Universal Translator v.0.0.1

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This article appealed to my former self - the one that used to be an Arabic translator for the US military (I can barely remember that I was in the military at this point, let alone being a translator) Pentagon to Create Super Translation Software
... the Pentagon is looking to for researchers to build a software set "with the goal of eliminating the need for linguists and analysts and automatically providing relevant, distilled, actionable information. [The software will include]
  • A transcription engine that produces English transcripts [from foreign speech] with 95% accuracy
  • A translation engine producing English text [from foreign prose] with 95% accuracy
  • A distillation engine able to fill knowledge bases with key facts and to deliver useful information as proficiently as humans can. The source languages will be English, Chinese and Arabic plus surprise languages to be announced later.
    • "Surprise languages" - I like that. Like Norwegian. That'd be a surprise. Or Quebecois. Surprise! Or how about translating what that lady at the sandwich counter says.
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    Crackberry addiction

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    For those of you who've seen me speed-thumbing email on my Blackberry, you'll have seen the addiction in action. I typically use the thing as my alarm clock, which means that I'm still lying in bed the first time I check my email. Maybe I need a 12 step program.
    British MPs warned against using BlackBerries in the House of Commons

    British House of Commons speaker Michael Martin has ruled that MPs can be thrown out of the Commons if they're caught using one of RIM's handhelds. This comes just a few days after Tony Blair's former communications chief Alastair Campbell "accidentally" sent an expletive-laden message to a journalist using his BlackBerry
    No doubt they were just checking the latest news about Charles and Camillas nuptials.
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