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You may have at least once used Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant. Have you ever wondered how these systems understand you? Today, we will look behind the scenes of Automatic Speech Recognition models that drive the speech assistants. Let’s start with speech. Speech Speech can be defined as an acoustic signal which is a waveform that varies over time. However, our computers cannot process all of the points in the speech signal, so the continuous waveform is sampled at discrete time intervals. The more often we sample the better. We can use waveform representation in our models. However, one of the important properties of the signal is the frequency. To get more information about the frequencies of the signal, you can preprocess it with Spectrograms, MelSpectrograms, MFCC, GFCC, and others. Let’s take a quick look at spectrograms. A spectrogram is a visual representation of the frequency content of a signal over time. Nowadays, spectrograms are one of the most popular sound representations for all neural networks. When you look at a spectrogram, here's what you can interpret: Frequency vs. Time: The x-axis of the spectrogram represents time, typically in seconds, and the y-axis represents frequency in Hertz. The vertical lines on the spectrogram show how the frequency of the signal changes over time. Intensity and Amplitude: The intensity or amplitude of a particular frequency is represented by the color or brightness of that point in the spectrogram. Bright or colorful areas indicate higher amplitude or energy at specific frequencies. ASR Types of Models CNN Based Model - Conformer Okay, that’s very interesting, but how do we get information from these Spectrograms? Isn’t a spectrogram a picture? Yes, it is indeed! So we can process it as it is done in Computer Vision using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). This network captures important features using small filters. Let’s check one of the best models that uses CNN and Spectrograms as input. First, let’s take an from the LibriSpeech dataset. audio file To check most of the models, you can use a variety of different Python libraries. We will first experiment with the Nemo library. Let’s install it first (it can take some time - so be patient) !pip install nemo_toolkit['all'] Then, create the which was trained using CNN and spectrograms. We will use its small pre-trained version. Conformer model import nemo.collections.asr as nemo_asr
asr_model = nemo_asr.models.EncDecCTCModelBPE.from_pretrained("nvidia/stt_en_conformer_ctc_small") To get the text of our audio sample, we will ask the model to transcribe the audio. nemo_result = asr_model.transcribe(['./sample1.wav']) The result will be: going along slushy country roads and speaking to damp audiences in drafty school roomoms day after day for a fortnight he'll have to put in an appearance at some place of worship on sunday morning and he can come to us immediately afterwards” As you can see, there are no punctuation or upper letters in the text. Let’s add it with an additional model. from nemo.collections.nlp.models import PunctuationCapitalizationModel

model = PunctuationCapitalizationModel.from_pretrained("punctuation_en_bert")

model.add_punctuation_capitalization(nemo_result) Going along slushy country roads and speaking to damp audiences in drafty school roomoms day after day for a fortnight, he'll have to put in an appearance at some place of worship on Sunday morning, and he can come to us immediately afterwards. That looks better! To learn more about BERT and other language models, check . I recommend it as a Hyperskill expert if you are only starting your path or have already gained some experience in NLP. the courses on Hyperskill Transformer-Based Model - Whisper Transformers are not just robots like Megatron and Optimus Prime. There is a popular model called Whisper, which uses Transformer architecture and is developed by OpenAI. This multitask model was trained for different tasks, including multilingual speech recognition, speech translation, spoken language identification, and voice activity detection. One of its key advantages is that it can learn the long context over the whole sample, which makes it a powerful tool for speech analysis. To check out the Whisper model on a sample, we must first install the openai-whisper library. !pip install -U openai-whisper Then, import the base Whisper model, and transcribe our sample. import whisper 

model_whisper = whisper.load_model('base')
model_whisper.transcribe('./sample1.wav')['text'] The result will be the following: going along slushy country roads and speaking to damp audiences in drafty schoolrooms day after day for fortnight. He'll have to put in an appearance at some place of worship on Sunday morning, and he can come to us immediately afterwards. The Whisper model does not need additional modules to add punctuation or capitalization. ASR Challenges You may ask, if these models are so cool and easy to use, why do we continue working on ASR models? There are still many challenges unsolved; let’s list them so you may choose one to make a breakthrough in the sphere: background noise, reverberation, and other acoustic variations in the environment can significantly degrade ASR performance. Ambient Noise and Acoustic Variability: ASR systems may introduce latency when processing real-time audio streams, making them unsuitable for applications that require a low-latency response. Real-time Processing: separating different speakers in a conversation (speaker diarization) is a challenging problem for ASR systems, especially in situations with multiple speakers. Speaker Diarization: ASR models trained on one domain (e.g., news broadcasts, one language, one accent) may not perform well when applied to a different domain (e.g., medical transcriptions) without adaptation. Domain Adaptation: privacy concerns arise when using ASR for transcribing sensitive or private conversations, as the transcribed data may be subject to unauthorized access. Data Privacy: Today, we have learned a bit about ASR systems. Now, you can use an already pre-trained model to transcribe a dialogue with your friend or your favorite lecturer. Using already trained models is just the beginning. ASR is one of AI's most popular and rapidly growing spheres, so take a step forward if you’re interested!

