Microsoft has announced its plans for Skype Translator, a new tool that aims to break down language barriers by translating spoken words during Skype video calls in real time.

Last week at the Code Conference in California, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Skype corporate vice president Gurdeep Pall demonstrated the feature publicly for the first time, via a conference call conducted between Pall speaking English in California and Diana Heinrichs speaking German in London. Though the translations were not always entirely accurate – many onlookers who understood German described them as “passable at best” – the near-real-time translation into a voice speaking the listener’s language impressed many. Microsoft state that Skype Translator “opens up so many possibilities to make meaningful connections in ways you never could before in education, diplomacy, multilingual families and in business”, and it’s easy to agree.

The company plan to release Skype Translator as a Beta for Windows 8-based devices later this year. Following successful testing, it’s believed the tool will later be offered as an update to existing Skype copies and support Windows 7, although nothing is confirmed beyond Microsoft’s reminder that Skype is “available across a number of devices and computing platforms”.

It’s said to be the second largest computer expo in the world; and regularly attracts key manufacturers both in its local Taiwan and worldwide. Today, the 2014 edition of COMPUTEX Taipei kicked off; and as you may have expected, some cool technology was shown off. Much of the action today was dominated by ASUS, who were later followed by Acer – Taiwan’s two main computer and smart phone manufacturers and a mainstay of the expo; with Dell taking centre stage in the dying minutes to reveal two new Inspiron Tablets. Grab a coffee and read on for all of today’s news.

Skip to Announcements from: ASUS – Acer – Dell

ASUS

The show itself started with ASUS taking the stage, five minutes later than planned due to the late arrival of some members of the assembled press. As is typical with ASUS, however, the news came thick and fast. Just three minutes into their keynote conference, we were introduced to the ASUS ZenBook NX500, a laptop described by Shih as being “perfect for the ultimate professional”. The new ZenBook has a UHD panel, delivering a crisp 3840×2160-pixel screen resolution; and combines it with ASUS’ VideoMaster display technology which, so they claim, makes for “true to life” colours. It also has a fourth-gen Intel Core i7 and NVIDIA GTX 850, and supports the latest PCI-E SSDs and 802.11ac Wi-Fi standards.

Speaking of UHD panels, ASUS also revealed a 32-inch UHD ProArt monitor – the PA328Q. It’s designed for imaging professionals, and has all the latest ports like HDMI 2.0. A brief mention was given to the Transformer Book Flip, a previously revealed product that’s basically a laptop whose screen can bend all the way back to behind the keyboard to allow it to be used as a tablet. ASUS then took a brief detour to show us a new Wi-Fi Router, the RT-AC3200. Capable of speeds of 3.2Gb/sec, it may be the world’s fastest router to date.

Just ten minutes since their keynote started, and already we’ve moved on to smart phones. With a claimed 72-per cent screen to body ratio, the ASUS FonePad 8 – the company’s next addition to their range of really big smart phones – is “designed to maximise your viewing experience”, so says chairman Jonney Shih. Interestingly, it’s planned to be released in 7- and 8-inch varieties, but the company already has a FonePad 7 – will this device supersede it? But these aren’t the only devices ASUS is planning to release in 7- and 8-inch versions. ASUS are planning to refine another of their products, the MeMoPAD HD7, with a thinner, lighter profile and a choice of 7- and 8-inch screen sizes. The 299g, 7.45mm-thin ASUS MemoPAD 8 is new too — it has an 8-inch screen as you’d expect, with Full HD resolution. It’s 1920x1200pixels, which means it’s a 16:10 ratio panel. It uses an Intel quad-core Atom Z3580 processor running at 2.3GHz. It’s the most powerful and beautifully designed 8-inch LTE tablet out today, apparently.

ASUS has often tried to combine phone and tablet with their FonePad and PadFone lines, but perhaps the biggest news is they feel this is only the beginning. In their words, the “ultimate convergence” of devices would be a device that combines Android Phone and Tablet along with a Windows Tablet and Windows and Android laptops. That’s apparently the plan for their boldest device revealed yet, the Transformer Book V. A full HD IPS phone slots into the back of an LTE-capable tablet with a 12.5-inch screen. This then slots into a laptop keyboard dock with a 1TB hard drive, turning the tablet – phone still inside – into a full-power laptop. A single button press on the keyboard switches the device from Android to Windows 8.1, after which the screen can be undocked and used as a tablet, or kept in place for a laptop. When you’re done, remove the phone out the back of the tablet and you’re back to an Android phone and on your way. Now THAT’S a bombshell!

