Knowledge Base

KUDO News

Announcements

  • Was KUDO impacted by the Log4j threat?

    You may have heard the news about the security vulnerability in Java known as “log4j,” an open-source, Java-based logging utility widely used by enterprise applications and cloud services. We want to help you understand the problem and let you know we've taken steps to verify that KUDO service users are NOT impacted by this recently discovered vulnerability. 

    About the vulnerability 

    • The vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228) is classed as severe.  
    • If successfully exploited, a malicious actor could take control of an affected system.  
    • The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has urged users and administrators to apply the recommended mitigations "immediately" to address the critical vulnerabilities. 

    What this means for you 

    Most importantly, KUDO service users are not affected by this recently discovered log4j vulnerability.   

    KUDO doesn’t rely on the log4j utility, and our Information Security Department has undertaken all appropriate steps and conducted the necessary reviews to ensure that our services are not affected.  At KUDO, we give information security and the security of our services the highest priority and will continue to stay abreast of the latest developments and threats. 

Product Updates

  • [December 2022] Product Updates and News

    We're excited to share a roundup of our product updates for the second half of 2022 and what to expect until the end of the year. 

    Below are some highlights of new features and enhancements on the KUDO Meeting platform, our integration with Microsoft Teams, and our Language Access solutions.    

    What's new

    KUDO Meeting platform

    Smoother meeting experience for participants 

    In the third quarter of 2022, KUDO focused on enhancing the attendees' experience on KUDO Meeting. What does the full KUDO Meeting experience look like for participants? You can click here to find out. 

    Here are the highlights: 

    • Active participants on screen can now raise their hand 🤚. Find out more here. 
    • New view modes 🖥. Majestic - now you have more options to view the participant's videos, shared screen, and sign language interpretation in your meeting interface. Check out the different screen and gallery views here.  
    • KUDO introduced Tool Tips for new users. Tool Tips offers participants a quick tour of the KUDO interface. Participants who are familiar with the platform can turn Tool Tips off. 
    • Before entering the meeting, participants are now prompted to give KUDO the necessary browser permissions to test their mic, camera, speaker, and internet connection.  
    • We'd love to hear your feedback. An optional short post-meeting survey now appears after a participant leaves a KUDO meeting. This feedback directly helps us enhance the user experience and is live for all APAC and Americas customers. If you are an EMEA-based customer and wish to opt-in to post-meeting surveys, please get in touch with your Client Manager. 

    Enhanced multilingual recording feature  

    Contact your Client Manager or Representative if you haven't tried our multilingual recording feature yet. 

    • You can now activate automatic recording.  Always forget to start the recording? Now, the recording will start automatically as soon as the KUDO meeting opens. 
    • Captions can now be displayed on multilingual recordings. For meetings using KUDO multilingual captioning, the captions can be displayed in all languages when playing the recorded videos on your computer. 
    • Who is presenting? No more confusion on who is presenting. The active speaker is now easily identified on the recordings with a blue border around their video. 
    • Click here for more details on enabling and using the KUDO multilingual recording feature.

    More possibilities for your meeting set up 

    • Download the chat history during or after the meeting. Find out how here. 
    • Set a distinct preparation time for your meeting (only accessible for certain KUDO packages) 
    • Add the meeting host(s) on the main scheduling page.
    • Click here to learn more about how to schedule and prepare a meeting on the KUDO Meeting platform. 


    KUDO for Microsoft Teams
    • KUDO is now available on Teams Mobile App. Attendees can now access the KUDO Language Selector on Teams Mobile and Desktop App. Check out the how-to for attendees here. 


    KUDO Language Access solutions
    • Multilingual captioning is available for Language Access Web Link. Are you familiar with the Web Link? This solution gives attendees access to the language selector on a separate webpage allowing you to combine ANY meeting or event with KUDO's multilingual technology. Now you have the option to enable multilingual captioning! The Web Link is perfect for hybrid and in-person events and is recommended for some event platforms. This feature is already available for Language Access Widget, an option that embeds our language selector directly in the meeting or event platform. Find out more about the KUDO Language Access Web Link here.  
       
