A Massage From Your iPhone

Picture your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch giving you a massage. Yes, it can really happen with Human Touch’s AcuTouch 9500 massage chair. It has been selected as a 2011 Innovations Design and Engineering Awards honoree under the Major Home Appliances category for the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show. The AcuTouch 9500 with HT-Connect (an app) is the world’s first massage chair to deliver a completely personalized massage and wellness experience via Bluetooth at the convenience of any iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

“The AcuTouch 9500 is the only massage chair that provides an anatomic interface between the user’s needs and the advanced features of Human Touch massage technology,” according to David Potter, vice president of design, Human Touch LLC. “Just one touch where you want to feel better and the AcuTouch 9500 goes to work delivering relief in as little as five minutes. HT-Connect knows who you are, what you need and where you need it. And it happens seamlessly through a wireless Bluetooth connection. It’s your own personal valet to feel better everywhere.”

I wish all massage chairs could be controlled with my iPad instead of having to use a clunky remote or a control pad on the chair’s arm-rest (such as the one I have right now). With my iPad, I can target pressure points and queue doctor-recommended massage routines. Maybe when the price comes down a little I’ll buy one of these for myself. It runs a little steep at $6,000 (humantouch.com/ht-9500.html).

Click Chick’s Mobile App of the Week: Google Translate

Google released its Google Translate app last week, and I have to say it’s way cool! This is definitely the future for translators. It’s perfect if you’re traveling abroad. Or, if you just need some help with your language studies, the app untangles your tongue quickly.

You can speak into your phone (15 languages supported) to translate words/phrases into one of 50 languages. You can then listen to your translations spoken out loud in any of 23 languages. It uses the same speech synthesizer voices as the Google Translate desktop version released last month – if you played with it before, you know the voices are clear and easy to understand.

In addition, you can view dictionary results for individual words, and access the history of your translations when offline. The full-screen mode is helpful when you need to magnify and show your words/phrases to the individual with whom you’re trying to communicate.

The only drawback of the app is you need Wi-Fi or data connectivity (except when accessing the history) to use the app. That might be a little expensive to do if you’re overseas.

Download the free Google Translate for your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch from the iTunes App Store or for your Android device from the Android Market. clickchick@ midweek.com