During most part of the last 10 years, in my experience with various systems, voice recognition has been frustration due to high error rates and not to forget the higher processing power needed ensure great accuracy I am not surprised that Apple deliberately treaded slowly in this market. I have a feeling now the technology has matured enough for a wider implementation in the OS, but as usual, all will rest on how well it is integrated, in addition to its speed and accuracy.
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Apple Negotiating Deal With Nuance for Speech Recognition in iOS 5?
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When did people ever condemn watching video on a computer screen (or think it was too far fetched?) This analogy doesn't even come close to comparing voice interaction with our devices vs. what we have now.
Just like people don't want touch capabilities on a laptop, the same holds true for voice input. Who the hell wants to "speak" to a device all the time? Especially around other people? Other than niche markets, I'm just not seeing this as something ready for prime time.
Hell, we can't even use our real voices in real time on our phones. It's all texting.
That being said... the computer female on my GPS sounds really hot. (But she's a nag).
Technology in an iPad will surely reach the point where that is exactly what could be done not just for more accuracy but for those without the ability to speak. In the rear facing camera it could be used by the listener who doesn't understand sign language or, probably more importantly, who is unable to hear. Many possibilities down the road!
I use Macspeech Dictate/Dragon constantly as part of my work, to generate electronic reports. Before that, I had to use a transcription service, which cost me tens of thousands a year. I put up with a huge learning curve (for both me and the software "learning me") because it was literally worth it financially. The Mac version is still considerably behind, anything that would improve it, especially Apple getting directly involved, would be very welcome. Even flawed as it is, it is pretty amazing to dictate large amounts of text containing much technical jargon in realtime, and it would be very welcome to do so on an iPad, for instance. I am about three major applications away from not needing a laptop and doing everything on my iPad.
I can think of 1 simple use for the iPad and easy to do.
It's not very exciting, but handy. Just have the feature where you could record a one word/phrase sound sample for every app and have that linked to the app.
So you just unlock your iPad and say safari and safari opens. Or say calculator one and your calculator opens. Or say YouTube and the YouTube app starts.
Not exciting, but just one phrase could easily be linked to every app in iOS 5 very simply and easily.
Not rocket science, but would be something.
It's not very exciting, but handy. Just have the feature where you could record a one word/phrase sound sample for every app and have that linked to the app.
So you just unlock your iPad and say safari and safari opens. Or say calculator one and your calculator opens. Or say YouTube and the YouTube app starts.
Not exciting, but just one phrase could easily be linked to every app in iOS 5 very simply and easily.
Not rocket science, but would be something.
They are likely going to announce iOS 5 in June. It very likely won't be available until September when the next iPhone comes out. They have plenty of time.
You can jailbreak and download Voice Activator. It allows you to put custom speech commands, including the command to open up an app. I particularly like it for it's iPod controls though. I can be running with my iPhone in my pocket and tell it to go to the next song without taking it out of my pocket.
It is much more convenient than talking to someone. I want to tell someone "I'll be home in 15 minutes." When I am driving home, I don't want to discuss how my day was. I don't want to discuss how the <insert sports team> did last night. Or a variety of other topics. I want to tell the person that I will be home in 15 minutes so that our dinner plans can be arranged ahead of time. Just far more convenient to tell someone a one line statement. Save the other crap for when I get home. Let me just tell them when I'll be home.
Don't worry though. My cubemate used to be like you. And then he upgraded his phone with a pre-paid plan that came with a certain number of texts. He is a texting fiend now. Now that he has seen the light. There is still hope for you.
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Hire a driver, voice recognition or not, your obsessive preoccupation with everything other than safely piloting your vehicle is going to get someone (and/or yourself) killed.
Really we should keep YOU off the road because you are clearly the problem. It's piss poor drivers like yourself that shouldn't be on the road, and that cause all the accidents. Those of us intelligent lifeforms that can drive fine, and recognize when there is plenty of space between other cars on the road and your car to be able to spend two seconds to read a text message aren't the ones driving in accidents. I'm not saying there aren't people who don't know how to drive AND use their cell phones... There are clearly plenty. But just because you aren't able to multitask, doesn't mean some people can't.