Speech-To-Text Conversion: An Introduction to Converting Spoken Language Into Text

We all hate spending money on utilities. I highlight companies and other initiatives working to save renters money on energy — by providing portable, cheaper tools, new financing tools to afford expensive retrofits, or new sources of green energy cheaper than your utility. As renters, we should be aware and support these efforts. According to a survey by , more renters are worried about rising utility bills (70%) than rising rents (63%). Freddie Mac These concerns aren’t unfounded. Utility costs (electricity, gas, water, and sewer), from one analysis of public real estate records, add up to to renters’ costs. These costs hit low-income renters the hardest, eating up . The biggest utility culprit is — Of electric and gas costs, of it is due to heating and cooling. It’s clear, then, that more energy-efficient and energy- units mean more and financial empowerment for renters. 25% to homeowners’ costs and 27% 21% of their incomes entire energy electric and gas take up 49% of total utility costs, followed by internet and cell phones (29%) then water (7%). 58% producing money Most solutions are impractical or too expensive for renters and landlords Renters are to be energy efficient. Solar panels or insulation retrofits are (1) too annoying or impossible to move to your next apartment or (2) too with . Landlords — who own the building — otherwise do not care about saving you money since you pay for your own utilities. This gap between renters’ and landlords’ interests is called the “split incentives problem.” So you — the renter — use what’s there: Drafty windows and earth-killing appliances your landlord hasn’t updated since the 1980s. 30% — 40% less likely than homeowners expensive large up-front costs The split incentives problem leaves a lot of money on the table. of the floor, wall, and ceilings, , saved 63% off heating costs, resulting in $500 of savings a year. The most cost-effective retrofits, such as $5000 fabric insulation and double-glazed windows, the University of Nottingham found, have . Similar studies found that controlling the temperature in each room throughout the day — and shutting off air flow in empty rooms using smart vents, like or — can result in energy savings from to for a cost of . Closing your shades at night, for instance, can save up to of your heating costs. If the thought of closing all those blinds everyday overwhelms you, . Insulation retrofits the Salford Energy House study found payback periods of 3 to 6 years Ecovent Flair 25% 40% $490 per room 17% Luftron’s smart shades open and close at optimal times at $350 per window Unfortunately, these cost-saving solutions are too expensive or impractical for most renters, especially if they can’t take those improvements with them to their next apartment. Fortunately, startups and other initiatives are starting to address these problems. Meet the startups fighting energy waste Strategy #1: Affordable and portable tools for renters To address the fact that some tools are too cumbersome or impossible to move to your next apartment, a swath of portable energy-saving or energy-producing tools have come onto the market. . A $250 Nest can result in savings of of your heating and cooling costs, with a by saving $120/year. These are small and easy enough to install and reinstall as you move to different apartments. produces a smart thermometer that collects hourly temperature data to advocate for tenants who suffer from a lack of heat. Smart Thermometers 10–15% payback period, as one analyst estimates, of 1.5 years Heat Seek Example smart thermostat . The connects to your home’s electrical panel and provides insight into your energy usage. Neurio, which is a monitor for solar energy, claims to reduce your payback period for solar by . pays you money to cut back on electricity when there is high demand for it in your area. Residents, according to the FAQs, can make a year. Energy monitors Sense Home Energy Monitor 30% Ohm Connect $100-$300 Sense Home Energy Monitor tells you where you’re wasting the most energy . For $200-$400 or , local technicians measure airflow and detect sources of drafts in your house. Using this information, you can use targeted insulation to save money on heating and cooling costs. One person documents that he spent $400 on the audit and , resulting in a one-year payback. Search the ’s database to find an energy auditor near you, but confirm they’ve passed muster by searching their business in the Better Business Bureau database. Furthermore, check to see whether your electric or gas provider will give you a rebate to install insulation as a result of your audit. One person found for these items. Energy audits even for free $500 on insulation and labor costs to save $1000 a year residential energy services network his provider gave a 75% rebate Energy auditors come to your home and find sources of drafts and energy loss using data like the above. . The $200 — $3000 sets and offer allow you to avoid expensive labor and construction costs because these panels can be mounted on decks or placed on the ground. Additionally, they can be plugged straight into your home’s existing outlets and generate electricity. Enthusiasts have adapted these panels for use in their apartments, placing them near or balconies. One Michigan Technological University study found that , . In the future, could be commonplace, sidestepping the need for space or labor-intensive physical alterations to install solar. Plug and play or portable solar Pluggedsolar Inergy Solar window sills plug and play systems can create payback periods of under 5 years 2 years faster than normal solar systems energy generating solar windows ” using window sill and balcony panels. One author aspires to put his apartment “off the grid By wrapping a $250 Cozy over your radiator, you can control your room’s heat better. No longer do you have to open your windows in the dead of winter. Plus, a