voice recognition

Why Amazon's every move doesn't mean a phone is coming

The rumor that Amazon has purchased the British startup behind Evi, the pseudo-Siri competitor, has again led to speculation about the fabled Amazon smartphone.

TechCrunch first reported the apparent purchase, citing its sources and recent changes reflected in some company records. It goes on to say that "smart observers might speculate that all these moves point towards Amazon developing a mobile handset/smartphone."

The evidence assembled certainly does seem to hint at some kind of relationship between Amazon and Evi Technologies, which makes the Evi app for Android and iOS. However, that apparent fact does little to bolster the case for an Amazon smartphone.… Read more

Google Chrome 25 adds voice recognition support

Chrome users can now tell their browser what to do.

Launched yesterday, Chrome version 25 includes support for voice recognition. This means developers can integrate the feature into their Web apps.

As one example offered in a Google demo, you can create an e-mail via your voice directly within Chrome 25. Simply click on the microphone icon and start talking. You'll see your words appear in a text box. Click the mic icon again when you're finished.

I tried out the feature and was able to dictate an e-mail message that then appeared in Microsoft Outlook. The accuracy … Read more

Voice recognition will make touch obsolete, Intel exec says

LAS VEGAS -- Watch out, touch screens. You may be hot now, but one Intel executive predicts voice recognition will eventually make you obsolete.

Mooly Eden, the Intel senior vice president who oversees the company's "perceptual computing" operations, told CNET today that voice recognition will do to touch what touch has done to physical keyboards -- making many things unnecessary.

"Voice is the best means of communication between humans," Eden said. "We finally have enough compute power to do what we want from science fiction."

Intel is working with partners on complete systems … Read more

Crave giveaway: Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12

Congrats to Jonathan H. of Flushing, N.Y., for winning two canvas-mounted Instagram prints from CanvasPop in last week's giveaway. This week's freebie is really something to talk about. We're offering up a copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12, Nuance's new voice recognition software for PCs.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 promises 20 percent more accuracy than its predecessor, Dragon 11, as well as faster speeds and new technology that learns your preferences as you use it.

The product plays better than ever with Gmail and Hotmail, according to Nuance, and also extends the free Dragon Remote Microphone App experience to Android, turning compatible phones into a wireless microphone for Dragon for PC. … Read more

Do you still talk to Siri?

Siri was hailed as a innovation when it was unveiled with the iPhone 4S. But do iPhone owners still talk to her?

In a column for yesterday's New York Times, writer Nick Bilton said he believes the romance may have soured between Siri and her users.

Initially enthused about the new voice assistant, Bilton found that too many of his conversations ended up in a failure to communicate, with Siri either unavailable or unable to provide the right information. And he doesn't seem to be the only one having communication problems with Siri.

Bilton also noted that many … Read more

Spansion, Nuance announce Acoustic Coprocessor for automotive voice recognition

SAN FRANCISCO--In-car voice recognition technology has come a long way, but there's much room for improvement. One problem voice-recognition technology faces is that is that there's only so much memory and processing power available in the dashboard at any given time, which has to be shared with navigation, media playback, traffic data, and other infotainment functions. Spansion, a company best known for providing flash memory products to OEMs, thinks it has the solution in its newly unveiled Spansion Acoustic Coprocessor, claimed to be the first of its kind.

The Spansion Acoustic Coprocessor is basically a system on a … Read more

Phone scammer or trustworthy solicitor? Software calls it

Should you trust that official-sounding guy on the phone trying to talk you into transferring cash from your account to his? Well, we're going to go out on a limb here and say no, but in case that's not so obvious, new voice analysis technology out of Japan promises to help spot the scammers for you.

Nagoya University and Fujitsu have created software they say can automatically identify situations in which one party might "overtrust" the other. It does so by detecting changes in voice pitch and volume level that can occur under psychological duress.

By combining this technology with keywords such as "indebtedness" or "compensation" that are characteristic to a specific type of remittance-soliciting phone-phishing scam called furikomesagi, the researchers have developed a setup now being tested in collaboration with the National Police Agency of Japan and the Bank of Nagoya. … Read more

Crave giveaway: Nuance Dragon Dictate 2.5 for Mac

Speak now, or forever hold your chance to win this week's Crave giveaway. The prize: Nuance's Dragon Dictate 2.5 for Mac. The speech recognition software boasts some enhancements over earlier versions, including full support for Microsoft Word 2011 and new Facebook- and Twitter-sharing capabilities.

Dragon Dictate 2.5 also takes advantage of the recently introduced Dragon Remote Mic App, a free application that lets you use an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad as a wireless microphone for Dragon via Wi-Fi.

Normally, Dragon Dictate 2.5 would cost you $179.99, but you have the chance to get it for nada, nothing, zip, zilch. So how do you go about snagging this week's freebie? There are a few rules, so please take a moment to stop talking and read them carefully. … Read more

Should Siri be jealous of voice recognition competitors?

LAS VEGAS--Looks like Siri was just the beginning.

Okay, even Siri wasn't the beginning. The ability to do voice-command isn't particularly new, but the marquee feature for Apple's iPhone 4S has gotten the masses to recognize and appreciate its benefits. For the first time, voice-command was a feature people talked about and coveted.

At CES, there were better implementations and voice-commands popping up on different devices. Big-name companies got into the mix. Dieter Zetsche, head of Mercedes Benz, said voice would play a major role in its cars, calling them a driver's "digital companion." … Read more

Nuance Dragon TV roars for attention

Nuance Communications, the leading voice recognition software company, is jumping into the TV market.

The company said Monday--at the International Consumer Electronics Show--that it will launch Dragon TV, a voice and natural language platform for TVs, devices and set-top boxes. The idea is that Nuance’s software would be included in these devices. Nuance’s move is notable as chatter about Apple delivering a TV connected with its Siri software heats up. Nuance appears to be going for the broad-partnership-in-multiple-devices approach.

Dragon TV, the name of Nuance’s system, will be designed to allow voice to replace remotes and … Read more