Nutritix

Tag: Sports

  • The Secret Behind Babbel: Our Language Learning Approach Is Built On 3 Pillars

    The Secret Behind Babbel: Our Language Learning Approach Is Built On 3 Pillars

    Berlin is an international city where you’ll hear snippets of conversations in dozens of different languages on a daily. This is one reason why it’s the perfect city for Babbel’s headquarters — we are 600 language enthusiasts piling into one five-story building in the heart of Berlin. Babbel has employees from over 60 countries, speaking more languages than you can imagine, all working on one popular product in this space.

    Working here, I’m often asked how Babbel is so good at teaching people new languages. To answer this question, I decided to sit down with our own multilingual Belen Caeiro. She leads our Product Marketing team here at Babbel and knows the app inside and out. Here’s what she said about why learning a language with Babbel is so effective.

    Belen explained that she was lucky because her parents helped her get an international education. She lived in Spain, Singapore, the Philippines, the United States, and the Netherlands before coming to Berlin. Her life experience confirmed that Babbel is the right place for her:

    “I know that all the good things that have happened to me in life were possible thanks to a new language.”

    For Belen, there’s absolutely no doubt that today, probably more than ever, we must learn new languages in order to understand each other and integrate new perspectives into our way of thinking. Making this possible is the first pillar that Babbel’s learning is based on.

    “We learn a new language in order to speak it with other people. To make that possible, our product has a few special features,” explains Belen. She opened the Babbel app on her laptop and pointed to the overview of the available courses. “We categorize language learning content in Babbel into relevant topics.” Depending on the language, you’ll find cultural traits and the most common conversation topics right at the beginning. Using public transportation, ordering food, and expressing what you want —are all at the top of the list. 

    Belen points out that the learning content builds on itself, so it’s easy to stay oriented. But if you just want to refresh a few topics, you can also jump right in! Belen clicks “next” on a lesson and then on the microphone symbol: “We use our users’ feedback to continually optimize our product. Thanks to our customer service team, but also the feedback we collect in meetups, we know that our users want to practice their pronunciation. Our speech recognition feature in the product supports them in that.”

  • Blinken’s Jerusalem visit offers few solutions

    Blinken’s Jerusalem visit offers few solutions

    When Antony Blinken landed at Ben Gurion airport on Monday he said he had arrived at a “pivotal moment”.

    By the end of his two-day visit, it is clear he had more than one moment in mind. 

    Israel and the occupied West Bank are currently gripped by a level of violence unmatched in years, which shows signs of slipping much further out of control.

    But there are several “pivotal moments” converging and the Americans are worried. Their top diplomat might have been referring to any or all of them as he spoke on the tarmac with aviation fumes still blurring the air behind him.

    It is a long list. First is the accelerating rate of bloodshed. Next comes the most radically nationalist governing coalition in Israel’s history, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who is on trial on corruption charges, which he denies). 

    The coalition is asserting “exclusive” Jewish rights to all the land (ie ending any idea of a future independent Palestinian state). It also proposes to change fundamentally the nature of Israel’s legal system (a full attack on Israeli democracy say those pouring on to the streets in protest). 

    Then there is a near complete collapse in control by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in parts of the occupied West Bank (seeing waves of Israeli military raids and helping create a new generation of armed militants), an aging and unpopular PA leader (whom this year marks Year 18 of his four-year elected term in office), and his announcement last week to ditch so-called security coordination with the Israelis (a move that could lead to a complete security collapse in the West Bank). 

    Much of this has been years in the making. And after the US made a series of unprecedented announcements for the region under former President Donald Trump, the Biden administration has been winding many of them back. It is left able to prioritize only what it thinks is possible in the immediate term. 

    Forget any sudden talk of pursuing a two-state solution – the long-held international formula for peace. This is crisis management. Mr. Blinken kept using two phrases, “calling for calm” and “upholding our shared values”. 

    On the first point, the death toll is among the worst in years. In the last 10 months, there have been waves of lethal Israeli military search and arrest raids in the occupied West Bank, a deadly round of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, and a spate of deadly attacks by Palestinians against Israelis. More than 200 Palestinians and 30 Israelis were killed in 2022. In January alone this year, more than 30 Palestinians and seven Israelis have been killed.

