Word Lens

Last updated

Word Lens
Original author(s) Otavio Good
Developer(s) Otavio Good, John DeWeese, Maia Good, Bryan Lin, Eric Park
Initial releaseDecember 16, 2010 (2010-12-16)
Final release
2.2.3 / April 18, 2014;10 years ago (2014-04-18)
Written in C++, Objective-C, C#, ARM Assembly, Java
Operating system Apple iOS 6.1+, Android 2.3.3+
Platform iPhone 3GS+, iPod Touch 4+, iPad 2+, Android phones, Google Glass
Size 43.3 MB
Available inEnglish ↔ Spanish,
English ↔ French,
English ↔ Italian,
English ↔ German,
English ↔ Portuguese,
English ↔ Russian
Type Translation software
License Proprietary
Website http://questvisual.com

Word Lens was an augmented reality translation application from Quest Visual. [1] Word Lens used the built-in cameras on smartphones and similar devices to quickly scan and identify foreign text (such as that found in a sign or a menu), and then translated and displayed the words in another language on the device's display. The words were displayed in the original context on the original background, and the translation was performed in real-time without a connection to the internet. For example, using the viewfinder of a camera to show a shop sign on a smartphone's display would result in a real-time image of the shop sign being displayed, but the words shown on the sign would be the translated words instead of the original foreign words.

Contents

Until early 2015, the application was available for the Apple's iPhone, iPod, and iPad, [2] as well as for a selection of Android smartphones. [3] The application was free on Apple's iTunes, but an in-app purchase was necessary to enable translation capabilities. [2] On Google Play, there were both the free demo and the full translation-enabled versions of the application. [3] At Google's unveiling of its Glass Development Kit in November 2013, translation capabilities of Word Lens were also demonstrated on Google Glass. [4] [5] [6] [7] According to the January 2014 New York Times article, Word Lens was free for Google Glass. [8]

Google acquired Quest Visual on May 16, 2014 in order to incorporate Word Lens into its Google Translate service. [9] [10] [11] As a result, all Word Lens language packs were available free of charge until January 2015. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] The details of the acquisition have not been released. [9] [10] [11] [12] Word Lens feature was incorporated into the Google Translate app and released on January 14, 2015. [15] [16] [17] [18]

Application

Screenshot from the official Word Lens demo by Quest Visual, Inc. WordLensDemo5Feb2012.jpg
Screenshot from the official Word Lens demo by Quest Visual, Inc.

Word Lens is an augmented reality application that recognizes printed words using its optical character recognition capabilities and instantly translates these words into the desired language. [2] [3] This application does not require connection to the internet. In its default mode, Word Lens performs real-time translation, but can be paused to display a single frame or to look up alternative translations of each specific word in that frame. It is also possible to use the built-in dictionary to manually type in words that need to be translated.

Word Lens 1.0 was released on December 16, 2010, [19] and received significant amount of attention soon after, [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] including Wired , [27] The Economist , [28] CNN, [29] [30] the New York Times , [31] [32] Forbes , [33] the Wall Street Journal , [34] MIT Technology Review, [35] and ~2.5 million views on YouTube in the first 6 days. [33] Since the application held a No. 1 position on the lists of Top Free Apps and Top Grossing Apps on iTunes for the few days following its release, it is currently described as Top In App Purchases. [2] In 2014, Word Lens was featured in the Apple ad for iPhone 5S Powerful. [10] [11] This application is currently available as Word Lens 2.2.3. [2] [3]

Supported devices

Word Lens requires iPhone 3GS+, iPod Touch with a video camera, iPad 2+, or any iPad Mini . [2] [25] In 2012, Word Lens was released for a selection of Android smartphones. [3] In 2013, Word Lens became available for Google Glass, [5] [7] even though Google Glass itself is not yet freely available. [8]

Supported languages

At the release, only English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English were supported, but other language dictionaries were planned, [30] with European languages expected first. [22] English-to-French and French-to-English were released on December 14, 2011. [36] [37] In 2012, English-to-Italian and Italian-to-English were added, followed by English-to-German / German-to-English and English-to-Portuguese / Portuguese-to-English in 2013, and English-to-Russian / Russian-to-English in 2014.

