The app is called Word Lens. You point it at a sign and it translates the sign for you automatically. It is amazing to watch:

This is so surprising that it seems like it could be made up. The YouTube channel that posted that video has posted only one video. When you go to that channel it contains a link to this web site:

http://questvisual.com

That web site contains nothing at the moment but a single page that displays the video and an email address.

Nonetheless, when you go to the app store a free app is there called Word Lens. The app does not claim to do translation – it is a teaser for a December 31 launch of a for-pay app that will do spanish/english translations at $5 per language. The app’s description indicates that it will work on “clearly printed text (e.g. signs, menus)”, that it does not work on “handwriting or stylized fonts”, and that “it’s not perfect, but you can get the general meaning.”

When you think about it, this is not a huge leap. The OCR part with a video camera has been around, as open source, for 5 years or so:

And machine translation has been around for some time. The part that is surprising is the “putting it back into the sign in the same font/color” part, which makes it so incredibly intuitive.

See also:
- Augmented reality maps gives us a new way to see the world
- A real augmented reality app that is really useful

[[[Jump to previous invention - skin tight spacesuits help prevent astronaut bone problems]]]]

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