Based on the demo, I think you're more likely to get seaweed substituted for sea urchin. In fact, that's why a translation dictionary is useful ... you'll get multiple translations which will allow you to reconstruct the original meaning of the word. I don't see how this can be implemented with this type of software, therefore, I think it's really limited in scope.
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Word Lens Offers Real Time Language Translation
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Based on the demo, I think you're more likely to get seaweed substituted for sea urchin. In fact, that's why a translation dictionary is useful ... you'll get multiple translations which will allow you to reconstruct the original meaning of the word. I don't see how this can be implemented with this type of software, therefore, I think it's really limited in scope.
Slight correction: the ability to do this sort of video manipulation appeared in iOS 4.0. 3.1 introduced an official means to put other live content on top of video but no real means to inspect the incoming image. RedLaser found an undocumented way to take device screenshots and inspect the video feed that way, which Apple subsequently allowed for the entire community but if you drew anything on the video feed then as a program you could no longer see what was underneath what you'd drawn. RedLaser doesn't draw anything on top of its video feed, so not a problem.
iOS 4.0 and upwards allow full video feed inspection, independently of whatever you're doing on screen.
iOS 4.0 and upwards allow full video feed inspection, independently of whatever you're doing on screen.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)
Now Bluetooth this to my HUD sunglasses and we should have flying cars in 5 years.
Now Bluetooth this to my HUD sunglasses and we should have flying cars in 5 years.
This is essentially a gimmick without the functionality to back it up, at the moment. I'm not saying it will fail, just that it is a tad half baked (they need to work on the OCR a bit too, it sometimes just ignores printed words then a second later ignores another set of words but translates the previously ignored word). There are lots of things they could do to improve it, such as in the pause screen mode be able to click on a word and get more info on that word. They'll have to do something clever reformatting for languages that write up to down etc... as well if they want to keep with their AR gimmick.
I think I might actually try this out! Sounds useful to me. But for me the language packs aren't worth $5. But maybe I'll give in 
I downloaded the app and gave it a try. Didnt have much luck with the demo. I saw words flying around the screen but they never changed. I tried their recommended fixes but no luck.
Then look at http://www.pleco.com -- I'm not associated with them, other than being a VERY happy customer. They license various English<-->Chinese dictionaries; I started using their software about 8 years ago on an old Palm Pilot. Now they've got an iPhone/iPod Touch version which is great (and maybe an iPad version, though I don't have an iPad so I'm not sure).
They recently added real-time OCR which works on the iPhone (not sure if it works on 4th-gen iPod touch). See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7VTo0656Rc for their amazing demo.
Pleco's great. Their licensed dictionaries aren't cheap, but once you buy their stuff, you can generally upgrade for free (I even upgraded from Palm over to iPod for free).
This website should be called App Rumors. Look at the last 3 posts...all related to iPhone apps...
This app sucks. All I see are letters flashing around randomly, too quick to read. I tried the simplest demo I could - holding it up to the side of my iPad box. Helvetica font on a plain white background.
It sometimes will briefly flash "DAPI" or "QAPI", but usually just does nothing or causes random letters to flicker inside the bar of the lowercase "i".
It sometimes will briefly flash "DAPI" or "QAPI", but usually just does nothing or causes random letters to flicker inside the bar of the lowercase "i".
I downloaded and bought. No, it isn't perfect, but nothing ever is when it is first implemented. I think it is awesome and has great potential, both personally and for businesses. In fact, our tech guys are looking at it right now.
Edison: Look at my light bulb
Critic: Who needs that, we have candles
Edison: But it lasts longer
Critic: It is too dim and it isn't portable
Edison: But look at all the things we can do with it
Critic: It will never work, it is crap
We had the phonograph before we had the iPod
We had the telegraph before we had the iPhone
It has to start somewhere, and this is an amazing start IMO
I prefer to look at what it IS instead of what it ISN'T yet
Edison: Look at my light bulb
Critic: Who needs that, we have candles
Edison: But it lasts longer
Critic: It is too dim and it isn't portable
Edison: But look at all the things we can do with it
Critic: It will never work, it is crap
We had the phonograph before we had the iPod
We had the telegraph before we had the iPhone
It has to start somewhere, and this is an amazing start IMO
I prefer to look at what it IS instead of what it ISN'T yet
Definitely a cool looking first version. Now they just need some major player to buy them up and make the translation more context sensitive or at least grammatical rather than word by word.
Or at least have it to do a more complex translation when net-connected, and simple word by word when offline. that would probably be the best balance.
Or at least have it to do a more complex translation when net-connected, and simple word by word when offline. that would probably be the best balance.
Well put. I'm pretty sure that with all the press, this app will get as good as any other current computer translation. I tried only the demo so far but $5 isn't much for this type of app. I'm going to give this a try when I go down the spanish grocery isle and put it to use. I'd like to see more from the people who bought the spanish to english version. Give us some text from a translation... thanks.
