Hey Speech-Heads:

It’s time, once again, for Speech Technology’s annual Speech Industry Awards.  That’s right: Our yearly shout-out to the best-of-the-best in the World of Speech.  And as of RIGHT NOW, the Nomination Forms are online and ready to go.

So, get to is Speech-Heads.  Nominate those Speech Luminary and Star Performer?  Let us know about those Great Implementations.  Grab The Crown as a Market Leader.

It’s like my Speech Brother Eric B. says: “This year’s awards are going to be an all out CAGE MATCH.”

The deadline is April 30th this year, so GET CRACKIN’!

Speech-Heads,

If there’s one thing my Speech Brother Eric B. loves it is Testing & Tuning.  He’s a fiend for it.  And that is why he just about lost his mind, when he learned about the Speech Technology Webinar on April 8th:  Putting Your IVR System To The Test!  The Importance of Testing, Tuning and Tools.

This one is NOT to be missed, so Register Today!

THURSDAY APRIL 8TH, 2010 • 11:00am PT / 2:00pm ET
	Customer contact is crucial in today’s business world – even more so than in the past, when it comes to customer retention and cost savings.  Too many times we wait to test our systems until after they have been implemented which can be costly not only from a budget spend but in regards to customer dissatisfaction! Learn why it is imperative to test your systems upfront and why this process must be continued throughout its lifecycle in order to reach optimum results. Join Ovum, Avaya, and Angel.com as they discuss “Putting your IVR to the test!  The importance of testing, tuning and tools” on April 8, 2010 What you will learn: What to do before declaring your application ready How to keep a watchful eye on your new system How to iteratively prototype your IVR application for fine tuning How to tune your IVR by using qualitative data from call recordings Register now for this informational one-hour Web seminar. Reserve quickly—space is limited. Audio is streamed over the Internet, so turn up your computer speakers!		MODERATOR ANALYST David Myron Editorial Director Speech Technology magazine Daniel Hong Lead Analyst Customer Interaction Ovum (formerly Datamonitor) PRESENTERS Charles Galles Senior Consultant - Self Service Solutions Avaya Vidhi Bhansali Senior VUI Analyst Angel.com

Hey Speech-Heads,

You know what time it is?  That’s right: Webinar Time.  My Speech Brother Eric B. and I are totally stoked for March 25th: How Verifying Your Customer’s Identity Can Save You Money.

It’s like Eric B. always says: REGISTER TODAY! Also: “Don’t that take the rag off of the bush.”

Thursday March 25th, 2010 • 11:00am PT / 2:00pm ET
	Biometric speaker verificationis one of the hot technologies for user authentication. Speaker-verification solutions are being used by governments and private industry from North America to Australia and from Switzerland to Turkey and the Philippines. This roundtable highlights the practical issues involved in crafting a speaker-verification solution that is good for security, user satisfaction and the bottom line. Those issues include How can you manage user expectations and concerns while keeping costs low? What are good business metrics for assessing the performance of a solution? How do you make sure that the solution meets corporate and other security and privacy requirements? Can good security also be easy to use? Learn the answers to these and other questions about speaker verification solutions by joining us at our roundtable on March 25, 2010. This roundtable is presented in partnership with Dr. Judith Markowitz, of J. Markowitz and Consultants, who is a leading analyst in the field of speaker verification and other voice biometrics. Joining Judith in this roundtable discussion will be Chuck Buffum from Nuance and William E. Morrow from CSIdentity Corporation. Reserve quickly—space is limited. Audio is streamed over the Internet, so turn up your computer speakers!		MODERATOR ANALYST David Myron Editorial Director Speech Technology magazine Dr. Judith Markowitz President J. Markowitz, consultants PRESENTERS Chuck Buffum VP, Authentication Solutions Mobile & Enterprise Division Nuance William E. Morrow Chairman and CEO CSIdentity Corporation

Hey Speech-Heads,

By now, everybody knows about Google expanding its robo-transcription function to include every video on YouTube.  In fact, you may have read about it in a recent story in Speech Technology.

Well, that’s all fine and good.  We here at SpeechTech Blog love transcription as much as the next guy.  But every video?  I mean there are some pretty insane/marginal/terrible videos on YouTube.  Take for example Mannequin Dance Party.  Do we really need this video transcribed?  Do we really want it transcribed?  Well, maybe.  Who am I to judge?  And, I suppose I shouldn’t be so negative.  This next video, titled Talking Carrots definitely deserves transcription.

But my Speech Brother Eric. B and I still have doubts about Google’s ability to transcribe every video.  So, that is why we are issuing the following Transcription Challenge to YouTube and Google.

