Bringing Singapore-born AI innovation to the world!

Proud to be flagging the Singapore flag to the world! But we couldn't do it alone. One thing that has been consistent throughout our journey is Microsoft.

We've been Microsoft partners for an easy 10 years and were one of the first wave to adopt Azure. Babbobox is also one of the first in Asia (if not the first) to bring Azure Media Services and Video AI together onto a single AI platform. We also have a couple of Microsoft Global Black Belts to show for it.

As Uncle Ben told Spiderman "With great power comes great responsibility". We know the potential impact that our AI Video Search platform can make at a global scale. We will embrace it, but we will also ensure that it is Responsible AI.

Read the original article HERE!

Market expansion into United Kingdom

It's been a long journey, but Videospace has finally landed into United Kingdom.

All the rage now about ChatGPT and Google, but Videospace does one thing that both these platforms does NOT do - videos.

Our mission is simple - To unleash the true power of video.

Using AI to promote Singapore start-ups with Videospace

Besides naming Babbobox as one of the top start-ups for FUTURE of ENTERPRISE AI, Enterprise Singapore has adopted our Video AI platform - Videospace, to promote Singapore start-ups.

Jointly organised by Enterprise Singapore and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Deal Fridays is a platform for dealmaking opportunities as a lead up to the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) x Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) 2020.

Using various video AI from Videospace, the team from Deal Friday is able to reduce manual processes by 8 to 10 times, while providing benefits where only AI can provide, like deep video search.

“We are delighted to be named as one of Singapore’s top start-ups” Alex Chan, CEO of Babbobox “The bigger validation is that Enterprise Singapore recognises our value proposition and adopted Videospace . We are proud to become part of the Deal Fridays programme and eco-system in promoting Singapore’s top start-ups.”

Announcement: Babbobox named as one of the top start-ups for Enterprise AI

We are delighted to be named as one of the top start-ups for Future of Enterprise AI by Enterprise Singapore.

Considering that we are still a relatively small team, we are delighted to be acknowledged for the work that we’ve done.

We would really like to thank the team at Enterprise Singapore for this recognition and their effort in promoting Babbobox internationally under the Deal Fridays programme where we are featured here (http://dealfridays.videospace.co/vod/video.aspx…)

Keep Calm and Carry on Part 3 - 360 Videos (Beta)

This COVID-19 period is proving to be one of our most innovative periods ever. Our foray into 360 Videos is our third beta in 3 months after:

• Translated Machine Speech (announced on 13 April)

• Live Transcription (announced on 12 May)

360 videos is the way to go if you want to do a virtual tour or an interactive immersive experience. 

We are delighted to announce that Videospace will be supporting 360 videos on our enterprise grade video platform. 360 videos, also known as immersive or spherical videos, are video recordings where a view in every direction is recorded at the same time. Research shows there are clear benefits of 360 degree video content:

• the unlimited possibility it gives to viewers and content creators

• encourages engagement

• over 3 times the conversion rate of traditional video content

• over 30% higher repeated view rate.

• 70% who have used 360 videos say it has increased engagement

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Need 360 content production? Fret not!

We are partnering iMMERSiVELY for cutting edge 360 video content production. iMMERSiVELY is a creative startup specialising in immersive media technologies – producing applications and solutions for businesses across various industries. From Augmented and Virtual reality content and technology development, to 360° content production and more, iMMERSiVELY harnesses these technologies to advance communication, innovation, story narratives and in education.

“We are excited about this partnership because this partnership opens up new opportunities and frontiers for both Babbobox and iMMERSiVELY.” says Babbobox CEO, Alex Chan. “Both companies believe that this partnership will only strengthen and solidify our pioneers status in the virtual and media industry”.

KEEP CALM and CARRY ON Part II - Video Live Transcription (Beta)

About a month ago, we launched our first beta (Translated Machine Speech) during this COVID-19 period. Barely a month passed, we are at it again! This time, our beta is Video Live Transcription. This is done while delivering video via live-streaming in high definition.

