WHAT IT DOES

Hive-Babble is a resizable, always-on-top frame for your Windows desktop. You drag it over text on the screen, and it reads that text and shows a translation. You can show the translation as an overlay on the frame, in a side panel, or both. The side panel includes a button to copy the translation.

Set the source language to auto to detect the language on screen, and choose a target language, including English or Japanese. The local translator starts with English, Spanish, and Japanese models, and you can add more local models later. On-screen reading uses the Windows OCR languages installed on your computer. To read Japanese, Chinese, or Korean, install that Windows language pack.

After the local translator is set up, it can run offline on your PC. Nothing is sent anywhere, and no screenshots are kept. The public GitHub repo has the source, not an installer. The Windows installer is for Patreon members; joining the free tier is enough, and no admin rights are needed to install.

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO USE

• Translation starts when you place the frame over text. You can pause or resume live updates, and Ctrl+Alt+T requests a fresh translation.
• Lock (Ctrl+Alt+L) lets clicks pass through to the app below, while the toolbar stays usable.
• A tray icon gives you Show/Hide, Translate, Lock, Pause, Settings, and Exit.
• Window position and size are saved when you close the app. Unchanged text is not sent for a new translation while the app is running.
• Settings let you choose the provider, languages, and how often the frame updates. DeepL and Google Cloud Translation are available if you enter your own API key; keys are stored only for the current Windows user.

BUILD FROM SOURCE

To build it yourself on Windows 10 or 11, install the .NET 8 SDK and Python 3.11, then in the repo folder run:

.\Build-App.ps1
.\Start-Translator.ps1 -Background
.\Builds\HiveBabble.exe

The README in the repo has the full steps.

WHERE IT'S HEADING

Hive-Babble is the public showcase of what the CombOS system is meant to do natively. We plan for translation to be a built-in CombOS feature. HiveLens is planned as a separate headset product.