You’ve probably never heard of Expect Labs, but it’s a company that you should definitely keep your eye on. Intel, Samsung, and Telefonica all have invested in the small startup, and they join the likes of Google who have invested in the company in the past. Specific dollar amounts have not been disclosed as of right now.

The marvel behind Expect Labs’ Siri alternative is that the software constantly listens to and analyzes your conversations as they happen, and if it notices that you’re asking a factual question to a friend (like, “what time does the White Sox game start?”), it’ll pull up relevant information right at that moment without having to search for it.

Of course, it’s surprising why big companies are eyeing this kind of technology. More and more companies are getting into voice control software, and if it could offer something as revolutionary as what Expect Labs is cooking up, it could change the way voice control works. Of course, privacy is a big concern here, especially when the software listens in to your conversations at all times. Nonetheless, Expect Labs is looking to expand its team, and they didn’t go into detail as far as the future of the company, but it seems they have some big plans coming up.

[via TechCrunch]

DirecTV’s existing apps – for iOS and Android – are both in line for the update, which is due to come down the line sometime over the summer. They will also retain the existing placeshifting-style streaming abilities, which already allows viewers to view searched-for shows either on their phone or the TV, or indeed to browse search results on the TV screen using the app as a touchpad for navigation.

The difference, however, will be in how those search terms are entered. Rather than an on-screen keyboard, DirecTV will accept natural spoken queries – the company apparently demonstrated things like “search for comedies with Adam Sandler” in addition to requests for recent sports games by team – in addition to filtering with channel, actor, genre, and time.

One possible addition to what DirecTV is referring to as “open beta” functionality is room for promotional content. The updated app features speech bubbles which, by default, make suggestions as to possible searches subscribers might want to make. However, DirecTV has confirmed that the same UI is being considered for including adverts, presumably including pay-per-view movies and other on-demand content.

Speaking to a TV rather than navigating with a remote is something several manufacturers are trying to perfect, though the results have been mixed so far. Several models from Samsung and LG’s ranges include the functionality, with microphones integrated into the remote controls, while Apple’s long-rumored Apple Television has been tipped to use Siri for its control system.

Wired details the process of which Apple uses to anonymize all Siri data. Essentially, all Siri commands get sent to an Apple data farm, where Apple generates a random number that represents the user and associates the Siri commands with that random number. After six months, your random number is deleted, but the Siri data remains intact until 18 more months have passed, where the data will then get deleted.

Obviously, Siri isn’t two years quite yet, so all the data ever transmitted through Siri is still being stored, but come later this fall, Apple will begin deleting older Siri data. However, privacy advocates still aren’t happy, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) being one of them. They say that Apple’s privacy policy with Siri is still rather vague.

The ACLU says that “what you say to Siri could reveal sensitive things about you, your family, or business,” and they warn Siri-wielding folks that “Siri works for Apple, so make a note to yourself to really think before you speak.” In a day and age where privacy is a big issue, some users can still easily overlook how much data they’re giving away.

[via Wired]

According to TechCrunch, anonymous sources are claiming that Amazon purchased Evi for $26 million. Furthermore, it’s said that all of Evi’s directors have been replaced by Amazon’s UK legal representatives, and the company’s records show that all directors have been replaced and all loans have been paid off.

Evi has been a bit of a controversial product in the past. It was pulled from the iTunes App Store for being too similar to Siri, but was later let back in. Evi works similar to Siri, where it uses a natural language search engine to find answers for questions that are asked by users. However, Evi can learn from your questioning habits and produce better answers in the future.

Back in January, Amazon acquired text-to-speech company IVONA, but that seemed to be mostly meant for Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet lineup. However, it’s a feature that we could also see in an Amazon smartphone as well. With the acquisition of Evi, Amazon may be looking to take on Apple directly, but we’ll ultimately have to wait and see what happens.

[via TechCrunch]

Such positions include a Speech Operations Engineer, who will be responsible for deploying large-scale server infrastructures, as well as a few Siri Software Engineers who will “help build out new areas of expertise for Siri, expanding the product’s capabilities for millions of users,” which suggest that further compatibility with more apps may be in the books.

There’s also a position for a Siri Integration Engineer, who will be responsible for prioritizing “incoming feature enhancements and functionality regressions that may arise, ensuring that the tickets are appropriately categorized,” which means that they would be responsible for troubleshooting new Siri features as they come along.

