iTranslate Voice
$0.99
Imagine a pair of translating walkie-talkies and you get the idea. iTranslate connects your phone with another’s using Bluetooth. When you speak into your phone it comes out translated, both as text and as a computerized voice, on their phone and in their language. The process works both ways and, like a walkie-talkie system, involves a rhythm of pressing a button, speaking, and waiting for a response.
That the translation takes just seconds and supports 42 languages is amazing. With some patience and understanding about the need to speak clearly the accuracy is pretty good, but never perfect. Unlike a human translator is can’t pick up on emotions, colloquial expressions, or common nuances like simply asking a question. If your meeting is really important, drop the phones and get a human translator.
Still, iTranslate shows great polish and is growing rapidly. I like that you can choose a computer voice to match your gender and with novelty packs even make it sound like Barack Obama or George Bush. The controls are simple to use and yet have tweaks for speed and sound to try to improve accuracy. It’s clear the iTranslate’s value will improve over time.
Scouting For Boys
$4.99
This is the original 1908 manuscript of Lord Baden Powell’s scouting handbook which he used to start the scouting movement that is still active around the world today. It is both a copy of the first published edition and, for the first time released publicly, his original handwritten and typewritten manuscripts complete with notes, outlines, and contracts. The first audio edition, produced by the National Institute for the Blind, is also included alongside archival newsreels and promotional clips.
I find it to be both an engaging, nostalgic doorway into a bygone era of youthful adventure in the British Empire and, given the recent US controversy over openly gay scouts, an illuminating look into Powell’s own philosophies about the need to break down barriers between gender, class, race, and religion.
Powell offers many lessons in adventure skills, such as how to rescue others from runaway horses, drag an insensible man to safety, and what to do if you come across a dead body. He mixes in “campfire yarns” about his own military service, lessons from Sherlock Holmes and Rudyard Kipling, and tales of chivalrous knights, Japanese Samurai, and North American Indian trackers. You can see how the boys of the time would have just eaten this right up.
All of the material has the consistent theme of inclusion. His first outline emphasizes the need to involve girls in scouting, he writes with pride about his first experimental troop in South Africa being of “mixed classes”, and advises instructors to view all religions as being merely different divisions of an army serving the same purpose. Should the scouting movement grow outside his own Britain, Powell thought that both Zulu and North American Indian children had the potential to be scouts. Since writing about those early hopes, his book has been published worldwide in over 80 different languages.
Discover Ontario
Free
From Port Burwell’s fire truck pulls to the Dog Days pet owner events of Durham to the Spencerville Stampede (for those missing out on Calgary), this guide from Ontario Tourism will find fun activities happening in your area alongside detailed listings for the whole province.
I like that every listing is packed with useful tools including maps, directions, social sharing links, and the option to import an entry into your calendar. The app will also show you related dining and lodging options as well as other events in the same area should you want to make a day of it.
Just browsing through the different categories is a lot of fun. There are Teddy Bear picnics, horse-drawn wagon festivals, fiddle jamborees, Pow Wows, food & wine feasts… the list goes on and on. Did you know that the World Bee Beard Championship is happening in Aylmer on July 27th?
There are several events listings apps for Ontario, but none that I have found as detailed and as diverse as this one.
Safe Boating
Free
From the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue comes this very crude, but information-packed safety app offering equipment checklists, sail plans, VHF Radio Channels, emergency signals, and life-saving procedures. An internet connection is needed for tides/weather updates, but most of the safety advice is accessible offline.
