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Name the search engine that doesn't follow the convention of a search field surrounded by links? Yahoo!, Altavista, Hotbot ; it's all the same dumbass.

Personally, when I first started surfing the web (c. 1997) I used Altavista. I don't remember when I first discovered Google. It was a fast change, so much so I just subconciously accepted it's superiority.

Strange though, at some point in the last few months I've created a Search Engine folder my bookmarks and managed to fill it up... now how did that happen?

It always is not is necessary is completely unambiguous. The thick translation possibly is better then does not have the translation, specially when you knew the translation is the rough start and.

The above was the following text....

It isn't always necessary to be totally unambiguous. Even rough translation can be better then no translation, especially when you know the translation is rough to begin with.

.... traslated using AltaVista Bable Fish Translation into Chinese-Trad and then translated back into English.

If you need precise translation, then you pay for a trusted translator. If you need some, on-the-fly better-than-nothing, then why not try to create a translator that might just be able to 'learn' to translate. It would seem a lot more flexible than some static-dictionary translator.

Actually, the troll is right...

There are tons of things that are more fitting than to have your name attached to some dead rock floating in space.

It is very fitting. His most famous piece of fiction is about space.

You must also remember that this comes from a group of astronomers - so they honour them in their way. Other pay tribute in different ways. Where do you think Alta Vista got the name Babel Fish from. Where do you think the band Level 42 got their name from.

However, I still think the coolest thing in the world would have been if this press release had compared the size of the Huygens probe to a Ford Prefect instead of a VW Beetle

Of course, if we all move to speaking some kind of ubermetalanguage, that implies that the languages spoken today would be lost. That would be a sad thing.

Language is a reflection of culture, and culture, to date, is a deeply regional thing. The standard example is that the Inuit people of Alaska and Canada have dozens of words for snow; while this seems to be not entirely accurate, the general point stands that different groups have richer or poorer ways of expressing concepts based on their collective experiences. This is both a reflection of and an amplification to regional cultural distinctions.

For an example I'm a bit more confident about, Russian has no word for fun. It's a concept that can more or less be expressed with a string of other words, just as "tsunami" can be expressed in English as a string of other words, but the term itself, and so the concept it represents, isn't directly represented by a Russian word. Funny, eh?

Language is full of these little oddities. One of the great things about English is the tendency to gladly pick up terms from other languages when we can't express something already -- cf. "tsunami". If everyone were to speak one doubleplusgooduberlanguage, then this ability to cross-pollinte will presumably go away. That would be doubleplusungood.

But I don't think we're in any danger of that. English may be becoming a "world language", sure, but look at all the regional variations: it can be a real stretch to assume that the Hindi inflected English in India, the Chinese inflected language in Hong Kong & Singapore, the hodgepodge of influences on dialects in the Caribbean, and the diverse variants spoken in the UK, USA, and Australia are really all the "same" language. In a lot of ways, these dialects of English are only growing farther apart, just as the French spoken in places like Haiti and Cote d'Ivorie are much different from the language in France, and the German spoken in Switzerland is much different from the Hochdeutsch in Germany.

You could argue that the Internet may bring all these streams of language closer together, but you could just as credibly argue that it will only serve to churn the already turbulent patterns that are driving languages apart.

Personally, my hunch is that while some kind of pidgin English may come to be widely understood around the world, the predominant trend is going to be increased, not decreased, diversity in global language patterns. And I see that as nothing but a good thing.

tfa, verbatim from babelfish:

