Siri

The company behind the Dragon speech recognition applications for computers and iOS devices has announced a new developer program that will allow software to access Dragon Voice technology at no charge. It could result in a tidal wave of apps that harness the power of the Nuance speech recognition and text to speech technologies. Many of our readers have no doubt used Nuance tech in apps like Siri, and Dragon Go. I talked with Kenneth Harper, Senior Product Manager for Nuance, who says opening up the technology is a way to help Nuance become an even bigger standard in voice technology, as well as introduce developers to the company. Harper says that the free developer service, called NDEV Silver, will apply to about 90% of the app developers for iOS. Developers will also have free access to Nuance's connected text-to-speech (TTS) capabilities in over 30 languages, bringing natural sounding text-to-speech in the cloud. Further, NDEV Silver members get access to Bluetooth hands-free voice applications. For larger corporate customers, Nuance will offer higher levels of services at what they call the Gold and Emerald level, but even these services will cost much less than the previous developer programs Nuance has offered. Harper wouldn't comment on how all this will tie in with rumored voice technology built into iOS 5 and new hardware that Apple is expected to announce soon, but since Apple now owns Siri, and has used Nuance technology in the past, it is likely there will be synergies. Many developers will leap at the chance to add very sophisticated speech features to their apps, and iPhones are likely to get even much more useful. The new developer program will also support Android and Windows Phone 7. Read More

Apple's acquisition of mobile assistant Siri and its partnership with speech recognition leader Nuance Communications (the latter confirmed by references found in code), appear to be coming together in the launch of a new feature called "Assistant," to appear in the forthcoming update to iOS 5, Apple's mobile operating system. According to leaked information, it appears that the smart technology found in the Siri iPhone application will now be fully baked into the operating system itself. With Nuance's ability to understand natural language queries, iOS 5 will have it all - voice navigation, voice control and voice assistance - allowing users to go beyond simple search and basic actions. When Siri's technology is fully integrated, users will be able to direct their iPhone to actually "do" things, too. The news of the Assistant feature comes by way of 9to5Mac.com, an Apple-tracking blog, which reported this over the weekend. A source told the outlet that the development of these features was incomplete, however, and may not even be finished by the time the next iPhone ships. In the screenshots provided by the source, you can see a new toggle button which will let a user switch the Assistance technology off or on. Why would anyone want such a useful feature off? Well, according to 9to5Mac, the assistant also extracts details from the device, including its location, contact information and music metadata, in order to perform its actions. In addition, the speech recognition technology will involve crowd-sourced data, which is sent to Apple in order to improve the service over time. Privacy-minded folks may not want to share their data with Apple, no matter how well it is secured. In a follow-up post, 9to5Mac also found additional references to Nuance in the iOS 5 SDK (software development kit). The SDK reveals that the technology will be activated by a button, and may display a screen which shows the speech translated into text, similar to what Google's Android operating system has today. Many in the industry expected that Apple was going to make an announcement about its speech recognition and virtual assistance technology at its annual developer conference, WWDC. When the news was a no-show, the theory was that, perhaps deals between Nuance and Apple had not yet been finalized. Given that no official Apple announcement about either Siri or Nuance has been made, everything about when, if or how the technology will arrive in a final product is speculation. Read More

Apple has included limited voice control functionality in the iPhone since the debut of the iPhone 3GS, but the company's plans for voice control in iOS 5 are reportedly far broader in application according to 9to5 Mac. While no such feature was announced at WWDC and it has yet to show up in the iOS 5 betas, 9to5's sources claim Apple's test units are already testing out an "Assistant" feature meant to introduce widespread speech-to-text functionality in iOS 5. Those of you who have used Siri or the recently-launched Dragon Go! know how powerful third parties have been able to leverage speech-to-text in iOS already. Apple purchased Siri outright in 2010 and has reportedly been working with Dragon's parent company, Nuance, in further expanding the speech-to-text functions of iOS 5. Apple's partnership with Nuance has even extended to OS X, with several of Lion's optional text-to-speech voices coming directly from Nuance's stable of high-quality voices (and we'll provide you with an overview of those new voices in an upcoming post -- spoiler alert, they are awesome). 9to5 notes that since these new features have been missing from developer betas of iOS 5, it may imply that the new voice navigation "Assistant" feature may be an iPhone 5 exclusive. However, it's equally probable that since the feature has only just entered testing within Apple, Apple is not yet ready for developers to begin prodding at it in the betas. Given how well Siri and Dragon Search function already, there doesn't appear to be any technical reason why the iPhone 4 or iPad 2 wouldn't be able to run the "Assistant" feature as it's been described. According to 9to5's additional findings, a "start" button on the systemwide keyboard will initiate the speech-to-text function with a popover microphone screen. Similarly to how Dragon Dictation works, the system may then translate that speech into text at the user's option. The implications for systemwide speech-to-text functions in iOS 5 are fairly extraordinary. Siri and Dragon Go! have already shown how naturally spoken language can be leveraged in web searches, and if the same function can be expanded to the rest of the iPhone's functions, it may be possible to navigate the iPhone's functions entirely by voice. Apple has already filed a patent including such features, so this is far more than pie-in-the-sky musing on our part. This obviously wouldn't be an out-and-out replacement for the traditional Read More

