The Coming Wave of Gadgets That Listen and Obey

dgan brings us a NYTimes piece about the development of speech recognition for common gadgets. Companies such as Vlingo and Yap are marketing their software to cellular carriers to give consumers a hands-free option for tasks like finding directions and text messaging. Quoting: "Vlingo's service lets people talk naturally, rather than making them use a limited number of set phrases. Dave Grannan, the company's chief executive, demonstrated the Vlingo Find application by asking his phone for a song by Mississippi John Hurt (try typing that with your thumbs), for the location of a local bakery and for a Web search for a consumer product. It was all fast and efficient. Vlingo is designed to adapt to the voice of its primary user, but I was also able to use Mr. Grannan's phone to find an address. The Find application is in the beta test phase at AT&T and Sprint. Consumers who use certain cellphones from those companies can download the application from vlingo.com."

Comments

This is a dream

[FromTheAir]

The trick is to become lucid in it.

OT: your sig

[rk]

"Anybody who has a problem with me saying "Merry Christmas" shouldn't and won't be taken seriously" I have a problem with it... it's almost February. :-)

Re:It may finally happen.

[rts008]

"Anybody who has a problem with me saying "Merry Christmas" shouldn't and won't be taken seriously"

Perfect! Now we will have a MAD (Mutually Assured Disinterest) solution!

Actually, you would not get the opportunity to not take me seriously as I will automatically tune you out as soon as you say Merry Christmas in my presence....especially since it is near the end of January.