AirPods available now

Bob24

Yeah Google is increasingly trying to be a direct competitor of Apple with an ecosystem of premium devices (and they're getting better at it although I personally still have no interest as I don't want to touch Android and still thing Apple is better with hardware).

That's possibly more a problem from premium Android phone manufactures like Samsung that for Apple though.

Dades

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Their google pixel buds look like a good beats x competitor too

Not sure about those at all. Aesthetically the grey plastic bubble thing and the cloth/canvas look don't do it for me - then again people are still getting used to cut-off EarPods. Hey, maybe they work well though.

Creamy Goodness

It was a little tongue in cheek tbh. I was mainly interested in the real-time translation if it works.

Dades

Somebody needs to set up a scripted test with two different nationalities, with no shared language, each wearing a pair of those.

That'd answer some questions.

Agent Coulson

A *universal translator ear buds for €150 I'd be all over that no matter who makes it.


*40 languages with 1/2 second delay I am living in the future now.

Bob24

Agent Coulson wrote: »

A *universal translator ear buds for €150 I'd be all over that no matter who makes it.


*40 languages with 1/2 second delay I am living in the future now.

I think you need more than 1/2 second delay to provide good quality translation. Not for technological reasons but simply because different languages have difference sentence structures and sometimes it is impossible to start translating a phrase before you have reached the end of it. So even assuming technology is over optimised so they speech recognition, translation, and speech generation all happen with zero lag, still the machine would have to wait for the speaker to finish part of their sentence before it can start translating.

Agent Coulson

Bob24 wrote: »

I think you need more than 1/2 second delay to provide good quality translation. Not for technological reasons but simply because different languages have difference sentence structures and sometimes it is impossible to start translating a phrase before you have reached the end of it.

If this is the stage they are at right now today you would have to think with 3/4 years there will be a full working instant universal translator out there.


I just want my buds shaped like a Babelfish.



Now where the hell is my holodeck I have to ask now.

Bob24

Agent Coulson wrote: »

If this is the stage they are at right now today you would have to think with 3/4 years there will be a full working instant universal translator out there.

What I am saying is that instant translation will never exist because of the way languages work which makes it an impossible task. No amount of technological progress will change that.

Agent Coulson

Bob24 wrote: »

What I am saying is that instant translation will never exist because of the way languages work which makes it an impossible task. No amount of technological progress will change that.

I get that when I say instant I mean when the person you are speaking with finishes the sentence they are saying takes a 1/2/5 seconds to translate that is still pretty instant for people who don't speak the same language.

murpho999

Bob24 wrote: »

What I am saying is that instant translation will never exist because of the way languages work which makes it an impossible task. No amount of technological progress will change that.

I really don't see it as an impossible task. Complex and difficult by all means but not impossible.

Bob24

murpho999 wrote: »

I really don't see it as an impossible task. Complex and difficult by all means but not impossible.

Real time with no lag is impossible. In some cases you can’t know what the beginning of a sentence means without knowing the end of it so you have to wait.

For exemple if you are listening to a French speaker and they start saying: “La serviette”

If you want to start translating straight away you will most likely go for “the towel” as it is the most common meaning of the word “serviette”.

But then the persons fisnishes the sentence: “La serviette qu’il va vous remettre contient des documents importants”.

Ah well, actually what they were saying was “the briefcase he will give you contains important documents”.

That is because “serviette” can also mean briefcase and what it meant here was only made clear at the very end of the sentence. No way for any human being or machine to have predicted how to translate the first 2 words of the sentence before having heard the last 2 words, so impossible to avoid a lag of a few seconds.

murpho999

Bob24 wrote: »

Real time with no lag is impossible. In some cases you can’t know what the beginning of a sentence means without knowing the end of it so you have to wait.

For exemple if you are listening to a French speaker and they start saying: “La serviette”

If you want to start translating straight away you will most likely go for “the towel” as it is the most common meaning of the word “serviette”.

But then the persons fisnishes the sentence: “La serviette qu’il va vous remettre contient des documents importants”.

