ZTE’s Grand S II smartphone recognizes the voices of your family and friends
ZTE’s new flasghip, the Grand S II, features all the trimmings of a high-end smartphone, along with voice recognition unlocking for multiple users.
Intel buys Spanish “intelligent dialog” firm Indisys as it builds up its next-gen interface arsenal
Indisys is best known for its vaguely creepy virtual assistant technology, components of which will no doubt complement Intel’s recent push in gesture-recognition technology.
KeyLemon gets funding to blend face and voice recognition authentication tech
The Swiss outfit provides biometric authentication for both embedded and cloud systems — its customers range from PC makers to universities and automotive firms.
Google Maps navigates its way into Kia, Hyundai connected cars
Google’s mapping and local search data is making its way into more connected car platforms. Automakers aren’t quite ready to let us download Google Maps directly into our dashboards, but they’re definitely leaning more heavily on the search giant to power their nav systems.
Speech recognition anyone? AT&T opens up Watson API
Look out Nuance. there’s a new speech recognition player in town, AT&T. Ma Bell has taken the locks off of its Watson speech application programming interfaces, allowing any developer to use them to add voice commands and natural language understanding to their apps.
Interview: AT&T’s Lurie on building the iOS of the connected home
AT&T President Glenn Lurie has big ambitions for Ma Bell’s Digital Life division. He’s not slapping together a bunch of connected home applications. He’s building a platform — an iOS for the Internet of things. And like the iPhone, Digital Life may come with its own Siri.
Swype’s new “living keyboard” doesn’t just predict: It learns
Swype just got a whole lot smarter. Nuance is updating Swype with the same sophisticated contextual-anguage technologies it uses in its speech-recognition products. The result is what Nuance is calling a “living keyboard” — one that can learn both its user’s vocabulary and his habits.
Is Ford facing off against Apple over the connected car?
A lot of automakers are lining up to support Apple’s new Siri Eyes Free technology, but Ford, the most aggressive company in the connected-car space, isn’t joining the queue. A platform war over the connected-car interface might be in the making.
Nuance’s Dragon ID lets you unlock your phone by voice
In the last few months, Nuance Communications has launched Dragon TV, Dragon Drive and even an Android version of Dragon Go. Now we have a new Dragon to contend with: Dragon ID, a voice identification application that allows you to unlock your phone with your larynx.
At AT&T Labs, universal translators and wearable keys
Perhaps not surprising for a telephone operator, AT&T has some cool stuff in the works around speech. The company showed off some of its newest stuff out its AT&T Labs Thursday and some of the biggest news was around the work being done in voice-related technologies.