IM on SWiK

Instantbird

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:10:59 -0700

Machines Can Ease the Olympics Translation Crunch

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:11:28 -0700

The Olympics is a boon to translators. Much of the reporting, interpretation and documentation for the massively international event is handled by humans, human translators with the right skills can be scarce. “Between some pairs of languages, there are very few people who are experts in both,” said Sanford Cohen, founder of message translation firm SpeakLike. But it’s not just the languages needed, either. New forms of communication like IM, email, voicemail and the web demand different approaches, and computers can help with both challenges.

Machine translation is nothing new: Systran, founded in 1968 to help translate Cold War communications, powered the 1997 launch of the Babelfish service that popularized online translation, and until recently, it was behind Google’s translation systems. Humorous results aside, machine translation works well when software has access to sample text or past translations. “There has been a significant improvement in translation quality because of computing power,” Dimitris Sabatakakis, Systran’s CEO, said.

But relying on previous translations and large samples doesn’t work as well for IM because short messages lack context. And in translation, context is everything. “If you’re trying to translate ‘serveur’ and you know it’s about food, you’ll probably choose ‘waiter,’” Sabatakakis said. “If it’s about computers, you’ll probably choose ‘server.’”

To compensate for context, IM translation company Speaklike uses a combination of software and people and requires that subscribers use its own IM client. Speaklike currently offers four languages — English, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese — and the system “daisy chains” languages to get from, say, Portuguese to Chinese by going through English. While having two interpreters might be awkward in person, the only impact in an IM context is a slightly increased delay.

Competitor Meglobe, which launched its translation client on Tuesday, is machine-only, meaning it can offer speed, privacy and more languages but lacks the benefit of humans checking translations. Meglobe, which uses Jabber instead of its own client, hopes the wisdom of the crowds can help make its translations better over time by suggesting better interpretations.

VoIP service provider JAJAH is also getting into the interpreter game, starting with English-to-Mandarin Chinese. Their new JAJAH Babel service, developed in conjunction with IBM, lets users dial their local JAJAH number, say an English phrase, and hear it played back in Chinese or vice-versa. The software combines voice recognition and translation, but getting it to understand what you’re saying can be a challenge even on a clear phone line.

SpeakLike’s Cohen sees significant opportunity for alternative ways of communicating. “The Chinese government trained a hundred thousand people to speak English. Typically that’s two or three designated speakers in each company,” he said. “If an engineer in the U.S. is talking to his counterpart in China, everything goes through a point person. This technology breaks down the barriers for direct communications across the organization.”

Mozilla's Snowl Lets You Surf the Web and Handle Messaging Simultaneously

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:08:53 -0700

In a move that could have a major impact on the way you surf the Web, the Mozilla Foundation today announced Snowl, an experimental solution designed to bring messaging and Web surfing together in the browser.

Mytech - Dai Mozilla Labs ecco Snowl

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:08:59 -0700

Tenere traccia delle conversazioni su Internet è sempre più difficile, a causa del caos di servizi e protocolli diversi. E se fosse proprio il browser la soluzione per gestire il dialogo online?

Meebo | meebo

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:09:17 -0700

fring – Make free mobile calls, IM with Skype, MSN Messenger, ICQ, Google Talk_, SIP & Twitter, AIM® & Yahoo!_

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:12:22 -0700

fring – Make free mobile calls, IM with Skype, MSN Messenger, ICQ, Google Talk_, SIP & Twitter, AIM® & Yahoo!_

Web Messenger

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:11:30 -0700

Juslol -the web messenger, web based messenger that let’s you to access IM (instant messenger) from anywhere in any browser. No download and no installation. Juslol supports MSN, Yahoo, AOL and Gtalk (Google talk) on a single sign-on in a single window.

AIM on iPhone - Discover AOL

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:05:51 -0700

Mobile IM vs. SMS: Who Wins?

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:58:32 -0700

Can Mobile IM beat SMS?

Yesterday, the guys from eBuddy sent me a press release (pdf link) that made me wonder: With the rise of flat-rate data plans for feature-packed mobiles and the high-speed 3G network becoming commonplace, will mobile IM start to eat into the lucrative SMS business?

The data from eBuddy would suggest as much. The company claims that 5 million copies of their mobile IM client were downloaded in the first year the company made the software available. The company is processing a billion messages every month from two million unique monthly users. I am still not clear how it translates into big business, given mobile advertising is still in the early development phase.

eBuddy is quite popular in Europe, where 3G has become pervasive. This explains to some extent the heavy messaging reported by eBuddy. It is also an area where SMS charges are quite high, so it’s cheaper to use mobile IM than sending text messages. Mobile IM is a pretty hot market, with a bunch of players, such as OZ, trying to grab the brass ring. Nimbuzz is another recent entrant. Research analysts at Informa estimate the global market for mobile IM will hit $11 billion by 2011.

If this story interests you, check out our upcoming conference:
Mobilize — Mobile Web Today and Tomorrow

Pidgin

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:52:52 -0700

Spark IM Client

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:52:48 -0700

VOIP IP Telephony: SIP / SIMPLE-XMPP Developer Workshop 2008

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:50:31 -0700

Miranda IM - Home of the Miranda IM client. Smaller, Faster, Easier

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:51:48 -0700

Miranda IM - Home of the Miranda IM client. Smaller, Faster, Easier

Adium

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:51:51 -0700

Ekiga ~ Free your speech.

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:50:42 -0700

Ekiga ~ Free your speech.

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:52:26 -0700

libraryh3lp

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:52:32 -0700

Internet Communications Software Update for N800: Development version

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:55:41 -0700

XMPP Standards Foundation

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:53:31 -0700

Ignite Realtime: Smack API

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:53:19 -0700

Home | Pidgin

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:51:18 -0700

Miranda Fusion

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:46:26 -0700

Jabber: Open Instant Messaging and a Whole Lot More, Powered by XMPP

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:46:50 -0700

Anthy wiki - Emacsから

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:45:34 -0700

Voice-over-IP gateway for Google Talk, MSN and Yahoo Users

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:48:10 -0700

What Is Jabber? | Jabber.org

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:46:44 -0700

XMPP Standards Foundation

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 09:48:42 -0700

Adium - Download

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:45:56 -0700

Miranda IM - Home of the Miranda IM client. Smaller, Faster, Easier

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:45:55 -0700

Home | Pidgin

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:45:55 -0700