Credit: Twitter

Wondering what Real Madrid player @Sergio Ramos has been tweeting in his native tongue since he missed the big penalty shot? Or what German paper @DerSPIEGEL has been reporting? Twitter is now making a little bit easier for some with a translation tool.

The social network has incorporated a translate button into its website, though only for select users. Click on the tweet’s own page and you will now see a small translate button underneath it. The translation tool is powered by Microsoft’s Bing translation service.

Twitter hasn’t officially announced the feature, which was first reported by All Things D, but the feature is said to be rolling out slowly with select markets and with translation features for only select languages. Twitter also incorporated the translate feature in the Windows Phone Twitter app last week.

“To make it easier for people around the world to connect with each other, we are beginning to experiment with Tweet text translation,” a Twitter spokesperson told ABC News. ABC News was able to independently confirm that the feature is working on Spanish, Italian and German language tweets.

The Bing integration is another recent win for Microsoft’s search engine. Beyond Microsoft’s large Bing marketing and TV commercial push, Apple has changed Bing to the default search engine in iOS 7 when you search using Siri. The search engine is also the default search engine on Facebook.com.

App Name: Springpad

Price: Free

Available Platforms: iOS, Android, Kindle, Chrome and Desktop

What does this app do?:  When it comes to keeping track of the things we want to remember there are any number of ways to go about it. From calendar reminders to personal assistants to apps–even doing it the old fashioned way by scribbling notes down on a piece of paper–people need a method by which to stay organized.

Springpad is one such way to go about this feat.  The productivity app allows users to copy, save and share items from a variety of categories such as products you want buy, links you want to keep, and checklists you want to stay on top of and even recipes you hope to prepare. Tap the yellow “+” and begin adding items to a notebook, like Epicurious.com’s recipe for “Little Apricot Cakes,” or the movie “Anchorman: The Legend Continues.” The items will appear in a collage-like layout on your device reminiscent of Pinterest’s visually driven app. Springpad, however, attempts to take organizing all of that information a step further;  to help you stay on top of your “springs,” the app will create a shopping list of ingredients to actually make those apricot cakes, for example, or notify you when the movie you flagged is available in Netflix.

The app’s features extend beyond just the ability to make product wish-lists. For the to-do driven list maker, Springpad provides the ability to create task and check lists as well create notebooks, such as “Team Project for Work,” and share them with others to collaborate on projects.

Is it easy to install?: Yes. Download Springpad, create a login, and go.

Should I try it?: Springpad will remind users of Pinterest in that it caters to those who rely on images to help them stay organized, and the concept of creating and sharing “notebooks” seems a lot like Evernote. However, through it’s easy-to-use layout and effort to provide you with relevant data about items you’ve saved, such as when that book you’ve been dying to read goes on sale, Springpad sets itself apart making it a nice option for those looking for an intelligent way to stay organized.

Credit: Google

Last year Google started getting Street View images of remote areas of the world not with its cars or trike, but with a contraption called the Trekker. The Trekker is a giant backpack with a mounted camera that pairs with an Android phone. It takes photos as you walk through a desert or a mountain and Google then puts them together  to give you those real-life images in its maps.

Google employees have been using the Trekker to get images of the Grand Canyon, but it’s now planning to allow others to put on the 35-pound backpack. The company announced late Thursday a pilot program that will allow third-party organizations to borrow the contraption and contribute images to Google Maps.

“For the first time ever, this program will enable organizations to use our camera equipment to collect 360-degree photos of the places they know best — helping us make Google Maps more comprehensive and useful for all,” Google’s Street View program manager Deanna Yick wrote in a blog post. “This program is part of our ongoing effort to make it possible for anyone to contribute to Google Maps.”

Google Takes You to the Burj Khalifa, World’s Tallest Building

The company is already working with the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB) to get beautiful images from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Mauna Loa Observatory, Onomea Bay  and the Pololu Valley. Once those are taken, Google will then stitch the photos together to create 360-degree interactive images and put them in Google Maps so you can visit the islands right from your home.

