Amazon Preparing to Take on Apple's Siri with Acquisition of Speech Recognition Firm?

[fxtech]

I look forward to having this tech on *all* my devices.

I don’t think Siri makes a lot of sense on “all” devices.

I should have been more clear. I meant my iPad, iTouch, and Android phone. If Apple won't bring that to me (for purely marketing reasons), I'd gladly use someone else's tech. And I know Amazon can pull it off.

 

[SandynJosh]

I haven't tried Siri yet, but is it just me or does it seem like a bad idea? This voice recognition and all. I almost feel like not upgrading my phone because of it. Seems like a gimmick. Do I really want to talk to my phone in public letting those around me what i'm planning or doing?

Not sure if this is the way to go.

Trust me, it isn't just you, the rest of the Luddites feel the same way.

 

[RoccoFan]

Mr. Me Too

I know, I know, yep yeah, you too
Okay we get it, yep yeah you too
I know, I know, yep yeah, you too
Okay everybody meet Mr. Me Too

I know what you thinkin' why I call you, Me Too
Cause everything I say, I got you sayin' Me Too
I say I got [Siri] so you said me too
You [Spending money on acquisitions so that] they can see you
---The Clipse, Mr. Me Too

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

I think it could be argued that Siri came up with the idea and Apple bought them and integrated it.

Exactly. Apple made this technology mainstream and now everyone and their brother has to either knock it or copy it. Does anyone think Amazon would have purchased Yap if Apple didn't introduce Siri with the iPhone 4S? Don't bet on it. But as soon as Apple introduces something, the copycats are not far behind.

 

[Gasu E.]

Somewhere in the its secret Puyallup research facility, a Microsoft engineer pounds his head on a console and cries out:

"Damn it. My photocopier is busted! Again!"

>OK. Do you want me to call the service technician?

 

[Tiger8]

Apple wasn't the first to have voice recognition. Why does everyone assume everyone else copies Apple maybe, Amazon was copying Android?

I'm sorry, I saw the Android voice command, and while they are OK at most, they are nowhere NEAR the AI capabilities of Siri. AI was my passion when I was in college and read a lot about it, Siri is truly out of Science Fiction movie.

She might be SkyNet! Where is the Governator when you need him?

 

[milo]

Yes - because just DAYS before they launch the product, they will incorporate a company that they just bought. Clearly the acquisition was meant for the first gen Fire. It couldn't possibly be for the next gen - or perhaps an entirely different product.

Duh, of course it's for the next product. But the timing of the two doesn't give much confidence in Amazon's ability to plan ahead. Especially since including a mic on the fire (for a number of possible uses) would have had a negligible increase in cost.

But at least you figured out the sarcasm.

 

[Tinmania]

The data usage actually suggests that the speech recognition is done on the device.

Huh? That is easily disproven by this amazing trick: turn on Airplane mode. Try and use voice recognition from keyboard--no Siri involved, only Nuance, the same recognizer that Siri uses. It won't work and the microphone button will even disappear.

That is not surprising since Nuance's own iOS dictation app needs Net access too.

Finally rather than suggesting on-board speech recognition I felt the ars article on Siri data usage suggests that it is recording speech somewhere between 16-32kbps and sending that to the cloud for processing. A 3-second question can easily be sent, on EDGE not even 3G, in less than a second.





Michael

 

[Oletros]

Does anyone think Amazon would have purchased Yap if Apple didn't introduce Siri with the iPhone 4S? Don't bet on it.

Mmmm, Siri on iPhone 4S was presented on October, Amazon disclosed Yap buy on September.

Mmmm, yes, people can think about purchasing Yap if Apple didn't introduce Siri on iPhone 4. You have lost your bet.

And them why do you say that Amazon treats the cloud in the Fire only like a hard drive? What makes Apple use different?

 

[xraydoc]

I find it interesting how every company lately wants to be Apple.

Amazon - they sell mail-order books and DVDs but now they want to be Apple.

Google - they sell ads and your personal information, and they want to be Apple.

Barnes and Noble - they sell books and they now too want to be Apple.

Pretty soon we'll see Target or K-Mart with their own tablet + app store + movie store (hell, even Walmart tried to sell MP3s).

