12/15/2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Associated Press introduces automated AP style-checking software
NEW YORK – The Associated Press today announced the launch of software technology
that automates the proofing process for AP style. The new plug-in software, AP StyleGuard,
powered by Equiom Linguistic Labs Inc., is similar in functionality to Microsoft
Word’s spelling and grammar proofing tools and intuitively checks Word documents
for AP Stylebook’s fundamental spelling, language, punctuation, usage and journalistic
style guidelines.
Equiom Linguistic Labs Inc. will regularly offer free software updates to subscribers
to ensure AP StyleGuard reflects the latest AP Stylebook additions and changes.
“We have had Stylebook fans asking for a product like this for years,” said Colleen
Newvine, product manager of the AP Stylebook. “We are excited about this addition
to our already robust suite of print, online and mobile AP Stylebook offerings.
AP StyleGuard speeds up checking AP style on potential problems, since the user
does not need to find the relevant listing in the Stylebook, and it adds much deeper
coverage by pointing out possible corrections the writer didn’t even think to check.
AP style is constantly evolving, so if we didn’t have a listing previously or if
our guidance has changed, AP StyleGuard helps keep the user up to date.”
“We developed AP StyleGuard as a Microsoft Office enhancement, by integrating AP
Stylebook to allow authors to interactively validate the quality and consistency
of news articles, press releases and documents," said Bassam Saliba, co-founder
of Equiom Linguistic Labs and an expert in Microsoft technologies.
“We spent more than a year to implement a user-friendly decision rule engine,” said
Pete Mau, Equiom co-founder. “The AP Stylebook collection consists of more than
6,000 decision rules highly tuned to provide the authors with timely and useful
information and corrections, with minimal false-positive distractions.”
AP StyleGuard, now in the beta phase, will be available only to AP Stylebook Online
subscribers Dec. 16, 2011, followed by AP Stylebook print publication subscribers
Jan. 16, 2012. AP StyleGuard is slated for release to the general public April 1,
2012.
The software operates on Windows XP and higher and Microsoft Office 2007 or higher.
No additional hardware or software is needed and an Internet connection is optional.
Updated regularly since its initial print publication in 1953, The AP Stylebook
is a must-have reference for writers, editors, students and professionals. The AP
Stylebook is used daily by news organizations and communications professionals around
the world and is considered by many to be the definitive resource for journalists.
AP StyleGuard is the latest example of AP putting its innovation to work on behalf
of its members and customers as together they meet the challenges facing all media
companies in this economic climate.
About The AP The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering
fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats.
Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent
news and information. On any given day, more than half the world’s population sees
news from AP. On the Net: www.ap.org
About Equiom Linguistic Labs Inc. Equiom Linguistic Labs, headquartered in
Bellevue, Wash., is a software company dedicated to the creation of “All You Need
to Write It Right” language tools. Its flagship product, StyleGuard, allows users
to interactively validate the quality and consistency of documents against leading
writing styles, including the AP Stylebook. Its patent-holding founders are Microsoft
veterans with deep technology knowledge and extensive startup experience. The development
team collectively helped ship more than 50 successful commercial products including
Microsoft Office, Visual Basic for Applications and Microsoft Speech Server. More
about Equiom Linguistic Labs at www.style-guard.com
For more information, contact:
Jack Stokes
Media Relations Manager
The Associated Press
212-621-1720
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AP StyleGuard
- Helps you avoid using redundant words or over-used words
- Helps you catch capitalization and punctuation issues
- Catches issues that escape the spell and grammar checkers in Microsoft Word and Outlook
- Helps you identify issues such as "Should this be one word, two words, or
hyphenated"
- Provides common unit conversions within the document
- Provides possible abbreviations and checks for correct abbreviation rules
To purchase AP StyleGuard, visit www.apstylebook.com
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