The Siri Interaction Designer job listing probably gives the biggest clue that Apple is looking to go all-in with Siri. This position will involve extending Siri’s “capabilities, knowledge, and intelligence.” Again, it’s not too surprising that Apple is improving on Siri, but it points to the fact that after introducing Siri in 2011 with the iPhone 4S, the company may finally be conducting a full-scale overhaul of the service. Of course, this isn’t the first job listing to hint at Siri improvements. There was a job listing back in January that would see Siri act more like a “distinct, recognizable character.”

[via Fast Company]

Because the Voice Ad is showing up on a mobile device, Nuance can offer more granular control over when, and where, it’s visible. That can include GPS positioning, so that advertisers know when you’re near, say, a store where you can buy their product. Nuance also uses automatic volume and microphone sensitivity, so that the ad still works even in areas of high background noise.

Nuance’s example is somewhat basic: the company has created a Magic 8 Ball app which tags on an advert for deodorant at the end. At the moment, it all feels a little stilted and artificial, though the speech recognition works well.

Nuance Voice Ads demo:

We’re probably still some way off from having Siri and other spoken assistant systems throw in a sales pitch for popcorn when they help us find the nearest movie theater, though Nuance says that there’s already significant interest from ad networks in the Voice Ads technology. It’s unclear when we can expect the first Voice Ads to turn up in the wild.

The video shows two Windows Phones side-by-side, with one running the current Bing app and one running the alleged prototype app. You can see its improvements in real time, with one of the most obvious ones being the reduction in latency when the user makes voice requests. Obviously, this hasn’t been confirmed by Microsoft.

In addition to the latency improvements, there is also a decrease in the rate of word errors, and voice requests that are made in a noisy situation, such as a room where other devices are producing noise, are handled better than with the current app. You can check all this out yourself in the video below.

Near the end of the video, you’ll hear someone said to be Eric Rudder of the Chief Technical Strategy Office. According to Rudder, the prototype app offers a 12-percent to 15-percent increase in word error accuracy, but goes on to say that there is another potential 10-percent to 15-percent that hasn’t been implemented. There’s no word on when these improvements will make their way to the public.

[via MSFT Kitchen]

Headlining the list of new features includes a 20% improvement to the accuracy of the voice recognition, as well as faster overall performance. NaturallySpeaking 12 includes some pretty neat features, like Smart Format Rules, that increases the accuracy of formatting sentences and structure based on the user’s input for punctuation and such.

Current users of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 will automatically get a free software update through a digital download notification, or can head to “Check for Updates” in the Help tab of the DragonBar. As for new customers, the update is ready for ordering, with more languages becoming available over the next couple of weeks.

Nuance’s products may not seems mainstream, but the company’s technology is used by Apple for their Siri voice recognition system, as well as the voice dictation feature in OS X Mountain Lion. If you don’t have either, NaturallySpeaking 12 is a good choice for dictation. You can even hook up your Android phone to use as a microphone over your home WiFi.

The startup was incorporated just last year, and was founded by professor Geoffrey Hinton and two of his grad students, Alex Krizhevsky and Ilya Sutskever, at the University of Toronto. Hinton is actually world-renowned for his work with neural networks, and the research done by the startup has “profound implications for areas such as speech recognition, computer vision and language understanding.”

Google’s search engine is already an impressive specimen, but it seems the company still wants to improve it in some areas, and that’s where the research conducted by the folks at DNNresearch comes into play. Google hopes that the acquisition will push them in the right direction as far as voice recognition and improved search functionality.

The University of Toronto said that both Krizhevsky and Sutskever will be transfered to Google, and professor Hinton will split his time between working at Google and conducting research at the university. Hinton will work out of Google’s Toronto offices, as well as at Google headquarters in Mountain View sometimes.

[via Engadget]

What you’re seeing here is the iPhone displaying a map, opening a menu, and closing a menu. This is done with the read EEG signals coming from Cash’s brain interpreted by a custom developer code made for Siri on the iPhone. With this setup, we can potentially run anything Siri can run by simply thinking of it.

Of course it’s not all that simple, and just getting this far in the project was no cake walk. With mind control used in this manner we’re still quite a few years away from creating anything that wouldn’t be simpler with simple taps or voice commands. In the future though, we might be thinking of novels and creating masterpieces in media without lifting a finger. We shall see!

ALSO NOTE: Though Cash works for Honda R&D now, he may be doing additional work on this project as his own independent masters project. Take a look at his LinkedIn profile and see what you make of it.

Then have a peek at a set of recent posts surrounding Siri and user attempts to make this ultra-popular app interface part of the greater control-all universe. With Apple’s implementation of Siri on their iPhone and iPad line, the company has over the past couple of years changed the way we see smart device control – now we’re at a point where it’s no longer easy enough to speak commands. We just want to think them.

