Apple Negotiating Deal With Nuance for Speech Recognition in iOS 5?

[Roller]

If you'd be disruptive answering a call, guess what, answering a SMS is probably as disruptive. I hate when in the middle of a meeting, there's a guy in the corner texting on his phone. I find that much more rude than someone excusing themselves and going out to take a call.

Anyway, I'm not going to win here. Old guard vs new guard. I just find you guys highly disconnected and annoying. Not to mention a lot more dangerous on the road.

I work in the medical field, where people are constantly paged at meetings and elsewhere. When I get paged, I have to look at the message to see if it's something that needs my immediate attention or can wait. Same with text messages, with the added advantage that I can type a quick "OK" to let the sender know that I got their message. With voice calls, the most I can see is the caller's ID some of the time - I have to answer the call just to see what it's about, and that is always more disruptive.

And please don't paint everyone with the same broad brush. I never said anything about texting while driving, which I agree is dangerous.

 

[KnightWRX]

I usally agree with alot of your opinions, or facts on topics, but I find the irony of you denouncing texting, while typing on a forums, a bit ridiculous.

Again, I was making the point that wanting to dictate a SMS message to the phone, while having the remote phone read it out loud to the person is ridiculous. Of course, Macrumors being what it is, this got totally lost in the irrelevant discussion that followed where my initial point was twisted into something much bigger than it was.

I am not against typed out messages, only against their abuse and the obvious ridicule of the situation of "dictating them to the phone". If you're going to talk out your text, to a PHONE why not just go the extra step and dial the person...

I personally still think that SMS, phone, pagers, they are all as disruptive and rude in a meeting. I have a pager for my work that receives written texts instead of just a number. I still excuse myself to look at it and go call back the person if it is urgent. Same with SMS and phones. There's no technology that is more or less rude than the other, but emergencies are emergencies.

 

[nickgri]

Nuance

SIRI ROCKS! By far the best voice recognition program EVER-pay for it APPLE you will not regret it!

 

[dgree03]

Again, I was making the point that wanting to dictate a SMS message to the phone, while having the remote phone read it out loud to the person is ridiculous. Of course, Macrumors being what it is, this got totally lost in the irrelevant discussion that followed where my initial point was twisted into something much bigger than it was.

I am not against typed out messages, only against their abuse and the obvious ridicule of the situation of "dictating them to the phone". If you're going to talk out your text, to a PHONE why not just go the extra step and dial the person...

I personally still think that SMS, phone, pagers, they are all as disruptive and rude in a meeting. I have a pager for my work that receives written texts instead of just a number. I still excuse myself to look at it and go call back the person if it is urgent. Same with SMS and phones. There's no technology that is more or less rude than the other, but emergencies are emergencies.

OHHH I get it yes, then I agree with you.

There really isnt any reason to speak out your text messages. I can think of one reason, If you know the person cannot talk, and you are driving handsfree, the ablity to type out a text via voice might be benefical. It it sort of like a voicemail, but it can be read instantly without the need to chat.

 

[tbrinkma]

Could the front camera be used to look at facial gestures / lip movements as a way to make the results more accurate?

That actually sounds like a pretty good idea, especially given how many language cues rely on seeing the speaker. (Of course, I don't have the slightest idea how well it would work, or if it's even practical.)

 

[KnightWRX]

OHHH I get it yes, then I agree with you.

There really isnt any reason to speak out your text messages. I can think of one reason, If you know the person cannot talk, and you are driving handsfree, the ablity to type out a text via voice might be benefical. It it sort of like a voicemail, but it can be read instantly without the need to chat.

Of course these days, most phone and services worth their damn can send you a transcript of your voicemails or read your e-mails out loud (Cisco Unity could back in something like 2002...).

Voice recognition on the iPhone itself is good for Voice Control, but for text input a la DragonSpeak ? I don't really see the use. It's already a voice communication device with a whole infrastructure of voice services already enabled.

 

[coolspot18]

Would this work for native speakers only? Some of us have a bit of an accent when speaking..

What about foreign languages, are they supported or is this English only?

Nuance Dragon Naturally speaking supports several languages. Since version 10 or 11, Nuance added in accent support (at least for English).

Of course these days, most phone and services worth their damn can send you a transcript of your voicemails or read your e-mails out loud (Cisco Unity could back in something like 2002...).

Guess which company provides the technology for voicemail to text? Spinvox aka Nuance.

 

[TenderBranson]

this would be by far the best feature of iOs 5.0

 

[samcraig]

Those that say there's no use for this are probably the same ones that said the iPad didn't need a front or rear facing camera because THEY didn't see a use for one or thought it would be "too awkward." The same people are touting iPad2's front/rear facing camera now as a brilliant addition.

Right off the bat, I can see how useful this would be for quick instant translations when visiting foreign countries whether it's on a tour, listening to your waiter, etc. That's just one set of examples.

I do look forward to when this is implemented though. It will be fun to see how many people here re-write history stating that Apple was the first to implement real voice recognition into a smart phone. Of course, negating the fact that google put it in theirs from Day One I believe...

 

[mdelvecchio]

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.

except when you are. sorry pal but you unless youre a pre-cog, you cant predict the kid running out to grab his ball when youre nose-down in a text.

arrogant jagazz.

 

[mdelvecchio]

I swear people these days want less and less contact with others. Self-absorption is the name of the game.

not really. its about the right tool for the right job. many times the right tool is a short push message than does not require full-duplex resource dedication.

 

[mdelvecchio]

If you'd be disruptive answering a call, guess what, answering a SMS is probably as disruptive. I hate when in the middle of a meeting, there's a guy in the corner texting on his phone. I find that much more rude than someone excusing themselves and going out to take a call.

well luckily we dont depend on your to envision every environment when accepting texts is less disruptive than phone calls, because youre missing them. but since *you* are not *me*, that's to be expected.

I just find you guys highly disconnected and annoying.

i find people who think their situation or preferences are identical to everyone else's to be annoying.

Not to mention a lot more dangerous on the road.

who said anything about driving? i see what you did there.

 

[Manderby]

I remember, my Nokia 1$-phone had speech recognition in 2002. I tried it. It worked very reliably. I never used it since.

The technology used for recognition of speech or even text is very, very old and only marginal improvements have been achieved in the last years. The error rate still is way too high, even if you have a perfect signal. Thinking about voice-controlling your car? Good luck with the insurances.

You guys do realise the iPhone already has direct speech-to-soundwave technology built in, which allows the other person to actually hear your voice. It's quite amazing.

Worth quoting.

 

[caspersoong]

Say hello to better speech recognition for Macs, iPhones and the iPad but not the iPod touch.