"As for the Nakamura professor Japanese administration of justice system rotting, the " The blue light-emitting diode (LED) with the lawsuit which is related to the invention compensation, the inventor of the plaintiff who responds to reconciliation on the 11th, Nakamura learning/repairing two American California large sun Taba - rose school professor (50) on the 12th, the reporter to interview inside the Tokyo, "(as for reconciliatory contents) 100% being defeated. It is driven by reconciliation, it is the anger heart head ", and so on you said. Concerning approximately 600000000 Yen of reconciliatory amount "(the judge) putting out the amount which meaning does not understand, ' reconciliatory margin ' with you say. As for the Japanese administration of justice system rotting, you think as the ", that it was angry. Professor Nakamura on the 11th, the day sub- chemical industry of the defendant (Tokushima prefecture Anan city) from 608570000 Yen (delay damage gold including 843910000 Yen) with the contents which receive the payment was reconciled in Tokyo high court. It was substantial reduction from decision 20000000000 Yen at 1 making clear Tokyo district court. Looking at reconciliatory plan, "it can win Professor Nakamura even with 1%, if is with insisted to the attorney high to the Supreme Court", but from the attorney "(the possibility where it can win) zeros or less" is said and it responded to reconciliation that says. The degree of contribution for invention 5% concerning the point which is done in order "(Tokyo high court) to protect big business, because it probably decides the upper limit of amount first. The judge of 1 making clear securely criticized in the fact that the document has been read ". The spearhead was directed even in the Japanese society. "Inventing this much, 600000000 Yen. After all Japan literature society. The individual is not respected, ' gung ho consequence ' with it is the system which is said at big business. The person of the science which has capability should come to the United States ". When future activity can be asked, "it is delightful to be able to devote to research. In addition, newly we would like to challenge ", that you expressed, rounded off the" German performing meeting ". On the one hand, that President Eizi Ogawa of day sub- chemical industry on the 12th, the reporter interviewed in the head office, "after being the prospect that almost it can recognize the insistence of company side with the high court, by the fact that it concludes lawsuit, plus with judged even in the management aspect" and so on, it explained. As for President Ogawa furthermore "as for the research developer we have tackled with interest, the pleasure is felt in the technical result. As for the person who is replaced to the money simply it is not many so ", that, Professor Nakamura was criticized indirectly. (Everyday the newspaper) - January 12th 22:29 renewals

babelfish translation of the ensuing flame-a-thon.

Altavista

Alltheweb

Altavista ans Alltheweb are both owned by Overture, which again is owned by Yahoo. Hard to tell which one actually created it. (I'm guessing alltheweb...)

Lets play 'Spot the Difference', searching for "Chocolate Factory", hoping to find trailers of Johnny Depp's new film:

Yahoo

Altavista

Is Yahoo's video search based on AntaVista's technology? It seems to me that the results are identical.

• Search for Paris Hilton on AltaVista
• Search for Paris Hilton on Yahoo

So Tyan is coming out with Geode motherboards for like $80. The only problem with the mini-itx Geode motherboard I bought was the price, since it was a developer board. Now it will be cheap to make a powerful fanless computer.

• Undersigned organisations make themselves look concerning this intention and want you indicate on the negative impact which such a contract has on the software market and the innovation climate in the Netherlands. Also such a contract in fight with by the cabinet has been determined policy with respect to open standards and open source at the government and striving the government less dependent use some a software supplier. Moreover Microsoft have been correctly condemned by the European Commission now because of the poor interoperability of its server software.

I'm all for this but dictionary.com,Babelfish, and google meet my dictionary needs.

Here.

Because Babelfish says so.
"Main I/O:
IEEE802.11b conformity (Wi-Fi)
USB2.0 (mini-B)
Memory stick PRO duo
IrDA
IR remote"
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pag econtent?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scei.co.jp%2Fproduct s%2Fpsp.html&lp=ja_en

Babelfish Translation:

http://world.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecon tent?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.playstation.jp%2Fpsp%2Fs oftware.html&lp=ja_en

The link from above in babelfish:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr?lp=de_ en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heise.de%2Fnewsticker%2Fme ldung%2F53308/

According to the Mozilla Foundation they needed money to pay their employes and so allowed the swiss data-miners to gather the data from Firefox users.

It's a shame. Spyware oficially built in Firefox. I should return to IE.

That would make 160,000 - 200,000 people "around you" with a gun. Quite simple actually.

However I don't understand German.

But Babelfish does (kind of):

