Loqu8 is a software company that helps users access and learn information, such as languages and real-time facts. Its products are based on an augmented learning model that was originally developed using cognitive science and information processing research at Caltech and Stanford University. Users interact with the augmented environment by touching the screen or pointing to content with a mouse. A pop-up window immediately displays contextually-relevant information with links to supporting resources. Behind the scenes, the text surrounding the mouse pointer is evaluated and supplemental information (e.g., web search, language translation, images and speech) is presented. Powered by Loqu8's iNtution engine, the software promises to help users learn information quickly; a pop-up window is displayed in a fraction of a second (typically, 100 milliseconds).
In October 2009, the company previewed real-time visual search at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. The pop-up window showed instant web searches (via Microsoft Bing) and touch screen search using Microsoft Windows 7.[1]
Augmented learning
Memorization, the deliberate mental process or storing information for future recall, is one of the most common learning practices. Since the information must be stored before it is actually needed, learners can become frustrated when they are unable to recall the information when it is needed. By comparison, augmented learning shifts the focus to learning “on-demand”.
When a learner browses the web or reads a document, the act of pointing with a mouse or touching a screen commands a pop-up window to provide supplemental information.[2] This in-context, augmented content may take the form of text, images, video, or even music or speech. By tailoring the supplemental content to the learner's immediate environment, the learner associates the supplemental information with the original text.
For example, in Microsoft Outlook email,[3] a user could hover a mouse over an unfamiliar word—even in a different language—to see a translation and definition and even hear the word pronounced. Other options would be to see the targeted word in news articles or images tagged with the same word.
Products and users
The company's products implement augmented intelligence and understanding practices to communicate information in a contextually-relevant manner.
In 2013, Loqu8 introduced iCE Learn Chinese, Version. In an effort to make understanding, using and learning Chinese easier, this latest iteration offers support for Cantonese-English (dictionary with optional Cantonese text-to-speech), RubyDefs (short definitions annotated to text) plus support for character tone marks (similar to Pinyin tone marks). In addition to LiveScan and HighlightScan, the enhanced ClipboardScan works with the broadest range of websites, instant messaging and productivity applications. One nice feature: support for vertical Chinese text.
In 2010, the company previewed Insight (code named "Prelude"), an instant information access tool for cloud-based business applications like Microsoft SharePoint, Salesforce.com CRM and Google Docs.[4] Insight reached the semi-finals round at the Salesforce.com AppQuest 2010 contest.
The company's educational products embody augmented learning technologies to teach languages. Loqu8 iCE (iNterpret Chinese-English)[5] displays a pop-up window to show Chinese to English translations and links to supplemental materials (news, images, video, chat). An upgraded version, iCE Professional,[6] allows the user to customize the translation dictionary with personal entries, notes and usage examples. iCE version 6 was the first program to support parallel, multiple dictionaries (Chinese-English, Chinese-German, Chinese-French) and multi-language extensions (MLX) auto-translations of Chinese into 50 languages, including: Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Haitian (Creole), Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Maltese, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh and Yiddish. Recent feature enhancements have included support for native, 64-bit Windows, WebTranslate, premium voices with rate control and support for PDF documents.
Copyworks[7] re-creates the augmented learning environment on paper by including annotations on "copysheets" and paper flashcards.
Loqu8's augmented learning technologies have been deployed at the United States Department of State, EU European Commission and United Nations.[citation needed] Educational users include Columbia, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Peking University, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Harvard and University of Tokyo. Corporate users include ConocoPhilips, DuPont, Fluor, China Shanghai Nuclear Power, Cummins, New York Life, General Mills, Microsoft and UBS.[citation needed]
History and ownership
The company was founded in 2008 and launched its first products in 2008. The company is privately held. The company's headquarters are in Silicon Valley. Recent acclaims include "Microsoft Startup to Watch" [8] "Startup of the Day" [9] and finalist at the HYSTA Entrepreneur Boot Camp[10][11]
Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager software system from Microsoft, available as a part of the Microsoft 365 software suites. Though primarily being popular as an email client for businesses, Outlook also includes functions such as calendaring, task managing, contact managing, note-taking, journal logging, web browsing, and RSS news aggregation.
