Project for Free Electronic Dictionaries — Page 3 of 4

Florida’s Top Advertising Agencies Website Design Named Strategic Media

Strategic Media Inc., a Tampa Bay primarily based website non-traditional Advertising Agency, has been identified by the Tampa Bay Business Book united of Florida’s leading Ad agencies. For the fifth consecutive year the Journal has placed strategic media within the prime fifteen West Florida Ad Agencies. Company CEO Chuck Nelms was quoted as announcing“. We are very happy to receive this confirmation once more. The traditional advertising forms that Florida companies relied on are simply not operating as they once did. These days we have a tendency might direct purchasers to internet promoting by utilizing effective website style, search engine optimization (SEO), social media, and on-line discount coupons.

Advertise your website with Strategic Media

We will still innovate and evolve our client’s advertising systems with hot media like sensible phone mobile promoting and QR codes to assist them keep prior to the competition”. Nelms went on to illustrate “. The prevailing market place holds an amazing chance for companies to achieve a competitive advantage over firms who do not acclimatize to the changes that are happening within the world of website advertising”. Fortunes are created throughout difficult times for people who perceive the changes and create the right choices”. Additionally to native S.E.O website style free press release, in keeping with Chuck Nelms, The corporate uses offsite SEO approaches like web stories syndication blogs and native geographic targeting through search maps and social media.

Strategic Media Ad firms website has been awhile for your marketing needs

“Most enterprises and Ad firms website understand world wide web is very important however fail to comprehend how quickly things modification on-line and the way speedily you’ll be able to lose your edge to the competition if you are doing not catch the changes once they happen. Most industries need quite a static web site style to succeed.” Stated Mr. Nelms regarding strategic media of Strategic Media, Incorporated. A non-traditional advertising corporation established in 1995 is found in Tampa Bay within the Feather Sound area of Clearwater Florida.

Strategic media make your website advertising fit on your budget

Strategic media focuses on native SEO website style, search engine optimization (SEO), internet news syndication, focused direct mail distribution, indoor advertising and social media systems. The corporation’s brands embrace Sailfish Media Group, City Publications, Website Search Designer, Advantage Indoor Advertising and Coupon Chuck Strategic Media’s initial markets are the Tampa Bay cities of Tampa, Clearwater, St Pete, Sarasota, Lakeland and Orlando, Florida. For additional information regarding strategic media visit Strategic Media Inc. or call Chuck Nelms at 727-531-7622.

7 months ago • Development

Eliminate credit card debt with Simple Home Money Management

There are a number of tried and tested ways to eliminate credit card debt and below the most popular are discussed, select the one method that best suits your situation.

1. Stop using your credit cards! 2. Create a budget where you identify income and outgoings 3. List your credit card debt by dollars owing and interest being charged on the card

Once you have completed the above steps you will be in a better position to determine which approach will work best for your situation.

Consolidate debt – eliminate credit card debt by consolidating debt into a single loan with a lower interest rate, see your bank manager or lender for available options. If this can be achieved then consolidate your debt, pay off your credit card debt with money received from the consolidated loan and then close those card accounts!

Using your budget identify surplus money on a weekly or monthly basis and setup an automatic payment to start paying off the consolidated loan.

Highest interest charges first – eliminate credit card debt by paying off the cards with the highest interest charges. Once you have sorted your credit card debt and ordered by interest charged on the card you will know which cards are costing you the most money in order to borrow on. Pay those off first, you could even repay these cards by transferring the debt to your other cards that are charged at a lower interest rate. But whatever you do, once you get the card to zero balance close the card account! Keep doing this until all of your credit cards are paid off.

Lowest debt first – eliminate credit card debt by paying off the cards with the lowest debt first, disregarding the amount of interest being charged. The rationale here is that by taking the first small steps to eliminating your credit card debt and seeing positive results “quick wins” will have a major impact on your psyche and provide your with the stimulus to keep paying off your cards and closing the card accounts when done. Once you form the winning habit and enjoy the satisfaction gain from paying off your card you will be motivated to keep going.

