Speech Heads, I don’t know if you caught my story about VoiceTrust looking to extend its footprint via its new iPhone app, VoiceSafe, but back when I was working on the story spokesman Richard Tigges sent along some publicity screenshots of the program in action.

The pictures give you a little bit more of an idea of what the application looks like/does. In addition to storing passwords, credit card numbers, and all that sensitive information you’d expect to try and lock in a biometrics solution, you can also store secrets like:

• Someone’s birthday;
• The number to your alarm system; and
• The details of a one night stand.

It’s this last item which demands some attention. This may be some cultural ignorance on my part, VoiceTrust originates in Munich, Germany, but who stores the details of a night stand in their phone and then labels such details (obviously sensitive if they are being stored behind a biometric wall) “OneNightStand”?

You’ll note that it even has a little “XXX” logo next to it as if to make it more obvious. I tell you, I haven’t seen that kind of bone-headedness since my brother Adam B. got those binoculars from our dad for Christmas.

O’ fabulous day, Speech Heads! The good folks down at ArsTechnica have uncovered evidence that the newest iteration of the iPhone OS, 3.0, is going to come with new voice control features. The project, codenamed “Jibbler,” (sounds like a discontinued candy from the 80s) is said to have NOT ONLY voice synthesis-whoa!-but voice recognition!

According to Ars’ sources, Jibbler seems to be SpringBoard application enhancement. SpringBoard is similar to Apple’s OSX Finder app. It acts as a launcher and will support the newly announced 3.0 Spotlight search. Ars has a bunch more details that you shouldn’t miss out on (plus this terrifying picture), but we thought we’d just give our impressions here.

It seems like every little damn thing is getting speech-enabled these days. You may remember our groundbreaking reports on the GirlTech Password Journal, or the Moshi clock, talking toilet rolls, and creepy robots galore, all perfect examples of my point. All these signs seem to be pointing greater mass acceptance of speech recognition. Companies are looking, harder now that ever before, on how to make some fast bucks off getting speech into our daily lives. We’re still, of course, in the early stages where the technology is so new that we get all manner of strange things. The boundaries of what speech can and should do haven’t been entirely defined-at least not out of more traditional applications like IVRs-so people are looking to try and hype anything.

You don’t have to look any further than my brother Adam B.’s recent posts about speech-to-Twitter apps to see what I’m talking about. His two posts on our humble site have yielded a torrential flood of other speech-to-Twitter firms emailing him and commenting on his posts, trying to get him to look at their offerings. This even as Twitter, though popular and finding some legitimate CRM uses, hasn’t found a way to monetize itself. Talk about building a house on a shaky foundation.

If you’ll allow me to wax incoherent through a string of vague journalistic tritery and mixed metaphors, it’s like California 1849 out there and everybody is jumping head first in the pool, just looking for that pot of gelt at the end of the rainbow that stretches over gold-paved streets and promising rags-to-riches fortunes to all comers and investors. But you can’t put a baby in the oven and make it biscuits, unless of course you’ve ground the bones to make devil’s cake. No, no. The business of business is business and the first rule of business, business, business is location, location, location. I guess, Speech Heads, what I’m really trying to say here is that a rolling stone gathers no moss, and golly! Them stones is rollin’!

Happy April Fools’ Day Speech Heads!

In honor of this auspicious occasion, Ben Parr of Mashable social media blog came up with a list of five iPhone prank apps you can download and use against your friends, family, enemies, and co-workers. In my case, my brother Adam B. fits into at least three of those categories.

We thought we’d highlight some of our favorites for you to try out on your own iPhones.

Ultimate X-Ray App: Trick your friends into thinking the iPhone has hidden x-ray capabilities. The app has a photograph of a hand x-ray that scrolls as you move the phone, making it look like it’s actually looking at your hand. Parr suggests you use this to convince your friends they have broken fingers when they don’t or, more sinisterly, to convince those with broken fingers that they’re just fine.

I suggest you use it to convince your friends that their iPhone is, without their knowledge, pounding out intense x-ray radiation. Their phones are putting them at serious risk for cancer. Offer to dispose of the phone for them. Say you know of a recycling plant and you’re going to go drop off your phone anyway; then, resell it!

iFart: Here’s a speech little app that turns your iPhone into a whoopee cushion. The iFart has a bank of several different farts for any occasion. It also lets you set them on a timer for a sneak attack. Parr reports that the app was the most popular download at the App Store for December 2008. Hacci-mama!

Most people, as you can imagine, just use it in a series of crude jokes, but here’s a little tip for you office-bound workers who want a day off. Take your copy of iFart and an extra pair of shoes to work. Tell your boss you think you’ve got some kind of awful case of food poisoning, rush to the bathroom and lock yourself in a stall. Once there, set your phone to periodically emanate fart noises. Be sure to record yourself groaning and include those in the sporadic utterances. Then, set up your shoes like you’re sitting on the pot, crawl from under the stall, and take a long lunch. If anyone comes looking for you, they’ll think you’re in a real bad way.

Anyhow, check out the original post at Mashable, and be sure to tell us about any speechy pranks you pull today.

Sayonara Speechies!

Now that Google has released Voice Search for it’s Google Mobile App for iPhone, reports of problems with the speech recognition are being reported.

Evidently, Voice Search works really well in North America, but is posing some challenges for users Britain.

