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Facebook to acquire speech recognition startup Mobile Technologies
Facebook may not seem like an obvious match for a machine translation company, but its just agreed to snatch up speech recognition startup Mobile Technologies to strengthen its chops in the area. If you're not familiar with the outfit, they're the minds behind the Android and iOS app Jibbigo, which translates your text or dulcet tones into other languages. While Zuckerberg and Co. haven't revealed precise plans for the freshly-acquired firm, they note that the voice tech factors into their long-term plan for the web and mobile devices. "Voice technology has become an increasingly important way for people to navigate mobile devices and the web, and this technology will help us evolve our products to match that evolution," said Tom Stocky, Facebook's Director of Product Management. "We believe this acquisition is an investment in our long-term product roadmap as we continue towards our company's mission." There's no word if Jibiggo will still receive support once Mobile Technologies joins the social network in Menlo Park, but we've gotten in touch with the team to find out.
Jibbigo iPhone app translates from English to Spanish and back again
Jibbigo is a recently released iPhone app which promises to help you out the next time you're desperately trying to make yourself understood by your Spanish-speaking compadres. The app is capable of recording a sentence and translating it -- essentially in real time -- back to you. As you can see in the screencap above, you can speak either Spanish or English, and the translator will do its work, displaying both your original and a translation into the other language. The dictionary contains about 40,000 words, and the app is aimed at travelers. Jibbigo also requires the iPhone 3GS to make use of the bi-directional translation tools, and the app also reportedly functions a heck of a lot slower on anything other than the 3G. The app is available now for $24.99. [Via, iPodnn]
