Now You're Talking
Voice-recognition technology is no longer stuttering - and that means huge opportunities for established players and newcomers alike.

By Jeanette Borzo, Business 2.0 Magazine
March 15 2007: 12:17 PM EDT
(Business 2.0 Magazine) -- As man-vs.-machine classics go, it had the crucial elements: The brash young champion. The new-and-improved computing powerhouse. That the champ was 17-year-old Ben Cook, anointed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's fastest text messager, and the machine was not a supercomputer but a cell phone, didn't detract from the drama - at least not to the crowd gathered at an Orlando voice-recognition software conference last fall.
Which would be faster at converting an elaborate sentence into text: Cook's flying thumbs or the elegant algorithms of new speech software from Nuance Communications? The harrowing test phrase - "The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human" - flashed on a screen. Cook thumbed furiously. A Nuance staffer calmly dictated the phrase into a cell phone. It was a blowout: Nuance's software converted the phrase flawlessly in 16 seconds. Cook trudged home in 48 and was left mumbling in a dazed tone, "I don't know how you do that."
Loud and clear: TuVox VP Martin sells her system by showing call centers the flaws in theirs.
They did it with Nuance's recently launched Mobile Dictation software, which will be available through carriers as early as the first half of this year. There's also a broader explanation: Voice recognition, long ridiculed as one of those perpetually just-around-the-corner technologies like the personal jet pack or the Dick Tracy wristwatch, has finally arrived.
Advances in processing power, new software algorithms, and even better microphones have enabled established players like Nuance and a raft of startups to design systems that work - often at near 100 percent accuracy rates. And they're creating explosive potential for growth in markets for everything from handheld dictation devices to mobile phones to auto parts to battlefield translators.
Mobile's newest killer app: Voice
The overall market for voice-recognition technology topped $1 billion for the first time in 2006, a 100 percent increase in just two years. Within that broad market, there are numerous subsectors that are likewise surging: The market for server-based voice-recognition technology to power call centers and the like reached nearly $600 million in 2006 and is expected to double by 2009, according to Opus Research.
The market for speech technology embedded in devices such as phones and auto dashboards - worth about $125 million in 2006, according to research firm Datamonitor - is expected to quadruple to $500 million by 2010, powered by the rapid spread of voice-command features on phones and cars with increasing levels of "talking electronics," from music players to navigational systems. Ultimately, some experts say, voice-recognition systems are likely to be built into almost every gadget, appliance and machine that people use.
The surge in demand is already triggering investment from established voice players and newcomers alike. In 2006, Nuance (Charts) bought Dictaphone to enhance its presence in the health-care industry, even as Nuance's sales grew 20 percent to more than $300 million.
Microsoft's (Charts) new Vista operating system comes with voice technology that, after suffering embarrassing glitches, is now winning kudos from reviewers. Google (Charts) has said that it's studying technology to enable search-by-voice. Venture capitalists, meanwhile, are lining up to fund entrepreneurs with voice-recognition ideas all over Silicon Valley and beyond. "Speech technology," says Datamonitor analyst Daniel Hong, "is finally transitioning from a cool technology to a business solution."
The next generation
Voice-recognition technology dates to 1952, when Bell Labs researchers cobbled together a primitive system that could recognize numbers spoken over a telephone. Progress since has been halting, but with the advent of far more powerful computing components and years of plain old trial and error, systems today have finally reached the point where they can cope with innumerable accents, dialects and quirks of speech.
VoiceBox Technologies, a startup in Bellevue, Wash., in 2004 unveiled a prototype whose components had to be carried in a steamer trunk. Today roughly the same system fits on a device the size of a credit card and could be the brains of Toyota's voice-command dashboard systems (see correction below).
VoiceBox systems are now so sophisticated that they can analyze context to, say, figure out if the command "traffic" refers to road congestion, tunes from Steve Winwood's old band or a dope-smuggling film starring Michael Douglas.
Today's systems also have powerful capacity to essentially teach themselves. Tellme Networks, a startup in Mountain View, Calif., makes voice-recognition software used for corporate call centers and telecoms' 411 information systems. Tellme's platform captures some 10 billion utterances annually and constantly analyzes them, improving the system's precision literally every day. "Voice recognition is all about pattern recognition," says Tellme executive Jeff Kunins. "The more data you have, the better the recognition gets."