That’s our CEO, Alex doing a test live-stream from home

Hang on… you might think. Isn’t this been done before? The answer would be yes. We have probably experienced some form of live transcribing before on TV or on video conferencing platforms. BUT doing this for a live video event on a live-stream is a totally different matter.

Those who can deliver this is limited a handful of broadcasters with specialized equipment. Also, if budget is not a problem, one can even get a team of human transcribers to provide live captions. However, this also means it’s expensive and not exactly scalable. That’s the reason why we don’t see live transcribing much at all on broadcast or live-streaming.

Just ask anyone in broadcast, they would appreciate the difficulties in delivering a service like this. Getting the live transcription is one thing, but getting the live caption or subtitles in sync with the video and audio feed is a totally thing.

Providing live captions has the following benefits:

• Improves Accessibility - especially for hearing-impaired. Making your event more inclusive.

• Increases Engagement - provide better comprehension of what is said

• Improves Comprehension - longer view times and more interaction with your brand

So this is what this beta is about. It is to provide these benefits with a simple and highly affordable video live transcription service along with your live-stream.

If you this might be useful to you, please write to me! Or forward this to someone whom you think might be useful. Please note that my COVID-19 message applies. 

Stay indoors! Stay safe! Stay healthy! But most importantly, stay positive!

Yours sincerely,

Alex Chan
CEO, Babbobox

KEEP CALM and CARRY ON - Translated Machine Speech (Beta)

What a time to launch a beta! Right in the middle of a lock-down from a global pandemic. Even while we are all indoors grappling and making adjustments to the current situation, we need to live and work as normally as we can. Our team had a long chat about this and decided that we must press on, including innovation. 

The objective of this beta is rather simple - To convert a video into multiple languages using machine speech. 

Perhaps you have read my COVID-19 message a couple of weeks ago, here's the short version in Hindi (with machine speech). Or you can listen to the same message in 9 different languages HERE

The video is based on my original English version, but I have no idea how accurate it is since I don't understand Hindi. However, to improve accuracy, users can edit both the original and target language text before finalizing the audio. 

There is a story to this beta. The idea came from a client about a year ago. They needed to overcome the language barrier so to spread their message to different countries and communities. While subtitling helps, but it's just not the same as speech. We were too engaged with other work then to do anything about it, but it has always been on the back of my mind. So fast forward one year, the beta is born. 

Translated Machine Speech is available in 45 languages. Some languages are available in both male and female voices. 

We think this can solve some real world problems. It is particularly useful for global engagements, speeches, announcements, lessons, training, sermons, news, etc. But we are limited by what we know. Thus, we would love to work with some real world scenarios and shape this into something useful. 

If you can think of a scenario, please write to me! Or forward this to someone whom you think might be useful. Please note that my COVID-19 message applies. 

Stay indoors! Stay safe! Stay healthy! But most importantly, stay positive!

Yours sincerely,

Alex Chan
CEO, Babbobox

Our response to COVID-19. A message from CEO Alex Chan

Dear all,

These are extra-ordinary times. Schools closed, businesses shut, events cancelled, classes cut, etc. because of COVID-19. Businesses globally are going to be affected... and I fear many wouldn't survive this crisis.

I'm just going to put it out here. If you, or anyone you know, need a Video AI platform like Videospace (www.videospace.co) to keep your business going, write to us HERE.

We can't make it free, but we promise to make it as close to cost as possible. In particular, if you are an SMB, event organiser, in training/teaching, NGO, etc. MNCs need not apply because it’s the small businesses that are most at risk.

In times like this... I believe we need to help each other to ride this out. Business is an eco-system, no one wins by being the last one standing. I much rather we stand together till the end of this crisis.

I wish you good health, remain resilient, keep positive, and most important of all, stay safe. Let’s ride this one out!

Yours sincerely,

Alex Chan

CEO

Announcement: Videospace is now a registered Trademark

We are happy to announce that Videospace is now officially a registered trademark.