Put your card on ice – eliminate credit card debt by simply wrapping your card in plastic cling film, filling a small container with water and placing your card into it then put it in the freezer at the bottom. Sometimes credit cards are very useful if you get caught out and have an unexpected expense where you may not have surplus money in your budget to pay. If this should happen you can dig your card out of the freezer and then thaw, once thawed you can use the card. The time it takes to do this usually provides you with the opportunity to determine whether the expense you are about to use the credit card to pay with is justified or not. When you card is on ice you can work into you budget how much you can afford to divert to eliminate the credit card debt.

7 months ago • Business

Digital Image Enhancement Developer Toolkit

Since 1989, SAI has been at the forefront of developing digital camera image enhancement and editing software. We developed the image editing and download software for Canon’s Xapshot™, the worlds’ first commercially distributed digital camera. Our patented VistaMax™ real-time image enhancement technology has been licensed and used by major digital imaging manufacturers including Nikon for distribution with their digital camera products. Now we are making this powerful imaging technology available to developers. Our Digital Image Enhancement Software Developer Toolkit for Apple Mac OS X includes the automated adjustment of clipped color values based on our patented VistaMax technology (currently available for licensing as a separate module) and the functionality listed below. The full toolkit is planned for calendar year 2009 release. The complete toolkit provides the developer with the following capabilities:

high speed color gamut manipulation for RGB or YUV color space.

“real time” display of color gamut adjustments of the image on screen for precision optimization.

automatic adjustment of clipped color values to restore image quality lost in editing and retouching.

“effect” filters for layering adjustments to the image.

optional image editing suite.

optional output to Everplay™ compliant play lists.

The patented VistaMax™ image enhancement technology allows the user to restore values lost to color value “clipping” during other operations. Clipping occurs during image color correction and editing. An example would be losing color saturation values as the image brightness is increased. By using the VistaMax technology, developers can provide a means of recovering much of these lost values to restore the quality of the original image to meet each user’s individual visual taste. The VistaMax operation can be applied over a range of adjustments between two parameters: brightness and color saturation. The clipping adjustment can be applied from a setting of 100% “brightness oriented” and 0% “color saturation oriented”, ranging to 0% “brightness oriented” and 100% “color saturation oriented”, or at percentage combination in between. This facilitates optimizing the quality of each specific image based on what values have been clipped during prior color space manipulation and to the desired visual effect. As every user may have different visual expectations, the VistaMax technology can be applied in a flexible manner to suite individual taste. This provides very fast customized optimization of each image, optimized for each user.

Digital Image Enhancement Developer Toolkit for Mac OS X

This developer toolkit supports Mac OS10.4 and later. The toolkit includes the VistaMax™ color gamut engine, image and anti-clipping control interface, documentation, and a “right to use” license. The software has been developed in C++. The Editing Suite option includes an application framework that provides support for: layered filter effects, cropping, resizing, zooming, rotating, and configuration controls for printing. An option for output of images to an Everplay™ compliant play list if planned for fall 2009.

For more information and availability, please contact us at support@softarch.com

Digital Image Enhancement Developer Toolkit for MS Windows

This developer toolkit supports MS Windows XP SP2 and Vista. The toolkit includes the VistaMax™ color gamut engine, image and anti-clipping control interface, documentation, and a “right to use” license. The software has been developed in C++. The Editing Suite option includes an application framework that provides support for: layered filter effects, cropping, resizing, zooming, rotating, and configuration controls for printing. An option for output of images to an Everplay™ compliant play list if planned for fall 2009.

7 months ago • Development, Tech

2011 Toyota FJ Cruiser with Special Trail teams version

Toyota has always been moving forward with continuously improving the improvements in its innovations for each year. Toyota’s – F J Cruiser has been one of its evergreen innovations to come up with enhancements each model year. Following the similar trend, 2011 Toyota F J Cruiser is soon coming up with its latest “Trail Teams special Version”. So what new things are coming up??

As ever seen, the 2011 Toyota FJ Cruiser presents Trail Teams special edition is the sports utility vehicle (SUV) with muscular bold looks. It is seen that the frontal grille is mounted with prompt circular head lamps and the bumper well coordinated with the wheel arches. The Stepney is mounted on the exterior of rear portion. The vehicle is presented with a set of broad alloy wheels measuring 17 inches which is its renewed attribute. The wheelbase is mounted 9.6 inches above the ground level which is again the added feature. The doors of the vehicle can be wide opened upto 90 degrees for easy entry and exit of the passengers. Even the rear door with privacy glass loaded with defogger can be opened sideways for added comfort. The Army Green body with black bumper offers graceful look to the SUV.

