Nifty, But Does It Work?

Wired on a new translation tool from Korea:

It may look like something you’d buy from an expensive art gallery, but this concept from four Korean designers is actually a high-tech translation device.

Gyo-Ji is a scroll decorated with inlaid mother of pearl to mimic Korean "Najawnchilgi" lacquerware, but rolled up inside is a flexible touchscreen monitor. Users can either write directly on this surface and then choose the language that they want the text to be translated into (which will then appear on the screen) or they can scan text under the screen, thanks to a built-in camera, using a finger to highlight certain phrases for translation. It’s certainly a lot easier than hefting around a dictionary, and particularly useful for languages which use a completely different script. Perhaps the device’s designers Soonkyu Jang, Taehee Woo, Yonghuk Yim, and Chung Lee could team up with Sony, which unveiled its flexible OLED screen in January.

(Picture credited to Ubergizmo).