Thinking about big goals (or even BHAGS – Big Hairy Audacious Goals), ambitious projects and lifelong passions can lift one’s eyes from the ground, the nose from the grindstone and hopes from the mud. And in the meantime, small successes and surprises keep us amazed and moving forward – which reminds me of one of my favorite recent news stories, the discovery of the blond furry lobster Kiwa hirsuta
(www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/03/08/furry.lobster.ap/index.html).

According to the Associated Press report, “researchers said that while legions of new ocean species are discovered each year, it is quite rare to find one that merits a new family. The family was named Kiwaida, from Kiwa, the goddess of crustaceans in Polynesian mythology.” (Note the multilingual Polynesian > Latin naming.)

This tiny creature surprised the experts, doesn’t match expectations and doesn’t turn easily into an acronym. But it’s a delightful reminder that we don’t know anywhere near everything about the world around us.

With this issue, MultiLingual appears for the first time in a digital edition. It’s the same magazine, plus web functions, and subscribers will receive it in addition to the print edition. See page 6 for a link to more information.

So, what’s in this first paper-plus-digital edition? An Industry Focus on mobile applications, beginning with an overview of the way to build embedded applications by James Zheng; requirements of the Arabic market by Yahia Alaoui; Chinese input by Milos Djokovic; and multilingual handwriting recognition technology by Stan Miasnikov.

In the Business section, Ian Harris suggests ways to make sure that search engines can find your website in multiple languages; Vic Dickson makes a case for the use of open-source development in building language tools; and Lei Meng outlines best practices for communication in the international, multilingual virtual office.

In issue #78 we published the first part of Addison P. Phillips’ article about new language tags; part 2 is in this issue. And Bill Hall continues his series outlining the new developments in the .NET Globalization namespace.

Donald A. DePalma reviews the book Hispanic Marketing, and in a Perspectives column he offers his take on the future of localization. Reinhard Schäler points out that sometimes genuinely foreign is more interesting than faux localized. And columnists Tom Edwards, John Freivalds and Kit Brown explore the passion aroused by flags, the rise of middle-tier companies and the best practices to consider regarding in-country reviews.

Included with this issue is a “Getting Started Guide” on the topic of content management. Sandi Castle, Bret Freeman, Markus Romberg, Sacha Fedier, Dave Rosenlund, David Terry and Shannon Zimmerman offer background, examples and support for people beginning to think about their need for managing multilingual content, whether in a local project or on a website.

Registration’s open for Localization World Barcelona (May 30-June 1), where the topic is “Working — Together.” Imagine, everybody sharing what they know, helping one another reach their individual BHAGs — and even if they’re not discovering blond furry lobsters, finding a few “new species” of ideas along the way.

—Laurel Wagers, Managing Editor