[via Andrew Lim]

With Snapdragon Voice Activation, your smartphone will have the ability to have an “always on” feature so it’ll always be listening for your voice. That way whenever you want the phone to wake up and do things for you, you wont have to touch it at all. THis will be coming in the Snapdragon 800 series of processors and will be able to work even if your smartphone had been in airplane mode, standby, or a variety of sleep modes.

Connecting with the smartphone (or tablet)’s/HLOS voice natural user interface, you’ll be working with your phone without a tap in the very near future. This solution has been pushed by Qualcomm as a secure and low-power feature that’ll be able to work only with the voice of the owner of the device. Of course if you’ve got a twin that’s got the same voice modulation as you, you might be in for a surprise – but what are the odds?

Qualcomm is also making it clear this week that “over 55 Snapdragon 800-powered devices” are already in development. That means one whole heck of a lot of mega-powerful smartphones and tablets over the next few months. Can’t wait!

Have a peek at the timeline below for more Qualcomm action as we ramp up to Mobile World Congress 2013 starting in less than a week!

At the moment we’re able to see several functionalities included in this build, starting with the ability to send an SMS message courtesy of the folks at Telekom Presse. Though the voice recognition here is nothing like we’re seeing with advanced diction-decoding voice systems like Siri, pre-set commands appear to work perfectly well. You’ll also see the system make a phone call and start up a bit of music as it exists on the device itself – perhaps streaming apps in the future, too!

This video also shows off a couple other items that we’ve seen in the past, including the next-level keyboard with its fully functional predictive text engine. The maps application you may have seen in the past is also being shown here in brief. While we’re not sure this is the final version of the software that will be revealed at the end of this month, what we’re seeing thus far does seem to be relatively solid – as a demo, anyway.

The machine you’re seeing these demos on is the BlackBerry Z10. This is a touch-centric device working with the newest iteration of BlackBerry 10 and will be acting as one of RIM’s 2 or more hero devices at the launch of this new operating system. Have a peek in our BlackBerry 10 tag portal for more and hit the timeline below for the most recent action in the RIM universe!

[via CrackBerry]

In the video here you’re able to see one message being sent over wireless Bluetooth connection to the watch itself. We’re also looking at the final form of the watch here, mind you, complete with its basic high-quality band and metal construction. You’ll be working with a 96 x 16 pixel OLED display on the bottom section of the watch for read-back of messages of all kinds from your device while the top bit is reserved for some classy analog watch hands action.

This machine also has the ability to vibrate with each new message, this allowing you to get alerts without being rude – just take a glimpse at your Martian watch and you’re back in the game. This watch is also vibrates according to which kind of notification it’s delivering, with multiple vibrations for a phone call and a single vibration for a text or social media update.

This watch 1.53 x 1.46 x 0.52 inches in size, weighing in at 2.1 oz (59.5 grams) with its leather band or 2.5 oz (70.9 grams) with its silicone band – both are available to you. You’ll be powering this watch up with a microUSB cord via its side under a simple cover, and the box contains the watch, a microUSB cord, and a quick starter guide. You’ll be able to start ordering this device right this minute for $299 right now and the estimated delivery date is currently in-between February and March of 2013.

The exact length of the partnership is unknown, with the announcement simply stating that it is a “multi-year” agreement. Nuance will bring its voice software to ZTE’s portfolio of upcoming handsets starting this year. The voice features will encompass 25 languages, although it didn’t state which languages those are.

There’s not much info in terms of what apps will be gaining Nuance’s voice functionality features, with the exception of one: Car Mode. This app is said to include voice control via Nuance and allow users to do hands-free activities, such as making calls and sending texts. The app is optimized to work in the loud environment of a car, and does not require any sort of broadband connection.

It also offers some other features that could arguably be utilized just as effectively outside of the vehicle as during a trip. Do No Disturb mode is present, which allows the driver to disable incoming calls and notifications until the drive is over. The app can be awoken hands-free with voice commands, and will provide verbal notifications about texts and incoming calls.

[via Android Community]

Windows 8 already supports speech recognition, with spoken commands being used for dictation, for navigating around the UI, and for triggering features like cut/copy/paste and opening apps. The nature of Intel’s hardware/software mix – and which elements it would provide to OEMs, and which would be sourced from third-parties – is unstated, given Microsoft has the software side under control.

One possibility, however, is that Intel could specify a certain type of digital microphone array, with active noise cancellation for better performance. The chip company already has certain criteria which manufacturers must meet if they’re to use the ultrabook branding, such as around thickness and storage.

