Sunday, December 18, 2011

Google’s Siri rival for Android detailed, launching within the next two weeks?

Google’s Siri rival for Android detailed, launching within the next two weeks?
While you may view Apple’s Siri as nothing more than a nice gimmick t help with iPhone 4S marketing, there’s no denying that it’s put pressure on other tech companies to roll out their own voice assistants. Now details on Google’s effort have been leaked, and it’s on it’s way fast.

The project, which is currently underway at the Google X labs, is being called Majel, after the actor who provides the voice of the Federation computer in Star Trek. This news comes from an insider, who’s let slip to AndroidAndMe that it could launch this year.


The principle is slightly different from Siri, or it will be at launch at any rate. All Google’s currently looking to do initially is to expand on the Google Actions set of voice-activated commands that are already baked into Android, to allow it to understand a more natural flow of speech a la Siri.

While rumour has it Google X lab workers are storming through code day and night to get this update rolled out, we’d be more inclined to believe in a launch in January – just to allow extra polishing time.

With this and Amazon’s acquisition of the Yap voice recognition software company earlier in the year, it seems the race is properly on to provide a service to match Apple’s humble voice assistant.


Why Siri Is a Google Killer

Why Siri Is a Google Killer
It’s now been a couple of weeks since Siri debuted as part of Apple’s (AAPL) 4S. The response from most people has been very positive.

However, in my opinion, Siri is tremendously under-valued. People see it as it is today, which is already the best voice recognition application in history. But people (including high-priced sell-side Wall Street analysts) fail to see where the puck is going for Siri. Siri will be vastly more improved in as little as 2 years from now. And the boundless number of applications using Siri will explode.

In the way that the January 2007 launch of iPhone set a ripple in the ocean that would eventually overtake Research In Motion (RIMM) in an all-out tsunami, I believe Siri’s launch this month spells a future crippling of Google’s business (GOOG).
Here’s why:

1. Siri works. Voice recognition has been the next big thing for 15 – 20 years. We still have these frustrating experiences when we call into check the balance of our bank account and have to shout in the phone 5 times in a row, because the application doesn’t recognize us. Siri is the best voice rec app ever — and it’s still in “beta.”

2. Siri has personality. Not only does Siri accurately recognize our voices but it has a personality to boot. It’s that personality which makes the app addictive because we start to feel over time that we truly have a personal assistant who is our friend.

3. Siri is hard to copy. For anyone who doesn’t understand voice applications, it’s easy to think that Siri will be easy to copy. It won’t. There are 2 parts to making a successful voice app: the voice rec technology which has improved a lot but is basically a commodity and the app itself, which is a combination of art and artificial intelligence. It’s that 2nd part that’s so tough to replicate and that’s why Apple bought Siri last year. It’s true Google has experience in the voice rec space and doing some simple voice apps but they do not have the personality and AI of Siri and that will be very difficult to copy — especially for a company that doesn’t sit at the intersection of the humanities and technology.

4. Siri helps own the customer experience for Apple. Dan Frommer and others have been talking about this for a long time. Siri is a new interface for customers wanting to get information. It used to be text-based input to their desktops. Then, it was thumbing it in to their mobile devices. Now, Apple is attempting to make it voice-based. They previously were attempting to Balkanize your data needs by training for you to do specialist searches for the information within apps on your iPhone. Now, they’re training you to rely for doing any task by leaning on Siri to do it for you. At the moment, most of us still rely on Google for getting at the info we want. But Siri has a foot in the door and it’s trusting that it will win your confidence over time to do basic info gathering. Siri can be potentially leveraged in other devices that Apple ships in the future like TV to become the primary way you interface with info you need.

