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2009 separated the companies with solid business models from those whistling in the wind. SDL

Looks like Twitter (news, site) and its 140 character limit was not enough. Another upcoming social site/micro-post vendor called Whispurr wants you to expand your character limit horizons, while keeping it simple.

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Whispurr Offers Simple Social Networking in 300 Characters

Lionbridge (news, site) and Author-it (news, site) get together to reduce the costs and complexity of worldwide content translation and management.

Google is offering Web publishers a free tool for providing translation services on their pages.

Lots of big companies based outside the U.S. offer English-language versions of their Web site with a click of a button, but Google’s new service actually detects the home language of a visitor to your site and offers them a translated version of the page based on their browser settings. Fifty-one languages will be supported by the service, which Webmasters can offer by pasting a bit of code into their pages.

Such a service is only as useful as its accuracy, however. Google admitted the service is really designed to offer a “quick gist” of a page’s content and hailed the work of professional translators on what is apparently International Translation Day. (Unbelievably, Hallmark does not appear to make a card commemorating this day.)

Interested publishers can test out the code here.

Originally posted at Relevant Results

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Google offers easy translation service for Web pages

Facebook made a dual set of announcements this week pertaining to Facebook Connect, the universal-log-in product that it offers to third-party developers and Web sites. Both are aimed at making Connect more ubiquitous: first, a tool called “Translations for Facebook Connect” that simplifies the process of translating the product into international languages, and second, the “Facebook Connect Wizard” for incorporating the product into a site with little developer expertise required.

Facebook first announced that Connect would be available in a multilingual format this summer. Now, the tool can be used to translate any site into the language of a given user who’s logged in with Connect.

Last we heard, about 15,000 sites had implemented Facebook Connect, a product that statistics firm Hitwise says gave the social network enough momentum to propel it past once-bigger rival MySpace in terms of U.S. traffic. Launching international translations of the main Facebook site–which the company ended up “crowdsourcing” to users starting early last year–is largely credited with kickstarting the social network’s growth overseas.

Facebook now has over 300 million active users around the world, a sizable majority of which are outside the U.S.

Plugging in Facebook Connect information with the three-step 'wizard.'

(Credit: Facebook)

“Establishing a presence on the social Web requires fundamental building blocks,” a post by Facebook employee Alex Himel explained as it announced the Facebook Connect Wizard. “Facebook provides these essential tools, including identity for a great registration system, and immediate access to 300 million active global users. Facebook Connect gives entrepreneurs of all sizes–and with varying developer resources–the ability to build traffic efficiently through reaching a relevant audience, while offering an engaging user experience.”

The new Connect Wizard takes only three steps, Himel’s post said.

Originally posted at The Social

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Facebook Connect branches out