In that respect, the new focus on voice control could be more about marketing than new technology. Given Apple is expected to add Siri to OS 10.9 next year, bringing natural speech recognition across from iOS devices to the company’s mainstream Mac line-up, reminding ultrabook owners that their svelte laptops can do something similar (and making sure they have a reasonable experience using it) would be a useful tick on the product sheet.

Shark Bay – aka Haswell – will also include extended battery life, and Intel is supposedly pushing for Full HD display support, at least on ultrabooks priced at $800 or above. Always-connected WWAN and facial-recognition are also tipped to be key selling points for new models.

There’s also a new Eyes Free mode, which keeps the iPhone’s screen turned off and relies solely on voice feedback from Siri, so that the driver can stay focused on the road ahead. That also means that the sort of complex queries which would usually trigger a web search won’t prompt to look online.

In order for it to work, the iPhone or iPad must be running iOS 6.0 or above; then it’s a case of pairing it via Bluetooth with the MyLink system. The steering wheel “Voice” button triggers Siri from that point on.

Chevrolet Spark iPhone Siri integration demo:

However, there’s a more complex Chevrolet MyLink system incoming the following year, and which will debut in the new Impala. The next-gen system has a choice of four menu themes – contemporary, edge, velocity, and main street – for its standard 4.2-inch display or optional 8-inch touchscreen, and can hook up to ten external devices, use its own natural voice recognition system for calls, navigation, media, and more.

There’s a 60 station favorites system which spans AM/FM/XM radio, contacts, destinations, music, and other media, and support for both Bluetooth and USB smartphones. Connected versions will add city-level weather reports, and OnStar will spread from the traditional blue button to an on-screen dialog too; six months of premium Directions and Connections will be included. A microphone is suspended above the driver to avoid confusion from road or engine noise.

Chevrolet 2014 Impala with next-gen MyLink demo:

The Chevrolet 2013 Spark with Siri will go on sale early in the new year, priced from $12,995, while the 2014 Impala is due in the spring, priced from $27,535. The next-gen MyLink system will also be available in other 2014 model year Chevys, including full-sized trucks, SUVs, and the Corvette.

There’s also the ability to check the weather from a location simply by asking for it, to look up local businesses and landmarks, and to find places to eat and make reservations there. Dragon Mobile Assistant can also use the same website search tools as in Dragon Go!, querying information across more then 200 sites.

A “Driver Mode” adds complete hands-off control to the app; you can wake it by saying “Hi Dragon” and have voice prompts to guide you through the different levels of functionality. Text-to-speech also reads out incoming messages.

You’ll need an Android 4.0 device or above to use Dragon Mobile Assistant, and currently the app is only available in the US. Nuance says it will be broadening availability and adding functionality before the end of 2012.

Apple obviously brought its own challenge to speech recognition systems in the latest OS X release, with Mountain Lion supporting native transcription. However, Apple’s implementation is server-based, and so Macs require a data connection in order to process voice commands and dictation.

In contrast, Dragon Dictate for Mac 3 is self-contained, as well as including support throughout Mountain Lion, so there’s no need to be online. There’s integrated commands for Notes and Reminders, along with better understanding of formatting such as abbreviations and numbers; Nuance has also tweaked the way corrections are made, so as to streamline the process and take less time away from actual dictation.

If you’re working from a recorded audio file, meanwhile, you can load a .wav, .m4a, .m4v, .mp4, .aif, or .aiff recording and – as long as it’s a single person speaking – have it automatically transcribed. There’s also support for 16kHz wideband Bluetooth microphones for improved wireless recordings, and which – when automatically recognized by the app – bypasses the initial voice training program altogether. If you have either an iOS device or an Android phone, you can now use the Nuance Remote Microphone App too.

Dragon Dictate for Mac 3 is up for preorder now, priced at $199.99. Those already using Macspeech Dictate or Dragon Dictate can save $50 as an upgrade; there’ll also be bundles with a compatible Bluetooth headset. Digital deliveries are expected to begin September 13, with in-store shipments from September 24.

This step-up of voice-enabled search will be coming to iOS via the iPhone first for the big A, but will also continue to be developed for Android as well. We had our own hands-on look at Google Now, part of the Google voice search system, back at Google I/O 2012 when it was launched. This system is available on Android devices running version 4.1 Jelly Bean now and will more than likely be coming to the iPhone in its entirety very soon.

At the moment, however, it only appears that the voice recognition element of Google’s search engine for the mobile platform will be pushed. The Google Now element, being a rather enticing bit of software for Android users on the horizon, will be staying on Google’s Mobile OS for the near future. Below you can see the Google Nexus 7 showing off Google’s new voice search abilities courtesy of Android Community.