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Acer

After Samsung’s announcement earlier this year of plans to launch two new wearable, electronic fitness devices, 2014 seems to be the year of fitness wearables – and Acer’s first announcement today was to let us know the choice of devices available is only set to grow. The company announced the Acer Liquid Leap, a fitness armband with a 1-inch display, which will also be capable of call and SMS notifications.

Acer also revealed its new line of Liquid brand mobile devices, comprising four different smart phone models as well as one new tablet. One of these, the Acer Liquid Z200 smartphone, is already being referred to by some members of the press as Acer’s attempt to compete with Motorola. Expected to retail at just €79, has a modest 4-inch display; and will be available in a choice of five colours: Titanium Black, Essential White, Fragrant Pink, Sky Blue and Sunshine Yellow.

As for the other models, here’s a quick bullet-point summary:

• Acer Iconia Tab 8 tablet – 8in 1920 x 1200 IPS display, quad-core Intel Atom processor, “sleek” metallic finish, 7.5 hours of battery life “for uninterrupted multimedia enjoyment”, dual speakers
• Acer Liquid Jade smartphone – 5in HD display with Gorilla Glass 3, 13MP rear camera, KitKat Android 4.4
• Acer Liquid E700 smartphone – 5in HD IPS display, 3,500mAh “never-ending” battery offering 60 days standby or 24 hours talk time, quad-core processor, 16GB internal storage, 2GB of RAM
• Acer Liquid E600 smartphone – 5in IPS display, quad-core processor, 8MP rear camera, 4G-LTE compatibility

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Dell

When the Lenovo Yoga released and showed off its super-tiltable screen, which allowed it to be suspended in a number of positions or even have the screen fully folded back to use as a tablet, it seems the concept was popular enough to spawn a number of imitators – and now Dell has thrown one of its own into the mix. The Dell Inspiron 13 7000 is a great-looking convertible laptop, but sadly little is known so far of the specs – we’ll have more as its revealed.

But if you prefer an actual tablet, Dell had an announcement there too. The new Dell Inspiron 20 is an upcoming tablet that supposedly will last six hours on a single charge, but maybe someone should tell the company that bigger isn’t always better – sporting a sizeable 19.5 inch display, this tablet isn’t going to fit into anyone’s coat pockets any time soon – in fact many laptop bags would struggle to contain it – but it is handy for moving from room to room, and watching your favourite films wherever you want to sit in the house. In fact, perhaps standing it up and using it as a TV replacement isn’t actually too far-fetched, given the powers of on-demand TV, Chromecast and so on…

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That’s all for today – tune in tomorrow for the next instalment of COMPUTEX action!

Many hardcore players of Nintendo’s long-running, franchise-merging beat-em-up, Super Smash Bros, will attest that the only way to properly play the games is with a proper, chunky controller with plenty of buttons to enable the widest range of moves and tactics. It’s no surprise really: having started on the N64 and then moved on to the GameCube for the subsequent sequel, Melee – both consoles whose controllers could be described as chunky and button filled – Smash Bros. was a game that took advantage of every single button to provide plenty of attacks, taunt options, grabs and – for the wusses – defensive moves. That Nintendo had to simply every character’s movesets for the Wii follow-up, Brawl, due to the Wii Remote having just four buttons and a D-Pad was seen as sacrilege to many fans of the previous two titles, who felt reducing the immediately available attacks and using two-button combinations for most moves just didn’t offer the level of control they were used to.

Luckily, the Wii offered something that catered to those fans: Gamecube backwards-compatibility. Realising that there would be those craving the greater control of the previous games, Nintendo allowed people who had plugged Gamecube controllers into the Wii to use them as controllers for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, letting them play the new game with their old, familiar controllers even though they’d still be subject to the simplified move sets. That players familiar with the previous generation could fight again using the ergonomic, full-featured controllers they’d gotten accustomed to was a godsend; and so, when the Wii U removed Gamecube compatibility and the Gamecube ports, many weeped that they’d not get the same option in the next Super Smash Bros. title.

