french

I know enough French to order two croissants and buy a bottle of wine. That successfully got me through a week in Paris, but I could improve my skills astronomically if I got a French Digital Kitchen.

Newcastle University in England has installed this kitchen, which is designed to helps students learn a language and gain some cooking skills at the same time. PBS should be all over this.

Everything from the mixing bowls to the peelers to the flour and sugar have embedded sensors that work under the same concept as a Nintendo Wii. The computer knows where the tools are and what motions are being made.

The computer gives you instructions in French and tracks your progress as you work your way through a recipe. It's like a GPS for making crepes and Croque Monsieur.… Read more

Google Translate is a simple, versatile tool that supports more than 50 languages, offers an SMS translator, and speaks some of your translations aloud.

Google Translate is incredibly simple to use. Just select your input and output languages, then type in your text. You can also set the app to automatically detect your input language for even faster results. To quickly interchange your input and output languages, just hit the conveniently placed (center screen) arrow icon. That's it.

It's no secret that Google Translate performs a solid job translating, but what really makes it shine are the extra … Read more

A trade group that represents Google, Facebook, and other Internet companies active in France is upset over French regulations that require the companies to retain personal data on their users for a full year.

The French group Association of Internet Community Services (Google Translate version) is taking its case to France's Conseil d'Etat, or State Council, on behalf of several Internet companies, which also include eBay and online video site Dailymotion. Launching its appeal with the State Council, which is considered the Supreme Court in France in charge of public law litigation, ASIC is looking to have the … Read more

If you've been anywhere near Twitter in the last week, you know that the South by Southwest Interactive, Film, and Music festival (known lovingly as SXSW to just about everyone) starts this week. Last year was the first time that interactive registrants outnumbered even music festival attendees, so it's more than safe to say the Internet portion of the program has become the biggest part of the program (probably to the dismay of Austin's old-school music fans!). But hey, we can take a hint. If you're anyone at all online, you're at SXSW. So, we'… Read more

The French finance ministry revealed today that it has been the victim of a major and sustained cyberattack.

The attack, which has been ongoing since December, seems to be the work of hackers looking for documents related to the G20 political group, which brings together 20 major nations tasked with stablizing the global economy and which is being led by France this year, according to AFP News.

With over 150 computers in the ministry reported to have been compromised, the ministry has so far been forced to shut down 10,000 computers, said a report in Paris Match magazine (Google Translate English version). … Read more

First, I have to admit that a lot of high-end amplifiers are so ugly you'd have to be an audiophile to buy them. But there are more than a few truly gorgeous examples, like the Devialet D-Premier. It's French, after all, and the French know a thing or two about style.

In 2007, Pierre-Emannuel Calmel and Matthias Moronvalle decided to launch a new high-end audio company, Devialet, in Paris. The two men had both worked for Nortel's R&D department, and they weren't the least bit interested in crafting just another high-end amplifier.

It looks like they're off to a grand start; the Devialet D-Premier is a unique Class A/Class D hybrid design. Bona fide Class A circuits are only used in very high-end audiophile amplifiers, but Class A designs are extremely inefficient and consume huge amounts of AC power to produce low power output. Class D amps are highly efficient designs, but their sound quality falls short of the highest audiophile standards.

The D-Premier was designed to have the sound quality of Class A and the efficiency of Class D designs. … Read more

Google may be using its leading position in the search market to weaken the competition, according to the findings of a French regulator.

Asserting that Google holds a dominant position in search advertising, the French Competition Authority said yesterday that it has found certain possible conduct on the part of Google intended to "discourage, delay, or eliminate" competitors.

Among its findings, the French regulator, or the Autorite, cited exclusivity clauses, technical obstacles, and other methods that Google imposes on its partners or customers and said that the company treats them "in a discriminatory manner or refuses to … Read more

We rarely invite guests to join us on the show, but anyone who listens to The 404 Podcast knows that we're suckers for sweet treats, especially the homemade kind hand-delivered by a cute girl!

Ruby Liza, a dedicated 404 listener and aspiring librarian, joins us on today's episode and brings us a box of lemon bars to munch on while we discuss the war between books and e-book readers, a Sony Ericsson PSP powered by Android 3.0, a study that shows women are attracted to men wearing red, and a French rapper who turns Facebook into a real-life music video.

Google released Android 2.0 less than a year ago, but rumors are already floating around about what the next version, code-named Gingerbread, will bring to the world of Google-powered devices. The folks over at Engadget report insider information about a new Sony Ericsson device that could redefine gaming on the mobile platform.

In fact, it claims a "trusted source" says the company is developing a brand new ecosystem and hardware that will run on Android 3.0, with a new section of the Android Market dedicated to its games. The black and silver phone is supersexy indeed, with a large WVGA display and a landscape sliding design in place of a keyboard. We'll come back to it when there's more to report.

A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology shows that women are more attracted to a man wearing the color red. Apparently the cherry color draws women because of its capability to make men appear more powerful and likely to succeed, and that ambition to climb the social ladder and become the "alpha male" triggers a biological reaction in women that makes them "act like animals."

To quantify the red effect, researchers interviewed hundreds of participants to determine trends, but we're wondering if women like red only because it's more distinguishable than the rest of the colors. Also, is it a bad sign that none of us even owns any all-red clothing?

Instead of showing you the awful French music video that Wilson dug up, we'd like to thank our buddy Todd for sending us pictures of his 404-powered motorcycle! His Honda CBR600RR is all decked out in 404 stickers to match his race number! Check out his bike cam video from last year, and be sure to click through the page break to see pics! Thanks again, Todd- ride safe!… Read more

NEW YORK--I'm standing in the middle of America's foodie mecca, and I've found a smoking gun that helps explains its incredible success.

I mean that literally.

This is the kitchen of world-class chef Thomas Keller's Per Se, his Michelin three-star restaurant located on Columbus Circle, and the smoke is flowing freely, rapidly filling up a plastic container and helping to give the cream inside some additional flavor.

I mentioned this was the Smoking Gun, a culinary tool from PolyScience, right?

I've come here to Per Se because a friend told me he'd had a … Read more