Posts under "Technology"

Ever wondered where to go to look for reviews of businesses in Brazil? There are a few places to look, but what’s sometimes called the “Brazilian Yelp” is a site called Kekanto, that has reviews of services and local business throughout the country. It’s also an app that can be used on mobile devices.

Kekanto is a start-up, created by a group of current and former students from the University of São Paulo that received funding from U.S.-based investment companies, including Accel Partners. Back when Kekanto was first conceived, one of the creators, Fernando Okumura, told the media: “Nossa missão é criar um circulo virtuoso de consumidores mais satisfeitos e empresas com melhores serviços.”

Here’s a brief explanation of the site in Portuguese from Terra:

O site funciona como um boca-a-boca online: os usuários avaliam os estabelecimentos e serviços que conhecem e suas opiniões ajudam outras pessoas a decidirem aonde ir ou o que comprar. O Kekanto também funciona como uma rede social, através da qual os usuários recebem as atualizações de seus amigos e interagem uns com os outros, comentando e gostando de avaliações”. A startup, de acordo com o TechCrunch, tem em torno de 3 milhões de visitantes únicos mensais e já trabalha em uma expansão para América Latina. Argentina, Chile e México são alguns dos países que estão no foco do Kekanto.

Here’s an explanation of why to use the site, from Kekanto’s Youtube channel:

YouTube Preview Image

And here’s an explanation of how Kekanto’s app works:

YouTube Preview Image

For foreigners, this can be really useful for restaurants, hotels, or excursions that you’re interested in doing, but want to check out before you go or book them!

Brazilians are really big on memes, and one of the most popular ones going around recently is “Luiza está no Canadá.” It’s from a commercial for a luxury apartment building in Paraíba, where the man advertising the building used his family in the commercial, but makes a point of saying that everyone is there except his daughter Luiza, who’s in Canada. It was so funny and random that it became an instant sensation on the web.

YouTube Preview Image

Luiza arrived home in Brazil this week, where she made a new commercial for her dad…

YouTube Preview Image

..and appeared on the national news.

YouTube Preview Image YouTube Preview Image

The original commercial spanned numerous songs on Youtube, like this one:

YouTube Preview Image

It was even made into a tee shirt, and inspired a presidential tweet that got a member of President Dilma’s social media team fired.

Apple products are huge in Brazil, and last week was a big week for Apple there. The company released the Brazilian iTunes, launched the Apple TV, and began selling the iPhone 4S. Plus, for months, there have been rumors that Apple is producing iPhones in São Paulo.

Though the iPhone is selling for much higher prices than in the U.S., it’s still a hit. So why do people want it so badly? Reporters in Brasília and São Paulo asked customers who came for the launch. Everyone was excited about Siri–except for the fact that Siri isn’t available in Portuguese yet.

YouTube Preview Image YouTube Preview Image

Clearly, there was a lot of hype in Brazil about the iPhone 4S launch. But for such a high price, is it worth it? Macworld Brazil and two Brazilians in Boston discussed the differences between the 4 and the 4S, and whether the 4S is really worth buying.

YouTube Preview Image YouTube Preview Image

LinkedIn, the professional networking website, recently opened an office in Brazil to expand its business there. Brazil is LinkedIn’s fourth-largest market with 6 million users. Reuters Brasil wrote about the office inauguration in São Paulo:

Além da subsidiária, também foi anunciada a nomeação do seu diretor-geral, Osvaldo Barbosa de Oliveira, que saiu da Microsoft -onde atuava como gerente-geral de consumo e segmento online- para liderar a expansão da operação brasileira da rede social. A operação abriu cinco vagas nas áreas de vendas, marketing, finanças, e deve ter mais cinco tipos de posições de vagas no escritório brasileiro dentro dos próximos meses.

Read the full story here.

You can also check out the Brazilian version of the site here.

The president of LinkedIn and the head of LinkedIn Brazil discussed the new endeavor in English and Portuguese. Watch here!

YouTube Preview Image

And here’s a video about jobs at LinkedIn Brasil:

YouTube Preview Image
  • Have you all been keeping up with other blogs besides Transparent to learn Portuguese? No? Well, a fun quick way is through Tumblogs, that have fun catchy phrases and lyrics or text in both English and Portuguese.

 

Here are a few I recommend!

Exaltatumblr

This blog has funny images with lyrics to popular songs and backgrounds that reflect the literal lyrics, but not always the metaphorical (and sometimes dirty) sayings that go along with them! There will definitely be posts you might not understand, but that makes it even more interesting because you’ll have some fun stuff to look up!

Some of my favorite recent posts:

 

Metrophones

This tumblog stops people on the São Paulo metro and asks them what they’re listening to. The posts are in Portuguese & English, so you can get a translation of what the interviewees say AND discover new bands!

Do you guys know of any other cool tumblogs or blogs that are quick to read and easy?

Hope these help lighten up a little of the learning load :-)

beijos!

Back to the Top