In science fiction, the idea that someone could understand multiple languages is fairly well used. Think Doctor Who and the Tardis's translation capabilities, Star Trek's universal translator or the Babel fish in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Now there’s a new earpiece that will bring that capability to today’s society.

The Pilot offers real-time translation of languages such as Italian and French through an earpiece and a smartphone app. At the moment, it’s a bit limited, though. You need to have two earpieces – one for you, the other for the person you are speaking to – for the device to work.

But the company has promised that future generations will have automatic translation. It also works offline and overseas, which makes sense for a device that is so suited to travel. waverlylabs.com