Microsoft's real-time Skype language translator could be its first real breakthrough in a decade
Microsoft
On Tuesday night, at a tech conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, Microsoft showed off a new tool that will turn Skype into your own personal translator. In Microsoft's demonstration, executive Gurdeep Singh Pall speaks English with a German-speaking colleague, and Skype acts as real-time voice and text translator. Even in today's wonderland of technological innovations, this looks like science fiction come to life:
Microsoft will release Skype Translator later this year, as a Windows 8 beta app, before eventually rolling it out for all Skype users. "Skype Translator is a great example of why Microsoft invests in basic research," says Pall, who heads up Microsoft's Skype division. "We've invested in speech recognition, automatic translation, and machine learning technologies for more than a decade, and now they're emerging as important components in this more personal computing era."
Fair enough. While Google has been grabbing all the exciting headlines with driverless cars and computer-equipped glasses, and Apple has spent more than a decade making products people stand in line to buy, Microsoft seems like it has been playing catch-up on hardware (Zune, Surface, etc.) while trying to get people to upgrade from Windows XP, an operating system that came out at the same time as the first iPod, in 2001. With the exception of gaming, Microsoft hasn't had a big leap forward in a long time — a point new CEO Satya Nadella essentially conceded on Tuesday.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Apple didn't invent the MP3 player or smartphone and Microsoft hasn't developed the first real-time translation app (Daily Tech points to a Google Translate–based app called iTranslate that apparently does a similar thing). But if Microsoft can marry a good, easy-to-use semi-universal translator with Skype, a video-chat program already used regularly by 300 million people worldwide, that's a really big deal. And Microsoft could really use a really big deal.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Long summer days in Iceland's highlands
The Week Recommends While many parts of this volcanic island are barren, there is a 'desolate beauty' to be found in every corner
By The Week UK Published
-
The Democrats: time for wholesale reform?
Talking Point In the 'wreckage' of the election, the party must decide how to rebuild
By The Week UK Published
-
5 deliciously funny cartoons about turkeys
Cartoons Artists take on pardons, executions, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditions
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billion
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on record
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homes
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creature
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published