Microsoft's Translating Phone |
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Microsoft's Translating Phone
REDMOND -- What if your computer could transcribe and translate, in near real-time, a phone conversation you're having with someone speaking a language you don't understand? That's the promise of one prototype demonstrated by Microsoft researchers today during a preview of the company's annual TechFest event.
As you can see in the video above, the "Translating Telephone" isn't perfect, which the researchers readily acknowledge. But even with some mistakes in the translation, it would be more than enough to get a general sense for what the other person is saying, and carry on a relatively rudimentary conversation.
No word on when this might become a product, as is the case with most of these projects.
This was one of several projects shown to a small group of reporters and bloggers as part of a day-long briefing on the company's Redmond campus, hosted by Craig Mundie, the company's chief research and strategy officer. The themes of the day are data-intensive computing and natural user interfaces, and the intersections between them. I'll have more later, including notes from a session on Project Natal with Don Mattrick, the company's Xbox and interactive entertainment chief.
About Todd Bishop
Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
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