Cherokee
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Hurry up and patch your Chrysler against this wireless hack
Last week Chrysler quietly released a software update for its optional Uconnect in-car entertainment system. And while the official purpose was "to improve vehicle electronic security", Wired reports that the patch is really aimed at fixing a terrifying flaw in the system's security. One that could allow hackers to remotely shut down your vehicle at slow speeds or hijack its steering, brakes, and transmission.
Gmail now has support for Cherokee language, adds virtual keyboard as well
Gmail didn't become one of the world's most popular email services with just one language; indeed, it supports 56 languages, ranging from Simplified Chinese to Hebrew. As of today, however, that list has grown to 57. The Cherokee, or "jaw la gee" language, has just been added to Gmail after Google Web Search incorporated it back in March 2011. The Mountain View company is not the first to do this -- Apple did it with the iPhone and iPad back in 2010 -- but email is a relatively new frontier. It apparently started after a Google engineer found himself in a car with a member of the Cherokee Nation and was persuaded by the need to encourage younger Cherokee generations to learn their native tongue. After some collaboration with Durbin Feeling -- the author of the Cherokee-English Dictionary -- they found Cherokee terms for relatively modern words like "inbox," "sign in" and amusingly, "spam." They also added a Cherokee virtual keyboard (which joins more than 100 other keyboards in the system) so that Cherokee youth can use the language to communicate with each other. As much as we applaud the service, we do lament that even the Cherokee Nation won't be safe from Nigerian prince scams, fake Neiman-Marcus cookie tales and terrible jokes forwarded by their mothers.
Windows 8 to bring better language support, finally including English
In addition to better file management, accessibility and that all important new logo, Redmond's engineers are also promising improved language support in Windows 8. So far, Microsoft admits it's seen this as a "local-market feature," putting the onus on non-English users to track down special copies of the OS or language packs online. But the new OS will bring a friendlier philosophy, in which multilingual support is regarded as a "feature for everyone everywhere" and the Control Panel becomes a "one-stop place" to find and install any of 109 different idioms. These will include 13 new interface packs, allowing commonly used Windows features to be displayed in Scottish Gaelic, Punjabi, Uyghur, Cherokee and other tongues listed at the source link. Lastly, there'll also be one entirely new display language: English for the United Kingdom, with Old World spellings and the eternal blessing of David Mitchell (after the break). [Thanks, Rahul]
Apple bringing Cherokee language support to iPhone and iPad
Apple's iOS devices currently support just 50 languages, out of thousands that are in use globally. Soon, that figure will creep up to 51. A fresh AP report notes that Cherokee Chief Chad Smith actually visited Apple and used students currently being schooled in immersion programs to "pull at the heartstrings" of Apple's brass, and eventually, Cupertino caved. The tribe has been working with Apple to develop Cherokee language software for the iPhone, iPod and iPad, the latter of which will purportedly become available at a later date. Naturally, this momentous occasion wouldn't have occurred without "years" of work, and while we're sure members of the Cherokee Nation are stoked to have the only American Indian language supported by Apple devices, this may actually serve to provide hope for others who speak less prominent tongues. All told, just 8,000 or so individuals still speak Cherokee, and most of those are aged 50 and up. But if Apple's willing to include support for that, who knows what else it'll become fluent in during the coming months. [Thanks, Christian]
iOS 4.1 quietly added Cherokee language support
The Associated Press reports that Apple has quietly incorporated Cherokee language support into iOS. Cherokee tribal officials were worried about the demise of the Cherokee language as the tribe aged and its younger members increasingly adopted the English language -- and iPhones. However, instead of seeing technology as a threat, Cherokee tribal leaders opened talks with Apple three years ago about including native support for the Cherokee language in iOS. This fall, Apple replied to the Cherokees' request and announced that it was adding the Cherokee language to the roughly 50 languages supported by iOS. Apple's announcement was a surprise to Joseph Erb, who works in the Cherokee Nation's language technology division. He told the AP, "There are countries vying to get on these devices for languages, so we are pretty excited we were included." The written Cherokee language was created over 200 years ago when a blacksmith named Sequoyah converted the spoken Cherokee language into text. Use of the language has diminished in recent decades. Only 8,000 of the 290,000 members of the Cherokee tribe still speak the language -- a number the tribe hopes to increase with a little help from Apple.
