'Star Trek' translators reach for the final frontier

(CNN) -- Last month, Google unveiled its latest innovation, an app for phones that can near-simultaneously translate speech from one language to another.

"Google Conversation," so far only available to translate between Spanish and English, generated excited headlines speculating that a true universal translator -- an idea popularized by "Star Trek" -- might be just around the corner.

It's easy to get swept up by the buzz. Google's current text-based "Translate" online software is as good as it's ever been, allowing users to get reasonably faithful translations between scores of languages.

Steelers, Packers adopting Cowboy style in Dallas

Howdy, Hines. Welcome to Big D.

Hines Ward was ready for a rodeo of a week leading up to the Super Bowl as he stepped off the Pittsburgh Steelers' charter flight when the team arrived in Dallas.

Pittsburgh's star wide receiver, who embraces his reputation as one of the league's most aggressive — and some say, dirtiest — players, was decked out in a big black cowboy hat, a black sequined Western-style shirt, blue jeans, boots and a Texas-sized silver belt buckle.

"I'm in Dallas, Texas," Ward said, smiling. "I wanted to put on my whole cowboy outfit and enjoy it. No nerves."

He sure looked loose, and almost like a native Texan. Not bad for a guy born in South Korea who grew up in Georgia and has played in Pittsburgh for 13 years.

"Where'd I find all this stuff?" an amused Ward asked, repeating a reporter's question. "A little place in Monroeville [Pa.]. It's my little diamond in the rough there."

Google launches Twitter workaround for Egypt

(Reuters) - Google Inc launched a special service to allow people in Egypt to send Twitter messages by dialing a phone number and leaving a voicemail, as Internet access remains cut off in the country amid anti-government protests.

"Like many people we've been glued to the news unfolding in Egypt and thinking of what we could do to help people on the ground," read a post on Google's official corporate blog on Monday.

The service, which Google said was developed with engineers from Twitter, allows people to dial a telephone number and leave a voicemail. The voicemail is automatically translated into an audio file message that is sent on Twitter using the identifying tag #egypt, Google said.

Google said in the blog post, titled "Some weekend work that will (hopefully) enable more Egyptians to be heard," that no Internet connection is needed to use the service.

It listed three phone numbers for people to call to use the service.

Internet social networking services like Twitter and Facebook have been important tools of communications for protesters in Egypt who have taken to the streets since last week to demonstrate against the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak.

Internet service has been suspended around the country and phone text messaging has been disabled.

A source familiar with the matter said Google, whose corporate motto is "Don't Be Evil," was not taking sides in the crisis in Egypt, but was simply supporting access to information as it has done with other services such as video website YouTube.

YouTube has been streaming live coverage of Al Jazeera's broadcasts of the events in Egypt.

Dozens of the so-called speak-to-tweet messages were featured on Twitter on Monday. The messages ranged from a few seconds to several minutes and featured people identifying themselves as Egyptians and describing the situations in various parts of the country.

"The government is spreading rumors of fear and of burglary and of violence," said one of the messages from an English speaker. "The only incidence of theft and burglary are done by the police themselves."

Google listed the following numbers for people to use the service: +16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855.

As Egypt boils, the fallout could echo for U.S., Mideast

With large protests planned for Tuesday, the Egyptian political crisis has far-reaching impact for the United States in the Middle East.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. faces its most precarious moment in the Middle East in years, with the dangers to U.S. interests growing as a tense standoff drags on between tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's embattled regime.

President Barack Obama and his aides are hoping for what they call an ``orderly transition,'' with a smooth exit for Mubarak and a hand-over of power to a transitional government that organizes new, fair elections.

The massive protests planned for Tuesday could in theory lead to this scenario for the most populous Arab country. The grimmer scenario is a lengthy crisis that debilitates Egypt further and ends in a military coup, anarchy or general chaos.

``I think there's a lot to be scared about . . . more to be scared about than to be thrilled about,'' said retired U.S. diplomat David Mack, now with the Middle East Institute. If things go badly wrong, ``you could have Somalia on the Mediterranean.''

``The longer the situation wends on, the more dangerous it becomes for American foreign policy,'' said J. Scott Carpenter, who was a State Department official dealing with Muslim democracy issues under former President George W. Bush.

The State Department Monday sent former ambassador Frank Wisner to Cairo to urge Mubarak's government to embrace political overhauls.

Volcano in Japan erupts again

Tokyo (CNN) -- The Mt. Shinmoe volcano in southern Japan erupted again Tuesday morning, with the country's Meteorological Agency calling it the fourth and most powerful eruption in recent days.

About 240 residents were evacuated from the town of Takaharu over the weekend when the volcano resumed its eruptions.

Tuesday's eruption was so powerful that it broke more than 150 windows in structures in nearby Kirishima city, local officials said. A 91-year-old woman in the city suffered minor injuries when she was cut by broken glass.

The eruptions started last Wednesday and at one point ash spewed up to 9,800 feet (3,000 meters) into the air, officials said.

The last Mt. Shinmoe eruption was in July. A large-scale eruption such as the recent ones, however, was last observed about 52 years ago, the meteorological observatory said.