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Automatic translations (on cue) would be very useful in almost any setting or environment I can think of. But if you need to hold your phone in front of you an

Automatic translations (on cue) would be very useful in almost any setting or environment I can think of. But if you need to hold your phone in front of you and squint at the screen like and idiot, nobody will use it. So the use-case is real and valuable, it's just not achievable on a phone, it needs to be a socially acceptable wearable AR device.

aaron695 7y ago
AR won't give you "Automatic translations (on cue)" It will only be able to do what current technology allows. IE Magic Lens / Google's Product AR is not AI, it won't magically solve complex problems. As I stated I have been in other countries with the tech, I have not been embarrassed to use it. I have never used it. Neither has anyone I have been with. In real life these situations just don't present themselves. Have you used the current tech? I fail to believe you haven't because you are too embarrassed every time, if it's "very useful in almost any setting or environment".
- Swenrekcah 7y ago
  Yes, I guess there are two main scenarios here. 1) Simple translations that google translate or similar can do sufficiently well. This exists, is useful in many scenarios, such as reading signage or posters and other stuff, but I never use it IRL because I don't want to walk around looking through my phone all the time. And for traffic signs, I obviously can't go throuh all of that while driving. AR can solve this when the tech is small enough. It's not so much a case of that I'm too embarrassed to pick up my phone, it's more that the expected value of any single translation is very low, but taken all together I'm missing a lot of information, some of which could be useful. 2) Complex translations of documents and such. I have tried google translate for this but the text is typically both too complex and also can't fit on the screenspace so it never manages to get the whole paragraph to translate. Some of this could theoretically be solved with a super high res AR device with a great translation AI, but obviously then a similar tech on my phone would also do the trick.

aaron695 7y ago

AR won't give you "Automatic translations (on cue)" It will only be able to do what current technology allows. IE Magic Lens / Google's Product AR is not AI, it won't magically solve complex problems. As I stated I have been in other countries with the tech, I have not been embarrassed to use it. I have never used it. Neither has anyone I have been with. In real life these situations just don't present themselves. Have you used the current tech? I fail to believe you haven't because you are too embarrassed every time, if it's "very useful in almost any setting or environment".

Swenrekcah 7y ago
Yes, I guess there are two main scenarios here. 1) Simple translations that google translate or similar can do sufficiently well. This exists, is useful in many scenarios, such as reading signage or posters and other stuff, but I never use it IRL because I don't want to walk around looking through my phone all the time. And for traffic signs, I obviously can't go throuh all of that while driving. AR can solve this when the tech is small enough. It's not so much a case of that I'm too embarrassed to pick up my phone, it's more that the expected value of any single translation is very low, but taken all together I'm missing a lot of information, some of which could be useful. 2) Complex translations of documents and such. I have tried google translate for this but the text is typically both too complex and also can't fit on the screenspace so it never manages to get the whole paragraph to translate. Some of this could theoretically be solved with a super high res AR device with a great translation AI, but obviously then a similar tech on my phone would also do the trick.