Cozy is digitally monitored. So when they’re placed throughout a building, data is fed back to boilers to redistribute heat. Increases in energy efficiency result in a . Smart Radiator Covers. payback of two years . ThinkEco’s $45 modifying outlet (or “modlet”) easily plugs into existing outlets and prevents appliances from consuming standby power. Also called “vampire energy,” this form of power use has accounted for up to nearly . . Smart outlets 7–8% of the UK’s household energy use Payback periods range from 6–9 months Strategy #2: New financing to overcome up-front costs To address the fact that some tools or retrofits too expensive to purchase, a swath of new financing opportunities have come onto the market to make $10k-$20k solar panels or insulation retrofits affordable for renters. Importantly, while landlords have to provide consent, these tools don’t require the same renter — who will, on average, move out in 1–2 years — to pay back the obligation. . Landlords have to disclose this obligation to new tenants, but this should not be a barrier as tenants generally face unchanging utility costs and (in Arkansas) are initiatives that pay for energy-efficiency or solar retrofits upfront (or help you find lenders). The energy savings over decades pays for the upfront costs plus interest, resulting in minimal or new increases in the renter’s utility bill. This financing tool is called “on-bill financing.” If a tenant moves out before the payback period, the , since the improvements stay with the physical structure. Similarly, targets homeowners and has plans to work with renters in the future. On-bill financing. Matter.solar Ouachita Energy Cooperative obligation can be transferred to the new tenant Sealed , where third parties pay for costs up front (the “solar loan payment”) and beneficiaries pay back the loan helped by electric bill savings Sealed’s visual illustration of on-bill financing Instead of relying on a single company, like Sealed, to provide financing, and scales this concept. Investors in the same state can lend money to fund energy-saving or energy-producing retrofit projects. or, in Mosaic’s case, even by selling extra power back to utilities. using BlocPower’s scheme. Crowdfunding. BlocPower Mosiac Tenants can pay their obligations back through on-bill financing One church saved $3000 a month People and other smaller investors — not banks or big investors — to finance your project. lend you capital . While this solution still requires you to get consent from your landlord, Grid Alternatives provide to low-income families in exchange for allowing community volunteers and job trainees to get hands-on experience (“ ”) to install those panels. Because this model is free for the renter and landlord, landlords can’t complain about the cost and there are no obligations to payback. Barnraising free or low-cost panels barnraising Grid Alternative supervisor and trainee at work Strategy #3: New sources to buy energy beyond your local utility This strategy minimizes both aspects of the split-incentives problem. Tenure isn’t an issue. Renters can buy cheaper, renewable energy sources regardless of where they live. Upfront costs aren’t an issue. Third parties build and maintain these farms. Lastly, landlord consent isn’t an issue. Local solar farms sidestep any need to install solar on your roof; a requirement that blocked up to of US residents from using solar energy. 92% , which is available for NYC residents, buys, trades, and sells energy from multiple suppliers using machine learning algorithms to optimize for price. They . “Smart” energy retailers. Drift estimate cost savings of 10%-20% . , Renovus, and build solar gardens into which renters can for little or no upfront cost using on-bill financing. Renovus in New York and Nexamp in Massachusetts, for instance, allows renters to purchase energy with no upfront cost that is — cheaper than market rate. Cost savings from solar-produced energy not only pay for the lease but also result in credits to your utility bill. you can use to find a community solar project near you. Solar farms Solstice Arcadia Power lease solar panels 10% 15% Energysage has a database No longer do you need a large, centralized solar farm, which would be expensive or impractical to house in space-scarce cities. Microgrids are networks of independent energy producers — your neighbors, for instance — who can sell their excess energy to you. You can buy cheaper energy and they can make extra money. up to 13% of costs. University of California San Diego, for instance, saves with its microgrid. Green Mountain Power’s . Efforts are underway by , ME SOLshare, and Sonnen, providing access to energy to rural and urban dwellers alike. Micro-grids. By using the newest technologies, reducing the distance of electricity transmissions, and removing overhead, microgrids can cut $8 million a year $2.7 million microgrid will pay itself off within 2–5 years Lo3 Energy With nightfall, solar panels can no longer generate electricity, forcing homes to rely on the grid. But with batteries, solar can store extra energy produced by microgrids and solar farms throughout the day. A $14,000 battery can take to pay back. While targeted towards homeowners, can benefit renters by increasing the efficiency of solar farms and microgrids who sell energy to renters. Batteries that store extra energy. 8–12 years Swell Illustration of Brooklyn’s Microgrid Project Ideally, we’d live in a society where policies would incentivize developers, landlords, or renters to build or retrofit green. See, for instance, Germany’s to help renter access solar on their apartments. But until then, to save money on your utility bill, it’s going to take some work. These products can be good investments in the long-term, paying itself off and saving you money over the decades. recent bill If you’ve used any of these products or services, I’d love to hear your experiences. ☞ Agree or disagree? Add me on LinkedIn with a note here .

