Gadgetory

hello and welcome to CNET's the fix this show about DIY tech and how-to I'm Donnell Bell and I'm Sharon Vaknin this week we're traveling with our tech to near and far away places first starters we'll show you how to use an app that'll let you read a restaurant menu in a foreign language when you're on vacation you're probably gonna be eating out a lot I mean that's part of the fun right trying the local flavor some exotic new delicacy but when you're looking at a menu that's printed entirely in a foreign language it can be a little daunting fortunately whether you're an iPhone user or Android their apps out there that can help you translate a menu in seconds all right let's start with the language that I know the least about Chinese for that I've got an app called Wego it's a new app only on iOS a free version gives you ten translations per day or you can upgrade to a $6.99 version that gives you unlimited translations that's what I've got here let's put it to the test boot up way go I see a little window here in the app I need to Center the Chinese characters now I can use a little zoom slider here to get the text just right in the box I can also expand the box by dragging on it but I'm just gonna go with one line of text make things easy on and right underneath it I should see a translation slice duck sounds good but let's see what else is on the menu we've got pan-fried cuttlefish and bitter melon and freeze that one now by hitting the pause button I'm able to see the translation and I can actually send this to myself via email I can hit the share button I can send it to other people one option that's not here is the ability to save it to my camera roll that would be nice alright so way go here's what I like about it the dictionary is built into the app and it doesn't have to access the internet in order to do the translation that's pretty critical that means if you're in a restaurant that doesn't have good reception you're still gonna be able to do the translation on the downside it's expensive it's $6.99 for the full version the text has to be really clear in order for the translation app to work also the translations aren't spot-on again something that's pretty common with a lot of these apps but it gets you in the ballpark next up I've got an app called word lands now the great thing about this app is that a work of both Android and iOS it's free to download but you're paying $4.99 per language pack and those languages don't include Chinese you've got French German Italian and Spanish that works for you definitely worth checking this app out let's see if it works some magic on this Frenchman so all I have to do with this one is hold the camera over the text and watch it magically translate into the language that I want but the really cool thing about this is that it changes the text and replaces it so you get to see the translation in the context of the menu once the translation looks right I'll hit the pause button and there you go it's gonna hold that translation and from there I can save it to my camera roll and I can also email it so that's pretty cool feature so here's the good in the bad with word lens now the coolest thing about word lens is that it looks like magic we show this off to people it's pretty amazing that it can replace the words right in front of you with your translation it works with Android and iOS that's a big upside downside is $4.99 per language is still pretty pricey and the translations aren't the best I don't know if it's just the many as I was choosing but there's some pretty hilarious translations here that I'm sure can't be accurate or I really don't need to eat at this restaurant alright finally let's talk about the best free option out there Google Translate this is another one that's available for both iOS and Android but the Android version has a big advantage over iOS which is that it lets you translate pictures you take so let's give it a shot I'm going to really throw it a curveball with a menu written entirely in Greek let's see what it can do get it nice and close and get a good focused shot of the text and then take the picture I hear something do a little scanning of the text see if we can pick out the letters that are in this picture all right and now it's asked me to use my finger to highlight the line that I want translated there's a variety of appetizers right here that's good how about this one right here octopus I'll probably stay away from that one what about that hand meatballs sure why not the cool thing is you can diffuse your finger to go line by line and figure out what you want translated that's pretty neat the other cool thing is when you get back to the main screen of Google Translate just kind of have record of everything that recently translated for you so I can look at the cucumber salad the tomato soups the meatballs it's all there and it's ready for me to reference whenever I want so here's the good in the bad with Google Translate good news it's free even though the version for iOS isn't as cool as the one for Android that can take a picture it's free free is free the other great thing about Google Translate is the breadth of languages that support so goes everything from arabic to zulu you have amazing language support the bad news is that iOS users don't get that cool camera feature he's silly an internet connection do any of this translation is you didn't need that with Wego and that the translations are pretty rough but