Official Press Releases

Montreal, QC (October 2026) -Zip Solutions ("The Home of Accessibility") today announced a comprehensive October 2026 ecosystem expansion for Zip Captions, pairing three major capabilities designed for classrooms, broadcast engineers, and large-scale conference organizers: Free Chrome On-Device AI Translation, the Stream Deck Companion hardware bridge, and the new Transparent Enterprise Event Calculator.

Together, these releases eliminate the three most common barriers to live event and institutional accessibility: prohibitive cloud translation fees, buried browser tabs at busy AV production desks, and opaque "call for a quote" enterprise software pricing.

1. Free Chrome On-Device AI Translation: Zero Paywalls, 100% Local Privacy

By harnessing Google Chrome's built-in On-Device AI translation models, Zip Captions now enables educators, students, and event venues to translate live captions into multiple languages in real time at zero cost. Because translation models execute locally on the user's machine rather than on third-party cloud servers, organizations achieve ultra-low latency and strict data privacy without monthly minute caps or subscription paywalls.

2. Stream Deck Companion: Tactile Hardware Control for Live Production Desks

During live shows, church services, and multi-camera broadcasts, the Zip Captions browser tab is often buried beneath ten other production windows—making it difficult for AV operators to verify if captioning is actively running. The new Zip Captions Companion extension bridges Zip Captions directly to Bitfocus Companion and physical Elgato Stream Deck controllers over localhost.

Production engineers can now map physical buttons to start, stop, pause, and resume live captions, integrate caption triggers into multi-action camera and microphone macros, and view both live color-coded session status and the most recently transcribed word right on the physical Stream Deck LCD key.

3. Transparent Enterprise Event Calculator: Instant Day-by-Day Multi-Room Quotes

While Zip Captions' core web app remains 100% free forever and self-serve Patreon tiers ($5–$30 USD/month) serve personal and individual users, large conferences, universities, school boards, and municipalities frequently require dedicated technical onboarding, custom AI vocabulary preparation, live event support, and formal Purchase Order (PO) billing.

To replace industry-standard gatekeeping with radical transparency, Zip Solutions has launched the interactive Transparent Enterprise Event Calculator. Event planners can configure their exact day-by-day schedule and concurrent room counts in Canadian (CAD) or US Dollars (USD) with straightforward, published rates:

• Day 1 Base ($1,000 CAD): Includes the first full event day, 1 primary room with unlimited attendee QR code mobile relay, custom vocabulary setup, and dedicated technical support.
• Each Additional Day (+$250 CAD/day): Discounted daily rate for Day 2 and beyond, including 1 primary room and continuous support.
• Additional Concurrent Rooms (+$200 CAD/room/day): Add breakout tracks or secondary stages only on the specific days they are active—with pre-filled quote submission for instant PO and invoice processing.

"Whether you are a classroom teacher using free on-device Chrome AI translation, an AV volunteer running a Stream Deck in a house of worship, or a conference director budgeting a four-day multi-room summit, accessibility should never be hidden behind mystery pricing or technical friction," said Chris Webb, CEO and Co-Founder of Zip Solutions.

Chris Webb

CEO and Co-Founder, Zip Solutions

"By combining local browser AI with localhost Bitfocus Companion hardware feedback and open enterprise rate cards, we are giving both grassroots creators and institutional production teams tools they can trust completely," said James Petersen, CTO and Co-Founder of Zip Solutions.

James Petersen

CTO and Co-Founder, Zip Solutions

Montreal, QC (October 2026) -Zip Solutions today announced the launch of real-time live caption translation inside Zip Captions, its browser-based live captioning platform. By leveraging Google Chrome's built-in On-Device AI models, Zip Captions now allows users to translate live captions into multiple languages instantaneously at zero cost.

While real-time translation has long been one of the most requested accessibility features in education and live production, high cloud-computing costs have historically forced software providers to lock translation behind expensive enterprise subscriptions. Zip Captions bypasses this barrier by running the translation models locally within the user's Chrome browser.

"True accessibility means removing both communication barriers and financial barriers," said Chris Webb, CEO and Co-Founder of Zip Solutions. "By harnessing Chrome's On-Device AI, we can give teachers, students, and organizations unlimited real-time translation without charging them a dime, while keeping their data private and right on their own device."

Chris Webb

CEO and Co-Founder, Zip Solutions

"We're building equity for our community, not for shareholders," said James Petersen, CTO and Co-Founder of Zip Solutions.

