Translator

People who often find themselves undertaking research in a library or museum could well encounter a text written in a language different to their own. While online translation solutions are now readily available, retyping the word, phrase or page onto a smartphone using a virtual keyboard can quickly become a tiresome task. The Quicktionary TS Premium from Wizcom Technologies allows the user to scan the text into the device and a built-in word and phrase dictionary offers up the translation on the included screen. The pen-like device also has a built-in speaker to help those who want to learn how to pronounce the scanned word or line of text. Read More

Word Lens translates printed words in real time on your iPhone. Can our jet packs be far behind? Developed by Quest Visual, Word Lens is an augmented-reality translation app that uses your phone's camera to view printed words and translate them into another language as you watch. If you’re traveling for business or on vacation and need to read a street sign or a menu, point your phone and Word Lens instantly translates it, maintaining the color and font as it goes. Read More

We've all been there - you're trying to communicate with someone who doesn't speak your language and you don't speak theirs, and no amount of charades and gesturing will do the trick. You need a toilet and he's wondering why you're telling him your brother eats flies. Converse is the name of a new app that will soon become available which is claimed to turn your iPhone into a double ended language translator – a multilingual, face-to-face instant messaging conversation. It's one of the most innovative uses of the iPhone's form factor we've yet seen, with both people able to type on a keyboard in their own language at the same time and have the words translated and displayed for the other person. If it works as advertised, Converse is set to significantly reduce communication problems on holidays and business trips. The new app enables an English speaker to communicate with people in 51 different languages and keyboards accommodate non-Latin languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Thai, Czech, Hebrew and Ukrainian scripts. Read More

This year's TechFest has brought together researchers from around the globe to present, experience and discuss some of the emerging technologies from Microsoft's Research wing. Highlights include a mobile version of the company's Surface platform, a voice recognition transcription system with auto-translate and a couple of projects which use the body as a computer interface. Read More

Most new parents would agree that working out exactly why a baby is crying and coming up with the right solution can be extremely stressful, so why not turn to the wonderful world of technology to solve the problem? The Cry Translator is an iPhone application that translates a baby’s cries, categorizing them with one of five possible reasons: hungry, sleepy, annoyed, stressed or bored. Read More

The days of a Universal Translator like the one that made chatting between alien species a non-issue in Star Trek might be some way off yet. But a new device from NEC is definitely a step in the right direction for those of us on planet Earth looking for a way to communicate with other language speakers that doesn’t involve a human translator or a well-thumbed phrase book. The prototype device called a “Tele Scouter” is a glasses type display that translates the foreign language being spoken by a partner and projects the translation onto a tiny retinal display. Read More

Mobile device convergence is accelerating like crazy, with a new breed of smartphones packing enough power to run an impressive range of software. And some of these mobile applications are getting pretty freakin' amazing - take Ray Kurzweil's kReader for Symbian, which allows blind or illiterate folk to point their phone camera at printed words and have them spoken aloud. Sakhr has gone a step further with an Arabic Spoken Translator for Blackberry devices. You speak English or Arabic into your handset, it transcribes, translates and speaks your phrase back in the other language, breaking down the language barrier in one fell swoop. Read More