Aug 21, 2003 05:35 PM
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We can be found at https://urbanohermits.blogspot.in/
* Introduction
A friend once jokingly remarked to me that a writer is a combination of several factors like imagination, ingenuity & creativity, incisiveness, sharp wit, & a sense of humour, knowledge & wisdom, and a subtlety of purpose! And his primary tools, among others, are the Muse, quiet environs, a dictionary and a thesaurus.
We cannot do much about the Muse! He comes and goes as he pleases;-) But, the dictionary and the thesaurus? Yes!
Often, we struggle with the flow of thoughts when writing because we do not get the right word, phrase, quotation, etcetera. The use of a dictionary and thesaurus helps, but only so so! The manual/physical dictionary and thesaurus is really very clumsy|:-( Software wise, we use the basic features available in MS Word. But these are just that, very basic! Further, on proper nouns, they draw a blank! So what do we do? Jump onto a search engine? But the mining of relevant information on the net is really, really tedious and sooooo time consuming!
This is where babylon comes in!
Babylon, Information at a click
Intro: Babylon provides a lot of information on a multitude of topics. And all this, at the simple click of the mouse!
Website: https://babylon.com
Integration: A powerful information tool that combines the best of a dictionary, a thesaurus, and an encyclopaedia. It is my favourite. I use it both at home and work!
Dream Tool: A Dream Tool! No doubt about it! Must for writers, and others too. Allows writers to do away with all those bulky references.
Glossaries: It has a huge database of over 1, 600 dictionaries & glossaries on its home site, and is still being updated and growing!
Interface: Sports an absolutely attractive, comfortable, convenient, and entirely user-friendly interface.
Activation Keys: To run the tool, press the activation keys. This, the tool asks you to do when you are installing it for the first time. I normally use CTRL+ALT, as this combination does not interfere with any other software.
Dictionary, Thesaurus, Encyclopaedia, & Translator: It not only provides instantly, relevant information, but also multi-lingual translations for any word or value you type in or click on. For example, you come across a word on MS, ’’nada’’, and you want to know what it means. No problemo! Just activate Babylon by clicking on the word ’’nada’’. And prompto! You learn that ’’nada’’ is Italian for ’’nothing’’.
If you want to know the meaning of a result that Babylon has thrown-up, just click on it!
Cross Application Support: The tool can recognise words from several applications like MS Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, and Quark Xpress.
Sensitive OCR Engine: It has a sensitive OCR engine that can read Words off images, or scanned text! It enables users to click on any word, phrase or number in any Windows application and immediately receive a translation or description!
Online / Offline Usage: Can be used offline or online. You can switch between online and offline modes by clicking on the revolving Babylon icon at the top left corner of the result window. This icon also displays the connection status, Green - Online; Red - Offline.
Offline functioning works well, but is limited to the number of glossaries downloaded to local system. Once glossaries are downloaded, there won’t be a need to connect to the net anymore, except occasionally when you want to pick-up new or additional glossaries. Online functioning is the best. Babylon can connect to its home site and other websites, to extract the maximum information you require.
Subscribe / Download Glossaries: Glossaries can either be subscribed to or downloaded to the local system by clicking on the+ button to the right of a result, and selecting one of the options, viz., ’’Subscribe’’ or ’’Download’’. Subscription will not download the glossary, but will connect to it online whenever the need arises. The other option ’’Download’’ is self-explanatory.
Copy / Paste: Just right-click the target. No menu appears, but the word is copied to the clipboard.
Save Results: Results can be saved into Babylon itself(click board pin button to the right of a result) or locally into your system(.bps file).
TTS engine: Speaks pronunciations typed in. A menu of voices provided. The speed of the voice can be customised.
History: The tool is equipped with a history feature to navigate to the previous words or previous conversions.
Converter & Calculator: Can convert any value to the value of our choice. Conversions cover currencies, measurements, time and their sub-units. It can also distinguish between a word and a value, and automatically invokes the converter feature, when the target is a value. History feature is available. Additionally, it can invoke calculator from Windows.
Miscellaneous: The tool has a resizable window, and several options to configure how you want it to behave. A pane in the tool displays a list of the selected glossaries with check boxes, allowing them to be either selected or deselected or even deleted. If you do not want the tool to run temporarily, you can disable it, and enable it later when you need it, or completely exit it.
Priced / Trial Versions: You can either buy Babylon(details on web site) or simply download the trial version(30 days). My suggestion is, you can get along just fine with the trial version. And don’t worry! It will continue to work after the trial period, but be prepared for occasional nag messages asking you to buy it!
Operating Systems: Windows 95/98/2000/NT/ME/XP OS with minimum 64MB RAM.
For complete details, on how the tool works and its ease of usage, please read the Help file of Babylon.
All said and done, you will have to experiment with this tool yourself to understand its real utility.
Pros:-
+ Almost FREE tool;-)
Trendy and User-friendly interface
Can be used across most applications
Works Online or Offline
Huge Database of Glossaries; re Babylon site
Sensitive OCR Engine that can read Words or numbers off images, or scanned text
Powerful Information Tool integrating Dictionary, Thesaurus, & Encyclopaedia
Multi-lingual Translator
Converter
Feature to Save Results
Speaks Pronunciations; TTS Engine; Choice from several voices; Newer ones can be downloaded
History feature; can navigate to Previous Searches
Works on Windows 95/98/2000/NT/ME/XP with minimum 64MB RAM
Cons:-
- Cannot pick-up long strings or entire sentences; focuses on words and phrases only
You can check us out at https://urbanohermits.blogspot.in/
