A little added interactiveness with living room essentials goes a long way. With that in mind, Comcast today announced it's boosting its iOS X1 remote control with newly minted voice commands, something the company's been working on since earlier this year. Xfinity TV subscribers using the X1 platform will now be able to search for content by (quietly) shouting different vocal orders at the application, including, but not limited to, things like "Record," "Watch Gossip Girl" or "Find the Yankees game." While the new feature is only available on iOS at the moment, Comcast says its devs and engineers are "also working on voice control features for Android phones and for traditional remote controls." The X1 app update doesn't appear to be live just yet, but be sure to keep an eye on the App Store as it should be arriving pretty soon.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software, HD
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Source: App Store
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Human-machine interaction -- the term sounds so clinical, yet it's the most important relationship we need to foster in the 21st century. Which is why the venture arms of Samsung, Intel and Spanish telco Telefonica have sunk considerable funding into Expect Labs' voice recognition software, an investment the trio announced earlier today. The startup's prescient tech, known as the Anticipatory Computing Engine (or ACE, zing!), aims to guesstimate a user's actions or information needs by listening in on and analyzing real-time conversations. It's understandable if the prospect creeps you out -- it should -- but the end goal isn't to invade a user's privacy (though the data mined would be significant), it's to anticipate and assist.
That three major corporations with stakes in computing, mobile and home electronics would want to proactively invest in Expect Labs' tech is a no-brainer. Apple, Samsung and Google all already offer voice navigation services (to varying degrees of success) on smartphones and the potential for current smart TVs (defined by their internet connectedness) to get smarter and change channels or record programs independently would do well by their slack-jawed worshippers. What's more, practical applications for ACE aren't some far-off prospect; the tech could easily make its way into Samsung's next Galaxy S flagship. And then every other machine in your life not long after...
Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Home Entertainment, Software, Samsung, Intel
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Via: TechCrunch
Source: Expect Labs
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Dedicated gamers are very familiar with loading chat apps like Teamspeak or Ventrilo to coordinate their multiplayer sessions, but such software usually sits in the background -- it's hard to tell who's speaking without switching apps and losing focus. Razer's new Comms open beta may just give players a chance to stay in touch without those rude interruptions. The Windows app provides the obligatory home for group voice and text chat, but its real standout is an optional on-screen game overlay that will keep the conversation going, either with a full window or a minimalist ticker that shows who's speaking. Razer's war on lag persists here, as well: Comms' servers reportedly minimize delays and hiccups in the heat of battle. Not everyone will need the beta when many games already have chat baked in. Those that want a more consistent experience, however, can give Comms a spin today.
Filed under: Gaming, Software
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Source: Razer
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