11 companies changing the world
And the more valuable voice recognition becomes as a customer tool. Call centers and customer service departments are notorious for the infuriating "Press or say 1" purgatories that older speech-recognition technologies created, but customer outrage isn't the only penalty: The average call-center call costs $5 if handled by an employee but 50 cents with a self-service, speech-enabled system, according to Data-monitor.
Online brokerage E-Trade Financial uses Tellme to field about 50,000 calls a day; half never go to an E-Trade employee. The company says Tellme's system is saving it at least $30 million annually.
Startup TuVox is also racking up customers in the call-center and corporate markets. Its VP for marketing, Azita Martin, has her team dial a call center and record the typically torturous, multistep efforts to, say, reach the billing department. Then they create an audio file that reveals what the interaction could sound like if Martin's target used TuVox's software for routing calls with advanced voice-recognition technology. She e-mails the two interchanges to the CEO of the company using the call center. The contrast has helped Martin sign up numerous clients during the past few months - one reason TuVox's annual revenue is growing at double-digit rates and its customer base has quadrupled in 12 months. Telecom New Zealand, one of its new customers, reports a tripling of call-center customer satisfaction since it installed a TuVox system.
While call centers and autos are expected to continue to be growth markets for voice recognition, the real bonanza will likely come in improved systems for all manner of mobile devices. Start with cell phones: Telecom companies think consumers will pay for a host of additional services such as dictating e-mail or searching for a restaurant if there's an easy-to-use voice interface on mobile phones. Indeed, Opus Research says telecoms expect to earn an additional $5 to $15 per month from every customer who opts for a voice-enabled phone.
Numerous startups are scrambling to provide that technology, including Promptu. Founded in 2000 by speech-technology veterans, the Menlo Park, Calif., startup has developed a package of voice-recognition features that will be offered through several carriers later this year. "The telecoms are calling us now," says Brady Bruce, a Promptu senior vice president. "I love that." Real
Creative uses
Other startups are developing voice features for everything from MP3 players to handheld GPS devices to laptops. Pluggd, founded last February by former Microsoft and Amazon engineer Alex Castro, has created a search engine that combines speech recognition with semantic analysis to, for instance, find the exact spot in a cooking podcast where soufflé techniques are discussed.
Vocera Communications, whose founders grew up on Star Trek reruns and named the conference rooms at their Silicon Valley headquarters after Capt. Kirk and other characters, got some attention two years ago when it unveiled a communicator badge inspired by the show that combines voice-recognition and wireless technologies. The device produced some snickers at the time but has found a growing following; among its customers are medical workers, who use it to search through a hospital directory by voice and find the right person to help with a patient problem or look up medical records.
Putting mobile services on the map
Vocera expects to turn profitable early next year. VoxTec International's Phraselator, a handheld gadget about the size of a checkbook, listens to requests for a phrase and then spits out a translation in any of 41 specified languages; it's currently being used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to provide on-the-fly translations in Arabic, Pashto and other local tongues. The Annapolis, Md., company, whose technology was originally developed for the Department of Defense back in 1997, won't disclose specific figures but says sales are way up.
Many experts expect voice technology to become almost ubiquitous someday, as speech recognition supplants typing, tapping, texting and touching as the primary interface with our machines. Rob Chambers, head of Microsoft's voice-recognition efforts, even foresees a day when the technology becomes powerful enough to correct mistakes in word choice or grammar - a kind of spell check for voice.
That may be decades away, but the technological improvements are nonetheless coming fast and furious, as was driven home in Orlando last fall.
The Nuance software that dusted the champion texter is roughly 25 percent more accurate than the company's best versions from a year ago, and Nuance researchers say next-generation products due to hit the market in just one year could produce 20 percent fewer errors than today's best systems. "Ben Cook is pretty incredible in how quickly he can type on his phone," says Nuance VP for worldwide marketing Peter Mahoney. "But this technology is just going to continue to get better and better."
Jeanette Borzo is a writer in San Francisco.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the Voicebox technology will be the brains in Toyota's new in-car navigation systems.
________________

