Interpreting languages can be a real challenge. It’s especially difficult for frequent overseas travelers or those who converse with foreign clients over the phone. Google wants to make things easier with smartphone translator software that will instantly convert the words you speak from one language to another while on the phone.

They’ve been doing it for some time with text translation, and now speech-to-speech translation is possible with ‘high-accuracy machine translation and high-accuracy voice recognition’ only. The idea is that the users phone would adapt to the user by learning their style of talking and make it easier to translate in real time.

[GW]

Looks like Google Street View may be expanding. Apparently a New York retailer named Oh Nuts, allowed some people from Google to come into the store and take pictures of the inside, every 6 feet, in all directions. Pictures of the items on display were also taken.

Apparently its for a new Google Maps feature called “Google Store View”. Google Store Views will allow people to basically walk into the store from Google Street Views. So imagine you are looking at the store, and then you can click on the door to enter, all on Google Maps.

As we told you yesterday, Google took a stand against the Chinese government by refusing to censor their search results. Well, it looks like some citizens are already in mourning.

Chinese citizens have been placing flowers on the Google logo as if it were a gravestone. And it just may be if the Chinese government decides they don’t like Google’s stance.

Google has made a bold statement today and most would say that it is about time. It has announced that it will no longer censor search results on the Chinese version of the search engine. Apparently they are serious about it, even if it ends in the shut down of Google.cn. It seems that enough is finally enough. From the Official Google Blog:

We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

Those outdated billboards in Google Street View are not just outdated, but they’re an opportunity for Google, who has filed a patent entitled “Claiming Real Estate in Panoramic or 3D Mapping Environments for Advertising,”. The patent should allow them to cut out billboards shown in Street View and replace them with their own current ads.

Apparently this would be done by working with whoever owns the space. For instance a theater owner could keep the posters out front up to date at all times. We can’t think of any other way in which this would work, since they are putting ads on other people’s property without permission. It’s an interesting move by the big G.

Want to find a local coffee shop? Maybe you need a new restaurant. As usual, Google can help. The big G has introduced local search for iPhone and Android phones.

Now when you’re on Google’s page on your mobile browser, just hit the “near me now” link to bring up search results that are near your location. Find coffee and ATMs easily at long last. Pretty soon we will get completely lost without our phones to the point where we will be zombies during service outages.

Google is expected to release it’s own mobile phone in a press conference schedule for today, going by the name of Nexus One. The new phone will be the first to actually be sold by Google and will also run Google’s very own Android software stack for mobile devices.

The Nexus One is rumored to also become available through the T-Mobile and their wireless carrier network in addition to the unlocked version direct from Google. The Android software has already been available on a number of mobile phones starting back in 2008 with a device from HTC. The device Google is introducing today is expected to also be from HTC, touting a 3.7 inch touch screen, 5-megapixel camera and a Snapdragon processor.

The specs for Google’s Chrome OS netbook have leaked. Spoiler alert: It’s looking good. Apparently the Google netbook will pack the Nvidia Tegra platform with an ARM CPU. Some other specs include a 10.1″ multi-touch HD screen, 64GB SSD, 2GB of RAM, Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, a webcam etc.

Obviously, the netbook will run Chrome OS and come with a bunch of Google Apps. Maybe a dedicated “I’m feeling lucky” button.(Okay, I made that last part up.)

There may be a Google-branded netbook on the way soon. Google has been talking about working with a bunch of manufacturers in order to be sure its Chrome OS runs well and now on top of that, multiple sources say that Google will hire an unnamed netbook maker to build a device specifically for Chrome OS.

Word is that we might see this gBook as soon as next Christmas. And by that time there will be more tiny and powerful processors to choose from, which will give this net-connected laptop some real power.

Has anyone noticed the somewhat hidden countdown timer on Google’s main page? You don’t see it until you hit the “I’m feeling lucky” button without anything to search for. Then it mysteriously shows up.

In US time, the timer ends at the New Year, but obviously that isn’t it. What else is going on with Google that they might want to announce? The launch of the Google Nexus One perhaps? That’s what our money is on.

Well, now we know that the Google Nexus One exists. Perhaps there really is a Santa Claus as well. This higher resolution picture is supposedly the Nexus One and is the talk of the internets.

Physically thisthe same as the HTC Passion, without the HTC logo on top. We hear ya, you can’t wait to give this Google Phone a try. We agree. They had us when they tweeted “Google Phone = iPhone + a little extra screen and a scroll wheel. Great touch screen, and Android.”

Check out this awesome Google Chrome commercial. They are really on to something here the way they have unleashed this one. And of course we always suspected that behind the scenes, rubber bands and hammers and stuff all make the Google machine invincible.

It’s not only creative, but kinda informative as well. Most importantly it’s fun to watch. Google has taken over the rest of the world, so maybe artsy fartsy movies will be next. So let me ask you, does this clever commercial make you want to use Chrome even more, or not?

Looks like Google’s Chrome OS will be getting some support from Dell. The company is making an experimental version of the Chromium OS available for its Mini Inspiron 10v netbook. The OS will be available as a USB key image file, but they are warning users that it’s a risk since it has only gone through minimal testing.

Some of the current known problems include taking up to 10 minutes before the network connection manager can find wireless networks and other things freezing as well. The 8GB image can be transferred to a USB drive only by using a Linux system.

Sergey Brin says that “Android and Chrome will likely converge over time.” It’s unclear when this might occur though. In fact, Google CEO Eric Schmidt attempts to downplay the difference between Google’s operating systems in a recent CNET interview, which makes us wonder if Google has a clear idea of where this is going.

Schmidt prefers not to “prejudge the success” of each. “The future will unfold as it does,” he says, and the open-source community will determine the natural fit. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens.

Google is doing just fine in the search business, so no one would blame them if they just left things as they were and kept raking in the dough. But it’s nice to see that the search giant is still paying attention to details and willing to try some new things.

Google’s vice president of search product and user experience recently stated that Google will soon begin testing of a new permanent sidebar on its results page. The new version allows you to narrow a search to specific categories, and is more attractive. Plus, the sidebar will be, conveniently and permanently displayed on the left side of the page.