How Duolingo Built a $700 Million Company Without Charging Users

https://producthabits.com/duolingo-built-700-million-company-without-charging-users/

This is a good article on how Duolingo disrupted the language learning industry and became a $700 Million company in 9 years.

Duolingo provides free app to learn a language. Currently, they have over 25 million monthly active users learning a language each at their own pace.

The company started in 2009 tapping into hundreds of millions of people who wanted to learn a new language but couldn’t afford to shell out a ton of money for expensive software. Duolingo’s early monetization plan was to charge businesses for the content that users translated as a byproduct of studying a language.

From 2009-12, Duolingo didn’t actually partner with companies to build out the B2B translation service, but they designed their app to increase number of users and engagement. Besides web app, Duolingo created a mobile app which used pictures, video clips, and the phone’s microphone to help users learn words, write, and speak.

In 2013, for the first time, Duolingo announced partnerships with BuzzFeed and CNN. With crowdsourced translations, their effective translation cost was around 4 cents per word, compared to translation industry's average price of around 6 to 10 cents per word.

However, Duolingo realized that expanding their B2B services was going to require a more enterprise sales-driven model—which meant potentially less attention on the product and the users. So, in 2014, Duolingo deprioritized B2B translation service and instead released a testing certification service for a small fee.

In 2015 and 2016, Duolingo launched program for Schools and flashcards both of which helped improve engagement significantly.

In 2017, Duolingo started serving ads to users. It also released a subscription plan that removes ads and lets users download lessons for offline use.

Duolingo has raised $108 Million in funding in over 5 rounds with current valuation at about $700 Million.

Big tech warns of 'Japan's millennium bug' ahead of Akihito's abdication

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/25/big-tech-warns-japan-millennium-bug-y2k-emperor-akihito-abdication

The Japanese calendar counts up from the coronation of a new emperor, using not the name of the emperor, but the name of the era they herald. Akihito’s coronation in January 1989 marked the beginning of the Heisei era, and the end of the Shōwa era that preceded him; and Naruhito’s coronation will itself mark another new era. 

It means that most software has not been tested to ensure that it will behave with an additional era. Also, Japanese computers use one character to represent the entire era name (compressing Heisei into ㍻ rather than 平成, for instance), Unicode needs to set the standard for that new character.

Update 21 Aug - The new name will be encoded at U+32FF. Companies in font space will have to work to ensure the new character is supported and any word processing software will have to ensure that the same is interpreted and displayed properly.  

The Netflix HERMES Test: Quality Subtitling at Scale

Netflix has launched an online subtitling and testing platform, HERMES[1]. It’s open for both fulfillment partners and individuals. The first step in enrolling for subtitling job is to pass series of tests and once selected, the subtitlers will be recommended to Netflix vendors or work with Netflix directly in future [2]. 

As per a Medium post[3] by their Director of Globalization, the aim of this is for Netflix to maintain a standard across all of their third party translation partners to ensure constant quality and reliability. 

[1]: https://tests.hermes.nflx.io/

[2]: https://backlothelp.netflix.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005277788-After-I-complete-the-test-how-will-I-know-if-I-ve-been-selected-to-do-subtitling-work-for-Netflix-

[3]: https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/the-netflix-hermes-test-quality-subtitling-at-scale-dccea2682aef