Random thought

Doctor Ramamurthy has a problem concerning diabetic patients one non compliant with the medical regimen, he tries to spend as much time as possible educating the patient on the need for a routine to be followed every day without fail. The need for good diabetic education material in the Indian regional languages will improve the compliance of the patients in the rural areas of India.

So far there has been no encouragement from anyone regarding these aspect of diabetes education which is sadly lacking.
All the possible Internet technologies are available What one needs is some manpower to translate what the deal from English to review the languages and key it in.

stone age diet for DM2

there is some discussion as to why the Dm 2 rate is going up in present day world ,one contention is that it is diet
so some one has started a trial.

Publications

Jonsson T, Ahren B, Pacini G, Sundler F, Wierup N, Steen S, Sjoberg T, Ugander M, Frostegard J, Goransson L, Lindeberg S.
A Paleolithic diet confers higher insulin sensitivity, lower C-reactive protein and lower blood pressure than a cereal-based
diet in domestic pigs. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2006 Nov 2;3:39.

Jonsson T, Olsson S, Ahren B, Bog-Hansen TC, Dole A, Lindeberg S. Agrarian diet and diseases of affluence - Do evolutionary
novel dietary lectins cause leptin resistance? BMC Endocr Disord. 2005 Dec 10;5:10.

Cordain L, Eaton SB, Sebastian A, Mann N, Lindeberg S, Watkins BA, O'Keefe JH, Brand-Miller J. Origins and evolution of
the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Feb;81(2):341-54. Review.

.

the wonder of technology

Seven years ago. I had a Del Pentium 166 OPTi Plex computer, which had a hard drive of 2 GB. yesterday. I bought a flash drive be daily able to hold 4 GB.

dhanwantri

Dhanwantri is an organisation started with a narrow aim of uplifting brahmin community.
you may ask why am I a member of this community and why am I writing about this .
for a very long time I and my friends used to argue about the importance of good ends through non good means .
may be i am a supoprter of this concept if some educational institutions come up on the 1000 acres they have been able to collect through donations (actually every one donated half that would be about 500 acres.
it is for the good of every one.
so go ahead and check it out

http://hariwarangal.blogspot.com/

warangal-website_oldposts

It has been more than a year since I visited the warangal web blog I am planning atrip to india and will be going to warangal i hope to revive the blog bUt i am thinking of making every thing in to one blog .
the old warangal posts can be accesed here
http://warangal.blogspot.com/

నీటి వనరులు

నీటి వనరులు
వాసన్‌.ఆర్గ్ water shed support services and activities network .
Regenerating Lands and Livelihoodsssss
ఇది ఒక ఆసక్తికరమైన వెబ్ ప్రచురణ .
తెలుగు దేసమ్లో నీళ్లకు కరువై ఎండి భీడు వారిన బూములను తిరిగి పచ్చబడేలా చేయ డానికి జరుగుతున్న కొన్ని కృషి
కార్యక్రమాలలొ ఈ సంస్థ పాల్గొని పనిచేస్తూ సహాయం అందిస్తూ ఉంది
అందులో ఒక పుట చిన్న చిన్న తమాషా విదంగా జరిగే అతి చేదు నిజాలను బహీకృతం చేసే కొన్ని చిత్ర పటాలను ప్రకటించింది .
అవి చాల్ల వరకు మొదట్లో మీ పెదవుల మీదికి చిరునవ్వు తెచ్చినా కొత సేపు వాటృఇ గురించి ఆలో చిస్తే ఇలాంటి ప్రజా సేవా కార్యక్రమాల్లొ జరిగే తంతు గురించి బాదా , ఆవేదనా కలిగిస్తాయి .
ఇది చూసిన తర వాత మీరు ఒక అరగంటైనా ఈ పేద బ్రతుకుల గురించి ఆలో చిస్తే నా ఈ 2 గంటల పని సఫలం ఐందని అను కొంటాను

