Speaking in more languages

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Vlad Patryshev, software engineer</span><br /><br />Many Google products (<a href="http://www.google.com/">Google.com</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Blogger</a>, <a href="http://earth.google.com/">Google Earth</a>, and others) currently support more than 170 languages, from Abhazian to Zulu. Translations into most of these languages are done by volunteers from around the world who are eager to help people view and search the web in their own native language. To facilitate how we go about getting these languages, we created a volunteer translation program: <a href="http://www.google.com/transconsole">Google In Your Language</a>.<br /><br />Anybody can sign up as a volunteer translator by visiting the <a href="http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en"> Language Tools</a> page and then clicking on the <a href="http://www.google.com/transconsole">Google in Your Language link</a>. After verification, you'll be offered a list of products to translate, including the main search site, Gmail, iGoogle, Google Maps, and many others<br /><br />Although the amount of translation for each project is not overwhelming, it usually takes weeks for an individual volunteer to finish translating one site. Once a reasonable percentage of translations for Google pages in a given language is submitted, we'll add your language to production and, after a bit of time, you'll be able to see them in yet another language.<br /><br />Some "volunteer" languages are well represented and are nearly finished being translated, i.e. Armenian, Estonian, Slovenian are 95% complete; even Latin has 70% of its translations done. Representatives of other languages are not as active, i.e. Abhazian has been available for several years, but so far we don't have enough translations completed to release it into production. Tibetan, Inupak, Inuktikut, Wolof, Zhuang all have less than 10% of their content translated. Interestingly, each of those has more speakers than Faroese, which has 74% of texts translated.<br /><br />Recently we have added a bunch of new languages to the Google In Your Language program, including Navajo, Filipino, several Russian Federation languages (Avaric, Chechen, Chuvash, Komi), and some African languages (Akan, Bambara, Gikuyu, Kongo, Ndebele, Ndongo, Nyanja, Venda). Our hope is to attract even more volunteers to participate in this program so that Google can speak all the world's languages one day.

Speaking in more languages

Posted by Vlad Patryshev, software engineerMany Google products (Google.com, Blogger, Google Earth, and others) currently support more than 170 languages, from Abhazian to Zulu. Translations into most…

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Google Desktop for the Mac in 9 more languages

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Rose Yao, Mac Product Manager</span><br /><br />In April we <a href="http://googlemac.blogspot.com/2007/04/google-desktop-for-mac_04.html">launched Google Desktop for the Mac</a> to further our goal of delivering great products on the Mac and making them universally available on all platforms. A big thanks to all of you for using Desktop for the Mac, and for sharing your feedback. Today we're tackling the second part of that "universal" goal: now Google Desktop for the Mac is available in 9 more languages: Chinese Simplified and Traditional, Dutch, UK English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. There's more on this on the <a href="http://desktop.google.com/mac">Desktop for Mac site</a>.<br /><br />We look forward to lots more of you trying it and sending us feedback from all over, and in different languages. We hope you like it, and encourage you to watch for more updates from our <a href="http://googlemac.blogspot.com/">Google Mac team</a>.

Google Desktop for the Mac in 9 more languages

Posted by Rose Yao, Mac Product ManagerIn April we launched Google Desktop for the Mac to further our goal of delivering great products on the Mac and making them universally available on all platform…

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Supporting GrandCentral's Project CARE

