AIN adds English, Chinese websites for the fashion-conscious

Source: AIN English website.

A Korean brand specialising in women's fashion is repositioning itself as a global brand with a special focus on mainland China, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

AIN has received a good response from selling its products through third party global e-commerce marketplaces, and has now begun its English and Chinese websites through cafe24, Korea's largest e-commerce platform. AIN CEO Park A-In noted that customers like AIN's unique, modern designs and overall image. "The key to success when entering the global market is providing customers with what they are looking for," he said.

AIN's collection is curated for mix-and-match convenience and to enhance the wearer's character and uniqueness. Approximately 20% of the products sold are designed and manufactured directly by AIN. 

Dubai government to create new font called "Dubai" with Microsoft

Source: Dubai Government Media Office.

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid, the Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, has directed the General Secretariat of the Executive Council of Dubai to design a new font called "Dubai". The first phase of the initiative will focus on developing special fonts with advanced typographic features in both Arabic and English.

Sheikh Hamdan affirmed that the new initiative will further position the emirate of Dubai in the field of information technology, especially that the new initiative is in sync with the government’s strategy as regards to leadership and innovation.

“This step will add to our achievements and will bring Dubai ahead in font technologies that supplied by smart information technologies and digital platforms around the world”, Sheikh Hamdan said. He added that the Dubai font pack is projected to be one of the most used fonts due to its distinctive features and specifications.

Following directives of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid, Abdulla Al Shaibani, the Secretary General of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Dubai, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) by which Microsoft will be providing the technical support to the team tasked with the development of the font package in accordance to the international standards in this regards. The Dubai font is the first Microsoft font that will be designed by a city and named after it. Microsoft will be providing consultative technical support to the team in charge of the implementation of the initiative to design modern and distinctive typographies in both Arabic and English.

The initiative comes in support to Dubai’s initiatives around innovation launched last year by Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum with aim to foster an environment for innovation in institutions and consequently make the UAE a world innovative leader.

On this occasion, Secretary General of the Executive Council Dubai Abdulla Al Shaibani said that the initiative is in line with the vision of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum aiming to position the emirate of Dubai at the forefront on a global level. He also affirmed that the directives of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed to launch innovative initiatives will pave the way to achieve the emirate’s strategic plans. Al Shaibani expressed satisfaction for being assigned of this project, highly praising the level of cooperation with a global corporation like Microsoft.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that Microsoft is working with the Government to help government bodies, citizen and resident of the United Arab Emirates accrue further achievements. He also added that the company’s first priority is to enhance ties with Dubai in order to realise its targets related to innovation by tapping into the digital technologies so as to improve the living standards of its people and enable institutions to seize new opportunities of growth and development.

Bookmate adds more titles for English language e-book section

Bookmate, the subscription-based social e-reading service, has expanded its English language e-book section following deals with e-book aggregator ePubDirect, ProfileBooks, Ingram, Diversion Books, Head of Zeus, Legend Press and Casemate. Bookmate is the first subscription-based e-reading service to partner with ePubDirect outside the US. The partnership with ePubDirect also includes Profile/Serpents Tail, Rosetta Books and Icon Books.

The service’s English language selection now includes more than 200,000 titles. More than 100,000 titles will be added from Ingram alone, with the partnership also including Workman.

Simon Dunlop, co-founder of Bookmate, commented: “English is the world’s most widely spoken language and a second language for many more people. Bookmate is strengthening its catalogue of English titles for these readers and these latest deals have brought many exciting authors to the service, continuing our trend of connecting readers with great books as we roll out to new markets this year.”

Bookmate is an open platform connecting publishers and readers directly. Authors listed on Bookmate are able to discover who is reading their book and access analytics which can aid their own promotion and marketing efforts. The platform has more than 1.5 million monthly active users. 

Read about Bookmate's Asia Pacific launch here.

Free Learner's Dictionary offers unlimited translations

Dictionary.com has introduced a free Learner's Dictionary on its Android app, which has been downloaded 80 million times. With the addition of the Learner's Dictionary, the Dictionary.com app has all the tools to land a job or ready staff for business meetings. 

According to the company, English is the global language of business, and used by an estimated 565 million people on the Internet. Dictionary.com quotes the Harvard Business Review, which reported in 2012 that an increasing number of businesses mandate English as the common corporate tongue, including Airbus, Daimler-Chrysler, Nokia, Renault, Samsung, SAP, Technicolor, and Microsoft in Beijing.

"If there is one essential tool for English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students to have, it's a reliable, comprehensive, easy-to-use dictionary that puts them on course to excel," said Michele Turner, CEO of Dictionary.com. "The addition of our Learner's Dictionary to the Dictionary.com app is all that and more, with 2 million definitions, synonyms and antonyms, an audio pronunciation function, and a translator offering unlimited free translations between English and 30 other languages." 

From the company that delivers definitions for more than 3.6 billion words searched annually, the new Learner's Dictionary features:

• Translator with unlimited free translations between English and 30 other languages, such as Hindi, Chinese, Malaysian, Korean, Spanish, German, and French 
• Audio pronunciation function to instantly know the correct way of saying a word 
• Voice search to easily find a definition 
• Offline capability, so no Internet connection is needed for searching for words
• Idioms and phrases used by native speakers to empower anyone to stand out in a job interview 
• 41,000 foundational words and definitions for learning English 
• 105,000 easy example sentences to learn essential words in context
• Grammar and tips for additional command of English language 

The updated Dictionary.com app is available to download here. Comparable dictionaries may cost up to US$29.99, the company said.

Other apps for self-improvement were recently blogged here.