Apple Just Unveiled A New Set Of AirPods That Will Live-Translate People Speaking Foreign Languages Directly Into Your Ears

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Source - Apple CEO Tim Cook raised the curtain on the next suite of smartphones, the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and a super thin iPhone Air that’s one of the biggest advances in the company’s signature product in years. Redesigned AirPods and upgraded Apple Watches were also featured at the company’s annual product launch today.

The company unveils its new September rollouts this time each year from its Cupertino, California headquarters.

AirPods Pro 3, the latest, feature enhanced in-ear active noise cancellation, enhanced sound quality and also now offer live translation across languages. So if someone is speaking to you in another language the pods will translate directly into your ear. They have an improved battery life and a new heart rate sensor to use during workouts. The pods fit better after much new research into the various shapes of the human ear canal, Apple said.

While Apple remains a juggernaut, it has not had as many dramatic leaps forward in terms of product innovation during the leadership of CEO Tim Cook compared with the Steve Jobs era.

I'm good. Thanks anyway, though, Tim. Don't get me wrong this is a very cool technology, I just don't have any use for it. What am I going to do, wear it to my local Chinese spot so I can hear them call me a f*ggot behind my back? No need. I can see it on their face when I order a bubble tea to go with my rainbow shrimp dumplings. 

I guess I'm just a little confused as to the practicality. Does the other person need to have their AirPods in so you can talk back and fourth? Or are you just assuming that whoever you are talking to will automatically understand your native tongue? I think it's a fun, novel idea — I just can't picture anyone other than, like, heads of state using it. Then again, what do I know? What does anyone know? We don't decide what we need, technology companies do. Apple, Meta, Amazon, etc.. They create the problem, then they solve the issue. So if Apple tells us we need AirPods that can translate other languages into our ears, then we need AirPods that can translate other languages into our ears. Who'd have thunk that "human translators" would be the first industry to fall to AI. Oh well. Here are all the updates for anyone who's interested…

Meh. Although I guess it would be cool to have the ability to understand any langue on earth. I'm just not sure I want to hear what they're saying. Thanks for reading.