voice

Move over Siri. Windows Phone now has its own voice assistant, dubbed Ask Ziggy, and it seems to be a hit.

Except for some negative comments here and there, many reviewers on the MarketPlace page for the free app christened it with 4- and 5-star ratings, resulting in an average of 3.5 stars.

"Off to a great start," said one commenter. "As a proof of concept it's funny to see how Apple's 'amazing' interface can be rivaled by a single developer. Looking forward to future updates."

I ran a quick, informal competition between … Read more

People have been looking for ways to improve on the iPad's onscreen keyboard since day one. The constant screen-shifting and other shortcomings of the iPad key layout have led many people to use apps that let you communicate with minimum typing. Say "hello" to voice-recording apps.

Of the five free voice-recording iPad apps I tried, only two--Audio Memos Free and Smart Recorder Lite--let you record short sound bites and attach the resulting sound files to an e-mail or transfer them via Wi-Fi, ftp, or an online file-storage service. Dragon Dictation coverts the words you speak into text … Read more

You can soon talk to your LG Cinema 3D smart TV using a new Magic Remote announced by the Korean chaebol. Besides voice recognition, the controller has also been upgraded with a scroll wheel, gesture sensing, and a 2D-to-3D conversion button.

LG says the Magic Remote makes for a faster smart-TV browsing experience, and improved comfort and convenience. That said, the company did not provide any pricing and availability details in its press release. LG's current Magic Motion remote control is bundled with certain TV models such as the 47LW6500.

So what's your preferred smart TV controller? Is it a swanky smartphone, large-screen tablet, or funky Wiimote-like wand? Share your thoughts with us below.

(Source: Crave Asia via Engadget)… Read more

While software may not be the glitziest of categories on display at CES, there's still plenty to be excited about as we prep for the 2012 event. From artificial intelligence to home integration, apps are definitely on the rise. Also, expect the cloud and health care to emerge as topics yet again.

Forecast: Cloudy Though this was on many prediction lists last year, we expect cloud computing to really hit its stride beginning with announcements at 2012's Consumer Electronics Show. Now that Apple's iCloud and other services have found creative (and successful) ways to store data in … Read more

Apple is reportedly working on a television that will incorporate voice commands and wireless streaming.

Executives from Apple have discussed their plans with media executives at several companies, including the possibility of a TV that uses wireless streaming to access programming, movies, and other content, according to a Wall Street Journal report (subscription required). Apple is also working on technology that would identify users across a variety of devices such as phones, tablets, and TVs, people familiar with the talks told the newspaper.

Perhaps the most ambitious of Apple's TV ideas is a planned technology that would allow users … Read more

Google may soon launch a new, more sophisticated voice assistant for Android devices that can respond to natural language commands, claims tech enthusiast site Android and Me.

Codenamed Majel after the late "Star Trek" actress Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who provided the voice of the computer for all of the later versions of the popular science fiction TV series, the new voice assistant could launch as early as January or February.

If the report holds true, Majel would be an upgrade to Android's current Voice Actions app, which lets you make calls, send e-mails, search the Web, get directions, … Read more

In a series of patent applications, Apple has outlined how it plans to combat noisy environments by using voice recognition to activate and control noise-cancellation technologies.

By changing the noise-cancellation process to fit specific voices, Apple thinks it can better manage noise-ridden spaces, especially for mobile devices while making calls or recording voice memos.

Four patent applications relating to this technology were uncovered by AppleInsider at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office:

commentary What do Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Kinect have in common besides processing voice commands? Right from the get-go they were both a top target for tinkerers.

Look no further than this past weekend's very neat hack of Siri, which managed to get the voice software--which is perhaps best known for being the first major voice recognition system that has a personality--to control a home thermostat.

Not content with searching for weather reports and dictating voice notes, programmer Peter Lamonica put together a software workaround to funnel Siri's voice commands through a separate server, then used those commands to interface with the digital thermostat. The end result let Siri both check and change the temperature settings, using Apple's servers to do the heavy lifting when it came to transcribing. Keep in mind this is just a little more than a month out from the release of the iPhone 4S.

Is this a watershed moment for the kinds of things mobile phones can do? No, but it was a big one for Siri. Users took some of its basics, and rethought the kinds of things they could do with it.

Something very similar happened with the Kinect last year. Unlike Apple, which packaged Siri as an exclusive software feature within the iPhone 4S, Microsoft sold the Kinect as a $150 add-on for its Xbox 360 platform. The move gave owners of a five-year old piece of hardware new ways to control their system, and games with voice and motion controls.

Seeing a cool new gadget to hack, tinkerers--and not just Xbox owners--took to the platform immediately, wanting to have their way with the hardware, and use it in places Microsoft was not yet offering, like on desktop PCs. A week after the Kinect's release, that's just what happened. … Read more

Ever made plans or laid out action steps in your head while on a business call, and later wished you had taken notes?

Maybe you were on your Bluetooth headset while driving, or you couldn't find a pen. Or maybe you just plain hate scrawling anything on paper at all.

Enter Tote Notes, a brilliantly conceived app that pops up after voice calls so you can dictate notes before you forget any important details.

Here's how it works. Whenever you get off a call, a Tote Notes dialog box pops up asking whether you want to record a … Read more