Voice recognition

Back in 2009, the Kopin Corporation’s Golden-i headset promised a hands-free, natural-speech-recognition interface for wireless remote control over a range of devices including mobile phones, PCs, company networks and wireless systems, but it was also little more than a concept. Four years on, the company is marketing the wearable, hands free computer interfacing devices for heavy and light industries, professionals and first responders. The Golden-i headsets allow the user to send and receive audiovisual information from multiple platforms by means of both voice and motion control while leaving the hands free to get on with the job.  Read More

At first glance, it may seem that the guy sat in front of the television is having a heated argument with his TV remote, but closer inspection will probably reveal that he's just trying to get the voice recognition feature to recognize his dialect. Folks similarly afflicted are about to be offered a helping hand from LG, in the shape of its newly updated Magic Remote with enhanced language recognition capabilities.  Read More

Following a very successful funding campaign on Kickstarter, the Ubiquitous Computer – or Ubi for short – has just entered the pre-order stage ahead of expected shipping early next year.  Read More

Motorola Solutions has released its own head-mounted wearable computer based on Kopin Corporation’s Golden-i headset. Aimed at industrial and military users who need to keep their hands free on the job while viewing documents and schematics or getting help from far afield specialists, the Motorola HC1 Headset Computer places an 800 x 600 (SVGA) full color TFT micro-display at a viewing distance that provides a virtual image size of 15 inches. In keeping with the hands-free theme, the headset can be controlled via voice recognition and gesture controls.  Read More

As computers become more sophisticated, they sometimes seem almost human – especially when they refuse to download a page when you’re in a hurry. At the Intel Developer’s Forum in San Francisco, Intel revealed that it is taking that a step further by giving their new line of Ultrabooks “human-like senses to perceive the user's intentions” thanks to a new generation of processors.  Read More

From HAL 9000 in Arthur C Clarke's Space Odyssey science fiction saga to Eddie and Deep Thought from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, or even Dr. Theopolis from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, voice interaction with computers was very much the stuff of science fiction when I was growing up. These days, of course, I can use my voice to tell an iPod touch to change music or get convincingly beaten in a TV game show by IBM's Watson but when shopping for a new computer, available options still depend on physical touch for input and visuals for output. The folks behind the ubiquitous computer (or Ubi for short) are hoping to change that by launching an affordable, unobtrusive and useful little box that's always ready and waiting to tell you what you need to know.  Read More

Google has revealed the latest version of its Android OS - known as Jellybean, the newest version of Android focuses on improving system performance, as well as adding a few highly requested features to the platform. Announced alongside the Nexus 7 tablet, Jellybean is set to power the next wave of Android smartphones, and will make its way to older handsets starting this July.  Read More

Nuance Communications, the company responsible for the Dragon line of speech recognition software, has announced a new natural-language voice platform designed specifically for in car use. Targeted at automotive manufacturers and suppliers, the Dragon Drive! platform will allow hands-free and eyes-free dictation of text messages and emails, and voice control of car entertainment and navigation systems.  Read More

Fingerprint recognition has long been used to protect sensitive data on USB drives - here’s another approach. This 8GB USB storage device uses voice recognition software to detect a password spoken by the user.  Read More