'GIF' (graphic interchange format) was officially named the US word of the year by the Oxford Dictionary, while Britain's was 'omnishambles'. Both are terrible decisions and I demand a recount. RECOUNT OR I'M MOVING TO CANADA. "Do it." MAYBE I WILL. "Do it." MAYBE I WILL... / Continue →

This is a video of Microsoft's Chief Research Officer Rick Rashid explaining and demonstrating their speech recognition software that can translate his English into other languages (in this case Chinese) in his own voice. The implications this has for ordering at ethnic restau... / Continue →

Seen here showing off his sweet fur arm, a werewolf and some other lady record the speech of an African elephant that has learned to speak five words in Korean. I think I know two, so he's already smarter than me (plus handsomer). I like learning dirty words! The pachyderm i... / Continue →

This is a $14 spinning decoder ring that lets you write and translate Huttese (the language of the Hutts, like Jabba). It couldn't have come at a better time either, because I just intercepted a message from another Hutt crime lord. It reads, "Jabba panwa waffmula chone patog... / Continue →

This is an audio recording of J.R.R. Tolkien reciting his poem Namárië in the Elvish language he created. I dunno, I thought he kind of sounds like a leprechaun. Which, for the record, do exist, but don't hide pots of gold. They do steal children in the middle of the night th... / Continue →

Because we can never have enough words, Merriam-Webster has announced the 100 new additions to its dictionary with the hopes people still buy dictionaries and the one you've had your entire life doesn't cut it anymore because it doesn't contain words like man-tits or blog. The... / Continue →

Want to see if your peepers are good enough to fly for Planet Express? Well you're in luck, thanks to this Planet Express Pilot's Eye Chart in the alien language from Futurama by designer/Geekologie Reader David Johns. If Leela can do it, I'm sure you can too. No, no I'm not... / Continue →

This is a video of Mika explaining Star Wars: A New Hope. Mika is Japanese and practices her English by watching and explaining movies. If you like this one, there's a bunch more, including The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Avatar, Inception, Spiderman and The Matr... / Continue →

Researchers at The University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology have taught robots how to develop their own language. That way, when they're about to deal the finishing blow to an injured human, they can ask if you want the laser beam in your beep boop or g... / Continue →

Word Lens is a $5 iPhone app that provides a streaming translation of whatever you're pointing your phone at (i.e. road signs, menus, etc). It's pretty much the technology of the future because, let's not kid ourselves, no child born after 2000 will bother learning any languag... / Continue →