Google recently updated its Maps applications for the web and for Android phones. The new Maps version for the web is still new and requires you request an invitation to test it out. It provides a more immersive Maps experience with new features, including reviews and traffic data. Google also recently bought the popular traffic app Waze.

Google is now accepting applications from other groups that might be interested in borrowing the Trekker. You can apply here. 

Credit: SquareTrade

Do you have a cracked iPhone screen because it fell on the sidewalk? Did you accidentally drop it in the toilet? Maybe your accident-prone self should have bought some insurance, or at the very least a protective covering.

But do you have a cat or dog? If so, you might have more to worry about than your own clumsiness breaking your stuff. A new survey conducted by the SquareTrade insurance company suggests that our four-legged friends are responsible for the destruction of over 8 million devices, totaling more than $3 billion in repair and replacement costs.

Ty Shay, the chief marketing officer for SquareTrade, said that the inspiration behind the survey came from the various types of claims SquareTrade got from its own customers. “We were getting a lot of calls from customers with broken devices saying, ‘My dog chewed my tablet,’ or ‘My cat knocked my soda onto my laptop.’ We found that almost 1 in 5 pet owners have had this problem,” Shay told ABC News.

Some of the survey’s observations seem obvious. Smartphones top the list of gadgets to break, accounting for approximately 30 percent of all reported accidents. Dogs are twice as likely to cause an accident than cats. Two thirds of the accidents occur when the pets are left unattended.

But there are also some subtle differences among pets that can ultimately determine whether your electronics will make it in the long run, such as:

• Male pets were 50 percent more likely to damage the devices than female pets.
• Overweight pets were 72 percent more likely to be involved in damaging a device.
• People that allowed their pet to sleep in the same bed or ride in their lap while driving were two to three times more likely to have a problem with their gadgets that could be traced back to their pet.

Pet owners need not abandon all hope though. SquareTrade offers some suggestions to keep your electronics working despite your chaos-causing companions. The company’s blog suggests putting the devices in areas out of their reach and avoid putting them near exposed liquids.

It also suggests giving your pet attention and exercise so that they’ll be less interested in your gadgets. Not suggested? Getting your pets their own gadgets.

Credit: Scott Garner

Is the concept of “anti-social media” possible? One graduate student at New York University thinks so and is quickly realizing that other people agree.

“Hell Is Other People” is an experimental Web app that utilizes FourSquare to track check-ins made by friends to determine the best possible routes and areas to avoid them. The experimental anti-social media app was created by Scott Garner, a master’s degree candidate in the interactive telecommunications program at NYU.

“The key to the idea started when I moved to New York for grad school,” Garner said. “It was overwhelming for me to be around so many people in the city, and social anxiety was at the top of my mind at the time.”

Garner also got the idea from a presentation FourSquare co-founder Dennis Crowley made about FourSquare’s early beginnings.

“[Crowley] was a student who wanted to party and started working on this app to find out what bars everyone was hanging out at,” Garner said. “Well, what about the students who don’t want to party all the time and don’t want to go to bars all the time? What can you do to avoid people by using technology?”

The Web app is simple to use. First, a person connects his or her FourSquare account through “Hell is Other People.” Then, the Web app conjures up an avoidance map. The map contains orange and green points. Orange points indicate check-ins by other users, and green points represent “optimally distanced safe zones,” as suggested by the app.

The experimental project initially began for a class final at NYU.

NYU adjunct faculty member James George said his final assignment, “Let Go,” required students to create a system that enabled individuals to behave a certain way.

“I thought it was an amazing interpretation of that idea,” George said. “I think Scott was resistant to doing group projects throughout the class. He was like ‘No, I don’t want to rely on other people.’ He was able to turn that personal anxiety and channel it into the concept of that piece.”

The thought of an “anti-social media” app may seem ironic, but Garner said the initiative isn’t as ridiculous as it seems.

“In some ways, social media and online media are kind of anti-social in that you’re interacting in a virtual space,” he said. “Some people retreat to Facebook in place of personal interaction. It’s something I’m trying to explore.”

In an email to ABCNews.com, NYU master’s candidate David Lobser emphasized the unique quality of Garner’s endeavor.

