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voicerecognition posts

Recent Apple patent filing speaks of stealth biometric security on iPhone, other insane insanity

by Laura June, posted Mar 27th 2009 at 10:09PM

Recent patent fillings by Apple that AppleInsider has dug up point to the company adding several new methods of insuring the security of its devices for users. The new filings cite biometric authentication methods that would excite Ethan Hunt -- including installation of a hidden sensor behind the screen that would recognize the user's fingerprint when touched, and / or a front-facing camera for retinal recognition. The filing also suggests further possibilities, such as the device being capable of recognizing the user's voice, or collecting DNA samples for recognition via genetic code. We've heard plenty of semi-speculative tech tales in the past, so we always take this stuff with a grain of salt, but Apple seems to be moving forward at least into the research phase of such endeavors. To the future we go! There's one more fantastic scribble after the break, hit the read link for more details.

Continue reading Recent Apple patent filing speaks of stealth biometric security on iPhone, other insane insanity

ASUS promises voice-controlled Eee products by end of the year

by Paul Miller, posted Mar 23rd 2009 at 10:21PM

For a company that gets so much (deserved) guff for endless, boring product iterations, ASUS also manages to sneak in a good amount of crazy functionality -- some of it more gimmicky than others. ASUS has been doing multitouch trackpads since before they were hip, is toying with dual touchscreens and is even crazy enough to build the Fold / Unfold computer. Next up for the firm is voice control, with a whole team dedicated to voice recognition, and plans to ship Eee PC and Eee Top products by Q3 or Q4 of this year. According to ASUS CEO Jerry Shen they're working with third parties in this effort, so we're guessing they're not going to reinvent the voice recognition wheel. Still, it's a promising development for a line of computers that seem to suffer most when it comes to input methods -- we'll wait and see how well they pull it off.

Zumba Phone: the Steorn Orbo of cellphones?

by Thomas Ricker, posted Jan 30th 2009 at 5:01AM

Ready for this? The BBC is reporting on a "top-secret phone" developed by a 40-person strong ejector-seat technology company -- IA Technology -- from Hereford England. The Beeb calls it, "the world's first fully accurate voice recognition system for mobile phones." A bold claim (to say the least) from seemingly nowhere. The report starts with a dramatic lead-in, "It's a secret world, much of which we can't film," before introducing us to the Zumba phone. A phone so secret that the BBC can't even show us how it works. They do manage to demonstrate how it's worn. A retro slug-on-the-ear type earpiece is removed from a thin slab sporting a display and circular dialer reminiscent of Bang & Olufsen fashionphones. The device relies upon a "100% secure" connection to an "Internet portal" (apparently called Zumba Lumba) that holds all your contacts. If the phone is lost or stolen "it is instantly useless to anyone else." A lot of hype to be sure, especially with plans to deliver the Zumba to shops before Christmas. Hit the read link for the video and let us know what you think.

Update: Ha! The zumbalumba.com site just lit up with an unreadable, elementary school design and no detail other than a whispy concept called "Natural Connecting." Some sleuthing and cross-referencing by our readers, however, seems to link Zumba CEO, Dean McEvoy, to a group of party promoters. Good luck with this Dean, the whole internet is about to be up in your shiznit.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read -- BBC Video
Read -- IT Technology website

Moshi's IVR Alarm Clock accepts voice commands, harbors own primary directives

by Paul Miller, posted Nov 14th 2008 at 10:21AM

The Moshi IVR (Interactive Voice Responsive) Alarm Clock is a chatty one. Instead of those perfectly reasonable physical buttons which have been providing us with additional five minute segments of sleep since time immemorial, the Moshi IVR wants to talk you through your morning. To activate a command, just say "Hello Moshi." Moshi will most likely mutter something threatening under its virtual breath, and then ask you "Command Please," to which you can instruct the clock to tell you the time, set the alarm, inform you of the temperature and a bunch of other things. Sounds great, and we doubt Moshi will be able to murder you in your sleep without any life support systems or pod bay doors under its dominion, but we still fear the prospect of attempting to reason with a too-smart-for-its-own-good alarm clock during one of those dreaded "before noon" hours of the day. Moshi IVR is available now for $50.

