Though there are millions of truck drivers with smartphones, most of them live in a pen, paper and fax machine world when it comes to managing their driving records. KeepTruckin aims to change that.
A startup called Aviate has built an app that its creators say makes Android better by, essentially, taking it over. Aviate gives users a pared-down home screen, categorizes their apps, and automatically surfaces the ones they need depending on where they are.
The iOS app blends location services, calendaring, reminders and push notifications to mimic the work an actual personal assistant that keeps your schedule for you can do.
Nuance plans to integrate its growing number of speech command platforms into a universal assistant for the internet of things. It’s also trying to make its speech technology more dynamic, using crowdsourcing to capture the language zeitgeist.
Developers are getting another Siri-like tool to embed speech-enabled virtual assistants in their apps. Lexee, a new product from interactive voice response provider Angel, offers an SDK for iOS and Android users. Lexee has a point and click system for building conversation flows and user analytics.
Placeme for iOS and Android may be both the scariest and amazingly futuristic app I’ve seen yet. The free software uses every sensor in your handset to track your activities, location and environment. Scary, yes, but it could power the smartphone personal assistant of the future.
Siri is hot, but the software is exclusive to the iPhone 4S; iPads, iPod touches and older iPhones need not apply. The situation provides an opportunity for developers on non-Siri devices, and SpeakToIt Assistant, a $1.99 app, is one of these. How does it stack up?
A recent report on the outsized increase in data usage among iPhone 4S users blamed the bandwidth drain squarely on Siri. But while Siri may be used as the mechanism for more Internet searches and smartphone services, the application itself uses very little data.
Nuance and voice recognition rival Vlingo have put away their knives and are now set to become one company with the announcement today that Nuance was buying its competitor. The two companies are set to take on the exploding opportunity in providing natural language interfaces.
Siri went down on Thursday for its first extended outage — around five hours, according to most counts. Five hours is hardly three days (like another noteworthy recent mobile service blackout), but the reaction of media and users show Apple’s personal assistant is making its presence felt.
