Google’s Language Immersion Chrome extension translates random text to teach foreign lingo

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Berlitz may be the best way to learn a foreign language, but most of us have neither the time nor the ability to fully immerse ourselves in the vocabulary of another country. Hot on the heels of Gmail's automatic translation feature hitting the big time, Google's Translate team has crafted a Chrome extension to make language learning a bit more accessible. The extension does the trick by translating random portions of text to any of its 64 supported languages, so that your native tongue is interspersed with the lingo you're learning

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Microsoft shows devs the secrets to creating fluid animations in Windows 8 Metro apps

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As Microsoft brings its Metro style from the mobile world back to the desktop in Windows 8 , it's also focusing on keeping the smooth animated transitions users have gotten used to on certain mobile platforms intact. A new post on the Windows 8 app developer blog breaks down exactly what devs can do to achieve a consistent and fluid style in their apps even when they're using the new look. Unless you're planning on getting your hands dirty with code there's not much to see other than the (incredibly brief) animation sample embedded after the break

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A bird in the hand thanks to a robot that can perch

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Land-bound robots? Been there, done that.

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Verbatim’s Store ‘n’ Go V3 thumb drives pack USB 3.0, start at $20 for 8GB

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Portable flash drives specced to USB 3.0 have been around since before Apple's original iPad was introduced, but finding 'em on the cheap can still be quite the task.

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NVIDIA unleashes GeForce GTX 690 graphics card, loads it with dual Kepler GPUs, charges $1k

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Would you look at that?

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AT&T stockholders vote down net neutrality proposal

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AT&T stockholders took to the ballot box today at their annual meeting and voted not only to reelect the entire board of directors, but also on a number of measures concerning how the company should conduct business. Chief amongst them was a provision that would have required the carrier to operate its network according to the tenets of net neutrality . Unfortunately for you (unless you're an AT&T exec), the proposal was voted down by a pretty stunning margin.

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Verizon ICS update schedule leaks: Rezound, RAZR and Xoom being tested now

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While there are already vague Android update plans for Verizon-connected Samsung devices, a leaked screen from somewhere within the Big Red bunker has offered up some more details. It looks like the Rezound , Droid RAZR and RAZR Maxx are closest to the upgrade finish-line with testing likely to finish by May 7th for the HTC model and May 17th for the Motorola duo

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Samsung intros ‘world’s thinnest’ external DVD writer, tries to convince you to pack it with your tablet

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Generally, a new optical disk drive is nothing to write home about, but how about one that's specifically purposed for tablets and Ultrabooks ? That's the pitch Samsung is selling for its SE-218BB DVD / CD writer, which the company also notes as being the world's thinnest external ODD -- because what better to go with your svelte computing devices than more pluggable doohickeys. Cynicism aside, Samsung says this $60 add-on is just 14mm tall, "18 percent thinner than conventional DVD writers" and eight percent less weighty than its standard DVD ODD.

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Box releases new API for developers, announces 15 more OneCloud apps

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It's been quite a week for cloud storage, with Dropbox rolling out a significant new update , Microsoft's SkyDrive getting a new Windows Phone app , and Google Drive making its long-awaited debut . Now Box is getting in on the act, announcing the release of a brand new API that is says makes it easier than ever for developers to integrate the Box platform into their products. Along with it, the company has also announced 15 more Box OneCloud apps for iOS devices, and teamed up with the NYC-based General Assembly and TechStars in an effort to "drive innovation in enterprise software." You can get a quick rundown of the new API in the video after the break, and find all the details on how to get started with it at the links below.

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Square’s feeling good, on pace to take $5 billion in payments per year

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Despite growing competition from PayPal , Intuit and Verifone , it appears that Square's business is still going gangbusters. The grandaddy of all smartphone payment systems is set to take $5 billion in payments this year, up from $2 billion a scant six months ago . According to company COO Keith Rabois, such expansive growth has been fostered by the fact that Square makes the cash from transactions available to merchants the next business day -- a feature greatly appreciated by small businesses.

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