as its spoken during an audio playback.

It's not a perfect transcription. Punctuation is sometimes out of whack. It misidentifies some words -- I told Otter "Hi, I'm Joan" and my readout picked up my name as John, for example. And it's less successful in a crowded environment or during cross-talk. And the app, which was released publicly Monday, is somewhat buggy in its early days. When I opened it once, all my recordings and their transcripts from the previous day were missing. Restarting the app restored them, but you may notice other bugs.

And it lacks some tantalizing capabilities, like importing a previously recorded conversation. The app and its baseline transcription service is and will remain free, but the company plans to add a subscription tier later that unlocks extra utilities, along the same lines as Evernote's business model.

Its privacy relationship with your materials is similar to that of an Evernote, too. Otter is confidential and encrypted. And the company isn't building an ad-based business with Otter, so it's not interested in peeking into your materials so it can creating a profile that will target ads to you, the company said.

Otter is available for devices running Google's Android system and on Apple mobile products. and will be available on the web, iOS and Android.

source:CNet News

You’ll soon be able to trap Ghostbusters ghosts in augmented reality à la Pokémon Go.

A short demo of the game Ghostbusters World was showcased at Google’s MWC booth, highlighting functionality made possible by the public release of Google’s ARCoreaugmented reality platform. Details are pretty slim for a wide release date other than it’s “coming 2018”.

The title will call on ghosts from the franchise’s “films, TV shows, comic books, theme parks, and video games” according to a press release. Ghostbusters is obviously no Pokémon when it comes to the cult following behind it, but the game does seem like it could have some pretty similar gameplay to Pokeémon Go when it launches.

The studio behind the title, South Korea-based publisher FourThirtyThree Inc. has launched a number of popular games including Blade for Kakao, Monster Super League and Seven Guardians. The studio primarily seems to dabble in RPG style video games, and early footage makes it seem as though this mechanic will be present in Ghostbusters World. The title was also developed in conjunction with Sony Pictures Entertainment Consumer Products and Ghost Corps.

For what it’s worth from the short video they’ve shown it does really showcase what AR can add to the game, and how much more integrated with the environment the game is than past AR titles. Whether the title will embrace the location-based community style which made Pokémon Go a bit of a cultural phenomenon is unclear.

Though the announcement was made in conjunction with Google, the game will also be coming to iOS. The developers will be making more announcements about the game at next month’s Game Developers Conference.

source:TechCrunch

Opera Max lives on after Samsung acquired the mobile browser to save it from oblivion.

The browser was one of the first data-friendly mobile browsers and it later added privacy-focused settings, including safeguards against insecure WiFi connections and a VPN. The popular app clocked up more than 500,000 installs, but that didn’t stop parent company Opera — which is owned by a consortium of Chinese firms — from announcing its closurelast year.

“Opera has now decided to discontinue Opera Max. The product had a substantially different value proposition than our browser products, and represented a different focus for Opera,” it wrote at the time. “We, therefore, focus on our browsers and other upcoming services.”

Step forward Samsung, which said today that it has picked up the service and turned it into ‘Samsung Max’ — as first spotted by VentureBeat.

Screenshots of Samsung Max for Android

Opera Max users will get an update that brings them over to the now-Samsung-owned version, while other users can get their hands on the Android app or check the Galaxy Apps store. Bad news though, it’ll only be available on Samsung phones rather than all Android devices as had previously been the case.

In addition, Samsung plans to preload the app on its devices in a number of emerging markets: Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam. It’s unclear how much Samsung paid for the service, if anything at all, but you’d imagine it wasn’t a lot since it was destined for closure.

source:TechCrunch

Perhaps the most surprising thing I learned about Signal when I spoke with Moxie Marlinspike, the encrypted chat service’s creator, last year at Disrupt, was that it was essentially running on a shoestring budget. An indispensable tool used by millions and feared by governments worldwide, barely getting by! But $50 million from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton should help secure the app’s future, through the newly founded Signal Foundation nonprofit.