The 2011 Toyota FJ Cruiser’s special edition gets the mechanism from its elder sibling, as the 2010 model was featured with the enhanced mechanism. The Cruiser gets the capability to generate momentum of 260 horsepower with the maximum torque of 271 lb. ft. as the vehicle is powered by innovative 4 liter and 6 cylinder (V6) engine with DOHC also known as double overhead camshaft technology embedded with intelligence of variable value timing. It offers the towing capacity of 5000 pounds. This technology helps to synchronize the fuel intake and exit through the engine at specific timing. The engine is mated with a standard six speed manual transmission gearbox offering the option to choose five speed automatic transmission gearbox. The gearbox with automatic transmission system facilitates automatic gear shifting betting on the road conditions and drivers skills. These unique attributes associated with engine offer better fuel efficiency and improved performance.

2011 FJ Cruiser is the Toyota’s new generation SUV designed to give added comfort. It comes with a stylishly designed spacious interiors and spacious cargo floor. Driver’s seat comes with powered eight way adjustability mode for the drive to command over the vehicle and the front passenger seat gets four way adjustability modes. The cabin is spacious with generous leg-room. The dashboard is broad and tubular with flat rectangular a panel which is loaded with standard safety features like air conditioning system, temperature gauge, fuel gauge, climate control, speedometer etc. The tilt steering wheel is mounted with audio system control for easy access while driving. All the seats are fabric wrapped with resin coating which can be easily cleaned. The headrest of the rear seats can be folded for improved rear visibility. Additionally the rear seat gets 60/40 split ability which facilitates easy enhancement of cargo floor as per the requirements. Additionally the safety features comprises of cruise control system, traction control, vehicle stability control, power mirrors, range of airbags surrounding the whole interior to prevent collision, 3 point seat belts and a child safety seat.

Although the 2011 Toyota FJ Cruiser was introduced as a concept vehicle, without any intentions to take to the production line, an overwhelming buyer response has set the fortune wheels rolling for this macho looking SUV.

8 months ago • Things

Essential Of Good Web Design

If you want to design a web site, you should follow nine rules of thumb.

1. General Impression

Your web site is like a window display of your business. If the impression that it creates is not good enough visitors will simply leave.

Your site must be:

Neat Organized Attractive Professional

It is better if your site shows less than too much. Over crowded websites, with too many flashy elements, create a negative effect on your visitors.

2. Message

The first question that visitors ask themselves when coming to your site is “What can I gain from here?” Visitors are not impressed that much by promotional offers of free goods and services. They are looking for ways in which your site can be useful to them. If your site should offer one or more of the following:

Entertainment Information Advice Helpful tips

Contact with people who share same interests, links to other interesting sites. Your corporate site should provide information about your business and products and services. A business site should be simple to navigate and offer products and services that located in a simple way and ordered quickly.

3. Fast download

Your site should load as quickly as possible. Market research shows that the average surfer leaves a site that fails to load in 7 seconds. For a dial-up modem that means a maximum of 56 kilobytes. So avoid large graphics and flash animations. The opening page of your site should not overwhelm your visitors with too much information or you risk loosing them. Many Internet sites offer advice on how to increase the download speed of your site. Look for such articles read them and follow the suggested advice.

4. Graphics and Design

The graphical design of a website is crucial for a positive first impression. Every graphic element should help present the main idea of your site. Funny images are not appropriate for a business site, but they can be a good choice for an entertainment one. Graphics load slowly so use them sparingly and efficiently. Try to keep the overall size of your web pages around 30k. Individual pictures should be about 6-8k. Additional 2k adds about one second to download time. Right-click on an image and check its properties to find out its size. The choice of colors is also significant since different colors provoke different feelings. The warm colors like orange and red increase the pulse rate and stimulate the senses. Cold colors like blue and green have the opposite effect. Yellow is considered a happy color because it reminds us of the sun. Select the right colors for the emotion that you want to create. People read a text from top left down to bottom right. Place your images accordingly. Images that have a directional aspect should point to the most important part of your page. If you use the image of a bird its beak should point to inside the page and not outside. This is valid for all images: Faces should be turned to the center of the page. Cars should face the center of the page. Neckties, roads and other prolonged objects should point from left to the right and from top to bottom. You should put your navigation bars down the left side of your page, as well. This will keep them visible for your visitors.

