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Tuesday 12 November 2024
Top new cryptocurrencies for long-term investment: key insight
New to crypto investments and finding it difficult to make informed choices? This guide offers valuable insights. It will explore some of the top new cryptocurrencies for long-term investments and provide essential knowledge to support better decision-making
Friday 8 November 2024
Running game servers: how to create your own multiplayer world
Jump into a world where the rules are yours to set and break. Welcome to game servers – a digital playground where anyone can build, manage, and host their own multiplayer games. Whether a seasoned gamer or simply curious, creating a game server can be an exciting venture, opening up endless possibilities for multiplayer experiences. Here's a deep dive into the essentials of setting up a multiplayer world and bringing gaming dreams to life.Start with a Solid Foundation: Set up Server To build a successful server, choosing the best VPS (Virtual Private Server) is essential. A VPS provides dedicated resources, ensuring smooth, lag-free performance. This level of control and reliability allows full customization, from the number of players allowed to specific game mods. Many options are available, but opting for a VPS provider with strong performance and support is a smart choice.Choosing the Game Selecting the right game to host is an important step. Different games have varying requirements, and some are better suited for dedicated servers than others. Popular choices include Minecraft, ARK: Survival Evolved, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Rust. Each game has its own community and gameplay mechanics, so it's best to choose one that resonates with the intended group of players.Once a game is chosen, reviewing its server requirements is essential. The game developer's documentation typically includes instructions for setting up a dedicated server, offering a step-by-step guide to get started.Setting Up the Server The setup process can vary by game, but the following steps offer a general guide:1. Select a Hosting Method: Options include hosting locally or renting a VPS. Hosting locally is cost-effective but can tie up a personal computer and lead to connectivity issues. A VPS provides better performance and 24/7 uptime, enhancing the experience for players.2. Install Game Server Software: With the VPS ready, the next step is to install the game server software, which is often available for download directly from the game's site. Following installation instructions and ensuring the VPS meets the game's requirements are key.3. Configure Server Settings: This is the customization phase. Player limits, game modes, maps, and server rules can all be adjusted to create a unique experience for everyone joining the server.4. Port Forwarding: If hosting from home, port forwarding may be necessary to allow external players to connect. The router's manual typically provides guidance for this process.5. Firewall Configuration: Adjusting the firewall to allow traffic through the ports used by the game server is important to avoid connectivity issues.Ways to Invite Other Players With the server live, it's time to spread the word. Sharing the server's IP and connection details allows others to join in the new multiplayer world. For those looking to build a community, creating a Discord or social media page provides a place for players to interact, share experiences, and offer feedback.Hosting events can also boost engagement. Game nights, themed challenges, or unique contests add excitement and keep the player base active and interested.Maintaining the Server The real work begins after players start joining. Regular maintenance and updates keep the server fresh and engaging. Here are a few best practices:Listen to Player Feedback: Community input is invaluable. Encouraging players to share their ideas can lead to improvements and shows that feedback matters. Regular Updates: Adding new content, mods, or maps maintains interest. Seasonal events, new game modes, or special challenges prevent stagnation and keep the experience fresh. Monitor Performance: Lag and downtime can drive players away. Using monitoring tools to track server health and addressing issues promptly is crucial for player retention.Building a CommunityOne of the most rewarding aspects of running a game server is the community that forms around it. This goes beyond hosting a game; it's about creating a space where people can connect, collaborate, and compete. Recognizing player achievements and fostering a positive environment encourages loyalty and makes the server a go-to place for social and gaming experiences.Starting a Game Server Journey Running a game server is a unique opportunity to create a digital world where imagination runs free. With the right tools and dedication, it's possible to build a multiplayer world that brings people together, fosters friendships, and creates memorable experiences for everyone involved."
