Voice Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Rumor: Google working on Siri competitor codenamed "Majel"

by Mike Schramm (Dec 14th, 2011)

Android and Me has reportedly come across some secret details regarding "Majel," which is Google's voice control project that sounds very similar to the popular Siri. Before you start crying foul that Google is jumping on the voice control bandwagon, don't forget that Google actually included ...

Dragon adds Recorder app for time-shifted desktop dictation

by Michael Rose (Oct 19th, 2011)

It's all about speech on the iPhone 4S, from the systemwide dictation features to the inscrutable but very helpful Siri assistant. The fine folks at Nuance (suppliers of some of the underlying IP that powers the 4S voice savvy) have made a big move into the mobile space; the company already has a ...

What is your favorite Siri command?

by Erica Sadun (Oct 19th, 2011)

Siri, Apple's beta voice recognition assistant for iPhone 4S, has gotten a lot of press recently about its snark and humor, but that's not why a lot of us are growing to love this clever bot. For many of us at TUAW, Siri provides a really simple way to accomplish tasks on our iPhones. Here's ...

Apple (re)introduces Siri as iPhone voice control assistant for iPhone 4S

by Mike Schramm (Oct 4th, 2011)

Apple picked up mobile assistant app Siri quite a while ago, but only at today's event did we finally see why. The company is relaunching the app as official, though it will keep the name Siri. To access it, all you'll have to do is hold down the home button, and then a little purple mic will ...

OS X Lion introduces new, multilingual, high-quality text-to-speech voices

by Chris Rawson (Jul 24th, 2011)

First announced in March, then found in developer previews, one of the little-heralded new features of OS X Lion is its inclusion of several high-quality text-to-speech voices in 22 different languages. The last major addition to Apple's built-in OS X voices was Alex, a higher-quality voice ...

iOS 5's final release may include "Assistant" speech-to-text feature

by Chris Rawson (Jul 23rd, 2011)

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 ...

Noterize acquired by Nuance, points to more iOS voice savvy

by Michael Rose (Jun 20th, 2011)

The popular note-taking app Noterize made the short list of apps that D7 Consulting leveraged in its iPad trial; it also made it into Apple's 'Iconic' TV ad in January. It's been absent from the App Store for a bit, though, and now we know why. TUAW has learned that Noterize has been acquired ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: How do I deal with voice latency?

by Erica Sadun (Jun 13th, 2011)

Dear Aunt TUAW, Why is VoIP so freaking awkward? I really like using Google Voice with Safari but then I always end up talking over the guy I'm calling to. What gives? Love, Denny Dear Denny, It's called latency, and it happens with all kinds of computer telephony solutions like Google ...

AT&T strikes back at Verizon with voice/data ad

by Steven Sande (Feb 4th, 2011)

Verizon may have their iPhone 4 coming on line in a matter of days, but AT&T isn't taking the assault on their market lightly. A new AT&T ad titled "Answer" shows a man working late and receiving a call from his wife on his iPhone 4. As she reminds him that it's their anniversary, he surfs ...

TUAW's Daily App: Voice Fantasy

by Mike Schramm (Nov 5th, 2010)

Voice Fantasy is a weird little app from Square Enix, creators of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series of role-playing games. You may remember Song Summoner, the original RPG created for the iPod a while back (that later came to the iPhone as well). That game had you creating soldiers with ...

Yahoo! Mesenger app updated, offers free voice and video calling

by Mike Schramm (Oct 11th, 2010)

The Yahoo! Messenger app has received a pretty significant upgrade today -- the app now lets you make video and voice calls to Yahoo! Messenger friends. That has a few interesting outcomes, the first of which is that you can now make video calls from any iPhone running iOS 4.1 to anywhere with a ...

Voice Tutor puts vocal exercises in your pocket

by Michael Rose (Sep 7th, 2010)

Whether you fancy yourself the second coming of Pavarotti or just the best vocalist in your own shower, the truth isn't always pleasant to the ear: not everyone can sing. Everyone, however, can learn to sing better -- and that's the point of Voice Tutor, a sharp app from the experienced vocal ...

AT&T plans for SXSW 2010

by Mike Schramm (Mar 1st, 2010)

Happy March! The super hip and trendy South-by-Southwest music and tech festival is coming up this month, and like many tech conventions these days, AT&T is working on a plan to keep their network up and running as thousands of iPhones descend on Austin, Texas to send around voice, texts, and ...

AT&T lowering cost of unlimited voice and data for iPhone users

by Steven Sande (Jan 17th, 2010)

The battle of snarkiness between AT&T and Verizon is resulting in benefits for subscribers. Yesterday, AT&T announced a new unlimited voice and data plan for smartphone owners, including those who use the iPhone, that offers unlimited voice and data service for $99.99 per month. The ...

Bada Bing! Microsoft delivers Bing search app

by Mel Martin (Dec 16th, 2009)

Search is really getting interesting these days. Microsoft late last night released Bing [iTunes link] for the iPhone -- a full featured free app offering search, movies, maps, and directions, all with voice control. It's notable that Microsoft is going after iPhone mind-share after Steve Ballmer ...