The arrangement was announced in a dual blog post by Marlinspike and Acton on the Signal blog. As the former writes:

Signal has never taken VC funding or sought investment, because we felt that putting profit first would be incompatible with building a sustainable project that put users first. As a consequence, Signal has sometimes suffered from our lack of resources or capacity in the short term, but we’ve always felt those values would lead to the best possible experience in the long term.

This enforced austerity of having few developers (count them on one hand) and no real office (they work in a shared space) has finally resulted in substantial dividends — well, not dividends technically, but certainly just rewards.

Operating as a nonprofit keeps things simple for Signal, much as they have been for years: offer this service as a public good, cover the cost with donations and grants and never feel any pressure to make any money or pay off investors. The $50 million comes directly from Acton’s own funds.

Well, almost no pressure. In Acton’s part of the post, he explains that although the goal is “to pioneer a new model of technology nonprofit focused on privacy and data protection for everyone, everywhere,” they also want to make the Signal Foundation “financially self-sustaining.” Later, he suggests “multiple offerings that align with our core mission” are in the future.

There are more and less charitable ways to take these statements. The cynical reporter in me sees these as foreshadowing of some kind of monetization plan: turn Signal into a freemium offering, set up Signal Pro or the like. Acton did just recently come from the WhatsApp-Facebook colossus, after all.
But having met Marlinspike and seen what the team has done over the last few years (not to mention the good work that originally established WhatsApp), I’m far more inclined toward the more charitable interpretation, which is simply that that there’s a way to make Signal pay for itself without compromising the principles that led to its creation in the first place.

In terms of official roles, Acton will be executive chairman of the Signal Foundation, while Marlinspike will remain CEO (and chief developer presumably) of Signal Messenger, its own nonprofit under the Foundation umbrella.

Users likely won’t see any changes, except perhaps for features on the roadmap arriving a little sooner than expected.

I’ve asked Marlinspike for a few more specifics and will update if I hear back.

source:TechCrunch

Instagram is testing a feature that will show users when someone else takes a screenshot of their story. Users included in the test are getting a warning that the next time they take a screenshot of a friend’s story the friend will be able to see it, as shown below:

Good bye freedom to screenshot IG stories. 💔 Thank you, Instagram for the warning. pic.twitter.com/y0pEaVR0Jq

— mulan (@__cajb) 8 Şubat 2018

And users who are participating in the test can see who took a screenshot of their story by going to the list of story viewers and seeing a new camera shutter logo next to anyone who took a screenshot of their photo. To be clear, creators won’t get a specific notification when someone takes a screenshot of their story, it will only show up in their list of story viewers.

PSA: How you get notified on Instagram when someone took a screenshot of your Stories pic.twitter.com/Iua2QeyskF

— April 🍑 (@readbyher) 11 Şubat 2018

In a statement provided to TechCrunch Instagram acknowledged the test, saying “we are always testing ways to improve the experience on Instagram and make it easier to share any moment with the people who matter to you.”

Instagram is likely using this test to see if the feature has any noticeable impact on engagement, before deciding whether or not they’ll roll it out to all users. For example, there’s a chance that some users may end up watching less stories over time if they aren’t able to take screenshots without notifying the creator.

Prior to this test the only screenshot notifications on Instagram were when someone took a screenshot of a private direct message. Anyone could take a screenshot of someone’s photo or story without notifying the creator. Notably, users can rewatch stories as many times as they want within 24 hours, with the creator unable to see exactly how many times one person watched it.

If rolled out, this feature would essentially align Instagram with Snapchat in terms of how the platform deals with screenshots. Any screenshot of a direct message triggers a notification to the sender, but a screenshot of a story will just result in a notation being placed next to the offender’s name in the viewer analytics tab.

source:TechCrunch

From sober social networks to biosensors and apps, digital platforms want to help people get clean.

More than one in seven people in the US struggle with substance abuse and addiction. That's 40 million Americans, aged 12 and older, with a substance problem.