Google mentioned once again that they’re nearing “Star Trek” software for the future, but at the moment they’re still taking “baby steps” – this projection of the future coming from Google senior vice president Amit Singhal. Have a peek above at Google Now and prepare yourself for a whole new iPhone experience as the new device appears later this year as well. Google has been booted from the basic build of the iPhone in both maps and YouTube, so we’re expecting a full frontal assault from them in the software world for iOS in the coming weeks – Google made, Google updated.

[via Mercury News]

Nina is apparently the first voice assistant service that combines voice recognition with biometrics, enabling services and companies to implement the solution and potentially serve up information or allow customers to pay bills without ever requiring a password. In Nuance’s examples, users could interact with their banks to help find the nearest ATM, or ask more complex queries regarding household insurance policies.

One banking institution is especially confident in the new functionality provided by Nina, with USAA, a bank that serves the US military and veterans, announcing a partnership with Nuance that will see the new technology used in its mobile banking app. A pilot app is expected to be unveiled in August for certain members before full fledged functionality rolls out to all USAA members next year.

Anyone else who wants to make use of Nina can do so with the release of the SDK today. It will be available in US, UK, and Australian English, and Nuance says that more languages will be coming in the future.

Nuance claims that NaturallySpeaking is 20% more accurate than version 11 straight of the box, and as usual, the more you use the service the more it attunes itself to your voice, which will also increase accuracy. Nuance has added Smart Format Rules to version 12, with the voice engine adapting to the way a user presents formatting and punctuation. NaturallySpeaking still prompts users to tune the engine using their own documents and emails as well.

Email junkies will be pleased to hear that Gmail and Hotmail support are fully onboard, so actions and commands from both services can be activated simply by speaking. The support extends to Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 12 and up, and Chrome 16 and higher. Interestingly, you don’t need a swanky microphone for your PC either. Nuance has extended its Microphone app to Android, so you can use your smartphone as a microphone that connects to your PC over your local wireless network.

Pre-orders for Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 begin today, with the price set at $99.99. The digital version of the software will be available to download on August 3rd, while all other versions will start shipping out on August 13th.

“She’s smart, intuitive, flexible” Nuance promises, “Nina just gets you.” Both iPhone and Android devices are shown, suggesting Nina will be cross-platform, and the enterprise focus is clear: ”She’s all business” Nuance insists, “Your business.”

Nuance may not be a household name – though their Dragon range of dictation software for PC and Mac is a mainstay of voice recognition systems – but the company’s technology is far-reaching. Apple’s Siri uses Nuance’s speech recognition, as does the new Dictation feature in OS X Mountain Lion, though of course heavily rebranded. Meanwhile, Google Now is based on a homegrown speech database initially helmed by Nuance co-founder Mike Cohen (and dressed up with various speech-centric acquisitions along the way).

Though the target markets are different, then, Nina is likely to be met with some degree of familiarity or recognition when it arrives this summer. Full details are in short supply, but we’re guessing Nuance will offer a white-label natural speech recognition system for companies looking to automate their customer services.

[via Stefan Constantine]

If you recall, Watson has been split into several different categories so the engine provides the best results. Those include Web Search, Business Search, Voicemail to Text, SMS, Question and Answer, TV, and Generic. Watson has been tuned to each of those specific tasks, so developers have the choice of picking out the best option rather than writing in unnecessary functionality.

Even if you’re not a developer, you’ve probably come across Watson being used in automated customer service helplines. There’s also an official Translator app for iOS that makes use of the technology, so take a peek if you’re morbidly curious. As for developers, you need only head over to developers.att.com to start building apps using the Watson API.

If you don’t know what Dragon Drive! Messaging is, you can probably take a guess. Users will be able to talk as normal and have the system transcribe messages and emails. That means hands will remain on the wheel and eyes on the road, reducing distractions and hopefully accidents as a result. There are some finer controls too, so you can speak certain commands to add spacing or shift paragraphs in emails, as well as adding correct punctuation.

The service will be free for the first 60 days, and after that you’ll have to pay Nuance a yearly subscription fee. Still, there’s support for six languages, which includes US and UK English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. BMW also has some of its own voice commands, like calling contacts or pulling up turn-by-turn navigation.

The biggest change for developers will be the change of the IDE. Previously if you were coding for the Smart TV, you were restricted to Samsung’s own IDE which is said to be less than ideal. Samsung has now added support for Eclipse as the IDE, which should be easier for developers going forward. Remote Control now has its own separate process, and app developers can now change the input method from within the emulator.

