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.

Android is all the rage. If only you had some cute action figures to display your love for the OS. Well, now you can. Artist Andrew Bell has partnered with Google to release a series of authorized Android robot figurines, starting with an initial run of 12 designs in blind boxes.

You’ll want to collect them all because these guys look adorable. The figures stand 3 inches tall and have articulating heads and arms. They will be available starting the 10th of this month.

Colorware strikes yet another unsuspecting gadget. This time it’s the Nexus One. Oh the humanity. That Nexus One above is sporting IE colors, but you can choose whatever you like.

Your Nexus One will take three weeks to undergo its transformation, like gadget moth to beautiful gadget butterfly, for $175 if you’re supplying the phone or $800 for a brand new one. You are only limited by your imagination and your wallet.

This could be just a render, but it could also be the real thing. The folks over at Mobile01 have two more photos the Motorola Shadow, which looks similar to the Droid / Milestone with a white keyboard and wrist strap. Word is that this could be Google’s next flagship device, dubbed the Nexus Two.

It seems very possible to us as it makes sense to compliment the Nexus One with one that has a physical QWERTY keyboard. But why the wrist strap? Then again it looks a little too good and people will likely complain about the Dpad placement. What do you think?

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.

Not sure why we haven’t seen this guy on more things. The Android Robot does fall under the Creative Commons license after all, but check this out Android fans. This cute little guy can’t be found in stores sadly, but we still want one.

Some guy got tired of waiting for Android Robot merchandise to appear and made this himself as a birthday present for a friend. It’s a hand crafted, one-of-a-kind, Android Plush Bag. Great for your Google phone or whatever.

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.

Samsung on Wednesday demonstrated the E6 e-book reader. The 6-inch device features a wireless connection, likely Wi-Fi, to share and get your content and it also has a handwriting feature so users can doodle away. The first partner to provide content for the device will be Google, which has digitized many many popular and classic books.

The E6 should be able to compete well with Amazon’s Kindle, not to mention all of the others out there. The E6 will ship at some point later this year for $399.

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.

The Nexus One from Google is now official as Google has made their press announcement, as expected, that they are indeed launching their own mobile handset. The device is made by HTC and runs Google’s own Android software.

With Android, the features of the system are very similar to the existing handsets running the software with a few additions to the apps and some additional voice control. Google bragged the handset itself is no heavier than a Swiss Army Knife and no thicker than a number 2 pencil.

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.

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.

According to Reuters, Google will have not one, but two versions of the Nexus One phone. One unlocked and one on a service contract with T-Mobile. The phone may be available directly from Google as soon as January 5th in fact.

This is the second confirmation of that date, so it is looking very likely. So if you want this bad boy you won’t have long to wait. Obviously we are hoping that the unlocked version is pretty cheap.