While attempting to emulate one successful business to be successful yourselves is one thing, Amazon - a perfectly successful and valuable company in itself - is now trying to copy Apple's success with personal computing devices...

Will all these companies drive themselves out of business attempting to be everything?

 

[something3153]

I wish Amazon would just stick to selling books.

I wish Apple would stick to selling iMacs.

Not really, but I hope you get my point.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

The data usage actually suggests that the speech recognition is done on the device.

Sorry data usage proves it is NOT done on the device. If it was done on device data usage for a Siri command. Would be measured in bytes not kb.

They have not acquired a voice recognition company, so it was done in house.

Between 2007 and 2010, Google created a large phoneme database from its now-shuttered GOOG 411 voice-activated directory service. Google voice recognition development efforts are based off of this database.

Google also has voicemail transcription for its Google Voice service. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but if I recall correctly, this phoneme database is kept separate for privacy purposes. Again, this was generated in house. Voicemail transcription was a new feature added after the acquisition of GrandCentral.

Google using google voice mail to improve the system if the user ops in. Same goes for using voice search on Android you can opped in for them using it to improve the system. As a bonus they will improve you voice search based on your voice. That time to improve butyou have to opt in for it.
Default for both is not to do it.

 

[mjtomlin]

Uh, how many times must it mentioned that Siri is neither voice recognition or a search algorithm?

It is in fact speech interpretation which requires a higher level of artificial intelligence to determine meaning and context.

Siri uses Nuance, which is voice/speech recognition to translate into text. Then it interprets the text based on context and personal information. Then uses various 3rd party (and 1st party) databases and search engines to determine the most logical answer.

Apple has used speech synthesis since 1984 (MacinTalk) and speech recognition since 1993 (PlainTalk) neither of these things are new.

What Siri offers is new, the A.I.

What this article describes, is nothing new.

If I had to guess why Amazon bought this, is for a speech automated ordering system,which has nothing to do with the Kindle line, but for their phone ordering system.

 

[coolspot18]

The data usage actually suggests that the speech recognition is done on the device.

The level of accuracy provided by Siri means that is probably done in the cloud in a data center. It takes quite a bit of hardware power to do decent recognition.

The local Siri software probably only some pre-and-post processing.

As for TTS, you only need ~8kbps for decent recognition - i.e. like a telephone call quality. No need for CD quality audio.

 

[mjtomlin]

Apple wasn't the first to have voice recognition. Why does everyone assume everyone else copies Apple maybe, Amazon was copying Android?

Apple, PlainTalk, 1993

Google, Voice Commands, 2010

Just saying.

Why is it that most people (fandroids) assume Apple copies Android?

 

[coolspot18]

Apple, PlainTalk, 1993

Google, Voice Commands, 2010

The world's first speech recognizer was demonstrated in 1952! It only understood numbers, but still - the technology's roots are >50 years old!!!!

 

[richpjr]

Fire is not a mobile competitor. It doesn't have 3G. I just recently realized that an it really makes it kind of a weak product. Not much storage to download and take stuff with you, and no way to stream stuff on the road. Speech Recognition is done in the cloud, so it's kinda pointless on the device since there's no cloud available unless you're sitting at home or in a starbucks talking to your Kindle. I would doubt it has a mic. I know it's not for the kindle, but that's what these articles keep calling Amazon's foray into mobile devices, but it's the least mobile of ALL Amazon devices. It's meant to be used at home or at least somewhere with a wifi hotspot. MUSIC - I want in the car. MOVIES - I want a bigger screen or I want them in the CAR for the kids. Voice Recognition - I want with a MAP and in the CAR.

So I'm sure they'll have a future device in the works, but it won't be as competitive because it will have to be mobile and have a bigger, RETINA screen by then.

So according to this logic, all of the non-3G iPads sold are weak products as well. Really?

 

[mjtomlin]

The world's first speech recognizer was demonstrated in 1952! It only understood numbers, but still - the technology's roots are >50 years old!!!!

My post was in regards to those fandroids that think Apple has only copied Android with its own speech commands. The fact is, Apple has 30 years of software and technology behind it to "borrow" from. It doesn't need Android.

