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Google adds Esperanto as its 64th machine translatable language
Esperanto isn't just something Microsoft uses to tease Google for abandoning video codecs, it's a legitimate, manufactured language. Created in the late 1800's by Dr. Ludwig L. Zamenhof, Esperanto was designed to be an easy to learn language that would help folks from all over the world understand each other. Seeing as how Google Translate shares similar goals, the Mountain View firm felt Zamenhof's homemade tongue would be the perfect fit for its machine translation service. Despite a rather small sample size of pre-existing translated material to feed the Google language machine, the firm says Google Translate handled Esperanto surprisingly well -- partially crediting the language's learner friendly construction for the service's success. Sure, it may not be the most useful addition Google Translate's ever seen, but hey, it gets us one step closer to watching cult classics like Incubus without the subtitles. What's that, you haven't heard of William Shatner's pre-Star Trek, all Esperanto romp? Crack open your machine translator and head past the break, then.
Google Translate for iOS adds iPad support
The Google Translate app (free) has become a universal app, adding support for the iPad. Unfortunately, it appears that the only real change to the app was to scale up the user interface elements to fit the larger screen of the iPad, but based on prior experiences with the app on the iPhone it should be a very useful piece of software. The app does quite an amazing job of translating text between 63 different languages, literally everything from Afrikaans to Yiddish. For 17 of those languages, you don't even have to type in the text -- you can speak it, and Google Translate makes quick work of converting your speech to text and then translating it. For 24 of the languages, the translations can be spoken aloud. Favorite translations and your history can be set up for quick access when the iPad is offline, perfect for setting up a list of translated phrases for use while traveling in a foreign country. It's also possible to display translations on a full screen so other can easily read what you're saying or asking. The universal update became available today.
Google Translate app update adds handwriting recognition, breaks barriers
The Google Translate app for Android received a pretty significant update yesterday, bringing handwriting recognition to its bullpen of functionalities. The app, which added voice recognition back in October, can now recognize handwriting in seven different languages, including English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. It's probably most important, however, for Chinese- and Japanese-speaking contingents, who can now use their handsets to translate characters that aren't typically featured on English keypads. The update to version 2.3 is available now, at the source link below.
Google sets execution dates for Wave, Knol, Friend Connect and more
In what Google is calling its "off-season spring cleaning series," the mega company is finally setting some end dates for many of its lukewarm services, most notably the once-hyped Wave, Knol and Friend Connect. Sitting on Death Row for some time now, Mountain View has slowly phased out the less-than-successful products, most recently announcing that it would kill seven APIs including Translate and Video Search. The sweep is part of Google's VP of Product Management Bradley Horowitz' overall plan to "[do] less of throwing things against the wall," focusing instead on "doing fewer things well." Besides the aforementioned services to receive the axe, Google will also be putting an end to Bookmarks List, Gears, Search Timeline and its Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal initiative. The company says the overhaul is part of the effort "to build a simpler, more intuitive, truly beautiful Google user experience" -- in other words, "it's not me... it's you." Check the source for more details.
Siri, Google Translate act as travel companions for AllThingsD blogger
AllThingsD's Ina Fried was in Taipei over the weekend, and she took along both an iPhone 4S and an Android device with Google Translate onboard. What she found is that both of the devices and their accompanying software were very good travel companions. Google Translate (free) is also available for iOS devices, and it's an amazing piece of software. As Fried notes, she was able to ask an electronics dealer what the difference was between two models of Fuji cameras by speaking to the HTC Salsa running Google Translate. The response from the salesperson was a bit confusing -- "Outside" -- but Fried quickly noticed that he was referring to the fact that the cameras were identical except for the external case. Fried ran into one of the unfortunate issues of Siri right now, however, which is the inability to do local searches outside of the U.S. She was able to use the iPhone 4S as her primary camera on the trip and ask Siri to set an alarm for the next morning. After Siri set the alarm, Fried thanked Siri, "feeling like it was the right thing to do." Siri's response? "I live to serve."
Google Translate for Android gets v2.2 update, adds more language support for speech-to-speech
Let the voice recognition battle begin! Siri's already thrown the first punch in the soon-to-be dicey (albeit very consumer friendly) voice service wars, but don't count Google out just yet. The folks over at Mountain View are doing their best to strike back, adding extra functionality to the Google Translate app for Android. So, what's new in this version 2.2 upgrade? The company's expanded the app's previously limited speech-to-speech repertoire with support for an additional 12 languages, accessible via the alpha-tagged Conversation Mode. And to prevent you from any awkward (and potentially hilarious) moments of unintended translation, there's now a post-edit ability to keep those two-way foreign exchanges PG. Alright, so it's not quite the hands-free, HAL-like cyber assistant update we'd like it to be, but there's always Ice Cream Sandwich for that -- we hope. In the meantime, go ahead and hit up the source below to test out the experimental wares for yourself or check out a video demo of Conversation Mode after the break.
Nokia N9 to ship in Sweden on September 23rd, saith awkwardly translated release
As much as we love Google Translate, we're pretty sure the Nokia N9 won't be packing a side of gorilla flavored desert when it ships later this year -- but that Swedish release date? Sure, we'll take a salty look. According to an official press release from European carrier 3 Group, Nokia's flagship handset should be landing in Sweden on September 23, 2011. The PR goes on to tout the N9's buttonless interface, trio of home screens, and (when properly translated) Gorilla Glass AMOLED screen. Hit the source link to see the PR, in all it's auto-translated glory, for yourself.
