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Explore 4,500 British Museum artifacts with Google's help
The British Museum in London holds an array of beautiful and historically significant artifacts including the Rosetta Stone, which helped historians to understand the ancient hieroglyphics used in Egypt. Today, the organisation is teaming up with Google to bring its various collections online as part of the Google Cultural Institute. The search giant has been developing this resource for years by continually visiting and archiving exhibits around the world. With the British Museum, an extra 4,500 objects and artworks are being added to its collection, complete with detailed photos and descriptions.
Your Xbox One is ready to teach you a new language
Wish your Xbox One could teach you more vocabulary than just "noob" or "get rekt?" It can now. Rosetta Stone has announced an Xbox One app that will teach you English or Spanish through simulated travel experiences. It also has phrase books, study advice, and cultural tips to keep you in locals' good graces. The app is available as we write, so give it a spin if you're willing to expand your mind after exploding some online rivals.
IRL: Rosetta Stone, PocketWizard and the TomTom Via 1530
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. Fun fact: this edition of IRL was compiled and timed up about a month ago -- well before we set foot in Vegas to spend a week at CES. We figured, we'd be too busy covering the show, and that we'd be too exhausted afterward to immediately get back to our regularly scheduled workloads. (Ed note: I hope I came out alive -- Dana.) At this point, of course, CES has come and gone, and despite the 18-hour work days, we'd say we had a good time. Nonetheless, we need the literary equivalent of a Tums after a seven-day avalanche of posts, and we suspect you do too. What better, then, but a column about older tech we've lived with a while? We even threw a CD-ROM mention in there for variety's sake.
The Echo Nest teams with Twitter to integrate tweets into music apps
The Echo Nest, better known as the creature behind the Spotify Radio curtain, is teaming up with Twitter for a pilot program to integrate tweets into music apps of all ages and descriptions. The company has applied its artist extraction technology to Twitter's Verified Accounts in order to identify artists whose Twitter handles are now part of its Rosetta Stone service. The tie-up allows developers to include artists' Verified Account handles and tweets within music apps; for example, app developer can include tweets from a currently-playing artist alongside music, lyrics, blog posts, photos and other media. No word on what apps will be tucking the functionality into their next update, but you can dig for details in the PR after the break.
