On Computers

Translate Your World

You know those science fiction movies where the Earth crew lands on a planet populated by green furry creatures? They start talking to each other.

They have these super translators that they got from the prop department. We don’t have those. So in order to travel to other planets we’re trying out “Translate Your World,” a $25 to $50 a month service that does translation in real time.

It works like this: Each person goes to a special website where they see subtitles appearing on the screen in real time as words are spoken in any of 78 languages. It’s a lot like foreign movies: they say something in gibberish and you read it on the screen, then you do the same.

This sounds just like using Google Translate but it turns out to be more. The “Translate Your World” software starts with Google Translate, Dragon Naturally Speaking, Siri and other systems and uses them to get a more accurate translation.  If you say “the batter swings,” for example, the person receiving the message will understand you’re talking about baseball, not the Pillsbury Doughboy doing the twist.

The next version will be voice to voice, no subtitles. You speak, they speak, and it all comes out in each person’s native tongue. Because of the cost and the necessity of being on a web site to get the rapid two-way translations, this service is likely to be used by business at first. But someday … we’ll whip out our smartphone and be able to order from the menu in Botswana land.

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“YouCam Perfect,” is a free app for iPhone/Android, has been downloaded over 600,000 times. It improves “selfies,” those photos you take of yourself to post on Facebook and elsewhere, by removing wrinkles. We didn’t see much difference between the before and after, but heck, it’s free.

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The Taj Mahal done in Legos

10 Lego projects that will blow your mind : Google that phrase to find PC Magazine’s Lego slideshow. There’s a full-sized house, a working car and the Taj Mahal. If you want to emulate any of these, it’s best to start with about a million Lego blocks.

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Biz.Yahoo.com/ipo— This hard-to-find page lists the biggest gainers and losers among companies that have recently gone public. Look back over three months, six months or a year, and get links to company info. Yahoo has terrific financial information, and a search system that seems to have been developed in the Stone Age.

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The National Park Service has banned the use of drones in Yosemite and Zion National Parks. Bob wonders if they can legally do that? If even the FAA hasn’t decided on drone restrictions yet, what gives the Park Service the right to make laws?

You can watch videos taken by drones flying before the ban. At PCMag.com you can watch an incredibly boring video of two middle-aged guys getting their gear together, stopping for coffee, and driving to Yosemite. Find it by Googling the phrase “The Yosemite Drone Footage the Park Service Doesn’t Want You To See.” Probably because they’re afraid you’ll go into a coma, fall off the couch and injure yourself. There are more of these exciting videos on YouTube.

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“Trakdot” is a palm-sized device and an app that tracks your luggage. You get an alert when it’s 30 feet away. If your luggage gets on the wrong flight anywhere in the world, at least you’ll know where it is. The $90 device recently won an Edison Innovation award.

Filed under: apps, GPS | Comments Off on TRACK YOUR LUGGAGE

“MDLive” for Android and iPhone, lets you visit a doctor from your phone, through video chatting, phone or email. It’s $10 a month and $49 per consultation, 24 hours a day, every day. The first consultation is free.

Filed under: apps, health | Comments Off on SEE YOUR DOC IN AN APP

Remind101 — After a high school principal reminded us of the text messaging app “Group Me,” a teacher wrote with another suggestion: “Remind101.” This is free from Remind101.com and lets you send text messages to any group. They can’t reply. He just wanted to notify parents and teachers of events; he doesn’t really want to hear back.

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SnapChat became famous for photo messages that quickly disappear after they’re viewed. Now they’ve added video messages that disappear. So you can take as many dumb pictures as you want and at least they won’t be saved.

Filed under: social networks, video | Comments Off on VIDEO MESSAGES THAT DISAPPEAR

Google Maps Street View of Washington, D.C.

Google Maps keep changing. Now they can take you back in time. Go to Maps.Google.com and type in an address. Click on the word “Street View” and most likely they’ll show you a picture taken in 2011. If you move a slider to the left, however, you can go back to 2007 in many cities. Along with seeing how things were back then, there’s a strip of thumbnails at the bottom of the page, showing what else is around that spot. You can also click “Photo Tour” for photos of the area.

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