STM Blog

“Hello, Room Service? Can I Order a Monte Cristo Sandwich and a Side Order of Acoustical Foam…?”

Allison Smith — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:31:29 +0000

Harlan Hogan is a well-known voice actor and a published author of many books about building and recording from a home studio. A must-read for any home-based talent is his book The Voice Actor’s Guide to Recording at Home …and On the Road. Hogan is a pioneer of the idea of the “portability” of recording [...]

Nintendo Launches Speech Recognition Trials

Michele Masterson — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:52:17 +0000

One of the world’s largest game makers is using its technology to help hearing impaired children in Japan, according to Japanese media outlet NHT. Nintendo, in partnership with Japanese telecom giant NTT, is testing capturing speech which can be converted to characters that can be automatically viewed live or for review. Storing data on the [...]

Siri’s a Hit on CBS’s Hit Show

Len Klie — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:20:31 +0000

Just when you thought Siri, the voice-enabled virtual assistant on Apple’s newest iPhone, couldn’t get more pervasive, the application showed up on last night’s episode of “The Big Bang Theory,” a surprise hit comedy on CBS about four nerds who work in the physics department at an unnamed California University. One of the characters, Raj Koothrappali, [...]

Here Comes Evi, Siri’s Little Sister

Michele Masterson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:44:26 +0000

Feeling left out because you don’t have an Apple iPhone 4S and can’t have a relationship with Siri? Don’t despair, True Knowledge this week unveiled Evi, a voice assistant app for Apple OS and Android phones. Evi is available on Android’s app store for 99 cents and she can also be downloaded from iTunes. According [...]

Is Apple Entering The Smart Pen Market?

Michele Masterson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:16:06 +0000

While the world is enraptured with Apple’s voice assistant Siri, the company may be readying to enter yet another arena, the smart pen market. Smart pens lets users record everything they hear, say and write, while linking audio recordings to notes. First, a bit of background about smart pens, which have been described as Montblanc‐size [...]

Location, Location, Location!

Allison Smith — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:56:22 +0000

Realtors have long understood the importance of accurately and engagingly describing properties to prospective buyers. Written copy describing the features of properties range from point-form, almost “hostage-letter”-style writing, to emotion-filled, detailed, and flowery listings that border on prose. The goal, always, is to captivate and tantalize buyers, making them add the property to their “must-see” lists. [...]

Building A Brain-Inspired Speech Enhancer

Michele Masterson — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:02:21 +0000

The world could one day see a brain-inspired speech enhancer solution thanks to new research about how sound is coded within the brain. A team of researchers from the Universities of Southampton and Cambridge is working to understand how the human brain hears sound to help develop improved hearing aids and automatic speech recognition systems. [...]

Speech Is the Talk of CES

Len Klie — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:57:02 +0000

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, speech was all over the place. Companies of all sorts were out and about talking about products that let users control everything from cars to TVs with voice commands. On the TV front, LG Electronics, Samsung, and Lenovo rolled out models that respond to [...]

CES: Tune In and Talk To Your TV

Michele Masterson — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:38:47 +0000

The 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas doesn’t officially open its doors until Tuesday but that hasn’t stopped a slew of new television releases that feature voice recognition. “Traditional search on televisions is tedious and amazingly outdated,” said Michael Thompson, senior vice president and general manager of Nuance Mobile. To remedy that, Nuance unveiled [...]

Where Have All the Operators Gone?

Allison Smith — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:29:50 +0000

It’s all my fault. Well, actually, as easy as it is to strike guilt with me, it’s not all my fault. The obsolescence of the telephone operator is as a result of ever-emerging technologies that were already spinning well out of control by the time I came on board as a well-known voice of automated telephone [...]

SoundCloud Makes Some Noise

Michele Masterson — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:22:53 +0000

Sound will become bigger than video in terms of media consumption, according to the founder of social sound platform SoundCloud. The Berlin-based company founded by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss has been making a lot of noise since it launched four years ago, and today announced that it secured new funding from VC powerhouse Kleiner Perkins [...]

Shoppers Phone It In

Michele Masterson — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:15:01 +0000

Increasingly, retailers are luring customers to their stores through mobile phone apps that allow shoppers to say what’s on their mind and make purchases. In November, Wal-Mart launched a new app that lets consumers shop for products, and also delivers product comparisons, analysis about technical details, specific features, information about availability and user ratings. The [...]