Remember the Universal Translator in Star TreK? It translated alien dialogs to the characters in Star Trek so that no alien was misunderstood. Well, in Iraq troops have been using iPods equipped with translators at various checkpoints to speak in Arabic to Iraqis while on mission. Because of the small size of the iPod, and its low cost, this has been very successful. It’s called communicator and it translates necessary English phrases, and also includes handy greetings and blessings, animations of hand gestures with audio, a map reader, and several other applications. And it can also connect to a loudspeaker through the line out if needed to speak to large groups. Perhaps announcing free donuts or a sale at Sears in the country’s native language. Now, the VCommunicator’s maker, Vcom3D, is planning to bring the application to the travel industry with a civilian version that will enable travelers to use similar technology to make their way around locations they are traveling in and blend deeper into the culture.

via coolest-gadgets