“A registered trademark provides protection for both ourselves and our customers, making it an important part of running a successful service” said Alex Chan, Babbobox CEO. “This shows our pride and commitment in making Videospace a robust and reliable service for our customers.”

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your support. We look forward to many more successful engagements in the future.

Videospace is the official Video AI platform for Singapore Fintech Festival 2019 (11 - 15 Nov 2019)

We are excited that Videospace is the official Video AI platform that will be powering Singapore Fintech Festival 2019 (11 - 15 Nov 2019). This will be one of the largest Fintech event in Asia-Pacific with an expected audience of 45,000.

The annual event itself is transforming digitally by providing a AI-infused video platform (SFFxSwitch GO) where subscribers can discover fresh concepts and ideas by viewing presentations with searchable and translatable subtitles of speakers from the best of the industry.

“We are excited that Videospace is handpicked as the official Video On-Demand platform for SFF 2019.” says Alex Chan, Babbobox CEO. “We understand the importance of this event for Singapore and around the region. Thus, we are thrilled that the audience will experience SFF in a transformational way.”

We believe this will transform conference as an industry:

• Who? Especially beneficial for those who can't attend.

• How? Physically or virtually attending.

• When? During and beyond the event dates.

• What? It is impossible to attend every talk during an event, this will allow one to.

• Why? It is just a natural extension of an event like SFF.

Videospace is enabling the journey of journey of digital transformation of the conference and events industry.

Note: Videospace runs on Microsoft Azure.

Videospace is powering the ITAP 2019 (Industrial Transformation ASIA-PACIFIC 22 - 24 Oct)

We are excited that Videospace is the Video AI platform that will be powering the Industrial Transformation ASIA-PACIFIC, a HANNOVER MESSE event which is Asia-Pacific’s leading trade event for Industry 4.0 with an expected audience of 18,000.

Not only is the event about Industrial Transformation, the event itself is transforming digitally by providing a AI-infused learning platform (ITAP Academy) where subscribers can discover fresh concepts and ideas by viewing presentations with searchable and translatable subtitles of speakers from the best of the industry.

We believe this will transform conference as an industry:

• Who? Especially beneficial for those who can't attend.

• How? Physically or virtually attending.

• When? During and beyond the event dates.

• What? It is impossible to attend every talk in an event, so why must we make the attend choose what?

• Why? It is just a natural extension of any event. We know there is a demand for knowledge.

AI is just enabling the supply... in the journey of necessary transformation.

P.S. In case you are wondering, it's running on Microsoft Azure.

Digitally Transforming GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums)

Some problems are so complex today that they can only be solved using AI. This certainly applies to what many consider to be the last frontier in Search technology - Audio Visual Media.

By using a combination of AIs (like speech and face recognition), Videospace unlocks hundreds and thousands of hours of knowledge within your media libraries by making them accessible and discoverable.

With the World's First Translated Video Search, we can further unleash the full potential of your media library by making them searchable in other languages! Extending its assessibility and discoverability!

Besides running Videospace on a world-class video platform (the same platform used by the 2012 and 2016 Olympics), we are using a combination of following advanced technologies:

• Speech Recognition (over 100 languages)

• Translation (over 60 languages)

• Face Recognition

• Video OCR (up to 26 languages)

• Natural Language Processing (over 20 languages)

• Video Search Engine - index and search video in time-series

• World’s First Translated Search Engine – searches over 6,000 different language pairs

To find out more,

ANNOUNCEMENT: Babbobox and Ricoh enter into a strategic partnership to drive Digital Transformation in Asia with Artificial Intelligence

A.I. Storage for every Enterprise

Singapore, 15 May 2019 - Babbobox announces the strategic partnership with Ricoh Asia Pacific for the official launch of AIspace (www.aispace.co, pronounced as “i”space) in Asia. This partnership is aimed at providing an innovative enterprise-grade Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) storage solution that enables digital transformation in the Asian workplace.

