‘Tele Scouter’ retinal-display translation glasses

William — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:45:27 +0000

Electronics giant NEC has reportedly developed a wearable optical device that interprets foreign languages and projects a real-time translation directly onto the retina, enabling the wearer to communicate with other language speakers without an interpreter.

The prototype device — called “Tele Scouter” — consists of a tiny retinal display and microphone mounted on an eyeglass frame. The microphone picks up the conversation and transmits it to a small computer worn on the waist, which converts the speech to text and translates it into the user’s native language.

The retinal display projects the text directly into the user’s peripheral vision, allowing them to maintain eye contact with their conversation partner while reading the translation. According to the developers, the Tele Scouter can be used for hours on end without eye strain, because the wearer does not have to focus their eye on the displayed text.

Although NEC plans to put a version of the Tele Scouter on the market in 2010, the company admits the device’s translation capabilities are insufficient for real-world applications. So for now, the initial plan is to market the device as a wearable data display for employees in factories and shops.

According to the company, the device can provide instant hands-free access to data such as diagrams and operating instructions, allowing workers to perform tasks more efficiently and accurately. Other possible future applications include car navigation systems and video games.

[Source: Yomiuri]

Link to the original article…

FriendShopper.com – A new… well old way to shop online

William — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 06:20:03 +0000

I’m a chronic deal finder and honestly, it is sometimes a very boring, tedious and above all, a very solitary event. Sitting behind a computer, click, click… click. Yeah… what happened to the days when you went out, shared what you liked, got advice on the spot from your relatively outspoken friends and got instant feedback on what you liked, didn’t like.

If you’re anything like the majority of the shoppers now, you’ll probably have to go back to the bell bottoms that your friends somehow convinced you to buy way back… oh wait. Maybe that’s just me. Anyway, bad fashion decisions aside, Friendshopper.com wants to bring back that feeling of camaraderie and the joy of bringing folks together when they shop together, something that is sorely missing from the online shopping experience.

But that’s not possible without a very robust framework that allows for bookmark sharing, item sharing and communication in real time.

Now, to the important bits. This isn’t like Kaboodle which had the social shopping bit “tacked on” – it’s there but it’s not the same. Kaboodle is about as social (to me) as showing you my want list on Amazon.com. Via the FriendShopper.com bookmarklet – look ma, no installs! – and some clever tech, you can decide what’s private and what you will share with other FriendShopper.com members/friends. And in the next coming month, Josh Bochner, the CEO of FriendShopper.com has let me know that a few surprises are in store. An Apple iPhone app and Facebook integration are both forthcoming.

And some other surprises too

With that, I really like FriendShopper.com. It allows me to get instant feedback from my friends, see what they’re looking at while we’re talking, instantly share images and links and finally get rid of that solitary confinement feeling when I’m sitting here behind my desk shopping online.

If only FriendShopper.com also did blogging tools too… oh well. Just another tool to use in shopping online and trying to save that buck or three in this economy.

[ FriendShopper ]

Photo Credit: Image via Morguefile.com member Alvimann.

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‘Tele Scouter’ retinal-display translation glasses

FriendShopper.com – A new… well old way to shop online