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Google Translate: Now for YOUR Website

posted on October 1, 2009

Google has long been working on their machine translation offerings. Over last year, they’ve added translation services to Google Reader, Google Toolbar, and Google Docs. And now they’re bringing their translation skillz to you—on your website.

Google announced a new translation widget on Monday, bringing Google Translate to any site. Insert a short script—a mere snippet of code—and users visiting your site will be prompted to translate it into their own language:

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Google acknowledges that there are some limitations to their power translations:

Automatic translation is convenient and helps people get a quick gist of the page. However, it’s not a perfect substitute for the art of professional translation.

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ICANN Haz .XXX Domain Names Now?

posted on October 1, 2009

After 11 years, the not-for-profit group Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers–which we all know as ICANN–is becoming more independent.

ICANN has managed internet domain names since 1998, but up until now had been closely tied to the US Department of Commerce. Going forward ICANN will…

…operate as a more independent entity. Other governments and the private sector will now have a greater say in how domains will be managed. The Commerce Department will continue to hold a seat on ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee, but it’s influence will now be on par with that of other members of the organization.

Those other members are so excited that they, well, forgot how to speak in plain English. If this statement from Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, is any indication of the future of ICANN, we can likely expect continued bureaucracy–just not all US biased:

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Grab the Shoehorn! Google Adds Forum Posts to Crowded Search Results

posted on October 1, 2009

Give it another couple of years and no one will remember the phrase "ten blue links"–especially if Google has its way.

The Google search results page is already looking cluttered these days–box results, news item, videos, book results, profiles–now Google wants to add deep links to forum posts to the crowded mix.

This new addition to Google search results applies to sites that tend to have a large number of posts on a specific topic. When several different discussions on a site are relevant to your query, we indent them under the primary result and include the date of each post.

Here’s an example of how it will look:

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Google Mobile…Now Has Everything, Including the Kitchen Sync

posted on October 1, 2009

Google knows that more and more of our searching is carried out away from our main computers, and it doesn’t want to risk you using some other mobile search interface–hence the rollout of some new synching features.

First up, we learn that Google’s Personalized Suggest feature has gone mobile. If you’re signed into your Google account and use google.com to search for ingredients for that new scallop dish you’ve been wanting to attempt to make, Google will save that search history and display it inside your mobile search interface! So long as you have an iPhone, Android or Palm phone on your hip while shopping at the local grocery store, you’re good to go!

It’s also great for traveling, which is the screenshot Google provides:

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Be Warned, Twitter Lists Will End in Tears!

posted on October 1, 2009

It will all end in tears.

OK, maybe the A-List won’t be crying, but if you thought the “they’re not following me” snub was bad, Twitter’s about to ramp up your angst with the pending launch of Lists.

Twitter Lists will allow you to create your own themed list of Twitter users. Want to create a list of the best search engine marketers? Go ahead, create that bad boy. But note this:

Lists are public by default (but can be made private) and the lists you’ve created are linked from your profile. Other Twitter users can then subscribe to your lists. This means lists have the potential to be an important new discovery mechanism for great tweets and accounts.