    • Localized Language Access solution for attendees. When attendees access the Widget or Web Link, they can now change the language displayed on the tool. Click here to learn how to switch the Language Access Widget's language. 


    What's coming up

    New Professional Services and Operators usage calculation in 2023, and a new update for Language Access is planned to be launched before the year ends 😱.  

    Operators and Professional Services
    • We are always happy to provide extra support to ensure the success of your meetings via our Professional Services, including our live support. Kindly note that as of 1st February 2023, our system will apply a new calculation method to honor our operators' and project managers’ time. Therefore, after a grace period of 10 minutes (from the scheduled meeting end time), usage will be rounded up to the whole hour.


    KUDO Language Access solutions
    • Enhanced Language Access Widget and ON24 integration. Auto-floor will soon be available! What does this mean? When selecting a language during ON24 events, the original (floor) audio will be automatically muted or lowered. Attendees won't have to mute the audio manually, significantly improving the user experience. Big shout out to ON24 for working with us on this. What other event platforms would you like to have this feature on? Let's nudge them to implement this together 😊!
     

    If you have any questions or suggestions about new or future product updates, please don't hesitate to contact your KUDO Client Manager or Representative.
  • [March 2023] Product Updates and News

    We're excited to share a roundup of our product and company updates.

    But first a quick message from our CEO, Fardad Zabetian

    2023 marked an incredible start for KUDO; we launched our new branding, as well as our AI-powered speech translator, with the mission to combine human and AI power into multilingual solutions that enable people to communicate effortlessly in any language – wherever they are. 

    We were also delighted to show our appreciation through the "Meet the CEO" Campaign in January. I am grateful that so many of our clients were able to connect with me and share their experiences with KUDO. “Your feedback has been an invaluable source of guidance for us to make critical improvements to our products and positioning. Thank you.” 

    What's new

    KUDO Meeting Platform

    Major news: We've unlocked various features for you 😱

    • Multilingual captioning, streaming and Language Access are now available to ALL clients for FREE. With Language Access, KUDO's interpretation technology can be connected to other meetings and event platforms (Hopin, Webex, ON24, Hopin...  the possibilities are endless). Kindly note that any feature that is not currently available in your plan will appear "greyed out" in the scheduling interface. To get started, please contact your Client Manager for more information on how to enable more features on your account.  


    KUDO Language Access solutions

    Auto floor feature is now an option for the Language Access Widget 💬

    • With auto-floor, when a participant selects a language from the KUDO Language Selector, the floor audio of the webinar is automatically muted or reduced in volume. Additionally, if any presenter begins to speak in the language selected by each participant, the channel audio will switch to the floor audio of the webinar automatically. Auto-floor allows speakers, market experts, and consumers from different parts of the world to interact in their preferred language during webinars. Reach out to your Client Manager to see if the feature is available for your integration. 


    What's coming up

    KUDO AI

    Early access for KUDO AI ▶️

    • This year, KUDO introduced the world's first fully integrated artificial intelligence speech translator. With real-time AI-generated audio and captions, KUDO gives you the power to instantly and seamlessly communicate with anyone in any language during your global events. KUDO AI will soon be available on Microsoft Teams and other event platforms. Don’t wait – sign up here for early access and experience KUDO AI for yourself! 


    KUDO Meeting Platform

    Extra time warning notification ⏲️

    • Now we will inform Hosts and Operators when the scheduled meeting time is ending, and when the extra time or grace period will begin. This will support Hosts with time management of the meetings and the use of their credits. 

    Enhancement to voting and polling feature 🗳️

    • Our voting feature will soon enable the host/operator to monitor the progress of the voting in real-time, allowing them to easily view how many people have yet to cast their votes and make informed decisions on when to end the voting.
     

    If you have any questions or suggestions about new or future product updates, please don't hesitate to contact your KUDO Client Manager or Representative.