Was shared a link today, to a video showing off the newest Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra:
It’s fantastic technology, showing off the ability to translate (almost) live between Korean and English, functioning as a middle-man, or middleware, between the Sender and Receiver in the communication channel, reducing the overall noise in the system (in this case in the difficulty of two very different languages).
But in discussion today, we noted how simple some of the various components are: the translation, which exists already at both ends, Google translate, or any of a number of dedicated devices.
And this is the point: there are very few completely new things in the world. Most new things are combinations of existing things.
The interesting thing is how you put them together.
Hence, recombinant innovation.
The ability of these innovations to reduce friction (or appear to, at least; there can often be a dark side of it as well) can determine how well these tools get adopted. It depends on if people can see themselves using it.
And in this, the Youtube video above is very effective: we can readily picture ourselves in that situation needing to make a reservation at a restaurant, and deciding that this would work for us. And from there it’s a quick jump to see how we could use it in other areas of our lives. Talking with loved ones, or their families, and being able to speak directly (or with at most a quick pause), and share with them too.
There’s a lot of magic in our innovations. Let’s start the discussion.