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet, Product Managers</span><br /><br />For homeless people and others in need, not having a stable phone number can be crippling: you need one to follow up on medical appointments, keep in touch with friends and loved ones, and hear back from prospective employers.<br /><br />When we <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/all-aboard.html">acquired</a> GrandCentral Communications last month, we were pleased to embrace their Project CARE initiative, which provides a permanent local phone number and unlimited voicemail service to people who need a way to stay connected.<br /><br />GrandCentral has been operating Project CARE ("Communications and Respect for Everybody") since April 2006, and with the help of more than <a href="http://www.grandcentral.com/about/projectcare/">20 community outreach partners</a> has provided more than 5,000 phone numbers and served close to 100,000 voicemail messages to homeless and needy people in the Bay Area. Someone calling a number from Project CARE will have the same experience as someone calling a standard phone number, and voicemail messages can be stored as long as they're needed.<br /><br />A big part of Project CARE has been GrandCentral's participation in San Francisco's <a href="http://www.sfconnect.org/AboutUs/index.php/homeless_connect/phc_our_mission.html?">Project Homeless Connect</a> events. Every other month, these gatherings bring service providers like GrandCentral together with volunteers at an all-day fair to provide services to the homeless. In fact, <a href="http://www.sfconnect.org/specialevents/viewSpecialEvent.php?_mode=eventDetail&_action=eventDetail&ixSpecialEvent=10" id="opyx">there's an event today</a>, starting at 8:30 AM (PDT) at <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Bill+Graham+Auditorium+99+Grove+Street+94012&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;ie=UTF8&ll=37.778415,-122.418122&spn=0.022183,0.028968&z=15&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;iwloc=A&om=1" id="i9cy">Bill Graham Civic Auditorium</a>. If you're in San Francisco, please stop by our booth or even <a href="http://www.sfconnect.org/AboutUs/index.php/volunteer.html">volunteer</a>.

Supporting GrandCentral's Project CARE

Posted by Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet, Product ManagersFor homeless people and others in need, not having a stable phone number can be crippling: you need one to follow up on medical appointments,…

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Lights, camera, Gmail

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Bill Kee, Associate Product Marketing Manager</span><br /><br />Last month, we <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/like-making-videos-love-gmail.html" id="d4i0" title="invited you">invited you</a> to join the Gmail collaborative video, pull out your video cameras and help us imagine how an email message travels around the world. Two <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZIgdq9dp2M" id="ufek" title="Rubik's">Rubik's</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEhhzJB3n00" id="xy:r" title="cubes">cubes</a>, a few jaunts <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKeD4J70jqM" id="djq9" title="in a bottle">in a bottle</a>, beautiful <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFQdGkFZcE4" id="lqs1" title="sand animation">sand animation</a>, and one <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULwrZ22FJF8" id="ualc" title="dog's trip">dog's trip</a> to the Southernmost point of the continental US later, we'd received more than <span style="color:#3333ff;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/video_response_view_all?v=VfDW7qAdFGk" id="c41." title="1,100 fantastic clips">1,100 fantastic clips</a></span> from Gmail fans from <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">more than 65 </span>countries. It was impossible to fit all of the great submissions into one cut, but after hours of fun watching <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuEAjqyQ2qM" id="wudp" title="jugglers">jugglers</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0QlJJ_aF-E" id="aa1j" title="firemen">firemen</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKX82dsXWew" id="ly:n" title="camel-riders">camel-riders</a>, and original <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIvQMk4k6JU" id="o151" title="animation">animation</a>, we edited highlights together into this video and used the <a href="http://www.google.com/apis/maps/index.html" id="m.lo" title="Google Maps API">Google Maps API</a> to put together a map showing where many of the clips came from (you can also see these at <a href="http://mail.google.com/mvideo" id="g332" title="http://mail.google.com/mvideo">http://mail.google.com/mvideo</a>):<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><object height="353" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qKAInP_tmHk"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qKAInP_tmHk" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="353" width="425"></embed></object></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><br /></span><span style="color:#ff0000;"><iframe width="95%" height="400" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=pl&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Fservices.google.com%2Fearth%2Fmvideo.kml&ie=UTF8&om=1&t=k&s=AARTsJoT5oBjk9IHzTkEDj634yygZbvLFQ&ll=31.952162,-36.914062&spn=105.832053,158.203125&z=2&output=embed"></iframe><br/><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=pl&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Fservices.google.com%2Fearth%2Fmvideo.kml&ie=UTF8&om=1&t=k&ll=31.952162,-36.914062&spn=105.832053,158.203125&z=2&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left;font-size:small">View Larger Map</a></span><span style="color:#ff0000;"><br /><br /></span> A big thank you to everyone who participated -- your creativity is astounding!

