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 best Siri alternatives for each platform

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.

Via AndroidAndMe

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

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?

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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.

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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.

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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. }