In the late 1920's, archaeologists discovered clay tablets with unknown writing on them, in the city of Ugarit. Linguist spent decades trying to decode the writing, said to be from Biblical times, but were unable to completely do so. However, a new computer program developed by a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has now translated about 60% of the text.
Scientists at MIT used the program to compare the Ugaritic text to Hebrew text, and were thrilled with how quickly it took. The Ugaritic language is considered a lost language and is made up of dots and wedge-shaped stylus signs. It hasn't been used since 1200 BC, where it was used in western Syria. The program was able to translate most of the symbols to letters and words.
According to Regina Barzilay, a computer science professor at MIT, this may be the first time anyone has ever effectively demonstrated a computer analysis of any of the lost languages. 60% of the language was correctly identified. Said Barzilay in an interview, "traditionally, decipherment has been viewed as a sort of scholarly detective game, and computers weren't thought to be of much use. Our aim is to bring to bear the full power of modern machine learning and statistics to this problem."
The team is hoping to decipher other old languages in the future and the computer program will be the key to help us learn more about our history. For example, they are hoping to look at Etruscan next, a script that was used in 700 BC in Italy. By 100 AD, the Etruscan had been replaced by Latin and because of this, very few traces of the language remain. And of the ones that do remain, none of it seems to match up to any other more current language, like Ugaritic does with Hebrew.
According to Barzilay, the computer program has the ability to scan several languages at once to see if anything between the ancient language and a number of modern languages matches up.
The program was made public last week at the 48th annual meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics in Sweden.
Check out these related links:
1. 5 Ways to Learn the Language
Looking for Computer / PC Rental information? Visit the www.rentacomputer.com PC Rental page for your short term business PC needs. Or see this link for a complete line of Personal Computer Rentals.
-400.jpg)
It’s not exactly what I would call a budget desktop, but the Gateway DX4840-02e is certainly still a good deal. It comes standard with a 23-inch HD monitor and a 2-year warranty. It has all of the usual features and a design that should satisfy anyone looking at desktop computers. -215.jpg)
If you are looking to buy a desktop computer this summer, Dell might just have the deal you've been looking for. The Dell Inspiron 580s Core i5 Dual Core 2.93GHz desktop is now on sale through July 31st. When you use the coupon code ?8CN$RJ?W5TQ0C you will get $199 off the original price of the computer plus free shipping.
The Shutdown Timer app is perfect for you if you don’t have the time to worry about whether or not you shut off your computer or not. The timer will shut down or reboot your computer whenever you set it to perform such actions. You can set it to do this based on CPU or RAM utilization or even CPU temperature. You can either put your computer into sleep or standby mode. Shutdown Timer can really help to save energy when you aren’t utilizing your computer.
While most people were gathered around their barbecues and remembering fallen soldiers, Apple was proclaiming the iPad the greatest computer in the world, ever! OK, not really, but they did announce that since its launch about two months ago, they've sold over two million iPads. The iPad, which shipped on April 3 of this year, hit stores in Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan just last Friday. Crowds lined the streets in those countries, while the Apple online store has been swamped with purchases - a seven to ten day wait is being placed on new orders. 
Onkyo, famous for their construction of numerous iPod docks, has just stepped up their game another level with their newest creation, an all-in-one PC centered around, you guessed it, an iPod dock. The newest PC, just announced today, has been dubbed the E713A9B. The PC is powered by an Intel Core i5-650 CPU at 3.20GHz. The E713A9B also comes in with 4GB of RAM upgradeable to 8GB, 1TB of HDD, a 23-inch LCD display and full 1920x1080 full HD resolution. 
Bartels Media has developed and recently released a program that allows up to 50 different Windows users to all control the desktop of one central computer. This can be extremely useful for collaborating, training, brainstorming, and document building.
On Wednesday, Gateway updated their ZX series that includes mid-ranged and high-end all-in-one desktop computers. 
Desktop computers have been forced to change their faces in order to not be considered obsolete. They are constantly being outdone by the convenience and speed of laptops, notebooks, and netbooks. The Apple iMac 27-inch (Core i7) is a fantastic example of an multimedia, all-in-one desktop computer. In many ways, it resembles its predecessor, the Apple iMac that featured a Core 2 Duo processor, except this iMac 27-inch (Core i7) is much faster.
Rumors about an online version of iTunes have been rampant since mid to late 2009, but now it looks like there's a little truth to the idea...maybe. Apple will be launching an online music service that will allow users to listen to music streamed over the internet. Experts say the new application could become a major threat for music websites such as Spotify, a service that allows users access to millions of songs through a paid subscription. 
Kids are getting online more than ever these days, especially those who are into social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. I've seen kids as young as six or seven years old with Facebook accounts. While these websites can be fun, they can also be dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands and as a parent, it's your duty to make sure your child know the risks and how to protect themselves from harm's way.
If you're looking for a simpler way to customize or control your wireless network, Cisco has announced its new Linksys E-series routers that will do just that. Also, the company's new Valet and Valet Plus, which are designed like the company's Flip Video products, will serve its core consumer base and make wireless network set-up easier than ever. According to IDC, only 1/3 of homes in the United States is set up for wireless internet use and Cisco believes these products will increase that number.
Apple is hard at work putting the "icing on the cake" for a pair of new products that Apple says are targeted at their professional customers. The two devices in question are a larger version of Apple's LED Cinema Display as well as a major upgrade to the Mac Pro workstations according to -300.jpg)
-300.jpg)
There are a variety of different types of parental control programs out there right now. Some force your kids to behave themselves while utilizing the Internet by reporting all of their actions to you. Other programs tend to stress parent-child communication instead of using strict control. Now the majority of these programs fall somewhere in between these two extremes. There goal is to keep kids from mistakenly or purposely finding sights that you want them to stay away from. Safe Eyes 6.0 is taking the middle ground. It has been deemed a “family Internet manager,” meaning that it is trying promote parent-child communication while still keeping its protective features. 
There are a variety of different types of parental control programs out there right now. Some force your kids to behave themselves while utilizing the Internet by reporting all of their actions to you. Other programs tend to stress parent-child communication instead of using strict control. Now the majority of these programs fall somewhere in between these two extremes. There goal is to keep kids from mistakenly or purposely finding sights that you want them to stay away from. Safe Eyes 6.0 is taking the middle ground. It has been deemed a “family Internet manager,” meaning that it is trying promote parent-child communication while still keeping its protective features. 
