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Google Assistant is an incredibly powerful tool in the US, and as of late, the personal helper is getting better all around the globe with an ever-growing number of supported languages and actions. This goes hand in hand with Google's recent announcement that it wants to massively expand Assistant all over the world, which has already led to a plethora of new and improved languages. Now, another round of updated and new voices have arrived for even broader international support.
Even though intelligent speakers can converse in an impressive thirteen languages, smart displays weren't as fast in completing their curriculum. Indeed, although they could initially interact exclusively in English, they've recently learned French and German as Lenovo launched its products in these two countries. Last week, users reported their devices started speaking Portuguese, Polish, and Hindi. However, these weren't mentioned on the company's support pages and could only be used as a second language. Nevertheless, Google just added four Northern European dialects to its list of officially supported languages, meaning they can be used as the primary tongue on smart displays.
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- According to an update made to the Language and Locale Support section of the Actions on Google documentation site, these new higher-quality WaveNet voices will start to roll out on March 4th. The new voices provide users of the Actions on Google platform with voices that meet or exceed a 3.6 mean opinion score (i.e., which provide better perceived quality than the previous TTS voices used).
As with most of Google's products, Assistant is an incredibly powerful tool in the United States, but its functionality is limited in other countries. This is understandable, since there are dozens of other major languages worldwide with countless dialects, and speech recognition for each variation can take a while to develop. At Mobile World Congress, Google announced a massive expansion for Assistant's language support.
Hallo, Android Police Dutch readers! We know there are many of you and you've been waiting for this moment for a long time. Ever since The Netherlands showed up on the list of countries due to get Assistant sometime this year and Actions on Google added support for the Dutch language, you've been patiently waiting for the news to become official and today it has — Proficiat!
It's been a long time in the making, but the lawsuit by non-profit consumer group Consumentenbond against Samsung in the Netherlands has finally ended. The Dutch court has ruled in Samsung's favor, saying that the Consumentenbond's claims could not be enforced due to potentially unforeseen circumstances.
Early in 2016, it was revealed that Samsung was being sued in the Netherlands for failing to update its phones. The Consumentenbond—a Dutch non-profit promoting consumer protection—was taking Samsung to court for, among other things, not adequately providing two years of updates from the time of purchase. According to Telecompaper, the case is now being heard.
Actions on Google, the developer backbone behind third-party Google Assistant integrations, is getting more and more capable with time. Last time we saw it get updated, it learned new languages, got better discoverability for the apps, and added notifications, a personalized experience, and more. With this new update, there's even more in tow, so let's get started.
Google's Assistant and Assistant-powered hardware are a huge convenience, but the limited markets and languages for both have been anything but convenient for many. While Google has been slowly rolling out new countries for Home hardware and more languages for the Assistant over the last year or so, it looks like the company is gearing up to expand its footprint significantly. In a leaked slide from a presentation at the DNI (Digital News Initiative) summit in Amsterdam, Google revealed a literal map of its upcoming plans.
We're all probably guilty of it at some point. We're looking at our phones and we get so engrossed with what's on the screen that we forget the world around us. What we may not all be guilty of though, but that many people still do, is looking at phones while walking on the street, and even worse, while crossing the street. That "zombie" behavior not only endangers the pedestrian doing it, but also the incoming drivers, other pedestrians, and everyone on the road.
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People are upset at phone manufacturers for taking their sweet time sending out software updates. That's understandable. It's why commenters laughed at Sony for releasing Android 5.1 to some of its phones several months after Marshmallow was available. It's why customers are pissed that Motorola isn't standing by some of its cheaper handsets. And apparently it's why a consumer advocacy group is suing Samsung in the Netherlands.
Irish is hard. Like, really, really hard - as someone who can generally fake his way through Latin-based languages, I was completely lost when I went to Ireland and found that all the road signs were in what I had previously thought of as "Gaelic." It's a good thing that English was also on the signs. But if you're interested in learning it (or if your Republic of Ireland education demands that you do) you can now get some practice in Duolingo, along with Danish. Which, frankly, makes a lot more sense as an addition. Both are marked as "Beta" courses on the website.
My, my, but it is difficult to keep a device properly under wraps these days. The latest leak for LG's 2014 flagship G3 comes courtesy of the company's own Dutch website, spotted by Netherlands enthusiast site Portable Gear. LG took the promotional page down almost immediately, but not before keen eyes managed to record pretty much everything about the upcoming phone. Spoiler alert: reading the following won't leave you many surprises for tomorrow's event in London.
Duolingo For Android Can Now Help Dutch, Hungarian, Russian, And Turkish Speakers Learn English [Update: Polish Speakers, Too]
Duolingo For Android Can Now Help Dutch, Hungarian, Russian, And Turkish Speakers Learn English [Update: Polish Speakers, Too]
Looking to learn English? I know a little green bird that just might help you out. Duolingo has been around for years now, but it remains one of the best apps available for learning a new language on a mobile device. Now thanks to the latest update, Duolingo is ready to help Dutch, Hungarian, Russian, and Turkish speakers learn English.
Looks like today is going to be a bad day for Samsung, as a Dutch court has just granted Apple's request for a preliminary injunction banning the sale and importation of the Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, and Ace smartphones from the European Union. This decision follows Apple's earlier victory in Germany where distribution of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 was banned everywhere in the EU, save for the Netherlands.