Windows CE-based translator has pen-shaped scanner

Ectaco has added a pen-shaped scanner to its Windows CE-based electronic dictionary and translation device. The iTravl/C-Pen Deluxe Edition uses either scanned input or speech recognition, then provides spoken translation to or from English and eight other languages, the company says. The C-Pen (right), developed by Swedish firm Anoto AB, is connected via USB to the iTravl, from which it receives its power. It can read characters from five to 22 points in size, with a potential scanning rates of up to six inches per second. First released last year, the original iTravl accepted input either by hand or by its built-in speech recognition. Now, with the addition of the C-Pen, it can read any supported language based on a Latin, Cyrillic, or Greek character set, Ectaco says. The Pinyin transliteration system also permits entering Chinese. The iTravl can translate bidirectionally between English and Chinese, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Ectaco says the unit can translate approximately 63,000 travel-related phrases per language, then say them "like a native-speaker" using its speaker and speech synthesis functionality. The device includes Fodor's Travel Guide, with maps and essential information for 50 cities, and the CIA World Factbook for 180 countries around the world, according to the company. Added functionality in the iTravl includes a clock, an MP3 player, games, a calculator, and a metric converter.