Pitonneur Hindi typing software - a Nagari IME for Mac OS X by Ted Clancy

"EasyHindi makes typing Hindi simple. It allows you to type words in Hindi script by simply typing their usual roman transliteration on your QWERTY keyboard. It automatically takes care of things like viramas, bindus, nuktas, and whether to use independant or dependent vowel signs."

The transcription scheme resembles the already popular iTrans for the most part. However one feels that it could have been closer and the changes should rather have been towards the shortcomings of iTrans (e.g.: ee for ई, oo for ऊ could have been used). To quote another example, for 'ख़', the usual iTrans 'K' or a better 'Kh' could have been used instead of 'x', which sounds too distant from the sound of 'ख़'. A wonderful effort nonetheless.

दैनिक हिन्दुस्तान के हेमंत जोशी हिंदी पत्रकारिता में अंग्रेज़ी शब्दों के अनावश्यक और अनुचित प्रयोगों से चिंतित हैं:

"हिन्दी के एक अख़बार ने तो अंग्रेज़ी इस्तेमाल करने का नया कीर्तिमान स्थापित किया है। उसमें कुछ दिन पहले मुखपृष्ठ पर छपी ख़बर का शीर्षक था 'सरकारी बाबुओं को तोहफ़ा, डीए मर्ज करने को मंजूरी'। यहाँ अनावश्यक ढंग से अंग्रेज़ी मिली हिन्दी लिखने का सवाल तो है ही, बात अंग्रेज़ी के ऐसे शब्दों को हिन्दी में प्रचलित करने की भी है जो हिन्दी में उनसे मिलते जुलते शब्दों का भ्रम पैदा करते हों। हिन्दी में मर्ज़ का अर्थ है बीमारी और अंग्रेज़ी के मर्ज का तात्पर्य है मिलाना। वैसे भी जब किसी भाषा के लोग दूसरी भाषा की क्रियाएँ अपने क्रिया पदों में मिलाने लगते हैं तो जानिए कि भाषा के प्राण हरने का इन्तज़ाम कर लिया गया है।"

पूरा लेख - क्या बने बात वहाँ...

Google Adwords in Hindi | गूगल ऐडवर्ड्स हिन्दी में

Probably the first e-commerce website in Hindi.
सम्भवतः हिन्दी का पहला वि-वाणिज्य स्थल।

Tech breakthrough to help blind 'read' Hindi - The Times of India

"LUCKNOW: His is an amazing story. At the tender age of eight years, glaucoma pitched a scared Dinesh Kaushal’s world into darkness.

Twenty years later, Dinesh has helped develop the world’s first ‘Hindi screen reader’, which will revolutionise the manner in which the visually challenged access the information superhighway.

A Java certified MSc in computer science (Yes, you read right), Dinesh has been a key component in the collaboration between National Association for the Blind (NAB), Delhi, and a Lucknow-based software development company, in building the ‘Hindi screen reader’. The screen reader picks up text (including off the Internet) on any computer screen being accessed by a visually challenged person and then reads it out. What is revolutionary is that for the first time electronic text in Hindi can be easily and effortlessly accessed by the visually challenged. And the first application the whiz-team from NAB and the software firm are thinking of is enabling the lakhs of visually challenged government staffers across India."

मूवेबल टाईप हिंदी में:

"हाँ भाई" लिखते हैं:

"सज्जनों आखिर मूवेबल टाईप के अनुवाद का पहला ड्राफ्ट तैयार हो ही गया । यहाँ से लीजिए । यदि आप इसकी समीक्षा कर अपनें विचार एवं टिप्पणी कर सकें आपकी अति कृपा होगी। कृप्या ध्यान रखें यह utf-8 में कूटबंधित है। "

और ये रहे नए विंडोज़ एक्सपी के कुछ तुरत-चित्र (screenshots). Boy, it feels so great to see everything in Hindi.

XP Desktop
Internet Explorer
XP Open Dialog
XP Explorer
Control Panel

With all its faults and issues (like some misspellings and odd translations - which I hope will go away in subsequent releases), the Hindi interface of Windows XP is definitely the best thing to happen to the Indic computing world, IMO.

माइक्रोसॉफ़्ट! धन्यवाद और बधाई...

Windows XP ® हिंदी इंटरफ़ेस पैक डाउनलोड:
"Windows XP Professional या Windows XP Home Edition के लिए हिंदी इंटरफ़ेस पैक कई Windows XP User Interface को एक हिंदी यूज़र इंटरफ़ेस प्रदान करता है."

