Now Google is a dictionary and an address book
Google has further expanded its repertoire with a revamped and enhanced dictionary and translation service. It’s also launched its own version of the system used to translate Web site addresses to the relevant sites.
The firm already had a dictionary site, but it was purely a list of links to definitions for the word in question in other on-line dictionaries. The revamped site includes Google’s own definitions of the word, pronunciation, synonyms and all the other features you’d expect in a basic dictionary.
The site is accessible at google.com/dictionary. A regular web search for a phrase will now bring up a link to the relevant dictionary entry: this can be found as “definition” in the top right of the results page by the number of results.
The dictionary is also integrated with Google’s translation project. Furthermore, the options menu on a standard search will now allow you to search foreign language sites with the translated version of the search term. The relevant language will be automatically selected (but can be manually altered). Google gives the example of searching for “restaurant reviews Antwerp”, which will bring up relevant sites translated from French and Dutch, the two main languages spoken in Belgium.
The firm has also opened its DNS servers to the public. A DNS server handles the process of translating a Web site address (such as blorge.com) to the IP address which identifies the machine which physically hosts the relevant pages.
At the moment, most users have their requests routed through the DNS server of their Internet service provider. Google says allowing customers to use its DNS servers can increase the speed of their web surfing as well as reduce the chances of a “spoofing” attack which can redirect them to an infected Web site.
Those of a cynical bent have noted that when using this service, attempts to visit a site which doesn’t exist (usually thanks to a typing error) will route to a Google-controlled error page rather than one provided by the ISP. That’s one more possible outlet for advertising which thus moves towards Google.
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