NaturalLanguage
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Google search for 'final election numbers' offers up fake news
Search engine technology has evolved rapidly over the past few years, but it's far from perfect. One week after the US presidential election, the top Google result for "final election numbers" is a WordPress blog called 70News that's packed with inaccurate information.
Google brings natural language search to Drive
Starting today, Google Drive features Natural Language Processing to make it even easier to find that buried spreadsheet or long-lost docs. Taking a page from its Google Assistant playbook, the search box in Drive now allows for easy, human-oriented search queries like "find my budget spreadsheet from last December" or "show me presentations from Anissa."
Bing now lets you ask follow-up questions after your searches
Google sometimes lets you ask follow-up questions when a search doesn't provide all the answers. Bing, however, has required that you phrase each query as if you're starting fresh -- a bit of a headache if you're the curious sort. That won't be a problem for much longer, as Microsoft is rolling out a Bing update that adds conversational, context-aware searching to the mix. If you ask who President Obama's wife is, for example, you can then ask "how tall is she?" (spoiler: fairly tall) without having to mention Michelle by name -- the engine knows who you're referring to. The feature doesn't appear to be available everywhere just yet, but it shouldn't take long before you're holding short chats in your web browser.
Evernote for Mac now lets you search using everyday language
Evernote syncs gobs of content these days, and that can make it tricky to find what you're looking for without some clever search tricks. However, those data hunts just got much easier with an updated version of Evernote for Mac. The app is the company's first to let you search using common language; you just have to include the relevant criteria, such as the location, time or any attachments. Look for "notes from phone created last month with audio," for example, and you'll get just those recent voice memos. There's no mention of when other Evernote apps will get their turn at the refined search engine, but Mac users can start downloading today.
Intel reportedly acquires Indisys, gets an edge in natural language recognition (update: official)
Intel is quickly transforming its dream of perceptual computing into reality: the company will soon ship motion control technology, and it acquired the gesture interface firm Omek back in July. The chip giant may not be done yet, as there are reports from Spain that it has acquired Indisys, a small natural language recognition company. Details of the buyout are scarce, but the move would give Intel its own voice control software; it wouldn't have to license code from third parties like Nuance. We've reached out to Intel to confirm the acquisition. If real, the Indisys takeover might have come at just the right time -- Intel is swinging its attention to wearables, and voice control is now more of a necessity than a luxury. Update: Intel just confirmed to us that it acquired Indisys on May 31st, and that the deal has already closed.
Wavii confirms acquisition by Google, starts to wind down its own service
There was an odd level of uncertainty surrounding Google's reported buyout of Wavii: where Google usually mentions acquisitions in short order, mum's been the word for much of the past week. Thankfully, we won't be left hanging over the weekend -- Wavii has stepped forward to confirm the deal is happening. Neither side has discussed the terms involved, but Wavii chief Adrian Aoun made it clear the acquisition is for the technology first and foremost. Wavii's info summarization service will be shutting down, while the company's expertise in natural language processing should find its way into future Google projects. It's sad to see another independent service absorbed by a much larger company, but we're at least likely to see the fruits of Wavii's labor through some very public channels.
iPhone Assistant called a "world-changing event" by Siri co-founder
One of the expected announcements in tomorrow's "Let's Talk iPhone" event revolves around the iPhone Assistant, a powerful voice recognition and artificial intelligence tool that will enable real-time searching and control of iPhones. The tool, based on technology acquired in Apple's 2010 purchase of Siri, is so powerful that Siri co-founder Norman Winarsky is referring to its release as a "world-changing event." Winarsky is no longer with Siri, so he's offering pure speculation based on his prior knowledge of the company's technology. He believes that inclusion of the Siri artificial intelligence capability might explain why an iPhone announcement wasn't made until October (rather than the usual summer timeframe), noting that "AI takes a lot of computing power." Rumors floating around the web note that Assistant may only run on a next-generation iPhone due to the need for more RAM and a faster processor. In an interview with iPodNN News, Winarsky waxed enthusiastic about the capabilities of Assistant, noting that "If the rumors are true, Apple will enable millions upon millions of people to interact with machines with natural language ... We're talking another technology revolution. A new computing paradigm shift."