Google Translate API gets reprieve, servers will accept cash for interpreter duties
Last month, Google said it intended to pull the plug on a variety of APIs, including one rather curious pick -- Google Translate, which had actually been getting so much use that it was allegedly causing an "economic burden" for the company. Well, it seems Google got in touch with its capitalistic roots, because the Translate API won't be depreciated after all. Following a public outcry, Mountain View's announced that it'll create a paid version as soon as possible. Hear it from the horse's Google API Product Manager's mouth at our source link.
NTT DoCoMo exhibits on-the-fly speech translation, lets both parties just talk (video)
The race to smash linguistic barriers with simultaneous speech-to-speech translation is still wide open, and Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo has just joined Google Translate and DARPA on the track. Whereas Google Translate's Conversation Mode was a turn-based affair when it was demoed back in January, requiring each party to pause awkwardly between exchanges, NTT DoCoMo's approach seems a lot more natural. It isn't based on new technology as such, but brings together a range of existing cloud-based services that recognize your words, translate them and then synthesize new speech in the other language -- hopefully all before your cross-cultural buddy gets bored and hangs up. As you'll see in the video after the break, this speed comes with the sacrifice of accuracy and it will need a lot of work after it's trialled later in the year. But hey, combine NTT DoCoMo's system with a Telenoid robot or kiss transmission device and you can always underline your meaning physically.
Google pinpoints shutdown dates for Wave, Translate APIs (amongst others)
'Tis a sad day in the world of Google... at least for developers who use any of a handful of ill-fated APIs. As the search giant's API list has grown in recent months, it's making the decision to cull a few in the effort of "spring cleaning." In fact, a grand total of seven new APIs were launched during Google I/O alone, but it looks as if the end is nigh for the Blog Search API, Books Data API, Image Search API, News Search API, Patent Search API, Safe Browsing API (v1 only), Translate API, Transliterate API, Video Search API and Virtual Keyboard API. Of those, Wave is most unsurprising, but Translate likely hurts the most -- particularly for jetsetters who relied on those baked-in services to wrap their heads around various tongues. According to Goog, the Translate API has been officially deprecated "due to the substantial economic burden caused by extensive abuse." A pretty ominous phrase, to be sure, and further proof that a few rotten apples can ruin things for the whole of us. Hit the links below to get a glimpse of the full damage -- we're warning you, it ain't pretty.
Google Translate for iPhone hits the App Store
iPhone users have been able to use a mobile-optimized HTML5 version of Google Translate for some time now, but they can now finally also get an honest-to-goodness app of their own just like their Android-using friends. That brings with it a number of enhancements over the basic web app, including a speak-to-translate feature with support for 15 languages, the ability to listen to your translations in 23 different languages, and a full-screen mode that lets you show your translated text to others with large, easy-to-read text. Google is still keep a few features exclusive to the Android version, however, including the still-experimental conversation mode that allows for some on-the-fly translations -- both apps are also still lacking a much-needed beatbox mode.
Google Translate for Android turns one, introduces experimental Conversation Mode (video)
We know very well what Google considers beta -- after all, Gmail, Docs, and Calendar all shared that status until mid-2009 -- but here's a chance to check out an experiment from Mountain View that's "still in its earliest stages." Google Translate for Android is celebrating its first birthday this month, and to celebrate, an update will be pushed out offering a number of UI tweaks as well as an alpha version of Conversation Mode. Never heard of it? A demo was given at IFA 2010, but in case you're still in the dark, it essentially lets two speakers talk to one another in their respective native tongues while the app speaks real-time translations. Right now it'll only do English and Spanish -- and even then expect some hiccups with "regional accents, background noise or rapid speech" -- but the Babel fish has to start somewhere. Need more dialects / languages? Be patient, get a job for Google, or better yet, seek gainful employment with NIST / DARPA. Video from the IFA presentation is after the break and starts around the 26-minute mark.
Google Translate gets Doug E. Fresh-approved Beatbox button
We still don't believe that machines (or machine translation, for that matter) will ever replace the artistry that beatbox pioneers like Doug E. Fresh, Darren Robinson (RIP), or that guy from the Police Academy movies brought to the table, but it is nice to see Google acknowledging the wonderfully percussive nature of the German language phrase "pv zk pv pv zk pv zk kz zk pv pv pv zk pv zk zk pzk pzk pvzkpkzvpvzk kkkkkk bsch". [Thanks, benhc911]
Google Translate proves beatboxing is a universal language
Hilarious translations? That's yesterday's news. Google Translate's latest trick is beatboxing, yet another talent once normally reserved for humans but perfected by machines. Don't believe us? Head to site, select German to German translation, paste in the following bit of gibberish, and press the listen button. pv zk pv pv zk pv zk kz zk pv pv pv zk pv zk zk pzk pzk pvzkpkzvpvzk kkkkkk bsch Best of all, you can experiment with different strings of text and various languages to your heart's content. Feel free to post your best results in the comments below.
Google working on voice translator phone, redefining synergy
Okay, so Google has this expansive online translation service, which we all know, use, and sometimes even love. Google also has its own branded phone, with a voice recognition function that we frankly adore. So what's a brave new age company with bottomless pockets to do but try to splice the two together into some kind of omnilingual instant translator? Speech-to-speech translation -- long the exclusive plaything of fanciful sci-fi writers -- is said by Franz Och, Google's head of translation services, to be a viable possibility within a measly couple of years. The Mountain View approach to overcoming the inherent problems of variable pitch, tone and accents in speech will be to use each person's phone to accrue data on his or her linguistic idiosyncrasies, so that the more the phone's voice recognition is used, the more accurate it becomes. Sounds tres bien to us.
