The first wave of earbuds that translate other languages in real-time are starting to hit the market, threatening to disrupt everything from finance to tech to arguing with the elderly.
A number of tech companies, like Samsung, Apple, and Google, have jumped at the opportunity to be part of the first wave of products to hit the market. The earbuds use patented technology to record and translate up to 35 languages instantly.
“It really is amazing the strides in technology we taken in the past five years,” says Sven Benniet, VP of Audio Development at Google. “Matter of fact, I myself used them this past weekend to argue with my in-laws about what take out we were going to get. Do you know how hard it was to fight about Chinese food with two Portuguese retirees?”
Audio is just the first step for many at Apple though. Most believe that the lessons and applications learned from the iTranslate earbuds can be extended to translate the other four senses. Taste what others taste, feel what others feel, see what others see. This is the end game for many in Silicon Valley.
“It’s ultimately our goal to be able to translate full empathy. Just imagine the possibilities! This is the first time in history you’ll be able to defend yourself adequately from your grandparents casually bigoted comments.”