James Petersen

CTO and Co-Founder, Zip Solutions

Key Highlights of the Zip Captions Translation Update

The real-time translation feature is rolling out now and is immediately available to all Zip Captions users worldwide. To experience live translated captions or learn more, visit zipcaptions.app or explore the organization's full suite of accessibility tools at zipsolutions.org.

Official Press Kit & Multimedia

Video Walkthrough, Animated GIF & Media Bundle

Journalists, bloggers, and educators are invited to embed the walkthrough video or download the animated GIF, logos, and executive headshots for editorial coverage.

Download Complete Press Kit (.ZIP)

Feature Walkthrough Video

YouTube Embed • Ready for editorial articles

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Real-Time Translation Demo (GIF)

High-resolution animated loop • 700 KB

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Included in Press Kit:

Press Release (PDF)Translate Feature (GIF)Zip Solutions Logo (SVG)Zip Captions Logo (PNG)Chris Webb Headshot (JPG)James Petersen Headshot (JPG)

Montreal, QC -Zip Solutions, the Quebec-based creator of accessible technology and communication tools, today announced the launch of Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode for its flagship web application, Zip Captions. Available immediately and completely free of charge, the new feature allows users to pop live captions out of their web browser into a resizable, always-on-top floating window that stays visible over the top of the users desktop applications.

For years, browser-based live captioning has come with a practical catch: the moment a user clicks into another program, opens a full-screen presentation, or starts taking notes in a separate window, the browser tab disappears, taking the captions with it. Users on a single laptop screen have historically been forced to awkwardly split their display in half or use multiple monitors just to read captions while working or teaching.

With Zip Captions' new Picture-in-Picture feature, a single click detaches the live caption feed into an independent window that sits on top of the user's screen. Whether a user is presenting a PowerPoint deck, demonstrating software, editing a spreadsheet, or writing notes in a document, the captions remain pinned in view. Users can freely resize the box, move it to any corner of their display, and retain their personalized font and high-contrast visual settings.

"As a classroom teacher, I know firsthand that nobody teaches from a blank browser tab, you are constantly jumping between slide decks, PDFs, videos, and interactive tools. Until now, keeping live captions visible on a projector meant sacrificing screen space or dealing with complicated workarounds. Picture-in-Picture solves that immediately. You pop the captions out, place them where you want them, and just teach."

Chris Webb

CEO and Co-Founder, Zip Solutions

Because the feature is built directly into the Zip Captions web engine, it requires no software downloads, browser extensions, or IT administrator permissions. This is a critical advantage for locked-down school Chromebooks and corporate laptops.

"Our goal with every update is to remove friction while respecting user privacy," said James Petersen, CTO and Co-Founder of Zip Solutions. "By utilizing native browser Picture-in-Picture capabilities, we've given users a way to overlay captions across their entire operating system with zero software installs, while ensuring transcripts are never saved on our servers."

James Petersen

CTO and Co-Founder, Zip Solutions

Transforming Accessibility Across Sectors

The introduction of Picture-in-Picture opens up practical, everyday workflows across multiple environments:

True to Zip Solutions' core mission, the Picture-in-Picture update is available to all users on the free tier of Zip Captions, working seamlessly alongside both standard browser speech recognition and the platform's optional Azure AI-powered captioning engine. As with all Zip Captions sessions, audio is never recorded, and transcripts remain stored privately in the user's local browser memory.

To try the new Picture-in-Picture feature or learn more about Zip Captions, visit zipcaptions.app or explore the organization's full suite of accessibility tools at zipsolutions.org.

Montreal, Quebec -Zip Captions, a leading free live captioning solution, today announced the launch of its new AI-powered captioning feature, powered by Microsoft Azure. This significant upgrade will provide Patreon supporters with significantly more accurate live captions, resulting in a more seamless and comprehensible experience for individuals with hearing loss, ADHD, Auditory Processing disorders, ANSD, and more.

The newly introduced AI engine processes speech through state-of-the-art acoustic and linguistic models, delivering extraordinary precision in challenging acoustic environments, noisy conference halls, and fast-paced academic lectures.

"Our primary mission has always been universal, dignified access to the spoken word. By introducing state-of-the-art AI captioning while keeping our foundation 100% free and open, we are opening up next-generation comprehension tools to classrooms, houses of worship, and live events without creating financial barriers."

Key Highlights of the Release:

The new AI captions are available immediately through the Zip Captions web portal for all active Patreon community patrons who support the continued open development of our assistive tools.