Enterprises know the need for digital transformation. They also know the importance of A.I. in staying competitive and being future-ready. However, many enterprises perceive A.I. to be out of reach because they think it is either too costly or have little knowledge about its benefits to them. AIspace will be challenging that perception with its mission “to make A.I. accessible to all enterprises”. 

The Babbobox and Ricoh Asia Pacific partnership is aimed at making A.I. accessible and affordable to Asian enterprises by introducing A.I. to something every enterprise need - Storage. AIspace applies numerous A.I. like Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing to digital assets (documents, images, media) that already exist within enterprises; making them discoverable with the World's First Unified Search Engine. 

AIspace’s Document AI capability allows users to automatically identify the main points of a document without the need to read the document. Using techniques from class-leading Natural Language Processing (NLP) toolkits, AIspace automatically extracts information (about people, places, events, and much more) from text documents. Imagine the time saved for enterprises that handles large volumes of documents daily. 

The biggest storage challenge for images is that you cannot search them. Current platforms that allows image search requires users to tag all images manually. AIspace is changing that by applying A.I. to automate this process where it analyzes images and return results based on thousands of recognizable objects, living beings, scenery and actions. Along with our search engine, images are indexed with tags created and made searchable automatically.

"We are excited about this partnership with Ricoh Asia Pacific," according to Alex Chan, CEO of Babbobox. "We believe that our partnership enables Ricoh customers to further extend the usage of their Ricoh Multifunctional Printers (MFP), thus creating more value. We also believe AIspace is a game-changer in this enterprise space because we are making A.I. accessible and affordable to enterprises, and thus, allowing Ricoh’s customers to reap its benefits." 

With this partnership, AIspace will be exclusively available in nine Asian countries via Ricoh Asia Pacific channel networks. These 9 countries are Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

About Ricoh

Ricoh is empowering digital workplaces using innovative technologies and services enabling individuals to work smarter. For more than 80 years, Ricoh has been driving innovation and is a leading provider of document management solutions, IT services, commercial and industrial printing, digital cameras, and industrial systems. 

Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh Group operates in approximately 200 countries and regions. In the financial year ended March 2018, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,063 billion yen (approx. 19.4 billion USD).

For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com 

About Babbobox

Babbobox developed one of world's most advanced AI-infused Unified Search Engine where it combines numerous advanced technologies (Speech Recognition, Video OCR, Cognitive Services, Image Analysis, Artificial Intelligence and Enterprise Search) into a single platform. In 2017, Babbobox launched VideoSpace - the next generation of Video AI Platform. Babbobox has evolved, transformed and has become a global leader in Video Search Engine technologies by creating Four World's First. Babbobox is using these breakthroughs into their data and video platforms to enable enterprises unleash the true value of their digital assets. 

For further information, please visit www.babbobox.com

To find out more about AIspace, please contact us. 

ANNOUNCEMENT: Global Launch of AIspace – The Next Generation of A.I. Storage

Singapore, 19 April 2019: - Babbobox officially announces the global launch of AIspace (pronounced as "i"space) – The Next Generation of A.I. Storage in Singapore.

Enterprises know the need for digital transformation, they also know that Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) will play a big role in that transformation. However, many perceive A.I. to be out of reach because they think it is either too costly or they have little knowledge about its benefits to them. This is about to change.

AIspace’s Mission is “To make A.I. accessible to all enterprises”

In AIspace, we are infusing A.I. into the something all enterprises need - Storage. By applying A.I. to digital assets (documents, images, audio and video) that already exist within your organization. For the first time ever, enterprises will be able to index and search inside all your documents, images, audio and video in a single platform using the World's First Unified Search Engine. 

Beyond Search, you can now apply A.I. to documents and images for analysis. This will open up a whole world of future possibilities, especially in Big Data. 

AIspace is simply what enterprise storage should really be - Intelligent!

About Babbobox

AISpace is a service fully owned by Babbobox. Babbobox developed one of world's most advanced A.I. Video Search Engine where it combines numerous advanced technologies (Speech Recognition, Video OCR, Cognitive Services, Image Analysis, Artificial Intelligence and Enterprise Search) into a single platform.

