| Google Adds Voice Recognition To Mobile Search |
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The New York Times, Friday, November 14, 2008, 11:45 AM
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Want to know where the nearest Starbucks is, but don't feel like taking out your phone to search for it? Well, now you can simply ask your phone, thanks to new voice recognition technology Google's added to its search software for the Apple iPhone. Simply place the handset to your ear, and you can ask virtually any question. The sound will be converted to a digital file and sent to Google's servers, which interpret the words and then pass them to Google's search engine. The search results will be displayed in a matter of seconds on a fast wireless network.
The New York Times points out that such voice recognition technology "has long been the supreme goal of artificial intelligence researchers looking for ways to make man-machine interactions more natural." Incidentally, Google is not the first to try it. Both Microsoft and Yahoo already offer voice services for mobile phones. According to the Times, Microsoft's Tellme service returns information in specific categories like directions, maps and movies, while Yahoo's oneSearch with Voice is more flexible than Google's offering but does not appear to be as accurate.
That said, the Google system is far from perfect, the Times says, often returning queries that appear as "gibberish." When asked, Google execs declined to say how often the service returns accurate results, but they believe it's accurate enough so that people who want to avoid typing in queries would find it useful.
Read the whole story at The New York Times.
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