really that same complaint can be made with all these apps and since we shot that way go is now out of support for Japanese Oh super helpful well it's time for a quick break and when we come back we head to Barcelona where we're gonna learn about some apps that will help you make free international text messages and phone calls welcome back remember not so long ago when it costs a lot of money to send international text or make phone calls oh yeah well now you don't have to worry about all that because there are smartphone apps that are making it easier and more affordable as much as I love being in a foreign country I'm not a fan of running up my phone bill when I'm abroad thankfully there are a couple apps out there that can help make your travel experience a bit less expensive Barbara is a free app that lets you send free text messages and make free phone calls that is as long as both you and the person you're contacting both have the app installed and have access to either a data connection or Wi-Fi connection there's no complicated setup process you don't have to set up any kind of user account the app just pulls directly from your phone's contact list and you're ready to send which is really really convenient since you're using the Internet to make phone calls it won't eat into your voice minutes and you can call anywhere in the world and not be charged in the international or long-distance fees another app call whatsapp which was recently bought by Facebook works in much the same way however it's primarily for texting and doesn't offer free calls over Wi-Fi however the company claims it will offer that future later this year now what's app is really really popular with millions of users but I personally just enjoy using viber more sending text and photos is fast and reliable and the call quality is excellent so what are you guys gonna be doing when you're here I found the interface to be really easy to use while offering lots of useful features like the ability to send voice messages and even doodles now since Facebook just bought whatsapp I am expecting some improvements but I already know that they're gonna get free Wi-Fi calls later this year but don't be surprised if the interface improves as well bringing it more in line to where the fiber is today even so they're both great free apps and our smart choices for communicating no matter where you are in the world all right now obviously if you're using those apps it's good to have a good strong Wi-Fi or 4G connection yes and I have used them when traveling overseas and I have to tell you they are awesome life saver is cool well we've all had this happen to us we've landed in our vacation destination and have forgotten our cell phone charger we've got a DIY segment that's going to show you how to keep that all tidy make sure you take it all with when you're traveling it can be challenging to keep all of your tech accessories organized and all together one solution is to use a product like Gritti which uses elastic bands to keep everything in place or you can do it yourself it's easy and affordable you'll need some kind of hard flat material like foam board this will be the base of your organizer so it should be really sturdy a ruler scissors a stapler elastic banding you can find this at craft stores or order it online you'll need a few yards of that and finally for a cleaner look you'll see why a hot glue gun so the first thing you want to do is cut the foam board down to the size you want your organizer to be it can be pocket-sized or it can be larger if you have a lot of accessories so I'll just cut mine to 7 inches by 10 inches which is about the size of the large tablet now grab your elastic band and staple it to one side along the edge of your foam board then turn it around and stretch it across the board you want it to be pre pot because remember this is what's going to hold all of your accessories in place then just trim it and repeat the same process all the way across halfway there so we have one side done now we're going to go this way perpendicular but this time we're going to thread the elastic band through these existing bands to create a sort of net that'll hold everything together and we are all done see how easy that was now at this point your organizer can be complete but if you want a cleaner look there's just one final step so I've got a piece of foamboard the exact same size and I'm equipped with a hot glue gun all I need to do now is apply glue to each corner of my first film board like that and now it looks much more polished and clean we'll just give it about 30 seconds to a minute to settle the glue is dry and the organizer is complete now let me show you how you use it I've got a little Ethernet to USB cable headphones second pair of headphones I've got my charging device and a wireless mouse I think everything is tidy organized and the next time you travel you'll know exactly where everything is and as a last touch I picked up this pouch for about 2 bucks usually it's meant for a tablet but it's also the perfect size for this organizer and you're good to go that's it for this week's show stay tuned for next time when we get our game on oh yeah it can be everything from mobile gaming to tips on how to get your old games out of the attic and on to your new TV and if you have any questions or ideas in the meantime it hit us up I'm out sharing back and I'm at Donald we look forward to hearing from you see you next time you