Handwriting recognition (HWR), also known as handwritten text recognition (HTR), is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other devices. The image of the written text may be sensed "off line" from a piece of paper by optical scanning or intelligent word recognition. Alternatively, the movements of the pen tip may be sensed "on line", for example by a pen-based computer screen surface, a generally easier task as there are more clues available. A handwriting recognition system handles formatting, performs correct segmentation into characters, and finds the most possible words.
Computer accessibility refers to the accessibility of a computer system to all people, regardless of disability type or severity of impairment. The term accessibility is most often used in reference to specialized hardware or software, or a combination of both, designed to enable the use of a computer by a person with a disability or impairment.
Maxthon is a freeware web browser, created by JeffChen in Singapore. It is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and as Maxthon Mobile for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 8. Since version 6, Maxthon is based on Chromium.
This is a comparison of both historical and current web browsers based on developer, engine, platform(s), releases, license, and cost.
NLS was a revolutionary computer collaboration system developed in the 1960s. It was designed by Douglas Engelbart and implemented by researchers at the Augmentation Research Center (ARC) at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI). It was the first computer system to employ the practical use of hypertext links, a computer mouse, raster-scan video monitors, information organized by relevance, screen windowing, presentation programs, and other modern computing concepts. It was funded by ARPA, NASA, and the US Air Force.
A voice-user interface (VUI) enables spoken human interaction with computers, using speech recognition to understand spoken commands and answer questions, and typically text to speech to play a reply. A voice command device is a device controlled with a voice user interface.
Rosetta Stone Language Learning is proprietary, computer-assisted language learning (CALL) software published by Rosetta Stone Inc, part of the IXL Learning family of products. The software uses images, text, and sound to teach words and grammar by spaced repetition, without translation. Rosetta Stone calls its approach Dynamic Immersion.
Google Translate is a multilingual neural machine translation service developed by Google to translate text, documents and websites from one language into another. It offers a website interface, a mobile app for Android and iOS, as well as an API that helps developers build browser extensions and software applications. As of October 2024, Google Translate supports 244 languages and language varieties at various levels. It served over 200 million people daily in May 2013, and over 500 million total users as of April 2016, with more than 100 billion words translated daily.
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Babylon is a computer dictionary and translation program developed by the Israeli company Babylon Software Ltd. based in the city of Or Yehuda. The company was established in 1997 by the Israeli entrepreneur Amnon Ovadia. Its IPO took place ten years later. It is considered a part of Israel's Download Valley, a cluster of software companies monetizing "free" software downloads through adware. Babylon includes in-house proprietary dictionaries, as well as community-created dictionaries and glossaries. It is a tool used for translation and conversion of currencies, measurements and time, and for obtaining other contextual information. The program also uses a text-to-speech agent, so users hear the proper pronunciation of words and text. Babylon has developed 36 English-based proprietary dictionaries in 21 languages. In 2008–2009, Babylon reported earnings of 50 million NIS through its collaboration with Google.
Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) is speech recognition developed by Microsoft for Windows Vista that enables voice commands to control the desktop user interface, dictate text in electronic documents and email, navigate websites, perform keyboard shortcuts, and operate the mouse cursor. It supports custom macros to perform additional or supplementary tasks.
PowerWord is a collection of Chinese, English and bilingual dictionaries and supporting proprietary software, published on CD-ROM in China by Kingsoft. Originally produced for the Microsoft Windows platform, it is now available for Mac OS X, iPhone, Java for Nokia smartphones, and is available online. The CD-ROM often prominently carries the label "CIBA", as well as Chinese characters.
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Augmented learning is an on-demand learning technique where the environment adapts to the learner. By providing remediation on-demand, learners can gain greater understanding of a topic while stimulating discovery and learning. Technologies incorporating rich media and interaction have demonstrated the educational potential that scholars, teachers and students are embracing. Instead of focusing on memorization, the learner experiences an adaptive learning experience based upon the current context. The augmented content can be dynamically tailored to the learner's natural environment by displaying text, images, video or even playing audio. This additional information is commonly shown in a pop-up window for computer-based environments.
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References
↑ "News". www.businesswire.com. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
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