5. Siri will vastly improve in the next 2 years based on all the data it’s amassing. This game is about where the puck is going, not where it is today. Many people only look at Siri as the application as it works today. Yet, the biggest advantage over any other voice application out there today, and the apps still to be developed, is the massive data Siri is now and will continue to collect in the next 2 years. We know after the first weekend alone, there were 4 million Siri-enabled devices out there probably collecting 1 – 2 utterances a day worth of data — all being stored in Apple’s massive North Carolina data center. All that data will allow Siri to get better and better. Think Siri has awesomely funny answers to your crazy questions now? Just wait two years. She’ll be even more your friend then, knowing you perhaps better that you know yourself in some situations. Gary Morganthaler – who was an early investor in Nuance (NUAN) and Siri — explains this in the video below:


Google May Unveil Its Rival to Siri by the End of the Year

Google May Unveil Its Rival to Siri by the End of the Year
Siri is about to meet her competition — at least that’s what reports are saying about Google‘s next incarnation of its Voice Actions feature for Droid phones. While the assistant doesn’t have a name yet, engineers have codenamed her Majel, after Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry who provided the voice of the show’s Federation Computer. Which is kind of appropriate, especially if Google is trying to attract more nerds to their phones. But while some have used the term “this year” to describe Majel’s release date, that only leaves about three weeks until the actual release. So, probably not this year, but early next year? Maybe Siri knows …

Google’s Matias Duarte hinted at how Majel would work in an interview with Slashgear at the end of October, giving even more information about its Trekkie roots:

“Our approach is more like Star Trek, right, starship Enterprise; every piece of computing surface, everything is voice-aware. It’s not that there’s a personality, it doesn’t have a name, it’s just Computer.”

At least, that was the case at the time. What it won’t have, however, is an animated avatar. Now that Siri has been such a cultural phenomenon (even inspiring comedy sketches), the feature currently known as Majel might have to develop some kind of personality after all.

In its first release, “Majel” might only work as a vocal Google query, but may still evolve to Siri’s level of vast knowledge. Though while engineers are working around the clock, that release probably won’t be until January or February unless they ask Santa for Hermione’s time turner.

Google’s Siri Clone Might Be Ready by New Years

Google’s Siri Clone Might Be Ready by New Years - Andrew Tarantola -

Abortion-finding aside, Siri isn’t that bad. That’s why Google is reportedly feverishly working on its own version of the voice-activated, natural-language assistant, code-named Majel. It’s named after Gene Roddenberry’s wife — the voice of many a Star Trek computer. While we can’t currently confirm a release date, rumours put its street date prior to the new year. More speculation is available at Android and Me.
View the original article here

Google's Siri competitor may be called Majel [ www.phonearena.com ]


It has been widely expected that Google would be releasing an update to its Voice Search which will bring features like natural language recognition in an effort to match Siri, and now Google's personal assistant has a name, well a codename at least. Apparently, the codename is Majel. which is an homage to Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who was wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, but more importantly, Majel was the voice of the computer in Star Trek.

As many Android users already know, Google has been collecting voice samples for a long time through its Voice Search app and dictation, and through that Google has learned quite a lot about how users ask for information, which is the key to creating "natural language" recognition. Word has it that the mysterious Google X team has been working on Majel and may release an early version of the update by the beginning of 2012, but that would only bring the natural language update to Google searches. The full update with voice commands would likely become available later next year.

Of course, once the base release is done, it's very likely that 3rd party voice command apps on Android could take advantage of the new features before Google puts out the full release, because most of those apps are built on Google's voice recognition engine. Also, the codename does support something that Matias Duarte had said which was that Google doesn't aim to add personality to the voice system, but rather have everything be voice-enabled. So, it's far more likely if your Android talks to you, it will be called "Android" not Majel.

Google’s Siri Response Codenamed Majel, Could See End of Year Release : www.talkandroid.com


With an abundance of Android developers creating Siri clones, replicas, replacements, competition, etc. you may have had your fill of personal assistants. Three that we have written about include Cluzee, Iris and Speaktoit. Well Google has been working on a secret project in response to Apple’s Siri. Codenamed Majel, this project looks to bring an evolved version of Google’s Voice Actions, as seen on most Android phones. For those that don’t get the reference, Majel is named after Majel Barrett-Roddenberry aka the Federation Computer voice from Star Trek.