http://www.wassan.org/gallery/pro_toons.htm
to see original size click on the link above and choose each picture .
పెద్ద చిత్రాలు చూదాలను కొంటే పైన ఇన్న లంకె (లింక్) పైన ఒత్తండి






ఇదెక్కడి చిత్రమో విత్తులు నాటడం ఇంత కష్టమైన పని అని ఎన్నడూ ఆనుకోలేదు

అయ్యయో నాపొలాన్ని ఇట్లా ఎందుకు తవ్వి నాసనం చేస్తున్నరు నా ఖర్మ గాలీ ఏదైనా నీటి వనరుల ప్రాజెక్టుగాని మన పల్లెకు వచ్చిందా?
యేమి పర్వాలేదు సార్! వారందరూ చందాలు ఇవ్వడానికి తయారు ఐనారు అయినా
వాళ్ళకు అసలు జీతం యెంతో తెలియదు
యెవైబిడ్డడో యెక్కెక్కి యేడుస్తున్నడు!
మీ అందరి యేకాభిప్రాయంతో యీ ప్రణాలిక ఖరారు చేస్తున్నాను
యేమిటి? దీంట్లో మార్పులు చెయ్యాలి అనుకుంటున్నవా? ఇదేమ్మన్న
మజాకనుకొన్నవా. ప్రజలు అంటె పెద్ద దొర, చిన్న దొర అన్నట్టు, వాండ్లు తప్ప
యెవరూ యేళు బెట్తనికి అయ్యి లేదు
మీకు తెలుసుగా యీ ఊర్లో యెలికలు (యెన్నికలు) ఎక్కువ అని. ఆందుకే ప్లాను కాగితాల్లం??
హైదరాబాదులో బ్యాంకు లొ జమ చేసి పెట్టిండు పెద్ద దొర!


తోలుబొమ్మ ల ఆట!
ఇదే కెపాసిటీ బ్ల్డింగు!
శభాశ్ వూరి ప్రజలు అందిరినీ దీంట్లో తీసుకు వచ్చావు (యేరీ వాల్లు? )
ఈ కంపూటరు చాన గొప్పది అయ్యుండాలి లేక పోతే గుట్ట మీద
నీళ్ళు యెన్నడు నిల్చినై

అక్షర సత్యం!
ఉచితం! ఉచితం!
ఇది యెన్న్రొజులో!
prajaasvaamyam!
ప్రజాస్వామ్యం!నా ప్రియమైన ప్రజలారా!
ఇంకో కొత్త పిచ్చొడు! ఇంకో కొత్త పాట!

రండి మాది గొప్పది! ఖాదు కాదు రండి మాది గొప్పది!