For decades, a key part of nearly every accepted treatment for addictive behaviors involved face-to-face meetings. And no wonder: Research has shown that people who regularly attend in-person meetings at Alcoholics Anonymous and similar programs are more likely to stay sober longer. Another found that personal support was a key element of participants' recovery, helping them stay motivated while reducing symptoms of depression.

"The key to sobriety is relationships," said Peter Ruderman, a psychoanalyst at the St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute. "People go to 12-step programs seeking relationships, and they get tremendous support from the group."

That's great for people who can actually get to a meeting, but not so helpful for those who live too far away. That's where social media and mobile apps could help. The National Institutes of Health has even awarded more than $11 million in grants to explore social media's role in the prevention and treatment of addiction. The findings are mixed. Critics say online support encourages "unhealthy isolation." Proponents counter that people are less inhibited and reveal more about themselves when no one sees them.

"It's amazing what people will share through digital media that they wouldn't share face to face or even over the phone," said Adam Leventhal, director of the University of Southern California Health, Emotion, and Addiction Laboratory. "Apps and other types of digital media platforms open up a whole new universe of ways to help people quit."

Both the App Store and Google Play are loaded with social apps that aim to help people in recovery. These include I Am Sober, which describes itself as a motivational companion, and Nomo, which tracks days you've stayed straight. Social network Sober Grid connects recovering addicts, while A-CHESS aims to prevent relapses and to make it easy for counselors to reach out to patients. SoberTool shares motivational messages and features a community forum.

These apps are intended to supplement in-person treatments, not replace them, though they can serve people who don't have easy access to those treatments.

Such digital support couldn't come at a more critical time. Substance abuse has reached crisis proportions in many parts of the country, from the urban centers of New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois to rural West Virginia, which has the highest rate of drug overdoses in the nation. More than 64,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Network effect

Jason Thomas, 37, came across Sober Grid via the App Store in May when he was two weeks into recovery. With two DUIs and failing relationships with family and friends, he wanted to take more control of his actions. And he wanted help doing it.

Sober Grid includes a messaging platform whererecovering addicts can connect. Sober Grid

Each day, Sober Grid reminds members to check in. They record if they're sober, report their current mood and make a daily pledge. If someone gets high, the support network asks what triggered the relapse, and how that person plans to get back on track.

If members feel a strong urge to drink or take drugs, they can put out a call with the app's "burning desire" function, prompting others to send them motivational messages. Thomas has responded to several of these calls for help.

"Being of service to someone else is going to keep me sober," he said

Motivational messages are a key part of SoberTool, too.

When you open SoberTool, you're greeted with a list of questions prompting you to think about, and indicate, how you're feeling. One question might ask if you're thinking about relapsing. Clicking on that takes you to follow-up questions like, "Do you feel like using right now?" or "Do you feel worthless?" The app will then display motivational messages like "Be gentle with yourself" or "Don't feel bad about feeling bad."

Mobile perks

Sobriety apps can take advantage of mobile technology in interesting new ways.

A-CHESS, developed by the Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, uses a GPS tracker to warn recovering alcoholics if they're near a bar they used to frequent, for example. If they don't leave within, say, five minutes, the app will alert members of their support group.

Dr. Carla Marienfeld, a psychiatrist with UC San Diego Health, is part of a research team working to create a biosensor to detect patients' opioid use. The size of a grain of rice, the sensor would be injected under the skin where it would conduct real-time substance monitoring. An accompanying app would notify physicians or family members when a patient relapses.

Both A-CHESS and the biosensor are especially intriguing because of their nearly instant support.

"You can't be surrounded by human support and treatment 100 percent of the time," Marienfeld said. "An app is a way of providing some level of service when you most need it."

And that may be the best way to look at such sobriety aids: a stopgap when addicts need it most.

"There's no substitute for in-person connection," said Timothy Fong, clinical professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. "But getting rid of isolation is absolutely necessary."

source:CNet