Samsung has high hopes for Smart TVs, extolling the virtues of the platform back at CES 2012. The company has been shipping its 2012 lineup for several months now, and is hoping users, as well as developers, will jump onboard thanks to the voice and gesture recognition features. We spent a little bit of time with one of Samsung’s Smart TVs to give both features a whirl, so make sure to check out our hands-on to see how it all holds up.

Zhi Zhen reportedly filed the patent back in 2004, and is going ahead with the case as a result of Apple’s Siri language expansion in June to include Mandarin and Cantonese. A spokesperson for the company has said that it wants Apple to stop infringing on its technology and bear the cost of any legal fees.

Apple settled a case with Chinese company Proview not too long ago, paying out $60 million over an iPad trademark dispute in mainland China. Apple has also recently been sued by another Chinese company, Jiangsu Xuebao, over a Snow Leopard trademark. That company claims to have filed a trademark for the word “Xuebao”, which translate to “Snow Leopard.” The company is seeking CNY 500,000 (~$78,700) in damages and an official apology.

[via The Next Web]

In the on-stage demonstration, Google showed how a Galaxy Nexus running the new offline voice typing system in Jelly Bean could track a full sentence, transcribing it in seconds. In contrast, Apple’s voice recognition system in iOS – currently available on the iPhone 4S and new iPad – demands a web connection for the company’s servers to do the heavy crunching.

Offline voice typing will initially only be supported for US English, with Google planning to add further languages later on. Meanwhile there’s new Hebrew, Persian, Hindi and Thai language text support introduced in Jelly Bean.

At the top of the image is a “Top Secret” stamp added perhaps for more intrigue. Then on the screen a dog named Spot asks HTC’s voice assistant questions through a series of woofs to which the app is able to interpret and respond. However, HTC then puts inserts an asterisk saying “Sorry dog fans, this isn’t real!”

So the app may not really be able to interpret dog barks, but what does appear real is that HTC is indeed planning to launch its own voice-assistant app. And that’s not too surprising either since rival Samsung recently launched it’s own Siri clone called S-Voice, while LG debuted a Quick Voice app.

[via TechRadar]

There was a minor glitch which goes to show how far speech recognition still has to go: instead of playing Game of Thrones, the speech engine tried searching for St. Louis, Missouri. The second time around, however, Audible did begin playing Game of Thrones. Users can simply speak commands as well, such as “pause” or “next chapter”, with the speech system actively listening and recognizing commands.

A video demoed the system being used for navigation as well. Once a Windows Phone 8 user had stepped into a car with a navigation app running, the Speech engine notified them of an accident and asked if they wanted to change the route. A conversation then followed with prompts and questions and the user responding naturally.

Microsoft is hoping that the ability to use the speech recognition engine within apps will sway developers towards the platform. The company even took a little dig at Siri, not surprising considering the popularity of the voice assistant.

As with Siri and S Voice, the promise is a more natural way of interacting with your phone with spoken commands, rather than the piecemeal method offered previously. So, LG suggests, you’ll be able to ask for specific videos on YouTube all in one sentence, and have the app open up complete with search results shown straight away.

There’s also control over mapping, alarms, weather, stocks and even lunar calendar checking – for the Korean market, at least – along with control over settings on the device. A new Quick Notes key is included for swifter access.

The LG Optimus LTE II will get Quick Voice in July in Korea, though there’s no word on when phones outside of the country might also add the voice command system.

Siri will be doing a lot more for users in the coming weeks. Apple briefly teased an eye-free user experience in-car with multiple partners from GM, Audi and more but for now we’ll get into the daily stuff. Apple has partnered with Yelp and Rotten Tomatoes, and will even be able to alert you on the score of the NBA Finals or your favorite sport. With game score updates, highlights, notifications and more this will truly become an assistant we all want.

Siri will also finally be going international. For those that have been patiently waiting its arrival we are happy to announce it will be available with iOS 6. The picture from the gallery below should give you an idea on where to expect Siri in the coming months. With support for English, Italian, Mandarin for Taiwan, Cantonese for Hong Kong, Mandarin and Cantonese for Mainland China, plus Korean for Korea they’ve truly gone full stream. It’s safe to say Siri is no longer in beta with iOS 6.

We have plenty more details coming up shortly regarding Siri, including the fact that you can now launch apps with ease — like: Play “Temple Run” or Open “Twitter”, even send tweets while driving and more. Stay tuned and be sure to follow our liveblog!