Lights, camera, Gmail

Posted by Bill Kee, Associate Product Marketing ManagerLast month, we invited you to join the Gmail collaborative video, pull out your video cameras and help us imagine how an email message travels ar…

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Google Web Toolkit: Towards a better web

<span class="byline-author">Posted by Bruce Johnson and Dan Peterson, Google Web Toolkit team</span><br /><br />We're very pleased to tell you that the <a href="http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/">Google Web Toolkit</a> (GWT) is no longer in beta as of <a href="http://googlewebtoolkit.blogspot.com/2007/08/gwt-14-release-and-out-of-beta.html">today's release of GWT 1.4.</a> For Java developers who have used GWT to create high-end web applications over the last year, this may not seem all that surprising. But if you haven't yet heard the story behind GWT, this seems like the perfect time...<br /><br />If you've been in the technology industry for a while, you probably remember when enterprises and software vendors had to think pretty hard about whether to develop locally-installed desktop applications or web-based browser applications. These days, whether you're building <a href="http://code.google.com/gme/">mashups</a>, <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/gadgets/">gadgets</a>, or full-blown applications, it's a no-brainer: the browser is the delivery platform of choice. However, users expect more from the up-and-coming generation of web applications than the simple click-and-wait of yesterweb. And if you're a web developer, you know that this requires <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_%28programming%29">AJAX</a>, the cluster of technologies including JavaScript and dynamic HTML that can make browsers do backflips.<br /><br />But the stark reality of AJAX applications is that, although they can deliver sexy features and great usability, they are unusually hard to engineer. Browser quirks and the anything-goes nature of JavaScript will inevitably frustrate even the most dedicated developers and add risk to your schedule with every line of code written. If you do eventually manage to construct a complex AJAX application that works, you're likely to find that maintaining it over time can be a major challenge. And all that doesn't even scratch the surface of testing, optimizing, securing and internationalizing your application. (If you are currently working on an ambitious AJAX project and haven't yet come to this conclusion, please re-read this post in six months when you're further along!)<br /><br />We've learned a lot from our experiences building web applications, and we're happy to share the tools we've created. Google Web Toolkit is an open source project that helps Java developers harness the richness of AJAX in a cross-platform, web-friendly environment. The magic trick is that GWT cross-compiles Java source code into standalone JavaScript that you can include in any web page. Instead of spending time becoming JavaScript gurus and fighting browser quirks, developers using GWT spend time productively coding and debugging in the robust Java programming language, using their existing Java tools and expertise. Naturally, GWT is also a great way to easily take advantage of the latest-and-greatest Google APIs and browser enhancements, such as <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/gears/">Google Gears</a>.<br /><br />In addition to making debugging far easier, GWT's unique compilation-based approach to AJAX has the nice property that it rewards developers for good software engineering practices. Java source code that is clear and organized can be easily optimized by the GWT compiler, which is a nice antidote to the frequent hack-and-slash approach that's all too common in JavaScript development. As your application grows, the GWT compiler begins to pay off in even bigger ways. Unused code is automatically removed so that scripts are smaller and pages load faster. Complex code can be automatically coalesced and simplified. Most importantly, because the Java language is statically typed, many common errors can be caught during development rather than production. You can observe the high-performance results yourself in GWT's <a href="http://gwt.google.com/samples/Mail/Mail.html">sample Mail application</a>.<br /><br />Technical details aside, GWT makes it easy to develop fast, friendly web apps that users love — which is, after all, the point.<br /><br /><a href="http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/download.html">Download GWT 1.4</a>.

