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Amazon launches Kindle in Italy and Spain, brings Kindle Store to the Mediterranean
After having already conquered France, Germany and the UK, Amazon has now brought the Kindle and its associated online store to the shores of Italy and Spain. With today's launch, Iberian users will be able to choose from a selection of more than 22,000 Spanish-language titles, which they can now devour on their very own Kindle devices, available for the first time on Amazon.es. Italian readers will have a slightly smaller selection to choose from, with about 16,000 native-language books available online, though they too now have a Kindle to call their own, giving them access to Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing service, as well Both country-specific versions of the e-reader are available for €99 at the source link below, but curious lettori can dig up more information in the dueling press releases, after the break.
RIM, Telefonica announce NFC trial, aim to launch mobile wallet next year
RIM's NFC campaign is about to roll into Iberia, now that the BlackBerry manufacturer has announced a new partnership with Madrid-based Telefonica. This week, the two companies unveiled plans to begin testing a mobile payment and ID card system across the Spanish capital, in the hopes of launching commercial services next year. The so-called Telefonica Wallet for BlackBerry trial will involve some 350 Telefonica employees and a select group of testers within Madrid, each of whom will be able to make payments, access offices and check bank statements from their BlackBerry handsets. Telefonica's Matthew Key told Reuters that his company chose RIM to participate in the trial primarily because of the security of its BlackBerry platform, stressing the importance of earning enough consumer trust to handle sensitive personal data. No specifics yet on when or where the carrier will launch a full payment system, though Key said that Telefonica's aiming to bring it to a handful of markets in 2012.
Spanish version of Perfect World International is on the way
Despite the name, Perfect World International has always been fairly national after all. Or at least, it's been limited in the sense that unless you can read the game's English text, you're going to have a hard time navigating it. Fortunately for players in Latin America, Aeria Games is currently in closed beta testing for a Spanish version of the game client, complete with all of the game's content and free expansions to date. The official site for the Spanish version is up, along with registration options for players hoping to take part in the testing and refinement of the title. We've also received a few preview screenshots of the game in its current incarnation, although ironically enough none of these screenshots features text in any language. If you're hoping to be able to play the game in a language other than English, keep your eye on the localization of this title in the coming months. [Source: Aeria Games press release] %Gallery-12224%
Google expands Voice Actions across Europe, with multi-language support (video)
Android users across Europe are waking up to some bonnes nouvelles this morning, because Google has now expanded its Voice Actions service to France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. Beginning today, loquacious smartphone and tablet users will be able to place calls, send texts and conduct Google searches by speaking into their devices. All you have to do is press the microphone button on your home screen's Google search field and open the Voice Search app, or simply press the physical search button on your handset to bring up the "Speak Now" field. From there, you can begin chattering away in French, German, Italian, Spanish and real British English. Interested parties running Android 2.2 or above can get started by downloading the Voice Search app from the source link below, or by checking out Google's demo video, after the break.
US judge won't return seized URL to Rojadirecta.com, absolutamente no
Welcome to the homepage of popular sports streaming and p2p site Rojadirecta.com. Why all the birdy logos and harsh words about going to prison? Well, it's a convoluted story, which began when a whole bunch of sports sites -- including Rojadirecta -- were summarily seized by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, based on "probable cause to believe" they'd been involved in copyright infringement. Awkwardly, the Spanish owners of this particular site had already been cleared of any wrongdoing by courts in Spain, but this counted for nada because their .com URL was American. So, their one hope was to convince a US judge that the seizure violated the First Amendment and should be overturned. This case won support from freedom of speech activists like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, but on Thursday it finally failed. The presiding judge ruled that no rights had been violated, because Rojadirecta could easily set up shop at a non-US address and continue to function. Bad news indeed for the Spaniards -- maybe they should move to the UK, where due process takes a whole lot longer.