Says Eric B., Transcribe This:

Hey Speech-Heads,

My Speech-Brother Eric B. and I were enjoying a leisurely brunch here at The Home Office–reading the newspaper, sipping mimosas and eating our traditional Speech Tech Breakfast of poached eggs, kippers, rashers, fried bread and Jell-O–when we came across a story on the cover of The New York Times about speech technology.

Needless to say, Eric B. spilled a cup of hot tea on his trousers and shrieked like a small child.  But there it was: A New York Times Story about Google Translate!

Check out the above link, to read all the news that’s fit to print about Google Translate.  We haven’t seen anything this high profile since The New Yorker Episode of 08.

Hey Speech-Heads,

Check out this great use of TTS:

Movie Critic Roger Ebert–who is recovering from a serious bout with thyroid cancer that rendered him speechless–has been using TTS to communicate.  However, Ebert’s TTS recently got a new voice–his own.  His new voice by CereProc is programmed from collected audio clips and snippets from the movie critic’s many television appearances and DVD commentaries.

Check out this Esquire Article for more information.

And check out Ebert’s appearance on Oprah for his 2010 Oscar Picks.

Well Speech-Heads,

It’s like my Speech Brother Eric B. always says: “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” And with that in mind, we here at SpeechTech Blog bring you the GM Voices Asterisk Song and Music Video.

According to an official press release, “GM Voices, the world’s largest producer of professionally-recorded voice for telephony applications, hit the recording studio (down the hall) and turned Asterisk open source inspiration into a rocking tribute to IVR, complete with jamming guitars, bangin’ drums, a white-hot harmonica solo and the angelic vocals of the “Call Center Girls,” customer service AND singing professionals.”

Eric B.–who listens exclusively to hardcore death metal–even loved it, saying: “Well, slap me thrice and hand me to me mama!”

So, here, for your consideration is “Asterisk Song:”

Hey Speech-Heads,

Just about everyone here at The Home Office has SpeechTEK Europe Fever.  My Speech Brother Eric B. has it so bad he had to hire an Office Health Aid.  Like he said: “I’m nervous and my socks are too loose.”

So, as we all count down to The Big Dance, check out Conference Chair Jim Larson dishing on some of his personal programme highlights from SpeechTEK Europe.

What are you looking forward to at SpeechTEK Europe 2010? I believe that speech-enabled multimodal applications are the wave of the future, and so I’m particularly looking forward to Professor Wolfgang Wahlster’s Keynote presentation on research in European universities and company laboratories in the areas of speech, multimodal, and multilingual technologies so I can plan to use these new types of technologies when they become available. In Developing Multimodal Applications, attendees will learn how to integrate web-based services to create “mashup” applications involving speech, and how to develop multimodal applications on a variety of mobile devices. I believe these approaches will be widely used to deploy speech-enabled multimodal applications that customers can use anywhere, anytime on nearly any device. In our Panel Session: Advanced Speech Recognition Techniques and Experiences, developers will give first hand experiences about designing, implementing, and deploying call routing applications. I’m looking forward to learning from their successes as well as their mistakes in providing voice-based call routing. The Using Voice Biometrics Session explains how to identify speakers and verify that speakers are who they claim to be. These promise to help minimise fraud and theft. The European market place is multilingual, yet most of today’s speech applications only speak and understand a single language. SpeechTEK Europe has two Sessions on developing multilingual speech applications, how to conduct usability tests in multiple languages, and how to deal with cross-cultural attitudes about IVR and speech systems. Other highlights for me at SpeechTEK Europe are sessions describing challenges in new IVR markets, key directions for unified communications and hosting/premise, and a panel of analysts predicting the future of speech in Europe.

Hey Speech-Heads,

It’s no secret that my Speech Brother Eric B. and I love Creepy Talking Robots.  Just the other day, we were sitting around the old campfire, shelling peanuts and talking about all the Creepy Talking Robots we’ve profiled over the years: strange, vaguely sexual gynoids with feathered blond hair and trampy speech recognition engines.

And then it happened. We encountered a CTR the likes of which we thought did not–nay could not, could never–exist.  Prepare, Speech-Heads, for the absolute horror and lurid nightmare that is Roxxxy.

(more…)

Hey Speech-Heads,

Here’s a quick reminder to check out the latest Web Exclusive from the Sounding Board at Speech Technology.

This month, Daniel Ziv–vice president of customer interaction analytics at Verint Witness Actionable Solutions–tackles how understanding customer behavior is important regardless of the chosen communications medium in a pice titled Social Media Meets Speech Analytics.

Check It.  As my Speech Brother Eric B. once said: “This one is gonna be a real barnburner.”