Archive for December 2010
Word Lens
I just discovered an awesome app called Word Lens.
It is an augmented reality dictionary app, that works surprisingly well. Imagine you’re in a foreign country, Spain, for example (the only dictionary available is Spanish), and you’re at the beach. You notice no one else is at the beach. A sign nearby says “Playa Cerrada: Reciente Ataque de Tiburón.” You, having no previous education in the Spanish language, wonder if this sign is important and if it has anything to do with the absence of the general populace from the beach. You whip out your iPod or iPhone, point it at the sign, and WHAM, you now know the beach is closed because of a recent shark attack!
I watched the youtube video (posted at the bottom of this article) and was impressed, so I decided to try it out for myself. The app itself is free, but the dictionaries are a bit pricey. However, it does come with modes to reverse words or erase words from whatever you point it at, which shows how the app works, and is kinda fun. The dictionaries cost $4.99 each, which doesn’t seem too bad, until you realize they have “Spanish to English” and “English to Spanish” listed as two separate dictionaries. I went ahead and bought the Spanish to English one though, just to try it out.
Results were not as good as the advertising Youtube video, but they were still good. This app won’t work well with lots of little text; I tried it on a Spanish news website, and all the words seem to just flash between several random English words. When I copied some of this text to my word processor and enlarged the font by a good bit, it worked without a hitch:
As you can tell, this thing doesn’t do well with grammar, but for simple signs with large text, it’s great. This app would be an awesome addition to any world traveler’s arsenal. Anyone who’s traveled in a foreign country without a great grasp of their language knows how useful this would be, and it works admirably for its intended purpose.
By the way, here’s the video:
Chrome OS and the CR-48 – First Impressions
I got a very nice, early Christmas present from Google yesterday, a CR-48 Chrome OS laptop. I want to use it for a week or two before giving it a full review, but so far it has quickly found a warm place in my heart.
First, let me just tell you, the device itself is beautiful. When I read other blogs’ review of the device, I wondered at them concentrating so much on the device, as it is just a “beta-test” model, and not for sale, but I have now seen the light. I don’t think you can fully appreciate it until you hold it in your hands. It has a very slick matte black plastic enclosure… very comfortable to the touch. It almost feels like rubber. The screen is bright, the speaker, while sometimes a little quiet, provides nice, crisp sounds. The keyboard is one of the best I’ve used. The click pad, though a bit jumpy at times, is one of the best I’ve used on any laptop or netbook.
The OS is surprisingly useful. I was a bit wary of an OS dedicated almost solely to web use, but I’m actually getting quite used to it. It’s simple, and the computer does almost everything I want a netbook to do, without the hassle of Windows bogging it down. I don’t think this OS will ever be a primary computer for me, but it’s perfect for “couch use” or in a coffee shop. The speed of this thing is amazing. When you close the lid, it goes to sleep, like most laptops. Unlike most laptops, however, when you open it up, it’s on and ready to go before I’ve even gotten the lid all the way open. Also, when powered completely off, it takes all of 10 seconds or less to boot back to life. Surfing the web is a breeze with its optimized keyboard, and pages load extremely quickly.
Again, I plan to write a full review in about a week or so, but first impressions of this thing are extremely positive.
First Post
I love technology, and I intend this blog to be a opinion post-board of my thoughts and opinions of all things tech. Follow along trends with me, I welcome any and all comments you may have (though I reserve the right to edit or trash offensive or obscene comments). Thanks for reading, and please subscribe through RSS or email if you enjoy what you read here!
-Jason