Epicenter — The real-time-translating Babel Fish from Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy was named for the Tower of Babel, a biblical structure fractured by linguistic confusion. Google engineers are working on a translator for Google Android smartphones to convert one language into another quickly enough to allow speakers without a common language to communicate ... more with one another in near real time. We’ve seen a few stabs at this concept, like a 63,000-word real-time translator and a cute 400-phrase iPhone app , both of which we compared to Douglas Adams’ Babel Fish from his Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy novels — the same comparison drawn by Times Online and Mashable about Google’s voice translation plans. The comparison is still apt; and now, Adams’ vision of a plurality of languages communicating smoothly with one another is closer to reality. Google says it plans to release a basic version of its first real-time translation services in two years. Google has its work cut out for it. Translation presents a tougher challenge than re-imagining e-mail or copying Microsoft Office as a cloud-based service. Humans are nuanced communicators — which is why, to date, the translators we’ve seen are basically elaborate gimmicks, limited by the size of their dictionaries and inability to parse phrases. As usual, Google’s goal is loftier: to enable real-time translation of spoken meaning, rather than just words. To do this, the company is cobbling together its voice recognition, 52-language text translation, and text-to-speech technologies into a unified voice-to-voice translator. (Actually, the full path would be “voice-to-text-to-translation-to-voice.”) “We think speech-to-speech translation should be possible and work reasonably well in a few years’ time,” Franz Och, Google’s head of translation services, told Times Online. “Clearly, for it to work smoothly, you need a combination of high-accuracy machine translation and high-accuracy voice recognition, and that’s what...

Mashable! — Location-based service Loopt is going to offer deals at venues and stores near you thanks to a partnership with Mobile Spinach . Mobile Spinach has already built up a large database of exclusive deals at venues ranging from sushi restaurants to concert halls to clothing stores. Currently, it serves San Francisco by texting users with deal notifications, but the ... more partnership with Loopt will make the process that much more effective. Loopt and Mobile Spinach plan to offer deals in New York and Los Angeles “during the coming months,” too. This advertising model is kind of a no-brainer. A neighborhood business can use a service like Loopt to target someone who lives or works nearby and offer him or her incentives to visit an establishment. These offers can be redeemed by phone or optionally via e-mail or text message. Foursquare already struck a deal with 8coupons , which does something very similar to what Mobile Spinach does. Yelp offers local deals, too, so this seems to be the model de jour. We’ll have to wait and see how successful this venture is, but as we noted the other day , there’s untapped potential for using check-in data to learn more about what consumers like and offering them appropriate ads and deals. Reviews: Foursquare , Yelp Tags: location-based , loopt , MARKETING , mobile spinach , money

ReadWriteWeb — According to 4chan's Twitter account and status update blog, they have been "explicitly blocked" by the Verizon Network. If you're unfamiliar with 4chan and why an ISP/wireless company would block it, read more about it on Wikipedia . The high-traffic image board of mostly anonymous users was created by Christopher Poole in 2003 and has been the subject ... more of a fair amount of negative media and legal attention over the past 7 years. But why would Verizon choose to block the site now? Does this put Verizon on par with foreign ISPs that block torrent sites and social networks? Or is there more to the story? Sponsor Poole wrote this afternoon, "Over the past 72 hours, we've been receiving reports from Verizon Wireless customers having difficulty accessing the image boards. After investigating, we found that Verizon is dropping traffic... only on port 80 (HTTP). No other subdomain/IP/port is affected, which leads us to believe this block is intentional." However, a couple hours ago, Poole posted, "After an hour and a half on the phone, we've received confirmation from Verizon's Network Repair Bureau (NRB) that we are 'explicitly blocked.'" In the past , we've held a generally negative view of ISP censorship and traffic-shaping , regardless of site content. It'll be interesting to see how this battle shapes up, as Poole is calling for 4chan users to file complaints with Verizon's Network Repair Bureau. We are contacting Verizon to figure out specifically why the site is being blocked and will update this post as more information becomes available. Discuss

