Google turns to real-time language translation

Google believes that in the not too distant future, people will be able to translate documents instantly into the world's main languages, with machine logic, not expert linguists, taking the strain. Google's approach, called statistical machine translation, differs from past efforts in that it forgoes language experts who program grammatical rules and dictionaries into computers. Instead, they feed documents humans have already translated into two languages and then rely on computers to discern patterns for future translations. ...more

Microsoft to challenge Eolas patent

Microsoft has been given the go-ahead to make a fresh legal challenge to the Eolas patent. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will hear Microsoft's argument that it invented the software technology described by patent, not the University of California and researcher Michael Doyle and their jointly-owned company, Eolas. The patent describes a method for embedding and displaying content within Web pages. ...more

Nigeria to act on 419 online scam

Having consulted with colleagues, the Nigerian President is pleased to propose a commission to our mutual benefit... ...more

Sony BDP-S1E completes Blu-ray range

Sony has unveiled its latest Blu-ray Disc player, the Europe-bound BDP-S1E. While the player provides native 1920 x 1080p (progressive) high-definition video for Blu-ray (BD) titles, it also features a 1080p video upscaling facility that purports to 'take your old movies out of the DVD-Video domain and represents them with a new lustre and character that is closer to HD resolution'. The BDP-S1E has been designed to integrate with Sony's Bravia range of TV sets and home theatre systems. ...more

NV35 likely to be Nvidia's first orders at IBM

The orders Nvidia may start placing at IBM are said to be the company's new NV35 chip, an updated version of Nvidia's current top-end GeForce FX 5800 series (NV30) chip, sources said, as Nvidia's cooperation with IBM is aimed at the latter's high-end process technology. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Nvidia's long-time foundry partner, will continue manufacturing the larger-amount, lower-end GeForce FX 5600 (NV31) and GeForce FX 5200 (NV34) chips. Currently, TSMC produces all six of Nvidia's GeForce FX chips, including the GeForce FX 5800, 5600 and 5200 series, of which the GeForce FX 5800 and 5600 series adopt 0. ...more