The company behind the Dragon speech recognition applications for computers and iOS devices has announced a new developer program that will allow software to access Dragon Voice technology at no charge. It could result in a tidal wave of apps that harness the power of the Nuance speech recognition and text to speech technologies. Many of our readers have no doubt used Nuance tech in apps like Siri, and Dragon Go. I talked with Kenneth Harper, Senior Product Manager for Nuance, who says opening up the technology is a way to help Nuance become an even bigger standard in voice technology, as well as introduce developers to the company. Harper says that the free developer service, called NDEV Silver, will apply to about 90% of the app developers for iOS. Developers will also have free access to Nuance's connected text-to-speech (TTS) capabilities in over 30 languages, bringing natural sounding text-to-speech in Read More

Apple's acquisition of mobile assistant Siri and its partnership with speech recognition leader Nuance Communications (the latter confirmed by references found in code), appear to be coming together in the launch of a new feature called "Assistant," to appear in the forthcoming update to iOS 5, Apple's mobile operating system. According to leaked information, it appears that the smart technology found in the Siri iPhone application will now be fully baked into the operating system itself. With Nuance's ability to understand natural language queries, iOS 5 will have it all - voice navigation, voice control and voice assistance - allowing users to go beyond simple search and basic actions. When Siri's technology is fully integrated, users will be able to direct their iPhone to actually "do" things, too. The news of the Assistant feature comes by way of 9to5Mac.com, an Apple-tracking blog, which reported this over the weekend. A source told the outlet that the Read More

Apple has included limited voice control functionality in the iPhone since the debut of the iPhone 3GS, but the company's plans for voice control in iOS 5 are reportedly far broader in application according to 9to5 Mac. While no such feature was announced at WWDC and it has yet to show up in the iOS 5 betas, 9to5's sources claim Apple's test units are already testing out an "Assistant" feature meant to introduce widespread speech-to-text functionality in iOS 5. Those of you who have used Siri or the recently-launched Dragon Go! know how powerful third parties have been able to leverage speech-to-text in iOS already. Apple purchased Siri outright in 2010 and has reportedly been working with Dragon's parent company, Nuance, in further expanding the speech-to-text functions of iOS 5. Apple's partnership with Nuance has even extended to OS X, with several of Lion's optional text-to-speech voices coming directly from Nuance's Read More

14 Jul 2011 alle 09:25 E’ stata da poco annunciata una nuova applicazione dai prodotturi di uno dei migliori programmi per il riconoscimento vocale su iPhone. Si tratta di Dragon Go! ed è un nuovo software per la ricerca vocale intelligente, con alcune caratteristiche che rimandano a Siri, della quale Apple è ormai proprietaria. Grazie all’integrazione di tanti servizi come Fandango, Yelp, AccuWeather, Milo etc., vi basterà pronunciare tutto quello che volete cercare, ad esempio “Transformers”, per trovare rapidamente tutti le voci corrispondenti e quelle correlate. E non è finita qui: se volete, potrete anche guardare i vari trailers. Avete voglia di acquistare un vestito? Beh, Dragon Go! scoverà in quali negozi nelle vostre vicinanze è in vendita e a quale prezzo. Il tutto con la solita precisione e affidabilità del voice-recognition di Nuance. Secondo l’opinione di molti, questo potrebbe essere un assaggio di quello che probabilmente accadrà grazie alla collaborazione tra Read More

Like the proverbial genie in the bottle, you can ask a lot of Dragon Go! and have a pretty good chance of the app granting your wish. Dragon Go! is the latest free app from Nuance, creators of Dragon Dictate for the Mac and Dragon Dictation for iOS devices. In this latest app, Nuance has delivered what they consider the next generation of voice search, and after several days of testing I have no reason to doubt it. Here's the deal. Speak just about anything to Dragon Go! and it will try to parse your meaning and bring up the right set of tools to complete your search. Ask for news about Libya, or news about Libya from the New York Times and the app complies. Ask for reservations for 2 at a favorite restaurant and Open Table is queried. Directions from your current location to the nearest hospital will launch Read More

posted by Jonathan Kizer on Saturday, May 7, 2011 at 9:57 am.   is reporting on information from “multiple sources” that Nuance is in talks with Apple. They are quick to say that while an acquisition is on the table, it doesn’t seem likely; instead a partnership between the two companies that “could shape the future of iOS” seems more likely at this point. Nuance is a speech dictation engine, possibly the best on the market, and one of Apple’s other purchases relies on Nuance’s engine: Siri. Siri was released on the App Store in August of last year, and was quickly purchased by Apple: the technology was very impressive, as it had the ability to take commands (“I need a taxi”), interpret them, and then perform the necessary actions. It was correctly labeled as a “virtual personal assistant.” Behind all of the magic, though, was Nuance’s phenomenal dictation engine. The Read More

