Apple apparently has a research lab in Boston made up of former VoiceSignal staff that have been working for a few years on a secret project. Maybe Nuance knows that Apple is about to cut its cord with them and are looking for some company to buy them out before that happens?
Apple was rumored to have purchased Novauris to help improve Siri.
"Novauris was founded by the same people who founded Dragon Systems, creators of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which is now owned by Nuance Communications."
Surely Apple must know that Siri's voice recognition is not up to Apple standards. One can only hope.
Siri is really good at certain things like setting an alarm or getting sport scores. It is a mystery why she sucks so bad at so many other common requests. One thing that always irritates me is that she all too often returns a static page with tiny fonts instead of voice response. This is especially annoying when I am driving. She should know there is a pretty good chance I'm behind the wheel if she just checked the GPS for a few seconds while retrieving the data for my request. I would like her to say: It looks like you may be driving, would you like me to read aloud the contents of what I found?
Aha! That’s it. I knew it wasn’t quite right; thanks. <span style="line-height:1.4em;">From German ‘wedeln</span>
’<span style="line-height:1.4em;">... Wonder what I was thinking</span>
…
I think I know what you mean. One would assume one is in the best position to know what one is thinking, but it appears there are many "ones."
Siri is really good at certain things like setting an alarm or getting sport scores. It is a mystery why she sucks so bad at so many other common requests. One thing that always irritates me is that she all too often returns a static page with tiny fonts instead of voice response. This is especially annoying when I am driving. She should know there is a pretty good chance I'm behind the wheel if she just checked the GPS for a few seconds while retrieving the data for my request. I would like her to say: It looks like you may be driving, would you like me to read aloud the contents of what I found?
Let's face it, as of today it still looks like effective artificial intelligence on a phone may be a long way off.
Apple apparently has a research lab in Boston made up of former VoiceSignal staff that have been working for a few years on a secret project. Maybe Nuance knows that Apple is about to cut its cord with them and are looking for some company to buy them out before that happens?
Not entirely secret but certainly nothing official announced by Apple. The Boston voice team includes Larry Gillick, formerly in research at Nuance and part of the old VoiceSignal group. There's also Gunnar Evermann who come ovedr to Apple from Nuance in 2011 and reportedly holds the title of Manager, Siri Speech and Don McAllister who has a deep background in VR tech going back to Dragon.
Eh, whatever. Siri in iOS8 is amazing, so I'm pretty sure Apple has their own strong in-house solution by now. Samsung can go ahead and buy whatever the **** is wants. It's not like it will be able to execute the feature worth a damn.
I recommend Apple immediately buy IBM. Replace Siri with Watson and rename it "Steve".
Yep. After all, nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slurpy
Eh, whatever. Siri in iOS8 is amazing, so I'm pretty sure Apple has their own strong in-house solution by now. Samsung can go ahead and buy whatever the **** is wants. It's not like it will be able to execute the feature worth a damn.
This too. Even the most amazing R&D software efforts are commoditized after a couple years. Nuance's value in voice recognition is not likely to be significant for much longer.
Didn't Apple buy/rent or otherwise use the AT&T speech recognition technology sometime way back during the age of OS 9 and the beginning of OS X? Wasn't that for the purpose of building speech recognition and text-to-speech into the operating system? Do they still own the rights to the technology? If so, why would Apple need to buy Nuance, especially if the backend AI of Siri is their own product. The Nuance speech recognition may have been better at the time, but I would not be surprised to find Apple using the SR tech they have, combine it with the AI tech they have,improve up it, then create an all new, better performing, SIRI product.
It's not like they haven't done similar stuff in secret before now.
Oh yeah, and change the US English Male voice of Siri. Synthesize Steve's voice, instead, or as an option, for the sake of nostalgia and posterity.
The best part of the Beats acquisition was seeing epic Samsung shill LeBron James appear in the the newly-Apple-owned Beats commercial during the last game of the NBA Finals.
I dislike LeBron and Samsung both, but seeing that commercial was satisfying. Not nearly as satisfying as watching the Heat get pummeled (again), but satisfying nonetheless.
Even though Siri apparently uses Nuance only for voice recognition and not for AI, it seems to me that this would have been a more important strategic and defensive acquisition than Beats was.
get back to us when your company bears the fruit of your strategic maneuvering.
Didn't you know questioning the Beats acquisition is heresy around here?
When discussing the Apple of today, it's usually best to judge them on outcomes, rather than make predictions about their initial moves. Apple tends to surprise and show they were right (with profit and consumer satisfaction to prove it) when the dust settles.
We can safely reserve early predictions for tech has-beens like Microsoft, who have, over the past decade, demonstrated a remarkable ability to doggedly ignore the obvious.
Siri is really good at certain things like setting an alarm or getting sport scores. It is a mystery why she sucks so bad at so many other common requests. One thing that always irritates me is that she all too often returns a static page with tiny fonts instead of voice response. This is especially annoying when I am driving. She should know there is a pretty good chance I'm behind the wheel if she just checked the GPS for a few seconds while retrieving the data for my request. I would like her to say: It looks like you may be driving, would you like me to read aloud the contents of what I found?
