Speech recognition Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Nuance buys SVOX ahead of iOS 5 release

by Mike Schramm (Jun 16th, 2011)

There's a whole trail of rumors hinting at an upcoming deal between speech recognition company Nuance and Apple. For quite a while now (ever since Apple picked up personal assistant software maker Siri), the scuttlebuzz has claimed that the folks in Cupertino would make a deal with Nuance for ...

iOS 5 speech recognition concept showcased in video

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 16th, 2011)

Recent rumors and a patent application suggest an upcoming version of iOS will include some form of speech recognition. Inspired by these revelations, graphic designer Jan-Michael Cart created a short video that shows how Apple could add this speech-to-text functionality to iOS 5. His ...

Nuance voices found in Lion Developer Preview 3

by Michael Grothaus (May 14th, 2011)

Yesterday, we told you that Apple had seeded Lion Developer Preview 3 to developers. We noted at the time that among the new features in Developer Preview 3 were a new boot animation, new graphical elements in the Finder's toolbar, new desktop wallpapers and that Reading List is now enabled in ...

Nuance-like Apple speech recognition patent emerges

by Michael Grothaus (May 14th, 2011)

Rumors have been flying that Apple has entered into some kind of agreement with speech recognition company Nuance. Now Patently Apple has published an Apple patent that shows a possible use for Nuance's technology in the iPhone. The patent covers text-to-speech and speech-to-text conversion. ...

Is a Nuance and Apple deal in the works?

by Michael Grothaus (May 7th, 2011)

TechCrunch is reporting that Apple is in the process of some sort of deal with Nuance Communications, one of the leading companies in the field of speech recognition. Many readers may be familiar with Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking software, however the Dragon speech engine is also licensed and ...

Patent application suggests contextual voice commands for iPhone

by David Quilty (Dec 9th, 2010)

A patent application filed by Apple in 2009 but just released to the public last week shows that they want to improve on the voice command abilities of the iPhone. As reported by AppleInsider, the patent looks as though it would make voice commands available in individual applications rather than ...

Amazon releases Price Check app just in time for holiday shopping

by Mel Martin (Nov 22nd, 2010)

Amazon has released Price Check, a free app that allows you to do some comparison shopping. You start by saying the name of your target product, scanning its barcode, typing its name, or snapping a photo. You'll get several results; tap one to see who's offering it with prices and shipping costs ...

AT&T Navigator for iPhone updated, features direct speech recognition

by Steven Sande (Oct 1st, 2010)

If you're a subscriber to the free AT&T Navigator app and the associated service , then you'll want to load the latest update ASAP. AT&T Navigator v1.7i is the newest version of the TeleNav-powered app, and it's now the first iPhone GPS navigation app that incorporates direct speech ...

Dragon Dictation updated with iOS 4 support and some new features

by Mel Martin (Jul 23rd, 2010)

Dragon Dictation is one of the most popular free apps on the iPhone and iPad, and now it has been updated to support iOS 4. Nuance Communications, creators of the app, have added a pop-up toolbar that allows you to speak a status update and send it directly to Facebook or Twitter. You can also speak ...

Speak4it is yet another voice activated destination finder

by Mel Martin (Jun 30th, 2010)

There have been some impressive apps for finding nearby services released lately. AT&T didn't want to get left out, so they are offering Speak4it, a free app that lets your vocal cords do the walking. Say something like "Chinese restaurant," and the app will mark relevant hits on a map, on a ...

Dragon Dictation comes to the iPad

by Mel Martin (Apr 2nd, 2010)

This should get a lot of iPad owners excited. Dragon Dictation, which has been so popular on the iPhone, is now available for the iPad. The app is free for a limited time, and adds some new features to the original iPhone version. The app also includes a new Dragon Dictation Notes feature that ...

Siri updated for iPod touch and gets some new features

by Mel Martin (Mar 5th, 2010)

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 ...

Nuance acquires MacSpeech

by Mel Martin (Feb 16th, 2010)

Nuance Communications, the company behind Dragon Dictate and Dragon Search for the iPhone, has acquired MacSpeech, the company that makes MacSpeech Dictate and other voice recognition apps for the Mac platform. The first product from MacSpeech was iListen, which was available until 2008. At that ...

January 1 reflections on my favorite things

by Mel Martin (Jan 1st, 2010)

January 1 is always a little strange. A quiet time after a night out, a time to take the tree down and deal with all the green light cords that started out so neatly applied and wind up a tangled maze of complexity. Time to get rid of all the holiday wrappings and hope the trash pickup is soon. ...

ShoutOUT TXT brings voice recognition to SMS messaging

by Mel Martin (Dec 24th, 2009)

ShoutOUT TXT is a new app for the iPhone [iTunes link] that lets you dictate text messages to your iPhone and send them just as you would with regular SMS text messaging. You set up an account and text away, using your existing contact list, or entering any phone number that can be texted. After ...