Babbobox started as a Cloud Document Management System focusing on helping enterprises to organize their digital assets. In 2017, Babbobox launched VideoSpace - the next generation of Video A.I. Platform. Babbobox has evolved and transformed to become a global leader in Video Search Engine technologies. We are using these breakthroughs in our data and video platforms to enable enterprises unleash the true value of their digital assets. 

AIspace is launched in 2019 with the mission of making A.I. accessible to all enterprise by means of infusing A.I. into storage.  

To find out more, please CONTACT US

Wishing all a Merry Christmas and a Fantastic New Year!

2018 has been another breakthrough year for us as we traveled the world and launched another TWO World's First:

• World's First Video Search with Interactive Results

• World's First Translated Video Search   

We would like to thank all of you for taking this sensational journey with us! We just can't wait to take on 2019! 

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Fantastic 2019!

Yours sincerely, 

All of us at Babbobox

Babbobox co-sells through Microsoft to fuel global expansion

Babbobox is leveraging the co-selling capabilities of Microsoft to fuel growth, innovation and expansion plans globally.

The Singapore-based Video Search Engine expert is tapping on the tech giant’s internal channel changes in the form of One Commercial Partner (OCP) to transform into an international player.

“Babbobox’s relationship with Microsoft did not happen overnight, we believe that it is a strong and one that can stand the test of time,” said Alex Chan, Babbobox CEO.

“We have received tremendous support from numerous Microsoft’s local and international teams, industry specialists, product engineering and product business group teams, working with them on a wide range of joint initiatives locally and around the world.”

Specific to co-selling, “This partnership allows us to continue to capitalise on innovations from Microsoft before they are available in the market. We have experienced significant benefits from greater access to innovation and expertise through Microsoft.” Alex added.

As Babbobox partnership with Microsoft deepens, we are looking to continue to expand geographically beyond our offices in Singapore and Malaysia. With this program, we will also look to enlist the support of Microsoft’s network of partners, distributors and resellers in various verticals globally. 

“We have an ambitious roadmap globally, innovating A.I. infused products that will keep Babbobox on the cutting edge of modern technological trends. We have come a long way, but this is only the start of our global journey” Alex said.

Video Big Data Whitepaper (FREE download)

The term "Video Big Data" is rarely heard of. The reasons are pretty simple: 

1. It's difficult to extract data from videos
2. It's difficult make sense of unstructured video data

Therefore, it is not an understatement to say that video is the most difficult medium to search and extract intelligence from. However, given the amount of videos are that generated daily in the public domain (e.g. YouTube) and private domain (e.g. broadcasters, CCTV, education, etc.), it is also not an understatement to say that video is the King of Content. 

The objective of Big Data is to gain Business Intelligence. Video Big Data is no different. The obvious difference is the source and the type of data that can be extracted out from videos.

This Video Big Data Whitepaper aims to explain how we can extract value and intelligence from videos with a 3 step approach:

1. Extract video data 
2. Transform unstructured video data
3. Analyse to data into intelligence 

With this whitepaper, we hope to share some of our knowledge and experiences working with Video Big Data. From our calculations, we estimate that Video Big Data will dwarf Big Data as we know it. Thus, the importance of this whitepaper. We hope you enjoy and benefit from it!

Yours sincerely,

The VideoSpace Team

Bringing AI Video Search to Broadcast Asia

We are super excited about bringing our A.I. Video Search to Broadcast Asia after starting out in UK, US and China in 2018. It feels so good to be home!

Babbobox CEO, Alex Chan will be talking about "The Age of AI" and how it will transform the entire broadcast and media industry with Video Search, Personalized Content and Video Big Data.

We will also be making a big announcement and showcasing it during the show! We are pretty sure it will blow you away! So do drop by and say Hi!

Video Big Data (Part 3) – From Mess to Intelligence?

