In Canada, .ca is replacing .com
I spent a few days in Canada recently and was struck but how many billboards, newspapers, and web sites prominently displayed .ca instead of .com. I started writing down every …
Business globalization
The best global hotel web site: InterContinental Hotels
We included nine hotel and resort brands in the 2010 Web Globalization Report Card. The Web Globalization Report Card is an annual benchmark of how effectively companies internationalize and localize …
Google goes to Greenland to shorten your URL
Just what the world needs — two more URL shorteners. Google now has goo.gl. And Facebook has FB.me. But Google’s URL jumps out at me because it marks the first …
TED is looking for a few good translators
For translation crowdsourcing to work, first you need crowds. And TED, which has been using the crowd to provide translation of its videos, is looking for a few more participants. …
There is no such thing as a global slogan
Here’s an article that confirms what consumers apparently know but many companies have yet to figure out — that English-language slogans don’t make much sense to people who don’t speak …
Bit.ly is leaving Libya for the islands
So Bit.ly has launched an even shorter URL: J.mp. You can’t get any shorter than this, at least not until we see single-digital TLDs. I can’t help but wonder if …
Starbucks puts its web site where its growth is
Starbucks may be closing stores in the US, but it’s still growing internationally. According to the Seattle PI: Starbucks recently opened stores in the Czech Republic, Amsterdam and Poland. And …
Facebook: From 1 to 100 languages in two years
It was just over a year ago that Facebook started localizing itself for the world. As I noted then, the company utilized crowdsourcing to spur its translation efforts. And though …
Global user experience is much more than a Web site
I bought a LaCie hard drive recently, and I noticed an interesting gap between the global usability of the LaCie Web site and the installation software that shipped with the …
Will Facebook become the world’s largest translation platform?
Techcrunch reports from Facebook’s developer conference today in which company announced that it would open its “crowdsourcing” translation platform to its legion of application developers. Here’s the press release excerpt: …
Translating numbers in China
As John wrote awhile back: All lucky numbers are local. And this is particularly true in China, where people pay thousands of dollars to obtain license plates with lucky numbers. …
.CN: From 2 million to 10 million in 12 months
China is on pace to surpass Germany as the world’s most popular country code top-level domain (ccTLD) — in about two or three months. Germany currently leads with roughly 11.5 …
Web globalization and the small business
The falling dollar is forcing a lot of small business owners to focus their marketing efforts outside of the US.The New York Times weighs in with a good article on …
Facebook hits German competitors
If you’ve read this blog recently, you are aware of John’s reports on Facebook’s efforts to translate its Website into German and other European languages. I am a keen observer …
Starwood Hotels broadens Chinese Web support
Starwood Hotels has announced that it has launched Chinese-language Web sites for all of its hotel brands — from Westin to Sheraton to St. Regis. The hotel chain had previously …