Items tagged with language
It used to feel like Microsoft did whatever it could to not bring its technologies and software solutions to Android, but today, there are literally dozens of Microsoft apps available for the platform. Thankfully, many of them continue to get better and better. The latest improvement comes to Microsoft Translator, a solution the Redmond company would like to make a jack-of-all-trades. The latest update helps that become a reality by matching Google Translate's ability to decipher foreign language text from a sign, piece of paper nearly anywhere. If you've ever used Google Translate's auto-translate feature, you're probably aware that it's sometimes hit-or-miss. For a good chance at a successful...
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Projects like Microsoft’s Skype Translator remind us just how life-changing technology can be. When Microsoft first announced its massive language-translation project earlier this year, the upcoming Skype feature was able to translate a conversation between English and German speakers. Microsoft promised to show us more progress before the end of the year and it did so today, announcing a preview version for the public. When the preview opens before the end of the year, the Skype Translator will translate Skype video chats in English and Spanish. If you haven’t seen Microsoft’s promotional video, check it out – it’s worth the two minutes to see the language barrier being obliterated...
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Recently appointed Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella had an onstage conversation that lasted more than an hour at the inaugural Code Conferences in Ranco Palos Verdes, California, and among the topics that came up is language translation. Not by coincidence, the planned topic allowed Nadella to demo a new capability Microsoft is developing for Skype. The capability is called "Skype Translator," which will allow users who speak different languages to communicate with each other. During the demonstration, Skype showed near real-time audio translation from English to German and German to English. "Skype Translator is a great example of why Microsoft invests in basic research. We’ve...
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When you think Intel, you probably think "CPU." You might also think "USB." But in truth, Intel does a lot more than invest in interconnectors and microprocessors, and increasingly, it is having to look towards entirely new pathways to success. The chip market just isn't as huge as it once was. Dell knows first-hand how tough it is to survive in a "post-PC" world, where fewer and fewer individuals and companies alike are buying new desktops. So, Intel's been acquiring new and emerging technology firms in order to position itself as a technology pioneer, not just a chipmaker. The latest acquisition is Indisys, which Intel purchased quietly this summer. The discovery is just now making the rounds,...
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Communication can be hard, particularly if you and the person you're trying to speak to don't speak the same language. Google's language tools have been making it a little easier for years, but now some of that translation magic is sliding over to Gmail. The company has just added over 100 virtual keyboards, transliteration and IMEs—collectively called input tools—in Gmail. These tools enable you to type in the language and keyboard layout you’re accustomed to, making it easy to keep in touch with family, friends and coworkers from any computer. You can even switch between languages with one click. To try it out, check the box next to Enable input tools under Language in Settings....
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Google Translate for Android now supports speech-to-speech translation for 14 languages. When Google launched the Conversation Mode feature for Google Translate earlier this year, the feature supported only English and Spanish. Now, you'll be able to translate speech for Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Russian, and Turkish. The app is also now optimized for the larger screens found on tablets. Google Translate for Android also supports text translation among 63 languages and text-to-speech in 24 of them. Start the conversation with Google Translate for Android 10/13/2011 01:00:00 PM - Mobile technology and the web have made...
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We have no idea how to say "awesome" in Russian, Japanese or French, but your SYNC system probably will in due time. It's a little like The Matrix, but with your car in place of Neo. Ford has just announced that their SYNC system will expand its vocabulary from three to 19 languages, with the new tongues to be available first in Europe in 2012 with introduction in the Ford Focus. What's crazy about this is that SYNC is a voice-controlled system. That means that SYNC will have to understand and report in 19 languages -- that definitely wasn't easy to code. With the additional 16 vernaculars, Ford will offer voice recognition capability, powered by Nuance Communications, in more languages than...
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Hola! That's about the extent of our Spanish knowledge, but now when we have an Android phone in-hand and a live data connection. The Google Translate app has been assisting users to translate text and websites for quite some time now, but there's always room for improvement. And Google understands that. This week, the company rolled out the newest version of the Google Translate app, officially called Translate for Android, giving it numerous updates that Google hopes will make it easier to interact with. Among other improvements, Google has created better dropdown boxes to help select the languages you want to translate from and into, an improved input box, and cleaner icons and layout. There's...
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Google is quickly becoming synonymous with innovation, as if they weren't already. The same company that turned the search market upside-down is now doing the same for mobile, as Android continues to innovate and impress while the other guys stand around thinking about their next move. Google Goggles is a concept that came to life awhile back, but many people found minor quirks that made it somewhat less awesome than advertised. But this may very well turn things around. As the world continues to become more global in scope, knowing various languages is becoming more and more important. That's far easier said than done, and Google knows it. They're on a mission to bridge the language gap as quickly...
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Google has a history of removing language barriers, but the company hasn't yet made its web-based translation service especially easy to access or use from a mobile device. We knew that Toshiba was actually working on a translation phone, but now the same company responsible for Android and the Nexus One is apparently doing the same thing. Anyone want to guess how this will end?According to a new report Google is hoping to have "a basic" translation system for mobiles in place within a couple of years, and it'll be far more advanced than some app where you still have to punch in a phrase or URL in order to get something translated. Basically the idea is to combine Google's voice recognition technology...
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The world continues to get smaller and smaller, and business is simultaneously becoming more and more a global matter. It's tough to do any business these days without some sort of interaction with someone in a foreign land, so knowing foreign languages has become increasingly important. Of course, it's not exactly easy to learn another language, so there's where the tech companies step in. Shortly after hearing of a simple two-way Spanish-to-English translator for the iPhone, Toshiba has announced that it has developed a new translation system that requires no server-side interaction.The app is designed to be ran completely on one's mobile phone, which will eliminate costly data roaming fees...
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Mozilla has found and removed a virus from its Vietnamese language pack for their Firefox 2 browser. The virus loads remote content, showing the unwitting users unwanted advertising, but does not propagate the virus itself to others. Everyone who downloaded the most recent Vietnamese language pack since February 18, 2008 got an infected copy. While we cannot determine the exact number of compromised downloads, there have been 16,667 total downloads of the Vietnamese language pack since November 2007, so we anticipate the impact on users to be limited.Mozilla does virus scans at upload time but the virus scanner did not catch this issue until several months after the upload. We are...
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Apple has applied for patents on a series of single and multiple touch gestures that will undoubtedly show up in some iteration on their Mac OS X sometime in the future. Of course Apple already uses a limited number of touch commands on some of their hardware, but the series of gestures outlined in the application indicate an enormous amount of possible gesture commands. They also claim to be able to distinguish between various combinations of fingers, including adjacent and non-adjacent finger presses. In particular, they point out that the pinky finger when applied sideways to the trackpad (as in the bottom of a fist) generates a unique pattern and could be used for its own customizable...
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