Month: September 2011

myGengo – human translation service that scales

Via this GigaOm blog post I came across an interesting service – myGengo.  I’ve had plenty of projects that dealt with multi-lingual issues, and professional, punctual translations were always a pain in the process.  So it is nice to see a company that uses, in my opinion, a very correct approach to the problem.

Right now, the translation market has two main segments: a high-end market dominated by full-time in-house translators, and a low-end market dominated by Google Translate. myGengo’s service aims to occupy the space in between the two markets by offering “human translation services at scale.”

Essentially, myGengo is like an oDesk built specifically for translation services. myGengo has assembled a group of more than 3,000 translators worldwide who work on a freelance basis through myGengo’s own dedicated software program. myGengo serves clients directly, and also has an API to let other startups include myGengo’s translation services in their apps. myGengo says it is targeted at people and businesses who occasionally need high-quality, fast translation services, but aren’t in the market to hire an in-house translator for the job.

0.5 USD cents per word, 1 to 16 hours per page (depending on the complexity of the document), human translation with pre-tested personnel, API integration – it sounds almost like a dream.  Of course, for now they only support a dozen or so languages, but given that they just received a $5.25 million Series A funding, I expect the service to expand quite a bit in the nearest future.

International parking tickets in Washington D.C. and New York

Freakonomics has an interesting article on pending parking tickets for a number of embassies in Washington D.C. and New York.

In 2003, the state department issued dire warnings to embassies in New York and D.C. threatening to withhold foreign assistance if parking tickets were not paid.  So far though, it seems no foreign assistance has been withheld.

Here’s D.C.’s top offenders:

Russia – $27,200
Yemen – $24,600
Cameroon – $19,520
France – $19,520
Mauritania – $8,070

The Holy See, it’s worth noting, has only one outstanding ticket for $25.

In New York, the list of top offenders is a different set:

Egypt – $1,929,142
Kuwait – $1,266,901
Nigeria – $1,019,998
Indonesia – $692,200
Brazil – $608,733

So what do these countries have in common?  Oil wealth? Moxie? In 2006, Forbes Magazine hypothesized that it was the level of a country’s corruption (according to the Corruption Perception Index) that predicted the level of parking ticket delinquency, along with a country’s level of anti-American sentiment.

Barcelona bullfighting is no more

Via Kottke blog I’ve learned that Barcelona just celebrated its last bullfight. Apparently, the vote has past last year to stop this old tradition.  And as much I am in favor of preserving cultural bits, I do agree that bullfighting falls under animal cruelty and thus should be stopped.  New York Times has a few photos.

Octoberfest celebrations at Bavarian Delicatessen

Bavarian Delicatessen once again organizes an annual celebration of the Octoberfest.  Coming Friday, September 30th and Saturday, October 1st, they will host an all you can eat buffet, beer, music and more beer.  Since the place is small and is likely to be packed, make sure you book a table by calling either 25-747441 or 99-603051.  Here is a photo of a poster hanging right outside the Bavarian Delicatessen shop right now.

Day in brief – 2011-09-26

  • I favorited a @YouTube video http://t.co/0xzXIt0B Harry Potter Meets Metal #
  • I favorited a @YouTube video http://t.co/dzBUg1ZA Richard Resnick: Welcome to the genomic revolution #
  • New note : 50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills – Smashing Magazine http://t.co/2v7y0FzD #
  • New note : The Startup Entrepreneur's Guide To Risk Management http://t.co/j2RN3D3r #
  • @savvides Even if someone have done it, you should still do your own. It will be different. And it will be yours. :) #
  • @savvides Google was a latecomer to the web search party. But they did it anyway, and most people are glad about that. :) #
  • @kushakov интересно, на толстых мальчишек тоже распространяется? :) #
  • @photomatt This is the smallest portion of trout I've seen in my life. Kid's fish fingers have more fish than that. :) #
  • Power cut in the office. Running off a generator. #limassol #cyprus #
  • Power is back. I wonder if that will be a regular thing now of it was a once off. #limassol #cyprus #
  • @lufandever weird choice of a picture for condom packaging. :-) #