Friday, October 27, 2006

Top 10 Strangest Clocks + Babel fish-like devic

1. Top 10 Strangest Clocks
   <http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/top-10-strangest-clocks>
Daylight Savings starts in Adelaide on October 29 (this Sunday)


2. "It's the next best thing to a Babel fish"
   <http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=mg19225755.800>
"Imagine mouthing a phrase in English, only for the words to come out in
 Spanish. That is the promise of a device that will make anyone appear
 bilingual, by translating unvoiced words into synthetic speech in another
 language"
"The device uses electrodes attached to the face and neck to detect and
 interpret the unique patterns of electrical signals sent to facial muscles
 and the tongue as the person mouths words"

In case you weren't aware, the concept of the Babel fish originated from
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy":
   <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babel_fish>
Which in turn inspired the web translation service of the same name:
   <http://babelfish.altavista.com/>