Inside Search
The official Google Search blog
Making conversations easier with Google Translate
November 20, 2013
Cross-posted from the
Google Translate Blog
Have you ever been in that frustrating situation where you meet someone -- yet can’t communicate because you don’t speak each other’s language? Well, hopefully communication can become a whole lot easier with the launch of the new
Google Translate app for Android
. The app now features faster and simpler speech translation, additional language support, and a sleek new look.
Converse without boundaries
Let’s say you're taking your first vacation abroad and decide to head to Spain. The only problem? You don't speak Spanish. Now -- equipped with just your Android device -- you can have a fully translated back-and-forth conversation from Spanish to English with very little work. All you need to do is open up your Translate app and press the microphone icon. We’ve also added gesture support, so with a simple turn of the screen, you can switch back and forth between languages. This makes ordering food in that authentic Tapas restaurant a whole lot easier!
More translate options for more languages
With today’s updated Translate app, we also offer more language support for our
handwriting feature
, allowing you to directly write words in Hebrew, Javanese, and Esperanto on your device screen and have them translated on the fly. You can also use our
camera translation
feature to take a photo of written text with your Android device and highlight which words you’d like to be translated, now including additional language support for Malay and Ukranian.
We hope Google Translate can continue to help break down more language barriers in easier ways, all on your mobile device. We'll be rolling the update out via the
Google Play Store
today and tomorrow. We hope you give it a whirl!
Posted by Matthew Gaba, Product Manager
Save your flights and find them on all devices
November 14, 2013
When I'm planning a trip, I use
Google Flight Search
to find the option that's best for me. For those times when I'm not ready to book immediately, Flight Search now offers a "Saved Flights" feature that allows me to save useful flight information and retrieve it when I'm ready to book.
When I’m signed in to my Google account on my mobile phone or tablet, and find a flight option I'm interested in I click the star button to add it to my saved flights list.
I can then access my saved flights on any device at any time by clicking the star icon on the Flight Search home page.
Saved results reflect price changes that may have occurred since I added the flights to my list, giving me all the information I need to make a smart booking decision.
We hope this helps make your trip planning a little easier to manage.
Posted by Jirka Semecky, Software Engineer
Make more of your day with the updated Google Search app for iOS
November 5, 2013
Like many of you, I feel like I’m always short on time — between work, shuttling my son around, meeting up with friends, and dealing with everyday chores. With more and more information to manage, we could all use a little extra help to get more out of our day. With the updated Google Search app for iPhones and iPads, we hope we can save you a bit more time each day — so you can spend it on more interesting things.
Here are a few new things you can do with the updated app:
When there’s important stuff that you need to know right now, Google will now automatically send you a
notification.
For example, while I was busy getting my son ready this morning, a notification appeared on my lock screen telling me that I should leave for his dentist appointment right away because of a traffic jam.
You can now easily
set reminders
for yourself, and Google will even notify you when you're near the location for that particular task. So if you say "OK Google, remind me to mail the checks when I get home," you'll get a notification as soon as your house pulls into view.
Reminders can also be handy for
keeping up with your favorite entertainment.
Search for movies, albums, actors or artists, and click on "Remind me" — Google Now will let you know when a new movie is about to debut or your favorite band has a new album.
You no longer need to comb through email to find an upcoming flight’s
boarding pass or the tickets
to your next movie or concert.
The updated app will simply show you a Google Now card with your tickets when you arrive at the theatre or airport.
Finally, even talking to Google got easier: when the app is open on your iPhone (4s and up) and iPad (2 and up),
just say “OK Google”
to ask any question out loud and get instant answers spoken back.
The updated Google Search app is available internationally, but reminders and “OK Google” hands free voice search work only in English for now. Everyone can enjoy the overall feature updates starting today.
You can
download the updated Google Search app
with Google Now from the App Store now — open it, sign in, and you’re ready to go. Don’t forget to drag it to your tray so it’s always handy.
Posted by Ian Wilkinson, Software Engineer
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