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NTT DoCoMo translation app converts languages in real time (hands-on video)
Last year at CEATEC, we saw NTT DoCoMo demo its translation app, which made life easier by translating a Japanese menu into English text. This time around the carrier is showing off the new Hanashite Hon'yaku service for Android devices, which can translate spoken Japanese to English and vice versa (it supports a total of 10 languages, including French, German and Korean). In addition to providing an on-screen translation, the system reads out your speaking partner's words in your language.To use the service, you need an Android-enabled (2.2 and higher) device running on either the carrier's spumode or moperaU plan. Provided you fit those requirements, you'll simply have to dial the other party, speak into the phone and wait for it to play back your words in a foreign tongue. Of course, you can also use the service in person, which is exactly what we did at DoCoMo's booth. When we gave it a test run with some simple questions ("Where are you from?", "What time is it?"), the app had no trouble spitting back those phrases in Japanese so the DoCoMo rep could respond. When he answered in Japanese, the translation to English was equally seamless, taking just a second or two to communicate that he is from Japan. Though the app is free, you'll have to pay call and data charges (using the service for face-to-face conversation only entails a data fee). The cross-cultural barriers will break down starting November 1st, but you can get a glimpse of the service in action just after the break.
Google, Mozilla and Wikimedia projects get Maya language translations at one-day 'translathon'
Twenty native speakers of Yucatec, Mexico's most widely spoken Mayan tongue, met last Thursday to help bring the language to Google, Mozilla and Wikimedia projects. The event, dubbed Mozilla Translathon 2012, was organized to provide translations for Firefox, Google's Endangered Languages Project, the WikiMedia software that powers Wikipedia and 500 crowdsourced articles, to boot. Finding the right words, however, can often be a tricky proposition. "There are words that can't be translated," Mozilla's Mexico representative Julio Gómez told CNNMéxico. "In Maya, file doesn't exist. Tab doesn't exist." Gómez continues to explain that the group may keep foreign words as-is, or find other terms to represent the same ideas. In addition to software localization, it's believed that the effort could allow Maya speakers to "recover their identity and their cultural heritage," according to Wikimedia México president Iván Martínez. If you'd like to peruse wiki articles in the indigenous language, check out the source links below.
AT&T kills cheap data. I'm still cranky.
It's been a couple of weeks now since I learned that AT&T hated me. Okay, maybe not personally, but certainly they hate the way I use data. If you haven't been following along with this story it goes like this. I received a text from AT&T, telling me that my US$5 autorenewal data package was boosted from 10 MB to 50 MB. I rejoiced but my glee was short-lived. Shortly thereafter, readers tipped me off about the bad news: AT&T was about to cancel my autorenewal, insist that I pay an extra $25/month (at least) for a voice service package I didn't want or need. My current data would no longer roll over, which is why I was paying $5/month to begin with. It wasn't about 10MB, it was about keeping my data balance active. I'm an iOS developer. I try to have live SIMs around for testing during development on my non-contract devices. Until April 30th, I could spend $100 per year and have a SIM that provided data and voice for light usage. It was exactly what I needed. Then AT&T changed its policy. "Customers on certain GoPhone voice plans ($2/day and the $0.10/min option) need to subscribe to a monthly plan in order to use a data package. (Customers on those two plans can still pay a PPU rate for data, of course...) Qualifying monthly plans are the $50 Unlimited Talk & Text nationwide plan for GoPhone smartphones and the $25 Unlimited Text with 250 minutes nationwide GoPhone plan. " Translated into English, this means: "Unless you pay another $25 a month for a plan you do not need and will not use, coughing up an additional $300/year, your simple and affordable data-enabled SIM is toast." Great. So what am I doing? For now, I'm letting my extra SIMs go dark and I'm using my 4S's data exclusively. Meanwhile, I'm trying to wrap my head around why it's so important for carriers to kill a la carte data. It just doesn't make any sense to me, especially when AT&T continues to offer similar plans (admittedly for $15/month not $5/month) on the iPad. So did AT&T's policy change hit you? How are you taking it and what do you plan to do in response? Let me know. Share in the comments.
Word Lens augmented reality app instantly translates whatever you point it at
Augmented reality and optical character recognition have just come into their own, beautifully intertwined into an instant translation app for the iPhone. Download Word Lens, pay $4.99 for a language pack, then point it at a sign and watch as it replaces every word with one in your native tongue. It's a little bit like Pleco, but without the whole language learning stuff. We just gave it a spin, and while it's not quite as accurate as this video claims, it's still breathtaking to behold -- especially as it doesn't require an internet connection to do any lookup. Sadly, it only translates to and from English and Spanish for now. Still, Babelfish, eat your heart out. Update: Looks like it only works on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and the latest iPod touch for now.
Disgaea Infinite trailer makes as much sense as the other Disgaea games
That Disgaea Infinite trailer that snuck out in Japanese a little while back has now been officially released and translated into almost-English and, while it's a little harsh to call the series "the ultimate grind-fest" (unless fans want to wear that title as a badge of honor), this weird little adaptation that turns the strategy RPG into a "visual novel" adventure game still looks interesting. Last we heard, this one was due out for the PSP in May, but this trailer actually says June of 2010. We checked in with NIS America, and they informed us that the game is due out on June 8th of this year. Look for it as a downloadable title on PSN then.