Since the acquisition by Google in May 2014, all previously released language packs can be downloaded for free. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] It was also speculated that through incorporation into Google Translate, Word Lens would be extended to "broad language coverage and translation capabilities in the future". [38]

Accuracy

According to its description, Word Lens is best used on clearly printed text and was not designed to translate handwritten or stylized fonts. This application was created to help tourists understand signs and menus, and it is not 100% accurate. The developer Otavio Good commented: "I will be the first to say that it’s not perfect, but perfect was not the goal". However, testers who took the app to other countries said it had been useful. [33] Further, even though the application was not designed to read books, the Wall Street Journal journalist Ben Rooney managed to understand a page from Harry Potter y el Prisionero de Azkaban. [34]

Developers

Example of a French-to-English translation by Word Lens WordLens Screenshot French.jpg
Example of a French-to-English translation by Word Lens

Word Lens was developed by Otavio Good, a former video game developer and the founder of Quest Visual, [1] [19] [30] [33] John DeWeese, who previously worked on the Electronic Arts game Spore , [19] [30] [33] and programmers Maia Good, [33] Bryan Lin and Eric Park. A U.S. patent application on the technology was filed by the company in 2010 (based on a year-earlier provisional patent application), naming Good as inventor, but went abandoned for failure to respond to a Patent Office action. The application was published as US20110090253.

Competition

The Google Goggles application for Android and iPhone has the capability to translate text or identify objects in an image, but it requires users to take a picture with their phones, and an active internet connection. Word Lens does it on the fly, meaning it's interpreting frames in video, almost in real time. A similar app called LookTel, designed to help blind people, scans print on objects such as packages of food and reads them aloud." [30]

Reviews

Articles in the Wall Street Journal and Tom's Guide cited Clarke's third law describing Word Lens: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". [23] [34]

The New York Times journalist David Pogue included Word Lens in his list of "the best tech ideas of the year" 2010 (10 ideas total). [32]

In the Wall Street Journal article by Ben Rooney, Word Lens received a rating of 4/5 and was described as "a sort of magic". [34]

Word Lens was chosen as a finalist for the 2010 Crunchies Best Technology Achievement award.

Ellen of The Ellen DeGeneres Show demoed Word Lens and referred to it as "amazing" in her segment Ellen Found the Best Apps!

Otavio Good won the 2012 Netexplo award in the category Innovation & Technology presented at the UNESCO headquarters for the creation of Word Lens. [39]

The New York Times App Smart columnist Kit Eaton included Word Lens into his list of favorite apps. [40]

History of updates

Program Features
VersionRelease DateSizeNew LanguagesNew DevicesNew Features
Word Lens 1.0December 16, 20103.6 MBEnglish ↔ Spanish iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch (4th generation)Snapshot or real-time video translation in color
Word Lens 1.0.1March 22, 20113.9 MBNone iPad 2 Wi-Fi, iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G Localized user content
Word Lens 1.1December 14, 201113.8 MBEnglish ↔ French iPhone 4S Improved OCR and accuracy of translation
Word Lens 1.2July 5, 201218.0 MBEnglish ↔ Italian Android phones, iPad 3 Wi-Fi, iPad 3 Wi-Fi + 4G Faster translation, improved user interface and program stability, retina display support for iPad 3
Word Lens 1.2.1July 22, 201218.0 MBNoneNoneFixed crash for customers using iPad in French
Word Lens 1.2.2September 20, 201219.4 MBNone iPhone 5 None
Word Lens 1.2.3November 21, 201219.5 MBNone iPad 4 Wi-Fi, iPad 4 Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Mini Wi-Fi, iPad Mini Wi-Fi + CellularTutorials for new users, improvements in the "reverse words" demo mode
Word Lens 1.2.4November 27, 201219.5 MBNoneNoneImprovements for British users
Word Lens 1.2.5November 28, 201219.5 MBNoneNone"Dark screen" fixes
Word Lens 2.0February 20, 201331.4 MBEnglish ↔ GermanNoneMotion tracking to reduce flicker, bug fixes
Word Lens 2.0.1February 27, 201331.4 MBNoneNoneBug fixes
Word Lens 2.1May 29, 201336.6 MBEnglish ↔ PortugueseNoneAbility to take screenshots of translations and share those online
Word Lens 2.1.1June 11, 201336.6 MBNoneNoneBug fixes
Word Lens 2.1.2October 2, 201335.5 MBNone iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, iPad Air Wi-Fi, iPad Air Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad 2 Mini Wi-Fi, iPad 2 Mini Wi-Fi + CellularImproved user interface for iOS7, ability to restore purchased languages
Word Lens UnknownNovember 19, 2013UnknownNone Google Glass User command “Okay Glass, translate this” activates Word Lens
Word Lens 2.2February 7, 201443.2 MBEnglish ↔ RussianNoneNone
Word Lens 2.2.1March 3, 201443.2 MBNoneNoneDictionary lookup fix for Russian demo
Word Lens 2.2.2April 8, 201443.2 MBNoneNoneDocumentation update
Word Lens 2.2.3April 18, 201443.3 MBNoneNoneTranslation improvements

