Google releases ‘Ivy’ app for iOS, an experimental big number calculator
Google has quietly launched a new iOS app today called Ivy that it describes as an experimental big number calculator.
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Gmail now supports Irish language Gaeilge
Google announced on Thursday that Gmail now supports the Irish language Gaeilge. The historic language is not spoken as the first language of many people in Ireland, but a larger number of people speak Gaeilge as a second language. Gaeilge is also the national and first language of the Republic of Ireland.
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Quartz OS custom Linux distribution aims to bring Material Design to the desktop
Google ushered in a new design language called Material Design as one of the biggest new elements of Android Lollipop, and an upcoming Linux distribution called Quartz OS aims to bring the clean and simplistic user interface to the desktop. Quartz OS is essentially the marriage of Material Design and Linux, aiming to harness the flexibility and power of the JavaScript-based markup language QML.
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Minuum for Android version 2.14 brings 5 new languages, improved autocorrect
Minuum has long been the Android keyboard of choice for some, and today the company announced that the app is getting a bunch of useful new features, including what the company says are “major” improvements to the Minuum engine. First, Minuum now supports 5 new languages, including Swedish, Polis, Czech, Portuguese, and Turkish. These are of course in beta, however, and you should try them out at your own risk. Additionally, the update brings improved autocorrect and the company says that it has “completely revamped” how to app makes suggestions hoping to bring them closer to the words you type on the full keyboard. Finally, the update now lets all users have access to quick language switching, and a bunch of bug fixes are in tow as well.
Gmail (and soon Calendar) adds support for non-Latin characters in email addresses
Google announced today that it’s adding support for non-Latin characters in email addresses in Gmail. That means that email address names that contain accented characters or those that are written in a script like Chinese can now be both sent and received from Gmail:
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Samsung goes after iPhone’s lack of language support in new Icelandic Galaxy S4 ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhM-DuM2WgE
Above we see a new ad that Samsung recently aired for its flagship Galaxy S4 in Iceland. The ad itself is a little on the strange side, but what’s not surprising is the fact that Samsung is once again not so subtly going after Apple. The point of the ad, in case you don’t speak Icelandic, is to drive home the fact that Apple doesn’t yet support the language for Siri or dictation features. Samsung’s YouTube description for the ad notes that the S4 allows users to dictate emails and messages in Icelandic, while the tagline for the ad reads “Get a phone that understands you.” We’re not exactly sure where the ninjas fit into that message, however.
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Gmail rolls out improved language support with 100 virtual keyboards, transliteration and IMEs
Google announced today on the Official Gmail Blog that it is adding improved support for languages with a number of new input tools that provide one-click access to language and keyboard layouts. According to Google, 100 virtual keyboards, transliteration, and IMEs are included in the update. The introduction of the new tools means Gmail now supports typing in 75 languages:
Finding the right words can be difficult, especially across languages, and once you choose them, finding a way to typethem can be even harder. Try emailing family in Germany, chatting with friends in China or adding a Russian business partner’s name to your contacts and you may find yourself limited by the language of your keyboard…That’s why today we’re adding more than 100 virtual keyboards, transliteration and IMEs—collectively called input tools—in Gmail. These tools enable you to type in the language and keyboard layout you’re accustomed to, making it easy to keep in touch with family, friends and coworkers from any computer. You can even switch between languages with one click.
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Google files trademark for new ‘Spot’ coding language
Google has just filed a trademark application with the US Patent and Trademark Office detailing a coding language related to computer applications called ‘Spot’. There isn’t much more known about Spot as of yet, but it looks like GOOG has also registered a few Spot related domains including spotlang.com, spotlanguage.net, spot-lang.com, and spot-lang.net.
Perhaps Spot is something being worked on by Google’s recent acquisition of Java guru James Gosling (who has voiced concerns with Android in the past). We’ll keep you posted as more becomes available.