Aeria Games announces Golden Age
A new contender in the field of MMO real-time strategy titles has appeared: Golden Age. If you're all about constructing castles, building up armies, and clashing in epic battles, Aeria Games is hoping that this title will sate your bloodlust. As players commit warfare against each other and computer-controlled enemies, Golden Age allows bystanders to participate as well. Players can vote for their favorite army when a battle convenes, and the army with the most votes gets bonus soldiers for the fight. When not fighting, players will build up their fortresses using over 20 types of structures and also talk to inhabitants of the town to see whether any of them has a quest for you to do. Aeria Games promises that the browser-based Golden Age will be free-to-play and will be released with both English and Spanish translations. You can check out the teaser site and register for the beta now. We give you permission -- just finish your vegetables first.
Dell freshens up Inspiron M5030 with Spanish-language keyboard, claims it's first of its kind in US
The Athlon-powered M5030 from Dell hardly looked like a machine that would be bearing an "industry first" label when it launched in September of last year, but now it's doing exactly that thanks to an intriguing new mod from its maker. The 15.6-incher is being released with its keyboard and Windows 7 installation customized in Spanish, neither of which would be unusual were it not for the fact that it's going to be on sale in the US. It's not exactly a vast overhaul, as only a couple of physical keys are swapped out and switching Win 7 into and out of Spanish mode can be done in the time it takes to click a mouse, but still, it's significant in that it services the speakers of the States' second most commonly used language. Pricing for the M5030 en español is set at $499 and includes a 320GB HDD and 4GB of RAM. For an entirely free video of an excitable Dell employee telling you about it, jump past the break.
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.
Word Lens hands-on: Does it really translate text in real-time?
Word Lens hit the store with a bang, promising real-time translation of signs, menus, and any other text your camera can capture. Does the augmented-reality app work? Somewhat, yes. Is it the future? Definitely. We're just not there yet. I'll let the images in the gallery tell the story. But first, a quick rundown of what to expect when you download this free app. Using Word Lens It is fun to point your camera at text in the real world and see the iPhone start replacing text. There's your future part. Character recognition flops all over the place if you don't hold your hand steady, of course, but when you hit the pause button Word Lens snaps a pic and analyzes the text it has captured. There's a little camera control you can use, including a camera light (for when you're at Casa Bonita), basic zoom and focusing square (on supported iPhones like the 3GS, 4 and 4th-gen touch running iOS 4). With the $0.99 entry fee you get two demo modes: reverse text and erase text. Erasing text is hilarious. Reversing it gives you a headache. If you pay $4.99 you download the Spanish-to-English dictionary leading to the real usefulness of the app. Does it really work? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Photo Tests To test Word Lens, I picked three Spanish-language signs from Flickr to translate. Photo 1 is a warning sign along the US-Mexico border warning of exposure if a crossing is attempted. Cuidado means caution or take care. Now see the first result from Word Lens as it tried to translate while the camera was not paused. Here's attempt number two from the gallery, also showing real-time results. In neither case has the video been paused as a photo for analysis. Photo 2 is a sign from a men's restroom in Xalapa. Translated, it means "if you're going to vomit, put your hands here." Here's the Word Lens version: "IF WILL TO VOMIT FAVOUR OF PUT THE HANDS HERE." The picture on the right shows how Word lens underlines the letters/words it replaced. In this case, I did pause the camera and gave the app time to think. Photo 3 is an elevator sign found in Spain which reads, "Warning don't get close to the entrance. Prevent children from using the lift alone." Well, it used to. Instead the letters have been scratched off so it now says "You get close to the entrance, encourage children to go down alone." Word Lens translated this to say what you see in this screenshot. Kinda funny, but a tough challenge. The underlined words again show you the things which were translated. The Verdict Overall, Word Lens does an impressive job of recognizing characters. Its Spanish dictionary suffers a bit, and it is not performing advanced translations as Google would (not that Google Translate is perfect by any means). However, as a first step it is really impressive. If Word Lens was tied into a more powerful translating service, it would be magical. It's pretty close already. %Gallery-111602%
Telemundo lines up all HD programming for primetime
Not even a year after it began national HDTV broadcasts, Telemundo has announced its entire primetime programming schedule will be broadcast in high definition once Donde Esta Elisa premieres March 8. It's become the first Spanish language network in the U.S. to achieve the feat (it's alright Univision, at least you have the World Cup) and is a move we're sure fellow telenovela fans will appreciate. Now all we need to find out is where is Elisa?