  • EFL Cup: Man Utd v Newcastle Utd Wembley final to have safe standing areas

    EFL Cup: Man Utd v Newcastle Utd Wembley final to have safe standing areas

    Some supporters will be permitted to stand during the EFL Cup final between Manchester United and Newcastle United.

    The match, on 26 February, will be the first major domestic English men’s final in almost 35 years in which standing will be allowed.

    Both clubs will be allocated 867 seats within new safe-standing areas located behind each goal at Wembley Stadium.

    Premier League and EFL clubs have been allowed to introduce standing areas since the start of the 2022-23 season.

    It came after five clubs – Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Cardiff City – took part in a government-commissioned ‘early adopters’ pilot study during the second half of the 2021-22 campaign.

    In safe standing areas, fans stand behind a barrier or a rail which helps prevent them from falling forward.

    Designated standing areas had not been seen at Premier League grounds since the adoption of all-seater stadiums in the early 1990s – a recommendation of the Taylor Report following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 when 97 Liverpool fans died following a crush at an FA Cup semi-final.

    Spectators at many grounds have continued to stand in seated areas, most commonly behind the goals, despite regular warnings from local authorities and police that it is dangerous.

    Standing areas in stadiums are commonplace in Germany’s Bundesliga and there are similar examples across the rest of Europe, the United States, and Australia.

    The EFL Cup final will be Manchester United’s first domestic final appearance since 2018 and puts them a win away from ending their six-year wait for a trophy.

    For Newcastle, it will mark their first cup final since 1999 and a chance to win their first trophy since Ujpest Dozsa was beaten in the 1969 Inter Cities’ Fairs Cup Final.

  • JD Sports says 10 million customers hit by cyber-attack

    JD Sports says 10 million customers hit by cyber-attack

    Sportswear chain JD Sports has said stored data relating to 10 million customers might be at risk after it was hit by a cyber-attack.

    The company said information that “may have been accessed” by hackers included names, addresses, email accounts, phone numbers, order details and the final four digits of bank cards.

    The data related to online orders between November 2018 and October 2020. 

    JD Sports said it was contacting affected customers.

    The group said the affected data was “limited”. It added it did not hold full payment card details and did not believe that account passwords were accessed by the hackers.

    “We want to apologise to those customers who may have been affected by this incident,” said Neil Greenhalgh, chief financial officer of JD Sports. “Protecting the data of our customers is an absolute priority for JD.”

    The attack related to online orders placed for the JD, Size?, Millets, Blacks, Scotts and MilletSport brands and it is understood it was detected by the company in recent days, but only the historical data was accessed.

    The company said it was working with “leading cyber-security experts” and was engaging with the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in response to the incident.

    Mr Greenhalgh said affected customers were being advised “to be vigilant about potential scam e-mails, calls and texts”.

    Cyber-attacks have hit several UK companies in recent times. Royal Mail became the victim of a ransomware attack earlier this month which led to it halting post and parcel deliveries overseas.

    In December, the Guardian newspaper was also targeted by a suspected ransomware attack.

    Lauren Wills-Dixon, solicitor and an expert in data privacy at law firm Gordons, said retailers were among the most common targets for cyber-attacks because of the large amounts of customer data they hold, and said firms needed to do more to plan for them.

    But she said the increased use of technology by the industry “to reduce overheads and streamline operations has raised the risk even further”. 

    “In this new world, it’s not ‘if’ but ‘when’ a cyber-attack will happen,” she said. 

    A spokeswoman for the ICO confirmed it was aware of the attack and that it was assessing information provided by JD Sports. 

    Scott Nicholson, co-chief executive of cyber security company Bridewell, said it was seeing a rise in malicious software, known as “malware” being used by criminals to steal information from companies.

    “It is good to see JD Sports stating that they are working with experts to help from a containment and recovery perspective, but once the dust has settled their comments of ‘we take the protection of customer data extremely seriously’ will be put to the test by the ICO,” he added.

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