Well, dear fans, weep no longer:

It’s official: The #WiiU version of #SmashBros. will be playable with GameCube controllers! pic.twitter.com/JMWqTgyM3Y

— Nintendo UK (@NintendoUK) May 30, 2014

That’s right! Nintendo UK and Nintendo of Europe took to Twitter today to announce that Gamecube Controller support will be hitting the Wii U; and will feature in the next Smash Bros. title! From the picture posted, it appears the support will be added via a new accessory which will plug in to the Wii U via USB and offer the standard four Gamecube controller ports like on the original ‘Cube and the Wii. Given the nature of the accessory, it seems unlikely this will be used ONLY for Smash Bros. – many Wii games and WiiWare / Wii Virtual Console titles supported the Gamecube and the Wii U is backwards-compatible with those, so we may see Gamecube controls returned to those games; but what’s stopping Nintendo also baking Gamecube controller support back into the Wii U Virtual Console or even into future Wii U titles? The prospect is tantalising.

Interestingly, the picture appears to show the Wii U with both front USB ports in use, though the connectors are different colours. This begs the question as to whether the Gamecube add-on will require one or two USB ports to use. What’s more, the plugged-in Gamecube controller in the picture features a Smash Ball decal – just a decorative touch, or will whole new, special-edition Gamecube controllers hit the stores once again? There’s a lot of questions still to be answered; but one thing’s for sure. Those of you who’ve kept hold of your Gamecube controllers for the last couple of years or more, now have even more reason to feel smug.

Gg Nintendo. Now people can’t tell me I’m crazy for keeping four new gcn controllers all these years!

— Digmbot, via Facebook

A multi-layered series that looks back to the formative years of Ryu and Ken as they live a traditional warrior’s life in secluded Japan. The boys are, unknowingly, the last practitioners of the ancient fighting style known as “Ansatsuken” (Assassin’s Fist). The series follows them as they learn about the mysterious past of their master, Goken, and the tragic, dark legacy of the Ansatsuken style. Can their destiny be changed, or will history repeat itself?

Well, time for our first on demand/youtube review and what a doozey of a review aswell…
Season 1 of Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, the follow on to the Youtube short from 2010, Streetfighter: Legacy, which showed a night time fight between Ryu and Ken and got the whole of Street Fighter fandom around the world salivating for a real live action Street Fighter spectacle (especially after the travesty that was Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li)

This is very much a prequel to the First Street Fighter: World Warriors game/story and the years of Ryu (Mike Moh) and Ken Master (Christian Howard) training, aswell as the young life and training of their Sensei Goken (Akira Koieyama) and his brother Goki (Gaku Space), and his betrayal of Gotetsu (Togo Igawa) to become Akuma (Joey Ansah), the Demon of the No Hado!

The first thing that strikes straight away is the choreography of the training and fight scenes.  The training is utterly wonderful to watch and the fight scenes, especially the CGI added for the ingame moves, like the Hadouken and ShoRyuKen look cool.

Filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria, the locations are stunning too, the perfect backdrop for the training of two young world warriors into the video game characters we’ve been knocking heads with for nearly 30 years now

What I WASN’T expecting, yet supremely surprised about was the introduction of Ken’s father (Mark Killeen) in Episode 4: A Rough Night,  a boxer, who spends a day training with Ryu and Ken and showing them a few of his moves.  What really stood out most in this episode was the bond and training these actors and fighters have, the moves and dialect is fluid and warm and the fighting/training is quick and beautiful to watch aswell.

But they also get a taste of street fighting at a local bar against some American GI’s (and leave them in a mess of course) in this episode, of course we see Ken in full flow offering large bets, while Ryu looks out of his depth and uncomfortable being thrown into the ring.  Everything we know about these characters is there and real.

The real stand out throughout the series though is Goken, more than just their teacher, he’s a father figure and one that is respected and loved by both teenagers, and the flashbacks to his own training and trials with his brother Goki under the training of Gotetsu is part of the Street Fighter legacy that hasn’t been deeply looked into before now and it was good to get to know.

