Google Helps Break Down The Language Barrier (In A Brilliant Way)
Today Google announced the release of 29 translating robots that you can just add to your friends list in Google Talk. Then you can talk to them, getting instant translation in return. You can also enter a group chat and use the bots as translators between other people and yourself.
The only downside is that the Google Talk client doesn't seem to support group chats just yet, so you have to use the Gmail in-page one.
I think it's a brilliant idea if you ever deal with foreign languages. How many times have I forgotten a word while translating a paper or trying to talk to my mom back in Ukraine? A quick IM to the en2ru Google bot and …
I was looking through some old papers while cleaning out the closet and found this list that Milla made for my mom when she was visiting. I quickly jotted it down for future reference. Here it is in no particular order:
In San Francisco
- Golden Gate Bridge
- Golden Gate Park
- Twin Peaks
- Legion of Honor (beautiful place!)
- Embarcadero
- Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf
- Ghirardelli Square
- Palace Of Fine Arts
- Lombard Street (the curvy one)
- Alcatraz
- Treasure Island
- Chinatown
- MOMA (Museum Of Modern Art)
- Broadway
- North Beach
- Coit Tower
- City Hall
- The Marina
- Union Square, Downtown
Outside San Francisco
- Sausalito
- Hearst Castle
- Reno
- Winchester Mystery House
- Napa, Sonoma (wine tasting, beautiful nature)
- Stinson Beach
- Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea
- Berkeley, Telegraph
…
Updated: December 19th, 2007
If you haven't heard yet, there's a cool useful little device that you can buy for about $20, called the Kill-A-Watt. You plug it into the power outlet, then plug something into it and observe various fun facts about the plugged in device, such as the power consumption, voltage, amperage, etc. I started plugging things in and recording power consumption that you can see below. Here are the results I got so far (updated often):
- Vizio P50 HDTV 50" plasma
- standby: 0-1W
- on – perfect white screen: 450W (OUCH!)
- on – bright screen: 350-430W
- on – medium brightness: 250-350W
- on – dark scenes: 200-250W
- on – perfect black screen: 185W
- Torchiere floor lamp with a 300W bulb
…