“As an elegant and satirical take on the current tech boom in social media apps, ‘Hell is Other People’ is unparalleled,” Lobser said.

George said that there is a comic perception that “art is not a useful thing,” but that Garner skillfully made his artistic experiment valuable.

“I think Scott’s tool and people adopting shows it’s useful in that it answered this anxiety of wanting to avoid other people,” George said.

Garner’s interest in social anxiety and anti-social tendencies ultimately resulted in an unexpected but positive reaction.

“It has been great for me to see that it’s really resonating with other people,” he said.

The web app is available at http://hell.j38.net.

Credit: Google

Google’s celebrating pride month and the Supreme Court’s ruling on Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) today in the only way it knows how: with a fun Easter Egg or hidden feature. When you type in “gay” or “Stonewall” or “gay pride” now into the search engine the search box will transform from its black box into one that’s surrounded by a rainbow.

Google rolled out the feature earlier this month at the start of Gay Pride Month, but many are just discovering the feature for the first time today as they search for information about gay rights as related to today’s news about Proposition 8 and DOMA.

Today the Supreme Court handed down two rulings today bolstering same-sex marriage by ruling part of the DOMA unconstitutional and allowing a lower court ruling to stand that struck down California’s Proposition 8 ballot initiative, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

Beyond Google: Same-Sex Spouses Cheer DOMA’s Demise

Google has supported marriage equality and gay rights. To celebrate the DOMA news today, Google employees at its office in San Francisco had a cake made to look like the HRC symbol with two sets of gay couples sitting on top. Gay Google employees or Gayglers, as they are called, have also convened before this year’s Pride festivities to plan for Google’s marketing activities surrounding the big LGBT events. Earlier this month a lesbian couple got married through Google’s chat service — Google Hangouts.

Credit: Twitter

Apple owners know that the company’s latest computers cost a pretty penny (or more accurately, hundreds of thousands of pretty pennies). But how much is one of their oldest computers worth? Judging by the opening bid at Christie’s, at least $300,000.

One of the original Apple-1 computers, Apple’s first foray into computing, is now up for sale. This particular computer originally belonged to Ted Perry, a retired school psychologist living in California.

When the computer was first released back in July 1976, it retailed for $666.66 and did not include a monitor or other key components. Only about 200 other Apple 1 machines were manufactured, as less than a year later, the company released the Apple II and encouraged customers to upgrade.

Apple MacBook Air Review: An Apple Computer You Can Afford and Actually Use 

According to a Christie’s specialist, this particular Apple 1 appears to be among the first 25 computers to be produced. “It does not have a diamond NTI logo (the PCB manufacturer) etched into the front copper layer,” the specialist notes. In addition, the working machine up for sale is labeled with the serial number 01-0025, and is signed by Steve Wozniak. It’s estimated to fetch as much as $500,000 at auction.

In May one of the Apple-1 computers sold for $671,400 (516,461 euros) at an auction in Germany. Earlier this year, one of the same types of computers didn’t manage to hit the $80,000 minimum at Christie’s; however that model no longer works.

The auction itself is an online exclusive and ends July 9. Also up for auction are several other Apple antiquities, including floppy discs containing the company’s first word processing and spreadsheet programs, as well as a prototype portable computer several times thicker than today’s Macbook.

Credit: Facebook

Hashtags apparently are just the start of Facebook’s push to make it your first destination for news.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Facebook is working on a service to aggregate all the news that’s shared on the social network. The report corroborated what TechCrunch reported just a few days before Facebook’s Instagram video launch.

Facebook has been working on an application for more than a year that will collect all the news shared on the service and make it easy to browse through in applications for the iPhone and iPad, according to the Journal. It is said to be similar to the popular app Flipboard, which allows users to create their own custom magazines by logging into their social media accounts.

The Reader app, as it is said to be called, might not be released any time soon, but the company does plan to release news features to compliment the hashtag capability it released earlier this month. With clickable hashtags, Facebook users can now click on the hashtags and see a feed of what others are talking about a certain topic, e.g. #SCOTUS. The company said it would release more hashtag features in the coming weeks, including trending hashtag lists.

