Google Working On Voice-to-Voice Translation

Just read this news from Saybah, that Google is making big news about the world of telephony.  According to Saybah, Big G  is working to develop the first software for mobile phones that offer a translation service instantly, in which just speak for the program simultaneously translated into the language you want, both during a conversation with someone at the other end of the phone is to listen your voice translated.

I like Saybah’s look on how it is applied in a local context.

I like Googles online translation service, and if it’s available in a phone,… I WANT IT! It appears that Google has its own branded phone, with this translation function attached.  According to them, it will be a viable possibility within a couple of years.

Im gonna do some reading on that, and maybe will share it here later. Does anybody know anything about Google own phone yet?

Source

Happy Birthday to Facebook

So there was a lot of hoo-ha regarding the unveiling of the new Facebook layout. So with Facebook’s population growing from 200 million people last year alone, to a total of 400 million users now!… theres bound to be grumbles.

Oh by the way, the new layout release coincides with Facebook’s birthday… so Happy Birthday Facebook.

Personally I feel the change a minor. I still can easily access your favorite games and applications, along with those friends who are currently online.  Also, the news feed is now changed and divided into “top news” and “most recent” posts from your friends. This will help filter up the noise on your Facebook page.

Well I’m glad they didnt take away the Notification. Instead, the Notification is converted to a drop-down menu with your most recent notifications. I like this. I dont have to leave my current page to see my notification.

As you can conclude, I am one of the happier camper. What about you? Do you like the new Facebook layout?

Progo Water Rafting

Will put in description later.

Progo Water Rafting

Antibiotics

Over the weekend, Lil C has got the gastric. Poor angel has tummy ache for about 2 days. I can see just how painful it is for her. She rolled herself up into a ball just to find some comfort. sniff!

Even after giving her some warm milk, she still complains about the tummy ache. After consulting with our uncle doctor, we gave her a medicine called Polycilene. But somehow, her condition did not improve. And along the way, she has built up a bit of a temperature. Later we decided to bring her to a pead.

Now when we finally get to see the doctor, its amazing only after less than 3 minutes, the doctor concluded that its a “Radang” or an inflamation, and started prescribing the medicine. One for the temparature, and the next one is antibiotics. Its only after Intan asked “how does radang tenggorokan causes gastric?” he began to scribble another medicine,… and to our surprise, its another type of Polysilene.

Sometimes, its scary and disheartening to have doctors who always resort to antibiotics to blanket all problems, instead of going after the root cause of the problem. Given the attitudes of these kind of doctors, its no wonder why Intan always has doubts about them.

Kopeng Treetop Adventure Park

We heard several time about the new adventure tourism spot in Salatiga, called the Kopeng Treetop Adventure Park. From what we hear, Kopeng Treetop has flying fox for children and for adults. Since our last trip at Puri Asri, we are totally looking forward for our next flying fox adventure.

In the midst of a hectic week,  we somehow manage to find a small pocket of spare time, and we went for it. We took the drive, along with Hartanto, Fifi and Ms C, to Salatiga.

Kopeng Treetop Adventure park is situated on a hill, rich with beautiful, mature, pine looking like trees. When we reached the entrance, first thing we noticed was this lady, zooming down on a flying fox, just above our car. That got us really excited.

We made our way eagerly to the to ticket counter. The cost for an adult is Rp.110.000 and Rp.70.000 for children. They do have a family package promo which cost Rp.305.000 (2 Adults + 2 Children). Next, the workers gave and help us wear our gears. Its really cool. It consist of a harness, ropes, carabiner, and pulley. Do we know all of these before? No. But we do get to know it first hand here

Before the trip, Intan and I did wonder if we have to use gloves here, and it turned out to be just that. It is more secure and easier if you had gloves. They do sell gloves at Rp.5.000 per pair, and a slightly expensive (and cute) for the children at Rp.15.000 per pair.

Note to self: BRING OWN GLOVE NEXT TIME!

Now we are off for some adrenaline rush. All we need to do next is to choose which circuit to ‘play’. There are six circuits all together, each differentiated by color and difficulty level.  Colors are Yellow, Green, Blue, Red, Purple, and Black. Yellow circuit is for children, very easy, and the Black Circuit the hardest (supposedly). If you are a total beginner, there is a demo circuit for you to fimiliarize with the gears and what you are suppose to do.

Naturally, Big Sis, Lil C and Ms C, go to the Yellow circuit first. The workers there are very helpful. They ensure that each person follow the rules, and also give assurance to those who get ’stuck’. During our trip here, we do see a few occurance where people became scared and frozen still. It is then that these helpful workers ‘come to the rescue’.

Big Sis, and Ms C did go one step higher which was the Green circuit. Poor Lil C cannot follow, but she did have fun at the Yellow circuit. What about Mommy and Daddy?,… well we go straight  for the Black Circuit.

Actually Black circuit is not hard. Its just long. Each obstacle in Black Circuit was longer than the other cicuits.

Big Sis and Lil C on the Yellow Circuit

It being a weekend, there was a lot of people at Kopeng Treetop. Standard equipment rental time was 3 hours. If there are more people than equipment, then there is a waiting list for the equipment. Those who already played for 3 hours need to return the equipment when we called for. I was halfway through the Black circuit when my name was called.  But I had no chance to just stop and return my equipment because I was like 50 feet above ground on a flying fox.

Mommy, Big Sis, and Ms C trying out the Green Circuit.

Left: Big Sis needed a little help. Right: Mommy on the Black Circuit

I was mentally preparing to pay double charge when I went to the counter. Fortunately I wasn’t charged. I asked why was that, and the kind lady said that there was no such thing as extra charge for extra time. As long as the number of participants is less than the number of equipment, we can play as long as we wanted.

So tip #2: GO TO KOPENG WHEN THERE ARE LESS PEOPLE. IE WEEKDAYS. THIS WAY WE GET THE CHANCE TO PLAY THE WHOLE DAY.

We left just before dark, and stopped by Salatiga town to taste the famous Wedang Jahe (but thats another story). We didnt realise it then, but the next day, we definitely can feel our muscle ache,.. especially our arms.

Anyway, I prepared a short video on our trip to Kopeng Treetop.  Enjoy!

P/s. Check out Kopeng Treetop Youtube advertisment.