'Star Trek'-style translators closer to reality at CES gadget show

LAS VEGAS - Once confined to the realms of science fiction, translation devices that whisper discreetly into your ear during a conversation are finally coming of age thanks to leaps in AI and cloud computing. An array of companies at the Consumer Electronics Show are promoting increasingly sophisticated devices that allow people speaking different languages to converse with the help of handheld devices or wireless earpieces. Waverly Lab's Pilot headphones translate 15 languages and are priced from $180 and $250. If each person in a conversation is wearing a Pilot, they can speak directly to one another using their own language. During a brief demonstration in Las Vegas, words from an AFP journalist speaking French were interpreted for the ears of English-speaking Andrew Ochoa, boss of Waverly Labs.