Chillze

If you ask us, one of the best things about London is its theater scene. Turns out, however, that not every person who appreciates good theatre speaks the Queen’s English — we know, it’s shocking to us as well. To serve those unenlightened souls, a new AirScript wireless translation gadget is being trialed at the Shaftesbury in central Londonium. Its designers at Cambridge Consultants have put together a simple WiFi-enabled device with an LED-backlit screen and a dude in the background who feeds live subtitles over the air. The pleasure of said dude’s services will be a steep £6 ($10), which you might scoff at now, but imagine yourself attending a show in Tokyo or Beijing and suddenly the price becomes a lot more justifiable. Eight languages are available so far (American English is presumably still in the works), with translations done by professionals rather than machines, and all that remains now is to see whether this multilingual birdie flies or flounders.