Univision & Telefutura en HD starting Monday
Spanish speaking HDTV owners in the U.S. can expect the other shoe to drop this week, with Univision and Telefutura stepping up to high-definition broadcasts starting Monday. The cutover will be staggered, with New York and LA going first at 12:02 a.m. Monday morning, followed by other markets throughout the week. The network's first all HD program will be the Tournament of Roses parade broadcast January 1. As promised, it's followed Telemundo to higher quality in plenty of time for the World Cup next year, sadly now we're just wondering when they'll switch over to 3D. [Thanks, Andres]
PlayStation Blog: now with more Spanish!
Announced via the European PlayStation Blog, today marks el primer dia of the Spanish language PlayStation Blog. Sony has been expanding its reach of PlayStation-centric blogs from the original US one for months now, first branching into the UK and establishing a European base, then localizing that blog for Italy and Germany, and now Spanish. The PlayStation Blog in Spanish will focus on Europe-specific events rather than Latin American, and is said to feature localized news in addition to Spanish language versions of the EU blog's posts. The blog's first post introduces us to Mónica Revilla – one half of the team running the site – and, well, there's an adorable picture of a dog. We're not sure of everything Mónica says in her first post, but we sure do like cute doggies.
GeeksPhone One now available for pre-order, launching in Spain this December
Apparently not pushed back until January, GeeksPhone's Android-imbued smartphone, the One, is launching in Spain this December, recently-added physical keyboard and all. So far, the limited edition run will not be crossing Spanish borders on its own, but we doubt that'll stop any interested parties on foreign land. Final price will be 285 euro (US $427), 22 of which is all you need to put down to reserve yours today. [Via Engadget Spanish]
GeeksPhone One in the wild, now packing a physical keyboard
Remember the Spanish-borne Android device GeeksPhone One? It was late June when we got our first (and so far only) look at the phone. Of course we've been wanting some more time, but apparently Xataka's beaten us to the punch, and lo and behold, she's gotten herself a shiny new physical keyboard. The site stresses that the user interface isn't done and the icons temporary, but does note that the keyboard is comfortable and the total weight and size is apparently comparable to the HTC Dream / Ion / MyTouch 3G. Additionally, our compadres at Engadget Spanish have read that One's release been pushed back from fall until sometime in January. We'll certainly be keeping an eye out, but given the bevy of Android options on the horizon, we can't promise we'll be waiting. Read - One in the wild Read - One delayed until January
Runes of Magic opens closed beta for French and Spanish users
Runas de Magica y el pollo es muy delicioso para la cena! Ok, so our Spanish is a little rusty, we're missing some accent marks, and we probably just said that Runes of Magic tastes good with chicken, but what we mean to say is that the closed beta for Runes of Magic in Spain and France has begun.Now anyone from those two countries, or anyone who wants to have their client in French or Spanish, can enjoy Runes of Magic in those languages. With the closed beta comes the launch of the French and Spanish Runes of Magic websites as well, so feel free to scurry on over and register.The final date for launch for these two countries hasn't been confirmed yet, but the game will be shipping out with The Elven Prophecy, giving their launches a timeframe of either launching with the new expansion or shortly thereafter.
