Speech

Soon, You’ll Be Talking to Your DVR

Using the iPhone and Android phones as touch remotes is effectively old school at this point. Next up, telling your TV what to watch—which is what’s next for AT&T and likely, U-Verse customers.

Tech News Matt Buchanan Nov 17

Xbox Kinect Review: It’s a Brand New Console

Microsoft’s motion gaming peripheral is, if executed correctly, quite possibly the future of gaming. It might even be the future of Windows 8 and computers everywhere. But how much fun is playing with Kinect right now? Specs Xbox 360 Kinect Add-on Price: $150 Works with: Every Xbox 360, but better with Xbox 360 S (no…

Reviews Jason Chen Nov 4

Do Different Languages Equal Different Realities?

We usually assume words are just a way of expressing ideas already in our heads. But what if it’s the other way around? Some linguists say the languages we speak fundamentally alter the way we think, and even perceive reality. The New York Times explores the implications of world-altering linguistics, and how we can learn…

Tech News Sam Biddle Aug 27

Artificially Intelligent Computers Will Listen And React To You

We’ve all seen futuristic movies with awesome Hal and Jarvis computers that are smart enough to recognize what we want them to do. They’re like people. Today’s computers are learning to be like that and they’re already replacing us. Take this example of a mother walking into a doctor’s office and asking an assistant about…

Artificial Intelligence Casey Chan Jun 27

YouTube Gets Automatic Captioning For All Videos

Today, YouTube is rolling out automatic captioning for all videos uploaded to the service, using Google’s speech recognition service. You can see a demo in the video above. Automatic captioning with Google speech recognition was launched in November. This only had a few selected education partners to test out automatic captioning, until now. There are…

Tech News Jason Chen Mar 4

Amazon Caves to Snippy Authors: Kindle’s Text-to-Voice Feature Now Optional

We reported the Author’s Guild’s litigious anger about the Kindle 2’s text-to-voice feature, claiming it violates audio book copyrights. It’s an arguable position, but Amazon has gone ahead and caved to the literate man. https://gizmodo.com/authors-guild-claims-kindle-2-text-to-speech-somehow-vi-5151237 Amazon has backed down for the Guild’s comfort rather than for any legal motivation, since it’s pretty clear that a…

Commerce Dan Nosowitz Feb 28

Microsoft’s Stevie Ballmer, Sony’s Sir Howie Stringer Headlining CES Keynotes

With Bill Gates’ part time transition in full effect, Steve Ballmer will be picking up Keynote duties at 2009’s CES, but only for the pre show speech. Opening night honors go to the charming and witty Sir Howard Stringer, who is like Sony’s CEO answer to Benny Hill. I’d say I’m satisfied with these two…

Tech News Brian Lam Aug 30

AT&T Bringing (a Tiny, Frustrating Bit Of) Speech Recognition to the iPhone, Others

AT&T’s Speech Mashups is a web-based service that will bring voice-activated search to the iPhone, as well as other Edge and 3G handsets. Instead of managing speech recognition on the actual handset, Speech Mashups sends the audio sample to the server, processes it and sends back a text transcription or command to your phone. Unfortunately…

Tech News John Herrman Jul 23

Prosthetic Speech Implant Turns Your Thoughts to Words

Imagine waking up one morning and being unable to speak. Your mind still churns away, trying to form words, but no sounds will come out. It’s like the bleak ending of Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream only, you know, real. This is a fact of life for many people with…

io9 Michael Reilly Jul 3

Scientist Studies Cars That Speak and Listen Like KITT

I used to want a car just like KITT when I was a kid, though perhaps without that slightly annoying nasal voice. And now a Stanford scientist is looking at whether nattering to your vehicle may be good for you, the car, other road users and even (darnit) your insurers or advertising execs. “Your car…

Gadgets Kit Eaton May 8

Computer Learns Baby Talk, Pacifies Programmers

Stanford researchers have developed a program that can, at a most basic level, learn language. In studying whether the brain is hard-wired with preset sounds or if it acquires the basics of speech dynamically, a computer program was designed to learn speech. After listening to hours of Japanese and English mother-to-baby talk, the computer was…

Tech News Mark Wilson Jul 25

SpinVox Winds Your Voicemails into Text For Easy Reading

We had a brief chat with a SpinVox co-founder today and he told us all about this speech-to-text service. SpinVox, when integrated with a cellphone or landline provider, can take your voicemail messages and automatically transcribe them into text that gets sent to your email or your phone as a text message. This is actually…

Tech News Jason Chen Mar 15

Microsoft Discovers Secret to Speech Recognition

Microsoft [Thanks Eric!]

Tech News Jason Chen Feb 15

Asus Z801 Karaoke Phone

Asus’ Z801 Karaoke phone could be the coolest phone we’ve ever seen. Not for the looks, the design, the amount of megapixels, or even a fast data connection, but for its Karaoke feature. When you play back an MP3 on the Z801, you can sing along and the phone will speech-to-text what you say and…

Tech News Jason Chen Dec 19

Soon, You’ll Be Talking to Your DVR

Xbox Kinect Review: It’s a Brand New Console

Do Different Languages Equal Different Realities?

Artificially Intelligent Computers Will Listen And React To You

YouTube Gets Automatic Captioning For All Videos

Amazon Caves to Snippy Authors: Kindle’s Text-to-Voice Feature Now Optional

Microsoft’s Stevie Ballmer, Sony’s Sir Howie Stringer Headlining CES Keynotes

AT&T Bringing (a Tiny, Frustrating Bit Of) Speech Recognition to the iPhone, Others

Prosthetic Speech Implant Turns Your Thoughts to Words

Scientist Studies Cars That Speak and Listen Like KITT

Computer Learns Baby Talk, Pacifies Programmers

SpinVox Winds Your Voicemails into Text For Easy Reading

Microsoft Discovers Secret to Speech Recognition

Asus Z801 Karaoke Phone

Someone Finally Took a Good iPhone Photo of the Moon. Good Luck Copying Their Trick

In Letter, OpenAI Reportedly Says Elon Musk and Meta Are Coordinating ‘Attacks’ Against It

Artemis 2 Day 6: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Anonymous Sources Detail Sam Altman’s Alleged Untrustworthiness in New Report

Steven Spielberg Still Wants to Make a Horror Film ‘Someday’

Waymo Has Stopped Testing Its Robotaxis in New York City and No One Knows What Happens Next

Samsung Pushes Monitor Deals Further, the 34″ ViewFinity Hits a Record Low at Nearly 40% Off

The Best Anti-Meta Smart Glasses Are About to Have Tough Competition

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Let us help find what you are looking for...