How the Hitchhiker's Guide can make the world a better place Marcus O'Dair

The Mobile World Congress, which takes place annually in Barcelona, is usually dominated by smartphones. Grabbing headlines this year, however, is the Pilot earpiece and its promise to instantly translate languages: a real-life version of the Babel Fish from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It is not the first time that elements of science fiction from Douglas Adams's story have subsequently become science fact. The technology that allows the Hitchhiker's Guide to be operated simply by brushing with one's fingers is now familiar from smartphones and tablets. The information the Guide stores, meanwhile, is user-generated, and constantly updated; the approach adopted by Wikipedia.