AT&T's Watson wants you to talk your TV into changing the channel

by Paul Miller, posted Oct 18th 2008 at 3:01PM

AT&T's been cobbling together a voice recognition system for decades, affectionally known as Watson. The good news is that unlike most every other voice recognition system out there, AT&T's might be useful for, you know, stuff. AT&T's working on making your plain-language utterances into real-life gadget actions, and has built a voice-operated TV remote to make the idea a reality. Built to operate the U-verse service, AT&T's new mythical remote lets you ask for whatever comedies might be on, or -- in the inexplicable example cited by our source article -- search for movies starring Bruce Willis, all using your voice in regular person sentences. AT&T's also working with other developers to build applications like a yellow pages app for the iPhone. There's no word on when (or if) AT&T will actually offer up the remote for consumer use, or when other applications are due to hit the mainstream, but we must say we're ready for the tide to shift in human-computer interaction, where the computer does the heavy lifting. Because we have some Bruce Willis movies to watch.

FineDigital showcases voice-recognizing FineDrive X700 GPS

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 22nd 2008 at 3:16PM

It's been a hot minute since we've seen anything fresh from FineDigital, but the firm has just introduced the slim and seductive FineDrive X700 over in South Korea. Humorously, the company is asserting that this particular unit is the first of its kind to offer voice recognition, but even a light amount of research would help it understand such a statement is far from being true. Nevertheless, the unit does look to offer a spacious screen and a bundled remote, but details beyond that are unfortunately absent.

Audeo "Think N' Spell" neckband allows voiceless phone calls

by Paul Miller, posted Mar 13th 2008 at 9:50AM

You know what's wrong with phone conversations? All that dang talking you have to do. Luckily for us, some scientists at Ambient Corporation are bent on fixing that with their "Audeo" wireless neckband which taps into nerve signals being sent to the vocal chords and vocalizes those "thoughts" for you -- without all that pesky implant nonsense. Users have to specifically think about voicing words for them to be picked up by the band, but it saves them from saying potentially sensitive things while on a cellphone in public. The device is also being aimed at those who have lost the ability to speak due to diseases such as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Currently the device can only recognize roughly 150 words and phrases, and has a decent delay between "speaking" with your mind and the computer vocalizing the words for you, but the upcoming version will be phenome-based and therefore allow you to speak anything -- though it will come at the cost of even slower recognition. Video is after the break.

Continue reading Audeo "Think N' Spell" neckband allows voiceless phone calls

Cyberpyrot's Xbox 360 voice recognition controller mod

by Paul Miller, posted Jan 31st 2008 at 11:56AM

Usually we spot console modders adding a few LEDs to their boxen, squeezing in some extra memory or perhaps even changing a form factor altogether, but it's rare to see these hackers actually hack in some original functionality. Cyberpyrot over at Acid Mods is taking this whole modding business to a whole new level with his voice recognition controller for the Xbox 360, which involves some heavy hacking and a bit of hardware kit wizardry to let you control teh Halos with merely the silky smooth sound of your voice. The mod is ostensibly designed to help out the mobility impaired, but we all know it's going to be primarily used by slothful nerds (you know, those "purists" that didn't pick up a Wii) who have decided that even repetitive finger motions are too much of an effort. The current mod can handle 10 different voice commands, check out a video of it in action after the break.

[Thanks, GrandpaSmurf]

Pioneer's AVIC-F500BT GPS nagivator offers voice control of iPods and Bluetooth cellphones

by Thomas Ricker, posted Jan 6th 2008 at 2:30PM

If you were with us during the Pioneer press conference, then their new AVIC LINC system is old news to you tough guy. However, the details are new. Designed to integrate with any factory car audio installation, Pioneer's new AVIC-F500BT system offers the ability to add in-car navigation and extended entertainment without modifying your existing car stereo. The primary feature is the VoiceBox Conversational Voice Search Platform -- an advanced voice technology for control over Apple's ubiquitous iPod and Bluetooth enabled devices. It's sophisticated enough to analyze and then execute on commands as varied as "I want to hear the artist U2" or "play U2" or even a Foghorned, "Why I say, why I say boy, um, play U2." It also features a 5.8-inch, WVGA touch screen, text to speech, and the ability to accept media via a USB bunged device or SD cards for MP3 or WMA playback. New POI's can be added via SD cards and a rechargeable battery lets you take it on the go. Look for it this Spring for an undisclosed price.