TechCrunch is reporting the rumor today, and some sources I have close to the Siri product think it is likely happening. Siri is that very cool personal assistant app. It allows you to ask questions that the app sends (as your voice data) to a server where it is recognized. The query is then sent off to a series of search engines to find an answer, which is finally returned to the user. You can ask for things like the best area pizza shop, the status of an arriving flight or the weather in Omaha. The speech recognition in the app comes from Nuance, the company that developed Dragon Dictation and Dragon Search. Last year, Apple bought Siri, and it seems likely that the tech will find its way into Apple products, especially iDevices. Siri is a very clever app, and it has always made a great demo on my iPhone. Read More

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Feb 7, 2011 | Switching from Droid or another Android device like the Samsung Facinate to the iPhone — maybe the new Verizon iPhone? — and curious which are the best, most must-have apps you need to make yourself feel at home? Well read on for TiPb’s top 5 most recommended, most must-have apps to get your Android experience maximized on iPhone. Unlike Android, iPhone doesn’t (yet) have broad and deeply integrated voice features in iOS. While there’s some Voice Control commands for making calls and playing music, that’s about it. Enter Google Mobile which not only adds voice search but also bundles in Google Goggles functionality. From location and maps to contacts and the web to most anything you can say or point your iPhone 4 camera at, Google Mobile gets you answers and fast. [Free - iTunes link] Also check out: Yes Google Voice is Read More

By – A lot of Free stuff can be found here! Don’t miss. Streamlined to be intuitive and immediate, FingerBeat aims to be a pick-up-and-play tool to quickly annotate beats but above all, have fun doing it! Just ask Siri to book restaurants, movies, taxis and more. Posterous lets you post any mix of text, photos and video instantly on the web for free. It’s the only content sharing app you need from your iPhone or iPod touch. This ‚Äònext generation‚Äô mobile service allows users to connect with friends, meet new people and check out all of the hottest bars, restaurants and events in a local area, all in real time. It even shows all the money-off deals, discounts and offers. Geomium is here to help you no matter where you are! This application has been designed to be used as a virtual tour available anywhere or as a guided tour Read More

...so special about Siri Assistant #iPhone app that it's not available in Australia? http://tinyurl.com/y9v429h... Read More

@jmonteo http://ax.itunes.apple.com/us/app/siri-assistant/id351778157?mt=8#ls=1 Read More

...new rank in now No.83[Siri Assistant][Productivity][Free] check it. http://bit.ly/aD5M0d #iPhone #Apps #iPad... Read More

Editor’s note: This guest post is written by Alex Ahlund, the former CEO and founder of AppVee and AndroidApps, which were acquired by mobile application directory Appolicious. About this time last year, he gave us his picks of the best iPhone apps of 2009 up until then, so we thought we’d make it an annual tradition. I’ve been involved in the iPhone app industry since it first began in 2008 and I have to say that it has come a long way. I’ve seen it grow from a meager launch of 500 applications in the App Store to currently over 225,000. In only two years, the industry has matured at hyperspeed. It spawned an entire ecosystem to support it from a multitude of news and editorial resources to developer engines, promotional services and ancillary niches. With over five billion app downloads and a billion dollars at stake, it’s no surprise that Read More

Editor-in-Chief, iLounge Published: Monday, May 17, 2010 Category: iPod, iPhone, and iPad Gems: Apps, Games + More Welcome to this week’s first edition of iPhone + iPad Gems! Today, we’re focusing primarily on a collection of educational applications for kids, but we also take brief looks at several non-educational apps we’ve been testing on the iPad and iPhone over the last week or two. The top picks this week are three iPhone educational apps: Fish School, iWriteWords, and Shape Builder, but readers interested in travel, voice-assisted searching, and using their iPads as keyboards or trackpads for their Macs should read onto the second half of this article, as well. We’ve opted to hold off on rating the non-educational apps for the time being. AIUEO-Hiragana If Japanese isn’t the most difficult language to master, it’s most likely in the top three or five, and the complexities of its three separate alphabets—hiragana, katakana, Read More

Mike Haney puts the latest smartphone applications to the test to find which make work — and life — easier on the road. Don't miss these Travel stories As usual, It's a Snap fans submitted stunning photos from their travels. Check out this week's gallery and vote for your favorite. ON THE MOVE Organize your itinerary:TripIt is the easiest way to consolidate all your travel details—flights, hotels, cars, events—on one site. Just forward your confirmation e-mails to plans@tripit.com and the site will instantly pull the relevant info and build your itinerary. The app includes basic flight tracking, terminal maps, driving directions, and airplane-seat advice (good for Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone; free); the Pro service adds loyalty-program tracking and recommends other flights if yours is canceled ($69 per year). Though a bit slower to upload your trip details, TripCase works in a similar manner and automatically adds itineraries booked through a Sabre Read More

