Netflix puts quality translators to the test

Netflix knows its changing demographic affects the content it produces. With 93 million subscribers coming from outside the US, there is a need to reach out to the non-English-speaking viewers. To help produce quality subtitles, Netflix is reaching out to professional translators and wants to vet them through a new standardized test called HERMES. This test pays close attention to phrases and idioms that are unique to specific languages and culture. There are many combinations of these questions so the test varies. Once translators get their scores, they might then be considered for future projects by the streaming service. 

Those who sign up and qualify will be given a unique number which will be tied to the subtitles it receives from the translators. They will use this to evaluate the performance of the translators and use this as a basis to assign future projects to them. Think of it like the recommendation feature for viewers. Since the project launched, Netflix claims thousands of candidates have already tried it out. If you want to give it a try, the test can be accessed through this link.  

Source: Netflix 

First impressions: Samsung Galaxy S8

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Samsung is back to form with their new Samsung Galaxy S8 family of smartphones. I spent a few hours with one of the Midnight Black models and here are my impressions.

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Android Wear 2.0 starts rolling out, starts with three smartwatches

Rollout for Android Wear 2.0 has been a bit slow. But finally it’s starting to land into a few smartwatches. Google is rolling it out to three smartwatches first: the Fossil Q Founder, Casio Smart Outdoor Watch, and TAG Heuer Connected. Unfortunately, the Huawei Watch and LG Watch Urbane 2^nd Edition, which have both been running the developer previews since mid-2016, still aren’t part of the initial over-the-air update. According to one of Google’s Android Wear help form community managers, the watches have started to receive the OTA update and should be done by April 4^th. Here’s to hoping Google finally rolls out to more Android Wear devices.

Source: Android Police

‘Serial’ podcast creators tries Netflix-style binge-listening for new podcast

With the lack of data and metrics to see what works for the podcast industry, creators on the medium can be a bit more creative when it comes to their content. Now, creators of podcast hit Serial are trying a different approach to releasing their new true-crime podcast S-Town. According to S-Town’s executive producer Julie Snyder, they thought that the story of this new podcast would best be told in the Netflix approach of dropping all episodes at once. "There's a lot of paranoia and a lot of accusations that get kind of thrown around back and forth," Snyder said. "And if we were going to do it weekly, you'd have to address all of those things in that episode. You can't leave someone hanging [when] accusing someone of being a murderer."

Serial became a hit even with its weekly release. So there’s no saying yet if the approach to S-Town will work for Snyder and her team or backfire. At the moment, though, it seems to be doing well on the iTunes podcast chart with it at the top of the list.

Source: Mashable