This Is Gonna Be Funny
This will raise the ambient "noise floor" in busses, planes, restaurants, coffee shops, supermarkets with everyone talking to a piece of plastic....LOL!!!
This will raise the ambient "noise floor" in busses, planes, restaurants, coffee shops, supermarkets with everyone talking to a piece of plastic....LOL!!!
I would LOVE to see Apple acquire Nuance and build speech recognition into Mac OS x (speech to text)
seems like a lot of people are limiting the speech recognition to simply commands... there's a lot of times when im using the ipad where i'd like to write out something that is more than a sentence or two, but it's not convenient to use the onscreen keyboard. it'd be nice to just be able to dictate longer ideas.
And followed up by purchasing Adobe...
I suspect this purchase has everything to do with iOS, and voice-to-text as a means to get around texting, and all the bloody car accidents that tend to go along with it. I'd splurge in a heartbeat, which is actually a strange notion - I never text while driving.
Different languages, different algorithms...
I wouldn't worry. I've an accent as well, and other voice recognition systems do a fairly good job at figuring me out... Unlike many people I talk face-to-face with.
I don't see Apple buying Nuance just for their voice recognition technology. Anyone that takes a glancing look over Nuace's website will see that they are involved in way too many other businesses which would have no interest for Apple at all. Medical, automotive, OCR, scanning, professional billing, etc. None of which would seem of any interest to Apple. Spending $6billion just for to get their voice tech and to have to jettison the rest wouldn't make sense.
And I agree with the part of the article about how difficult Nuance can be in negotiations. They license many of their APIs, but they also immediately consider anyone that licenses them to be direct competitors. It makes for circular, confusing negotiations.
And I agree with the part of the article about how difficult Nuance can be in negotiations. They license many of their APIs, but they also immediately consider anyone that licenses them to be direct competitors. It makes for circular, confusing negotiations.
Just like there are plenty of people who just don't know how to drive after drinking but not that guy sitting next to you in the bar, finishing his third beer. HE knows how to handle himself just fine, it's all those other drunks who don't know their limits that are the problem.
There are plenty of non-music voice recognition apps for the iPod touch. The majority of the ones that work on the iPhone also work on the iPod touch. Same with the iPad.
The Nuance Dragon Dictation app supports a number of different languages, some in different accents/dialects (for example UK, US and Australian English; Spanish and Mexican Spanish, French and Canadian French).
The big three search engine apps (Google, Yahoo! Search, Bing) all have voice search, as well as other search assistants (Siri, Vlingo). There are several voice-to-email and voice-to-text message apps as well.
Just go to the App Store and search for "voice recognition."
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Nuance acquired Shapewriter
Apple's negotiations with Nuance may be over Shapewriter technology which Nuance acquired around June 2010. For those who missed it, Shapewriter is my preferred app for taking notes. It is no longer available on the App Store, but my old version works fine. It is a wonderful fit with iOS and the best technique so far for touchscreen input.
Apple's negotiations with Nuance may be over Shapewriter technology which Nuance acquired around June 2010. For those who missed it, Shapewriter is my preferred app for taking notes. It is no longer available on the App Store, but my old version works fine. It is a wonderful fit with iOS and the best technique so far for touchscreen input.
Wow, utterly foolish. I hope the worst thing that ever happens to you is a close call, maybe you will learn something without hurting anyone.
I use Dragon Dictate for Mac and it works quite well. As a horrible typer I find it much easier to use voice commands and also dictate emails and reports in Pages.
Nuance has a $6 billion market cap? What the heck do they do? Dictation software can't be that big of a business...
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Hopefully whatever comes out of this will suck less than voice control and it's tendency to make international calls every time I ask it to play a song...
Hopefully whatever comes out of this will suck less than voice control and it's tendency to make international calls every time I ask it to play a song...
Sucks because Ford/Microsoft Sync already has this technology and it's powered by Nuance but stupid Apple doesn't let it work with iPhone because of their Bluetooth protocols. If they would just activate the MAP protocol I could enjoy this feature already in my car.