The objective of Big Data is to gain Business Intelligence. Video Big Data is no different. The obvious difference is the source and the type of data that can be extracted out from videos. In there, lies the main challenges - Extraction, Transformation and Analysis.

In this instalment, we will explain why Artificial Intelligence is central to the “mess” in video big data.

In the first installment (Part 1), we explained:

• Why Video Big Data will absolutely dwarf current Big Data, and
• How Video is the most difficult medium to extract data

In the previous instalment (Part 2), we examined:

• the kind of data elements that we can extract from videos (speech, text, objects, activities, motion, faces, emotions)

But first, let’s examine why there is a mess in video data. The short explanation is because a large part of video data is unstructured data. In particular, data from speech and text. For example, text extracted from a 30 minutes news segment could cover multiple topics and events, mentioned numerous places and persons. To add to the complexities, we have to time-aligned when these words are spoken. In many ways, text (e.g. slide presentations that appear in videos) are the same.

Thus, we have to answer 2 key question:

1. How do we meet sense of ‘messy’ video data?
2. How can we extract knowledge or intelligence from that mess?

The answer lies in another form of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) - the study of Natural Language Processing (NLP). That is because it can process and attempt to make sense of unstructured text in the following areas:

• Topic detection
• Key phrase extraction
• Sentiment analysis

The reason is because NLP can be used to turn unstructured video data into structured data. Only then can we start making sense and manipulating the data into either intelligence or actionable items like alerts, triggers, etc.

The field of Video Big Data is just starting. Without the advancement in multiple areas of Artificial Intelligence in multiple areas (Speech Recognition, Computer Vision, Facial Analysis, Text Analytics, etc.), Video Big Data wouldn’t even exist as it needs these fields to work in tandem or in sequence.

Given the rate that we are producing videos, alongside our ability to extract video data using A.I. The only way is up and we are not even close to uncovering the tip of Video Big Data iceberg.

Video Big Data will be bigger than BIG. 

VideoSpace will be right in the middle of it all. Let’s put this prediction into a time capsule and revisit it in a few years.

Video Big Data (Part 2) - What kind of Video Data?

In the last installment, we explained:

• Why Video Big Data will absolutely dwarf current Big Data
• How Video is the most difficult medium to extract data from

Which explains why Video Big Data remains a largely unexplored field. But also means the intense opportunities available because we have not even scrap the tip of this huge data iceberg.

In this installment, we will examine the kind of data elements that we can extract from videos. 

1. Speech
In a hour of video, a person can say up to 9,000 words. So imagine the amount of data just from speech alone. However, the process of transcribing speech is filled with problems and we are currently only starting to get an acceptable level of accuracy.

2. Text
Besides speech, text is probably the second most important element inside videos. For example, in a presentation or lecture, besides speech the speaker would augment the session with a set of slides. Or news tickers appearing during a news broadcast. 

3. Objects
There are thousands of objects inside a video within different timeframe. Therefore, it can be quite challenging to identity what objects are in the video content and in which scene they appear in. 

4. Activities
The difference between video and still images is motion. Different video scenes contain complex activities, such as “running in a group” or “driving a car”. Ability to extract activities will give a lot of insight what the videos are about. This includes offensive content that might contain nudity and profanity.

5. Motion
Detecting motion enables you to efficiently identify sections of interest within an otherwise long and uneventful video. That might sound simple, but what if you have 10,000 hours of videos to review every night? That’s a near impossible task to eyeball every video minute.

6. Faces
Detecting faces from videos adds face detection ability to any survelliance or CCTV system. This will be useful to analyze human traffic within a mall, street or even a restaurant or café. When we include facial recognition, it opens up another data dimension.

7. Emotion
Emotion detection is an extension of the Face Detection that returns analysis on multiple emotional attributes from the faces detected. With emotion detection, one can gauge audience emotional response over a period of time.

This list of video data is certainly not exhaustive but is a definitely a good starting point to the field of Video Big Data. In the next installment, we will examine some of the techniques used to extract these video data. 

Yours sincerely,

The VideoSpace Team