Google Email in Hindi

Certain Gmail features only available with English language settings.

Here is some good news for all you Indians out there who always wanted to email your friends and family in your native language.

Google has launched a new feature in Gmail that makes it easy to type out emails in Indian languages. When you compose a new mail in Gmail, you will now see an icon with an Indian character. This feature is enabled by default for Gmail users in India. If you do not see this function enabled by default, you will need to go to the "Settings" page and enable this option in the "Language" section.

When you click the Indian languages icon, you can type words the way they sound in English and Gmail will automatically convert the word to the selected Indian local language equivalent. Gmail currently supports five Indian languages -- Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam -- and you can select the language of your choice from the drop-down list next to the icon.

To change the language view in Gmail, you have to do the following:

1. Sign in to Gmail.
2. Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page.
3. Select a language from the Gmail display language: drop-down menu in the Language section.
4. Click Save Changes.

The Gmail interface will appear in the language of your choice after you click Save Changes. However, your Gmail's display language doesn't affect the language in which your messages are sent and received.

Some of the features available in the English language setting may not be available when you select another language setting. Google added that it's working towards making all of Gmail's features available in every language setting.

Sixth Sense Device

Pranav Mistry, a 28-year old researcher of a Massachusetts institute of Technology, has created a digital prototype of a "sixth sense" device that is being currently evaluated by Google, Microsoft, HP, Samsung etc. Pranav is from Gujarat, India.


To briefly describe what this sixth sense is all about, we need to understand how the current dissemination of information from current electronic devices takes place. Most of the information from computers, mobile phones and other devices are confined to screen or paper - if we decide to take a print. However, the sixth sense, according to Pranav, bridges this gap "bringing intangible digital information out into the tangible world, and allowing us to interact with this information via natural hand gestures". The concept falls under "wearable computing" -- the same category under which the ubiquitous mobile phone falls as well.

The equipment list for the sixth sense might seem a tad crude, but it does its job quite well. It comprises a pocket projector; mirror and web camera bundled in a wearable pendant-like mobile. With the help of the projector, you can turn any material surface into a touchscreen. The camera is used to "see" the hand gestures. The user will however need to wear color-coded gloves on the index finger and the thumb so that the hand movements can be recorded and decrypted.

Some of the interesting hand gestures include drawing a square frame which will trigger a command to take a picture, drawing the @ sign will let the user access his email. You can even write e-mails with the help of the projector, which projects an image of a virtual keyboard so that you can type. All this costs around $350 (Rs. 17,000) to build - which is not a bad for something as futuristic as this!

Pranav been approached by a couple of Indian companies who seem to be interested in his project. However, he wants the technology to be a little cheaper before it comes to India.

In-car device that reads your email

Now listen to email you receive while driving.

Intelligent Mechatronic Systems' (IMS) iLane, the first in-car device that interacts directly with your smart phone and lets you manage your inbox hands-free, using simple voice commands.

iLane, a portable smart phone-compatible device, which can be installed inside vehicles and gives drivers the ability to control their smart phones entirely hands-free. iLane reads out e-mails to the user, on command, and it allows for access and control of other smart phone applications by voice command, including managing phone calls, SMS messages, and calendars. iLane also provides on-demand access to news and weather content from The Associated Press and The Weather Network.

Users have an option to send two stock email responses - "I am in transit and will respond shortly" or "Call me if it's important" - or they can record a 15-minute voice memo, which the iLane will send as an email attachment.

iLane is available now through the iLane website at www.ilane.com or through E-Access in North America - http://eaccessinc.com - at $599 (Rs. 30,321.13 approx.), plus $7.99 (Rs. 404.33 approx.) per month. iLane is currently compatible with BlackBerry 8000 series and smart phones running BlackBerry OS 4.1 and newer versions. Compatibility with additional operating systems will be available throughout 2009.