Apple Acquires Speech Technology Startup VocalIQ

[one more]

"The consumer demand for a self-learning multi-domain conversational voice system where consumers can freely talk about movies, restaurants, music, hotel bookings and the meaning of life, is huge and undeniable."

LOL, I'd rather learn about the meaning of life from my daily experiences-interactions and quiet reflection. The big tech really seems to be trying hard to make us more gadget-depended, literally hardwiring them into us with a multitude of sensors. It is hard to truly appreciate any experience when one regularly looks at it through the iPhone screen, recording it and rushing to post it out. This can easily turn life into a fast-food enterprise, which, imho, will be a pity.

 

[MacBH928]

What would a small start up do/know that a mega enterprise with $200b in the bank like Apple can't do?

Any way, speech recognition has vastly improved, its usable now. Any one who complains, please let me tell you, just few years ago this was something you would only see at the Jetsons. You actually talk to you phone and it does work? "amazing" is not strong enough to describe this processes. Maybe I am old...

 

[SecureThoughts1]

I honestly don't use Siri. Nothing against 'him/her' but I just find it quicker to find the info or consult Google myself. Yes it's quirky and fun but I personally find no real value in it. Am I being blinkered?

 

[nickgri]

I have been saying this for years-Apple finally is catching up. Years ago Dragon Naturally speaking was able to learn and remember strange words or names once you typed them in and added them to the dictionary. Also the method of trying to have the computer translate with some math formulas was archaic. There are only so many commonly used words so if in a real voice instead of a computer voice they could play back by just having these words in the memory already recorded and if not in there let them be recorded for future use. Hearing a real voice would be so much nicer than a computer voice.

 

[sully54]

It a

What would a small start up do/know that a mega enterprise with $200b in the bank like Apple can't do?

It all comes down to intellectual property these days. VocalIQ must have some patents Apple is after.

 

[Matz]

Well, not when they're talking to an a scientist anywhere in the world... They just have to adapt then hey... All whole list of elements have the same ending, removing the "i" just in that one is just dumb.

BTW, Do you say give me some Sodum, Lithum, Patassum, or want an Helum balloon, or make me a Titanum Alloy... I think not. Sorry Americans...

ACS, since 1925, or thereabouts. A fairly respected group of scientists. As for the rest of the world, according to the IUPAC periodic table, "aluminum" is noted as a "commonly used alternative spelling of "aluminium." Why on earth would they print such a thing? Commonly indeed.

Of course I would not say Sodum, Lithum, Patassum (sic), or Helum. But I would say Molybdenum, Lanthanum, or Platinum.

No need to be sorry. Really.

 

[ackmondual]

Wow, I didn't expect Siri to be behind Google's offering! Not that I've been following this that closely... I have a Galaxy s4, but been too "old fashioned" to use Galaxy. I have seen some construction workers at a FF place using it and asking it about a bunch of things like actresses, facts, etc. I have an Ipod Touch 5, so Siri only works when I'm near wifi, so even lazier about that.

Any idea when Apple bought the company responsible for Siri? Was it a year or two before iPhone 4s ?

According to Wikipedia, April 2011, and was first released for Iph4s indeed. Siri was originally intended to be for Android, Blackberry, AND iOS, so it was definitely when BB was still in the game. (well, at least much more then vs. now, if that's saying much).

 

[Woodcrest64]

Wow, I didn't expect Siri to be behind Google's offering! Not that I've been following this that closely... I have a Galaxy s4, but been too "old fashioned" to use Galaxy. I have seen some construction workers at a FF place using it and asking it about a bunch of things like actresses, facts, etc. I have an Ipod Touch 5, so Siri only works when I'm near wifi, so even lazier about that.





According to Wikipedia, April 2011, and was first released for Iph4s indeed. Siri was originally intended to be for Android, Blackberry, AND iOS, so it was definitely when BB was still in the game. (well, at least much more then vs. now, if that's saying much).

It took a year I think then according to that. They acquired it 2010. Should see some improvements by next year then with Siri and natural speech or so I hope.

 

[CJM]

Oh great!... Now I'm going to have to say AL-U-MIN-E-UM instead of Aluminum.

Good! Because you've been saying it wrong this entire time!

It's funny how I've never really regarded personal assistants as anything beyond a simple voice search method or creating reminders and setting timers. VoiceIQ are right though, for the remainder of this decade, I can feel natural language processing making huge leaps towards becoming a more prevalent method of interaction with our devices. No doubt it's a very hard nut to crack, but I look forward to the day it's solved.

 

[isoroid]

Thank you for the post

app store

 

[smoledman]

Whichever company can develop their AI assistant into Samantha from "Her" first will be the ultimate "killer app" that will take the mobile industry 100%. My bets are on Apple.