YouTube's New Interface, Closer to Launch

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YouTube continues to test new user interfaces, but it looks like one of these versions will be finally rolled out to everyone.

There's a new message on the experimental homepage that welcomes users to the new YouTube and explains one of the new features: "What to watch shows you new activity from your subscriptions, recommendations based on videos you've watched and your taste in videos, plus the most popular videos on YouTube". YouTube also links to a page that was used the last time when YouTube was redesigned. You can see the old page in Google's cache, but now the page returns a 404 error message.


YouTube has constantly tested new versions of the sidebar from video pages. This time there's a new sidebar section that shows other related videos. You can "get the search results, feeds, and channel videos you were just looking at". For example, you can perform a search, click one of the results and see the list of results by clicking "more results" in the sidebar, instead of going back to the search results page.

The sidebar is the most important thing about the new YouTube interface because it's always there: on the homepage, the settings page, the search results page and can be expanded when you watch videos.


To try the new YouTube interface, check the instructions from this post.

YouTube's App for iPad

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Three months after releasing an app for iPhone, YouTube updated it and added an interface optimized for iPad. The lack of a built-in YouTube app for iPad created an opportunity for other developers to come up with their own YouTube apps and some of them are pretty good.


YouTube also updated the app to fill the entire 4-inch display of the iPhone 5 and added AirPlay support. The initial version of the app didn't have AirPlay support and asked users to enable AirPlay mirroring, an inefficient method to play videos on an Apple TV. The new version supports AirPlay, but it uses a non-standard video player and videos stop playing on the Apple TV when you close the app. Another side-effect is that you still can't use the background audio trick that lets you play songs or any other videos while opening another app or after locking the device. Both features are available in Apple's old YouTube app and YouTube's mobile web app.


Obviously, YouTube's app has a lot of features that weren't available in the built-in app: recommendations, unified video history, voice search, closed captions, activity feeds. Unfortunately, the iPad app has a pretty low information density and most sections show fewer videos than Apple's YouTube app. For example, the search feature shows only 4 results at a time in the landscape mode, while Apple's app displayed 12 results. YouTube offers some advanced search options: sorting by date, ratings or view count, finding recent videos and filtering by duration, but the interface tries too hard to be consistent with the desktop interface, while ignoring that a tablet has a small screen. Apple's App Store app from iOS 6 made a similar mistake by showing a small number of results at a time.

Google Now's Research Card

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The Google Search app for Android 4.1+ has been updated with new cards for events nearby, boarding passes, walking and biking activity, birthdays.

There's also a new card for research topics. Google tries to find in your search history a list of related queries. If you've been researching a topic, it's likely that you've tried different versions of a query and you've clicked many search results. Google Now shows a card with other useful pages from the same topic. It's interesting to notice that Google can find the name of the topic and shows a page that groups results for various queries. Google also includes a "history" section with pages you've already visited.

For some reason, the pages generated by Google return an error messages if you try to open them using a desktop browser. You need to change the user-agent to open pages with URLs like https://www.google.com/now/topics/t/LONGID.


"The research topics card appears when your recent Web History includes several searches related to a single topic – such as a trip you're planning – and Google detects relevant webpages that you may not have found yet. For this card to appear, you must have Web History turned on for the account you use with Google Now. To explore more links that may be relevant to the topic, touch Explore at the bottom of the card. From the list of links, touch the History tab to view a summary of your recent Web History related to this topic," informs Google.

YouTube's New Interface

To contact us Click HERE
After so many posts about YouTube's experimental interfaces, it's time for the public release. The new interface is rolled out to everyone and you no longer have to change your YouTube cookie to try it.


"On YouTube video always comes first, and with this new design the site gets out of the way and lets content truly shine. Videos are now at the top of the page, with title and social actions below. Also, playlists have been moved up, so you can easily browse through videos while you watch. Now when you subscribe to your favorite channels, we will add them to your Guide and make them available on every page of the site, and on your mobile device, tablet, and TV," explains YouTube.

The guide is actually a sidebar that's now available on every YouTube page and lets you check your subscriptions, your playlists and the video history. You can also see a list of other videos from the previous page, so you can quickly watch another search result, a different video from the same channel or another video from the homepage.

Google's Card-Style OneBoxes

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Google updated the desktop OneBoxes for definitions and local time to match the card layout from Google Now. The same layout is also used in the mobile search UI for most Google OneBoxes.



What's unique about the cards? They're much bigger, they include a lot more information, more white space and more distinctive headers. They stand out more and they're harder to ignore.