...iPhone Apps: Siri Assistant - Siri http://dlvr.it/dvVQ... Read More

...Apple just bought Siri -- very cool, smart, free, search-by-voice iPhone app. Get it before it's gone: http://j.mp/9UpDG2... Read More

Siri for the iPhone was quite a hit when it came out earlier this year. You could ask it questions like, "where is the best pizza nearby?" and Siri would find the answer. My favorite response was when I asked if there was a God, and Siri gave me directions to the nearest churches. As much as people loved the app, iPod touch owners were left out in the cold. Not now. The app has been updated to run on the iPod touch with OS version 3.0 or above. And if you've already been using it, the app has been improved with more data, a larger vocabulary and some improvements to its reasoning algorithms. You can also give it integer math problems and you'll get an answer. The app uses Microsoft Instant Answers from Bing for the heavy lifting. Siri uses the speech recognition from Nuance Communications, which also powers the Read More

I am a huge fan of search assistants and Siri is one of the many search assistants in the App Store.  You might ask, what makes Siri so different?  The answer is simple: Siri partnered with Nuance Technologies (Dragon Search & Dragon Dictation).  Nuance provided Siri with their accurate voice to text recognition. This is where other search assistants have failed in my opinion.  Siri paired with Nuance’s voice to text is extremely accurate and precise. Now let’s give it a try. [Please note: this app currently only works on the iPhone 3GS] When you launch the app you are brought to the start screen. The start screen provides you with seven categories: Restaurants, Movies, Events, Local, Taxis, Weather, & Reminders.  Each category also has an example of what you might ask Siri, “Best sushi near here”.  On the bottom you’ll see  Start over,  My Stuff button (which contains settings for your Read More

...Siri Assistant vara en hjälpful app för Iphone om bokstäverna krånglar? http://www.appstorehq.com/siriassistant-iphone-139777/app... Read More

...lovin' the Siri Assistant #app for #iPhone! Free too! http://is.gd/7Tq0r /via @michaeldhaliwal... Read More

...iphone app looks pretty cool- http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/siri-assistant/id351778157?mt=8 //personal assistent... Read More

Browsing the App Store this weekend?  Here are eight new or updated apps worth taking a closer look at if you are: This is a voice-powered virtual assistant, who leads you through conversational questions to find the answer to whatever you have asked it…or is it him…or her.  Not only can it make reservations and the like, but it’ll learn things about your life, likes and dislikes!  Driven by location and best operated on an iPhone 3GS in the USA, think of it as stage 2 of what Google started with their voice-search, or the first steps towards Star Trek’s computer. The latest entry into the Assassin’s Creed franchise, this time charting Ezio’s exploits in Spain.  Spread over 36 levels, this is a fast sideways-scrolling action adventure. The goal of this GPS-based game is to simply search for items located around your local area.  There are, unsuprisingly, 1000 items to find Read More

The iPhone is a wonderful PDA and it’s great to find all kinds of information. But what if it could be even more than that? What if you could just tell it what you want and let it figure out? That’s the idea behind Siri Assistant. This voice-enabled wolfram|alpha-like concierge app just hit the App Store and it sounds like a little revolution. The concept is simple, just tell it what it is that you want, and it will make the arrangements. I don’t know how well it works yet since I’m still waiting for my validation email, but it looks pretty impressive on paper, especially for a free app. Check it out: Read More

...Siri iPhone app was the coolest thing I saw at SemTech 2009 and it's available now at http://is.gd/7JTIO... Read More

...Assistant is a phenomenal iPhone app with conversation referencing (figures out info based upon previous input) http://bit.ly/ccuVQf... Read More

...just spent the last hour playing with #Siri for the iPhone. http://j.mp/9UpDG2 Such a killer app. Now time for bed... Read More

...out Siri, a voice-activated personal assistant iPhone app. Article: http://bit.ly/9kCjft App Store link: http://bit.ly/ccuVQf... Read More

After nearly a year in development and $24 million in venture capital, Siri is finally ready to bring its personal assistant to the iPhone. Siri brings a conversational interface to the iPhone which allows you to ask it to perform tasks for you such as find a French restaurant nearby and book a table, look up movie listings, order a taxi, or look up the phone number and address of a local business.  The app is now live in the App Store (iTunes link; for now it is recommended only for iPhone 3Gs models because it requires more processing power, but a version tuned for older iPhones will be come out by the end of the quarter) You simply speak into the phone with a request like, “Find something to do in San Francisco this weekend.”  It turns your speech to text and pushes your request out to an appropriate service Read More