language | Fast Company

How The Creator of CAPTCHA Will Translate The Entire Internet

BY Ariel SchwartzThu Dec 15, 2011

What if you could learn a new language and, in the process, make the Internet more accessible? The guy who created those annoying security tests is making it happen with a program called Duolingo. READ»

SAYING SORRY | Comment

All Apologies: Netflix Vs. RIM In A Mea Culpa Matchup

BY Kit EatonThu Oct 13, 2011

Recently Netflix's Reed Hastings and RIM's Mike Lazaridis have had to do something unusual for big-name CEOs--apologize to customers for major letdowns. We judged the mea culpas of the two business leaders, to guess which one has a better chance at winning back their customers' love. READ»

LEADERSHIP | Comment

HP's Future And Past: Whitman Versus Apotheker, It's All In The Words

BY Kit EatonMon Sep 26, 2011

With Leo out, and Meg in... Will HP's future look different after the reshuffle thanks to different CEO styles? To test the notion, we've looked at the words these two executives use in business...READ»

LONDON TUBE MAP

London Tube Map Sparks Furor Over What "Design" Means

BY John PavlusFri Aug 5, 2011

Of the interesting comments left on my post about Mark Noad's redesigned London Underground map, one of the most interesting was left by eminent typographer and designer Erik Spiekermann. In it, he stated what he called a "common ... READ»

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY | Comment

Language Isn't A Firehose: James Joyce And The Future of Computerized Translation (Bloomsday Edition)

BY Tim CarmodyThu Jun 16, 2011

Nearly 100 years after Joyce wrote his seminal polyglot work, are we any closer to a technological solution to breaking down the barriers of language? Not if the recent scuffle over Google Translate is any indication.READ»

DEB ROY | Comment

MIT Scientist Captures 90,000 Hours of Video of His Son's First Words, Graphs It

BY Anya KamenetzWed Mar 2, 2011

Cognitive scientist Deb Roy blew the curve for Flip cam-packing proud pops. Since he and his wife brought their son home from the hospital, Roy has captured his every movement and word with a series of fisheye-lens cameras installed in every room. The purpose was to understand how we learn language. READ»

SOTU | Comment

State of the Union Address Word Cloud Shows Obama Thinking About "People"

BY Kit EatonWed Jan 26, 2011

The President is also keen on all things "new." Last night's SOTU speech prompted us to run his words through our text analysis process and dig into the text. What do his words reveal about our "future"? READ»

TRANSLATION APPS | Comment

iPhone App Word Lens Instantly Translates Life Into Something Amazing

BY Kit EatonFri Dec 17, 2010

Word Lens just hit the iTunes App Store and it will amaze you. It can "edit" text seen through the camera in real time, just like in sci-fi movies. Oh, and it also instant-translates foreign text. The world might've just changed.READ»

LEADERSHIP | Comment

Four Lessons Companies Can Learn From the Midterm Elections

BY Michael MaslanskyFri Nov 19, 2010

The morning after the mid-term elections, every news site, every cable news channel, and your favorite blog told us the myriad "lessons" we supposedly learned from an event less than 24 hours old. The analysis runs the gamut from silly to sophisticated.READ»

LEADERSHIP | Comment

The Boy Who Cried Mandate: The Perils of Exaggerating Reality

BY Michael MaslanskyTue Nov 16, 2010

On Mondays we have staff calls, with lunch. If seven of the thirteen of us opt for Thai, and the other six would rather try that new barbecue place, unfortunately, some tough choices must be made, "We'll try to do the barbecue place next week." I would never announce, "Everyone! There is a clear mandate for Thai food!" And yet this is basically what happens every election cycle.READ»

MARK ZUCKERBERG | Comment

Zuckerberg's Language Analyzed: Really, Um, Interesting

BY Kit EatonThu Oct 7, 2010

Yesterday Mark Zuckerberg took the stage to introduce some new Facebook features (which everyone's still trying to fully understand). As is our habit, we've peeked at his language skills. And they're, well....READ»

STEVE BALLMER | Comment

Analyzing Steve Ballmer's Language: He "Thinks" a "Lot" About "Things"

BY Kit EatonFri Jul 30, 2010

Steve Ballmer's a famously eccentric public speaker, and apparently this even extends to presentations at Microsoft's annual financial analyst meeting. We've looked at his language for you. And it's... interesting.READ»

STEVE BALLMER | Comment

Steve Ballmer Language Analysis: He's A "People" Person Too

BY Kit EatonThu Jun 3, 2010

Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer and Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie just finished speaking at the All Things D D8 conference. In the spirit of fair comparison, we did some thinking about their language, just as we did for Steve Jobs ...READ»

STEVE JOBS | Comment

Analyzing Steve Jobs' Language at D8: He's a "People" Person!

BY Kit EatonWed Jun 2, 2010

So Uncle Steve appeared at the D8 conference, and now we know things about Apple and Steve's sex life that maybe we didn't before. But did you look at the language he used? We did, and there are a few nice surprises in there.Steve ...READ»

UNIVERSAL TRANSLATOR | Comment

Will Google's Translator Phone Lead Us to Babylon or Babble On?

BY Kit EatonMon Feb 8, 2010

Google's revealed it's working on extensions to its smartphone voice-control powers, debuted in the Nexus One, that'll automatically translate between languages. It's the stuff of pure utopian science fiction. But is it a good idea? ...READ»

GOOGLING | Comment

Today's Vision of Tomorrow: I Google, You Google, Everyone Googles Everything

BY Kit EatonFri Dec 4, 2009

With new translation and dictionary services--and an awkward custom keyboard--Google secures its position as the world's expert on "looking things up." Eat it, Webster.READ»

ASIAN PHILOSOPHY | Comment

Rosetta Stone: Uniting The World Through Language Learning

BY Kaihan KrippendorffMon Oct 19, 2009

We see over and over that companies that are thriving are pursuing something good. While many traditional companies try to paint themselves “good,” under a thin veneer they maintain near exclusive commitment to growing ...READ»

ASIAN PHILOSOPHY | Comment

Don’t Be A Chicken Little: Rosetta Stone Knows The Sky Isn’t Falling

BY Kaihan KrippendorffMon Oct 5, 2009

The market has fallen two weeks in a row and the analysts are already running around like Chicken Little. While it is so tempting to get caught up in these daily dramas, it is also short-sighted. Consider, for example, the case of ...READ»

GOOGLE | Comment

Why Google's Chrome OS Is Not in Your Future

BY Chris DannenWed Jul 8, 2009

Google caused a flurry of excitement last night when it revealed it would convert its Chrome browser into an operating system meant for netbooks. A chorus of OMG's burst from the tech blog network. This is a "clear shot in Microsoft's ...READ»

SKOLL WORLD FORUM | Comment

Jargon-mania: A Social-Enterprise Lexicon

BY Jeff ChuFri Mar 27, 2009

There's nothing like a conference to breed and spread fresh jargon. At the Skoll World Forum for Social Entrepreneurship, they've included "impact," "accountability," "social business," that old ...READ»