VentureBeat — In what will surely be a common trend over the next few years to take advantage of China’s growing population of media consumers, Reuters is reporting that a Disney-led consortium is in talks to buy a portion of China’s largest in-bus media firm, Bus Online. Google is a part of the consortium — even as they are currently seeking out the NSA’s ... more help to deal with their recent security breach in China. According to anonymous sources, the consortium is planning to buy a portion between 30 and 40 percent of Bus Online for more than $100 million through “a purchase of old and new shares to be issued by the company in private placements.” The sources went on to say that Disney “wants to be a strategic partner not just a financial investor” in Bus Online due to the company’s increased presence in China — like the upcoming Shanghai-based Disney theme park. Google is aiming for a smaller stake in the deal than Disney. It’s interesting that the company is still pursuing the arrangement given their recent spat with China. This seems to be yet another example of Google pursuing a “business first” objective that they may get flack for down the line — just like their initial search censorship agreement with the Chinese government. According to Reuters, Bus Online is China’s top in-bus digital media and advertising company with a $46.07 million 2009 revenue. It has received $80 million in funding since 2004 from “venture capital funds and banks including IDG, Yangtze Fund, China Renaissance Capital Investment and CCB International.” The company is the exclusive in-bus media content and advertising provider for China Central Television (CCTV) and the Xinhua news agency. We haven’t yet seen the same rise of in-bus media in the US, but it is finally beginning to pop up in domestic air travel more frequently. Upstarts like Bolt Bus and Mega Bus — both of which are also subsidiaries of larger bus companies — already offer Wi-Fi and other premium features, and would also be prime real ...

TechCrunch — Vitamin D Video has officially gone out of beta and is now available in 1.0. The basic, single camera version of the software is available now for free while a two camera version costs $49 and unlimited cameras costs $199. The software watches a web-based camera - including many popular models from Linksys and D-Link - and records motion as it it happens, even ... more alerting you when humans step into the frame. I've been using the beta for months now with a Linksys WVC54GCA and I consider the software an early warning system for the home. Since I work up in the attic I can't always tell if I'm facing a friend or a foe at the front door so I rely on Vitamin D to ping whenever someone comes into the frame. Special motion sensing systems also pick up lights and other activity outside while the system can also email clips to a mailbox whenever an event occurs or ring a chime.

Betanews — By Scott M. Fulton, III , Betanews For the most part, last week's over-the-air software update to Google Nexus One phones, which was intended to address the 3G connectivity issues with certain versions of the phone's firmware (with a gift of added multitouch), appears unsuccessful for many commenters to Google's support forums. Very few customers reported improvement, ... more and some who did in the early going are now saying their flip-flop problems between 3G and EDGE have returned. Meanwhile, although Nexus One manufacturer HTC has typically referred phone issues to Google -- the self-proclaimed "vendor of record" when the device premiered -- as of now, it has declared the issue resolved , suggesting that customers still experiencing problems "restart their Nexus One device to restore their T-Mobile data connection." The entry of new customers into the Google support forum who report having purchased their phones in the last week, only to be confronted with the issues some others have faced since last month, suggests that Google may continue to be selling phones containing the firmware suspected of having the connectivity defect. "I just recently purchased the Nexus One and discovered that I am unable to make calls and access the internet at the same time," reports new entrant Mayo1 on Saturday. "Once I make a voice call, I am unable to browse the Internet or use any apps that require Internet connectivity. I am mostly in a 3G area. Initially, I'm browsing or using my apps just fine then I decide to make a voice call and all of a sudden Internet connectivity is gone. The minute I hang up the voice call, I can go right back to browsing." Besides this and the flip-flop problem, the other prominent symptom users are reporting is that connectivity seems high until someone touches the phone, then it drops to zero -- which suggests a problem with the phone's antenna. Although the common thread among customers with these symptoms appears to be the same firmware version, cust...

paidContent — Electronic Arts ( NSDQ: ERTS )—which continues to try to move its business “beyond the console”—is bringing Madden NFL to Facebook. It isn’t exactly clear what EA has in mind for the Facebook version of its blockbuster video game; EA Sports President Peter Moore tells Bloomberg vaguely that it will be a “simpler experience” ... more and that the company wants to make the game “more accessible.” A big economic shift is likely involved, since Madden NFL would presumably be ad- and virtual goods-supported on the social network. Considering EA’s promises to invest heavily in “digital,” along with its recent purchase of social gaming giant Playfish, it wouldn’t be surprising if this was the first of several of EA’s existing titles to make its way to the social network (We’ve asked the company and will update if we hear back). Already, EA has had success in bringing many of its games, including Madden , to the iPhone and is launching an online version of another one of its major franchises, Tiger Woods PGA Tour . The Madden news comes as EA is set to report its quarterly earnings this afternoon. In recent quarters , the company’s digital business has been its solitary positive point—and expect more talk about that today, especially since packaged game sales will likely be down again; the company lowered its guidance for the quarter and full year last month, citing “weakness for EA and the overall packaged goods sector in Europe” during the holiday shopping season. Related The Deal's Done: EA Acquires Playfish For $275 Million Up-Front, Plus $100 Million Earnout EA, Gameloft Dominate The App Store's Best-Selling Games Of '09 EA Banks On Subscription Revs With Tiger Woods Game—Not In-Store Sales