Translate Text in Real Time with the Google Translate App
There’s a new app from Google Inc. that I recently downloaded called Google Translate. It’s a pretty cool app that translates text in real time.
Here’s the description from the Google Play Store:
• Translate between 90 languages
• Converse naturally and let Google translate
• Translate with your voice, camera, keyboard or handwriting
• Translate offline while traveling. No internet connection needed.
• Save your translations and access from any deviceTranslations between the following languages are supported:
Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Belarusian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Cebuano, Chichewa, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Icelandic, Igbo, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malagasy, Malay, Malayalam, Maltese, Maori, Marathi, Mongolian, Myanmar (Burmese), Nepali, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sesotho, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Sundanese, Swahili, Swedish, Tajik, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Welsh, Yiddish, Yoruba, Zulu
One of the cool features is that using your camera, you can point it at the text that you want to translate and it will instantly translate the text even without internet/data connection.
Here’s a picture of a magazine that I randomly grabbed near me, and the translation from English to French which you can see on my phone using the Google Translate app. That one is actually not in real time as I had to “pause” it, then take a picture. For the record, my phone would not let me take a screenshot while it was translating in real time for some reason.
Phones That Are Confirmed to Get the Android Lollipop Software Update
Android Lollipop, the Android software version 5.0 formerly simply known as Android “L”, has been reported to have a November 3, 2014 release date. No official date has been announced yet by Google however.
The features included in the update include the following:
- A bold, colorful, and responsive UI design for consistent, intuitive experiences across all your devices
- New ways to control when and how you receive messages – only get interrupted when you want to be
- A battery saver feature which extends device use by up to 90 mins
- Use Android Smart Lock to secure your phone or tablet by pairing it with a trusted device like your wearable or even your car
- Multiple users for phones. If you forget your phone, you still can call any of your friends (or access any of your messages, photos etc.) by simply logging into another Android phone running Lollipop.
- Guest user for phones and tablets means you can lend your device and not your stuff
- New handy controls like flashlight, hotspot, screen rotation and cast screen controls
- Improved network handoffs resulting in limited interruption in connectivity. For example, continue your video chat or VoIP calls without interruption as you leave the house and switch from your home Wi-Fi back to cellular
- Even if your screen is off, you can say “OK Google” on devices with digital signal processing support such as Nexus 6 and Nexus 9
The above are just a few of the features available on the latest upcoming update. Keep in mind that not all Android devices will get the software update at the same time. Here is a list of what phones have been confirmed (or almost confirmed) to get the update:
- Google Nexus 6 will come with Android 5.0 already installed.
- Nexus 5
- Nexus 4
HTC
- HTC One M8
- HTC One M7
- Both phones will get the upgrade within 90 days of the software’s final release.
LG
- LG G3 will get the update before the end of the year (not completely confirmed)
- LG G2 will get the update in early 2015 (not completely confirmed)
Motorola
- Moto X
- Moto G
- Moto G LTE
- Moto E
- Droid Ultra
- Droid Maxx
- Droid Mini
Samsung
- Galaxy S5 will get the update by December 2014 (not completely confirmed)
- Galaxy Note 4
- Galaxy S4
- Galaxy Note 3
- Above Samsung phones not completely confirmed at this time.
References:
“Android 5.0, Lollipop”. Android.com. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
Eadicicco, Lisa (October 26, 2014). “Here Are All The Phones Confirmed To Get Google’s Massive Android Update”. Business Insider. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
Bloomberg Game Changers
One weekend a couple of months ago or so, my S.O. and I were looking for something to watch on Netflix and he found this documentary series called Bloomberg Game Changers. The series produced by Bloomberg TV features different business leaders and successful entrepreneurs who “climbed to the top and changed our world” in one way or another. There were a few there that really piqued my interest, namely:
- Apple Founder and former CEO Steve Jobs
- Google Co-Founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page
- Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg
- Amazon.com Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos
- American Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour
- Twitter Co-Founders Evan Williams, Noah Glass, Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone
The list above is hyperlinked to the series videos found on the Bloomberg TV website which I highly recommend to watch. The last one on my list above was actually not available at that time on Netflix and I had just watched it while writing this blog post.
It’s pretty cool learning about these people’s lives as told by their peers and colleagues leading up to the success in whatever they had created. Without these people, the world would definitely be significantly different than what it is today. All of them have contributed to making the world and its people more connected in some way. I think that’s something to be thankful for. (Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!)
Tech-Life in Pink 