I think the OP is first drawing a valid if glib opinion I don't agree with (Word lens is lame) and then mixing up his correlations (because you're still dumb) as well as vocabulary (it would be more accurate to say ignorant).

Word Lens is a breakthrough mainstream application when it comes to language barriers. Discounting that because there are still existing problems with communication in the world is, uh, dumb.

I think the writer meant "dumb" in the sense of "mute", while going for provocation since it's an obscure meaning of the word to many people.

"But, until we get a voice, a way to communicate back, Word Lens is little more than an amazing party trick."

WTF? A party trick? Okay sorry for the outburst there mate, why don't you make something better?

Criticism should not depend on the ability to create.

That said, this critique was crap.

What didn't work for the critique? I'm the author, and. As someone who does a lot of global business travel I simply haven't found a huge need for only translating signs. It might be a good first step but the immediate next step is to try to communicate about the content of the sign which is where a real-time translator would be really handy. The question I tried to ask (and might have put badly) is, what is the need this is serving?

Good point.

And yes, I agree. :-)

OP's blog post reminds me sorely how depressing it is to create something and get feedback from the world. The most accurate description of Word Lens I've read is "take a look! This is the future." And still, there are people to write nasty articles calling it lame because it doesn't fix breakfast as well.

So I found my resolution for the new year. I'll stick to my anonymity when creating products, and hire somebody to get feedback while filtering out the nasties. And never, ever ego-search on my products.

The speed of the translation, the directness of the interface, that you don't need to fumble about typing with your thumbs THAT is the future... But the extremely limited application of translation technology which meets an edge-case need isn't the future. It's a good first step toward solving translation problems. Criticism is a valuable part of a product's lifecycle. Glowing praise is fun to get, but it doesn't help you move forward and improve.

The video isn't all that impresssive, as it's just the same thing in reverse; they can talk Hindi using the translation, but can't understand it.

Really good point. I'd intended the video to show the other half of the solution, but as you point out you still wouldn't have had any idea what the other person replied, leaving you with another version of the translation problem.