At its WWDC keynote today, Apple announced an update to Siri that brings a number of new features to Apple's voice-driven personal assistant for iOS. Not only is Siri getting a number of new high-quality male and female voices and support for multiple languages (English, German and French, for example), but it's also getting quite a bit smarter. In this version, Apple has integrated Twitter, Wikip...
Apple Updates Siri With Twitter, Wikipedia, Bing Integration, New Commands And Male And Female Voices
At its WWDC keynote today, Apple announced an update to Siri that brings a number of new features to Apple's voice-driven personal assistant for iOS. Not only is Siri getting a number of new high-quality male and female voices and support for multiple languages (English, German and French, for example), but it's also getting quite a bit smarter. In this version, Apple has integrated Twitter, Wikipedia and search results from Bing, so it can now, for example, read you back Wikipedia entries for some searches.
Speech recognition company Nuance (which powers part of Apple's Siri), is launching its new "Dragon TV" platform today, which will allow consumers to interact with their TV using their voice and natural language. With Dragon TV, you'll be able to speak channel numbers, station names, plus TV show and movie titles, without having to use structured commands. You'll even be able to perform content se...
Nuance Launches Dragon TV, Lets You Control Your TV With Your Voice
Speech recognition company Nuance (which powers part of Apple's Siri), is launching its new "Dragon TV" platform today, which will allow consumers to interact with their TV using their voice and natural language. With Dragon TV, you'll be able to speak channel numbers, station names, plus TV show and movie titles, without having to use structured commands. You'll even be able to perform content searches by actor/actress and genre. Support for Twitter, Skype and Facebook is also included.
As jailbreak aficionados are quick to point out, the stock version of iOS isn't the most customizable mobile platform out there. Certain hooks are simply unavailable to App Store applications, while users of Brand X phones can take advantage of third-party tools to enable face unlock (or, if they're among the 7.1% of the installed base running the up-to-date Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the bu...
Nuance's Dragon ID voice login could leap from Android to iOS
As jailbreak aficionados are quick to point out, the stock version of iOS isn't the most customizable mobile platform out there. Certain hooks are simply unavailable to App Store applications, while users of Brand X phones can take advantage of third-party tools to enable face unlock (or, if they're among the 7.1% of the installed base running the up-to-date Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the built-in face unlock feature).
If you want to go all Sneakers and have your voice be your passport on your handheld device, however, your choices are more limited. Voice authentication has been around for a long time (it came to the Mac back in OS 9, for you graybeards) but reliability and side noise concerns have kept it firmly on the sidelines for phone access.
That's why Nuance's announcement today of the new Dragon ID framework is so interesting. The leader in voice tech is offering its underlying "voice biometrics" magic directly to Android OEMs with an eight-language kickoff, and more languages expected this year. Device manufacturers that license Dragon ID will be able to offer quick login, customized app launchers/home screens and more with just a brief passphrase uttered by the owner. Nuance already claims more than 20 million enrolled voiceprints for its technology, used by businesses and government agencies to provide voice security.
Nuance isn't yet saying anything specific about iOS integration for Dragon ID -- "We aren't providing details yet, but we're in discussions with several of the top OEMs," was the word via the company's PR rep -- but then again, it doesn't have to advertise its intimate relationship with Apple's mobile offerings (and prudence dictates that it oughtn't do so, in any event). Aside from its standalone dictation, search and notetaking apps, the key voice-related patents and technology owned by Nuance are known to be the chatty power behind Apple's flagship iPhone 4S feature/beta test, Siri.
Speculation only at this point, but.... Given the timing of the Dragon ID announcement, and the Star Trek factor of having a phone that permits or denies access with the sound of your voice, it's easy to imagine that Apple will carve out a bit of iOS 6 time at WWDC to show off an oddly similar feature to Dragon ID.
Here's a video demo of the unlocking technology from Nuance:
[hat tip to Phonescoop]Nuance's Dragon ID voice login could leap from Android to iOS originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Do you wish your phone would wake up when you commanded it to, like Galaxy S III? Well, it's not gonna happen (at least not without some hacking). But, your next phone might just sport the feature, all without having to be saddled with the rest of TouchWiz. Nuance is bringing its powerful voice recognition tech to OEMs and offering them the ability to not only unlock phones with voice controls, b...
