11 April 2022: Week to Week by Armenia Media with Shahen Araboghlian

By Shahen Araboghlian – Armenia Media | Tuesday, 12 April 2022

Week to Week / ՇԱԲԱԹԷ ՇԱԲԱԹ

By Shahen Araboghlian – Exclusively for Armenia Media


Webby Award Noms & Mentions for Armenian Tech Companies

Image caption: Two Armenian Companies Nommed for AI Category at Webby Awards (Photo from Webby Awards Official Website).


There are the Oscars for movies, the Emmys for TV series, the Grammys for music, and the Tonies for theatre. In the age of the internet, the Webby Awards were born in 1996 to celebrate online excellence.


Last week, the Webby Awards released their nominations, and in the category of “Best Use of AI & Machine Learning” are two Armenian companies, Krisp and Podcastle. The famous Picsart was also an honoree.


Krisp is a background noise-cancelling software technology used in online meetings and servers such as Discord, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Skype, and 800 more meeting platforms. It uses artificial intelligence to reduce echo and focus the mic receiver on your voice and your voice alone.


Podcastle gives us the ability to audio-interview with pristine quality, using artificial intelligence to make the audio sound professionally recorded, no matter the device. The platform also allows for editing, text-to-speech revoicing, etc.


What does this mean for the Armenian companies? Editor of the Creative Tech section at EVN Report, Njdeh Satourian tells me it’s all good news. “Being nominated for a Webby brings with it several positives, such as exposure, recognition, and prestige.


For me personally, however, the most important thing that this news signal is validation that Armenian start-ups are building globally competitive products that are used and loved by consumers all over the world, and the fact that we had two nominees in a category like AI & Machine Learning is a positive signal that Armenia’s start-up ecosystem is headed in the right direction,” Satourian tells me.


You can vote for the two nominees here, and make sure you do!


TUMO in Beirut - Again

Image caption: TUMO Center to Open Its Doors in Beirut by 2023 (Render from the TUMO Center Facebook Page)



The TUMO Center for Creative Technologies, the much-loved teen-centred educational learning centre, HQed in Yerevan, will soon open a new branch in Beirut. How is this significant?


First founded 10 years ago, the TUMO Center has offered free-of-charge design and after-school tech classes to teens in regions across Armenia and the world over. From Yerevan, Gyumri, and Stepanakert to Moscow, Berlin, Kyiv, Paris, and Tirana, the centre has expanded and spread its message of quality, modern education around the globe.

According to the official TUMO Center socials, TUMO Beirut is set to open as soon as 2023, and it’ll open its doors to a capacity of 2,000 students, offering all the labs and classes free of charge.


Njteh Mgrditchian, a Lebanese-Armenian repat who works as a Video Production Specialist within TUMO’s content team, says this is great news for him.

“The new centre exclusively built for TUMO in Beirut will surely create a better mood considering the current situation in Lebanon,” Njteh tells me, “I hope the new TUMO Beirut is so successful, that Lebanon would have the need for more TUMO branches and TUMO Boxes around the country.”


We wish the newest TUMO Center the best of luck in its endeavours.

Football Kentron - Weekly Soccer News

zImage

Image caption: Armenian Futsal National Team advances to the next level for the FIFA Futsal World Cup (Photo by Armenian Football Federation Twitter Page).


Once again, the folks at Football Kentron cherry-picked a fresh batch of soccer-related news for our footsy enthusiasts out there. Enjoy the news below, and make sure to give them a follow!


  • Armenian Futsal National Team beats Scotland 11-0, as well as Bulgaria with a scoreline of 3-0 and beats Kosovo with 2-1 for the FIFA Futsal World Cup Qualifiers. Armenia had already secured the qualification to the next round before their final game against Kosovo.

  • Hovhannes Hambardzumyan assists for the goal against APOEL Nicosia to send Anorthosis through to the semi-finals of the Cyprus Cup during the week. Hovhannes Hambardzumyan also got his name on the scoresheet for the goal against Aris Limassol over the weekend in the Cyprus League. Anorthosis, his team, his fighting to secure a European spot.

  • Henrikh Mkhitaryan gets an assist for AS Roma against Salernitana in the Calcio A with a scoreline of 2-1. Roma is currently five points away from a Champions League spot.

  • Khoren Bayramyan assists for a goal in the 4-1 victory against Lokomotiv Moscow, where another Armenian football player plays, Nayair Tiknizyan. Tiknizyan unfortunately got a red card.

  • Petros Avetisyan opened up his tab for Shakhter Karaganda, on his second spell in Kazakhstan.

  • The Kazakh giants beat Maqtaaral FK 5-1, with the Armenian playmaker scoring the 4th.


Notable News:

It’s been a very eventful week, let’s dive right in.

  • NVIDIA to build and launch a research centre in Yerevan.

  • Armenia and Azerbaijan abstain from vote-participating in suspending Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.

  • The Glendale Unified School District Board of Education declares April as American Armenian Heritage Month.

  • Yerevan City Hall launched a cleaning process from the Yerevan Lake, with plans to open leisure areas on its shorelines down the line.

  • Trade between Armenia and Kazakhstan has increased by 30% in 2021.

  • Ardashes “Ardy” Kassakhian was selected to be the new mayor of the City Of Glendale.

  • The Month of May was declared Armenian Heritage Month in Ontario, Canada.

  • Arman Chilingaryan’s “Light Drops” was awarded Best Drama at the Alternative Film Festival in Toronto, Canada.

  • $7.9 million USD is to be spent on healthcare facilities’ reconstruction in 2022 by Armenia.

  • Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Armenia occupy the top three positions as Russians’ favourite holiday destinations for 2022.

  • Pashinyan, Aliyev met in Brussels with European Council President Charles Michel. Except for setting up a border delimitation commission agreement, nothing uniquely significant was in any of the press releases. The peace talk efforts were welcomed by Russia, the UN, and the OSCE, among others.

  • $131k USD is to be spent on three vehicles for NA Speaker Alen Simonyan.

  • Meta/Facebook removes Azerbaijani state-run phishing and scam accounts. The report said the accounts were run by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs.

  • An Artsakh flag erected on France Square in Yerevan by NA opposition was vandalized and desecrated by Sasna Tsrer.

  • Reports by Russian MFA Lavrov indicate that the US and France have refused to work with Russia within the OSCE Minsk Group process as holders of c0-chair positions.

Multimedia Corner

Image caption: Patil Toutounjian (aka The Armenian Traveler) visits the Megerian Cultural Center in Yerevan, Armenia. (Photo from The Armenian Traveler YouTube Channel).


  • Read: The Cleaning Lady, a TV series by Fox, recently had a character named Hayak Barsamian that (in the series) helped the Armenian military by supplying weaponry to fight against Azerbaijan. Read the Armenian Film Society’s interview with showrunner Melissa Carter here.
  • Listen: Armenia’s Eurovision rep Rosa Linn performs her song “Snap” live in Amsterdam, at a pre-main event party. Enjoy her live vocals here.

  • Watch: How are Armenian rugs made? Visit the famous Megerian Cultural Center in Yerevan through the eyes of a repat Armenian millennial vlogger here.

  • Learn: The history of Soviet Vanadzor (aka Kirovakan) of Northern Armenia is full of industrial development. The 1988 earthquake changed that. Learn about its history through the lens of photographer Hamo Kharatyan here.

comments