Let's face it, as of today it still looks like effective artificial intelligence on a phone may be a long way off.
Even with all the advances in technology, it's even stevens that you're probably right.
Comments
Apple apparently has a research lab in Boston made up of former VoiceSignal staff that have been working for a few years on a secret project. Maybe Nuance knows that Apple is about to cut its cord with them and are looking for some company to buy them out before that happens?
Apple was rumored to have purchased Novauris to help improve Siri.
"Novauris was founded by the same people who founded Dragon Systems, creators of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which is now owned by Nuance Communications."
http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/04/03/apple-acquired-speech-recognition-firm-novauris-last-year-to-improve-siri---report
Your typos are just so rare, I can't help myself here...
Aha! That’s it. I knew it wasn’t quite right; thanks. From German ‘wedeln’... Wonder what I was thinking…
Also, useful to know Apple anticipated this :
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/techflash/2014/04/what-apple-s-acquisition-of-novauris-might-mean.html
Surely Apple must know that Siri's voice recognition is not up to Apple standards. One can only hope.
Siri is really good at certain things like setting an alarm or getting sport scores. It is a mystery why she sucks so bad at so many other common requests. One thing that always irritates me is that she all too often returns a static page with tiny fonts instead of voice response. This is especially annoying when I am driving. She should know there is a pretty good chance I'm behind the wheel if she just checked the GPS for a few seconds while retrieving the data for my request. I would like her to say: It looks like you may be driving, would you like me to read aloud the contents of what I found?
I think I know what you mean. One would assume one is in the best position to know what one is thinking, but it appears there are many "ones."
The wiring is complex.
Siri is really good at certain things like setting an alarm or getting sport scores. It is a mystery why she sucks so bad at so many other common requests. One thing that always irritates me is that she all too often returns a static page with tiny fonts instead of voice response. This is especially annoying when I am driving. She should know there is a pretty good chance I'm behind the wheel if she just checked the GPS for a few seconds while retrieving the data for my request. I would like her to say: It looks like you may be driving, would you like me to read aloud the contents of what I found?
Let's face it, as of today it still looks like effective artificial intelligence on a phone may be a long way off.
Not entirely secret but certainly nothing official announced by Apple. The Boston voice team includes Larry Gillick, formerly in research at Nuance and part of the old VoiceSignal group. There's also Gunnar Evermann who come ovedr to Apple from Nuance in 2011 and reportedly holds the title of Manager, Siri Speech and Don McAllister who has a deep background in VR tech going back to Dragon.
Eh, whatever. Siri in iOS8 is amazing, so I'm pretty sure Apple has their own strong in-house solution by now. Samsung can go ahead and buy whatever the **** is wants. It's not like it will be able to execute the feature worth a damn.
I recommend Apple immediately buy IBM. Replace Siri with Watson and rename it "Steve".
Yep. After all, nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.
Eh, whatever. Siri in iOS8 is amazing, so I'm pretty sure Apple has their own strong in-house solution by now. Samsung can go ahead and buy whatever the **** is wants. It's not like it will be able to execute the feature worth a damn.
This too. Even the most amazing R&D software efforts are commoditized after a couple years. Nuance's value in voice recognition is not likely to be significant for much longer.
It's not like they haven't done similar stuff in secret before now.
Oh yeah, and change the US English Male voice of Siri. Synthesize Steve's voice, instead, or as an option, for the sake of nostalgia and posterity.
The best part of the Beats acquisition was seeing epic Samsung shill LeBron James appear in the the newly-Apple-owned Beats commercial during the last game of the NBA Finals.
I dislike LeBron and Samsung both, but seeing that commercial was satisfying. Not nearly as satisfying as watching the Heat get pummeled (again), but satisfying nonetheless.
Even though Siri apparently uses Nuance only for voice recognition and not for AI, it seems to me that this would have been a more important strategic and defensive acquisition than Beats was.
get back to us when your company bears the fruit of your strategic maneuvering.
Didn't you know questioning the Beats acquisition is heresy around here?
its not heresy -- there are just more people here who recognize clueless arm-chair CEOs than there are on other sites, say MacRumors.
Samsung can't afford Nuance and can't afford not to buy it.
It must suck to be Samsung.
…there are just more people here who recognize clueless arm-chair CEOs than there are on other sites, say MacRumors.
Are… you acquainted with MacRumors?
WTF?!!
I guess Apple should go ALL in by itself ....
It must suck to be Samsung.
+1
...and it SUCKS even more owning anything with Samsung name on it.
When discussing the Apple of today, it's usually best to judge them on outcomes, rather than make predictions about their initial moves. Apple tends to surprise and show they were right (with profit and consumer satisfaction to prove it) when the dust settles.
We can safely reserve early predictions for tech has-beens like Microsoft, who have, over the past decade, demonstrated a remarkable ability to doggedly ignore the obvious.
Even with all the advances in technology, it's even stevens that you're probably right.