PC Tech World: language

Showing posts with label language. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Google reportedly acquires natural language processing startup Wavii

Word that Google has snapped up natural language processing startup Wavii first came from TechCrunch, and now the Wall Street Journal is chiming in with its own sources claiming the deal has in fact been struck, and that an announcement is imminent. In its current form, Wavii parses a personalized news feed and distills text into a summary for the top stories, similar to Yahoo's recently-purchased Summly. TechCrunch reports that Apple and Google were locked in a bidding war for the outfit, but the web titan ultimately won with a bid in the neighborhood of $30 million. According to the WSJ, the fledgling firm's talent will join Page and Co.'s web search team, which means the language detection technology may bolster its Knowledge Graph, giving users better results (and direct answers) for their queries. As language recognition permeates Page and Co.'s projects, Google Now and Google Glass could potentially benefit from the acquisition as well. Mountain View has yet to acknowledge the reported purchase, but if the tea leaves are being read correctly, expect that to happen soon.

Source: TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Swedish Language Council drops 'ungoogleable' from new word list after legal pressure from Google

Sweden drops 'ungoogleable' from new word list following legal pressure from Google

The Swedish Language Council appeared on Google's radar when it wanted to add the term ungoogleable (in Swedish, ogooglebar -- yep) to a list of new words. The company didn't want the word nixed, but redefined to reference Google directly and not just any general search engine -- this was the initial meaning of the term. Lawyers got involved, but instead of battling in court, the Language council decided to drop the addition entirely, not due to the objection but to bring more input to the process and avoid any legal time (and money) being wasted. The head of the council, Ann Cederberg said that "it's our use that gives it meaning -- not a multinational company exerting pressure." For now, at least, it looks like the definition is headed in the same direction of the one-time home of the Swedish Chef translator.

Via: Geek

Source: The Local.se

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Babbel brings 11 language learning apps to Windows Phone 8, for free

Yours truly has had some pretty positive experiences with Babbel's existing product line, with the latest being a subscription-based alternative for iPad that makes it a lot more affordable to learn the basics of 11 different tongues. After launching last October on Windows 8, the outfit is showing Microsoft's other major OS a bit of love today. Babbel is bringing its 11 language learning programs to Windows Phone 8, with the apps scheduled to hit the 'Education' segment of the Windows Phone Store any moment now. For those who've yet to give it a whirl, Babbel uses a mix of repetition, visual cues, spelling exercises and voice recognition, and it does a pretty stellar job of segmenting things into digestible lessons for those who only have five or ten minutes at a time to spare.

The apps themselves are free to download, with a company spokesperson explaining to us that the WP8 builds "are mainly vocabulary trainers with 3,000 words broken down into themed lessons." Ideally, the phone apps would supplement a user's learning on their main platform (iPad or desktop). So, at $0.00, your last remaining excuse to not understand what the locals are chatting about in Moorea has been obliterated. Vous êtes les bienvenus.

Source: Babbel

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Google Hangouts receive sign language interpreter support, keyboard shortcuts

Video chat can be an empowering tool for hard-of-hearing internet citizens for whom sign language is easier than voice. Most chat software doesn't easily bring an interpreter into the equation, however, which spurred Google into adding a Sign Language Interpreter app for Google+ Hangouts. The web component lets chatters invite an interpreter that stays in the background while they verbalize hand gestures. Google is also helping reduce dependencies on the mouse for those who can't (or just won't) use one during chat: there's now keyboard shortcuts to start or stop chats, disable the camera and other basics that would normally demand a click. Both the interpreter app and shortcuts are available today.

Via: The Verge

Source: Anna Cavender (Google+)

Saturday, February 9, 2013

O hai, Twitter now has LOLcat language opshun, kthxbai

It's been a busy week at Twitter, what with new rollouts like an upgraded search engine that'll pull in older tweets and a simplified search tool for mobile app users. So it's now time to have some fun. As a little easter egg, the social media giant has secretly added a LOLcat language option to add a bit of internet meme flavor to the normal Twitter web interface. The changes are what you might expect: Twitter is now TWTTR, "Compose new tweet" is COMPOZE NEW TWEET, "conversation" is CONVERSASHUN, "Who to follow" is HOO 2 FOLLOW and so forth. No, your timeline won't automatically transform into a stream of grammatical and spelling errors and your own tweets won't be magically LOLcat-ified either (for that, we suggest hitting the Speak LOLcat translator link below). Still, it's a fun little weekend distraction if you're not quite tired of the I Can Has Cheezburger meme just yet. You'll find "LOLCATZ" under the language drop down section in Settings, or you can just click on the source to check out your Twitter page in all its LOLcat glory.

Via: The Next Web

Source: Twitter (LOLCat language)

More Coverage: Speak LOLcat translator

Thursday, December 20, 2012

LG's latest smart TV Magic Remote can control other devices, understand natural language

We've seen several iterations of LG's Magic remote since it was first introduced in 2010 with gesture control, as it added a click wheel and a mic for voice control (QWERTY for the Google TV), and LG has announced it's returning with a new model at CES in a few days. The new Magic remote keeps all of those features and adds on with universal remote capabilities that let it control other hardware in your home theater, and improved software with Natural Language support. That means you can just say the name of a program or a channel, and see it automatically pop up on the screen. The design of the hardware itself has also been tweaked, with repositioned buttons and, on the premium version that ships with higher end TVs, a smaller model with backlit keys. We'll surely give it another hand waving, command shouting demo once we're in Las Vegas, until then you can just check out another pic and a press release after the break.

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