Introducing Word Lens • Hacker News Board

Re: Introducing Word Lens

#21

Post by mey » Fri, Dec 17, 2010, 1:39 AM UTC

Sephr wrote: post #19

johndeweese wrote: post #14

(hola, i'm john deweese, one of the creators) good to hear the early positive response, and we look forward to your insightful feedback (support@questvisual.com) -- mention this site so we pay some extra attention. i hope this app will be nice and disruptive, and we'll be looking carefully at what people expect and how they actually use it. it's a platform, and we're really excited about the directions it opens up. t…

Do you plan on creating an Android version anytime soon?

An android or SDK version that could be used with a heads up display system would be impressive. If you can do more then Spanish, you should consider talking to the US Military.

Re: Introducing Word Lens

#22

Post by cpr » Fri, Dec 17, 2010, 1:39 AM UTC

The promo video's gotta be a fake--figuring out the fonts used & fitting in the same space with perfect color, etc.? Nope.

Would like to see what it really does.

Re: Introducing Word Lens

#23

Post by johndeweese » Fri, Dec 17, 2010, 1:40 AM UTC

cpr wrote: post #22

The promo video's gotta be a fake--figuring out the fonts used & fitting in the same space with perfect color, etc.? Nope. Would like to see what it really does.

you'll have to download and try it :)

Re: Introducing Word Lens

#24

Post by veb » Fri, Dec 17, 2010, 1:40 AM UTC

This has to be the first real iPhone application that's actually impressed me. Something that can definitely change lives.

Re: Introducing Word Lens

#25

Post by macrael » Fri, Dec 17, 2010, 1:42 AM UTC

johndeweese wrote: post #14

(hola, i'm john deweese, one of the creators) good to hear the early positive response, and we look forward to your insightful feedback (support@questvisual.com) -- mention this site so we pay some extra attention. i hope this app will be nice and disruptive, and we'll be looking carefully at what people expect and how they actually use it. it's a platform, and we're really excited about the directions it opens up. t…

Definitely put up a non-flash version of your promo video on your website; your target audience won't be able to watch it, as is!

Re: Introducing Word Lens

#26

Post by kmfrk » Fri, Dec 17, 2010, 1:42 AM UTC

To quote Fry "Shut up and take my money!".

What is the ETA on French and German?

Re: Introducing Word Lens

#27

Post by tassl » Fri, Dec 17, 2010, 1:46 AM UTC

johndeweese wrote: post #14

(hola, i'm john deweese, one of the creators) good to hear the early positive response, and we look forward to your insightful feedback (support@questvisual.com) -- mention this site so we pay some extra attention. i hope this app will be nice and disruptive, and we'll be looking carefully at what people expect and how they actually use it. it's a platform, and we're really excited about the directions it opens up. t…

From the technological point of view I can just say wow! Congratulations, this is a great app.

Aside from that, and as a Spanish native speaker, the translated text sounds really weird to me. Even without knowing English I would be able to understand the translated text (at least the example that you gave) but it can be improved. But this is the only con that I see to your application. Probably you're already working on that, but I thought that you might like this input.

Great idea!!

Re: Introducing Word Lens

#28

Post by ianferrel » Fri, Dec 17, 2010, 1:50 AM UTC

I downloaded it immediately. Making it free to try and selling the dictionaries is a great sales model. The demo mode does a mirror-image reversal of the word to show you that it can detect words.

I was using a 4th gen iPod Touch, so lower-res camera and no flash.

Unfortunately, I was not able to get it to work as well as I'd hoped. I tested physical copies of a few things:

1. Mac OS X Snow Leopard cd case. Black sans-serif text on white background. This worked the best, with the word-reversal consistently getting "Snow" and "Leopard" reversed with little flicker. "Mac" seemed to go in and out. OS was rarely replaced, and usually along with "Mac" as though it were part of the same word.

2. C++ Programming language book cover (http://pixhost.info/pictures/631454). Dark blue serif text on white. This almost never worked. When it did recognize letters, the recognition shifted so much that the word was a constantly moving jumble.

3. Throat Coat tea bag. White serif text on Red. At any point in time, about 50% of the words were recognized and reversed.

You can take a snapshot, and each word it recognizes is highlighted, which is pretty cool.

I would definitely buy something like this that handled non-romance languages to English.

Re: Introducing Word Lens

#29

Post by codybrown » Fri, Dec 17, 2010, 1:51 AM UTC

Can I install this in my contact lens?

Re: Introducing Word Lens

#30

Post by ugh » Fri, Dec 17, 2010, 1:51 AM UTC

jf wrote: post #12

keiferski wrote: post #9

Very impressive. I'm curious to see how it performs in the wild though -- can it translate signs outdoors just as well as in a studio? I really hope so.

It performs very nicely in the wild. One of the nice things about the "real time" aspect of this app is that you can nudge the phone around until you get a good translation.

What about smaller type (and sometimes weird fonts) in somewhat dim environments – I’m thinking of menus, that seems like a typical situation where translation is necessary for tourists.