Google Web Toolkit: Towards a better web

Posted by Bruce Johnson and Dan Peterson, Google Web Toolkit teamWe're very pleased to tell you that the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is no longer in beta as of today's release of GWT 1.4. For Java develo…

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First year of Google WiFi

<span class="byline-author">By Minnie Ingersoll, Chris Sacca & Larry Alder, Alternative Access Team</span><br /><br />Our Mountain View WiFi network just celebrated its <a title="first anniversary" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/free-citywide-wifi-in-mountain-view.html" id="g7.:">first anniversary</a>, and we thought you'd appreciate a few data points. The network's 400+ mesh routers <a href="http://wifi.google.com/city/mv/apmap.html">cover about 12 square miles</a> and 25,000 homes to serve approximately 15,000 unique users each <strike>week</strike> <span style="font-weight: bold;">month</span>. Since the beginning of 2007, traffic has grown almost 10 percent each month, and the network now handles over 300 gigabytes of data each day, sent to over 100 distinct types of WiFi devices. Virtually the entire city has been taking advantage of the network, with 95 percent of the mesh routers being used on any given day.<br /><br />Around the globe and across the U. S., many people are still not able to access the online services that are increasingly helpful, if not essential, tools for our daily lives. This is why we're committed to promoting alternative platforms for people to access the web, no matter where you are, what you're doing or what device you're using.<br /><br />For those who have been following <a href="https://home.feather.net/sanfrancisco" id="c03t">the effort</a> to create a free wireless network in San Francisco, we continue to hope that EarthLink and The City will find a way to enable all San Franciscans to enjoy the free WiFi network they deserve. On a broader scale, we hope that the success of the Mountain View model will encourage others to think creatively about how to address access issues in many other communities.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Update:</span> </span>Corrected usage from "week" to "month."

First year of Google WiFi

By Minnie Ingersoll, Chris Sacca & Larry Alder, Alternative Access TeamOur Mountain View WiFi network just celebrated its first anniversary, and we thought you'd appreciate a few data points. The netw…

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The view from the Sky

<span class="byline-author">Posted by </span><span class="byline-author"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Ride">Sally Ride</a>, Ph.D., former astronaut</span><span class="byline-author"><br /><br />It's true: astronauts have a great view! When I was <a href="http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/ride.html">orbiting Earth in the space shuttle</a>, I had the unbelievable experience of being able to float over to a window and look back down at our planet, then off into space at the stars. Absolutely spectacular!<br /><br />These days my feet are closer to the ground, and my mission doesn't involve circling the Earth. I run a science education company, <a href="http://www.sallyridescience.com/">Sally Ride Science</a>, that creates entertaining science materials for elementary and middle school students and classrooms, so I'm always looking for cool tools that can engage kids and help them learn more about our world. <a href="http://earth.google.com/sky">Sky in Google Earth </a>is great, and we plan on using it in some of our programs. (Read more on the</span><span class="byline-author"> <a href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2007/08/sky-final-frontier.html">Google Lat Long blog</a>.)</span><br /><span class="byline-author"><br /></span><span class="byline-author">As you can probably tell from the video I did on Sky with a Google engineer</span><span class="byline-author">, I always loved astronomy. I even put together (OK, with the help of some folks at Sally Ride Science and Google) a special KML showcase of some of my favorite extra-solar places -- nebulae where stars are born, remnants of exploding stars, and even a bunch of stars that have ... planets orbiting around them! (No, scientists haven't found any like Earth yet.)<br /><br />If you know any kids or teachers who like astronomy, send them to Sky (the <a href="http://earth.google.com/sky/skyedu">resource page</a> is a good start) -- and tell them to check out the Sally Ride Science KML feature.<br /><br /></span>

The view from the Sky

Posted by Sally Ride, Ph.D., former astronautIt's true: astronauts have a great view! When I was orbiting Earth in the space shuttle, I had the unbelievable experience of being able to float over to a…

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