5. Readable texts

Here we do not consider choice of words (we will deal with this later on), but rather the appearance of words on a page. To impress word should be surrounded by sufficient white space. Use dark texts on light backgrounds (preferably white). Dark backgrounds make visitors feel confined and depressed. Bright backgrounds make texts difficult to read and red, orange and purple backgrounds can be dazzling. The text color you choose is equally important, different browsers interpret colors in different ways. A text that looks fine on your browser may be illegible on a different one. Divide your text in columns to make it simpler and faster to read. It is easier to follow a column than a large chunk of text that stretches across the whole page. Choose fonts that are available on all computers and that are easy to read like Arial, Times New Roman, Garamond and Courier. Exotic fonts like Gothic, Script, Westminster, or Cloister look attractive in headings, but not all users have them installed on their computers. In this case, your visitor’s browser will render the missing font with a system one and ruin the effect that you are aiming at.

6. Easy Page Flow

Most people do not handle well large pieces of information. We have already suggested that you divide your page into columns that would separate the text vertically but you should also use headings and sub-headings that separate it horizontally. Write short statements for the key facts on your page and use the statements for headings. Examine each section to check if you can break it into smaller pieces. Write a short statement for each of these pieces and use these statements as sub-headings. Use the same font for all your headings and subheadings. Make them bold and increase the font size for headings. It will make simple to spot the large and bold headings and subheadings that are the same size with the text but bold. If you follow this advice, your visitors will be able to see the key points of your page at a glance. Write your headings carefully, because if you grab your visitors’ attention with them they will stay and read on. If you want to attract your visitors’ attention to other parts of the text you can make some sentences bold or change their color. Use this approach carefully, because some colors are difficult to read even on a white background.

7. Navigation

There are two reasons why you should put your navigation bar on the left side of your page –

People read from left to right and from top to bottom. Web surfers expect to find navigation bars on the left of web pages. It is a good idea to put a button at the bottom of a long text that would allow the visitor to return to the beginning of the text. When you create a page design that you like use it on every page of your web site, it will make your web site predictable and will help your visitors find the information they need. Save a blank page with the layout, columns, logos, standardized graphics, alt tags and navigation bars built in. Use this page as a template for all pages that you create for your web site and just fill in the content that you like.

8. Privacy and Customer Opinions

It is invaluable to get prospective customers to trust you, if you run a corporate site. Tell your visitors how you are protecting their private information. Set a privacy page that explicitly lists how and what information you collect from your visitors, how you keep their e-mail address, how you accept and process their orders, who has access to this information and what precautions you take with information collected from minors. People like to know what your customers think of your products and services. Invite your customers to share their opinion, they would love to know that it is appreciated. Make a dedicated page with the opinions of your customers. Offer links to their web sites in exchange of their opinion. This can be beneficial for both parties involved.

9. Spelling, Grammar and Word Choice

These are of crucial importance. If you are not careful here, all your efforts are in vain. Poor spelling and careless grammar and punctuation are the easiest way to lose visitors. Spelling and grammar mistakes tell that the site owner is lazy, careless, and unprofessional. Your visitors would not like to do business with you. What can you do? Take steps to polish your own writing. Hire somebody to check and edit your writing. Hire somebody to write the text of your pages for you.

8 months ago • Business, Development, Tech

Djay For iPad Hits App Store

Alogirddim has just released an iPad version of its popular djay for Mac application, which is currently available in the App Store for $19.99.