Nuance Dragon ID secures phones, tablets and PCs with your voice
Do you wish your phone would wake up when you commanded it to, like Galaxy S III? Well, it's not gonna happen (at least not without some hacking). But, your next phone might just sport the feature, all without having to be saddled with the rest of TouchWiz. Nuance is bringing its powerful voice recognition tech to OEMs and offering them the ability to not only unlock phones with voice controls, but lock them down using biometrics. In that way, it's actually got a leg up on S Voice. Dragon ID isn't a gimmick -- it's a security feature. In fact, if properly integrated, it can recognize multiple voices and open up to custom homescreens for each user. Sadly we have no idea when or where this tech will first show up, but we wouldn't be shocked to see it on both Android and Windows 8 tablets, as well as smartphones and PCs in the near future. For a few more scraps of info, check out the PR after the break.Continue reading Nuance Dragon ID secures phones, tablets and PCs with your voiceNuance Dragon ID secures phones, tablets and PCs with your voice originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 15:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Swype has launched the “next generation” of its predictive keyboard, promising four methods of text entry including voice recognition and handwriting. The Nuance-powered system supports 55 languages and automatically learns from users’ speech and typing to improve its recognition and prediction. Swype uses the same historical learning system as Nuance’s XT9 platform, and ca...
Swype 4-in-1 learning keyboard adds voice and handwriting support
Swype has launched the “next generation” of its predictive keyboard, promising four methods of text entry including voice recognition and handwriting. The Nuance-powered system supports 55 languages and automatically learns from users’ speech and typing to improve its recognition and prediction. Swype uses the same historical learning system as Nuance’s XT9 platform, and can be Read The Full Story
Nuance voice samples provide a taste of Lion text-to-speech
As we reported on May 14, Lion Developer Preview 3 includes a number of voices from Nuance's RealSpeak Solo software that can be used for text-to-speech (TTS) operations in the OS. These voices are a good improvement on the existing voices used by Mac OS X, and could point to a greater use of speech recognition and TTS as a user interface feature in Lion and iOS 5.
If you have a hankering to hear just how good these voices are, OS X Daily has linked to a number of samples that are available on the NextUp Nuance Sample page, some of which are listed below:
o. Samantha - American English Female
o. Serena - British English Female
o. Sangeeta - Indian English Female
o. Felix - Canadian French Male
o. Karen - Australian English Female
o. Lee - Australian English Male
o. Yannick - German Male
o. Monica - Spanish Female
o. Paolo - Italian Male
My current favorite on the list is Karen, the Australian English female voice. What voice do you want to hear coming out of your Mac or iOS device speakers in the future? Let us know in the comments.Nuance voice samples provide a taste of Lion text-to-speech originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 17 May 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Dragon Mobile Assistant 4 for Android adds driving mode, voice notifications
Dragon Mobile Assistant Expands with Intelligent Driver Mode Automatically Switches to Driver Mode in a Moving Car; Adds Customizable Wake-Up Word and Voice Notifications for Facebook, Texts, Calls and Appointments
Burlington, Mass. – June 18, 2013 – Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) today announced that its Dragon Mobile Assistant app for Android is updated with new proactive assistant features, including an intelligent hands-free Driver Mode, voice notifications and the ability to customize Dragon's wake-up word.
Dragon already keeps people organized, productive and connected with some of the most unique personal assistant capabilities available, including Friend Finder location sharing, proactive conference call dialing and more. And now, Dragon knows when users are in a moving vehicle and can automatically switch over to hands-free, eyes-free Driver Mode, keeping people connected in a safer, smarter way. Driver Mode leverages Dragon's powerful voice recognition and expressive text to speech to give people full command and control over Dragon without having to take their hands off the wheel to touch the device or take their eyes off the road to look at the screen.
Dragon has new features that also make it an even more personal experience, including Voice Notifications that can read aloud Facebook status updates, messages, incoming calls, and upcoming appointments. And now you can choose how you wake up your Dragon with a customizable wake-up word. So whether it's "Hi Dragon", "Hey Dude," or "Hello Dolly," Dragon is ready to respond and deliver. And last but certainly not least, Dragon now also supports voice-enabled email.
"Dragon aspires to be an incredibly reliable and intuitive mobile personal assistant, not only responding to commands and providing relevant content, but also anticipating people's needs in the moment-just like a true personal assistant," said Michael Thompson, executive vice president and general manager, Nuance Mobile. "Dragon's truly conversational nature and expansive directed search capabilities give people an assistant with purpose, content and information from the content providers they trust the most-leveraging a broad ecosystem without boundaries."
Dragon leverages Nuance's renowned voice, language understanding, ambient intelligence and expressive text-to-speech to deliver a smarter personal assistant that listens, interprets and delivers a more intuitive and connected experience. Dragon is available for free in English on Google Play in the US, supporting Android 2.3 and above.