Goki’s transformation into Akuma is good to watch aswell, almost a rocky level montage of his body falling apart under the power of the No Hado and his transformation into the demon Akuma is great to watch.

The one thing that I don’t get with this series is why its even a series.  All 12 episodes were released right away and at 9/10 minutes an episode, I have to ask why…   If this was released on DVD/BluRay as a feature length episode, like  , Then I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Here’s hoping Machinima see sense to release it as a movie.

Now, to get back into the dojo myself, this gave me a definite recharge to my No Hado!

~9.5/10  Utterly Amazing!

Peter Parker runs the gauntlet as the mysterious company Oscorp sends up a slew of super villains against him, impacting his life.

Ok, a couple of weeks late on this review (so sue me, I’ve moved and still setting up my new office…), but here we go with The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Now I enjoyed the first film (For my Amazing Spider-Man review, please click here), but like Sam Raimi’s last trilogy, Amazing Spider-Man 2 falls over in the second installment and actually in a worse way to how Spider-Man 2 did…

Just like the Tobey Maguire films, this one went off the rails with too much going on, now the web swinging and butt kicking of NORMAL crooks was cool, the special effects looked amazing, but the real enemies left me meh.

Peter Parkers (Andrew Garfield) childhood friend Harry Osborne (Dane DeHaan) returns as his father, Norman Osborne (Chris Cooper) is on his death bed, to find out he is afflicted by the same genetic condition as his father that will likely kill him and is handed the research his father was close to finding a cure with.

At least Norman Osborne rightly got his time as the Goblin in the last trilogy, but this time, Chris Cooper doesn’t get any screen time beyond a death bed confession and accusation that Harry is useless and a disappointment…   I was literally wondering WTF when I saw that, and would have said it, had there not been a group of 8yr old’s two rows ahead of me…  (I go to the cinema in the day to get away from bloody kids, grr…) and to add insult to injury here, Chris Cooper isn’t even credited at the end of the film for his part, it was THAT small!

Now it was cool that the genetic illness killing him made him look goblin like, but c’mon, it looked shit…

And Dane DeHaan…  I thought he was exceptional in Chronicle in 2012, but his portrayal of Harry Osborne was awful. I hated the character and just thought he was a whiny lil’ bitch, don’t get me started as him as the Goblin…   I preferred James Franco back in Spider-Man 3…

Ok, lets move on to Electro…

/facepalm

I hated Electro (Jamie Foxx), he looks awful and even if he just wanted to be recognised by people, again, I just wanted to slap him and tell him to man up…

Can I also just say, I hate the CGI on his skin, yes, some of the effect on him fighting spidey was cool, but standing there?   he looked bloody awful and that’s all I’m gonna say there…  (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Now, I guess we should talk about Spidey (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone) huh?  Peter is still haunted by the death of Gwens father in the first film and his dying words (he told Peter to leave her to keep her safe) and Peter can’t reconcile it.

Now we all know the actors are together in real life and this comes across on screen and somewhat redeems the movie.  Peter and Gwen are really sweet to watch on screen, especially on their date.

Peter and Aunt May (Sally Field) are also a joy to watch aswell and sally Field nails Aunt May much better than Rosemary Harris did in the last triilogy.

Then there’s the side story of Peter finding out more about why his parents did their midnight run for the border, leaving him with Aunt May and Uncle Ben and just HOW MUCH they were involved in the troubles at OSCORP.  Now in the comics, this surfaced that they were SHIELD Agents, undercover at OSCORP to expose Norman Osborne’s genetics work.  In this, the story of them leaving could have been totally left out of the film and him finding his dad’s secret lab would still have worked (and saved a not so great action scene on a plane)

Anyway…   So did I like the movie?   Yes, it was ok, the action scenes, for the most part, gave me a buzz and showed just HOW lythe and agile Spidey can be, but like the last trilogy, it’s trying to do too much, too quickly and shows that they really want to be part of the Avengers line, when clearly there’s nothing from Marvel to make this a thing…

On that note, would i like to see Andrew Garfields Spidey in Avengers 3?   Yup!   Fuck Yes in fact!

Will it happen in this humble journalists opinion?   Nope…

So, Rating time…

6/10

Let’s hope the Sinister Six don’t over shadow Spidey completely in The Amazing Spider-Man 3 in 2016