Communicating the World in Three Inches: The Rosetta Project Works to Build Archive of 1,000 LanguagesWritten by Jeannette Balleza
The Rosetta Project is a worldwide endeavor to produce an updated version of famous Rosetta Stone from 100 BC. Some of Napoleon's troops discovered Rosetta Stone in Rashid, Egypt, in 1799. They found inscribed upon granite slab three parallel translations of a certain decree in Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek. Using Greek text, experts of 1800s were able to decipher previously elusive Hieroglyphic script.Language specialists and native speakers from around globe are joining forces to build an archive of 1,000 languages to be micro-etched onto 27,000 data pages on Rosetta Disk, a 3'' nickel disk with a life expectancy of 2,000 years. The Rosetta Project is collecting following information for every language: * Detailed Descriptions: Origins, histories and other relevant statistics. * Genesis Translations: Chapters 1-3. * Glossed Vernacular Texts: Cultural stories contrasting with Genesis text accompanied by grammatical analysis. * Orthographies: Written letters/symbols as well as pronunciation keys. * Swadesh Word Lists: Essential lists of common words. * Inventories of Phenomes: Fundamental sound units. * Audio Files: Spoken samples with transcriptions. The Long Now Foundation began Rosetta Project with funding from Lazy Eight Foundation to address disconcerting prediction that 50-90% of world's languages will disappear within next century with little documentation. The project's mission is to provide a definitive resource for comparative linguistic research and education, to preserve a meaningful survey of human languages for future decipherment and recovery of lost languages as well as to create an aesthetic object representative of world's linguistic diversity.
| | Can you anticipate the cell phones of the future? Written by Keith Kingston
We have become a society that demands most technologically advanced equipment, and cell phones are no exception. That’s why cellular telephone industry is changing so rapidly. Today’s phones are quite impressive with many bells and whistle, but wait, cell phones of future are like something out of a sci fi movie. Who would have dreamed that we’d come this far in such a short time?The cell phones of tomorrow are so compact that you’ll need a beeper just to find where you left them. Current phones are incredibly tiny but they are going to get even smaller. You’ll be able to purchase a watch with cell phone and all you’ll have is a headset to talk with. Of course it will be all voice activated. The phones that are simply a tiny screen with wireless headset are also on horizon. The cellular market believes that if pricing is right, you’ll throw away old dial up systems and use cellular for you home communications as well as your mobile communications. That’s why a company is in process of developing a very futuristic full size handset that will plug into your cell. Perfect for those long at home conversations. I know your thinking, well that’s nice but that’s not so far out. ButWait! There’s more great news. Your cell phone is going to be your garage door opener and your universal remote for your TV. Yes that’s right! Kind of like one stop shopping. It’s also going to work as a remote car start on new vehicles equipped with technology. So let’s see. You’ll be able to turn on TV for your morning update, start your car to warm in middle of winter, and then drive on off to work, all while talking to your pal. Now that’s pretty impressive! Hold on! Just when you thought there couldn’t be anything more, there is! Your cell phones going to be equipped with an MP3 player, a DVD player, and a mini game machine. All at your fingertips. So when your board to tears at work, or waiting for an appointment, you’ll have a full entertainment system at your fingertips.
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