Table updated on April 23, 2014 based on refs. [2] [3] [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wearable computer</span> Small computing device worn on the body

A wearable computer, also known as a body-borne computer, is a computing device worn on the body. The definition of 'wearable computer' may be narrow or broad, extending to smartphones or even ordinary wristwatches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augmented reality</span> View of the real world with computer-generated supplementary features

Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated 3D content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be defined as a system that incorporates three basic features: a combination of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction, and accurate 3D registration of virtual and real objects. The overlaid sensory information can be constructive, or destructive. As such, it is one of the key technologies in the reality-virtuality continuum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Translate</span> Multilingual neural machine translation service

Google Translate is a multilingual neural machine translation service developed by Google to translate text, documents and websites from one language into another. It offers a website interface, a mobile app for Android and iOS, as well as an API that helps developers build browser extensions and software applications. As of August 2024, Google Translate supports 243 languages at various levels. It served over 200 million people daily in May 2013,, and over 500 million total users as of April 2016, with more than 100 billion words translated daily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virtual keyboard</span> Software component

A virtual keyboard is a software component that allows the input of characters without the need for physical keys. Interaction with a virtual keyboard happens mostly via a touchscreen interface, but can also take place in a different form when in virtual or augmented reality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wikitude</span> Austrian mobile augmented reality technology provider

Wikitude is a mobile augmented reality (AR) technology provider based in Salzburg, Austria. Founded in 2008, Wikitude initially focused on providing location-based augmented reality experiences through the Wikitude World Browser App. In 2012, the company restructured its proposition by launching the Wikitude SDK, a development framework that uses image recognition and tracking, and geolocation technology.

MiKandi is a defunct mobile adult software applications store. Developed by MiKandi LLC, a formerly Seattle-based company, MiKandi was the world's first mobile porn app store. The store sought to get around restrictions placed on adult content by Apple Inc. by releasing the third-party application store on Google's Android open-source operating system and offering an HTML5 web-based application for all touch devices.

Junaio was an augmented reality browser designed for 3G and 4G mobile devices. It was developed by Munich-based company Metaio GmbH. It provided a Creator application and an API for developers and content providers to generate mobile Augmented Reality experiences for end-users. The smartphone app, for Android and iPhone platforms, and API were free to use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otávio Good</span> American computer programmer

Otávio Good is a Brazilian and American computer programmer and inventor. He is the original author of Word Lens, the first augmented reality translation application that replaces printed text into the desired language in video without connection to the Internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quest Visual</span> American software company

Quest Visual, Inc. was an American private company that developed Word Lens, an augmented reality translation application. In May 2014, the company was acquired by Google, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Glass</span> Optical head-mounted computer glasses

Google Glass, or simply Glass, is a brand of smart glasses developed and sold by Google. It was developed by X, with the mission of producing a ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information to the wearer using a head-up display. Wearers communicate with the Internet via natural language voice commands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft SwiftKey</span> Virtual keyboard app

Microsoft SwiftKey is a virtual keyboard app originally developed by TouchType for Android and iOS devices. It was first released for Android in July 2010, followed by an iOS release in September 2014 after Apple's implementation of third-party keyboard support.

Microsoft mobile services are a set of proprietary mobile services created specifically for mobile devices; they are typically offered through mobile applications and mobile browser for Windows Phone platforms, BREW, and Java. Microsoft's mobile services are typically connected with a Microsoft account and often come preinstalled on Microsoft's own mobile operating systems while they are offered via various means for other platforms. Microsoft started to develop for mobile computing platforms with the launch of Windows CE in 1996 and later added Microsoft's Pocket Office suite to their Handheld PC line of PDAs in April 2000. From December 2014 to June 2015, Microsoft made a number of corporate acquisitions, buying several of the top applications listed in Google Play and the App Store including Acompli, Sunrise Calendar, Datazen, Wunderlist, Echo Notification Lockscreen, and MileIQ.