A projector in the pocket size is in range: In it a mobile micro mirror develops the picture line for line. In laboratory prototypes researchers could increase its frequency of oscillation and dissolution so far that diagrams and texts appear clearly readable. Not much more largely than a piece wuerfelzucker could be the Beamer of the future. Built into Handys would always participate the mini projector - approximately for a PowerPoint presentation in the small circle or the fast view into an on-line journal. In strange cities it could facilitate orientation, by projecting simply a city plan to the next house wall. Still is this future music. Researchers of the institute for Fraunhofer for silicon technology ISIT in Itzehoe however already built a demonstrator for such a tiny equipment. It projects texts and diagrams with a dissolution of 320 x 240 pixels. Heart is a mobile mirror with a diameter of 1,5 millimeters, which can be manufactured as mass product on a chip. It directs a laser beam by speedy changing of its tilting angle, and develops so the picture pixel for pixels. "the special at the mirror is its suspension", stresses Ulrich Hofmann. "by a special attachment at two torsion bars the mirror can be tilted around two axles. Thus it can divert a laser beam horizontal and vertically." After each deflection the feathers/springs withdraw the mirror so fast into its initial position that it can be tilted several thousands times per second. Suitably the high mobility the researchers accelerated electronics. It decides within the range of nanoseconds, how it must modulate the laser light, so that each pixel in the correct brightness appears. In order to avoid errors in the projection, a second laser serves as control. It radiates likewise on the mobile mirror; the reflected light meets however a photodiode, which locates, as the mirror tilted. "the mirror changes its position for example by vibrations inadvertently, notices control this", explains Hofmann. "electronics can react then flexibly to it and adapt the picture information accordingly." The system is thereby to a large extent insensitively in relation to disturbances from the outside. Still the demonstrator fits into no mobile telephone. "for the test we had not made, say electronics smaller yet to a minimum" Hofmann. That is however one of the next goals of the researchers, who in addition the frequency of the mirror movement and so the dissolution would like to increase. Also in other place it hooks still: As tiny source of light with sufficient life span and leuchtstaerke there are so far only red laser diodes. Within this range the researchers wait now for developments of their colleagues. They however already prepared their system for the multi-color enterprise.

Regular Heatsink/Fan?

And while we're at it, keep them quiet.

i'm done with google. time to either look for an uncensored search engine, or create one! :)

abu ghraib

I Love old good Altavista :)

"Lulu" is the german word for "piss". A french company once tried to sell a perfume called "Lulu" in Germany, and for obvious reasons they failed horribly.

No it's not. In baby-speak perhaps. Aside from the fact that I am german (though maybe a rather sheltered one), neither BabelFish nor LEO support your claim.

(If you don't know the LEO dictionary, you should really give it a spin! Above link points to the english version.)

I'm not sure how old the page is, through, since I think some dates on the page list it as 2002.

Ok, guess slashdot doesn't like chinese...anyways, just go use Babelfish, it handles it fine.

If you translate Piquepaille, French to English, as "Pique paille" you get "Prick straw". If I remember my French, it could also be "Bite straw".
I always wondered if it was a spoof in some way, and the name meant something...

2004.10.10: "Feds knock Microsoft footdragging disclosure"
North Country Times, reported Friday that the Justice Department and the states that brought the anti-trust action against Microsoft are now complaining that: "... the company's current plan "significantly limits the practical usability" of the information Microsoft was compelled to reveal to its competitors." The basis of the complaint is that Microsoft plans to issue the information in the MHT format which is proprietary to Microsoft and only readable via a Microsoft browser. This story was not widely carried and I actually ran across it in heise.de while struggling with the fishy translation of the German story on plans impose user fees on PCs hooked to the internet.

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pag econtent?url=http%3A%2F%2Frelease.nikkei.co.jp%2Fd etail.cfm%3FrelID%3D82027&lp=ja_en

"Somehow I can't take a guy named "Joke" as someone that has a serious opinion."

I do not think that word means what you think it means (thanks Inigo).
Ms. Waller-Hunter is Dutch. In her language, "Joke" means "First Name", while "grap" means "jest".

It seems like you are being sarcastic, or at least sardonic, about Russia making money from joining an international pollution control club. It is worth celebrating their "going legit". Perhaps that can help persuade the US to follow suit. Otherwise we'll be spending a lot more than $2.8B on cleaning up the mess from the incessantly increasing pollution spewing from Russia's CO2 industry.

Just watch your pronunciation!!!

"Poo-tin" (emphasis on the last syllable) is correct. Don't pronounce it as "poo-tan" ( putain).

Unless the restaurant happens to offer them on the menu as well...

Engrish is only a few strokes away.

French -> English

According to the fish, it gets 5 hours.

"With the economical electrical design, approximately 5.0 hours* actualizing the long haul drive. In addition, if the MOBILE switch was changed to MOBILE mode, CPU throughput and picture brightness were held down, it becomes setting of electric power consumption concern."

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pag econtent?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fontys.nl%2Fnieuws%2 Fnieuws_artikel.asp%3Fdocid%3D3487&lp=nl_en

It pains me that a "News for Nerds" site has people who are proud of not being able to read French (don't give me any political reasons; the language is still the language) and compare what used to be the international lingua franca (hence the term) to Ancient Sumerian and Aramaic.

French, at least in this case, is close enough to English that the phrases "just a screen...retouched...we have acquired...certainty...false" can be picked out in the footnote. Even so, you should be able to use the Babel Fish.