{ Thanks, Milivella, Arpit, Mikhail. }

Google Now's Research Card

To contact us Click HERE
The Google Search app for Android 4.1+ has been updated with new cards for events nearby, boarding passes, walking and biking activity, birthdays.

There's also a new card for research topics. Google tries to find in your search history a list of related queries. If you've been researching a topic, it's likely that you've tried different versions of a query and you've clicked many search results. Google Now shows a card with other useful pages from the same topic. It's interesting to notice that Google can find the name of the topic and shows a page that groups results for various queries. Google also includes a "history" section with pages you've already visited.

For some reason, the pages generated by Google return an error messages if you try to open them using a desktop browser. You need to change the user-agent to open pages with URLs like https://www.google.com/now/topics/t/LONGID.


"The research topics card appears when your recent Web History includes several searches related to a single topic – such as a trip you're planning – and Google detects relevant webpages that you may not have found yet. For this card to appear, you must have Web History turned on for the account you use with Google Now. To explore more links that may be relevant to the topic, touch Explore at the bottom of the card. From the list of links, touch the History tab to view a summary of your recent Web History related to this topic," informs Google.

YouTube's New Interface

To contact us Click HERE
After so many posts about YouTube's experimental interfaces, it's time for the public release. The new interface is rolled out to everyone and you no longer have to change your YouTube cookie to try it.


"On YouTube video always comes first, and with this new design the site gets out of the way and lets content truly shine. Videos are now at the top of the page, with title and social actions below. Also, playlists have been moved up, so you can easily browse through videos while you watch. Now when you subscribe to your favorite channels, we will add them to your Guide and make them available on every page of the site, and on your mobile device, tablet, and TV," explains YouTube.

The guide is actually a sidebar that's now available on every YouTube page and lets you check your subscriptions, your playlists and the video history. You can also see a list of other videos from the previous page, so you can quickly watch another search result, a different video from the same channel or another video from the homepage.

Google's Card-Style OneBoxes

To contact us Click HERE
Google updated the desktop OneBoxes for definitions and local time to match the card layout from Google Now. The same layout is also used in the mobile search UI for most Google OneBoxes.



What's unique about the cards? They're much bigger, they include a lot more information, more white space and more distinctive headers. They stand out more and they're harder to ignore.

{ Thanks, Milivella, Arpit, Mikhail. }

Book Review: Wiley's English-Spanish and Spanish-English Dictionary

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If you have been in the translation business as long as I have, you have probably amassed your fair share of dictionaries and glossaries. As legal translations are my specialty, I have taken great pains to buy as many Spanish-English legal dictionaries/glossaries as possible.

To get the most out of your money and time spent researching, it is important to have resources with concise translations for each term that suit your translation style. There are many works on the market that have terms that are more explanatory than they are translations.

I have read mixed reports about the Wiley's English-Spanish Spanish-English dictionaries. Some translators are not keen about the "word list" aspect about them. Although I wouldn't use this dictionary as my primary source for legal translations, I have found terms that I hadn't come across in my other legal resources (It has a total of 40,00 of them).

If you have many Spanish<>English legal dictionaries/glossaries, perhaps you don't need this one, but if you only have a few, I recommend it.

Adding foreign terms to Word's spell checker, where do you draw the line?

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When spell checking a legal translation in Word, do you ever find it obnoxious to have to keep hitting the "Ignore" or "Ignore all" button? I know I do. This has led me to add some foreign terms and all names, foreign or not to Word's spelling dictionary by pressing alt+a in the spellcheck dialog.

However, I do not add words like Calle, which must be kept in Spanish if it is part of a street address or Colonia or Circunvalación or Polígono or Zacatecas or any number of place names.

This, of course makes the spell checking process more tedious and cumbersome. I could decide to add them and have them infiltrate as "visitors" to the official English realm, but then what if for some reason I was overwriting a document in Spanish and I left some of those words in by accident? This would make the spellchecker less reliable.

I know that there is a custom spellcheck dictionary that I could set up in Word, but I have not taken that step yet. Another possibility would be to use a different word processor and create a spell check scheme to accomodate my needs. A good place to find solutions to this and other Word-related dilemmas is Word Tips.

Google Now's Research Card

To contact us Click HERE
The Google Search app for Android 4.1+ has been updated with new cards for events nearby, boarding passes, walking and biking activity, birthdays.

There's also a new card for research topics. Google tries to find in your search history a list of related queries. If you've been researching a topic, it's likely that you've tried different versions of a query and you've clicked many search results. Google Now shows a card with other useful pages from the same topic. It's interesting to notice that Google can find the name of the topic and shows a page that groups results for various queries. Google also includes a "history" section with pages you've already visited.