For example, one user spoke a search for “fish,” only to retrieve the search results for “sex.”

Of course, we at Speech Tech Blog can relate.  Every time I do any type of web search, I only get search results about sex.  But maybe that’s just me.

Below are a number of stories about similar problems with Voice Search:

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Link 4

As promised, the Speech Technology News Feature about Google’s new voice search for iPhone.

A few days ago, we brought you this post about Google’s new voice search for the iPhone.

And as expected, Google is being typically reticent about this development.

But fear not, gentle reader: We at Speech Tech Blog are not done yet.

In fact, as soon as I am done with this blog post, I have a strongly worded email to send to a certain massively-powerful-and-ridiculously-secretive-company.  A company that has access to all my personal information; a company that has a record of every Internet search I have ever made; a company that will, for obvious reasons. remain nameless.

But in the meantime, check out the following links for more information on Google’s voice search for iPhone.

Official Google Blog

Official Google Mobile Blog

Google Press Center

According to a story in today’s New York Times, Google researchers have added voice recognition to their search software for the iPhone.

According to The Times, the new application will be free and available via the iTunes store.  Basically, users will be able to simply speak searches into their iPhone.  The results will then be displayed on their phone and include local information when applicable via iPhone features that detrmine user location.

We expect an announcement about this from Google, so keep your eyes peeled for a Speech Technology News Feature in the near future.

In the meantime, John Markoff’s New York Times story can be found here.

Today we cast aside the black veils, cease mourning for Lauren, and resume blogging.

Yesterday, we posted a story about SpinVox’s involvement with MTV’s Staying Alive foundation, which aims to educate young people about sex (we called the story Sex with SpinVox, which we’re going to have to change because when we send it out on our e-newsletter, the word “sex” automatically triggers the spam filters. Context, people!).

While the cause is good, I wonder about the delivery method. A SpinVox spokeman pointed out that “there’s no denying the power of voice on a variety of levels. The idea is to have a spontaneous discussion about sex, sex education, and the issues around HIV, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.” (more…)

Hope you had a nice weekend! It’s raining here, and pretty miserable. We’ve been out for awhile due to an issue close, but should be back in action this week. Based on some news from RSS feeds, it looks like the day is getting off to a nice start, news-wise. And yes, that is a picture of William Shatner in his Star Trek days. And yes, this post mentions William Shatner as he relates to voice biometrics.

* BlackBerry announced its new BlackBerry Bold 9000, a new smartphone equipped with 3G capabilities. BlackBerry is one of a line of companies that have beat the new iPhone to the 3G finish line. Apple’s new version of the iPhone is expected to see a release this summer. The Bold phone is, “banking on the … sleek appearance to win over executives and field workers who’ve grown tired of sacrificing style for functionality.” I think that’s PR-speak for, “Please buy this instead of the iPhone. We made it look cooler.” [CRN]

* My favorite British pharmacy, Boots, announced it has chosen Intervoice to develop its natural language self-service application. [TMC]

* Another woman has joined the high ranks in the speech technology field — Susan Almeida will serve as vice president of global services for speech analytics provider CallMiner. You go, girl. [EarthTimes]

* Speech technology for Danish people. Yay! [PR.com]

* Sensory’s BlueGenie Lite = speech synthesis for Bluetooth devices. Todd Mozer, Sensory’s CEO, says in the article: “We’re able to replace all these awkward presses and beeping with speech.” Awkward presses and beeps – GONE. [Wireless Week]

* Every employee’s worst nightmare: Companies’ HR departments using voice biometrics to detect lying about sick days. Don’t ask me what ’skivers’ are; but it’s another funny British word to say. [Birmingham Post]

* Mother’s Day was yesterday, but I just found this article today. It’s about cool presents to buy your mom. My favorite is the ‘SmartShopper’, which uses voice recognition to store grocery lists. Great – groceries! Just what every mom wants to be reminded of on her special day. I’m also imagining the totally awesome possibilities regarding how this device could seriously mess up utterances. [The Sudbury Star]

* When I was growing up, my mom’s idea of enhancing my cognitive abilities was reading to me, and letting me watch PBS. Today? “Smart toys.” Experts say the toys, “contain technological enhancements that enable a child to form dynamic, emotional relationships. Smart toys incorporate microchips, voice recognition and wireless capability so that toy and child can spend quality time together.” This is so incredibly sad. Another ‘Baby Einstein’? I hope not, because it has been proven that ‘Baby Einstein’ does absolutely nothing that would make your child more intelligent. [The Telegraph]

* Umm…apparently William Shatner has an award called ‘William Shatner’s Heartbeat of America’ that he gives away. This year it went to a voice biometrics company. Voice biometrics: the heartbeat of America. [PR Web]

The mobile news will not stop! Today, news hit the Web that a 3G iPhone will likely be released this summer. A Bank of America analyst made the prediction: a small build of 3 million phones in May, followed by 8 million phones in June. The release of the 3G phones, which will come equipped with apps from the iPhone SDK (the beta with UI tools was released last week), could also coincide with (finally) speech on the iPhone. According that same report, Apple expects to sell 10 million 3G iPhones — analysts think this is wishful thinking; I tend to disagree. Why? Because everyone I know who owns an iPhone is my age (23), has a job paying less than $40K per year, and is willing to pay lots of money to have the newest Apple product. You can’t argue with the power of Apple Cult.

[Image courtesy of Station-A]