Google launches 'babel fish' earbuds, translating even Chinese
Google has launched a set of ear buds capable of real-time translation of spoken conversations in 40 languages. The technology has been compared by some to the fictional 'babel fish' in Douglas Adams' sci-fi comedy 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', which provides similarly instant translation. Google unveiled the device with a demonstration involving a conversation between two people, one speaking English and the other Swedish. The Pixel Buds will be available in the US from the start of November, priced at $159.

‘If it works like that in the real world, that is a wow-we-are-living-in-the-future moment’