Telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell's voice recovered from 'unplayable' record

via theverge.com

Alexander Graham Bell, the man widely credited with inventing the telephone as we know it (though there is a longstanding debate over who actually was first), can be heard again today, some 128 years after he recorded himself counting and speaking in his laboratory in Washington, DC, saying: "In witness whereof, hear my voice, Alexander Graham Bell." The historic lost audio file — the first recording of Bell's voice — was retrieved by several researchers around the country using a technique developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory...

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Xbox 720 rumored to have its own Siri, unlock Kinect’s true potential

via extremetech.com

As we approach Microsoft and Sony announcements for their next generation game consoles, the rumor mill is kicking into high gear. The latest rumor has the next Xbox, codenamed Durango, performing natural language recognition in a similar way to Apple’s Siri. While the Xbox 360 currently has some voice recognition through the Kinect, it’s limited in usefulness by how restrictive the actual voice controls are currently implemented.

After the rise of motion controls in the last generation, it’s clear that the consoles aren’t just going to compete on performance anymore. Both Nintendo and Sony have bet on touch screens to different extents, so moving the SmartGlass technology forward isn’t going to be enough of a distinguishing feature for the next generation Microsoft hardware. While the Xbox 360 is currently the king of consoles in the US, it’s not doing nearly as well in the rest of the world. It’s going to need a hook of some sort, and this voice functionality just might be a big part of what Microsoft has up its sleeves.

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Next Xbox Will Reportedly Have Siri-Style Natural Language Input

via techcrunch.com

One of the most-rumored features of the mythical Apple television set is Siri integration that would allow you to naturally ask questions and issue commands to your TV, but Microsoft may beat Apple to the punch, if a new report from The Verge is accurate. Microsoft already has some voice features built into the current generation Xbox, but the next-gen console will get much-improved abilities including natural language processing powers, the report claims.

New voice-based abilities include the option to wake the new Xbox from sleep mode with an “Xbox on” command, as well as a system that can use Kinect to detect people in the room and offer up multiplayer game suggestions. Users can also query the new Xbox to ask it what their friends are currently playing, tell it to pick up playing a movie where it was last left off and more. The new system will also be much better at vocalizing responses to voice-based user input, according to the report, which should make the overall experience feel much more like an ordinary conversation.

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This Startup Is Fixing The iPhone's Biggest Competitive Gap With Android

via businessinsider.com

Apple users who are fed up with Siri, the iPhone's voice-command software, are about to get another option.

Grokr is a new mobile app for Apple smartphones and tablets that catches them up with a key feature of Google's Android—Google Now, a service which uses all your information to anticipate what you might search for next.

It does this by pulling in information from multiple sources—what Grokr calls a "knowledge graph"—and social networks like Facebook and Twitter to provide users with the most relevant information possible.

Just like Google Now, Grokr offers information tiles like weather, traffic, trending topics, and news.

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Microsoft Can Convert Your Voice Into Another Language

via gizmodo.com

It's unlikely that you speak Mandarin, but that doesn't mean you won't need to at some point. Now, Microsoft has created software that can analyze your speech, translate it and then spit out a new recording of your very own voice speaking in a different language.

It isn't witchcraft though: it's just damned clever, and a major advance in speech analysis compared to what we usually see. It's not easy, of course. To reach a stage where this is possible requires providing the software with hours of a single person's voice. This isn't something that can be used by just anyone, casually.

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Talking To Your Mac: The Coolest Feature of Mountain Lion, and the Future of Computers

via gizmodo.com

Mountain Lion, the next big software cat for your Mac, has a gazillion new features. Too many to name, and frankly, to care about. But there's one you should pay attention to, because it might change all of computing.

Dictation is one of the most straightforward new parts of OS X Mountain Lion—so simple that it's easy to overlook. All you do is double-tap a button, start talking wherever you'd type, and your computer fills in the words you speak. It's a stellar replacement for the bulk of casual typing that fills up our conscious hours. And it's fast!—you truly feel like you've got an attentive secretary stuck somewhere in that tiny aluminum chassis. Apple says Dictation will even adapt to your voice over time, making it more accurate and attuned the more you plow through it. Neat.

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Smackdown: Google Voice Search vs. Apple's Siri (video)

via mashable.com

With Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, Google is taking a shot at iPhone digital assistant Siri.

The next-generation Android OS, announced this week at Google I/O, offers the ability to search for and find information about anything you can imagine by simply asking.

Using the power of Google, the company has incorporated its Knowledge Graph into searches, making its answers more informative than Apple’s digital assistant in some cases.

In other cases, the Android-based voice search not so hot.

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Do You Actually Use Voice Commands on Your Smartphone?

via gizmodo.com

If the last month has made anything evident, it's that tech companies are not treating voice recognition as a gimmick, and in fact, are increasingly paying more attention to it. But like our friend Matt Buchanan points out, it's sort of de-humanizing. Is this something you actually use? How do you use it? Do you feel comfortable talking to your phone in public?