3 types of startups helping you fight energy waste and save money

It’s not behind this door. When I first saw you, I thought you were an . You were all kitchen, wafting the smells of kimchi and tomato soup. You thudded Madonna songs onto the swells of your unfinished roof. It took ten steps for you to open to a maze of bright particleboard desks and teetering monitors. apartment You were a place we sprawled and argued, ate and cried and taped things on the wall. We strapped you together with duct tape and padlocks and extension cords. You watched us rearrange our desks like cars in a crowded lot, hovering anxiously over seat charts or laughing and shrugging at the sky. We strung and restrung our power cords and ethernet cables, information skimming your air ducts like a Christmas tree. We spent dizzy focused weekends working together in a circle of light, checking and rechecking our screens, eating Vietnamese noodles and making wry faces at each other because we had said the words already. We launched and then turned your lights out like a long exhausted breath. We spent Friday evenings curled up on your couches, drinking wine from plastic cups and telling stories, or drinking beer and screaming over video game controllers. We planned mini campaigns against our neighbors, those scoundrels and stealers of delivery food. You hold a record of my growth like height marks in pencil. You watched me sketch battle plans on your whiteboards, erase them, and start again. You saw us raging, empty of ideas. You watched us disappoint each other. And you witnessed a hundred little sparks jumping from brain to brain, a thousand steps quickened by the thought of building the right thing, the best thing, and knowing how to start right now. Don’t get me wrong; you weren’t perfect! Your light switches were a curious chaos, your locks barely clicked. Your shower sputtered hot water, then cold. I have your splinters in my feet. But you didn’t need ionic columns or velvet curtains. You were our home instead, even when we didn’t deserve you. So what I’m saying is: this is our fault. We need some space, you know? Something new. We’re leaving you now, but this isn’t forever. When we’re sketching on shiny new whiteboards, or fiddling with our fancy new thermostat, or sitting looking at the view, part of us will be thinking of you. Remember that. You were cramped and drafty, uneven and skid-marked. You didn’t improve our metrics, and you couldn’t build a thing. And you made us a tribe, you crazy architectural mess. Gunbae! Closet → homemade phonebooth

