Posted 11/02/09 at 04:40:39 PM by Bart Salisbury

The infatuation never ends. Microsoft is letting it be known that it still feels a part of any new user interface technology will have to include speech recognition. Zig Serafin of Microsoft tells us: "Voice is the new touch. It's the natural evolution from keyboards and touch screens. Today, speech is rapidly becoming an expected part of our everyday experience across a variety of devices."

Serafin has a point. Besides it’s Star Treky coolness, speech is a ‘natural’ component of human communication. And, as computers become more intertwined with our routine world, communicating with them on our own terms (rather than there’s) makes a lot of sense. With this in mind Microsoft has been working on speech recognition technology for over a decade, and strengthened its commitment with the acquisition of Tellme Networks in 2007. Microsoft’s developments have been integrated into Bing for Mobile, Windows Mobile 6.5, and Windows 7.

Microsoft’s efforts perhaps need to be viewed as a work in progress. Right now there aren’t a lot of takers on speech enabled computers. In part because the training curve is still pretty steep (individual variation makes it hard to produce a one-size-fits-all solution). And because a lot of us are still uncomfortable with the idea of engaging with our hardware on a personal level.

Still, it’s the future that matters. As hardware and software mature it could be come a mainstream technology. Until then it makes sense for Microsoft, and others, to continue working on it.

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Posted 02/24/09 at 05:14:57 PM by Alex Castle

A major theme of this year’s TechFest—the conference for Microsoft’s researchers to show off all their coolest projects—has been human-computer communication. Of all the demos we’ve seen so far, we think the Commute UX in-car dialog system, seen in this video, is the most likely to actually impact our lives within the next, say, five years.

Commute UX is an advanced speech recognition system designed for use in cars. In the video, Principal Architect Ivan Tashev shows off how it can be used to quickly and smartly (based on incomplete information) select a song to play from an onboard MP3 player. It can also manage your cell phone, allowing you to dial a contact by voice (yawn), or even to dictate a reply to a text message (!). Finally, Tashev demonstrates how the car’s user manual can be integrated into the system, allowing you to ask questions about the operation of your vehicle, a feature that will be especially useful in rental cars.

We may have exaggerated a little in the title; Commute UX isn’t going to help you fight crime, or even keep you company on the long, lonely road. Still, it does look like it could be an incredibly practical technology for controlling the peripheral elements of your automobile. Stay tuned for coverage of other new technologies shown at TechFest!

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