The app, simply called djay, provides a virtual DJ set for iPad owners to play around with. Here’s a full list of the app’s features, taken from djay‘s release notes:

✓ Direct access to iTunes music library

✓ Realistic low-latency turntable interface

✓ Automix mode with automatic transition control (Fade, Backspin, Reverse, Brake, Random)

✓ Live Recording (with built–in organizer for recorded performances)

✓ Seamless AirPlay integration (wirelessly transmit your mix to Apple TV or AirPort Express station)

✓ Pre–Cueing (with optional headphones adapter)

✓ BPM analysis with automatic beat and tempo matching

✓ Full visual waveform with beat–synchronized scrubbing

✓ High–quality scratching

✓ Mixer, Tempo and EQ controls

✓ Pitch–Bend

✓ Cue Point Trigger

✓ Fully optimized for iOS 4.2 multitasking and background operation

In order to run the application, iPad owners must have iOS 4.2 installed on their tablet. This is because djay takes advantage of the new audio features, which were introduced with that version of iOS.

At $19.99, djay for iPad isn’t exactly cheap. However, djay for Mac allows users to try out the app before they buy it. So, if you want a taste of how djay for iPad is going to run, be sure to take a look at the Mac OS X app. Additionally, we’ve also embedded algoriddim’s promotional video for the iOS app for you to check out.

If you’ve already downloaded djay for iPad, let us know your thoughts regarding the app in the comments below. And, thanks to MacRumors for spotting this.

8 months ago • Tech

Free Incredible Android Apps: Communication Category

As an HTC Incredible Android owner I have spent several hours using and testing hundreds of incredible Android apps in all the categories. If you are reading this article then you are most likely thinking about buying an Android for yourself, buying an Android for someone else, or already own an Android. I am here to share my research results with you or someone you know that is or soon will be an Android user like me.
I am going to share with you my top 5 rated and tested free Android apps in the communication category. You may ask, why only 5? Well quite honestly if you have more than 5 apps from each of the different categories then you are probably wasting a lot of battery life on your cell phone or chances are you need to get outside and get some fresh air and step away from the phone for a minute. Ok, enough of being funny, let me share with you my top 5 choices in the communication category: KakaoTalk, TiKL-Touch to Talk (PTT), Handcent SMS, EasyTether Lite, and AVG Antivirus Free.

KakaoTalk

KakaoTalk is rated overall by users a 4.5 out of 5, which told me that I wasn’t the only one that really liked this app. The KakaoTalk app is messenger service on your phone that is based on the phone numbers you have saved in your contacts. Best of all, the KakaoTalk app is one of the only apps that permit iPhone users and Android users anywhere in the world to chat one-to-one or in a group for free. The KakaoTalk app instantly notifies the person receiving the message that a message has arrived. Lastly, KakaoTalk allows the messenger to send several different types of multimedia like videos, pictures, and contact telephone numbers to others you want in your group. I cannot get enough of KakaoTalk.

TiKL – Touch to Talk (PPT)

TiKL is also rated overall by users a 4.5 out of 5 by users of this app. Here is where the Android puts the Sprint and Nextel Push-to-Talk phones to shame. With the TiKL app you can use your Android phone as the ultimate Push-to-Talk (PPT) Walkie Talkie in your network. The TiKL Android app allows the user to instantly talk to a friend, family member, coworker, group of people, or absolutely anyone in your network with the touch of a button. Best of all there is no setup required and all that is required is that you have those you wish to talk with in your contacts or even better as a Facebook friend. Ultimately, it is fast, very simple, and best of all free for the app users. Where else can you find this kind of free technology?

Handcent SMS

Once again rated at 4.5 of 5 stars you can get a free app for your Android in the Market that allows your texting experience to amplify in seconds. In today’s day and age texting is the way primary way of communication between family, friends, and even coworkers. With Handcent SMS the user can receive the ultimate messaging power for Android phones. The Handcent SMS app provides full SMS/MMS support, group sending options, SMS popup with quick text ability, customizable look with theme support, individual contact notification and look settings, security lock options, backup and restore SMS/MMS abilities, My Handcent online services, and advanced filters to block SPAM messages from ever entering your phone. Best of all there are 5 Handcent SMS font package apps that you can download for fee to enhance the look of your texting. Now this is heaven for those texters out there.

EasyTether Lite

Have a laptop, Apple iPad, PS3, or any electronic device that needs an internet connection to get you online to check your Facebook or Twitter account? With the EasyTether Lite Android app you can share your phones internet connection to do just that, get online. The EasyTether Lite can be used to share internet connections with a home computer using Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP 64-bit and 32-bit, Mac OS X, and Ubuntu 10.4+ operating systems. In addition, EasyTether can be used to give internet access to your PS3, Wii, and XBox gaming systems through PC Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). Even better yet the EasyTether Lite does not require root access through your computer. Remember all this is free through this this Android app. However, if you want the full program that gives you unlimited options it is only a one-time cost of $9.99. Think about it though, all this free technology in the EasyTether Lite can save you $60.00 to hundreds of dollars on wireless routers. Now that is a deal.