14 Jul 2011 alle 09:25 E’ stata da poco annunciata una nuova applicazione dai prodotturi di uno dei migliori programmi per il riconoscimento vocale su iPhone. Si tratta di Dragon Go! ed è un nuovo software per la ricerca vocale intelligente, con alcune caratteristiche che rimandano a Siri, della quale Apple è ormai proprietaria. Grazie all’integrazione di tanti servizi come Fandango, Yelp, AccuWeather, Milo etc., vi basterà pronunciare tutto quello che volete cercare, ad esempio “Transformers”, per trovare rapidamente tutti le voci corrispondenti e quelle correlate. E non è finita qui: se volete, potrete anche guardare i vari trailers. Avete voglia di acquistare un vestito? Beh, Dragon Go! scoverà in quali negozi nelle vostre vicinanze è in vendita e a quale prezzo. Il tutto con la solita precisione e affidabilità del voice-recognition di Nuance. Secondo l’opinione di molti, questo potrebbe essere un assaggio di quello che probabilmente accadrà grazie alla collaborazione tra questa società ed Apple. L’applicazione per il momento è disponibile unicamente nello Store americano ma è gratuita quindi potete scaricarla se avete un account US: Il software è completamente localizzato in Italiano ed è compatibile con iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch (terza e quarta generazione) e iPad. Richiede iOS 4.0 o successivo per funzionare. Read More

Like the proverbial genie in the bottle, you can ask a lot of Dragon Go! and have a pretty good chance of the app granting your wish. Dragon Go! is the latest free app from Nuance, creators of Dragon Dictate for the Mac and Dragon Dictation for iOS devices. In this latest app, Nuance has delivered what they consider the next generation of voice search, and after several days of testing I have no reason to doubt it. Here's the deal. Speak just about anything to Dragon Go! and it will try to parse your meaning and bring up the right set of tools to complete your search. Ask for news about Libya, or news about Libya from the New York Times and the app complies. Ask for reservations for 2 at a favorite restaurant and Open Table is queried. Directions from your current location to the nearest hospital will launch Google Maps with the route. Say a product name, like JBL speakers and an Amazon page comes up with the JBL speakers Amazon sells. It gets better. Ask it to play an artist on Pandora, and if you have the app installed it will launch and start playing the artist you asked for. Say "Play the Beatles" and if you have the Beatles on your device the music will play. You can also direct a query to a particular site. I tried "stories about Apple TV on TUAW" and it brought up a list from our website. Then a tough test. I asked to see pictures of obscure character actor Whit Bissell and the images popped up right on cue. Check our gallery. Holy Moly! No app is perfect, and every so often Dragon Go! botched a search, but most questions I asked delivered useful answers. It may seem like the app has a bit of overlap with Siri, which is also powered by Nuance Technology. There is some, but Dragon Go! reaches deeper and takes you to the appropriate place on the web, rather than try to contain the info within the app itself. The sources Dragon Go! is using are displayed at the top of the screen. You can change those sources manually if you want. The default search engine is Google, but Bing and Yahoo! are fine if you'd rather use them. I found Dragon Go! an extraordinarily useful app in day to day use. I can Read More

posted by Jonathan Kizer on Saturday, May 7, 2011 at 9:57 am.   is reporting on information from “multiple sources” that Nuance is in talks with Apple. They are quick to say that while an acquisition is on the table, it doesn’t seem likely; instead a partnership between the two companies that “could shape the future of iOS” seems more likely at this point. Nuance is a speech dictation engine, possibly the best on the market, and one of Apple’s other purchases relies on Nuance’s engine: Siri. Siri was released on the App Store in August of last year, and was quickly purchased by Apple: the technology was very impressive, as it had the ability to take commands (“I need a taxi”), interpret them, and then perform the necessary actions. It was correctly labeled as a “virtual personal assistant.” Behind all of the magic, though, was Nuance’s phenomenal dictation engine. The history between Apple and Nuance goes back to November of last year, when Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, wrongly stated that Apple had bought Nuance in a video clip. It has been rumored that Siri’s technology will be a large portion of the new features in iOS5. This could be seen as a necessary legal step for Apple to implement those features into the new iOS. Read More

TechCrunch is reporting the rumor today, and some sources I have close to the Siri product think it is likely happening. Siri is that very cool personal assistant app. It allows you to ask questions that the app sends (as your voice data) to a server where it is recognized. The query is then sent off to a series of search engines to find an answer, which is finally returned to the user. You can ask for things like the best area pizza shop, the status of an arriving flight or the weather in Omaha. The speech recognition in the app comes from Nuance, the company that developed Dragon Dictation and Dragon Search. Last year, Apple bought Siri, and it seems likely that the tech will find its way into Apple products, especially iDevices. Siri is a very clever app, and it has always made a great demo on my iPhone. To have it built into iOS would be great. It appears Apple is trying to wean itself off Google services, like Search and Maps, and Siri would be a step in that direction. If you don't have it already and want to play with Siri, you can get it free at the App Store. Prepare to be impressed. Read More