Don’t wait for Facebook’s Reader: Flipboard Now Lets You Curate Your Own Digital Magazine 

As Google plans to shut down its Google Reader RSS application next week, the news reading application and software space has become increasingly popular. While Google plans to shift users over to its Google Plus social network for getting news and information, Digg and AOL have announced alternative RSS readers over the last few weeks. Other applications like Feedly have seen millions move over to its service after Google announced its plans to shut down its Google Reader in March.

When reached by ABC News, Facebook said it would not comment on the Reader rumors, but earlier this year at its Newsfeed event, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook’s goal was to turn Newsfeed into the most personalized newspaper.

“What we want to do is give everyone in the world the most personalized newspaper,” Zuckerberg said at the March event. “It should have a front page, but also let you drill down in any topic you want.”

Credit: Google

The Empire State Building and Willis Tower are well-known tourist attractions, but the Burj Khalifa — that 2,717-foot-tall skyscraper in Dubai —  is still a big mystery to many. But Google is out to shed some light with an advanced Street View of the the world’s tallest building.

The Internet giant has already posted several albums that highlight different aspects of the skyscraper. You’ll see tourists gathered around on the observation deck on the 124th floor and also catch a glimpse of some of the luxuries available to those who live in the  apartments, such as  the world’s most-elevated  swimming pool on the 76th floor.

After you visit the world’s tallest building, check out these other world record breakers 

Of course, Google didn’t drive its conspicuous Street View cars to the top of the building. Instead, it relied on both the Trolley and the Trekker. The Trolley has been used to capture art museums across the globe, while the Trekker has snapped photos of natural wonders such as the Grand Canyon and the Galapagos Islands. Google documented the technology at work in a YouTube video.

The Burj Khalifa marks two significant firsts for Street View. Tarek Abdalla, Google’s head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, said on the site’s official blog, “This is the first time we’ve captured a skyscraper on Street View.” In addition, it also marks the first time that Google has used Street View in the Arab World. Remember all of that as you pan around for the next 10 minutes.

]]> http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2013/06/google-takes-you-to-the-burj-khalifa-worlds-tallest-building/feed/ 0 http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2013/06/app-of-the-week-bill-nye-the-science-guy/ http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2013/06/app-of-the-week-bill-nye-the-science-guy/#comments Sat, 22 Jun 2013 10:19:40 +0000 Mary Godfrey http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/?p=121280

Image credit: Disney Publishing Worldwide

App Name: Bill Nye The Science Guy

Price: Free

Available Platforms: iOS (iPhone and iPad)

What does this app do?: Bill Nye The Science Guy, a PBS show that taught kids all about science, may be off the air, but his smart and informative legacy lives on in the iTunes store.

Bill Nye The Science Guy is now an app, released earlier this month by Disney Publishing Worldwide to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the brainiac going on the air.  From games designed to teach users about the solar system and planet Earth’s geological history to handy, do-it-yourself experiments, the app brings users all of the informative lessons Nye has to teach us in an imaginative manner.  (Full disclosure: Disney is the parent company of ABC News.)

“You’ve arrived at my desk!” exclaims the familiar voice of Bill Nye as you open the app.  Choose from objects on the desk, such as a rocket, a robot or a sundial, and the app will bring users into a different lesson. Select the rocket, for example, and you will embark on a mission to the solar system, where Nye teaches you facts about the planets. Tap the robot, and Nye and his dog will bring you on an archeological dig wherein you earn points and learn about the earth’s surface based on the objects you find.

In addition to games, users can bring the science lab into their own home; swipe through a book of “do-it-yourself ” experiments and follow instructions to brew up homemade carbon dioxide or to make an egg float in salt water, for example.

This app offers more than just facts and information. It has humor, too. For example, open Bill Nye’s desk drawer and learn when he started wearing bow ties and even how to tie one yourself.

Is it easy to install:? Yes, download and launch the app. Press the fingerprint icon to enter the Nye lab. No scientific laboratory is completely secure without a finger print identification!

Should I try it?: Yes, Bill Nye The Science Guy presents information in an engaging manner combining retro style animations with games and lessons users will find easy to absorb. The one downside: The app is not available for Android.