Translate everything with your mobile phones camera!

Easier conversations and translation of texts with your mobile phones camera, with the new Google Translate!

 Google has released a major upgrade for the application of Google Translate for Android and iOS, which now turns your smartphone into a powerful translation tool.

 The first of the two new features of the new version is the better support of multilingual conversation with the user being asked to press the microphone function only once in the application, then "speak" to the application, and the application will recognize it and translates to one of the supported languages. The other party gets the text already translated in his own language, the application to recognizes it automatically, and translates it in near real time into text and reads it out at the same time.

 The second major upgrade of the application, is the feature of Word Lens, through which you can use the camera of your smartphone, take a picture of text or a sign, then the application translates it into one of the 36 supported languages .

 As mentioned by Google, the use of this function might be useful in your travels so that you can read for example Italian billboards in Milan, or choose what to eat in Barcelona. Indeed it can be translate in real time all you need to do is turn the camera of your mobile on a billboard or in a text, and you will see it translated on your screen, even if you have no internet connection. This function translates from English to French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish and vice versa and soon more languages will be added.

 Google's goal is to create a single translator via smartphone, a world "where the language is no longer an obstacle in finding information or contact with other cultures."

 Download it here: For Android/ For iOS 
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 Source: insidesearch
 

Windows Phone 8.1 Becomes Available to Devs and Risk Takers

After an 18-month lull, Windows Phone took a step closer to an upgrade on Monday as Microsoft released version 8.1 of the operating system to developers.

Unlike most developer versions of software, however, consumers can download and run the latest edition of Windows Phone on their mobile device -- as long as they're willing to void its warranty until their carrier OKs the upgrade.

Although developers and brave consumers can get their hands on Windows Phone 8.1 this week, it will be a few months before its fortunes in the market can be determined.



Catching Up

"It's a little too early to judge it," Yankee Group Research Director Carl Howe told TechNewsWorld.

"Is it going to take the world by storm?" he mused. "Only when people can get it. Most people aren't going to void the warranty on their phone to get Windows 8.1."

Consumers familiar with the major mobile operating systems, Android and iOS, will find many of the new features in Windows Phone familiar.

"A number of the features seem like catch-up features," said Ross Rubin, principal analyst with Reticle Research, told TechNewsWorld.

Features like a "shade" that can be pulled down to view recent notifications sent to the phone and a speaking digital assistant are already in Android and iOS, he noted. Word Flow is similar to the Android app Swype, a method for using a virtual keyboard by swiping keys instead of poking them.

Nevertheless, the new version will help keep Windows Phone in parity with its competition in the market, Rubin said.
New Digital Assistant

With WP 8.1, Microsoft has improved the software's distinctive home screen, increasing the number of columns available for live tiles, adding transparency to the tiles, and allowing them to be sized to taste. In addition, a user can choose a favorite photo as a background for the tiles.

Connecting to free wireless hotspots should be easier with Wi-Fi Sense, a feature that automatically connects to free hotspots and networks previously logged into.

The new version of Windows Phone offers tools for managing data, storage and power. Data Sense provides a picture of data use and offer solutions for conserving it. Storage Sense helps manage storage on a phone, including making recommendations when data should be shipped to an SD card in order to conserve on-board storage. Battery Saver can extend battery life by shutting down all but essential features as the battery's juice supply dwindles.

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source:TechNewsWorld

Android 4.4.3 features leaked

Reports and change-logs for the upcoming Android 4.4.3 release suggest that the latest iteration of Google's mobile OS will focus solely on bug fixes. So don't go expecting a refreshed UI or any major new features.

There's no date set for when the fixes are going to come in, but the source that reported the news provided a screen capture from a Nexus 5 rocking Android 4.4.3

Below is a list of some of the fixes that will be included in the update:

•Frequent data connection dropout fix

•mm-qcamera-daemon crash and optimization fixes

•Camera focus in regular and HDR modes fixes

•Power Manager display wakelock fix

•Multiple Bluetooth fixes

•Fix for a random reboot

•App shortcuts sometimes got removed from launcher after update

•USB debugging security fix

•App shortcuts security fix

•Wi-Fi auto-connect fix

•Other camera fixes

•MMS, Email/Exchange, Calendar, People/Dialer/Contacts, DSP, IPv6, VPN fixes

•Stuck in activation screen fix

•Missed call LED fix

•Subtitle fixes

•Data usage graph fix

•Internet telephony fix

•FCC compliance fix

•Miscellaneous fixes

Are you excited about any of these upcoming fixes?

