More Star Trek Becomes True

The universal translator:

A portable device has a button and a speaker. One person speaks into Ili while holding down the button; after the user stops speaking, the speaker relays the message in the chosen language. (Right now, Ili only supports English, Chinese and Japanese, but its parent company, Logbar, has promised more will be available in the future.) Version two will have French, Thai, and Korean.

Ili's novel feature — and the perk that distinguishes it from translation services like Google — is its capacity to work without a wireless connection.