News By Lee Mathews May. 16, 2014 4:14 pm
Vous ne parlez pas Francais? That could cause you problems while you’re backpacking around Bordeaux, but not if you’re a Google Glass owner. Google has just acquired Quest Visual, developers of the slick, real-time translation app Word Lens.
Google, of course, isn’t revealing many details about the acquisition itself or their plans for Word Lens now that it’s a Google product. The official line is that they’re going to “incorporate Quest Visual’s technology into Google Translate’s broad language coverage and translation capabilities in the future.”
Why not add instant translation to the lengthy list of upcoming Glass features? Word Lens is a natural fit for Google Glass, and it even works on the device already. Quest Visual got the app up and running back in November of 2013, showing it off in a short YouTube clip so that those of us who haven’t plunked down $1,500 can see how it works.
It’s precisely the kind of slick, practical augmented reality app that Google needs to show the general public the true potential (and value) of Glass. You’ve got to look at things anyway, so why not have the foreign language bits translated for you by a head-mounted wearable. Sounds easier than wrestling with the contents of your pocket in an attempt to free your phone and spilling loose change all over the ground.
Word Lens is already available on both the App Store and Google Play. Google will probably leave it there for the time being, but assimilation into Google Translate is all but guaranteed. There’s no need to have a standalone camera translation app when you’ve already got a much more widely recognized app in the same vein.*Eventually, Google will pull the plug, but in the meantime they’re saying gracias to Word Lens fans by making the app and all its language packs free to download. A welcome but unsurprising move, considering it’s going to be worked into another free app anyway.
More...
Google, of course, isn’t revealing many details about the acquisition itself or their plans for Word Lens now that it’s a Google product. The official line is that they’re going to “incorporate Quest Visual’s technology into Google Translate’s broad language coverage and translation capabilities in the future.”
Why not add instant translation to the lengthy list of upcoming Glass features? Word Lens is a natural fit for Google Glass, and it even works on the device already. Quest Visual got the app up and running back in November of 2013, showing it off in a short YouTube clip so that those of us who haven’t plunked down $1,500 can see how it works.
It’s precisely the kind of slick, practical augmented reality app that Google needs to show the general public the true potential (and value) of Glass. You’ve got to look at things anyway, so why not have the foreign language bits translated for you by a head-mounted wearable. Sounds easier than wrestling with the contents of your pocket in an attempt to free your phone and spilling loose change all over the ground.
Word Lens is already available on both the App Store and Google Play. Google will probably leave it there for the time being, but assimilation into Google Translate is all but guaranteed. There’s no need to have a standalone camera translation app when you’ve already got a much more widely recognized app in the same vein.*Eventually, Google will pull the plug, but in the meantime they’re saying gracias to Word Lens fans by making the app and all its language packs free to download. A welcome but unsurprising move, considering it’s going to be worked into another free app anyway.
More...