This application has been ripped from the Galaxy S III and is not currently made by Samsung to be working on devices outside of that smartphone. Therefor what you get is what you pay for, and no guarantees are made that this application will work for you at all. To see how this application works when it’s working how it’s supposed to work, head to our Samsung Galaxy S III full review and/or check out the full video review of the device (including S-Voice) here:

This application can be [downloaded from XDA developers forums] where the user known as WANAM has gratefully provided the world with a fully flash-ready package. If you have never installed a non-market application, nows as good a time to start as any, but again we make not guarantees that it will work or that the download is safe in the end. This application also goes by the name Voice Talk and will need 100Mo partitioned before it can be installed. Have a peek below at our Galaxy S III timeline to get all your most recent necessities and bits!

[via Android Community]

Most remote controls have become more complicated and sprouted more buttons; it’s now not uncommon to find QWERTY thumbboards squeezed where previously only a numeric keypad might be. Alternatively, third-party multifunction remotes have looked to layout-changing touchscreen interfaces, stacking pages of menus and macros in an attempt to bring order to the burgeoning range of content options on offer.

In contrast, Samsung’s Smart TV remote is button-lite. At first glance, you could think it even spartan, matching a far more simplistic set, but the Smart Touch Remote Control actually replaces physical keys with a microphone for voice recognition. Feed an internet connection to the Smart TV, and spoken commands can call up the integrated web browser, different streaming media apps and Samsung’s own Smart Hub for video rentals, as well as recognize spoken email addresses and search terms.

Voice commands are nothing without accuracy, and Samsung’s system does a surprisingly solid job of recognizing and interpreting. Part of that is by shifting the microphone from the TV itself to the remote control, something likely to be closer to the user. Samsung’s system recognizes addresses and commands like “Power On” to bring the set out of standby, though you still have to use the onscreen keyboard for URLs. Still, there’s Bluetooth inside the set, and you can pair up any Bluetooth keyboard you might have – we tried an Apple keyboard, and it worked with no problems.

Samsung could have opted for the sort of motion-tracking familiar from the Wiimote, but instead opted for a system more akin to Microsoft’s Kinect. The Smart TV’s integrated webcam is used to identify and follow the viewer’s hand – first you hold your hand up palm-on to the set, move it slowly from side to side, and then the television begins tracking you as you gesture an on-screen pointer around – with clenched-fist movements being used to select options.

There’s something undeniably Minority Report about the interface and, after a few moments of familiarization, it’s certainly quicker than paging through pane after pane of icons and options. The room does need to have sufficient light in order for the TV to make you out, however, and you need to be at the right distance: too far away or too close, and it struggles. If the gesture control isn’t precise enough for your liking with the onscreen keyboard, say, the Smart Touch Remote itself has an integrated trackpad for more laptop-like navigation. Alternatively, you can download Samsung’s free SmartView app for Android smartphones and tablets, and turn them into touchscreen remote controls instead.

Unlike a phone or even a tablet, a TV is generally a communal thing. That means multiple users, each likely to have their own preferences and favorites. Rather than force a Windows-style login system, Samsung has used Face Recognition to handle user management, with each different Smart Hub account accessed when the TV recognizes the viewer’s face. It’s certainly quicker than tapping in a password, though as with Face Unlock on Android smartphones it can be fooled with a still photo.

For many users, a TV is still simply a way to watch live broadcasts. For a growing number, however, the TV has joined the world of phones, tablets and computers as a window to on-demand content, streaming media and the internet. Just as you wouldn’t necessarily navigate your laptop solely via a number pad, so has the control paradigm with Smart TV evolved to keep up with the type of content on offer. More details at samsung.com/smarttv

Call it being cautious, or maybe paranoid, but the IBM CIO Jeanette Horan confirmed that the use of Siri was blocked on its networks. Data is stored on Apple’s servers after being processed, and IBM doesn’t want any information being extracted from said data. Apple doesn’t say how long data is stored for either, or who is able to access it, so maybe IBM is better off being safe. The company also blocks cloud applications like Dropbox for similar security concerns.

Edward Wrenbeck, the lead developer for the original Siri app for iPhone, says that privacy was always a hot topic: “Just having it known that you’re at a certain customer’s location might be in violation of a non-disclosure agreement.” However, he doesn’t feel that it’s as big an issue as some would make it out to be: “People are already doing things on these mobile devices. Maybe Siri makes their life a little bit easier, but it’s not exactly opening up a new avenue that wasn’t there before.”

[via The Next Web/Wired]

The Dragon Drive platform will be fully integrated into cars, allowing users to use voice commands to control both the embedded and connected features of in-car systems. It will use 3G or 4G connections to access Nuance’s language servers to ensure accurate interpretation of user commands.

Dragon Drive is expected to arrive on new car models sometime this summer. However, the company hasn’t announced which new manufacturers they are working with or which car models will be receiving the new voice technology.