New program makes it easier to turn your computer into a conversational chatterbox
We've already seen how awkward computers can be when they try to speak like humans, but researchers from North Carolina State and Georgia Tech have now developed a program that could make it easier to show them how it's done. Their approach, outlined in a recently published paper, would allow developers to create natural language generation (NLG) systems twice as fast as currently possible. NLG technology is used in a wide array of applications (including video games and customer service centers), but producing these systems has traditionally required developers to enter massive amounts of data, vocabulary and templates -- rules that computers use to develop coherent sentences. Lead author Karthik Narayan and his team, however, have created a program capable of learning how to use these templates on its own, thereby requiring developers to input only basic information about any given topic of conversation. As it learns how to speak, the software can also make automatic suggestions about which information should be added to its database, based on the conversation at hand. Narayan and his colleagues will present their study at this year's Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment conference in October, but you can dig through it for yourself, at the link below.
IBM's Watson is really smart, will try to prove it on Jeopardy! this fall (video)
As much as we love our Google homepage, computer search remains a pretty rudimentary affair. You punch in keywords and you get only indirect answers in the form of relevant web results. IBM doesn't seem to be too happy with this situation and has been working for the past three years on perfecting its Watson supercomputer: an array of server racks that's been endowed with linguistic algorithms allowing it to not only recognize oddly phrased or implicative questions, but to answer them in kind, with direct and accurate responses. Stuffed with encyclopedic knowledge of the world around it, it answers on the basis of information stored within its data banks, though obviously you won't be able to tap into it any time soon for help with your homework. The latest word is that Watson's lab tests have impressed the producers of Jeopardy! enough to have the bot participate in a televised episode of the show. That could happen as early as this fall, which fits right in line with our scheduled doom at robots' hands by the end of 2012. Ah well, might as well get our popcorn and enjoy the show.
Soulver brings a calculator scratchpad to your iPhone
Acqualia's Soulver, a very cool "calculator scratchpad" (which we've covered before), has come to the iPhone [iTunes link]. Both versions allow you to enter expressions in regular mathematical form, or a more "natural language" form. It keeps a running total in the sidebar, and you can reference (and edit) previous lines. Of course, it can run basic functions like sin, cos, and tan, but you can also use "English" functions such as "$29.99 - 35%" to get sale prices, markups, calculate tax, etc.. As a handy touch, Soulver (both iPhone and desktop versions) also allows you to save your work in files for later reference/editing. Soulver has always been a great alternative to standard calculator programs, and the iPhone version is -- in many cases -- a full replacement for the built-in calculator. Check out the iPhone version ($2.99US) on the App Store, and the desktop version ($19.95US) at the Acqualia site. [via Minimalmac]
Widget watch: Add iCal events using natural language with QuickCal
A new widget has found its way onto my Dashboard: QuickCal. It makes adding iCal events as easy as typing a natural-language string such as "lunch with Aditi at noon tomorrow." The widget parses the text as you type and shows what it finds below the entry area, letting you know if it understands your syntax. It also adds reminders automatically, based on your preferences for all events, events more than a week away, and events more than a month away. QuickCal seems to need the subject (title) of the event to be at the beginning of the string. Anything following the "at" or "on" clause is usually discarded. Since we're talking about "natural" language, this usually works out fine. It's not QuickCal's fault, but the only drawback for me is that my Dashboard takes far too long to start up, so any Widget I use has to carry that extra baggage on first load. I stopped running Dashboard Kickstart recently in an effort to speed up my wake time, but I may go back to it. I've also really enjoyed FlexCal, an app which provides a hotkey-triggered HUD for entering iCal events and todos. In my opinion, anything which keeps me from having to load iCal and deal with the multi-step process of entering a new event is worth the money. Of course, both QuickCal and FlexCal are free, so there's no room for complaint. Be sure to make a generous donation if you dig one, the other, or both.
Today 1.6 adds natural language parsing for new events
Second Gear Software released version 1.6 of Today on Tuesday, fixing some minor bugs and adding natural language parsing to create new events. Today is a handy utility that fetches data from your iCal calendars, and displays only the events for today in a tidy list on your screen. Adding an event was simple, thanks to the natural language processing. Typing in Thursday at 9 am or today at 2 pm for the start time or end time of a new event yielded good results. Bug fixes included improvements to Spaces behavior when in menu-bar mode, and miscellaneous performance tweaks. Version 1.5, released in November, added Growl notifications and alarm support. Today is $15, universal binary, and available as a 10-day trial. A screencast showing off the software's major features is also available on Second Gear's website. Steve has reviewed a previous version of Today, and Brett spoke with developer Justin Williams at WWDC last year.
