FWIW, the German Magnetophon wasn't quite secret. British radio magazines were writing about it and picturing it in the 30s, and describing its use for rebroadcasting programs. It looked very much like modern reel-to-reel recorders.
FWIW, the German Magnetophon wasn't quite secret. British radio magazines were writing about it and picturing it in the 30s, and describing its use for rebroadcasting programs. It looked very much like modern reel-to-reel recorders.
My mother worked for the OSS during the war, doing translations. The Magnetophon was an open secret and everyone was just waiting for the end of the war to capture some specimens and bring them home as (useful) war booty.
Later, she was involved in the first machine translation during the early Cold War. At the time, the results were hilarious. But now we have Google Translate and LLMs, which started in the translation business ....
Great story!
FWIW, the German Magnetophon wasn't quite secret. British radio magazines were writing about it and picturing it in the 30s, and describing its use for rebroadcasting programs. It looked very much like modern reel-to-reel recorders.
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/UK/Wireless-World/30s/Wireless-World-1938-03.pdf
My mother worked for the OSS during the war, doing translations. The Magnetophon was an open secret and everyone was just waiting for the end of the war to capture some specimens and bring them home as (useful) war booty.
Later, she was involved in the first machine translation during the early Cold War. At the time, the results were hilarious. But now we have Google Translate and LLMs, which started in the translation business ....