Siemens developing call center voice-recognition software that determines age and gender

by Nilay Patel, posted Nov 26th 2007 at 3:03PM

We're not certain why call center employees need even more reasons to treat customers condescendingly, but Siemens has announced that it's developing tech that will "intelligently" assign reps to callers based on determinations of age and gender. No word on how the system makes the determinations, but we're not going to be happy if we have to start doing Marilyn Monroe impressions just to get someone on the phone.

[Via The Raw Feed]

Pudding Media eavesdrops on internet calls, displays relevant ads

by Darren Murph, posted Sep 25th 2007 at 5:02AM

Pudding Media, a California-based startup, is opening up a beta test of its internet calling service, and while calls are said to be completely free, there's most definitely a catch. Users making the call will be presented with advertisements that actually relate to the conversation taking place, as the company's speech recognition software picks out key words and beams in ads based on what you're yappin' about. Notably, the company actually seems quite interested in licensing its technology out rather than becoming "an independent provider of ad-financed internet phone calls," and while we're sure hordes of privacy advocates will be none too pleased with the setup, those without issue can head on over and give it a try today.

[Via Yahoo]

Azentek stocking DiMora's $2 million ride with in-car electronics

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 22nd 2007 at 7:02AM

If you thought the MyGIG or even Bose's Media System was high-class, Azentek is out to change your perception. Recently, the firm inked a deal with DiMora Motorcar "to provide high-performance computers for the Natalia SLS 2 sport luxury sedan." The ride, if you weren't aware, will be a hand-crafted $2 million, 16-cylinder production automobile, and will sport "at least two Atlas units" which boast voice recognition, FM / XM Radio / Sirius / HD Radio, Bluetooth, CD / MP3 / WMA / DVD support, GPS navigation, VoIP / cellphone integration, "over a terabyte" of storage, and Windows Vista for good measure. Additionally, users will be able to interface with the machines via touchscreen, keyboard / mouse, a handset, USB, auxiliary inputs, etc. Sure makes Blue&Me look like child's play, no?

Grundig's DigtaSonicMic, a high-end USB dictaphone

by Nilay Patel, posted Aug 17th 2007 at 4:26AM

We're not certain who still uses dictation machines -- isn't illegal to not know how to type? -- but Grundig's ready to drag you into the future with its DigtaSonicMic, which features USB sound in / out as well as trackpoint mouse control so you can manipulate files on your machine as you walk around the room pompously dictating away. The unit also interfaces with Grundig's full line of dictation and transcription software, allowing it to plug into your network and offload your spoken-word brilliance to a remote transcriptionist. No word on price or availability, but we're guessing most of you can think of dozen alternate solutions that'll work just as well.

Drug kingpin IDed using advanced voice identification

by Conrad Quilty-Harper, posted Aug 13th 2007 at 9:21AM

Advanced voice recognition technology busted one Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia recently, a drug kingpin who had drastic plastic surgery in a failed attempt to mask his true identity. Because of his plastic surgery, Brazilian Police were unable to gain positive identification required for an arrest warrant. Instead, Colombian officials provided the US Drug Enforcement Agency with taped conversations, which the US body was able to match to Ramirez Abadia. It's not clear how advanced the technology actually is, since the Government keeps it under wraps: judging by the importance of this arrest, and the impending trial, we'd hope that it's beyond the capabilities of regular off-the-shelf desktop software.

[Via PlasticSurgery101]

Hanwang pen tablet offers voice correction

by Darren Murph, posted May 30th 2007 at 4:20AM

Just under a week ago, Hanwang was out boasting about its handwriting recognition mouse, which sported a built-in writing area that solved the need for one of those huge platters to be lugged around; now, however, the company is indeed showing off one of those aforementioned tablets at CHITEC 2007. While details are obviously scant, the folks at AVing were able to catch some hands-on time with the writing device at the expo, and it looks to do a fair job of converting your handwriting to text if you're more comfortable wielding a pen than searching for the home row. Of course, if it does happen to get off track, it purportedly touts a "voice correction system to collate the inputs." The WACOM-styled unit also touts a number of hotkeys to go along with the stylus and decorative design scheme, but unfortunately pricing and availability still remain a mystery. Click on through for a few more sneak peeks.

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