iMkO kotta viMta jaMtuvu!
ఇంకో కొత్త వింత జంతువు!
కత్తి మీద సాము అంటే ఇదే నేమో!
నీటి వనరులు
వాసన్‌.ఆర్గ్ water shed support services and activities network .
Regenerating Lands and Livelihoods
ఇది ఒక ఆసక్తికరమైన వెబ్ ప్రచురణ .
తెలుగు దేసమ్లో నీళ్లకు కరువై ఎండి భీడు వారిన బూములను తిరిగి పచ్చబడేలా చేయ డానికి జరుగుతున్న కొన్ని కృషి
కార్యక్రమాలలొ ఈ సంస్థ పాల్గొని పనిచేస్తూ సహాయం అందిస్తూ ఉంది
అందులో ఒక పుట చిన్న చిన్న తమాషా విదంగా జరిగే అతి చేదు నిజాలను బహీకృతం చేసే కొన్ని చిత్ర పటాలను ప్రకటించింది .
అవి చాల్ల వరకు మొదట్లో మీ పెదవుల మీదికి చిరునవ్వు తెచ్చినా కొత సేపు వాటృఇ గురించి ఆలో చిస్తే ఇలాంటి ప్రజా సేవా కార్యక్రమాల్లొ జరిగే తంతు గురించి బాదా , ఆవేదనా కలిగిస్తాయి .
ఇది చూసిన తర వాత మీరు ఒక అరగంటైనా ఈ పేద బ్రతుకుల గురించి ఆలో చిస్తే నా ఈ 2 గంటల పని సఫలం ఐందని అను కొంటాను

http://www.wassan.org/gallery/pro_toons.htm

BRAVO TASLIMA

After a long time somebody who expresses similar thoughts as my self
LAJJA author Taslima of bangladesh who is in exile in India.
I strongly urge the indian govt to grant her request in the tradation of India from time immemorial starting from parsis to jews of kerala to dalailama .

this is the excerpt from rediff interview

"Bangladesh needs a revolution: Taslima

April 21, 2007 14:04 IST

Top Emailed Features • Sunita Williams speaks to rediff India Abroad from space • Exercise can make people smarter • Tulips bloom in Kashmir Tell us • Ask a question Advertisements • Want to switch ur job? • Pay ZERO Brokerage • New age IT career

Controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin is unenthusiastic about the recent political developments in her country, viewing it as just a passing phase and seeing no hope of her going back there soon.

"I think this is temporary. I would like to think this is the beginning of a change. But who would come to power? The same old political parties who are pro-fundamentalist, who use Islam for their own interests to get votes from the ignorant masses," Nasrin told Karan Thapar in the CNN-IBN programme 'Devils' Advocate'.

"They would come to power and they would never allow me to go to my home country," she said.

Nasrin said nothing short of a revolution was needed in Bangladesh.

Asked about an editor of a Bangladeshi newspaper recently writing that her rights should be reinstated, the author said, "It's wonderful... But it is only one lonely voice."

Nasrin, who has been living in exile for the last 12 years and is currently residing in India, said this country has to be her home in the foreseeable future.

The author, who has invited the ire of the Muslim clergy and fundamentalists over her anti-Islamic views as also her explicit style of writing, said she would love to live in India.

Nasrin, who has requested the Indian government to grant her citizenship, was asked if she felt unsafe in India due to the warnings issued by Muslim organisations, and she said, "It's not safe, but I love to live in India. And I would like to live in India if I got the chance."

Asked if she did not fear she could get killed here, Nasrin said, "That can happen anywhere in the world. Fundamentalists are everywhere in the world...I was thrown out of Bangladesh. And when I was living in Europe, I got security. But still fundamentalists could kill me there."

Sticking to her critique of Islam, Nasrin, who first created a storm with her book 'Lajja', "There is no equality between man and woman in marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance in Islam."

She, however, said it was not just Islam that she had a problem with. "I criticise Islam and I also criticize Christianity, Judaism. I criticise Hinduism because women are oppressed by all religions."

Nasrin said, "Religion itself is against women. It's not only the fundamentalists. Religion was actually created by men for their own interests."

Asked to react to the criticism that her writings were aimed at grabbing attention through cheap titillation, she said, "I don't need publicity. It's a dangerous thing to say.

The fundamentalists issued a fatwa against me, set a prize on my head. I couldn't live in my own country. I have had to live in exile for more than 12 years."

Nasrin said she was only telling the truth and wanted to make women conscious about their rights and freedom.

"I don't want any religious law. I don't want any patriarchal system," she said."