Ah well, actually what they were saying was “the briefcase he will give you contains important documents”.

That is because “serviette” can also mean briefcase and what it meant here was only made clear at the very end of the sentence. No way for any human being or machine to have predicted how to translate the first 2 words of the sentence before having heard the last 2 words, so impossible to avoid a lag of a few seconds.

If our brains can process this info without an issue then I don't see in the future that artificial intelligence won't be able to do it.

Bob24

murpho999 wrote: »

If our brains can process this info without an issue then I don't see in the future that artificial intelligence won't be able to do it.

I just explained why our brains can’t do it in real time either and also have to wait for the end of the sentence to start translating the beginning. In this particular basic exemple it means a mandatory 3-4 seconds lag, but it could be more in the case of a longer and more complex sentence.

Still the technology could be massively usefull. But even if it gets perfected to its maximum potential it will more like and cheap and portable replacement for a human interpreter and will never allow for a completely fluid conversation.

murpho999

Bob24 wrote: »

I just explained why our brains can’t do it in real time either and also have to wait for the end of the sentence to start translating the beginning.

I disagree entirely.

I speak a second language, Dutch, and it also has different grammar and sentence structure that English but I am able to process this rapidly and I don't see why technology can't. It's fractions of a second not seconds as you state.

Also, you can't predict the future and you do not know how future discoveries and inventions will go.

Just look at the development of phones over the last 10 years and imagine what it will be like in 15 years time.

Doodah7

Anyway, Apple Airpods are great aren't they!!

Bob24

murpho999 wrote: »

I disagree entirely.

I speak a second language, Dutch, and it also has different grammar and sentence structure that English but I am able to process this rapidly and I don't see why technology can't. It's fractions of a second not seconds as you state.

Also, you can't predict the future and you do not know how future discoveries and inventions will go.

Just look at the development of phones over the last 10 years and imagine what it will be like in 15 years time.

You should go through my exemple again. It is not about how quickly you can process the language. It is about the fact that sometimes a word can have multiple and vastly different meanings, and there is no way to know which one to go for before the rest of the sentence puts it in context so you *have* to wait for the person to finish speaking before you can start translating.

But anyway we are indeed quite off-topic.

murpho999

Bob24 wrote: »

You should go through my exemple again. It is not about how quickly you can process the language. It is about the fact that sometimes a word can have multiple and vastly different meanings, and there is no way to know which one to go for before the rest of the sentence puts it in context so you *have* to wait for the person to finish speaking before you can start translating.

But anyway we are indeed quite off-topic.

I get what you are saying , English also have many words that have more than one meaning but if a programme has all the possibilities then I don't see the issue as a sentence is spoken very quickly and it can be processed very quick as well.

Anyhow back to Airpods.

McGrath5

Doodah7 wrote: »

Anyway, Apple Airpods are great aren't they!!

Yup, I got a pair recently and love them.

PaulT21

McGrath5 wrote: »

Yup, I got a pair recently and love them.

Has anyone done any customisation on thier Airpods yet. I have added some skins as per the attached pictureIMG_0114.jpg

Luckily they are removable if I really dont lke them after a while:(

Anyone with thoughts/ideas on the matter?

PaulT21

Mr.S wrote: »

I'd be tempted by some of the after market mods like making them black - https://blackpods.store.

High prices but they look much better then the white IMO.

$119 to make those Stealth Matt Black seems really high but they look great imo. High gloss looks cool too for 20 bucks less but if they were to get damaged, Apple might not cover them under warranty:(

The Skins cost $10 but certainly dont look nearly as good!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/192310343810

Blazer

Why Apple haven't released multiple colours at this stage is beyond me unless they're coming around the ipad keynotes.
If anything more colours would help sell more..hell even I'd buy another set..

Bob24

Blazer wrote: »

Why Apple haven't released multiple colours at this stage is beyond me unless they're coming around the ipad keynotes.
If anything more colours would help sell more..hell even I'd buy another set..

I don't know if it's a good reason, but small Apple hard plastic accessories have always been white so I assume they consider it their signature colour.