Jack of all trades: Tempo Smart Calendar does a little bit of everything

Sure, your phone's built in calendar does a fine job of keeping track of meetings and chiming in with the occasional alarm, but can it tell you how to actually get to those meetings, or tell your colleagues that you're running late? That's the promise behind the Tempo Smart Calendar, a machine learning iOS planner that leverages the same SRI patents that fathered Siri. Tempo pulls information from the user's contacts, email and apps to present a more complete calendar experience -- associating scheduled events with specific people, or sussing out a meeting's specific location based on limited information (such as "the Starbucks at mission"). The app even promises to ease your social obligations by wishing your Facebook friends "happy birthday," when appropriate. As time goes on, the smart calendar app acclimates to the user's patterns, streamlining how it associates information with appointments based on previous use. Check out the calendar's full assortment of tricks in the press release after the break.

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SRI International Spin-Off Tempo AI Announces Smart Mobile Calendar

Next-generation personal assistant from SRI International spin-off finds everything needed for upcoming meetings and streamlines routine tasks

MENLO PARK, Calif. – February 13, 2013 – Today, Tempo AI, an SRI International spin-off venture, introduces the Tempo Smart Calendar for iPhone, a cutting-edge personal assistant application centered on a person's day. The Tempo Smart Calendar is a mobile productivity app that analyzes data from a user's mobile calendar and applies artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance meetings and events throughout the day. It finds and neatly organizes everything needed to be fully prepared, such as contacts, emails, and related documents, and puts them in context. In a single tap, anyone can complete common tasks, saving time and reducing stress.

Using Tempo Smart Calendar is like having a personal assistant prepare for what's next – not only providing the right information, but anticipating and understanding what a user intends to do with it. With details in the event summary, it is simple to quickly find information, eliminating the issue of hunting around other apps, email or the browser while trying to complete a simple task such as finding a meeting agenda or someone's phone number. Tempo will fill in the gaps and suggest locations, contacts, emails and documents, even if only minimal details are added to meetings and events. Life is full of the unexpected, so in a single tap send attendees a running late notification or stay on top of delayed flights.

"The calendar is where life happens, and Tempo gives people more control over their day by enhancing their calendars in a meaningful way," said Raj Singh, founder and CEO of Tempo AI. "We've designed the experience to reduce the noise that's often associated with virtual assistants that push information to users out of context or intent. Tempo surfaces information and actions in your calendar in the context of the people you know, the places you are going, and the information you'll need."

Until now, mobile calendars have stagnated as simple digital representations of paper calendars, which causes a lot of friction and hassle for users because there is no context for any of the information in their calendar. It's like having a dumb calendar on a smartphone. Tempo is the first intelligent mobile calendar that harnesses powerful virtual personal assistant technology to provide context and streamline actions. The more Tempo is used, the more fine-tuned and personalized it becomes because it learns and recognizes patterns to make better suggestions.

In the Tempo Smart Calendar, routine tasks are done with the fewest possible taps because Tempo knows what is trying to be accomplished. With one tap, without ever leaving the calendar, Tempo can do an amazing variety of tasks, including but not limited to the following:

•Dial into conference calls – Tempo handles the passcodes
•Review emails that pertain to specific meetings and events
•Open related documents – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDFs, etc.
•Find the exact location even without an address
•Get driving directions, nearby parking, and estimated drive time
•Reach attendees via phone, email or text
•Send a pre-populated "running late" email or text
•Check flight status
•Browse attendees' LinkedIn profiles
•Scout locations with Foursquare and Yelp
•Post birthday messages to Facebook

The Tempo Smart Calendar leverages SRI International's immense investment and advancement in artificial intelligence research and semantic technology. For decades, SRI International has pioneered technology advancements that are part of our daily lives, including the mouse, interactive computing, the Internet and, more recently, the Siri virtual personal assistant. Tempo is the newest breakthrough virtual personal assistant that will fundamentally change the way people manage their day and simplify their life.