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HTC Making Siri Clone

via businessinsider.com

Take a look at this image from HTC's Facebook page previewing a "top secret" project that seems very Siri-like.

BGR saw this photo first.

It looks nearly identical to Samsung's S-Voice voice-powered assistant, which is in turn a ripoff of Apple's Siri on the iPhone.

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Siri Is About To Learn A Bunch Of New Tricks

via businessinsider.com

Here's the rundown on what Siri will be able to do in iOS 6:

Sports integration. Siri will be able to answer questions about sports scores and player stats.

Restaurant integration. You'll be able to use Siri to make reservations through OpenTable.

Movie integration. Use Siri to track down movie times and watch trailers.

App launching. Siri will finally be able to launch apps by voice.

Siri on the iPad. About time!

Car integration. Siri will go hands-free for use while driving in your car.

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Someday Siri Will Be This Smart and Good Looking

via gizmodo.com

The newest promo video for Prometheus is pretty phenomenal—Michael Fassbender, in chokingly creepy fashion, introduces his David android, who we of course know will turn out to be evil and awful. But hey, this is the real future.

Creepy David makes repeated mention of his commitment to understanding us—and there's nothing sci-fi about that. We can already see increased emphasis put on building software with empathy. Software that can help us even when we're inarticulate or dumb. Software that can think things through for us. Just look at Siri—if it's worth anything at all, it's because it can process natural language. Or look at what the Navy is doing to prepare robots that can work alongside humans.

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I Know That Voice Trailer – A Documentary on Voice Over & Voice Acting

via hypebeast.com

People like Billy West, June Foray, and Kevin Conroy don’t have the most recognizable names in the entertainment industry, because it’s only their voices that we all know so well. “I Know That Voice” is a new documentary that gathers some of the most recognizable voices in the voice-over industry while taking a rare look behind the curtains of some of the most loved animated shows of all time. The producers are still gathering interviews and compiling footage for the project, leaving the the full-length film still a ways away. But, the Trailer offers a look into the faces behind the cartoon characters that audibly define the entertainment that many of us enjoy.

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How To Create Reminder Lists With Siri

via businessinsider.com

As we have shown you before, Siri can do a lot of cool things and become a very useful tool for you if you fully understand all of her capabilities. For example, if you need to make a quick list of things you need to remember, such as items to pick up from the grocery store, you can use Siri to do that. Check out the demonstration below.

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Apple's iPhone 4S: 5 Things Siri Still Needs

via techland.time.com

Depending on how you look at it, Siri is either really helpful or limited in its usefulness.

A new survey by Parks Associates found that 87 percent of respondents who own an iPhone 4S use at least one feature of Apple’s virtual assistant software on a monthly basis. Still, those users mainly stick to initiating phone calls or dictating text messages with Siri.

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5 Things We Wish Siri Could Do

via businessinsider.com

You may have already heard that Apple has been hit with a lawsuit from a guy claiming that your digital personal assistant Siri doesn't do what Apple says it does.

The service, which Apple says is still in beta, does help you to place phone calls, schedule meetings, and find the type of food you're looking for, but beyond that Siri is still very much a work in progress.

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Who's the Better Personal Assistant, Siri Or Alfred?

via gizmodo.com

Batman's always marched to the beat of his own drum, but as Superman points out, it might be time for him to trade in his home grown bat-gear for something a little more off-the-shelf.

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Siri vs. Android: Which Is Better at Understanding Voice Commands?

via gizmodo.com

Motorola created a bit of a stir yesterday when it released a video compared Android's Voice Actions on the Atrix 2 with iOS's Siri on an iPhone 4S. Fanboys screamed foul in the comments, so we decided to test it out for ourselves. And yes, there's a very clear winner.

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Skype for Windows Phone Available in Beta

via gizmodo.com

Good news, WinPho lovers: you can now use Skype on your handset. The software's currently in beta testing, but the official release is due April.

Just like other smartphone releases of Skype, it allows you to make voice and video calls over 3G, 4G and WiFi. Microsoft has singled out some handsets that will offer the best experience—including the Nokia Lumia 710, Lumia 800, HTC TITAN, HTC Radar , Samsung Focus S, and Samsung Focus Flash—but you should be able to install the app on any Windows Phone 7 device.

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What Does Siri's Future Look Like?

via readwriteweb.com

It's only been three months since Apple unveiled Siri, the voice-controlled personal assistant built into the iPhone 4S. Although the product is technically in beta, it has already spawned imitations and Web video parodies. What is perhaps most exciting about Siri is not what it does now, but in its potential future uses.

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What Does Siri's Future Look Like?

via readwriteweb.com

It's only been three months since Apple unveiled Siri, the voice-controlled personal assistant built into the iPhone 4S. Although the product is technically in beta, it has already spawned imitations and Web video parodies. What is perhaps most exciting about Siri is not what it does now, but in its potential future uses.

Posted via email from Inspiration