Ode to an Office

174 AI Tools To Try

Online radios are gaining grounds in recent years. In fact, radios never went out of style since the late 1800s — the time since it was invented. It was the medium in which it has been connecting through kept shifting. Thus, building an online radio station app would not only prove to be a successful strategy for entertainment and businesses, but it would also mean that you are investing in an avenue that has exhibited audience magnetism standing as a testimonial in the changing times. Why You Should Develop a Radio Station App? Online radio is reachable to anyone with an internet connection. A person who is interested in listening to radio does not have to invest in buying a new equipment or subscribe to expensive satellite services in order to enjoy the service. This attracts more audience at a faster rate. Radio as a medium does not consume high investment for the people who start it. There are successful online radio podcasts that function from garages. music app is a medium that seeks importance to the quality of content rather than the extravagance, unlike usual media outlets. Online radio channels you to demographics and audiences that the traditional radio couldn’t seep through. This serves as an advantage for content up-selling and creating brand awareness to the audience that is relevant to your brand. With the internet to your aid, radio station applications can also fetch you an insight on how your content is performing and what kind of audience does every type of content inclines to. With such valuable data that would be non-existent in your traditional radio, online radio has very fewer chances to not be favorable. It has been estimated that about 65.85 million Americans have inscribed to online radio services as of 2017. The menial time spent listening to these radios /podcasts are 14 hours 39 minutes every week. It is also suggested that 68.4 % of the U.S. internet users in the US are said to listen to at least one such online radio service by the end of 2018. Build an App for your Radio Station in Minutes Now that it is more than evident that radio tends to have more marketing and socializing elements than we would generally think of, let’s look at what are the basic factors you should look for to build it. — Navigating through a web app or a native app, however, critically important the information it holds to you would make you quit the website. A quick responsive mobile and desktop website with a template that spreads key features at prime points of attraction is the first factor you should invest in. Choose a template A business to run successfully, needs to be recognized for its quality in the first place. With visibility and consumer trust, any product or service hits a blow in terms of prosperity. Brand your app — — Individuality makes your product unbeatable and stand out among the world of replicas. Invest enough time and skills to make the most out of your radio. Make it your own — With live streaming creating a stir in the digital world, make sure your app/website equipped with live and on-demand podcasting. Make your app live How To Make a Radio App for Android/iOS That Users Love — Sound is the primary factor of the radio transmitting system. Don’t opt for anything less than HD streaming, given the existing competition. Quality of sound — The advantage of starting a new online radio station service is that you can connect to a global audience with the same set of pop-cultural references, an ode to the meme-age. Get in tune with the pulse of your audience and connect with them through your content. Be global and stay local Some might want instant information/entertainment, while others can’t afford to be available at your time frame. The main reason why old channels of mass communications are picking up on the internet is that they can provide their audience with options of convenience. Utilize them to the fullest. Different User Engagement Options — There needs to be an added bonus to people who come in search of your content and to make people who stumble upon your channel to stay. Special on-demand content gives you the platform to keep your audience on the edge of their chair out of curiosity. Special On-Demand Content — — We believe in people’s emotions than algorithms. This comes in handy when you can create dialogues with your listener base to tap in and retain your reach. Get Social — To gain a larger audience, it is essential to make your existence visible. Remind the user base of your presence even if they are not on your site through this feature. Push Notifications — what better way to show how much you love your audience than to give them the choice of their OS and devices? Get your hands in the latest technology to bring the best out of your content. Should You Go Cross-Platform? Building a website that is going to have all the about required features in a usable version is going to take years of skilled labor to build. It might also blow a hole in your pocket. Fret not! This is where VPlayed comes to your rescue. VPlayed is a customizable is equipped with adaptive bitrate streaming and cloud transcoding, that not only your features are bound to look high-end but would also be protected in an exorbitant style. audio streaming platform Features for Profitable Radio Stations App — VPlayed audio streaming framework delivers real-time audio files through networking. The solution has been engined with high-end microprocessors to meet the power of ultra-modern devices. Audio Streaming — Get the primary set of required information and get them instantly stored in a secure cloud ecosystem. Request Form — Scheduling plays a vital role in the consequence of your radio’s performance. This feature lets you to add your recorded files in the CMS and schedule it to play in a time when you might not able to be live with the system. Add Your Schedule — VPlayed push notification algorithm tracks user behaviour to notify users in activities they are often invested in, rather than spamming their personal time with notification strom. Push Notifications — There might pop up a 1000 chat apps to connect smartphones and even send alerts to feature phones. But SMS is the primary nerve to hold on to if you would like to connect with your audience through a full-on spectrum. Messaging Centre — Make your content stand out among others’ junk through VPlayed business-friendly RSS Feed algorithm. RSS Feed — Your product a striking element among 1000s of online radios scattered on the world-wide-web with components of quirks Advanced Customization — Get insights on what works best in your site with this feature. Track your user behaviors and potential to persuade them to navigate through your intended content. Track search — Conduct polls and get a tune-in with your listeners nevers while also adding fun to your engagement strategies. Polls The Monetization Modules that Contus Vplay Offers to Trigger Your Revenue Monetization is a major factor to consider while . A system sustains in itself when it can fund its needs. VPlayed has considered these factors and has created a detailed structure through which businesses can earn money using the app built. creating an online radio station app — Advertise within your app through banners placed craftly in attention-grabbing positions. In-app advertising — Subscribing to quality content for a few bucks would not bother major population base. Get your hands on it. Subscriptions — Give the best of your content to subscribed premium listeners and tease the non-paying listeners to persuade to subscribe your content. Freemium upsells — In-app purchases can also be the start of an online shopping haul. In-app purchases (digital or physical) — Get sponsored and earn through incentives through endorsing brands. Sponsorships or Incentivized Advertising — Earn for every install for the apps that get advertised in your ads banners. Affiliate marketing and CPI Networks Conclusion The future is here and it is bright with communication through online radios. Grab your chance to make it big in this platform, and just like how YouTubers became celebs and celebs started YouTube channels, online radio station app might set you on a journey to stardom. If you are a business owner, is a platform to bridge the communication gap between you and your consumers and take your selling to the next level. radio app

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