Hasta La Gadget!

Right around a month ago, Google opened up the flood gates and let any US-based Android user download its One Today app — a program that makes it wildly simple to donate a dollar (or more, of course) to a different charity each day. Now, Google is officially releasing the entire project from pilot mode, inviting the masses to both download the app (still US-only, unfortunately) and get their charities into the ‘Google for Nonprofits’ database.

Signing up for One Today is completely free, and Google has provided resources for those looking to get their charity authorized for inclusion. Be aware, however, that Google charges a 1.9 percent processing fee when taking in payments; in other words, each $10 donated translates to $9.81 in usable funds for charities. The real kicker, we’re surmising, is the social tie-in. The more people who donate and then share to various social networks, the more likely their friends and peers are to follow suit. And, ideally, we all join to solve all of the world’s problems.

Filed under: Software, Mobile, Google

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Google Nonprofits Blog, Google One Today, Google Play Store

Microsoft wants you to help protect Xbox Live. With the Enforcement United beta, Redmond is using its customers as a first line of defense against online miscreants. If you make it into the testing pool, you’ll be giving your opinion on whether or not content on the service violates its code of conduct. At first it’s just Gamertags, but given Xbox One’s focus on user-made media, that’ll likely expand. The united enforcers won’t have the last word, of course. Once the query passes through them, it’s filtered into an algorithm that determines the next step: either forcing a username change, or escalating the ticket to an actual Microsoft employee for review. What’s in it for you? A (hopefully) friendlier Live, and XP that’ll move you through the ranks of the Halo owner’s gamified participation program, Xbox Community Level. If you get in, we’d appreciate if you went ahead and flagged all those handles with “69” and “420” in them — trust us, they’ll thank you later.

Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft

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Via: Joystiq

Source: Xbox Wire (1), (2)

When we’re raiding the fridge during a Vikings game, what’d be nice is a push notification just before Adrian Peterson runs into the end zone. Seeing as that’s probably not feasible given current tech, we’ll settle for an iOS app that alerts us when a timeout or commercial is over. Commercial Break was designed to do just that: you tell it what channel you’re watching and it uses DSP and some algorithms to analyze audio and video cues, delivering a push notification to your mobile device once what you were watching comes back.

As of right now, it’s in public beta with 10 compatible channels in New York City: ABC, CBS, CNN, ESPN, ESPN2, FOX, NBC, TNT, TBS and USA. Outside of the Big Apple, CNN, ESPN and ESPN2 are compatible nationwide, with a few of these channels also available to others along the East Coast. The developers said that once the test run is over, they plan to expand to other markets and port the app to Android. We just wish it worked with AMC too — missing any of Heisenberg’s return because of a fried chicken craving would be tragic.

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile

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Source: Commercial Break

Three weeks after the last beta release, and just a few days after Apple’s developer center finished receiving a massive security overhaul, iOS 7 beta 4 is now available to download. The update to Cupertino’s upcoming iOS release — the biggest since the debut of the original SDK — is heading out over the airwaves now, with a list of fixes and improvements far too long for us to reprint here. Of course, if you’re a registered developer, you can hit up the source link to check out the entire tome of changes for yourself. If you haven’t gotten an alert on your handset just yet, be patient. And, please, let us know in the comments if you dig up any interesting tidbits while poking around.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Software, Mobile

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Source: Apple Developer

Remember Google Babel? It was the rumored name of what is now called the rebranded Google+ Hangouts. However, Project Babel still exists, and it deals with language translation. Google is working to turn phones into “universal translators” of sorts, so when you talk into the phone in one language, the person you’re calling will hear a real-time translation in their native language.

Speaking with The UK Times, Android VP Hugo Barra says that the project is in its early stages, and the technology is a fews years away as far as being available to the public, but he says that some translations using certain languages has provided “near-perfect” results.

However, the biggest issue is actually background noise that interferes with dialogue, which affects the results of the translation. However, when used in controlled environments where there’s no background interference, Barra says that the accuracy of the real-time translations have been “close to 100%”.

Google already has a text translation system online, but it leaves much to be desired, since it’s not real-time, and it’s only text-based for now. However, it supports 71 different languages, with the most recent additions being Bosnian, Cebuano (used in the Philippines), Hmong (South East Asia), Javanese (Indonesia), and Marathi (India).

SOURCE: The UK Times

Google Babel project aims for real-time translation in phone calls is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
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