AVG Antivirus Free

Unfortunately, with internet technology there is a potential for viruses. Just because it is a phone and not a PC doesn’t mean you are exempt from receiving viruses on your phone. Virus designers are very smart and are constantly trying to penetrate the new technology out there. With the AVG Antivirus Free app in the Android Market you can protect your phone from those that try and penetrate your privacy. With 4.5 of 5 stars the AVG Antivirus Free protects your Android from viruses, malware, and exploits with real-time scanning. This app also provide scanned folders amp; files, scanned MP3 and ZIP files, SD card scanning, and Cloud 2 device support. Best of all the AVG Antivirus Free app will scan your entire phone every day to keep the viruses away. By the way did I mention it was free?

Don’t just take it from me, go check these apps out yourself and see how amazing these free incredible Android apps really are. Do what you love with your phone with style.

8 months ago • Tech

Umpila/Kuuku Ya’u Dictionary (V.2)

In the last month I have been in Lockhart River, on the beautiful east coast of the Cape in northern QLD. It was great to be back there, to see my Lockhart friends and to continue work with Umpila and Kuuku Ya’u speakers. Part of my time at the start of my trip was spent creating a second version of the Umpila/Kuuku Ya’u – English Wunderkammer dictionary. I started work on this dictionary in a fieldtrip to Lockhart a year back, recording sound clips with speakers and some illustrative examples too (for a computer/book based version of dictionary), and then earlier this year I put together the first version. See the last two posts from David Thompson and myself which has a little info on the development and distribution of this.

This trip to Lockhart I wanted to vamp up the Wunderkammer dictionary a tad more and also continue getting feedback from users, following-on from David’s April trip to Lockhart. For Version 2, speakers and I recorded more sound clips and re-recorded some clips with better quality – invariably there are some instances where even with three or so productions of the word they all end up having some type of background noise that you didn’t quite notice or didn’t think would get caught by the mic, e.g. branches scratching on the roof, a dog scrap two houses back. The clips edited and prepped for Version 2 take the count to around 200 entries with sound. I also worked with speakers to add a more vernacular flavour to some of the definitions. We particularly worked on plant, animal and material culture vocab. In the first version of the dictionary definitions for this type of vocab were often pretty uninformative, e.g. simple entries like “tree species” or “spear type”. Even where I have scientific idents for plants and animals I wasn’t keen to use them given target audience “youth” user audience. I wanted to add a little more to the definitions of these types of words, something that captured the sorts of identifying features and descriptions that Lockhart people themselves use. So, speakers and I worked to record vernacular definitions for around 100 of the entries. Here are some examples: iinyi ‘cicada, “noisy minya” (nyanguru kuupi) which sings out, especially at dusk’; kanhin ‘trochus shell, in old mission times men used to dive for kanhin to sell to the Chinese and Japanese people’; thakura ‘yam type, hairy “New Guinea” yam, plenty grow on islands, like on Restoration Island’. As you can see these include some local knowledge of places and history, which wouldn’t usually be good lexicographic practice, but seeing as this dictionary has a targeted audience this sort of local flavour is a big plus. Given the limitations of the mobile phone screen “real-estate” we had to make these definitions not too long, but I think we did pretty well. The “full meanings” were one of things people commented on very positively in feedback. Note: Sometimes the Creole vernacular of speakers was somewhat modified into Standard English variety in these definitions. In latter versions we are considering adding Creole into the dictionary in some way. Perhaps not making a trilingual dictionary per se, but including Creole translations of the some of the words, or notation of the traditional language vocab which has been absorbed into the Creole, or a designated Creole vernacular definition field. So, lots more ideas to make this a cooler and more enriched little dictionary in coming versions!