Thursday 7 November 2024
Accelerating RWD development cycle, pxCode forays into the US while targeting global markets
pxCode provides a no-code web development tool like WordPress that significantly shortens the learning curve for webpage designers, saving them from having to learn how to split a webpage layout into sections and write code. More than that, pxCode's tool allows webpage designers to export high-quality responsive code to meet wide-ranging customization needs, thereby largely cutting down development costs and time. For traditional webpages to properly display across today's growingly diverse mobile devices, web developers have to transform them into responsive web design (RWD) so that they render well on screens of all sizes. This imposes a great burden on development engineers.According to pxCode founder Chris Chang, when transforming a traditional website into RWD, development engineers have to split the webpage design into multiple sections, write the code, and then rearrange the layout. The process is complex and cumbersome. In particular, webpages made with no code or low code tools generally have a large amount of useless code. They are a huge hassle for development engineers to work on. There are a lot of design-to-code solutions available on the market but their usability has room for improvement. pxCode automates the complex work of splitting webpage layout, making web development 20 times more efficientAs a seasoned veteran in web development, Chang established pxCode with his partners in 2023. The aim is to provide an automated tool that creates high-quality responsive webpage code and thereby saves developers from the tedious work of writing line after line of code and checking if the code matches the design. Not only does the tool meet developer needs, but it also enables them to create applications faster and more efficiently. pxCode's tool can automate 80% of code writing. The code it generates is easy to read, modify, and integrate so that developers can focus on designing the programming logic, user interface, and appealing features. Making the web development job at least 20 times more efficient, pxCode's tool has more than 200,000 registered users worldwide.Chang commented that the traditional approach wherein web developers manually write code corresponding to the page layout is not only time-consuming but also error-prone. A minor mismatch may result in a significant impact on brand image. Combining AI and manual editing capability, pxCode's tool features high precision. It ensures the generated HTML code is 100% correct while staying true to the original webpage design with minimum human interference. Furthermore, pxCode provides a collaborative environment that facilitates collaboration between designers and developers so as to boost project efficiency. Last but not least, the user's original design, for example, a Figma file, can be directly imported to pxCode's tool and converted to an ideal HTML structure.For example, pxCode's tool allows developers to preview the webpage with just a simple click to see how it renders on different browsers and screens of different sizes. They can also share the webpage URL with others for real-time feedback and updates, thereby increasing project efficiency.Boasting speed and quality, pxCode expands into global marketsFor example, it takes one to two days for a front-end web developer at a well-known web design firm in New York to split a webpage layout into sections. That is, just splitting the webpage layout into sections for a 30-page project requires one to two months. Now with pxCode' tool, it takes about two weeks for one of the firm's developers to complete three projects and split the layout for more than 100 webpages. pxCode' tool helps the firm effectively reduce operating expenses and boost front-end web developers' work efficiency. Although pxCode's tool has made great achievements, the current code naming quality has room for improvement. To address this, pxCode hopes to make use of the generative AI services made available by Amazon Web Services (AWS) through its participation in the Startup Terrace Kaohsiung AWS JIC program. As a matter of fact, it is now incorporating Claude 3.5 Sonnet, a large language model (LLM) on Amazon Bedrock, a fully managed service that makes high-performing foundation models (FMs) from leading AI companies, for code naming optimization as well as proof-of-concept for transforming image files and metadata into program code. It is currently able to achieve up to 80% accuracy in generating code combined with CSS naming and other functions, resulting in significant man-hour savings. After further fine-tuning, this feature will be made available to users in the upcoming product upgrade.According to Chang, two foreign companies offer similar tools and services to pxCode. Customers indicate that pxCode's tool outperforms competitors in terms of development speed and code quality. In 2024, pxCode is undertaking all-out efforts to expand into the U.S. It hopes to leverage the Startup Terrace Kaohsiung AWS JIC program to make its product even more competitive so as to gain ground in the global marketplace going forward.pxCode’s AI responsive code editor makes web development 10 times fasterPhoto: pxCode
Wednesday 6 November 2024
Universal Language AI's highly-praised Lingo Bagel performs brilliantly in translating financial reports, medical documents, and games
