Google Translate adds powerful OCR feature to translate instantly from pictures

           

Google Translate for Android added this Optical Character Recognition (OCR) feature today, which was available previously in Google Goggles.

"With Google Translate you can:

• Translate text between 64 languages
• Translate by speaking the text instead of typing it (17 languages)
• Use camera to take a picture and brush text to translate (available on Android 2.3 and above).
• Listen to your translations spoken aloud (40 languages)
• Communicate with another person using speech-to-speech translation in Conversation Mode (ALPHA, 14 languages)
• Display translations in full screen mode to make it easier for others nearby to read
• Star your favorite translations for quick access even when you’re offline
• Access your translation history even when you’re offline
• Spell out the translation of non-Latin script languages (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, etc..) in Latin characters to read it phonetically (e.g. Pinyin, Romaji)
• View additional dictionary results for single words or short phrases
• Push the handwriting button and simply write what you want to translate

Translations between the following languages are supported:
Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Basque, Belarusian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Maltese, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh, Yiddish"

To use this feature, click the Camera icon and focus on the words you want to translate. Once you take the picture, brush the letters you want to translate as shown above in the first picture. Google Translate then translates to the language you choose. You can either read or listen to the translated text. 

This will be great tool to have when visiting foreign countries and translate texts instantly.

Previously, I used Word Lens app, which does this OCR and translate languages instantly, but Word Lens costs $4.99 or more for each language. Compared to Word Lens, Google Translate does a whole lot more, with more features, more languages option plus it is free. This is another must have app for Android. 

The above feature is not available in iPad or iOS, but I am sure Google will make them available soon.

Here is a video in Vietnamese language but you can see how Google Translate works with the OCR feature.

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Photo of the Day: President chased by Little Girl in White House

Best photo released by the White House, President Obama chased by one of his staff's daughter.

President Barack Obama runs around his desk in the Oval Office with Sarah Froman, daughter of Nancy Goodman and Mike Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics, July 9, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Via Little Green Football.

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Will Starbucks Loyalty or Reward Cards work with Square?

We heard about the Square partnership with Starbucks, which is a great news for Square as well as for customers. Square is a great payment method for mobile phones without having to use credit or debit cards. Once you enable the Square app for your iOS or Android phones, then it is easy to use Square at a number of retail locations. With Starbucks addition, Square can be used at even more number of locations.

The only question was how will this affect those who already have loyalty or reward cards (Gold Membership), customers have with Starbucks. For now, we can't, it seems according to TechCrunch:

For those of you who currently use the Starbucks app to reap rewards, you may want to stick with it, as loyalty programs between Starbucks and Pay with Square will remain separate for the time being. 

In the future, Starbucks and Square will probably integrate those features together, so we don't have to use two apps for it.

Square already has rewards program option like the one shown below in their payment procedure, so most likely we can see this feature with Starbucks and Square very soon.

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How to take Screenshot or Screen Capture in Android Jelly Bean or Ice Cream Sandwich Versions

I took the above screenshot or screen grab from my Galaxy Nexus Android phone. There are lots of apps in Google Play that does this screen grab, some required rooting and others didn't require rooting, but in Jelly Bean and in Ice Cream Sandwich Android versions, there is a simple hack to take screenshots.

To do this, press the volume button down and press the power buttons at the same time. Hold them both briefly for a second or two and then release it at the same time. A screen image is created, which you can either store it in your phone or share it to other apps or sites such as Google+, Picasa etc.


Image via Andromedia.com.

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Free Kindle Book: Full Color Country Britain Travel Guide - Culture Vulture Britain: Best Cultural Experiences

Lonely Planet Britain country travel guide is free today in Amazon, normally costs $4.99.


Culture Vulture Britain: Best Cultural Experiences (Full Color Country Travel Guide): Lonely Planet: Amazon.com: Kindle Store

For more free Kindle eBooks click here, you will see both Top 100 Paid and Top 100 Free books side by side.

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Coffee Making with Hario 1-Cup V60 Pour Over

This is the way coffee should be made, it is like a work of art, it uses the special Hario 1-cup V60 available in Amazon. We can use either  cloth filters or paper filters to brew the coffee.


Recipe and Instruction for Hario 1-cup V60 Pour Over. If you want to make coffee like this at home, visit harioworld.com.au by Matt Perger - 2012 World Brewers Cup Champion

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Google Wallet now accepts all credit and debit cards

Now Google Wallet in Android phones accepts all credit and debit cards, before it accepted only Citibank Mastercard, only thing missing is the NFC signs in stores.


I just saw this earlier today in Galaxy Nexus with Jelly Bean OS when I was able to add my other cards, this will make our lives easier now.


“Since we released the first version of Google Wallet, the app that makes your phone your wallet, we’ve made it available on six phones from Sprint and Virgin Mobile, as well as the new Nexus 7 tablet. We’ve also partnered with more than 25 national retailers, and thanks to MasterCard PayPass, you can pay with your phone at more than 200,000 retail locations across the U.S.


Today we’re releasing a new, cloud-based version of the Google Wallet app that supports all credit and debit cards from Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. Now, you can use any card when you shop in-store or online with Google Wallet. With the new version, you can also remotely disable your mobile wallet app from your Google Wallet account on the web.”


Via Android Blog.

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