As I went about Lockhart distributing and showing-off Version 2 I was keen to get some feedback back from users. I was particularly interested to see how users first interacted with and familarised themselves with the interface of the dictionary, and if they found it user-friendly. People were overwhelmingly positive about it. Everyone I talked with thought it was perfectly targeted at teenagers and twenty-somethings, including themselves. For this demographic, like elsewhere in Oz, a mobile phone is their main entertainment device, media player and song storage device, games console. There are few language resources available for Umpila and Kuuku Ya’u, and even fewer that would be captivating to this audience. So, that is a big positive for this platform.

As far as modifications go there were very few suggestions for changes, users were happy with the size and form of it, in terms of entries and file size (3.4MB). There were some people who suggested more content of specific types, based on their own usage ideas and needs, e.g. a teacher’s aid suggested including example sentences and a land and sea ranger suggested more detailed plant and animal information including photos. There will be more information on technical hurdles in distribution and user feedback in review/paper to come – more on this by-and-by.

9 years ago • Dictionaries

Dictionary distribution: A workaround for Bluetooth block

As in the previous blog entry from David Thompson, David and I are working with Umpila and Kuuku Ya’u speakers in Lockhart River (up in the Cape, QLD) to make a Wunderkammer dictionary. A great resource for the community’s mobile touting younger gens! An unexpected and pretty big obstacle that we’ve faced in Lockhart is difficulties installing the dictionary on community mobile phones via Bluetooth transfer. The solution we’ve come up with might also help other people out there stuck with various Bluetoothy hiccups holding up dictionary distribution.

Because of the remote location of Lockhart in Far North QLD the only telecommunications company is the national carrier Telstra. The majority of the mobile phones in the community are Telstra phones on Telstra contracts. Unfortunately we found out that Telstra restricts some of the functions of the phone, in this case preventing installation of java applications via Bluetooth (or via a USB cable). This was a great shame as the easiest way to propagate the dictionary across the community would be through simple Bluetooth transfer between phones. The solution we’ve found to workaround this is to host the dictionary java file on a secure webpage and download the java file using the mobile phone’s internet browser. However, few of the phone contracts in the community have a data component and therefore cannot access the webpage. This second obstacle has been overcome simply by using a project sim card with a data component. The sim card can be swapped with the community member’s sim card allowing the dictionary to be downloaded and installed. Once installed on the phone, the original sim card can be swapped back. Voilà, a working Wunderkammer dictionary! Some phones might generate a message asking if you want to download the file to the phone or the sim, select phone of course, so that it’ll remain behind when you switch the cards back. Each download of the Umpila/Kuuku Ya’u dictionary (V1.0) is a small 2MB and only takes a few minutes to install.

10 years ago • Development

Lockhart River Mobile Phone Dictionary

I went to Lockhart River on Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, last week to try out a dictionary on mobile phones for the Umpila and Kuuku Ya’u languages. Clair Hill and I are working on a language maintenance project for the community and the dictionary is a great resource to have with it. These two dialects are very close and Clair prepared a combined list of over 400 words, some of them with sound files attached, and she converted it to a Wunderkammer dictionary with help from James.

Photo: Eleven-year old Camden has learnt some language words from his grandmother Lucy Hobson (left) and mother Phyllis Hobson (right). He spent some time using the dictionary to check words and practise speaking them with the help of his mother.

I found that the mobile format of the dictionary created immediate interest. The first man I showed it to said, “It blows my mind!” Lots of young people and adults are using mobile phones and the children especially took to the format. They were soon scrolling and checking words. The sound files attracted most interest and helped them to sound out the words correctly and to avoid English intonations.

I quizzed them about the dictionary and its uses. It is clearly both a self-learning and a shared-learning tool that is readily used in the home or anywhere. As a visual tool it shows correct spellings and meanings while the audio side encouraged people to verbalise the words correctly. The ready phone access contrasts with limited computer access in this community, mainly in the library and local school.

We had a problem with the display of the words as the colour of them did not contrast well with a dark background. The audio could be louder too. This will be tweaked for a second trial. We also had a problem trying to transfer the dictionary to people’s phones by Bluetooth. They are mostly Telstra branded phones, which do not like you doing that. We will have a workaround next time.

One person saw the potential for the dictionary to be developed further in a computer application by adding both sound and pictures to words to enhance the language learning. James will also develop a Kirrkirr version for computers.