For some reason, the pages generated by Google return an error messages if you try to open them using a desktop browser. You need to change the user-agent to open pages with URLs like https://www.google.com/now/topics/t/LONGID.


"The research topics card appears when your recent Web History includes several searches related to a single topic – such as a trip you're planning – and Google detects relevant webpages that you may not have found yet. For this card to appear, you must have Web History turned on for the account you use with Google Now. To explore more links that may be relevant to the topic, touch Explore at the bottom of the card. From the list of links, touch the History tab to view a summary of your recent Web History related to this topic," informs Google.

YouTube's New Interface

To contact us Click HERE
After so many posts about YouTube's experimental interfaces, it's time for the public release. The new interface is rolled out to everyone and you no longer have to change your YouTube cookie to try it.


"On YouTube video always comes first, and with this new design the site gets out of the way and lets content truly shine. Videos are now at the top of the page, with title and social actions below. Also, playlists have been moved up, so you can easily browse through videos while you watch. Now when you subscribe to your favorite channels, we will add them to your Guide and make them available on every page of the site, and on your mobile device, tablet, and TV," explains YouTube.

The guide is actually a sidebar that's now available on every YouTube page and lets you check your subscriptions, your playlists and the video history. You can also see a list of other videos from the previous page, so you can quickly watch another search result, a different video from the same channel or another video from the homepage.

Google's Card-Style OneBoxes

To contact us Click HERE
Google updated the desktop OneBoxes for definitions and local time to match the card layout from Google Now. The same layout is also used in the mobile search UI for most Google OneBoxes.



What's unique about the cards? They're much bigger, they include a lot more information, more white space and more distinctive headers. They stand out more and they're harder to ignore.

{ Thanks, Milivella, Arpit, Mikhail. }

The Interpreter's Mid-Career Crisis

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Many of the best interpreters in the world have the pleasure of working at the European Parliament. The star of this hilarious video, which is of course completely tongue-in-cheek, is a full-time employee at the European Parliament, where he works in the English-language booth (meaning he interprets from at least three languages into English). Watch Matthew in action!
We had a very good laugh about this. We hope you enjoy it as well!

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We'd Like to Pay More, Please

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It's all about the money. Or is it?

A few weeks ago, we received a pair of quite puzzling phone calls from two of our favorite clients. We've tried to transcribe the gist of both conversations here. We've added some lines for comedic effect, but the point of the conversations has been left intact. We are on very friendly terms with both clients and our conversations are usually quite casual.

Client: Hi Judy, thanks for the holiday chocolates.  I am eating them right now. No calories, right? Just like you said on the card?

Judy: You got it! No calories. Happy holidays. What can I do for you?

Client (making munching sounds): Oh, you know, we are a pretty big client of yours.

Judy (stomach dropping, quick to answer): Of course you are! We are so grateful for your business. That's why you get chocolates.

Client: Glad to hear. We think you are awesome, too, but we really have to talk about what we are spending with Twin Translations.

Judy (fearing the worst): Sure. Looks like you are working on your 2013 budget. Is it tight?

Client: Yes, I am working on the budget. It's taking forever. What do you mean by tight?

Judy (telling herself to grab the bull by the horns): Well, I mentioned the tight budget because you are calling a vendor to get a lower rate.

Client (laughing): Oh, I am sorry. You misunderstood! I was just reviewing the rates of what we pay for services that I think are essential to our business, and I don't think you make enough. We would like to pay you some more. So have a look at our current contract and change the number on the per-word rate.

Judy (cannot believe her good luck): Oh wow, yes, of course. I am sorry, I almost fell out of my chair. I thought you would be asking me to lower our rates. And yes, certainly, I will adjust the rate and send the contract back to you.

Client: Great. Just come up with a new number that you feel comfortable with and send it my way. Happy holidays!

Judy: Thank you so much, will do. Happy holidays to you as well. It's a pleasure to do business with you.

Client: By the way -- I just recommended you to a friend. I told her you guys were great, professional and very affordable!

Judy (baffled): Thanks so much for the referral. We really appreciate it. Have a great day!

Client: Talk to you soon.

Our thoughts:
1) Christmas miracles do happen.
2) Things aren't always what they seem.
3) It's important to hear people out.
4) We've been called a lot of things, but never affordable.
5) Looks like we've done a good job at convincing our client of our value.
6) We should raise our prices across the board.
7) We have the world's best clients.

We'd love to hear your thoughts, dear readers!

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