The bigger issue is the shortsightedness of Android fans completely overlooking Apple's desktop OS legacy, not to mention their touch screen mobile legacy with the Newton, which was fairly advanced for its time. They all act as if Apple has nothing else to draw from other than competition.

 

[Gunga Din]

It's not the voice recognition that is important, you can enter your command by text if you want (I'm sure Apple will eventually provide such option). The IMPORTANT part of Siri is how it takes your command and understand what you actually mean and then perform the corresponding task, for example, "wake me up at 7 in the morning", "send a note to my wife", "do i need a jacket next Monday", etc.... Imagine it's all done in one shot, without you having to go through several manual steps on the phone to achieve the same effect. There's no application out there that can do that.

got ya, and thx for the reply. most of the replies to my comment have been made by morons. Like i noted, I have not used it and wanted to get some feedback.

But I do feel that there are certain details that you might want typed in then broadcasted to the phone. Just be careful. Never know when someone would like to know where and what time you will be somewhere. Not trying to slam something i've never used, just worried about others well being.

----------

Trust me, it isn't just you, the rest of the Luddites feel the same way.

I'm not against forward progress in tech, I just analyze anything new .

 

[Liquorpuki]

Amazon is slowly moving into a competition with Apple. Fire vs iPad, eBooks, and I can see them making a bigger move with music with their Prime members. Something to watch since it gets less attention than the feud with Google.

I'm a Prime member and I don't see them doing anything exceptional with music

I'm curious what Amazon plans to do with the speech recognition tech. The Kindle Fire doesn't even have a microphone. Whatever they're doing with it, it's not gonna be the same as SIRI

 

[Winni]

Step 1. Copy Apple
Step 2. Eat banana

Here's a reality check for you: Apple was the last one to come to the voice assistant party, they're only marketing this feature as if they invented the technology (which they haven't - they only bought it). Android had this stuff years before Apple.

 

[stevensr123]

Companies are so good at copying what Apple does, but completely unable to come up with these ideas on their own...

Except the company that made siri created the idea and implemented it into the iPhone ages ago. The reason why it is so fantastic now is only because it's integrated into the system itself.


I would give apple all the credit for that. obviously apple were good enough to buy the company, but don't tell me apple came up with idea.

 

[samcraig]

Duh, of course it's for the next product. But the timing of the two doesn't give much confidence in Amazon's ability to plan ahead. Especially since including a mic on the fire (for a number of possible uses) would have had a negligible increase in cost.

But at least you figured out the sarcasm.

Again - who says this acquisition has anything to do with the Kindle Fire. And even if it did - why put components on a device - increased your cost if you have no plan on using them yet with software?

For all anyone knows - the software will be used inhouse at Amazon for customer service so that their calls can be transcribed. Or some other reason.

Yes - it's fair to say it will be used on a device too - but maybe not the Fire. Maybe they're working on a phone. Or maybe they bought it to license out to other Android manufacturers as a revenue stream

So many options just based on the idea that they are acquiring speech recognition.

 

[Tinmania]

got ya, and thx for the reply. most of the replies to my comment have been made by morons. Like i noted, I have not used it and wanted to get some feedback.

But I do feel that there are certain details that you might want typed in then broadcasted to the phone. Just be careful. Never know when someone would like to know where and what time you will be somewhere. Not trying to slam something i've never used, just worried about others well being.

----------



I'm not against forward progress in tech, I just analyze anything new .

Yea the Luddite comment was way out of line.

Should have said all the paranoid luddites would agree that this is a "bad ideal."



Michael

 

[Dragonomicon]

Are you kidding?

I look forward to having this tech on *all* my devices.

I don’t think Siri makes a lot of sense on “all” devices. It makes far more sense to have Siri on your iPhone and open up APIs to interact with other devices. By keeping Siri on your personal device there’s an implicit intimacy and trust built up between agent and user which is critical. iPads, computers, ATM machines, credit card readers even iPod touches, very few of our digital devices are so uniquely and definitively ours as the mobile phone.

The personal nature of Siri is perhaps as important as the actual “AI” and is something services like Zypr and Yap will have a hard time replicating.

Good god man, it's a phone! When you start throwing around things like 'trust' and 'personal relationship' when speaking about your phone I think you've become more than a little unhinged from reality.

Chrissakes.