iOnRoad is a free augmented reality driving safety app owned by Harman. It received the International CES 2012 innovation award. The program uses the GPS feature, gyroscope and video camera stream of the native mobile device to monitor a vehicle’s position on the road, alerting drivers of lane departures and potential collisions with audio and visual cues. iOnRoad has been downloaded by over 500,000 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tango (platform)</span> Mobile computer vision platform for Android developed by Google

Tango was an augmented reality computing platform, developed and authored by the Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP), a skunkworks division of Google. It used computer vision to enable mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, to detect their position relative to the world around them without using GPS or other external signals. This allowed application developers to create user experiences that include indoor navigation, 3D mapping, physical space measurement, environmental recognition, augmented reality, and windows into a virtual world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pleco Software</span> English-Chinese dictionary and flashcard app

Pleco Software provides an English and Chinese Dictionary application for iOS and Android devices. The Pleco Software company was founded in May 2000 by Michael Love when he was studying abroad in China. Having difficulty remembering characters, Love developed a very rudimentary handwriting based dictionary for personal use on a Palm IIIx, and then realized it could be a good business opportunity, pursuing further development of the application that is in use today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugo Barra</span> Brazilian computer scientist

Hugo Barra is a Brazilian computer scientist, technology executive and entrepreneur. From 2008 to 2013, he worked in a number of product management roles at Google, including vice president and product spokesperson of its Android division. From 2013 to 2017, he worked at Xiaomi as vice president of global operations. From 2017 to 2021, he worked as vice president of Virtual Reality and head of the Oculus division at Meta Platforms. In May 2021, he left Meta to join health technology startup Detect as CEO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Cardboard</span> Discontinued virtual reality platform

Google Cardboard is a discontinued virtual reality (VR) platform developed by Google. Named for its fold-out cardboard viewer into which a smartphone is inserted, the platform was intended as a low-cost system to encourage interest and development in VR applications. Users can either build their own viewer from simple, low-cost components using specifications published by Google, or purchase a pre-manufactured one. To use the platform, users run Cardboard-compatible mobile apps on their phone, place it into the back of the viewer, and view content through the lenses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Lens</span> Image recognition tool developed by Google

Google Lens is an image recognition technology developed by Google, designed to bring up relevant information related to objects it identifies using visual analysis based on a neural network. First announced during Google I/O 2017, it was first provided as a standalone app, later being integrated into Google Camera but was reportedly removed in October 2022. It has also been integrated with the Google Photos and Google Assistant app and with Bard as of 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mondly</span>

Mondly is an educational technology company that develops a freemium language learning platform which includes a website and apps with free and paid courses for 33 languages. Mondly is also a pioneer in VR Education, with its most recent launch on Meta Quest being in the top 10 VR apps worldwide. Starting May 2022, Mondly became a part of Pearson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filter (social media)</span> Effects used to alter the appearance of a digital image

Filters are digital image effects often used on social media. They initially simulated the effects of camera filters, and they have since developed with facial recognition technology and computer-generated augmented reality. Social media filters—especially beauty filters—are often used to alter the appearance of selfies taken on smartphones or other similar devices. While filters are commonly associated with beauty enhancement and feature alterations, there is a wide range of filters that have different functions. From adjusting photo tones to using face animations and interactive elements, users have access to a range of tools. These filters allow users to enhance photos and allow room for creative expression and fun interactions with digital content.