Related news: Microsoft unveils Hindi interface for Windows XP

The Daily Princetonian - University to offer Hindi language classes in the fall semester

"Ravi Shah '06 came to Princeton with a mission to bring Hindi — the national language of India, which boasts the second-largest population in the world — to the classroom. Just a year and a half later, although he said he finds it almost hard to believe, the University will offer beginner courses in Hindi starting next fall. Intermediate and advanced Hindi classes will be offered the following year for the first time ever at Princeton."
...

'Teens, young adults no longer favour English' : HindustanTimes.com/UK: News for UK Asians:

"English is slowly losing its popularity among 15-24 year-olds, according to a language expert. It is expected that in the world language table, English will be overtaken by Hindi/Urdu and Arabic in the next 50 years.

According to David Graddol, a language consultant writing in the journal Science, nine years ago English (372 million) was second only to Chinese (1.1 billion) in terms of the overall number of people speaking it as their first language.

Graddol, director of the Milton Keynes-based consultancy, The English Company (UK) Ltd, said that by 2050 English will lose its supremacy and slip to fourth among 15-24 year olds. Chinese will dominate in this age group, with 166 million speakers, followed by Hindi/Urdu (73.7 million) and Arabic (72.2 million). English speakers will number 65 million."

A bunch of blogs in Hindi
In Hindi, not about hindi.

अभिव्यक्ति

कही अनकही

बेदिल

नुक्ताचीनी

नौ दो ग्यारह - पुराना

नौ दो ग्यारह

लाईफ ईन ए एचओवी लेन

हृदयगाथा

हाँ भई

Microsoft Office in Hindi now:

"Microsoft India has launched the Hindi version of its popular Office software which includes Microsoft Word, Excel, Frontpage, Powerpoint and Outlook among others.

Called 'Office Hindi', the product includes a Hindi language interface will allow users to create documents and communicate with others in Hindi and navigate easily using the menus and toolbars that will be in Hindi.

Microsoft has termed the release as 'reiterating the commitment to taking IT to the grassroots.'

'Office Hindi will bring about a productivity revolution among those untouched by the power of computing due to language barriers. We expect this offering to be particularly popular with central and state government, public sector undertakings, the banking industry, educational institutes and the local developer community,' says Rajiv Kaul, Managing Director, Microsoft India.

The two editions of the product, Office Hindi Professional and Office Hindi Standard, will be available through Microsoft's regular sales channels. Microsoft has also announced the availability of online resources, training material and partner support to ensure that customers can smoothly adopt and integrate the offering into their infrastructure."

Red Hat To Roll Out Linux OS Hindi Version

"NEW DELHI: In a couple of months, Red Hat is rolling out a Hindi version of the Linux operating system in India. Red Hat Inc chief executive officer and president Matthew Szulik told eFE that the revenue from India is likely to double this calendar over the last year."

AXN now in Hindi : scoops@glamsham.com:

"Maybe it was inevitable. Almost every major English channel in the country is now telecast in national language Hindi.

Channels like Discovery and Cartoon Network have greatly benefited after starting their Hindi broadcasts.

And from Monday, AXN too has introduced a dual feed in Hindi and English from 8 p.m.-9 p.m. Monday to Friday.

Premiering with the hugely popular 'Ripley's Believe It or Not', this initiative will gradually be expanded to include some of the channel's highest rated shows. "

I&B Minister condemns use of 'administrative Hindi' : HindustanTimes.com
..
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday deprecated the use of "administrative Hindi" saying it was a stumbling block in the popularity of the language.

"Administrative Hindi makes the language difficult by using less understood words and thereby affects communication in Hindi which is otherwise smooth and easy," Prasad said while releasing the reference manual India 2004 in English and its Hindi edition Bharat 2004 brought out by the research, reference and training division and published by the Publications Division.

Prasad made these comments as he was irked over the Hindi nomenclature of the research, reference and training division.
[In this connection, he said the Hindi word for research ('gaveshna') in 'Research, Reference and Training Division' was too complex for the common man to understand and a simpler word like 'shodh' could be used.]
..

Business Standard .. Newspaper sales up 24% in 2002-03
...
The present report contains an analysis for 15 months from January 1, 2002 to March 31, 2003. Among the multi-edition dailies, Dainik Bhaskar, publishing in Hindi, has the largest circulation of 1.71 million copies, followed by Times of India with 1.39 million copies.

For single-edition dailies, Hindustan Times has a circulation of 1.11 million copies, while The Hindu is second with 922,407 copies.
...