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Friday, December 17, 2010

New iPhone translator app instantly translates printed words using the camera



The unbelievable iPhone translator app, World Lens, auto-replaces the text with accurate camera mapping and instantly translates printed words from one language to another using the video camera on your iPhone,. No network delay, no roaming fees, and no reception problems.


Word Lens is a dictionary — evolved. It looks up words for you, and shows them in context. You can use Word Lens on your vacations to translate restaurant menus, street signs, and other things that have clearly printed words. It currently only supports Spanish to English annd English to Spanish.

UAE hotel erects 11-million-dollar Christmas tree

From: http://news.yahoo.com/

UAE hotel erects 11-million-dollar Christmas tree  
AFP – An Emirati man walks past an 11-million-dollar Christmas tree at the Emirates Palace hotel in the Emirati …
ABU DHABI (AFP) – Christmas came in extravagant fashion to the Muslim desert emirate of Abu Dhabi as a glitzy hotel unveiled a bejewelled Christmas tree valued at more than 11 million dollars on Wednesday.
It is the "most expensive Christmas tree ever," with a "value of over 11 million dollars," said Hans Olbertz, general manager of Emirates Palace hotel, at its inauguration.

The 13-metre (40-foot) faux evergreen, located in the gold leaf-bedecked rotunda of the hotel, is decorated with silver and gold bows, ball-shaped ornaments and small white lights.

But the necklaces, earrings and other jewellery draped around the tree's branches are what give it a record value.

It holds a total of 181 diamonds, pearls, emeralds, sapphires and other precious stones, said Khalifa Khouri, owner of Style Gallery, which provided the jewellery.
"The tree itself is about 10,000 dollars," Olbertz said. "The jewellery has a value of over 11 million dollars -- I think 11.4, 11.5."

This will probably be an entry into the Guinness book of world records, Olbertz said, adding that Emirates Palace planned to contact the organisation about the tree which is to stay until the end of the year.

Asked if the tree might offend religious sensibilities in the United Arab Emirates, where the vast majority of the local population is Muslim, Olbertz said he did not think it would. "It's a very liberal country," he said.
The hotel has had a Christmas tree up in previous years, but this year "we said we have to do something different," and the hotel's marketing team hatched the plan, said Olbertz.

The tree is not the first extravagant offering from Emirates Palace -- a massive, dome-topped hotel sitting amid fountains and carefully manicured lawns.

The hotel, which bills itself as seven-star, in February introduced a package for a seven-day stay priced at one million dollars.

Takers of the package have a private butler and a chauffeur driven Maybach luxury car at their disposal during their stay, as well as a private jet available for trips to other countries in the region.

And in May, the hotel opened a gold vending machine, becoming the first place outside Germany to install "gold to go, the world's first gold vending machine," said Ex Oriente Lux AG, the German company behind the machine.

The day Niagara Falls ran dry: Newly-discovered photos show the moment the iconic waterfall came to a standstill


By Graham Smith

It's taken 41 years, but a previously unseen set of photos of the mighty Niagara Falls reduced to nothing more than a barren cliff-top have finally surfaced.
The stark images reveal North America's iconic - and most powerful - waterfall to be almost as dry as a desert.
In June 1969, U.S. engineers diverted the flow of the Niagara River away from the American side of the falls for several months.
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Stark: A completely dry Niagara Falls has never been seen before or since the six months in July 1969 when U.S. engineers set about restructuring the American side of the twin landmark
Stark: A completely dry Niagara Falls has never been seen before or since the six months in July 1969 when U.S. engineers set about restructuring the American side of the twin landmark
Mountain of rubble: This set of photos only recently came to light when Russ Glasson found them in a shoebox in his in-laws' Connecticut garage
Mountain of rubble: This set of photos only recently came to light when Russ Glasson found them in a shoebox in his in-laws' Connecticut garage

Their plan was to remove the large
amount of loose rock from the base of the waterfall, an idea which they
eventually abandoned due to expense in November of that year.

During the interim, they studied the
riverbed and mechanically bolted and strengthened a number of faults to delay the gradual erosion of the American Falls.

The team, made up of U.S. Army Corp
of Engineers, blew up their temporary dam in November 1969 and six
million cubic feet of water once again thundered over the falls' sides every minute.



Now, after lying unseen for more than four decades, a set of images showing the eerie calm at the American Falls that year have been unearthed by a man from Connecticut.
Plan: The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers studied the riverbed and mechanically bolted and strengthened a number of faults to delay the gradual erosion of the American Falls
Plan: The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers studied the riverbed and mechanically bolted and strengthened a number of faults to delay the gradual erosion of the American Falls
Historical moment: In order to stop the Niagara River running over the American Falls, engineers constructed a dam consisting of 27,800 tons of rock, stopping the water for the first time in 12,000 years
Historical moment: In order to stop the Niagara River running over the American Falls, engineers constructed a dam consisting of 27,800 tons of rock, stopping the water for the first time in 12,000 years

Russ Glasson recently stumbled
across the pictures, which were taken by his in-laws, and had been left
in an old shoebox in their garage for over four decades.

Mr Glasson said: 'My in-laws took
these pictures during the six months through June to November that the
Army was working to improve the health of the American Falls.'


Two rockslides from the plate of the falls in 1931 and 1954 had caused a large amount of rock to be collected at the base.
In
1965, reporters at local newspaper Niagara Falls Gazette revealed that
the America Falls would eventually cease to flow and stop altogether if
the rocks were not removed.

Four years later, the U.S. Army Corp
of Engineers were charged with de-watering the falls to clean the river
bed and to remove any loose rock at the bottom of the falls.

Gradual deterioration: Two rockslides from the plate of the falls in 1931 and 1954 had caused a large amount of rock to be collected at the base
Gradual deterioration: Two rockslides from the plate of the falls in 1931 and 1954 had caused a large amount of rock to be collected at the base
Eerie calm: The temporary dam can be seen in the top-right of this photograph
Eerie calm: The temporary dam can be seen in the top-right of this photograph

Thunderous: The American Falls as they normally appear, with millions of gallons of water hurtling over the edge every minute
Thunderous: The American Falls as they normally appear, with millions of gallons of water hurtling over the edge every minute
To achieve this the army had to
build a 600ft dam across the Niagara River, which meant that 60,000
gallons of water that flowed ever second was diverted over the larger
Horseshoe Falls which flow entirely on the Canadian side of the border.

The
dam itself consisted of 27,800 tons of rock, and on June 12, 1969,
after flowing continuously for over 12,000 years, the American Falls
stopped.

Over the course of the next six months thousands of visitors flocked to the falls to witness the historic occasion.
Once
the engineers had removed the collected rocks from the falls base and
made geological testing to make safe the rest, the falls were
re-watered on November 25 in front of 2,650 onlookers.
Tourist hotspot: The Maid Of The Mist cruise boat journeys near to the Canadian Falls. The American Falls can be seen in the distance on the left
Tourist hotspot: The Maid Of The Mist cruise boat journeys near to the Canadian Falls. The American Falls can be seen in the distance on the left


Van Damme Friday : Part man Part Machine