Univision going HD in time for the 2010 World Cup
Just when we were wondering about Univision's plans for HD, comes word that it is rolling out high definition throughout the 2009-10 broadcast season, ready in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. also to be in HD? Video on-demand packages, as well as broadcasts on the Telefutura group, but if soccer / football isn't your thing, don't worry, there should be plenty of telenovelas and other entertainment specials in the coming year as well.[Via Multichannel News]
QuickArmory offers localization, boss tallying
Our friends over at QuickArmory, which is a site with a whole slew of extras for parsing and checking out Armory information, have sent along a list of updates to what they've done lately. The site itself is still pretty barebones (it focuses on getting information together fast rather than flashy graphics or layouts), but they've added new details to what you can see on a character view. In addition to the usual achievements, you can mouse over the title of each instance, and it will tell you how many times the character has killed each boss that's tracked in the game.And they've also added localization support -- next to the box where you put the character's name in, you can choose to see the site in English, German, French, Spanish, or Russian. Some of the achievements, we're told, aren't fully translated, but that's quite a feature on an "Armory lite" site.QuickArmory isn't necessarily the most robust Armory site out there, but it's still really good at getting you lots of information on one character quickly. If you do a lot of Armory searching for PuGs or just like learning about the various characters on your server, it's definitely worth a bookmark.
Telemundo kicks off national HD broadcasts April 23
Say hello to the first Spanish-language network offering HD at "both the local and network levels," we'll be checking out not only telenovelas in high definition, as Telemundo gets started with the 2009 Billboard Latin Music Awards April 23. Stats have shown a high rate of acceptance of HDTV within the Spanish speaking community, and Telemundo cited a survey indicating half of the respondents own an HDTV already. The first cities with HD on deck are Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas, Chicago, New York, Dallas, San Francisco, Houston and Puerto Rico, with the rest falling in line over the next year. Univision, you're up.
EGM en Espaol est muerto
For our unilingual readers whose loose grasp on the Spanish language sent that headline careening over their heads, the Spanish version of EGM is shutting down, according to editorial director Adrián Carbajal. Their upcoming December issue (the one with the Watchmen game on the cover) will effectively serve as their last installment after a little more than six years of publication. It should come as no surprise that the main reason Carbajal cited for the collapse of EGM en Español is the seemingly perilous future of the English language version of the mag. Should yesterday's report that UGO is looking to purchase the 1UP network sans the twenty-year-old EGM come to fruition, it's unlikely that we'll see many more issues of the gaming magazine we tucked oh-so-many times into our Junior High textbooks.[Thanks, Josué]
EU battlegroups experiencing language problems after mergers
Tipster Nimm writes in to let us know that several EU battlegroups have been having serious issues after mergers that occurred post-patch 3.02. The mergers have seen a number of battlegroups acquiring servers with other language-dominant populations, which has resulted in a number of French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian-dominant servers (among others) all in the same battlegroups. While this is probably necessary to a certain degree to guarantee equal Alliance/Horde populations for quick queue times, it's become something of a communication nightmare in battleground matches, particularly those with lots of players using Cyrillic characters. As the player Thoughtless from the Karazhan realm asks, "Can you imagine how hard it is to organise any sort of teamplay in AB with player ???????? from <????????> guild cha(t)ting "?????? ??? ??????? ??????? ?????" in BG chat?" Nimm also notes that differentiating between ??????? enemy players is a nightmare.We knew that Blizzard was closing four EU realms (Stonemaul, Molten Core, Shadowmoon, and Warsong) and transferring remaining players to other realms in response to Russian player migration to Russian realms opened late summer 2008, and the problem's partially the result of that (which has already resulted in the inevitable "In Soviet Russia, battlegroups merge you" joke). A few amused people are rising to the occasion by translating such phrases as inc 5 schmiede (inc 5 blacksmith in German) or proposing a revival of Esperanto, but the Russian language pack would be the only possible solution for the ???? problem. There's been mention made that this is only a temporary fix on Blizzard's part to faction imbalances on battlegroups, but if you're on an EU realm that's seen a recent battlegroup merge, just be aware that Babelfish might be a useful tool in the near future.