References

  1. 1 2 Armstrong, Natalie (April 19, 2011). "Word Lens app developer builds on social media buzz". Reuters.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Word Lens on the iTunes App Store". itunes.apple.com. 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Word Lens on the Google Play Store". 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
  4. 1 2 Gannes, Liz (November 19, 2013). "Next Google Glass Tricks Include Translating the World From Your Eyes". All Things Digital .
  5. 1 2 Honan, Mat (November 19, 2013). "Google's New Tools Show How Deep Glass Will Embed in Our Lives". Wired: Gadget Lab.
  6. ↑ Rosenblatt, Seth (November 19, 2013). "Google Glass throws open its doors to developers". CNET .
  7. 1 2 Lardinois, Frederic (November 24, 2013). "Glass Just Got Way More Interesting". TechCrunch .
  8. 1 2 Rosenbloom, Stephanie (January 23, 2014). "Google Tools for Globetrotters". The New York Times: Travel.
  9. 1 2 3 Etherington, Darrell (May 16, 2014). "Google Has Acquired Quest Visual, The Maker Of Camera-Based Translation App Word Lens". TechCrunch .
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Rosenblatt, Seth (May 16, 2014). "Google buys Word Lens maker to boost Translate". CNET .
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Hall, Zac (May 16, 2014). "Google acquires Word Lens app recently featured in Apple's iPhone ad "Powerful"". 9to5Mac .
  12. 1 2 3 Winkler, Rolfe (May 16, 2014). "Google Tries Another Reality With Quest Visual Purchase". The Wall Street Journal .
  13. 1 2 Tschorn, Adam (May 22, 2014). "Say what? Word Lens translation app is easy and free (for now)". Los Angeles Times .
  14. ↑ "Quest Visual is joining Google!". questvisual.com. 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  15. ↑ Turovsky, Barak (January 14, 2015). "Hallo, hola, olá to the new, more powerful Google Translate app". Google: Official Blog. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  16. ↑ Dougherty, Conor (January 14, 2015). "Google Translate App Gets an Upgrade". The New York Times: Bits. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
  17. ↑ Rosenbloom, Stephanie (January 14, 2015). "Updates for Google Translate (Just Hold Up Your Phone)". The New York Times: In Transit. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  18. ↑ Ulanoff, Lance (January 15, 2015). "Hands on with Google Translate: A mix of awesome and OK". Mashable . Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  19. 1 2 3 Tsotsis, Alexia (December 16, 2010). "Word Lens Translates Words Inside of Images. Yes Really". TechCrunch .
  20. ↑ Hennigan, W.J. (December 17, 2010). "Word Lens enables iPhone users to instantly translate Spanish to English". Los Angeles Times: Business/Technology.
  21. ↑ Broida, Rick (December 17, 2010). "Word Lens for iPhone translates Spanish to English—in real time!". CNET .
  22. 1 2 Darren, Allan (December 19, 2010). "Word Lens translation app planned for Android and more". Tech Watch .
  23. 1 2 Yam, Marcus (December 19, 2010). "Word Lens App is Like a Magical Visual Babel Fish". Tom's Guide: Software.
  24. ↑ "Word Lens instant translation app launching on Android, plus global languages". Expert Reviews . December 19, 2010.
  25. 1 2 Eisenhower, Rachel (December 21, 2010). "Cool App-titude: Word Lens". Signal Scape .
  26. ↑ Evans, Joel (December 21, 2010). "Instant word translations without an internet connection with Word Lens". ZDNet . Archived from the original on December 22, 2010.
  27. ↑ Sorrel, Charlie (December 17, 2010). "Word Lens: Augmented Reality App Translates Street Signs Instantly". Wired: Gadget Lab. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
  28. ↑ B., N. (December 18, 2010). "Word Lens: This changes everything". The Economist: Gulliver blog.
  29. ↑ Kim, Ryan (December 17, 2010). "Augmented Reality Translations: Word Lens vs. Google Goggles". CNN Money: Fortune Tech.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 Milian, Mark (December 20, 2010). "New iPhone app translates foreign-language signs". CNN: Tech. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
  31. ↑ Grobart, Sam (December 17, 2010). "Word Lens: Una App Loca". The New York Times: Technology.
  32. 1 2 Pogue, David (December 29, 2010). "The Pogies: Best Tech Ideas of the Year". The New York Times: Technology.
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Olson, Parmy (December 22, 2010). "Hot, New 'Word Lens' App Is Founder's First Project In Augmented Reality". Forbes.
  34. 1 2 3 4 Rooney, Ben (December 29, 2010). "Apps We Use: Word Lens [iOS]". The Wall Street Journal: TechEurope.
  35. ↑ Boutin, Paul (May–June 2011). "A New Reality: Applications that overlay information on smart-phone screen views will change the way we interact with the world around us". Technology Review .
  36. ↑ Wise, Harrison (December 14, 2011). "Word Lens Introduces French Language to Its Augmented Reality-Based Translation Capabilities". Yahoo Finance .
  37. ↑ Perez, Sarah (December 19, 2011). "Bonnes Nouvelle! Word Lens Parle Français". TechCrunch .
  38. ↑ Velazco, Chris (May 16, 2014). "Google acquires Word Lens makers to improve Translate". Engadget: TechEurope.
  39. ↑ Dial, Minter (March 16, 2012). "MDE23: Interview with Word Lens founder, Otavio Good at Netexplo". The Myndset: MDE23. Retrieved May 20, 2012.
  40. ↑ Eaton, Kit (June 13, 2012). "For Starters, These Are a Few of My Favorite Apps". The New York Times. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.