Voice actions required you to use specific commands such as “send text to…” or “navigate to…” where, like Siri, Majel will allow actions to be performed in your natural language. Google search queries will also be included with the initial release, which could come this year. It is suggested that the release is slated for this year because the folks over at Android and Me heard that Google X engineers are working around the clock to finish the first release. The also heard that the folks at the New York Times previously had reported that a product would be released by Google X this year. As you know, December is about half way over so that may not happen but controlling phone actions and applications with natural language commands is expected to come later.

In an interview with Google’s Matias Duarte by Slashgear hints were dropped about the future of Android’s Voice actions. Matias was quoted to say:

“Our approach is more like Star Trek, right, starship Enterprise; every piece of computing surface, everything is voice-aware. It’s not that there’s a personality, it doesn’t have a name, it’s just Computer.”

Even with the “it’s just Computer” approach you can expect greatly enhanced voices that sound more fluid and human. This is thanks in part to Google’s Phonetic Arts acquistion at the end of 2010.

There aren’t any details yet but they will eventually surface. I am pretty excited about this and look forward to using it. What do you guys think? Is this pretty cool or no?

Is Apple's Siri pro-life?

Siri will tell you where you can find an escort, drugs or guns, but the service can't seem to help you if you're seeking birth control or abortion clinics.



View the original article here

Will Majel voice Google's Siri rebuttal?

Will Majel voice Google's Siri rebuttal?

Google may soon launch a new, more sophisaticated voice assistant for Android devices that can respond to natural language commands, claims tech enthusiast site Android and Me.

Codenamed Majel after the late Star Trek actress Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who provided the voice of the computer for all of the later versions of the popular science fiction TV series, the new voice assistant could launch as early as January or February.

If the report holds true, Majel would be an upgrade to Android's current Voice Actions app, which lets you make calls, send emails, search the web, get directions and perform other actions via your voice. But in its current incarnation, Voice Actions relies on preset voice commands in contrast to Siri, which lets you converse more naturally.

Google's Siri competitor may be called Majel

Google's Siri competitor may be called Majel - It has been widely expected that Google would be releasing an update to its Voice Search which will bring features like natural language recognition in an effort to match Siri, and now Google's personal assistant has a name, well a codename at least. Apparently, the codename is Majel. which is an homage to Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who was wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, but more importantly, Majel was the voice of the computer in Star Trek.

As many Android users already know, Google has been collecting voice samples for a long time through its Voice Search app and dictation, and through that Google has learned quite a lot about how users ask for information, which is the key to creating "natural language" recognition. Word has it that the mysterious Google X team has been working on Majel and may release an early version of the update by the beginning of 2012, but that would only bring the natural language update to Google searches. The full update with voice commands would likely become available later next year.

Of course, once the base release is done, it's very likely that 3rd party voice command apps on Android could take advantage of the new features before Google puts out the full release, because most of those apps are built on Google's voice recognition engine. Also, the codename does support something that Matias Duarte had said which was that Google doesn't aim to add personality to the voice system, but rather have everything be voice-enabled. So, it's far more likely if your Android talks to you, it will be called "Android" not Majel.

Google's Snowy Easter Egg

If you search for [let it snow] using Google, you'll have a hard time checking the search results. Google uses a JavaScript animation that adds some snowflakes and covers the entire page with snow.



Fortunately, Google added a "defrost" button that makes the search results reappear. You can also click anywhere on the page and move your mouse to "defrost" the page or draw something. Click the "+" button and you can share the Easter egg with other Google+ users.




{ Thanks, Venkat. }
 http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2011/12/googles-snow-easter-egg.html

Google Contacts Integrates With Google+

Google Contacts Integrates With Google+  Gmail's contact manger started to include information from Google Profiles. You can also find your Google+ circles in the sidebar, below the list of groups.



By default, the data obtained from Google Profiles is displayed below the information you've entered, but you can combine them: go to a contact page, click the "More" dropdown and select "[Show external data] inline".

It's interesting to notice that the Google Profiles data is automatically added when you enter an email address associated with a profile. To remove this information, just delete the corresponding email address.

The latest features are also available at google.com/contacts, which has recently switched to the new Google Contacts interface, but you can find them in the old Gmail interface, as well.

{ Thanks, Scott, Filipe, Venkat, Yavuz, Shimmy, Zachary and Matt. }