Google on Thursday released free software that lets smartphones based on its Android operating systems be used as language translation tools.
Google enhanced its Goggles application to read and translate English, French, Italian, German or Spanish after pictures of words are taken with cameras built into smartphones such as the Internet giant’s Nexus One.
“We are hard at work extending our recognition capabilities to other Latin-based languages,” Google software engineers Alessandro Bissacco and Avi Flamholz said in a message posted on the California firm’s Web site. “Our goal is to eventually read non-Latin languages [such as Chinese, Hindi and Arabic] as well.”
Goggles is “computer vision” software that lets smartphone users do Internet searches based on pictures taken with the gadgets instead of typed in search queries.
Along with translation, the latest version of Goggles was enhanced to better read bar codes and recognize a larger array of artwork, products and logos.
“Computer vision is a hard problem,” the engineers said. “While we are excited about Goggles v1.1, we know that there are many images that we cannot yet recognize.”
The latest Goggles program is available as a free download for devices running on Android version 1.6 or higher.
Separately, Nokia Corp will launch new smartphones to “help close the gap” with competitors that have overtaken the world’s top cellphone maker in the market for high-end devices, its chief executive said on Thursday.
While Nokia remains a global leader in smartphones, it’s struggling to compete in the expensive segment with rivals such as iPhone maker Apple Inc and Research in Motion Ltd, which makes BlackBerry handsets.
Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said the Finland-based company has “plenty of work to do,” as the company’s share price continued a two-week slide.
“This year, Nokia is planning to introduce a new generation of devices that is expected to help close the gap with the competition in high-end smartphones,” he said.
The Nokia chief was speaking amid Finnish media speculation that he would be forced to step down, as the company was seen as losing out against chief rivals.
Nokia stock continued its slide on Thursday — closing down more than 1.5 percent at 8.94 euros in Helsinki — after it plunged 14 percent on the April 21 release of its first-quarter earnings report.
Although net profit in the period almost tripled to 349 million euros (US$442.6 million), with strong growth in smart phone sales and 3 percent growth in total revenue, markets had expected a more upbeat forecast and saw increased competition as hurting Nokia.
“The recession coincided with our transformation as well as changes in our device portfolio,” Kallasvuo said. “With all these factors together, it resulted in a decrease in operating profit and earnings per share.”
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
PETITIONS: A Democratic Progressive Party official quoted President William Lai as saying that civil society groups are organizing the recall drives at the grassroots level Some civil society groups yesterday announced that they have collected enough signatures to pass the first-stage threshold to initiate a recall vote against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators in 18 constituencies nationwide, saying that they would submit the signatures to the Central Election Commission (CEC) today. They also said that they expected to pass the threshold in eight more constituencies in the coming days, meaning the number of KMT legislators facing a recall vote could reach 26. The groups set up stations to collect signatures at local marketplaces and busy commercial districts. The legislators their petition drives target include Fu