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Feb 7, 2011 | Switching from Droid or another Android device like the Samsung Facinate to the iPhone — maybe the new Verizon iPhone? — and curious which are the best, most must-have apps you need to make yourself feel at home? Well read on for TiPb’s top 5 most recommended, most must-have apps to get your Android experience maximized on iPhone. Unlike Android, iPhone doesn’t (yet) have broad and deeply integrated voice features in iOS. While there’s some Voice Control commands for making calls and playing music, that’s about it. Enter Google Mobile which not only adds voice search but also bundles in Google Goggles functionality. From location and maps to contacts and the web to most anything you can say or point your iPhone 4 camera at, Google Mobile gets you answers and fast. [Free - iTunes link] Also check out: Yes Google Voice is finally available for the iPhone. MInd you, it’s still US only but if you want the app you probably have an account already. It’s not as deeply integrated as Android but it has all the features you know and love, including push notifications for new SMS text and voicemail messages, listen and/or read voicemail, Google Voice number displayed as Caller ID, access to your iPhone contacts, and it will run in the background under iOS 4 or later. [Free - iTunes link] Also check out: You can access your Gmail account via IMAP or with full push via ActiveSync right from Apple’s built-in Mail app and while you’ll get unified inbox and threaded messages you won’t get Stars and you won’t get labels. Likewise Gmail.com won’t give you the ability to access contacts or view attachments. Enter Mailroom, essential the Gmail.com webapp inside a native iPhone app wrapper that gives you most of the best of both worlds. (See our tip on using Mailroom for a better iPhone Gmail experience.) [$2.99 - iTunes link] Also check out: Google hasn’t yet made a version of their free Google Navigation app for iPhone but Waze provides a free crowd-sourced alternative. It’s full on voice, turn-by-turn directions that learns as you drive and will even let you munch tokens and reward you for your contributions. Yes, it’s navigation gone social. [Free - iTunes link] Also check out: Apple’s iTunes App Store is curated and Steve Jobs says that’s to protect you from porn. Read More

By – A lot of Free stuff can be found here! Don’t miss. Streamlined to be intuitive and immediate, FingerBeat aims to be a pick-up-and-play tool to quickly annotate beats but above all, have fun doing it! Just ask Siri to book restaurants, movies, taxis and more. Posterous lets you post any mix of text, photos and video instantly on the web for free. It’s the only content sharing app you need from your iPhone or iPod touch. This ‚Äònext generation‚Äô mobile service allows users to connect with friends, meet new people and check out all of the hottest bars, restaurants and events in a local area, all in real time. It even shows all the money-off deals, discounts and offers. Geomium is here to help you no matter where you are! This application has been designed to be used as a virtual tour available anywhere or as a guided tour when you are in the gardens. Ever found yourself out-and-about with a low battery and nowhere to charge your phone or iPod? Our FREE and unique Low Battery app is the solution. It will quickly find your nearest ChargeBox¬Æ machine which can securely charge your mobile devices when you’re on-the-go. Enable 460 smileys icons (Smiley keyboard) for your iPhone/iPod. It can be used in your text messages SMS/MMS, notes, mails, facebook, everywhere and easily ! Related Posts Read More

Editor’s note: This guest post is written by Alex Ahlund, the former CEO and founder of AppVee and AndroidApps, which were acquired by mobile application directory Appolicious. About this time last year, he gave us his picks of the best iPhone apps of 2009 up until then, so we thought we’d make it an annual tradition. I’ve been involved in the iPhone app industry since it first began in 2008 and I have to say that it has come a long way. I’ve seen it grow from a meager launch of 500 applications in the App Store to currently over 225,000. In only two years, the industry has matured at hyperspeed. It spawned an entire ecosystem to support it from a multitude of news and editorial resources to developer engines, promotional services and ancillary niches. With over five billion app downloads and a billion dollars at stake, it’s no surprise that the app economy expanded so quickly. However, the novelty land grab is definitely over. When you run a search on the App Store, most of the gimmicks have already been created—at least twice. Clones still litter the store and it’s becoming even more difficult for quality apps to get noticed. But, if you have a bit of patience and are willing to sift through less exciting apps, there are some fantastic gems just waiting to be discovered. So without further ado, here are my top 30 picks for applications released this year thus far. Try one or try them all. Games: Launch birds from a slingshot to topple buildings and crush piggies. There’s a reason this game has been No. 1 on the Paid List for so long. Addictive only starts to explain it. 2. Plants Vs Zombies (review, iTunes) A defense game by casual game creators PopCap. Protect your home from an invasion of zombies by placing plants that shoot, freeze, blow-up, crush, or generally obliterate your foes. So simple, but strangely satisfying. Swipe to slice 3D fruit as it enters your screen. Great visuals and gratifying delivery. One of the best 3D arena shooters for the iPhone. Smooth multiplayer and easy handling. If you’re going to play a first-person shooter on the go, this is the one. A rhythm-fighting game based on Japanese folklore. Very unique with top-notch production values. Can’t go wrong with ninjas, fighting, and music. 6. Ragdoll Blaster 2 (review, iTunes) Sequel to the fun Read More