To meet the strong market demand for translation tools, translation technology developments have been well underway for years. However, machine translation of natural languages has mostly been based on statistical models or linguistic rules coupled with vocabulary and sentence correlations built from a large parallel corpus. These types of tools are mostly for general-purpose use and are only good for translating commonly used terms or simple everyday conversations. They are inadequate for professional applications such as translating books and financial reports. These types of translation tasks often require qualified human translators but it may take longer and cost more.According to Universal Language AI COO Yu-De Fei (Alan), a financial report is generally longer than 200 pages and has more than 200,000 words. It takes months to translate a financial report. In the case of a tight deadline, the company will need to hire multiple professional translators and pay a higher fee to have its financial report translated in time. When it comes to translation for medical, financial, mechanical, and legal sectors, translators with field-specific knowledge are needed. Not only are they hard to find but they are also expensive to hire. Many companies are endeavoring to use generative AI to develop automated translation solutions. Lingo Bagel focuses on the translation of financial reports and medical documents. It collaborates with multiple translation agencies to allow the expertise of professional translators to deliver maximum benefit. Lingo Bagel also builds dedicated translation models for companies to guarantee top-quality and top-speed translation services.Using a dedicated model coupled with a professional terminology database, Lingo Bagel completes financial report translation in 60 minutesWith traditional translation, the process takes a long time, the quality may be poor and it is difficult to find professional native speakers. To address the three major pain points, Universal Language AI, established in 2023, used AI coupled with a group of accountants' expertise to develop Lingo Bagel. Its solution has been successfully used by a great many customers. First of all, Universal Language AI worked with dozens of accountants to build a professional terminology database containing more than 2,000 terms compliant with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Secondly, it built a dedicated AI model for financial reports, which together with the professional terminology database ensures the terms used in the translation are correct and consistent. To speed up the translation process, Universal Language AI incorporated a systematic workflow, which enables Lingo Bagel to complete the translation of a 200-page, 200,000-word financial report in 60 minutes. Alan noted that Lingo Bagel can precisely translate Chinese financial reports containing professional finance and accounting terminologies into English even if they come in different structures. Lingo Bagel has helped multiple small and mid-size accounting firms complete the translation of financial reports totaling more than one million words and one thousand pages. With respect to translation speed, Lingo Bagel completed the translation of a nursing book that has 400,000 words and 800 pages into Chinese in five days for Taipei Medical University. According to a translation agency that the university approached for a quote, the same task would cost NT$1 million and take 18 months. With Lingo Bagel, the cost was reduced to just one-tenth and the amount of time saved was far more significant. Apart from financial reports and medical books, Universal Language AI has also expanded into game and press release translation. For example, Lingo Bagel translated a Japanese game for a gaming company. The translated script was given back to the game marketing team in a snap for proofreading and polishing, significantly shortening the upgrade cycle. Lingo Bagel also translated a Korean press release for a gaming company. The task was assigned in the morning and completed in the afternoon on the same day. The amazing speed largely boosted the efficiency of press release distribution.Leveraging Startup Terrace Kaohsiung AWS JIC resources to target global marketsAs a seasoned entrepreneur, Alan learned of the Startup Terrace Kaohsiung AWS JIC program and immediately pushed for Universal Language AI to participate in the program. He hopes that the startup resources made available through the project will accelerate Universal Language AI's growth and help expand its footprint in the global marketplace.According to Alan, Lingo Bagel uses Amazon Rekognition from Amazon Web Services (AWS), which automates image recognition and video analysis, to quickly identify and extract the text on the customer's user interface and perform comparisons across different languages. On top of that, it uses Amazon Bedrock, a fully managed service that makes high-performing foundation models (FMs) from leading AI companies, to generate UI text and polish translation results, thereby optimizing Lingo Bagel's service quality and performance. Lingo Bagel currently offers translation in multiple languages, including Chinese-English, Chinese-Korean, Chinese-Japanese, Korean-English, and Japanese-English two-way translation services. Universal Language AI is reaching out to translation agencies across the globe for partnership opportunities.In addition, Universal Language AI plans to work with publishing houses in Taiwan to translate more foreign language books into Chinese, allowing people in Taiwan to read more quality books.