T9 Nav now available on S60 3rd Edition
by Chris Ziegler 
posted Feb 12th 2009 @ 10:31PM
nuance posts
Nuance launches Nuance Voice Control 2.0, hello feature phones
by Sean Cooper posted Feb 11th 2009 @ 12:37PM
We've had opportunity in the past to play with some of Nuance's voice control software -- in an alpha state -- on a Windows Mobile handset and to say we were blown away is an understatement. Things like voice dictation for messaging and handset control were loaded with wow factor, but sadly, it fizzled away, or at least appeared to. Nuance launched Nuance Voice Control 2.0 today, and this package is headed to feature phones -- in some 20 languages -- via carriers and OEMs as a value add for customers. With NVC 2.0 your set will offer voice activated dialing, by just saying a name, voice activated web search, SMS and mail dictation, music search, and just about anything else that a service operator wants to add. Sure, we've all tried various speech to text engines, but this one -- at least the version we tried -- is truly something that we'd dive to pick up, if the integration is done well. We're going to get together with Nuance at Mobile World Congress next week to get some proper hands-on time, but until then, check the video of it in action after the break.
T9 predictive-text input developer purchased for $265M
by Nilay Patel posted Jun 22nd 2007 @ 2:22AM
Tegic might not be a household name, but it's a solid bet you've used their software -- the company is responsible for the T9 predictive-text input system that's installed in virtually every cellphone out there. That makes Tegic worth about $265 million, apparently, because that's how much voice-recognition firm Nuance just dished out to Time Warner AOL for the company. (Disclosure: AOL is our parent company's parent company.) Nuance is on a buying spree lately, having bought VoiceSignal, BeVocal, and Dictaphone in the past year -- the goal is apparently to control much of how users interact with their phones, be it voice, touch, or text. Here's hoping Nuance doesn't make any sweeping changes while they chase that rainbow -- at this point we're so hard-wired for T9 that it's difficult to imagine that it's licensed software and not, say, a fundamental property of mathematics. 4663 5825, 4897.[Via RCRWireless News]
World's fastest texter gets pwned by voice recognition
by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 27th 2006 @ 12:32AM
A young lad by the name of Ben Cook might be able to school his pals with his lightning-quick text messaging skillz (he even prefers plain ol' multi-tapping to predictive text) but one company set out to prove that the world's fastest texter is still no match for voice recognition. Nuance Communications is gearing up to release its Mobile Speech Platform to carriers -- a system that'll ultimately allow users to dictate SMSes, among other tasks -- and they obviously needed some high-profile way to get the word out, like picking on Ben Cook, for example. For the contest, Nuance pitted its software against Mr. Cook and two Nuance employees packing QWERTY and T9 devices, throwing them each this little tidbit of everyday conversation: "The razor toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygo centrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human." Our world record holder finished in 48 seconds -- not bad, considering he was doing it without any predictive assistance -- but the software spanked everyone with just 16 seconds on the clock. Now we just need to take a hard look at why one would dictate an SMS (versus, say, placing a phone call) and we'll be jumping right on the bandwagon.