[via VentureBeat]

Not only that, but both companies are working to integrate navigation controls using voice recognition too. One day customers will be able to simply speak to change the channel or search for content. If Adam Sandler takes your fancy, you’d be able to say “Find comedies with Adam Sandler”, and have the relevant information show on the TV.

Rovi thinks the jump to voice is important, too: “Entertainment options will continue to grow. With it will be the complexity of finding and deciding what to watch. Consumers want easy to use and simple ways for discovering entertainment that doesn’t require a remote control with as many keys as a keyboard. Voice brings this capability.”

When will you be able to do all this for yourself? It’s not clear right now with no timeline given by either company, but the duo will be showing off the technology at The Cable Show 2012 in Boston, MA starting from today until May 23rd.

The APK was leaked over the weekend and was able to be installed on just about any Android device, offering functions similar to Siri on the iPhone 4S. You could perform the usual functions such as search, looking up the weather, and repeatedly shout “Hi Galaxy” to try and wake up the phone.

Unfortunately, the free ride is over: all voice functions for S-Voice seem to have been disabled server side by Vlingo, the service powering S-Voice. Anyone attempting to use S-Voice from a device that isn’t the Galaxy S III will be met with a network error instead. Members on xda-developers have confirmed that voice data is still being sent back to Vlingo’s servers, but requests aren’t being processed.

Strings sent back to the server indicate which device is trying to access the server, meaning Vlingo can block anything that isn’t the Galaxy S III relatively easily. The flip side is that the strings could potentially be spoofed, enabling users to workaround the restriction. For everyone else, you’ll just have to wait until the Galaxy S III going on sale next week.

[via The Next Web]

The team at Samsung have taken what all Android devices are already capable of with Google Voice Actions and have amped up the game quite a bit, calling S-Voice here on the Galaxy S III. This newest version of Samsung’s take on voice controls with actions like “What’s the weather for today?” and “I want to take a picture” and “Cheese!” all being understood right out of the gate. You can open up applications, change tracks when you’re listening to music, and more.

What we’ve experienced thus far with an early version of Samsung’s S-Voice is that though you’re able to set alarms, tasks and appointments, call contacts, open apps, and check the weather, working with the server-side processing S-Voice uses is hit-and-miss. This of course could be due to the fact that the device and the software aren’t at their final release level yet – we’ll have to wait and see. Meanwhile its up to Samsung and their voice recognition partners, including Vlingo amonst others, to improve the show.

Have a peek at this gallery to see many of S-Voice’s abilities right here at its initiation with the Galaxy S III:

Then there’s Siri. We of course are quite familiar with Siri, it having been released even before the iPhone 4S as an independent app. Now here with the iPhone we know it as an almost magical-seeming application built-in to the iPhone 4S for commands, questions, and answers galore. Siri is limited to a few application interactions still here several months after launch with the iPhone 4S, but can answer questions about your schedule, check the weather, and several other similar items.

Have a peek at our original hands-on with Siri to see what it’s all about:

Then head back to our hands-on extravaganza here for the Samsung Galaxy S III and stick with us here on SlashGear for all the Galaxy S III action you can handle through the future!

The patent describes how oral input can be used to control a computer using “[a]ssociative searching techniques of tabular data structures [which] are used in conjunction with rules and conventions derived from natural language to facilitate the use of oral input.” Just about every smartphone manufacturer is being targeted by the lawsuit, including Apple, Google, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, Nokia, Sony, Sharp, ZTE, and LG.

Jerry Potter was issued the patent in 1998 back when patent standards weren’t quite as tight as they are now. Potter then assigned the patent to a shell company based in Texas last year, who then transferred it to the Colorado shell company, Potter Voice LLC.

Whether anything will come of the suit remains to be seen, and the validity of the patent isn’t clear either. There have been an increasing number of lawsuits in the tech industry lately, with companies suing each other over patent infringement, or patent trolls coming out of the woodwork.

[via paidContent]

The speech recognition will be divided into seven different sections, which include SMS, voicemail to text, and a voice dictation option. AT&T say that voice recognition generally works better when applied to specific categories, with Watson being able to better predict words and phrases when the necessary section is used. AT&T will start off with seven to begin with, but expand the API to include even more over time.

AT&T will also release Speech Kit, an SDK that will capture spoken words and phrases and send them to servers for transcription. In the past, AT&T has used Watson in automated customer service calls, as well as the Translator app available for iOS and Android. That app allows you to translate your spoken sentence into another language automatically.

If you’re a developer hoping to take advantage of the Watson APIs, then make sure you’re keeping a close eye on June. In the meantime, here’s a nice little commercial for the announcement.