Also, if you can't at least guess at what a Romance language means, it might be a good idea to start learning one now. Even Interlingua counts. My semifluency in French (probably the only area where Louisiana has a better-than-average educational system) has allowed me to get the gist of Spanish and Italian texts.

Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.

The Babel fish is small, yellow, leechlike, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centers of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish.
Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of the NON-existence of God.

The argument goes like this:

`I refuse to prove that I exist,' says God, `for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.'
`But,' says Man, `The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED.'
`Oh dear,' says God, `I hadn't thought of that,' and promptly disappears in a puff of logic.
`Oh, that was easy,' says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.

Most leading theologians claim that this argument is a load of dingo's kidneys, but that didn't stop Oolon Colluphid making a small fortune when he used it as the central theme of his best-selling book, "Well, That about Wraps It Up for God."

Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.

The Japanese who are always demanding less footprint from their electronics already have something that is JUST like this. The technology is already 3 years years old and Apple is just coming out with this now?

See more about here it here. FMWorld. If you can read Japanese that would be very helpful. The translated site should be here but I think there is something wrong with Babelfish...

This is slightly off topic but while the Giants of Anime is coming to the U.S., people can go to the museum that showcases just what exactly makes Studio Ghibli tick at the Ghibli Museum. If you are lucky, you might even be lucky to meet the man himself, Hayao Miyazaki. You can get more information at the Ghibli Museum website. (Translated of course, but they also have an english version as well.) I wish I could have had the chance to go when I was Japan. From what I have heard, it is MUCH better than Disneyland.

Hi, IAAPT (I am a professional translator), and what you're talking about is right on the money, so to speak. In fact, it's already being promoted in certain areas, specifically the kind of straightforward technical writing you're talking about. The term you're looking for is controlled writing, and there are even software tools to help technical writers match the style of specified writing projects. Controlled writing is of particular importance in machine translation, as there can only be a limited corpus of material in the translation database, and you want to be sure that you don't inadvertently throw something at the system that isn't already in there. As ever, the holy oracle of language usage has more to say about this if you're so inclined.

Furthermore, there are simpler translation memory systems that simply record the translations that a human has worked on. I use one such system from time to time, called Trados (disclaimer: no, I don't work for them or have any relationship at all aside from that of customer). Large corporate houses that handle significant translation volume can sometimes utilize such systems, which get better the more volume you have and the longer you use them. New documents for translation can then be run through the system for pre-processing, and then checked for accuracy. Whatever comes out the end that hasn't been translated at all can then be translated afresh, and possibly outsourced if the text is contiguous enough. (Outsourcers rightly enough often refuse to work on collections of discrete sentences, as there is often not enough context to either make out what is being said or to get into a good translating pace -- one major reason PowerPoint presentations are so difficult to outsource.)

Either route, the options presently available (and likely available for some years to come) still require knowledgeable and trained humans at the end to make sure you don't wind up with oddities like "there is a chisel in my dog" (hint: go to Altavista's Babel Fish page and translate "my dog has fleas" from English to Japanese and back again).

Anyway, this is probably more than you wanted to know, but there you have it. :)

The Japanese cell phone carrier Vodaphone started rolling out phones with TV abilities by integrating a TV tuner into the cell phone itself to pick up over the air TV signals. This past spring they've rolled out a new line of phones from Toshiba to expand upon their previously released phones from NEC. I first saw advertisements for these new phones on Japanese Drama shows.

More information on these phones can be found in the translated URL below. Granted though, this tuner cannot pickup Digital Signals over the air, hence no HDTV ready.

Link here.

Occasionally, I've attempted putting in the extra work and translated before sending. My half-assed method is to write the note (without the log entries), run it through one of the above translators, and then run the result through the translator back to English. If I can make sense of the final result, I send the original non-English translation. I've gotten some nice non-English thank-you notes this way.

For the first time in the world in thin film sail development for "Solar sail" success (Uchinoura)

# Sorry, but I have no time to translate manually

Well, you can try the Babelfish translation, but IMO it's not as good as the Googlefish one supplied.

http://www.altavista.com/image/results?tp=adult

http://www.altavista.com/image/results?tp=adult

<a href="http://www.lycos.com">Lycos</a>
<a href="http://www.altavista.com">Altavista</a>
etc .

Lycos
Altavista
etc.

I found it hard to remember the names of other search engines that I could use though.

I found it hard to remember the names of other search engines that I could use though.