Portuguese language Googled into Brazilian

Globalization has seemingly a rather twisted influence on languages. It all started from online chat-rooms where expressions of thoughts and emotions transformed into cute or devilish yellow round smilies. Since then, day by day words started losing vital vowels and consonants while new incomprehensible vocabulary emerging through mobile texting. Ok, yeah! Now you tell us, like we didn’t know.

What’s new though are the new consonants European Portuguese will be phasing in the next six years - k, w, y. Apparently the Portuguese parliament voted last week for adapting its national language to the more popular Brazilian Portuguese dialect. It seems that 80% of the world’s 230 million Portuguese speakers prefer to cut themselves some slack with confusing hyphens and silent consonants found affluent in the 2000 years old Romance language.

Although globalization plays an apparent role it isn’t the only influence; it is for the rapidly developing former colony and the influence of the Internet that made the choice to go “Brazilian” unavoidable. And that’s merely due as much to Brazil being the 5th most populous country, as to being a much stronger state in terms of culture and economy; on top of all that the fact that Brazilians outnumber Portuguese on the web by a staggering six to one. Since this disparity is set to widen in the close future and given the importance of the Internet as a medium of global intelligence and business, the adaptation was an one-way solution.

Well, it might be true that normally a European colonial power is expected to endorse their language version as the correct one when confronted on the matter by a colony. That's what makes it so remarkable though, this time happening the other way around. Obscure as it may sound, it was only 33,000 Portuguese who signed a petition protesting against it leaving politicians no choice but to decide that the new standardised language is to be taught in schools across Portugal, Brazil and even former Portuguese colonies like Angola and Mozambique.

Great, isn’t it?

Napster Store vs Apple Store - Great MP3 Battle

Los Angeles based Napster Inc. steps in an unexpected challenge with Apple. The digital music department spearheads this courageous attempt to contest in the stream of digital music by launching an MP3 download database two days ago.

The Napster store accommodates a huge, very elaborate selection of MP3 tracks with no digital rights management software for 50p each or £5 for most complete albums.

What Napster simply intended to do, and quite honestly it hit bulls eye there, was to create a comprehensive music portal, where music lovers will be engaged to the necessary level to create a sort of music synergy. And on top of everything else the MP3 tracks will be compatible with every sort of MP3 player.

Very admirable attempt from Napster indeed, but will it be adequate to face Apple Store?

Iron Man vs Iron Man

As a dedicated 27-year-old teenager I must admit I still love comic book movies, especially when they top the quality of X-MEN II or Fantastic Four - The Rise of the Silver Surfer. I was looking a couple of weeks ago online for reviews about the indeed very entertaining Iron Man from Marvel.

That's when I came across a great paradox, a huge dilemma reflecting in perfect form all those tiny, little things that make people’s views so different upon the same subject.

After reading foolish reviews of shallow people who had minimum know-how about movies, I decided to try good old Microsoft but by accident, instead of launching the uk.msn.com – I launched the American version. Well, since I am here wouldn’t harm me to take a look what reviewers have to say about the movie I anticipated from across the Atlantic Ocean, I thought. The rating was almost 5 out of 5 stars, a grade which was elaborated extensively and quite convincingly on the article followed.

Content and even more excited about the upcoming Iron Man and thought to check the British msn as well. To my astonished disappointment I came across a tiny little description, a humiliating review regarding the movie as a disgrace for the brilliant trailer and with comments that it shouldn’t have been released in full length.

USA msn: http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie.aspx?m=2076905&mp=cr
UK msn: http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/movies/specials/summer-blockbusters/article.aspx?cp-documentid=8194674

Here I provide both links so you know what’s going on, and please someone help me, should I go and watch it or just download it after sometime?

Youtube Insulting Clips Raise Concern

Youtube and inevitably Google have been caught up in one more controversy over anti-Semitic videos circulating onsite. The Central Council of Jews in Germany took the case to the court to persuade the video-sharing site to permanently eradicate similar context. Claims that Google is to be held liable for “aiding and abetting racial hatred and discrimination” might be on the exaggeration side, nevertheless in Germany, incitement to racial hatred crosses the legal red line. Echoes of last year’s report in which it was stated that, among other racist works, Internet viewers could watch a Nazi propaganda clip called Jud Suess on YouTube, have not faded away yet. While the paradox still stands that Jud Suess is a powerful weapon against racism offering compelling video testimony about that particularly insane mix of evil and absurdity that characterized the Third Reich, nevertheless righteous are the concerns about Youtube context.

On another instance last month, the National Society for Epilepsy (NSE) were not so radical from their side and curbed to a warning for dozens of clips of people having seizures, some viewed by more than 70,000 people. Hundreds more show people pretending to have seizures in an unintelligible mockery of people suffering the syndrome.

“Footage of people having seizures which has been posted on the website YouTube is like a modern equivalent of the Victorian freak show”. Dr Sallie Baxendale, consultant neuropsychologist with the NSE continued: "In the original freak shows you couldn't have epilepsy because you couldn't have it on cue but on a video you can watch it whenever you want. They have got very graphic titles like 'never ending seizure'. Those are the one that have got the most hits.

A YouTube spokesman in an attempt to answer claimed: "YouTube has clear policies that prohibit inappropriate content on the site. Our community understands the rules and polices the site for inappropriate material. When users feel content is inappropriate they can flag it and our staff then review it as quickly as possible to see if it violates our Terms of Use. If users repeatedly break these rules we disable their accounts."

Have you ever encountered something insulting on a personal basis on Youtube?

Coffee Republic offers wi-fi Internet free

Coffee lovers who fancy surfing and working online from the comfort of a big coffee shop armchair have one more reason to be happy. Indulging themselves in the bitter sweet taste and fragrance of their Arabica or Columbia variety cappuccino while getting free wi-fi Internet access has already start happening at Coffee Republic cafes.

Coffee Republic pioneered the market as the first UK coffee chain to provide free wi-fi to its customers and this is actually happening since beginning fo May 2008.

The company obviously isn’t doing that out of their good heart. They aim to increase traffic and sales targeting mobile workers, business people and students. The business plan is actually based on a recent survey of 1,000 business people which revealed that 24% of them would be utilizing wi-fi hotspots to work remotely from a coffee shop at least one day per week.

The system implemented will be retained simplistic; the customers making a purchase at Coffee Republic will be offered a free wi-fi voucher giving them a login code to access the store's hotspot from any wi-fi-enabled laptop, mobile phone or PDA.Very simple isn’t it?

Actually two of the trials in Reading and Weybridge led to a noticeable increase in footfall, how do you think it would influence your coffee habits?