In a post on AppleInsider reporter Aidan Malley is reporting a “stealth” development effort at Apple that could result in protecting iPhones with a selected biometric. According to the report, Apple published a patent filing indicating that it would use an embedded sensor or a component “repurposed from its original role” to capture biometric data that provides confidence that the individual trying to gain access to the whole device or to personal data on the device is, indeed, who he or she claims to be.
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Keep an Eye (or Ear) Out for RebelVox
Attendees at eComm 2009 witnessed the coming-out party of a new technology firm called RebelVox as VP of Technology Matt Ranney ran through the core capabilities of the firm’s suite of software. Growing out of the defense communications domain, RebelVox has patent-pending technologies that, when combined, provide users with the ability to toggle seamlessly between synchronous (real-time) and asynchronous (recorded or retrieved) communications. Its as if individuals engaged in a phone conversation or conference call could take Tivo like control of both the origination and playback of content.
More YANCS Are Coming
More of the mobile world is coming around to seeing (hearing?) that one of the big problems with speech-enabled mobile applications has been failure to work in noisy environments. Hence the need for YANCS (or Yet Another Noise Cancellation Solution) like Audience, Inc., and Ditech Networks.
Skype and Siemens Seek to Open Enterprise Telecom Infrastructure
Today a couple of leaders in the telecom infrastructure market past and future announced new products designed to encourage development of new telecom applications in business enterprises. Skype, prodded by the introduction of Google Voice, has accelerated the “beta” test of “Skype for SIP” (referring to the “session initiation protocol” that underlies virtually all Voice over IP-based services). The idea is for companies that have invested in VoIP phones and IP-telephony switches to use Skype as their VoIP carrier without having to involve software running on a PC in the mix.
Developer Uses Tropo to Make “Twitter Phone” a Reality
Dan York, chief conversationalist at Voxeo, reports that a developer with the pseudonym “Devoh” used Voxeo’s Tropo API-based development platform as part of a hack to let people phone into Twitter. The new service, called Tweeter Phone, enables registered callers to hear recent tweets from their selected friends. Devoh reportedly attended a single Tropo introductory session, then went home and spent five hours to bring up the new service. This is the sort of rapid application development and API-based phone mashup that is destined to keep the telephone (most likely mobile ) an integral part of everyday communication, community-building and commerce.
Nuance Takes AirFrance’s Customer Care Line into More Countries
Based on very favorable acceptance of a single-number service that started in October 2006, AirFrance entered the second phase of its speech enabled customer care portal “powered by Nuance”. The initial set of services offered flight schedules, bookings (with intelligent transfer to agents) and real time flight information in French and UK English. In the second phase new contact centers have been set up in Europe, Asia, North and South America supporting calls from over 20 countries.
SVOX Opens Office in Auto Makers’ Backyard
Embedded speech processing specialist SVOX clearly believes that speech recognition may be a big part of any turnaround that could occur in the automotive industry. Stating that it shows commitment to growth, the company has established a new 30-person office in Ulm, Germany. CEO Martin Reber says that the staff will focus on development of embedded speech recognition and “speech dialog” systems. He expects the size of the Ulm-based team to double in the coming years as it takes advantage of opportunities to collaborate with firms like Audi, Daimler and Porsche on R&D efforts for speech processing in future models.
Tuvox’s “New Deal”: An Offer That’s Harder to Refuse
The chilly global financial climate has caused corporate spending to come to a stop, especially when it comes to capital spending. While many executives pay lip service to the importance of optimizing customer care experieince, investment in contact center, speech processing and IVR infrastructure has suffered along with all the other candidates for IT and Telecom investment. Tuvox has designed a new program that lowers the barriers for companies to adopt speech technologies and reduces the cost of continuous enhancement by shortening development cycles.
New Manifestation of Google Voice Adds Voicemail Transcription
For this analyst, the roll-out of Google Voice has been agonizingly slow. Four days after the launch, our inbox still bears the message “Your account is not yet ready to be upgraded. Please check back shortly.” Still, after nearly two years under Google’s tutelage, we must report that, in addition to international calling (at a small fee) the transcription of voicemail is the most notable enhancement to the original GrandCentral service.
VC’s Invest $17 Million More in Transera
Congratulations to Transera. The virtual contact center routing specialist just raised another $17 million from Funders included Accel Partners, which has an office in Palo Alto; Apax Partners, which has a U.S. office in New York; and Lighthouse Capital Partners and Storm Ventures. The proceeds are earmarked (if we can use that term) to step up go-to-market partnerships as well as product development.