acquires rd ns, the powerful augmented-reality translation app

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 16 May 2014

Translate is already a powerful utility, but apparently there’s more work to be done.

On Friday acquired rd ns, the popular augmented-reality translation app from Quest Visual. rd ns translates printed words from one language into another using just the camera display on your smartphone or Glass. It’s a borderline amazing service: st point your device’s camera at a word printed in, say, Italian, rd ns will show you the English translation on your display, all in real-time.

The app’s language packs are stored locally, so you don’t even have to be connected to the Internet to use the feature, which makes it a wonderful utility if you’re a frequent jet setter across international lines.

Quest Visual released a statement on the acquisition:

th rd ns, we’ve seen the beginnings of what’s possible when we harness the power of mobile devices to “see the world in your language.”

By joining , we can incorporate Quest Visual’s technology into Translate’s broad language coverage translation capabilities in the future.

As a thank you to everybody who supported us on our journey, we’ve made both the app the language packs free to download for a limited time while we transition to .

The app is available in both the ay store the iTunes App Store. No word on whether the acquisition will affect ione id users.