Filed under: iPod Family, Software, Odds and ends
iPods in uniform
When U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan need to communicate in Iraqi Arabic, Kurdish (spoken in north Iraq), or Dari and Pushto (Afghani languages), they can reach for an iPod.
Vcom3D, working with troops from the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division, designed a software product called VCommunicator Mobile that uses the iPod to display a phonetic translation, "speak" a phrase through an attached speaker, display the phrase in local writing, or demonstrate hand gestures that are common in Arabic.
The Army is fielding about 260 iPods and iPod nanos equipped with this system, with about 700 individual troops using the device in Iraq and Afghanistan. The total cost of the system, including the software development for all of the specific dialects and languages, a speaker that plugs into the earphone port, and protective covers for both the iPod and speaker, was about $800,000.
Before someone makes a crack about the U.S. Military buying $3,100 iPods, remember that these are running custom software with key phrases that must be accurately rendered in a number of different languages, and custom software development and language localization is never inexpensive. The system also comes with a laptop-based editor for adding new phrases or editing existing ones.
Vcom3D chose the iPod platform for the system after realizing that both U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians owned or were familiar with Apple's iconic media device.
[via MacDailyNews]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jeffrey T said 11:34AM on 8-30-2008
Aren't they concerned that their locations can be tracked by the WiFi signal?
Jeff Miller
FCDG
www.ifrisbeegolf.com
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MacTipper said 11:44AM on 8-30-2008
From the looks of the picture, it appears as if they are using your normal everyday iPod. Also, the article says "The Army is fielding about 260 iPods and iPod nanos..."
MacTipper
Joe said 3:15PM on 8-30-2008
Since when did the iPod (classic) and the Nano have built-in WiFi?
And stop using the comment system for shameless plugs!
BikePedalEnema said 12:00PM on 8-30-2008
Since when do iPod's or Nano's have WIFI? You must be HIGH, SOOO HIGH.
BikePedalEnema said 12:12PM on 8-30-2008
OMG JEFF! I can't get over how incredibly lame your site is. I hope no one downloads your crappy software.
I heard your game made $12.00 before the revenue split on the App Store in the past 30 days. LOL! No wonder why you're here plugging it. LOL!
If you must post a shameless plug in a comments section, at least post something valuable...like 2girls1cup, sourmath, or something.
Now back to the original article...that's bad ass! I wonder if it has a translation for "no pooping in the street" ? my buddy just came back from Iraq, and said that people drop turds in the street.....I'm just sayin.
samgross144 said 12:02PM on 8-30-2008
I think that this is a great idea. Since the iPod really became popular in it's 3rd generation, probably 90% of the world's population has seen how the interface works. What's interesting is that it sounds like they're using custom firmware, which isn't supported by Apple.
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Eric said 12:56PM on 8-30-2008
This is pretty old news...I remember first reading about this several months ago. That being said, it's great to see technology being used in innovative ways like this.
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jigme said 3:04PM on 8-30-2008
the potential for some prankster with a laptop to cause a huge amount of havoc with this system is virtually limitless.
"Please stay calm. We wish only to borrow your handsome mule for racing purposes."
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darrengore said 3:10PM on 8-30-2008
Um... is nobody else sad to see Apple hardware turned to such a use...?
This is the company that gave us a 'Think Different' ad featuring John and Yoko in full-on bed-in for peace mode, remember?
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Cameron T said 3:58PM on 8-30-2008
Clear Communication is the first step to peace. This system isn't designed to kill people, it's designed to help people communicate. I fail to see what is wrong with that.
I don't support the war one bit....but if we are ever to have peace then we must learn to transcend communication barriers. This software helps do that.
Just because something is being used in War doesn't make it evil, or the company that produced it evil...
Rob said 9:24PM on 8-30-2008
Hmmm....sad to see a generic consumer electronics products helping in people understanding one another? Nope.
I am sad to see mobile phones used as detonators for IED. Actually I am pretty sad to see any technology that kills.
But I am more than sad by the so called leaders who engage in terrorism or war.
Harry Flowers said 3:31PM on 8-30-2008
Indeed.
The "war on terror" is merely the pretext for an international police state.
This dirties the Apple brand in my eyes, whether endorsed by Cupertino or otherwise :(
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epugh said 4:43PM on 8-30-2008
I think it's a really great example of leveraging the inherent power of the iPod hardware. I saw their demo product at LandWarNet and was really impressed with how they had made their software work on the iPod, leveraging the unique hardware aspects like the click wheel.
We talked about coding using the iPhone SDK, and they were experiencing some of the same frustrations that I have had with the iPhone, that it is such a locked down environment, that it's hard to do stuff that Apple doesn't explicitly permit. For example, putting your own data files on the drive requires you to go through the iPhones API's, versus just writing them out on the hard drive. Even when your product is a standalone product, you are still locked up/blocked at every turn by the Apple iPhone SDK limitations.
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Cling On said 7:07PM on 8-30-2008
Nonsense. In armed confrontations (which all these situations will be) you must have live-translators or you invite 'misunderstandings' (bang-bang).
The tech to phonetically 'speak' or list questions/commands to a contact/detainee does not provide any means to understand a verbal reply. Particularly in farsi or arabic, under stress, or in anger.
Intentional limits on resources per Rumsfeld had our troops in daily confrontations without military translators, & having to rely upon paid locals.
Of course, the locals had no agendas. Right?
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This is Apples Market Now said 8:54PM on 8-30-2008
only one story today ?
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Nick said 10:06PM on 8-30-2008
Last time I remember the military can pretty much obtain rights to almost anything specially anything that they think will benefit them. Good luck suing the military! But no I dont think theres a group at apple working with the military but I doubt they dont support it, besides if they're buying that much ipods to send to troops all over then apple would be stupid not supporting it.
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rafaelc378 said 6:28PM on 8-31-2008
Someone needs to find a way to make this software WAY cheaper and with multiple languages. It would be a hit in the travel market.
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futurepastnow said 6:43PM on 8-31-2008
This is a great application for consumer digital audio players, which ought to have a lot of benefits for us civilians in the future. Imagine going to China, and loading up a Chinese phrase dictionary on your iPhone first.
They could use pretty much any MP3 player for this, but using iPods obviates the need for UI training since almost everyone knows how to use one.
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type r 98 503 said 9:54PM on 8-31-2008
There is actually an SBIR to develop a system in which someone speaks into a mic in one language it is translated to another and output through the speaker. So there will probably be iphones being used very soon. I think the goal is to reduce the costs as well.
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