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source:GSMArena

Google Introduces an Android for Smart Watches

 Google hasn’t found a hit in making computers, Internet-connected glasses or smartphones. Maybe a wristwatch will do the trick.

 The search giant on Tuesday announced Android Wear, a version of Android tailored specifically for wearable computers, starting with watches. The company said in a blog post that the software will initially focus on health monitoring and using a watch to remotely control other devices.

 The software system will be open to software developers beginning Tuesday. More details will likely be announced at Google I/O, its annual conference for software developers.

 One of the first so-called smart watches running the software will come from LG Electronics, the South Korean electronics maker. Google said it was also already working on watches with Asus, HTC, Motorola and Samsung.

 LG said that after users say to the watch, “OK Google,” followed by a voice command, the screen would present relevant information. That is similar to the voice-controlled system used for navigating Google Glass, the Internet-connected monocle, and Moto X, the smartphone that Motorola developed for Google.

 Google collaborated closely with LG on the design and the engineering of the watch, according to Jong-seok Park, chief executive of LG’s mobile communications division.

 Expanding Android into wearable computing is indicative of Google’s continued interest in hardware, despite its spotty track record with physical products.

 Google’s Glass, which has been an object of envy among gadget enthusiasts and the subject of derision among others, is not yet in wide production. And while Google has poured money and resources into making smartphones and laptops, the more successful Google-branded devices weren’t made by Google itself, but by partners like Samsung Electronics and LG, which have made popular Nexus devices.

With the G Watch, LG and Google will follow the footsteps of Samsung, which introduced a smart watch last year. Apple is also developing a smart watch, according to multiple people briefed on the project.

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source:The New York Times

EmoSpark an AI cube, with android!!!

EmoSpark is an Android-powered AI cube that reacts to your mood.

 People tend to be a little creeped out by a machine pretending to be human, as evidenced by the almost universal uncanny valley response to humanoid robots. However, that doesn’t mean it is a bad idea for technology to be a little more human in the way it responds to us. The EmoSpark is an attempt to make "artificial intelligence" more friendly by packing the AI into a small cube that can recognize and react to your emotional state.

 The EmoSpark console is only 3.5-inches on a side and fits in the palm of your hand. It is being designed by inventor Patrick Rosenthal who wants to use the EmoSpark to recognize not only people, but their emotions in real time. The cube does this with traditional face-tracking technology and a content analysis engine developed by Rosenthal. Theoretically, by glancing at you, the EmoSpark will be capable of differentiating between basic human emotions.

 Our "brains" are hardwired to recognize emotions in others — the tiniest cues can tip us off that someone is angry or upset. For a machine, though, it’s a herculean effort to extract a signal from the noise of human expressions. Rosenthal says the key to allowing the EmoSpark to recognise emotion is a dedicated chip called the Emotion Processing Unit (EPU). Users interact with the cube through voice or text via a smartphone, tablet, or computer. This allows the EmoSpark to build a so-called Emotional Profile Graph (EPG) of itself — each EmoSpark becomes unique. Combine this with face tracking, and the device can get a sense of a person’s mood.

 -Video: EmoSPARK | The First Artificial Intelligence Home Console - Official Release

 Assuming the EmoSpark is able to figure out your mood, what can it do with that information? At first, not very much. As it is starting to get to know a person, the AI is able to recommend various songs, videos, and other content on sites like YouTube and Facebook. As the cube’s EPG gets more advanced, it will be better able to respond verbally to people it recognizes. This is essentially 

a machine that learns empathy. The EmoSpark will have an API that allows app developers to plug into the EPG. This will graft new abilities onto the EmoSpark, giving it new ways to interact with its human friends.

 The EPU that powers the facial tracking and empathy business is a custom-built 20MHz chip, but that’s not the only hardware at work. The EmoSpark also contains a 1.8GHz CPU, 2GB of RAM, and an internal WiFi antenna. The interface shown on your screen while the cube is "learning" 

about you is running on top of Android, which should make integrating EmoSpark easier for developers.

 EmoSpark is currently on Indiegogo with almost two months to go. The creator is seeking $100,000 to build the device, but it’s a flexible funding campaign, meaning everything pledged will be handed over even if the goal isn’t reached. The $224 early bird deal gets you one EmoSpark to be delivered in May 2014.

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 source: extremetech.com